Just Keep Swimming - a January 2019 TR (Complete & new TR link 8/26)

[missangelalexis]

So awesome that DS was chosen as the Beast! Glad the kids enjoyed Space Mountain too!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I took this picture so I could always remember fussing at my children in every.single.line to just stop climbing on everything.

Every darn time! It's not just kids, either. I see far to many adults climbing on barriers while they're waiting, too.

We went through the magic mirror and I knew some kids would be picked for roles, but I was so surprised when they picked DS1 to be the Beast!

How cool! And, good that DS2 wasn't interested in participating, so he didn't get to jealous.

I love your family Space photos. We're hoping to get the girls on it in August, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[cinderaimee]

So awesome that DS was chosen as the Beast! Glad the kids enjoyed Space Mountain too!

It was such a fun experience for him for sure!

Every darn time! It's not just kids, either. I see far to many adults climbing on barriers while they're waiting, too.

I mean, I get it, it's easy to get bored in line but jeez louise. And if they were just climbing it would be one thing, but with my younger one there is a pretty real possibility for him to go from climbing to going through one and just start running because he thinks it's fun to be chased, so let's just say I won't miss that at all on my girl's trip and hopefully he'll be a bit more mature and less of a flight risk the next time I take the kids.

How cool! And, good that DS2 wasn't interested in participating, so he didn't get to jealous.

DS2 is not into characters *at all* so he was happy to sit out.

I love your family Space photos. We're hoping to get the girls on it in August, so we'll see how that goes.

I hope you do! It's a fun one!

 

[kclark9830]

I'm really enjoying your TR! I'm so sorry about your mom . But I'm glad you were able to enjoy this trip!

 

[cinderaimee]

I'm really enjoying your TR! I'm so sorry about your mom . But I'm glad you were able to enjoy this trip!

Thank you so much!

 

[cinderaimee]

August Girl's Trip Planning!

Since I never got a PTR going for the August trip, I figured I'd just pop some updates/planning details in here. Our FP day is TOMORROW, which means I've got the FP butterflies (is that a thing or is it just me?) I've asked my sisters for input on what they want to make sure we hit and my older sister responded "Animal Kingdom" okay, OBVIOUSLY. And my younger sister responded with only gifs and emojis of food and adult beverages. GOTCHU COVERED GIRL.

So with all that very detailed input, I am going ahead with planning everything myself, which is really what I wanted to do anyway

Here is my basic outline for the each day of the trip with the FP times I'll be aiming for:

Saturday, 8/17
We are on a 6AM flight out of DC, which means we will have to wake up around 3AM and IT WILL BE FINE Our short-ish trip means we want to get every minute out of every day there. Our flight is supposed to land at 8:20, so I expect we will be at our resort by 9:30/10. We will leave our carry on bags with Bell Services and head to Epcot. (FP Goals: 11am Soarin', 12pm Nemo, 1pm SE) My must-do's this day are SE and Illuminations because I need to see them again before they go away. After SE, we will either head to WS for lunch or back to the resort if we need some downtime after that early wake up) We are on the QS dining plan, so I am looking at La Cantina de San Angel in Mexico for lunch. My older sister wants to see all the countries, and I hope to grab a 4th FP for TT or FEA before Illuminations.

Sunday, 8/18
I have this day scheduled as our Animal Kingdom day. (FP Goals: 9am Safari, 10am FOTLK, 11am FoP) Is an 11am FoP FP on day 60+1 unrealistic? You betcha! But this girl's gonna try. I don't want to be in the Pandora rope drop crowd, so I'm thinking rope drop Everest and make our way around to FoP. Satuli Canteen would be my choice for our QS lunch. If we stay in AK we are looking at Flame Tree BBQ for dinner, but we might also hop to another park or go for a swim, depending on the weather and FP availability.

