Get out of the pool!! - Nine Nights, Three Resorts, and a Surprise Upgrade, July 2019 TR - Final Update 1/22

[Jfsag123]

"Stop singing about mac n cheese". . . a new classic phrase! Enjoying your trip report!

You never know what new and exciting phrases will arise out of a WDW trip

I am loving your TR! We love the BW and I am glad you guys are having so much fun.

Thank you!

These creepy chairs are called "Nanny Chairs". There are a total of 4 of them at BW. If you stay again see if you can find the other two. These chairs are named "Nanny Chairs" as back in the late 1880's carousels did not have the chariot-style benches seen nowadays; instead they had Nanny Chairs for adults to sit on while the children rode the horses. These chairs are a replicas.

I just did some research and apparently if you turn them around they are named Todd, Paul, Alex and Carrie...rumored to be the names of the children of imagineers who created them.

We actually did find all of them while we were there, but I had no idea they had names! Will have to get a picture of Alex n the Alex chair next time.

I'm excited to see what the re-imagined Epcot will look like, but I'm sad that so many things are changing and leaving

I felt a little pang of sadness last night knowing Illuminations was happening for the last time. But I'm looking forward to seeing the new show as well.

Love the pictures of Cora with Pluto!

Garden Grill is one of our favorite character meals and I 100% agree about the sticky bun skillet!

So so good!

You guys look great!

Thank you!

I'm really sad about this. Have they announced when it's closing yet? I just assume it won't be open for us next March or July

They haven't as far as I've heard, but I'm assuming it's gotta be pretty soon since they officially announced the changes at D23. BTW, when in July are you going next year?? Have I asked you this already? I would not be surprised if I have lol.

I loved the GG breakfast. We made an 8 am reservation and got on and off Soarin' twice without a FP. Plus, the food was really good

That's awesome! We did an 8:00am a few years ago and were the first people at Soarin' for the day - the cast member told me to film the empty queue, as hardly anyone ever sees it like that. It ended up just being us and one other party of 2 in the entire theater. Such a great memory!

 

[buzzrelly]

They haven't as far as I've heard, but I'm assuming it's gotta be pretty soon since they officially announced the changes at D23. BTW, when in July are you going next year??

'

July 1-9 at BLT…for now. If we can, I may switch us to Beach Club Villas on December 1st. Are you guys going back in July?

We did an 8:00am a few years ago and were the first people at Soarin' for the day - the cast member told me to film the empty queue, as hardly anyone ever sees it like that. It ended up just being us and one other party of 2 in the entire theater. Such a great memory!

That's amazing!

 

[TNGirlwCamera]

Following along.

Love the pics from the Meet and Greet with Woody and Bo. You all looked so cute in your outfits. That's awesome about his cowboy hat. I also loved the pic of Cora with Pluto. All so cute.

 

[Jfsag123]

'

July 1-9 at BLT…for now. If we can, I may switch us to Beach Club Villas on December 1st. Are you guys going back in July?

Yes! We're planning on July 3-12, hopefully with a Polynesian/Beach Club split. I'm really excited about being there for the 4th!

Following along.

Love the pics from the Meet and Greet with Woody and Bo. You all looked so cute in your outfits. That's awesome about his cowboy hat. I also loved the pic of Cora with Pluto. All so cute.

and thank you! I am an idiot and hadn't even realized we had both of their favorite characters scheduled within hours of each other lol. It made for a pretty great morning.

 

[buzzrelly]

I'm really excited about being there for the 4th!

Me too!

Yes! We're planning on July 3-12, hopefully with a Polynesian/Beach Club split

We'll have to meet up!

 

[Jfsag123]

Me too!




We'll have to meet up!

It’s on!

 

[heidijanesmith]

I have an Alex too, what a great idea to get a pic of my Alex in the Alex chair!!

 

[disny_luvr]

We love Garden Grill! We’ve only ever eaten there for breakfast as I also have an addiction to the cinnamon roll.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Joining in! I'm certain I read one of your prior reports as your family seems so familiar! Your kids seem like a riot and would make a vacation much more interesting. I love the thought of creating songs about macaroni and cheese!

Your trip is off to a great start - I'm glad your kids enjoyed the creepy clown pool! I practically felt like I was melting when I traveled to Disney in early June, so I can't imagine being there in August. I think you're doing really well despite the heat!

