No, we're going to Monkey Joe's...a June 2021 TR (UPDATE 7-28)

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I want to start off by asking if anyone else has terrible trouble posting on the Dis boards. I have tried multiple browsers and it’s always the same…glitchy. Is it just me? Am I doing something wrong???

My computer will start to make the fan blow very loudly if I have too many dis board windows open. I think it is such a large site it runs on a lot of ram. Which probably also causes glitchy behavior.

We dragged our luggage up to our second floor room. Miles excitedly used his magic band for the first time. We opened to the door to a dirty room.

Oh NO!!!!! That is the worst especially these days!

But wait! There’s more!!!

Double OH NO!!!!

Our order was clearly sitting there, but the CM insisted it wasn’t ours. I showed her the order number on my phone, but she would not be swayed. I have no idea what was going on, but after a couple minutes, she pulled another CM over who easily confirmed it WAS our order.

We mobile ordered awhile ago at Restaurantousours and I stood and stared at my tray of food for a good 10 minutes before I got an alert. It was really annoying. But you are right, there is probably alot of new CMs. I think we have some issues, because we go right when the new College Program kids are starting.

Things will go wrong, and that’s OK!!! It can all work out, and it did.

So true! One bad day or moment doesn't need to ruin the whole trip.

Miles absolutely loved the Toy Story section, and each time we went in and out of “Andy’s Room" he had to comment that we were leaving or going into Andy’s Room again. It’s the small things that make you smile, and we loved hearing his pleasure in this little area all week.

Sometimes it really is the small things.

We ordered the family pizza meal for supper, from the food court, and this time I made sure to order Miles a juice box so I wouldn’t have to wait in line for a straw again.

My girls don't like paper straws, so we started bringing reusable straws with us. And they are a lifesaver in general. And easy to have in your park bag.

 

[Araminta18]

I'm here! So sorry about Miles, but I'm glad it went away before your park days!

Glad you enjoyed the Dolphin -- we stayed at the Swan and that location can't be beat, though I admit I was missing the Disney touches, especially watching the park hours channel.

Bummer about the rough start at Movies! I totally agree about lots of new CMs getting trained up and so some bumps are almost inevitable. So glad the rest of your trip was amazing though--can't wait to read about it!

 

[CruellaNY]

At this point, Micheal was saying we would NEVER stay at this hotel again.

Oh no! Ok well I get it. Steve is never liking a resort if we have a rough check in or first day experience. I have only stayed 1 night at ASM and it was a few years ago so really don't have anything to say, I hear positives from clients but the CM's and first day really make a difference.

Ok, so let me explain my reason for sharing all this. It is NOT to gripe or complain. As I said in my first post, this ended up being the best trip we have ever taken. I want to show that things don’t have to be perfect to be perfect. Things will go wrong, and that’s OK!!! It can all work out, and it did.

What a good outlook! And so true. Last Sept. we arrived at Boulder Ridge for Steve's birthday trip; room was dirty and yucky and while they did give us a different one it was just as dirty and they didn't fix it so our bands worked so we walked from one end back to the desk, to old room for luggage and then new room on other side only to not be able to get in. And we were running way late for our dinner in DS and we were hangry and they agreed to clean room and move luggage while we ate but all the confusion and dirt made us both feel the trip would stink and also turned us off to BRV. Surprise! Moved to Copper Creek and had a great trip! I am really glad you didn't let that get you down!!

I do wish Disney would put out the darn straws though, LOL

yes 100%!

 

[SEAGULL59]

I'm going on a mommy/daughter trip in November and we are staying at ASM. Hoping your stay got better!!

 

[kclark9830]

My computer will start to make the fan blow very loudly if I have too many dis board windows open. I think it is such a large site it runs on a lot of ram. Which probably also causes glitchy behavior.


Oh NO!!!!! That is the worst especially these days!


Double OH NO!!!!


We mobile ordered awhile ago at Restaurantousours and I stood and stared at my tray of food for a good 10 minutes before I got an alert. It was really annoying. But you are right, there is probably alot of new CMs. I think we have some issues, because we go right when the new College Program kids are starting.


So true! One bad day or moment doesn't need to ruin the whole trip.


Sometimes it really is the small things.


