Get out of the pool!! - Nine Nights, Three Resorts, and a Surprise Upgrade, July 2019 TR - Final Update 1/22
- Thread starter Jfsag123
- Start date
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
It really was a great time to be there last year! Not as much this time, as the heat and crowds were insane, but it was still a great trip! I appreciate that validation on the pictures, as the kids often shame me for taking so many. 
Great start to your AK morning. I guess after last year anything has to be better.
Oh, we are definitely riding a Minnie Van at least once on our next trip. Actually, it may be more than once.
The start was definitely better this year, but I think the overall morning may have been better last year simply because of the heat and crowds. This year felt hotter and more crowded all around, even though it was the exact same time of year. Last year's AK first morning was downright pleasant weather-wise.
And I highly recommend the Minnie Vans! Also, I can tell you we definitely rode in one more than once...
At least we learn from our mistakes?
We were pretty pleased with it!
I don't know how we missed the cards until now, but it's probably a good thing that we did considering how into it the kids were.
Both of my kids love the ride, but Alex screams pretty much the whole time.
He's not a fan of heights. We stick him between Rees and myself so other people aren't forced to deal with it. At least he has stopped grabbing for my hand during the ride! Takes me right out of it. Glad you're here 
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
Day 2: July 20, Part 2 – Animal Kingdom
We had to walk to Africa the long way going back through Discovery Island, as the direct path from Pandora was in use for overflow from FoP. Still we had no line when we got to our destination, Kilimanjaro Safaris. We basically walked right through the queue and directly onto the ride. It was an unremarkable trip through the safari – enjoyable as always, but nothing noteworthy. I took a couple of awful animal pictures.
Planning on winning a photography prize at the state fair this year with those beauties. We had planned to spend some time on the Gorilla Falls trail after our ride, but we weren’t really feeling it so instead we looked around in one of the stores in Africa. We thought about doing the Lion King scavenger hunt, but realized it cost extra and there was a line at the checkout to get the packets so we decided to skip that too. Instead we hiked all the way back to Pandora for a snack. At this point the direct path was open, at least. We dropped some snack credits at Pongu Pongu and got a Night Blossom drink for each of us as well as 2 orders of pongu lumpia to share.
I had been really excited to try the pongu lumpia, as I am a cream cheese fanatic, but I didn’t love it. It was decent, but not my favorite and I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it again. The Night Blossom drink was good, but a little overly sweet. Still, it hit the spot on what was already a pretty hot and humid morning. I sucked it in so fast at first that I gave myself a brain freeze.
Next on our agenda was the Festival of the Lion King, which is a can’t miss for us. The goal was to have our drinks and snacks to leisurely consume as we waited for the show. However, the lines at Pongu Pongu had been pretty substantial so it had taken a lot longer than expected to get our stuff. By the time we made it back over to FotLK it was not long before showtime and they were already well into loading people into the theater. As they don’t allow food or drink in the theater, we had to pretty much inhale the rest of our snacks as we walked through the queue so we could dump them in the last trashcan before entering. The kids found this kind of funny, but I found it stressful. The stress was quickly forgotten once the show started and I got to see my beloved tumble monkeys.
After the show we had about 45 minutes to kill before our lunch reservation, so we decided to spend some time just walking around and taking in the atmosphere. We watched one of the musicians in Africa for a bit and had a photopass picture taken on the bridge.
We headed back toward Discovery Island and found another one of the Lion King photo spots, so Alex of course wanted to get a picture.
I actually think this was the last of the Lion King photo ops that we actually did. Oh well! On Discovery Island we ran into Kevin! I hadn’t told the kids about this, as I knew I couldn’t guarantee that we’d see her, so they were thrilled.
We went into Discovery Trading Company and looked around a bit and Alex found about a zillion things he wanted, which is pretty normal for him. The kids’ grandparents always give each of them a gift card to use for souvenirs before every trip and Alex’s is always gone almost immediately. The agreement I made with him this trip was for him to look at things and note what he wanted throughout the week for himself and then if he could still remember the thing he had asked for by the end of the week, we would look into getting it if it was reasonable. This actually worked really well for him, as he realized just how many things he begs for that he forgets ever even existed within a few hours and was able to prioritize the things he really wanted. I didn’t have to make any such deal with Cora, as she doesn’t tend to beg for random things. In fact, I will often have to prod her and remind her that she can pick some things out before she will go searching for something she really wants.
We didn’t buy anything in the shop, but Alex had several potential items noted by the time we left. To keep with our theme of backtracking we headed back to Africa for our first dining reservation of the trip.
We had to walk to Africa the long way going back through Discovery Island, as the direct path from Pandora was in use for overflow from FoP. Still we had no line when we got to our destination, Kilimanjaro Safaris. We basically walked right through the queue and directly onto the ride. It was an unremarkable trip through the safari – enjoyable as always, but nothing noteworthy. I took a couple of awful animal pictures.