Monday, 8/19
We will start this day at the Magic Kingdom with a PPO BOG breakfast, then get in line for 7DMT. (FP Goals: 9am BTMRR, 10am Spalsh, 11am Space Mountain) Since we're using one of our QS credits for breakfast, we'll probably get some snacks (looking at you, Casey's Corner chili cheese fries) to hold us over until dinner time - Pecos Bills or CHH are on my list. HEA is a must! We are also hoping to hang out at Trader Sam's after the park closes.

Tuesday, 8/20
It's already the final park day! I put HS last for the best chance of getting a morning SDD FP. (FP Goals: 9am SDD, 10am ToT, 11am RNRC) At RD, head for TSMM and/or Swirling Saucers. I am not sure this is a full-day park for us, so we might end up hopping after our FPs or swimming at the resort, but I need to come back and see Toy Story Land at night and Fantasmic.

On Wednesday, our flight home is at 6pm, so we are heading to DS for eating and shopping. I just picked up an 11:30 lunch ADR for Homecomin' - not sure if we will keep it yet. We'd be paying out of pocket, so we may just get drinks and some apps to share.

So that's where I'm at on FP Day Eve! We'll see how it shakes out in the morning.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Exciting, good luck tomorrow!

 

[cinderaimee]

Exciting, good luck tomorrow!

Thanks! I just realized a couple of hours ago that tomorrow is ALSO the day you can start booking 2020 packages so I am SURE Disney is totally prepared and the website will absolutely NOT be overloaded or crashing or anything annoying like that!

 

[cinderaimee]

August Girls' Trip Planning - FP Day

Today was FP day - I was pretty worried about the site crashing due to everyone trying to book 2020 packages starting today, so I pulled up the website on my computer, plus the app on my phone and iPad. On the computer, the website didn't think I had tickets that I could make FP's for, but the app on the iPad worked flawlessly. My Epcot and MK days I got exactly the FP's I wanted, but AK and HS were a little more problematic. At exactly 7:00, the earliest SDD FP I could get for day 60+4 was 6:30 PM. Next, I switched to day 60+1 at AK and they were all out of FoP FP's for the entire day. I got NRJ in its place, which is the best I could do for now. As I went through to fill in the rest of the FP's, the earliest ToT I could get on our HS day was 2:10 PM, so I ended up shifting our RNRC FP to a little later because it didn't make sense to put it early in the day if all our other FP's are late afternoon. So that kind of frees up our morning if we decide we want to RD another park or sleep in.

Here are the pretty MDE screenshots-



I'm not totally satisfied with the HS and AK days, so I'll probably keep fiddling with the times. I'm pretty bummed about not getting FOP, but we can always RD or get in line right before closing. I will be riding a Banshee somehow!

Also, just because I love to see how other people prep for trips, I thought we'd play a round of "What's In My Amazon Cart?" which is less of a game and more of me just showing you some things I want to buy before we leave

First up, is this lightweight backpack that I am considering using for my park bag.



On previous trips with the kids, I brought a regular backpack with all the kid supplies in it (extra clothes, wipes for hands, snacks, etc) that stayed in the stroller, and a crossbody bag with my wallet, phone, camera, etc. I had considered just using the cross body bag on this trip, but without having a stroller to keep things like my water bottle, sunscreen, flip flops for water rides, I thought I would probably need a larger bag, but the backpack we used for the kids is quite heavy alone and hot to wear and a bit larger than I need. I really like the pink or purple colors this bag comes in, but will probably just get a blue or green so the boys could use it for camp or something in the future.

Next are collapsible water bottles, which I'm not totally convinced I want, but I've never done Disney in the summer and I know I'll need more water than usual. I like that these don't take up a lot of room when they're empty.



I also think I want to bring a small fan and have my eye on this one mostly because it's cute, but I'm still looking at the different ones on Amazon.



And last for now is a new pair of sunglasses. The sunglasses I have been wearing are a designer brand and very nice, but I got them as a gift probably 10 years ago and they are a little out of fashion now. They also have a pretty thick plastic frame that just isn't too comfortable to wear when it's hot. These look pretty lightweight and I like the style, plus at the price I won't be too sad if I lose them.