My girls don't like paper straws, so we started bringing reusable straws with us. And they are a lifesaver in general. And easy to have in your park bag.

I think I remember on our last trip i brought straws from home. I definitely will need to remember this for the future.

 

[kclark9830]

I'm here! So sorry about Miles, but I'm glad it went away before your park days!

Glad you enjoyed the Dolphin -- we stayed at the Swan and that location can't be beat, though I admit I was missing the Disney touches, especially watching the park hours channel.

Bummer about the rough start at Movies! I totally agree about lots of new CMs getting trained up and so some bumps are almost inevitable. So glad the rest of your trip was amazing though--can't wait to read about it!

I missed the Disney touches too, and I love the channel with the park time, etc. If it keeps hubby happy, though, and more willing to keep returning I will do it! Haha! Oh, the sacrifices!

 

[kclark9830]

yes 100%!

I think my biggest peeve about it is, we pay a pretty good chunk of change for WDW. We shouldn't have to beg a straw, you know? And I assume paper straws are more expensive, so I get they don't want to just leave them out, but you know sometimes it's the small pieces of customer service that makes a difference. Though I get it...first world problems.

 

[kclark9830]

I'm going on a mommy/daughter trip in November and we are staying at ASM. Hoping your stay got better!!

It did, thank you!!! And I hope you have so much fun! It is definitely a dream.

 

[buzzrelly]

Joining in!

Sounds like a bit of a rough start but I love your positive attitude. It makes all the difference! I find that more often than not, the whole check-in day is pretty stressful, no matter what. Something ALWAYS goes wrong!

Sorry your little guy wasn't feeling well, but luckily it wasn't serious!

Looking forward to your first park day!

 

[kclark9830]

A Practically Perfect Day: Magic Kingdom day 1, part 1

I thought I’d start off by showing you one of the souvenirs I bought from Donald’s Double Feature, the gift shop at All Star Movies. I am not generally a puzzle person, but I knew Miles would be having his tonsillectomy this summer, so I thought I’d like to have a low-key activity to work on while he’s resting. In reality, I think I’ll be done with it before surgery next Monday, lol.

I looked at all the gift shops for different puzzle options, but there weren’t a ton of choices and I liked this one best. I’m making good progress!



On to Magic Kingdom day 1, part 1!

The morning started early with a text from Disney saying our room was ready…and it was the same room we were in, so that was a HUGE relief. I only realized later I had fully unpacked, and if they’d had us change rooms I would have been in a pickle as far as my park plans. Sure am glad that worked out!

I woke Ashlyn and we threw on our clothes we’d set out the night before. I sprayed some dry shampoo in our hair, as we’d both showered the night before, and we finished freshening up and brushing our teeth (why am I telling you all this?!?! Sorry!).

I made a quick cup of coffee. I definitely love having a coffee maker in the room at Movies!

Then we kissed Micheal who was mostly sleeping still, and Miles who was dead asleep still, and we were off to the bus stop. We found a looooooonnnnnggggg line of folks waiting for a MK bus. It was 6:47AM, so I knew we wouldn’t be at the “front of the pack.” We ended up waiting 20 minutes to get on a bus, which isn’t great but it was nowhere near our worst time for the week for bus waits.

We honestly didn’t care. We were HIGH on Disney excitement!

We arrived at Magic Kingdom and almost breezed through security. I forgot to take out my umbrella from our park bag.

But after a quick minute we were officially walking under the train station and onto Main Street. I’m not one to cry, and I didn’t cry here, but I was feeling all the feelings!

We had a wish list of 4 rides for our morning before Micheal and Miles would join us: Peter Pan, 7DMT, Space Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear.

We headed to Peter Pan's Flight first, and it was a walk on. I believe at this point it was right at 7:25AM. We realized while walking through the queue we had never done this ride without a FP, and the queue is so cute! Honestly, this became a theme the whole trip. We never rode anything without Fp before, and we saw so many cute queues this trip. Who knew? LOL

In no time, we were flying over London and into Neverland. Now I was seriously feeling all the feels.



We have an older daughter not on this trip. Her name is Emma, and she passed away 5 years ago this month when she was 10. She had cancer, twice.

Anyway, Peter Pan was her favorite Disney character, and in fact we’re pretty sure she thought he was real, the way kids believe in Santa.