Planning on winning a photography prize at the state fair this year with those beauties. We had planned to spend some time on the Gorilla Falls trail after our ride, but we weren’t really feeling it so instead we looked around in one of the stores in Africa. We thought about doing the Lion King scavenger hunt, but realized it cost extra and there was a line at the checkout to get the packets so we decided to skip that too. Instead we hiked all the way back to Pandora for a snack. At this point the direct path was open, at least. We dropped some snack credits at Pongu Pongu and got a Night Blossom drink for each of us as well as 2 orders of pongu lumpia to share.
I had been really excited to try the pongu lumpia, as I am a cream cheese fanatic, but I didn’t love it. It was decent, but not my favorite and I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it again. The Night Blossom drink was good, but a little overly sweet. Still, it hit the spot on what was already a pretty hot and humid morning. I sucked it in so fast at first that I gave myself a brain freeze.
Next on our agenda was the Festival of the Lion King, which is a can’t miss for us. The goal was to have our drinks and snacks to leisurely consume as we waited for the show. However, the lines at Pongu Pongu had been pretty substantial so it had taken a lot longer than expected to get our stuff. By the time we made it back over to FotLK it was not long before showtime and they were already well into loading people into the theater. As they don’t allow food or drink in the theater, we had to pretty much inhale the rest of our snacks as we walked through the queue so we could dump them in the last trashcan before entering. The kids found this kind of funny, but I found it stressful. The stress was quickly forgotten once the show started and I got to see my beloved tumble monkeys.
After the show we had about 45 minutes to kill before our lunch reservation, so we decided to spend some time just walking around and taking in the atmosphere. We watched one of the musicians in Africa for a bit and had a photopass picture taken on the bridge.
We headed back toward Discovery Island and found another one of the Lion King photo spots, so Alex of course wanted to get a picture.
I actually think this was the last of the Lion King photo ops that we actually did. Oh well! On Discovery Island we ran into Kevin! I hadn’t told the kids about this, as I knew I couldn’t guarantee that we’d see her, so they were thrilled.
We went into Discovery Trading Company and looked around a bit and Alex found about a zillion things he wanted, which is pretty normal for him. The kids’ grandparents always give each of them a gift card to use for souvenirs before every trip and Alex’s is always gone almost immediately. The agreement I made with him this trip was for him to look at things and note what he wanted throughout the week for himself and then if he could still remember the thing he had asked for by the end of the week, we would look into getting it if it was reasonable. This actually worked really well for him, as he realized just how many things he begs for that he forgets ever even existed within a few hours and was able to prioritize the things he really wanted. I didn’t have to make any such deal with Cora, as she doesn’t tend to beg for random things. In fact, I will often have to prod her and remind her that she can pick some things out before she will go searching for something she really wants.
We didn’t buy anything in the shop, but Alex had several potential items noted by the time we left. To keep with our theme of backtracking we headed back to Africa for our first dining reservation of the trip.
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
Day 2: July 20, Part 3 – Animal Kingdom
So you’ve probably already guessed that we were eating at Tusker House. This is one that I had booked every trip going back to our first visit and had canceled each time. We finally actually ate there for the first time last year and loved it. DH now insists that it is a must-do each time…which of course has nothing to do with his love of Donald, right?
I have heard that Tusker House can have pretty long waits for seating after checking in and we had had to wait about 15 minutes the previous year so, after checking in at the podium, we grabbed some of the little water cups they had out and settled into some seats. We had had time to take about 2 sips of our water when my phone dinged letting us know our table was ready.
We had an early lunch reservation and our server told us to make sure and grab some breakfast items while they were still out so we could have both meals. I don’t know that any of us took him up on the suggestion, as the lunch stuff looked too good. I didn’t take pics of our drinks here and didn’t get many of the food either because it was kind of an overwhelming blur of food and characters. However, it was fabulous. DH and I got alcoholic drinks since we were on the dining plan and I don’t remember which drinks we ended up ordering, but I do remember that our server ended up talking me out of my first choice and suggesting something else, which I ended up being grateful for, as what I had was good.
Here is a picture of Cora with her first plate, primarily comprised of meat. So it begins.
I love that despite my kids getting older, the pure joy they experience the first time they see Mickey has not changed.
Mickey made a fuss over Cora’s Pluto hat and insisted they link arms for the picture.
Next up was Daisy. DH needed a picture with her as well…because of her proximity to Donald? Who can say. Of course he was wearing his duck butt hat for the occasion.
We saw Goofy who compared his ears with Cora’s Pluto hat ears and then it was time for the duck of the hour.
Donald turned around and shook his booty a little bit in celebration of the hat once he saw what DH was wearing, but sadly I missed getting a picture of that. Boo.
Next they started up the character parade where all the children follow the characters around through the restaurant to music. My kids hung back because they are kind of old for that now, but I could see that Alex was wanting to get up and join so I told him to go ahead and join. He insisted that his sister come with him and like the dutiful older sibling Cora got up and joined him. It was kind of comical watching her giant self walk around through the restaurant with the itty bitty kids. This is the “I’m way too old for this” face she shot us as she walked by our table.
I had what felt like about 30 plates of food and then DH reminded me that they had that awesome bread pudding. I made him go get me a little, as I knew if I stood up I wouldn’t be able to eat anything else. Yep, I’d eaten myself into the bad place. But I was a trooper and managed to stuff a few bites of bread pudding in. As we were finishing up, our server came by and said he would be back with a surprise. The kids were worried it would be a food surprise, because they were super full but knew they would want to eat it. While we were waiting, Daisy came by again and posed for another picture. ETA: nope, this was not while we were waiting, as I see our surprise in Alex's hand.