If anyone has any recommendations for similar items, or things you loved to have a Disney, I'd love to hear them!

That concludes my August trip planning interruption to this TR. We'll be back to our regular programming soon

 

[disneyAndi14]

We will be in Epcot the same day as you, maybe we can say Hi!!

I want those collapsible water bottles, I am going to order those. Thanks for the Amazon cart show!!

 

[disgeek009]

I was pretty worried about the site crashing due to everyone trying to book 2020 packages starting today, so I pulled up the website on my computer, plus the app on my phone and iPad.

So smart and prepared! *respect*

Next, I switched to day 60+1 at AK and they were all out of FoP FP's for the entire day.

Yikes!

I thought we'd play a round of "What's In My Amazon Cart?" which is less of a game and more of me just showing you some things I want to buy before we leave

Love this game! It's not as light as those collapsible water bottles, but I love my Hydroflask. If you put ice in there, it will stay cold a LONG TIME. Also, I haven't tried it myself, but I read that these cooling towels are pretty good.

 

[amberdc1987]

Just found your report. First off I'm so sorry about the loss of your mom. Moms are special people for sure. Second, your boys are precious!! Last, your trip so far has been wonderful! Except for the whole mug credit fiasco. I'm so glad they got that fixed for you. I was exhausted just reading it. LOL That lantern photo in Epcot was so beautiful! I've never seen that one before, I'm going to have to try to remember it. How awesome your son got picked to be the Beast!! Those pics are precious!! I can't wait to hear about the rest.

 

[cinderaimee]

Love this game! It's not as light as those collapsible water bottles, but I love my Hydroflask. If you put ice in there, it will stay cold a LONG TIME. Also, I haven't tried it myself, but I read that these cooling towels are pretty good.

Thank you for the recommendations! I'm going to look at those

Just found your report. First off I'm so sorry about the loss of your mom. Moms are special people for sure.

Thank you so much for reading and your lovely comments

 

[cinderaimee]

Thursday, January 17 - Magic Kingdom (Part 3)

Picking back up where we left off, we had just ridden Space Mountain and still had some time before our next FP opened for Buzz, so when in Tomorrowland and need to fill some time, what do we do?

That's right, Peoplemover time. DS1 picked this R2D2 spinner toy as his souvenir for the day in the Space Mountain gift shop, and it ran out of batteries about 5 minutes after this picture was taken, so we went back to return it, which was pretty easy.

I am pretty sure we rode COP too, but I don't have any photographic evidence to prove whether we rode it this second MK day or the first, but I think we did that next.

Then we went over to Buzz, which had the craziest FP line we'd seen all trip. I don't know what it is with this ride and the FP line, but it was ridiculous all day. Do they just give out too many passes for this ride?

Anyway, soon enough we were boarding the ride and I was determined to be a Galactic Hero. The first day I had only managed to get 300,000 and knew I could do better. I was prepared, I had studied the tricks and knew my targets.

"Robot left hand, inside claw, top of the volcano, bottom of Zurg's ship" I chanted to myself. I visualized myself getting to 999,999 points. I told DS1 he could only sit with me if he didn't touch the spin knob. I was going to win this time.

I'm a little competitive, if you can't tell.

When presented with the first targets, I aim carefully, pull my trigger and...

Nothing. No red dot. No blast sound. Nothing. I give it my best effort, squeezing the trigger out of desperation. "ROBOT LEFT HAND!", I command it. Nothing.

I continue my pathetic attempt at getting any kind of score and eventually the ride gives me 400 mercy points, which is somehow even worse than zero.

That is the face of abject hopelessness.

Next time, Zurg.

EDITING TO ADD: After Buzz, we went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor and it's not something I had ever heard too much about so I didn't have high expectations of it, but I was pleasantly surprised how actually funny the show was, for us grownups and the kids too.