We have dozens of pictures and stories she wrote about Neverland, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell. So riding this ride first felt special and wonderful, and we loved it!



The plan was to do 7DMT next, but it hadn’t started running so we skipped it and headed to Space Mountain. Another walk on.

In 2018, we tried to ride this one (we had never done it before) but it broke down while we were on it and we were evacuated. Ashlyn ended up doing it later that trip, but today was my first time, so we were excited.



OK, to be honest it wasn’t my favorite. It was fine, and I’d do it again, but I just don’t like roller coasters I guess! Ashlyn loved it though, and since she was happy, I was happy!

We headed over to Buzz for a quick battle with Zurg. It was another walk on, and now it was around 8:30AM.





We still hadn’t heard from Micheal (no surprise, he doesn’t like getting up early), so we checked 7DMT. I can’t remember if it was still not running or if it was just a long wait. Regardless, we decided to relax on the People Mover, and it was a great ride! Again, a walk on!






It was now nearing 9AM, and lines were building up to about 20 minutes or more for most rides. We decided to ride Winnie the Pooh, and we waited for right at 20 minutes.

There was a family in line behind us, and the Dad was so rude. I’m sorry, there’s just really no way to get around that. He was clearly not happy to be there (I get it, WDW makes Micheal grumpy too, or it has at times, but Micheal would never behave this way to other people). So he kept trying to, I don’t know, shepherd us to move forward more???
We were not standing 6 feet back from the people ahead of us, not by any means, but we were certainly leaving at least 2-3 feet. This was very obviously annoying him, and he kept crowding Ashlyn, as if he were trying to force her to move forward.

It was awkward and rude. What did he think he was going to accomplish? It isn’t like it could get him on the ride any faster!

Anyway, pointless rant over, we got our own pot of honey and we forgot all about the creepy man angrily crowding the 11-year-old girl. (In retrospect, I have no idea why I didn’t ask him to back away from my daughter.)

Ok, moving on. Winnie the Pooh just makes me happy. I love this ride! One of my only regrets this trip is we never did make time to make sure Miles rode this one. He really wanted to!

As we left the ride, Micheal texted to say they were on a bus heading our way, so we made our way down Mainstreet to meet them at the train station.



While we waited, the Dapper Dan’s took a pass on the trolley singing, “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.” It was so happy.
Micheal and Miles arrived just as the Dapper Dan’s were making their return, which made me happy because this is the kind of thing Micheal enjoys. The slower things. The atmosphere things.

And he did enjoy it!

Now we rounded the corner to see the castle, and Miles’s reaction did not disappoint! He had only been to WDW once, when he was 1, so this was his first time really seeing the castle. He loved it! He kept pointing and saying, “Look, a castle!” over and over.

I will leave you here for now, but our wonderful Magic Kingdom morning is set to continue, no worries!

 

[kclark9830]

Joining in!

Sounds like a bit of a rough start but I love your positive attitude. It makes all the difference! I find that more often than not, the whole check-in day is pretty stressful, no matter what. Something ALWAYS goes wrong!

Sorry your little guy wasn't feeling well, but luckily it wasn't serious!

Looking forward to your first park day!

Glad you're here!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I want to start off by asking if anyone else has terrible trouble posting on the Dis boards. I have tried multiple browsers and it’s always the same…glitchy. Is it just me? Am I doing something wrong???

I’m joining in,
that is how we felt at times this past trip, however, overall we had a wonderful trip and Disney is our happy place despite all the changes!

Now the Dis, ugh! It is so bad, it literally keeps losing my posts or not letting me post once I get an update ready to go. I have tried different browsers, different computers and sadly I think it is the Dis. I have found if you use a picture sizer (not sure what you call, it) like image Size my pictures don’t turn or post upside down.
I have almost given up on finishing my TR because of how painful it is to post now. I feel your pain!

 

[kclark9830]

I’m joining in,
that is how we felt at times this past trip, however, overall we had a wonderful trip and Disney is our happy place despite all the changes!

Now the Dis, ugh! It is so bad, it literally keeps losing my posts or not letting me post once I get an update ready to go. I have tried different browsers, different computers and sadly I think it is the Dis. I have found if you use a picture sizer (not sure what you call, it) like image Size my pictures don’t turn or post upside down.
I have almost given up on finishing my TR because of how painful it is to post now. I feel your pain!