Our server returned not with food, but with two Happy Birthday cards, one for each kid, signed by all of the characters. We weren't expecting Happy Birthdays, so this was a nice surprise. It fits for Alex, as his bday is in July, but Cora is March. It was great because we had not done autograph books this year. I typically specially make the kids’ books, but hadn’t had time this year and they decided to just go without rather than do the generics.
Happy and full we waddled out of the park. Normally this would have been time for a resort break. However, I was a crazy person when I planned this trip and so instead of getting on the bus back to Boardwalk, we hopped on a bus bound for another park.
So you’ve probably already guessed that we were eating at Tusker House. This is one that I had booked every trip going back to our first visit and had canceled each time. We finally actually ate there for the first time last year and loved it. DH now insists that it is a must-do each time…which of course has nothing to do with his love of Donald, right?
I have heard that Tusker House can have pretty long waits for seating after checking in and we had had to wait about 15 minutes the previous year so, after checking in at the podium, we grabbed some of the little water cups they had out and settled into some seats. We had had time to take about 2 sips of our water when my phone dinged letting us know our table was ready.
We had an early lunch reservation and our server told us to make sure and grab some breakfast items while they were still out so we could have both meals. I don’t know that any of us took him up on the suggestion, as the lunch stuff looked too good. I didn’t take pics of our drinks here and didn’t get many of the food either because it was kind of an overwhelming blur of food and characters. However, it was fabulous. DH and I got alcoholic drinks since we were on the dining plan and I don’t remember which drinks we ended up ordering, but I do remember that our server ended up talking me out of my first choice and suggesting something else, which I ended up being grateful for, as what I had was good.
Here is a picture of Cora with her first plate, primarily comprised of meat. So it begins.
I love that despite my kids getting older, the pure joy they experience the first time they see Mickey has not changed.
Mickey made a fuss over Cora’s Pluto hat and insisted they link arms for the picture.
Next up was Daisy. DH needed a picture with her as well…because of her proximity to Donald? Who can say. Of course he was wearing his duck butt hat for the occasion.
We saw Goofy who compared his ears with Cora’s Pluto hat ears and then it was time for the duck of the hour.
Donald turned around and shook his booty a little bit in celebration of the hat once he saw what DH was wearing, but sadly I missed getting a picture of that. Boo.
Next they started up the character parade where all the children follow the characters around through the restaurant to music. My kids hung back because they are kind of old for that now, but I could see that Alex was wanting to get up and join so I told him to go ahead and join. He insisted that his sister come with him and like the dutiful older sibling Cora got up and joined him. It was kind of comical watching her giant self walk around through the restaurant with the itty bitty kids. This is the “I’m way too old for this” face she shot us as she walked by our table.
I had what felt like about 30 plates of food and then DH reminded me that they had that awesome bread pudding. I made him go get me a little, as I knew if I stood up I wouldn’t be able to eat anything else. Yep, I’d eaten myself into the bad place. But I was a trooper and managed to stuff a few bites of bread pudding in. As we were finishing up, our server came by and said he would be back with a surprise. The kids were worried it would be a food surprise, because they were super full but knew they would want to eat it. While we were waiting, Daisy came by again and posed for another picture. ETA: nope, this was not while we were waiting, as I see our surprise in Alex's hand.
Our server returned not with food, but with two Happy Birthday cards, one for each kid, signed by all of the characters. We weren't expecting Happy Birthdays, so this was a nice surprise. It fits for Alex, as his bday is in July, but Cora is March. It was great because we had not done autograph books this year. I typically specially make the kids’ books, but hadn’t had time this year and they decided to just go without rather than do the generics.
Happy and full we waddled out of the park. Normally this would have been time for a resort break. However, I was a crazy person when I planned this trip and so instead of getting on the bus back to Boardwalk, we hopped on a bus bound for another park.
Last edited:
disny_luvr
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2008
I absolutely love the Night Blossom drink. I’m actually already dreaming about getting it next trip.
Your Tusker House meal looks fun!
Your Tusker House meal looks fun!
disny_luvr
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2008
I do not want to hijack this trip report, but quick question for you because I know you rent DVC a lot. We are looking into renting points next August for the first part of our split stay at Copper Creek Villas at WL. Have you ever stayed there before? We’ve stayed on the hotel side, but not on the DVC side. I was just curious about your thoughts on CCV. Secondly, with DVC rentals, do you only get fresh towels on day 4?
Thank you!
Thank you!
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
I think Tusker House is probably the best character meal on property - and we have done a lot of character meals.The night blossom will probably end up being a repeat for us too, though I'm not someone who really enjoys boba balls, so we'll see.
No problem, always happy to answer DVC rental questions! We've never done CCV, so I can't speak to that, sorry. We've actually never stayed at WL at all. With the towels, previously yes, we only got fresh towels on day 4. However, with the new security procedure of daily room checks we've had housekeeping coming in each day and emptying trash and replacing towels. Before the room checks we also never had an issue with just asking a housekeeper that we saw in the hallways for a couple of extra towels if we needed them.
disneyAndi14
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2014
Joining in, looks like a fun day at AK so far, my favorite park!