 

[Jfsag123]

We love Garden Grill! We’ve only ever eaten there for breakfast as I also have an addiction to the cinnamon roll.

I wish I had one right now...

Joining in! I'm certain I read one of your prior reports as your family seems so familiar! Your kids seem like a riot and would make a vacation much more interesting. I love the thought of creating songs about macaroni and cheese!

Your trip is off to a great start - I'm glad your kids enjoyed the creepy clown pool! I practically felt like I was melting when I traveled to Disney in early June, so I can't imagine being there in August. I think you're doing really well despite the heat!

May family may stand out in its strangeness. But yes, the kiddos do make the trips a lot of fun. I was worried it would kind of fade as they got older, but they are showing no signs of slowing down in their Disney love, which I great for me!

And yes, the heat is ridiculous! We've been in June as well and I honestly don't think I felt that much of a difference between June and later in the summer. The only trip I remember the weather being pleasant was when we went in March for spring break one year. That was pretty amazing.

 

[Jfsag123]

Day 3: July 21, Part 4 – Epcot

While on our break at the resort I took this picture of the activities available there.

Guess how many of these we did while we were there. Hint: it’s somewhere between 0 and 173. Ok, it’s 0. We always intend to take advantage of resort activities and never seem to end up actually doing it. We’ve still never even caught one of the movies under the stars.

However, I did shake it up a little on this day, as I joined DH and the kids at the pool on our break. I had to be able to say I’d swam in the scary clown pool at least once! However I didn’t stay long. If you read my last trip report you may remember that I was completing the final edits on my dissertation during our trip last year. This year I was studying for the exam for licensure as a psychologist, which I was scheduled to take a week and a half after we got back. I passed! But it made for kind of a stressful time, as I spent many of our resort breaks studying in the room. At least my surroundings were gorgeous. I’m looking forward to the next trip during which I will have no work of any kind to complete while there. Woot.

After our break we were headed back into Epcot for the evening. Our goal had been to hit The American Adventure first when we walked back in. However, we ran a bit behind and ended up getting to the pavilion just a couple of minutes too late. We decided to just enjoy some time around World Showcase instead. Cora wanted to see the band playing in Germany. Alex didn’t, so I took him over to a bench and snapped this pic from afar.

We all got our picture taken, though.

Then we noticed this guy carving wood at the outpost and we had to check that out. It was really cool and we watched him for a little bit.

Both kids got into playing the African instruments.

Then it was back to the Mexico pavilion for another ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour. We all enjoy this ride so much, even if there isn’t much too it. When I’m having a tough day at work sometimes I will remind myself that there are people on that ride seeing the video of the chef guy with the knives and it will immediately cheer me up. Yes, I am weird.

Alex did his best skeleton face

Next it was time to use a few more of those QS dining credits at the Mexico pavilion. We eat here at least once every trip and, I’m ashamed to say, sometimes more than once. This Texan misses her tacos desperately while at WDW. These aren’t the best, but they’ll do in a pinch.

I did like my margarita and DH very much enjoyed his sangria.

I had booked us a FP+ for Frozen Ever After for the evening while we were on our break, but I got a notification that it was broken down while we were eating. We decided to kill some time in the area and see if the ride came back up. First we met a couple of pseudo-Norwegian princesses.

There wasn’t much of a line and the ride still wasn’t up when we came out so we burned a snack credit to try something we’d never tried before that has a bit of a legendary status here on the DIS.

School bread! We were still pretty stuffed from dinner, so we just got one to split between all 4 of us. It was pretty good, but not my favorite thing. It didn’t taste like I expected it to. DH and Alex LOVED it, though. DH asked one of the cast members why it was called school bread and was told a pretty interesting story. However, I suck and have forgotten it, so I can’t share it here.

We finished our treat and FEA STILL wasn’t open. We debated using the replacement anytime FP for Test Track, but I wasn’t feeling walking back and forth from WS. There was a bit of protest from Cora, but I eventually got the kids to agree to let it drop and we went to check out something new (to us) instead.

We snagged ourselves some front row seats for the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Live show. I had not heard great things about this show, but thought we could give a it a chance. This picture is a pretty good indication of what we thought of it.