I'm sorry for your troubles, but at least I'm not alone! I will definitely try a picture sizing app. Maybe that will help!

 

[Araminta18]

I thought I’d start off by showing you one of the souvenirs I bought from Donald’s Double Feature, the gift shop at All Star Movies. I am not generally a puzzle person, but I knew Miles would be having his tonsillectomy this summer, so I thought I’d like to have a low-key activity to work on while he’s resting. In reality, I think I’ll be done with it before surgery next Monday, lol.

I looked at all the gift shops for different puzzle options, but there weren’t a ton of choices and I liked this one best. I’m making good progress!

What a pretty puzzle! Cracking up that you bought it for a specific reason and you'll have it almost all done before then lol I'm not a puzzle person either but we did several during the pandemic and I love finishing them and being able to modgepodge them and put them up on the walls as pictures. I've got a Haunted Mansion one from our latest trip that I need to start!

We honestly didn’t care. We were HIGH on Disney excitement!

Disney excitement is real!

We headed to Peter Pan's Flight first, and it was a walk on. I believe at this point it was right at 7:25AM. We realized while walking through the queue we had never done this ride without a FP, and the queue is so cute! Honestly, this became a theme the whole trip. We never rode anything without Fp before, and we saw so many cute queues this trip. Who knew? LOL

Same! I've missed so many queues cause of fastpasses, so I kind of did enjoy seeing all the regular queues this last trip. Peter pan's queue is ADORABLE -- definitely one of my favorites.

We have an older daughter not on this trip. Her name is Emma, and she passed away 5 years ago this month when she was 10. She had cancer, twice.

Anyway, Peter Pan was her favorite Disney character, and in fact we’re pretty sure she thought he was real, the way kids believe in Santa.

We have dozens of pictures and stories she wrote about Neverland, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell. So riding this ride first felt special and wonderful, and we loved it!

Aw, I love that you got to ride this first -- what a lovely story about Emma.

We still hadn’t heard from Micheal (no surprise, he doesn’t like getting up early), so we checked 7DMT. I can’t remember if it was still not running or if it was just a long wait. Regardless, we decided to relax on the People Mover, and it was a great ride! Again, a walk on!

#peoplemoverforlife

While we waited, the Dapper Dan’s took a pass on the trolley singing, “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.” It was so happy.
Micheal and Miles arrived just as the Dapper Dan’s were making their return, which made me happy because this is the kind of thing Micheal enjoys. The slower things. The atmosphere things.

And he did enjoy it!

Dapper Dans are the best! I'm glad Micheal enjoyed it -- on our first couple trips, when my husband was still kind of getting into the whole Disney magic, he really liked the Dapper Dans too.

Now we rounded the corner to see the castle, and Miles’s reaction did not disappoint! He had only been to WDW once, when he was 1, so this was his first time really seeing the castle. He loved it! He kept pointing and saying, “Look, a castle!” over and over.

Ok that's adorable. Castle reactions are my favorites!

I'm sorry for your troubles, but at least I'm not alone! I will definitely try a picture sizing app. Maybe that will help!

So, I was having the same trouble, and I read that if you're using a windows pc, just right click on the photo, open with paint, and then just click "save" and that tends to fix it. It's fixed it for me everytime -- i can try and forward the link that explains the reason why if you want, but try it -- you may not need to get a separate app.

 

[CruellaNY]

n 2018, we tried to ride this one (we had never done it before) but it broke down while we were on it and we were evacuated. Ashlyn ended up doing it later that trip, but today was my first time, so we were excited.

I didn't realize you'd never ridden! I agree with you pretty much; I like it and think it's a fun thrill ride but it does too much damage to my neck. IF I'm going to ride-and I don't often- it's the last ride before we leave and I always have a chiropractor appt when I get home lol.

Glad you got to ride PP on your first park day ❤

 

[kclark9830]

What a pretty puzzle! Cracking up that you bought it for a specific reason and you'll have it almost all done before then lol I'm not a puzzle person either but we did several during the pandemic and I love finishing them and being able to modgepodge them and put them up on the walls as pictures. I've got a Haunted Mansion one from our latest trip that I need to start!


Disney excitement is real!