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
Welcome! AK started out as my least favorite park, but has moved up to second place for me (after Epcot). It's such a gorgeous park!
ariane37
Dis veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
This had always been our favorite character meal, great interactions and food too. The only one I think comes close actually is the character breakfast at Cape May Cafe. Did it last month and it's great!
I ❤ all the new emoji's lol! Seriously her and Chris would have fun looking at menu's and deciding what to eat!
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
That's one of the few we've never done! I think it may just be that one and Chef Mickey's, actually. With as much as we love the Beach Club area you'd think we'd have hit that one. Will have to try it! I saw the pics in your report and I love love love the characters' outfits.
I ❤ all the new emoji's lol! Seriously her and Chris would have fun looking at menu's and deciding what to eat!
Ha! Meat emojis! I need to explore more. And yes, they probably would. She has such a tough time deciding between the various meat options lol
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
Day 2: July 20, Part 4 – Magic Kingdom
Cora’s appearance within 5 minutes of getting on the bus was a pretty good representation of where we all were by this time.
I don’t know if you can tell in this picture, but her right eye was also partially open as she was sleeping for extra creepy fun. As I mentioned previously, this typically would have been resort break time. Instead we were soldiering on. I had booked us a dining reservation in the Magic Kingdom area for dinner, so we decided to just hop directly from AK to MK and spend the afternoon in MK leading up to dinner time. The hope was that having a sit down lunch followed by a longish bus ride would give us the needed air conditioned down time to be able to maintain throughout the afternoon. There was already a bus waiting when we got to the bus stop, so we didn’t even have to stand waiting for one. Pretty soon we were seeing this…
…followed shortly by this.
I am not someone who cries the first time I see the castle each trip, but I do get awestruck and have to take a picture. However, this does not mean I’m immune to crying at WDW, this just isn’t the place that makes it happen.
We started off by walking into Tomorrowland, as we had a little wiggle room before our first fastpass window closed. The kids had to stop for a picture with the purple wall.
What I hadn’t anticipated with my afternoon planning was just how hot and crowded it would be. We have been to WDW in late May, June, and went the same time in July last year. Also, we are from Texas and frequently take walks in the heat of the day at home. We are not people who struggle in heat. However, this year we struggled. It was oppressively hot and way more crowded than the year before, which made the heat feel even worse. Tomorrowland was a sea of people and even the Peoplemover had a long line. We decided to get out of dodge and go ahead and cross the park to start using our fastpasses.
Our first FP+ was for Big Thunder. This is one that has been spoiled for me a little bit since riding Disneyland’s (superior) version, but I still love it. When we got to the ride, we realized that the fastpass line was backed out all the way to the wooden walkway that goes around the river. The kids looked intimidated, but I assured them that the line would move fast. Yeah, it didn’t move so fast. Here were the kids when we had finally gotten to the actual line portion, but were still outside.
It was just so so hot. We were guzzling water, but it could only do so much. After what felt like an eternity (but was actually probably more like 25 minutes or so), we were boarding the wildest ride in the wilderness. These are the kids’ “you need to stop taking pictures of us!” faces.
The great thing about Disney attractions is that no matter how frustrated or uncomfortable we may be in the lead up to them, once we’re actually on the ride all is forgotten and we’re just enjoying ourselves with our hands in the air. Such is the magic of Disney.
Since the Big Thunder line had taken a decent amount of time, our next fastpass window was open by the time we got off the ride, which was fortunate as our next destination was right next door.
They were using an extended FP+ queue for Splash as well, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Big Thunder. I took a picture in line of a quote that speaks to me on a spiritual level lol
Those of you who have read my trip reports before know that we have a bit of a tradition with Splash Mountain. Cora works herself into a panic and cries before we get on the ride because she hates the drop. We force her to ride anyway and get lots of nice looks from other guests because we look like such amazing parents forcing our crying daughter onto a ride. Then Cora rides, loves it, and ends the ride laughing at herself for being so ridiculous. This time our tradition was broken.
She had promised that she was not going to cry this time and by golly she kept her promise! She still did not enjoy the drop, but she actually allowed herself to enjoy the rest of the ride.
And Alex decided to pose for the ride photo rather than scream his head off this time. I had no idea he had done that until I was looking at the pictures at home. The plan at this point had been to stay in the Frontierland area until parade time and watch the parade while sipping on some Dole Whip floats. Yeah, that didn’t happen. It was so hot that the kids said they’d rather skip the parade and do something indoors.
Since our final prebooked fastpass was in Fantasyland we headed that way and into one of my absolute favorite attractions.