I was still stewing in my disappointment of not becoming a Galactic Hero, so it was time to eat.

We headed out of Tomorrowland to Casey's Corner. We planned to have more snacks during the parade so we got a few things to share. I put in a mobile order and used one QS credit on footlong pulled pork bbq hot dog, which came with a soda and a side of fries. We also used a snack credit on an order of chili cheese fries, and I grabbed a couple of ice waters for the kids. The footlong dog was a great use of a QS credit and I'm sad that they're not at Casey's anymore. I ate the pork and coleslaw that came on top of it and then we cut the hot dog into thirds that DH and the kids shared. DH and DS1 really loved the chili cheese fries, so we ended up getting a second order and we were all pretty satisfied with that amount of food. I thought it was great to be able to feed us all with 1 QS credit and 2 snacks.

By time we finished eating, it was about 2:15 so we decided to find our spot for the parade. I had my eye on something at Sleepy Hollow, so we made our way over there. On our 2016 trip we picked a spot near the path that goes around the castle and ended up very squished by people trying to see the parade at the last minute, so we picked a spot not quite so close to the paths, with this lovely view of the castle:

Once DH and the kids were settled there, I got in line at Sleepy Hollow.

DH wanted a funnel cake, and I had totally intended to get a waffle, but when I read the words "ice cream churro sandwich", I had to have it. Of course, I completely failed to take any pictures of our treats, but they didn't stand a chance. It was an absolute massacre.

The parade started up and I took a few pictures, then decided I just wanted to watch the parade since DH had his GoPro running.

Then I got a little bored and decided to Instagram story the parade instead. So I don't have a lot of actual pictures.

This is a freeze frame from a video, so not great quality but so cute - Sleepy decided to take a rest right in front of us and it was so funny!



This was before Maleficent was back, and they actually took out the whole Sleeping Beauty section, so it seemed a little short.

We didn't have any real plans once the parade was over so we asked the kids what they wanted to do next. DS1 wanted to ride Space Mountain again, and DS2 wanted to do Buzz again, so while we were waiting for the parade, I got a SM FP for DS1 and myself and Buzz for DS2 and DH.

DS1 and I ended up waiting a long time for SM, even in the FP line. DH and DS2 managed to ride Buzz twice in the time it took us to come out. Once they tapped into their first FP, I got on the app and made them another one for 10 minutes later.

We met back up and switched kids - DS2 wanted to ride the Peoplemover and DS1 wanted a turn to do Buzz with his dad.

DS2 and I finished up first, so I got popcorn for him and a coffee for me and while we hung out waiting for them, I grabbed a FP for BTMRR. DH and DS1 were taking a long time to come out of the ride, and I found out that DS1 found a Woody doll that he just had to have, so they were in line getting that. When DS2 saw Woody, he had to get something too and we ended up getting him a Zurg toy that pops balls.

(I don't know if I mentioned this earlier since I've been writing this TR for a few months, but the boys both had Disney gift cards they got for Christmas, plus they cashed in their piggy bank before the trip, and Fairy Godmother gave them money, so they had plenty to spend. DH and I were not just blowing cash on them. Just thought I should clarify that.)

We left Tomorrowland and crossed the hub to go to Frontierland.

We were a little early for our BTMRR FP so it was snack time again!

DH really wanted a turkey leg, so we found that cart and also got a Mickey pretzel and a churro. Funny story - every time we had a churro before this, DH had bought it when I wasn't looking, either I was getting something else, or I was in the bathroom with the kids, but this was the first time I had seen a churro straight from the cart. I said "wow, this churro is so much bigger than the ones at the other parks!" and DH says "no, that's the same size the other ones were." Come to find out, DH had been quickly eating half the churro before he even met up with me.