We loved it! It was a lot of fun and one of the things the kids have talked about the most since returning from the trip. They were especially thrilled that they played Don’t Stop Me Now, as Queen is both of their favorite band. Alex is actually going as Freddie Mercury from Live Aid for Halloween.

We remained in World Showcase for the rest of the evening and got spots along the rail in Japan to watch what would be our final viewing of Illuminations. I took pictures, but won’t post them here, as they’re terrible. But I was glad we got to see it one last time.

On the walk back to the resort, the kids wanted to make stops. Cora was taken in by the Boardwalk performers again and Alex spotted an almost empty Village Green and wanted to take advantage by running through it like a crazy person. DH stayed with Cora and I took Alex over to run his heart out.

It was a nice end to a pretty successful day.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We haven't tried school bread yet. We aren't big coconut people. But I do want to try it sometime.

We always love eating in Mexico. Like you said it's good, not amazing mexican but good

 

[disny_luvr]

We eat at Mexico at least twice on every trip. We love the nachos and tacos and we think it’s good food for a QS.

Congratulations on passing your exam!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Your next Disney trip will be incredible as you (hopefully!) won't be doing any reading/writing/studying. It will be interesting to hear all the additional things you got to do as a result! I'm not great at taking advantage of the resort offerings either, but I am getting better about taking afternoon breaks and enjoying the resort pool. One step at a time, right?

So many people seem to adore the QS in the Mexican pavilion. I'm pretty sure I ate there years ago, but haven't been in a long time as there are so many excellent restaurants in Epcot. With the flexibility we may need to have on our next trip perhaps I'll finally return!

That was a bummer about FEA but it seems you had a great time anyway. Your kids look so happy in that picture at the show!

 

[jrmint427]

I am joining in! Loving your report so far.

However, I finally finished that mess (otherwise known as my degree) last summer, and now have an actual job with an actual schedule. Hooray for having more money, boo for having less time off.

Congratulations! This is always the problem...

Ok one more time, seriously, what the h*** is this??

That thing should not be allowed on Disney property!

Our driver was a long-time CM who had retired and started driving the Minnie Vans. He had worked at AK at the time of its opening and was full of trivia related to the park.

How cool! This makes me want to use the Minnie Vans.

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.

We are also from Texas (well, we've lived here 10 years now so I think we can claim it) but are still not people who can be outside in the heat. I was seriously considering June/July for our next trip and now I am re-thinking that. My oldest starts Kindergarten next year and we're debating a hot summer or crowded holiday trip next.

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.

It's amazing how this happens.

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.

I have never waited in a line for Philharmagic and now I am REALLY re-thinking the idea of a July trip.

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 would go see that musical! I think we sampled about every mac n' cheese possible on our last trip. Did he have a favorite?

Woody tried to get Alex to draw, but he was too excited to comply.

Such a cute picture!

Note that it stretches all the way out of TSL and back to One Man’s Dream. No way in hell, not in a million years would I stand in that.

Never. I don't think any ride is worth more than a hour wait (and only FOP is even worth that IMO).

Instead here is a video of the first time they tried it when they were almost-7 and 4. I love how Alex looks to his sister for guidance as to whether or not he should drink anymore.

This is the cutest thing ever!

 

[TNGirlwCamera]

Congrats on passing your test!

 

[Jfsag123]

We haven't tried school bread yet. We aren't big coconut people. But I do want to try it sometime.

I love coconut, but I wasn't prepared for the spices in this one.

We eat at Mexico at least twice on every trip. We love the nachos and tacos and we think it’s good food for a QS.

Congratulations on passing your exam!

Thank you thank you!

Your next Disney trip will be incredible as you (hopefully!) won't be doing any reading/writing/studying. It will be interesting to hear all the additional things you got to do as a result! I'm not great at taking advantage of the resort offerings either, but I am getting better about taking afternoon breaks and enjoying the resort pool. One step at a time, right?

I cannot even imagine! We took our first trip when I was in the first year of my PhD so every single trip I have had some sort of work to do while we were there. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself with no papers to work on our studying to do lol. And yes, I may even need some baby steps to get better about that.