We have literally never done this attraction where we’ve had to stand in any sort of line and have always walked directly to where you pick up the glasses to wait for the next show. In keeping with the crowds, this time there was a line. However, we didn’t mind too much, as it was all indoors and air conditioned and it gave me time to actually look at the joke posters they have around rather than breezing right past them like I usually do. One of my favorites:
As this was our first time having to stand in line for Philharmagic, this was also our first time seeing it in an almost full theater. It was actually kind of a different experience seeing it with so many people around, as we heard lots of audible reactions to the 4D effects from people who didn’t know they were coming. As always, my kids reached out and tried to grab Ariel’s jewels and Donald’s hand, and I will cry and cry when they grow up enough to become self-conscious about doing this. I’m amazed Cora still lets herself get that into it and am enjoying it while it lasts.
Since we’d had to wait for a bit, our next FP+ window was open when we finished Philharmagic and we popped over for a flight over London and then off to Neverland. Nothing says “we’re in Disney” to me quite like riding Peter Pan’s Flight. Crazily enough, we have yet to ride it at Disneyland. They don’t have FP, their queue is concrete boringness, and the line is always at least half an hour. Put those things together and it’s a big fat NOPE from me. However, the kids are insisting that I suck it up and do it this time when we go to Disneyland, and since we’ll have 6 full days in the parks it’s hard for me to use the excuse that we won’t have time. I’ll report back here in November on whether or not I actually got myself to do it.
Alex had asked at the beginning of the day if we could please ride it’s a small world at some point during the day, so I booked us a FP for it while we were in the line for Peter Pan. The window for the FP opened about 10 minutes after I booked it, so we were able to walk out of Pan and immediately board the happiest cruise that ever sailed. Only one of us got a goodbye this time.
After small world I got us a FP+ for Little Mermaid then we went back to Tomorrowland and got our rides on the Peoplemover and the Carousel of Progress. I had booked us a FP+ for Buzz Lightyear after Little Mermaid, but we got halfway through the line and the ride broke down. By this time we were spent. We talked about going to see the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor, but none of us wanted to stand in the line, even though it would be air conditioned. The heat and the crowds had broken us. We had an unfortunate amount of time left before our dinner reservation – about 2 hours. Not enough time to go back to the resort and come back out – we knew we’d just be turning around shortly after – but too much time to just sit and people watch somewhere. Normally having 2 hours to kill in Magic Kingdom would not be a big deal, but we were ready to get out of that park. We decided instead to spend some time in the Magic Kingdom resorts. I stopped in the hub for a castle selfie on the way out. I am going to look busted in pretty much every picture on this trip, as my curly hair and the awful humidity did not mix. It’s never a good combo, but it was particularly bad this year.
Cora’s appearance within 5 minutes of getting on the bus was a pretty good representation of where we all were by this time.
I don’t know if you can tell in this picture, but her right eye was also partially open as she was sleeping for extra creepy fun. As I mentioned previously, this typically would have been resort break time. Instead we were soldiering on. I had booked us a dining reservation in the Magic Kingdom area for dinner, so we decided to just hop directly from AK to MK and spend the afternoon in MK leading up to dinner time. The hope was that having a sit down lunch followed by a longish bus ride would give us the needed air conditioned down time to be able to maintain throughout the afternoon. There was already a bus waiting when we got to the bus stop, so we didn’t even have to stand waiting for one. Pretty soon we were seeing this…
…followed shortly by this.
I am not someone who cries the first time I see the castle each trip, but I do get awestruck and have to take a picture. However, this does not mean I’m immune to crying at WDW, this just isn’t the place that makes it happen.
We started off by walking into Tomorrowland, as we had a little wiggle room before our first fastpass window closed. The kids had to stop for a picture with the purple wall.
What I hadn’t anticipated with my afternoon planning was just how hot and crowded it would be. We have been to WDW in late May, June, and went the same time in July last year. Also, we are from Texas and frequently take walks in the heat of the day at home. We are not people who struggle in heat. However, this year we struggled. It was oppressively hot and way more crowded than the year before, which made the heat feel even worse. Tomorrowland was a sea of people and even the Peoplemover had a long line. We decided to get out of dodge and go ahead and cross the park to start using our fastpasses.
Our first FP+ was for Big Thunder. This is one that has been spoiled for me a little bit since riding Disneyland’s (superior) version, but I still love it. When we got to the ride, we realized that the fastpass line was backed out all the way to the wooden walkway that goes around the river. The kids looked intimidated, but I assured them that the line would move fast. Yeah, it didn’t move so fast. Here were the kids when we had finally gotten to the actual line portion, but were still outside.
It was just so so hot. We were guzzling water, but it could only do so much. After what felt like an eternity (but was actually probably more like 25 minutes or so), we were boarding the wildest ride in the wilderness. These are the kids’ “you need to stop taking pictures of us!” faces.
The great thing about Disney attractions is that no matter how frustrated or uncomfortable we may be in the lead up to them, once we’re actually on the ride all is forgotten and we’re just enjoying ourselves with our hands in the air. Such is the magic of Disney.
Since the Big Thunder line had taken a decent amount of time, our next fastpass window was open by the time we got off the ride, which was fortunate as our next destination was right next door.
They were using an extended FP+ queue for Splash as well, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Big Thunder. I took a picture in line of a quote that speaks to me on a spiritual level lol
Those of you who have read my trip reports before know that we have a bit of a tradition with Splash Mountain. Cora works herself into a panic and cries before we get on the ride because she hates the drop. We force her to ride anyway and get lots of nice looks from other guests because we look like such amazing parents forcing our crying daughter onto a ride. Then Cora rides, loves it, and ends the ride laughing at herself for being so ridiculous. This time our tradition was broken.