It was pretty dark at this point so I don't have many pictures to figure out the rest of the evening. I know we rode BTMRR and it was amazing at night and the kids loved it so much. Since we had seen HEA the first night we were at MK and we had been in the park since our PPO breakfast, I was planning this to be somewhat of an early day so after BTMRR we decided to make our way out. Then we passed the Magic Carpets and the kids really wanted to ride it. It didn't have much of a line, so we got on. Adventureland was completely empty by this point and the kids were having fun, so we rode it twice more as a walk on.

I wanted to get out of the park before HEA so we made our way down Main Street when I suddenly remembered I needed to go to Starbucks to get a You Are Here mug, so I left DH and the kids near one of the balloon vendors and went to grab that.

I rushed back out to DH and the kids and the show was about to start and DH wanted to stay and watch it again, so we did and it was actually pretty nice watching it from Main Street. I honestly thought he'd be tired of the crowds but he was so reluctant to leave the park.

By time the show was finished, the kids were exhausted and we headed out to the buses - the bus stop is so much closer to the BRV building than the boat dock, plus the boat was a hassle with the stroller.

They were asleep before the bus even left for the resort.

We got back to the room and had the kids in bed in no time.

We realized we hadn't actually had dinner, so DH went down to Geyser Point and got a Bison Burger and I saw on their online menu that they had the German pink grapefruit beer, so I asked him to bring me back one of those. We had leftover pizza in the room, so I made a meal out of that and some other snacks we had to finish up. DH doesn't really drink but he liked the grapefruit beer, so we ended up splitting it. All in all, it was a great day!

Next up is our final park day!

 

[Cloe Colton]

I'm all caught up! Your FP plans for August sound great! Sorry you didn't get FOP or the SDD you wanted. I actually had pretty good luck getting day of fastpasses for those rides with the drops on my last trip so maybe you'll get lucky! Or just keep checking, you never know!

The FOF parade spot looks like an awesome spot! Love the picture of Tinkerbell!

You were really getting some awesome FPs in MK! The boys will be spoiled for the future! lol

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I don't know what it is with this ride and the FP line, but it was ridiculous all day. Do they just give out too many passes for this ride?

They must be distributing a lot of FPs because the line is always long and the FP is nearly always available.

I continue my pathetic attempt at getting any kind of score and eventually the ride gives me 400 mercy points, which is somehow even worse than zero.

Oh no, I'd have been irrationally angry about that.

Of course, I completely failed to take any pictures of our treats, but they didn't stand a chance. It was an absolute massacre.

I was lucky if I got to eat part of my treats, much less manage to keep the jackals away long enough for photos!

They were asleep before the bus even

That's a park day well spent!

 

[cinderaimee]

I'm all caught up! Your FP plans for August sound great! Sorry you didn't get FOP or the SDD you wanted. I actually had pretty good luck getting day of fastpasses for those rides with the drops on my last trip so maybe you'll get lucky! Or just keep checking, you never know!

Thanks! I'm not as worried for my August trip with having the fastpasses just right since I'm going with adults who theoretically don't need constant entertainment and supervision, so the thought of waiting in a long SB line is less bothersome than when I'm with the kids.

That's a park day well spent!

It was a long, fun day! We hadn't planned this to be a PPO to fireworks day but once you're in the parks it can be so hard to leave!

 

[disgeek009]

That is the face of abject hopelessness.

Having your plans FOILED seems appropriate for this ride.

Funny story - every time we had a churro before this, DH had bought it when I wasn't looking, either I was getting something else, or I was in the bathroom with the kids, but this was the first time I had seen a churro straight from the cart. I said "wow, this churro is so much bigger than the ones at the other parks!" and DH says "no, that's the same size the other ones were." Come to find out, DH had been quickly eating half the churro before he even met up with me.

Sneaky husband! You deserve some solo churros to make up for this.

They were asleep before the bus even left for the resort.

So cute! You know it was a good day when this happens.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great afternoon/evening at MK!

 

[Verstehen]

Loving your report! I'm so sorry your blaster didn't work I don't know if you had time, but I'm 100% sure they would have let you ride again if you told them what happened, just for future reference