Same! I've missed so many queues cause of fastpasses, so I kind of did enjoy seeing all the regular queues this last trip. Peter pan's queue is ADORABLE -- definitely one of my favorites.


Aw, I love that you got to ride this first -- what a lovely story about Emma.


#peoplemoverforlife


Dapper Dans are the best! I'm glad Micheal enjoyed it -- on our first couple trips, when my husband was still kind of getting into the whole Disney magic, he really liked the Dapper Dans too.


Ok that's adorable. Castle reactions are my favorites!


So, I was having the same trouble, and I read that if you're using a windows pc, just right click on the photo, open with paint, and then just click "save" and that tends to fix it. It's fixed it for me everytime -- i can try and forward the link that explains the reason why if you want, but try it -- you may not need to get a separate app.

Great tip! I will give it a shot! And a HM puzzle would be cool!

 

[kclark9830]

I didn't realize you'd never ridden! I agree with you pretty much; I like it and think it's a fun thrill ride but it does too much damage to my neck. IF I'm going to ride-and I don't often- it's the last ride before we leave and I always have a chiropractor appt when I get home lol.

Glad you got to ride PP on your first park day ❤

Yes! I feel like I was soooo tense during the ride. Maybe because of the dark.

 

[kclark9830]

A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom day 1, part 2

Hi everyone! In real life, today we had to do all of Miles’s preadmission stuff for surgery on Monday. It caused lots of anxiety and stress, and so many emotional memories, and I won’t go into it all on a Disney chat board, but if you pray I sure would appreciate prayers for an easy and successful surgery and recovery. I’m OK, but I kind of wish I could bury my head in the sand until it’s all over.

Deep breath, big sigh, and OK, let’s move along.

I ended my last update with Micheal and Miles joining Ashlyn and me at MK on our first park day. It was roughly 9:30AM.
Crowds were definitely picking up at this point, as we headed down Main Street (gosh, I wish I was there today!!!) We stopped for a quick picture of the kids in front of the castle so we could send it to Micheal’s step-dad (it was his birthday)...





then we headed toward Miles’s #1 pick. Any guesses?
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you guessed Buzz Lightyear you would be correct.

The line was a posted 20 minute wait, and it was spot on. The CM at the entrance to Buzz, an older gentleman, joked with the kids that they must be troublemakers because of their shirts (Stich). Sir, you have no idea.

Miles was so excited, and Ashlyn was so excited to show her brother the fun of WDW.




Miles loved the ride, obviously, and it was a great first family ride.






We knew exactly where we were heading next. (Miles had mapped out his whole itinerary, lol. Maybe he’ll be a planner too.)

Dumbo was next! It was a posted 15 minute wait. Took closer to 25 minutes, which didn’t surprise me. We have been duped by the posted wait time on this ride SO MANY TIMES.

Today was one of the first days they had opened the play area at Dumbo's big top, but we didn’t tell the kids.




We had a grand flight on Dumbo, even though Ashlyn got really mad because she couldn’t figure out how to make her elephant go higher. She did eventually get it to work (the toggle was sticking). But then the ride was over and she was mad again. Oh well.

Next we headed to Barnstormer because Miles wanted to ride a rollercoaster. Posted 20 minutes, we waited 20 minutes. Miles started to chicken out as we boarded but we quickly whisked him into the ride car before he could protest. What do you know? He loved it and begged to do it again, but the line was too long to do it again. It’s just too short to justify it! Maybe I feel a tiny bit bad about telling him no…but not really.

We decided to do the Little Mermaid Under the Sea ride next. It was another 20 minute wait, and we enjoyed our journey into the deep. I love the colors and music in this ride. It’s so…happy. I feel like I keep using that word, but I guess it’s just because that’s how WDW makes me feel.

At 4 waits of 20+ minutes each, Miles had definitely reached his ornery point. He was happy, don’t get me wrong. But managing his behavior while in line had become a challenge after doing this again and again and again.

These were the shortest lines we encountered this week, overall, and we managed throughout the week, but I very much missed FP. Like I said in my last post, we pretty much FP'ed our way through every ride in the past.

We wanted to do Winnie the Pooh, but the thought of waiting for the 25 minute posted wait was too much for us at this point.