She had promised that she was not going to cry this time and by golly she kept her promise! She still did not enjoy the drop, but she actually allowed herself to enjoy the rest of the ride.
And Alex decided to pose for the ride photo rather than scream his head off this time. I had no idea he had done that until I was looking at the pictures at home. The plan at this point had been to stay in the Frontierland area until parade time and watch the parade while sipping on some Dole Whip floats. Yeah, that didn’t happen. It was so hot that the kids said they’d rather skip the parade and do something indoors.
Since our final prebooked fastpass was in Fantasyland we headed that way and into one of my absolute favorite attractions.
We have literally never done this attraction where we’ve had to stand in any sort of line and have always walked directly to where you pick up the glasses to wait for the next show. In keeping with the crowds, this time there was a line. However, we didn’t mind too much, as it was all indoors and air conditioned and it gave me time to actually look at the joke posters they have around rather than breezing right past them like I usually do. One of my favorites:
As this was our first time having to stand in line for Philharmagic, this was also our first time seeing it in an almost full theater. It was actually kind of a different experience seeing it with so many people around, as we heard lots of audible reactions to the 4D effects from people who didn’t know they were coming. As always, my kids reached out and tried to grab Ariel’s jewels and Donald’s hand, and I will cry and cry when they grow up enough to become self-conscious about doing this. I’m amazed Cora still lets herself get that into it and am enjoying it while it lasts.
Since we’d had to wait for a bit, our next FP+ window was open when we finished Philharmagic and we popped over for a flight over London and then off to Neverland. Nothing says “we’re in Disney” to me quite like riding Peter Pan’s Flight. Crazily enough, we have yet to ride it at Disneyland. They don’t have FP, their queue is concrete boringness, and the line is always at least half an hour. Put those things together and it’s a big fat NOPE from me. However, the kids are insisting that I suck it up and do it this time when we go to Disneyland, and since we’ll have 6 full days in the parks it’s hard for me to use the excuse that we won’t have time. I’ll report back here in November on whether or not I actually got myself to do it.
Alex had asked at the beginning of the day if we could please ride it’s a small world at some point during the day, so I booked us a FP for it while we were in the line for Peter Pan. The window for the FP opened about 10 minutes after I booked it, so we were able to walk out of Pan and immediately board the happiest cruise that ever sailed. Only one of us got a goodbye this time.
After small world I got us a FP+ for Little Mermaid then we went back to Tomorrowland and got our rides on the Peoplemover and the Carousel of Progress. I had booked us a FP+ for Buzz Lightyear after Little Mermaid, but we got halfway through the line and the ride broke down. By this time we were spent. We talked about going to see the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor, but none of us wanted to stand in the line, even though it would be air conditioned. The heat and the crowds had broken us. We had an unfortunate amount of time left before our dinner reservation – about 2 hours. Not enough time to go back to the resort and come back out – we knew we’d just be turning around shortly after – but too much time to just sit and people watch somewhere. Normally having 2 hours to kill in Magic Kingdom would not be a big deal, but we were ready to get out of that park. We decided instead to spend some time in the Magic Kingdom resorts. I stopped in the hub for a castle selfie on the way out. I am going to look busted in pretty much every picture on this trip, as my curly hair and the awful humidity did not mix. It’s never a good combo, but it was particularly bad this year.
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
Day 2: July 20, Part 5 – Magic Kingdom Resorts
We hopped on the resort monorail and exited at the very first stop – Contemporary. The Contemporary concourse is one of my happy places and we knew we’d be coming back to stay at BLT in a few days, so this was like a little preview. I figured it would help revive our good spirits, as we were all feeling a little drained. No such luck. It started out fine. We like checking out the trivia questions each day at Fantasia Market. Here they are for this day if you’d like to try and answer them.
DH is a Disney pin fanatic and he wanted to check out the pins in Fantasia, so took the kids over to Contempo Café to chill out and grab some drinks. The kids were snipping at each other incessantly and getting on my last nerve. Of course, DH was taking his sweet time looking at the pins so it was solely my pleasure to endure. While we were sitting at our table, I noticed a spot with some comfortable looking seats and TVs, so I decided to move us over there so we could have some room to spread out, which would allow the kids some space so they’d stop their bickering. Yeah, that didn’t happen either. DH finally rejoined us and we had to separate the kids and become those parents giving their kids a stern lecture about not appreciating being in Disney while in Disney. Not our best moment.
We hung out in the seating area for a while hoping that the downtime would help the kids get it together, but it just wasn’t happening, so I made an executive decision and moved us outside. On the way out I realized the seating area we’d been camped out in was for people waiting for Chef Mickey’s reservations! Oops…
Thankfully, getting outside worked and we got our mojo back. The kids had a good time just playing around out behind the Contemporary.