So many people seem to adore the QS in the Mexican pavilion. I'm pretty sure I ate there years ago, but haven't been in a long time as there are so many excellent restaurants in Epcot. With the flexibility we may need to have on our next trip perhaps I'll finally return!

I don't love it, but we do enjoy it and it's pretty consistent. Definitely worth a try!

That was a bummer about FEA but it seems you had a great time anyway. Your kids look so happy in that picture at the show!

Yeah, it was kind of annoying, but that GotG show completely made up for it - they loved it so so much!

I am joining in! Loving your report so far.

Welcome and thank you!

That thing should not be allowed on Disney property!

I 100% agree!

How cool! This makes me want to use the Minnie Vans.

We have no regrets on the Minnie Vans! A great experience each time.

We are also from Texas (well, we've lived here 10 years now so I think we can claim it) but are still not people who can be outside in the heat. I was seriously considering June/July for our next trip and now I am re-thinking that. My oldest starts Kindergarten next year and we're debating a hot summer or crowded holiday trip next.

Aw, I hate to talk folks out of summer trips. We're doing it for the 3rd year in a row next year, so it hasn't been bad enough to completely scare us off. We did spring break in March one year and that weather was amazing, though.

I have never waited in a line for Philharmagic and now I am REALLY re-thinking the idea of a July trip.

It was pretty strange. The same week the previous July was nothing like this year. I'm wondering if it was maybe because they offered free dining for July this year? That hadn't happened before.

I would go see that musical! I think we sampled about every mac n' cheese possible on our last trip. Did he have a favorite?

They'll be thrilled to have an audience member. And he did have a favorite. Stay tuned...(ok, it was Artist Point)

Never. I don't think any ride is worth more than a hour wait (and only FOP is even worth that IMO).

Agreed!

Congrats on passing your test!

Thank you!!

 

[Jfsag123]

Day 4: July 22, Part 1 – Epcot

Originally we had talked about using this morning to rope drop EMH at Animal Kingdom for a second time. However, the night before we had all agreed that we preferred to sleep in and enjoy some resort time on this morning instead. However, “sleeping in” for us meant that we were still all awake before 8:00am. We struggle with just lounging around at WDW so we decided to divide and conquer instead. DH agreed to take all of our dirty clothes to the laundry room and get them washed while I agreed to…drum roll…rope drop Epcot alone with the kids.

What? Did we really just take our sleep in day and decide to do another rope drop? You know it. But it was to be an easygoing rope drop. Alex had seen that Ralph and Vanellope were meeting in the area after Figment the previous day and was desperate to meet them. The line had been pretty long at that time so I had ushered the kids out with the agreement that we would find another tie to meet them. With this in mind, I agreed to take the kids in at rope drop with the low stress goal of meeting the characters. My favorite thing about staying in the Epcot resort area is the ability to spontaneously decide that we want to visit Epcot and just pop on over.

We are typically arrive-at-the-gate-an-hour-early rope droppers, so it was strange sauntering over 10 minutes before park open and being at the back of the rope drop crowd. However the word “crowd” is pretty strong for the amount of people gathered at the International Gateway rope. Here’s what it looks like to be at the back of that pack.

The kids decided to pick at each other for the 10 minutes we had to stand there. Cora put her hands on her hips and her elbow hit Alex so then it became a battle of him trying to control how she stood. Really made me feel good about volunteering to bring them into the park.

Eventually the rope dropped, Cora’s elbows were forgotten, and we fast-walked our way down to the Imagination Pavilion. We had nothing to fast-walk for, but everyone else was doing it. When in Rome.

As we arrived at the pavilion, I saw other people approaching at a fast walk just ahead of us. Oh no. Were we going to be beaten for first in line to meet the characters? As it turned out, no. Those people were rope dropping the short film festival (???). Whatever floats your boat.

We walked in through the gift shop exit and found ourselves alone with the few cast members manning the area. Score. We were there in time to see Ralph and Vanellope emerge from the portal.

As we were literally the only people there, we got some good time with the characters, who were a lot of fun. At one point Vanellope tried to hug Ralph and was rejected. So sad.

After we said goodbye to R&V Alex, of course, asked to ride Figment. As we were already there and the line was completely non-existent we went ahead and did so. We had the entire ride to ourselves.

By the time we got off the ride there were a couple of other families there for R&V. Having already done that, the kids spent some time enjoying having the Imageworks activities to themselves.