And then Cora got silly
After an extended period of silliness outside complete with strange walking games that I’m sure made us look quite crazy, we went back inside to get on the monorail and head to our next stop – The Polynesian. We still had a bit of time before our dinner reservation, but figured we’d kill the rest checking out the Poly. We started out in the resort gift shop where Alex got the hat he is in in his intro picture. When he saw that hat he begged to be let out of the deal of waiting until the end to see if he remembered it, as he knew he wanted it and wanted to be able to wear it on the trip. He still loves that hat and has worn it multiple times since coming home as well.
They had a photopass photographer in the lobby who tried to get us to hang ten, but we failed and mostly just look like we’re on the telephone.
Finally, it was time for dinner. You’ve probably guessed where.
We had eaten ‘Ohana dinner once before (and also have done a breakfast there) and Cora requested a return visit, as it aligned nicely with her goal of eating as much meat as possible. We were actually seated pretty quickly and started off with our bread and salad. Alex feels the same way about bread that Cora feels about meat, so we had to restrain him from trying to eat the whole load on his own. DH ordered a back scratcher and I got a Pina Colava.
After our long hot day these hit the spot. As they tend to do, my family began inhaling the skillet before I could even get a picture.
A picture of Cora’s happy place. You can see she has her fork at the ready.
Our server noticed that Alex wasn’t eating much of his meat, and so brought him out some mac and cheese, which was really nice of him.
This became a theme for our trip and I probably should have just called this report “Mac and Cheese and Disney.” I don’t know why or how, but this triggered some massive giggling and riffing on the subject of mac and cheese which resulted in Alex setting a goal of trying mac and cheese at as many places in WDW as possible and the kids beginning to write a musical about mac and cheese (??????????). I never thought I would utter the phrase “please stop singing about mac and cheese” once in my life let alone over and over throughout a week. But such is life.
We had our dessert, which I adore. However, I learned a lesson and will never book Tusker House and ‘Ohana on the same day again, as I discovered that there is such a thing as bread pudding overload. Still, I was a trooper and ate my fair share. It was delicious. Our server also brought out some rice krispie treats for the kids.
The plan had been to either walk to the TTC, monorail to Epcot, and walk back through to Boardwalk, or monorail to the MK, then get on the Boardwalk bus from MK to get back. Neither of those options sounded very appealing as full and tired as we were. So what did we do? Why we called another Minnie Van, of course. We had our second Minnie Van ride the same day as our first and I was thrilled that we had done it, as we were back in our room within about 20 minutes of finishing our meal. The kids insisted that there was no way they could stay at Boardwalk for a 2nd night still having never experienced the pool, so they convinced DH to take them for a night swim. I declined to go with them and enjoyed the alone downtime in the room. But I did get their picture from the balcony as they left because hey, that’s what I do. I also relished the fact that their first brush with the creepy clown would be at night when his eyes were all lit up and he looked even creepier.
They returned from the pool raving about it. They had loved that stupid clown and said the slide was one of their favorites. After that they deemed Boardwalk a new favorite resort and so began the questions about when we would get to stay there again.
The day had been long and contained some missteps, but it ended on a high note. We went to bed full and happy and looking forward to another Disney day.
We hopped on the resort monorail and exited at the very first stop – Contemporary. The Contemporary concourse is one of my happy places and we knew we’d be coming back to stay at BLT in a few days, so this was like a little preview. I figured it would help revive our good spirits, as we were all feeling a little drained. No such luck. It started out fine. We like checking out the trivia questions each day at Fantasia Market. Here they are for this day if you’d like to try and answer them.
DH is a Disney pin fanatic and he wanted to check out the pins in Fantasia, so took the kids over to Contempo Café to chill out and grab some drinks. The kids were snipping at each other incessantly and getting on my last nerve. Of course, DH was taking his sweet time looking at the pins so it was solely my pleasure to endure. While we were sitting at our table, I noticed a spot with some comfortable looking seats and TVs, so I decided to move us over there so we could have some room to spread out, which would allow the kids some space so they’d stop their bickering. Yeah, that didn’t happen either. DH finally rejoined us and we had to separate the kids and become those parents giving their kids a stern lecture about not appreciating being in Disney while in Disney. Not our best moment.
We hung out in the seating area for a while hoping that the downtime would help the kids get it together, but it just wasn’t happening, so I made an executive decision and moved us outside. On the way out I realized the seating area we’d been camped out in was for people waiting for Chef Mickey’s reservations! Oops…
Thankfully, getting outside worked and we got our mojo back. The kids had a good time just playing around out behind the Contemporary.
And then Cora got silly
After an extended period of silliness outside complete with strange walking games that I’m sure made us look quite crazy, we went back inside to get on the monorail and head to our next stop – The Polynesian. We still had a bit of time before our dinner reservation, but figured we’d kill the rest checking out the Poly. We started out in the resort gift shop where Alex got the hat he is in in his intro picture. When he saw that hat he begged to be let out of the deal of waiting until the end to see if he remembered it, as he knew he wanted it and wanted to be able to wear it on the trip. He still loves that hat and has worn it multiple times since coming home as well.
They had a photopass photographer in the lobby who tried to get us to hang ten, but we failed and mostly just look like we’re on the telephone.
Finally, it was time for dinner. You’ve probably guessed where.
We had eaten ‘Ohana dinner once before (and also have done a breakfast there) and Cora requested a return visit, as it aligned nicely with her goal of eating as much meat as possible. We were actually seated pretty quickly and started off with our bread and salad. Alex feels the same way about bread that Cora feels about meat, so we had to restrain him from trying to eat the whole load on his own. DH ordered a back scratcher and I got a Pina Colava.
After our long hot day these hit the spot. As they tend to do, my family began inhaling the skillet before I could even get a picture.
A picture of Cora’s happy place. You can see she has her fork at the ready.
Our server noticed that Alex wasn’t eating much of his meat, and so brought him out some mac and cheese, which was really nice of him.
This became a theme for our trip and I probably should have just called this report “Mac and Cheese and Disney.” I don’t know why or how, but this triggered some massive giggling and riffing on the subject of mac and cheese which resulted in Alex setting a goal of trying mac and cheese at as many places in WDW as possible and the kids beginning to write a musical about mac and cheese (??????????). I never thought I would utter the phrase “please stop singing about mac and cheese” once in my life let alone over and over throughout a week. But such is life.
We had our dessert, which I adore. However, I learned a lesson and will never book Tusker House and ‘Ohana on the same day again, as I discovered that there is such a thing as bread pudding overload. Still, I was a trooper and ate my fair share. It was delicious. Our server also brought out some rice krispie treats for the kids.
The plan had been to either walk to the TTC, monorail to Epcot, and walk back through to Boardwalk, or monorail to the MK, then get on the Boardwalk bus from MK to get back. Neither of those options sounded very appealing as full and tired as we were. So what did we do? Why we called another Minnie Van, of course. We had our second Minnie Van ride the same day as our first and I was thrilled that we had done it, as we were back in our room within about 20 minutes of finishing our meal. The kids insisted that there was no way they could stay at Boardwalk for a 2nd night still having never experienced the pool, so they convinced DH to take them for a night swim. I declined to go with them and enjoyed the alone downtime in the room. But I did get their picture from the balcony as they left because hey, that’s what I do. I also relished the fact that their first brush with the creepy clown would be at night when his eyes were all lit up and he looked even creepier.
They returned from the pool raving about it. They had loved that stupid clown and said the slide was one of their favorites. After that they deemed Boardwalk a new favorite resort and so began the questions about when we would get to stay there again.
The day had been long and contained some missteps, but it ended on a high note. We went to bed full and happy and looking forward to another Disney day.
disny_luvr
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2008
So we have traveled to Disney in June, early July, and early August and your report on the heat is making me totally nervous for our trip next August. I have no idea why because we have been so many times in summer. We could never, ever be out in the heat in the middle of the day like you guys. You will always find us at the pool at that time. We are from PA and cannot handle the mid-day heat like that.
Anyway, despite some of the downs you still had a lot of ups. I’m glad Cora stuck to her word and went on Splash Mountain without the fuss. ‘Ohana looks amazing! We have not eaten there in a few trips, but we are next summer for my birthday and I cannot wait!
Anyway, despite some of the downs you still had a lot of ups. I’m glad Cora stuck to her word and went on Splash Mountain without the fuss. ‘Ohana looks amazing! We have not eaten there in a few trips, but we are next summer for my birthday and I cannot wait!
ariane37
Dis veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
and wait till they're teenagers!Love the Minnie Vans!
Ugh that heat. We've done August 5 or 6x and it's gross. Last year we did Sept. for the first time and we both felt it was WAY worse than August which I was kind of surprised at. This year was our first July trip and then we were back down a month later in August and I really feel that July was better humidity-wise than August-I can tell by how often I can leave my hair down and not pass out lol. I'm curious what we'll think next week when we go down, if we'll think Sept. is worse than both months again.
Jfsag123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2013
I don't want to make you nervous! It was my stupid fault for having us in the park in the middle of the day that day. But I do have to say that it felt worse overall than it had in the past. I only have one or two "heat memories" from each of our previous trips (this is what I call memories from the trip that are colored by how hot we were when we were doing whatever the memory is) and I have several from this one.
We did have a decent amount of ups, thankfully. I was shocked Cora actually stuck to her word, as she has given us that word before and then gone back on it and acted a mess. And yes, 'Ohana was one of my favorite meals of the trip, despite not even being a big meat eater, and we are definitely planning to go back next year. I think it would be a great birthday dinner!
Ugh...Cora reminds me of that impending fun on a regular basis.
I use my hair to help gauge humidity too and this year it was a mess all the time. I could not get even a single decent picture of myself. It was so bad that halfway through the trip I actually went down to the gift shop to try to get some hold spray to help my plight. September sounds like a nightmare and I could see how it would be peak humidity times. However, I think I'd still do it because the crowds would be so much lower. We can only do June or July for summer trips because of school schedules. Down here the kids get out for the summer at Memorial Day and Rees has to start back to work for the new school year the first week of August.
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it.
It still gets me too. I do like the rollercoaster/carnival atmosphere though, so I'm willing to tolerate it.
lvcourtneyy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2012
Joining in! The Boardwalk is one of my favorites, even with the creepy clown pool lol. Glad your kids were converts!
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