Our mission accomplished, we began making our way back out of the park. The kids wanted to stop for pictures in Canada, but were punished for their suggestion with eyes full of sun.

I made us stop at the photopass photographer on the bridge on the way back out the International Gateway.

As we walked out I snapped this picture of the empty turnstiles at the IG and the skyliner testing off in the distance.

 

[Jfsag123]

Day 4: July 22, Part 2 – Disney Springs

We stopped in at the Boardwalk Bakery to grab some breakfast on the way back to the resort. I texted DH that we were headed there and he said he’d meet us there. The clothes were through the wash cycle and he came down to join us for breakfast after putting them in the dryer. We got a bunch of pastries that we split that I didn’t take pictures of and just enjoyed sitting on the boardwalk while eating. It was incredibly peaceful and so beautiful. After we finished DH went to get the clothes and took the kids back to the room for a tiny bit of downtime before heading out to our next destination – Disney Springs.

We went to the bus stop and a Disney Springs bus happened to be pulling up just as we got there. However, there was already a Magic Kingdom bus in the loading area, so the bus driver motioned to us to wait until he could pull up. There was a couple with a small baby with one of those detachable car seats/carriers going to the Magic Kingdom who could not figure out their lives. First they physically removed the baby from the carrier and mom took it on the bus. Then dad carried on the carrier. Then he came back and took on a bag from the stroller. Then another. Then he finally began breaking down the stroller. Then he couldn’t figure out how to load it onto the bus. At this point our Disney Springs bus driver opened up the door from where he was and told us to just come on in because who knows how long it would be. We blessed him as we boarded and were finally on our way.

The kids love this water thing.

We have a few specific things we like to see. Here are a few then and now comparisons between this year and last year.

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

We checked out the Lego store and Alex got a Superman keychain. We went to the Christmas store and picked out our ornament for the year (Wheezy and Alien from Toy Story on the Teacups ride), then to the candy store where the kids used up some snack credits. I looked at dresses in the dress shop, but talked myself out of buying any, as I had already grabbed the Spaceship Earth dress for myself in Epcot the previous day. We went to World of Disney and Cora picked out some Star Wars patches. DH and Cora both got new phone cases at D-Tech – Cora’s was Pluto (surprise surprise) and DH picked this one. He was over the moon.

Next we went somewhere we had never gone before in Disney Springs.

I must confess I didn’t even know this was here, but I’d heard about it before this trip and thought we could check it out. I loved the free access to a portrait studio and they had some cute backdrops available. Next time we may actually dress for getting our pictures taken…

Having our fill of shopping and starting to feel hungry again, I put in a mobile order for D-Luxe burger and we made our way back toward that area. We had ordered shakes and had our drinks brought to us first. The cast member who delivered them was really nice, but he was VERY talkative and stayed at our table for a little bit of time. Alex didn’t want to start working on his shake while the server was still there (because of course) so this was his sad longing face as he waited to begin drinking it.

You did it to yourself, man. I actually did remember to take food photos this time.

I learned my lesson from last time and asked for my buffalo chicken sandwich without the blue cheese. Everything was delicious and we couldn’t finish it all.

The walk back to the bus stop always feels about a million miles longer than the walk from the bus. I do realize they drop off closer than they pick up, but it still feels ridiculous. And, as seems to be our tradition, though we’d had almost no wait for the bust to DS, we had a decent wait for the bus back to the resort. No strollers this time, but we did have an inexperienced ECV driver who almost ran some people over, so that was fun. Then when we did get on the bus it stopped at Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, and Beach before finally delivering us to the Boardwalk. I realized we could have gotten off at the Swolphin and walked back across the bridge moment too late. Oh well. We, of course, eventually made it back and enjoyed a bit of a break and some more pool time before venturing back out again.

 

[disny_luvr]

I agree that a huge advantage of staying at an Epcot resort is the ease of popping in and out of Epcot. We do it all the time and it really has us spoiled - so much so, that even though I actually like the Poly more than the YC/BC, we tend to stay at the YC or BC more because of the ease.

We love D-Luxe burger. I haven’t been there in a few trips though so we really need to visit next time. Have you tried Chicken Guy yet? That’s another one I want to try.