Instead, we did a mobile order for noon (it was around 11AM) at Cosmic Ray’s, and in the meantime we headed to Carousel of Progress by way of the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin gift shop.

Miles had seen an alien he had to have and we thought he could play with it while we enjoyed the show. Buzz was out on the Tomorrowland stage, so Micheal stopped with the kids while I ran to the gift shop for the toy. Then we walked right into the next show at CoP (a walk on! Thank goodness).

It turned out Miles loved the show and didn’t play with his toy at all while watching it. And we all loved the show, as always. Since then, I’ve caught each of us singing or whistling “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” several times. (Yay!)

On our first trip ever, our oldest daughter Emma was 5. She was obsessed with carousels, and I remember being tired at the end of the night and we just wanted to leave! But Emma was begging for one more carousel ride. We looked at a park map and saw CoP so headed that way. We were not expecting what we got, and Emma was super confused as to why this was called a carousel, lol.

After the show, we picked up our mobile order at Cosmic Ray’s. The food was good, and we were in the AC so we were happy. We did forget to ask for a straw when we picked up our food, but we remembered the rest of the week, lol.

We had originally booked a lunch reservation at The Plaza Restaurant, but Micheal was really pushing for a more relaxed trip and we ended up canceling it. I feel like, throughout our entire trip, this was a great choice each time we did that. And despite our first fiasco at Movies, we had great luck with mobile ordering throughout the rest of the trip. We never had trouble getting time slots exactly when we wanted them.

At this point, we stopped for some castle pictures then headed back to our resort for the afternoon.



It had been a really great morning. On our way out we got caught by some furry creatures from the hundred acre woods! We learned on this trip that Miles has zero interest in characters. What can you do?



At the resort, we chilled for a couple hours then went swimming for a couple more hours. I think we ended up heading back to Magic Kingdom around 7PM for a 9PM closing. For now, I’ll leave you here, but I’ll finish up our first park day soon!!!







(I think these were taken on check in day...I think.)

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Sure am glad that worked out!

Thanks Goodness!!!

We honestly didn’t care. We were HIGH on Disney excitement!

I can only imagine. I can't wait till we get that high.

We headed to Peter Pan's Flight first, and it was a walk on. I believe at this point it was right at 7:25AM. We realized while walking through the queue we had never done this ride without a FP, and the queue is so cute! Honestly, this became a theme the whole trip. We never rode anything without Fp before, and we saw so many cute queues this trip. Who knew? LOL

Doing stand by first thing is the best way to do it... The que is great!

Anyway, Peter Pan was her favorite Disney character, and in fact we’re pretty sure she thought he was real, the way kids believe in Santa.

We have dozens of pictures and stories she wrote about Neverland, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell. So riding this ride first felt special and wonderful, and we loved it!

A great way to honor Emma!

There was a family in line behind us, and the Dad was so rude. I’m sorry, there’s just really no way to get around that. He was clearly not happy to be there (I get it, WDW makes Micheal grumpy too, or it has at times, but Micheal would never behave this way to other people). So he kept trying to, I don’t know, shepherd us to move forward more???
We were not standing 6 feet back from the people ahead of us, not by any means, but we were certainly leaving at least 2-3 feet. This was very obviously annoying him, and he kept crowding Ashlyn, as if he were trying to force her to move forward.

Yuck! It amazes me how rude some people are... And self absorbed!

Anyway, pointless rant over, we got our own pot of honey and we forgot all about the creepy man angrily crowding the 11-year-old girl. (In retrospect, I have no idea why I didn’t ask him to back away from my daughter.)

I hate when I look back on something and think the smae thing.. But these days.. you never know. You hear the stories of people freaking out about masks and all. Probalby for the best.

Now we rounded the corner to see the castle, and Miles’s reaction did not disappoint! He had only been to WDW once, when he was 1, so this was his first time really seeing the castle. He loved it! He kept pointing and saying, “Look, a castle!” over and over.

Perfect!!!! It makes the day worth it just for that!

It caused lots of anxiety and stress, and so many emotional memories, and I won’t go into it all on a Disney chat board, but if you pray I sure would appreciate prayers for an easy and successful surgery and recovery. I’m OK, but I kind of wish I could bury my head in the sand until it’s all over.

Ugh! I can't even image the anxiety you must have. I am sure it will all go well, but totally understand your fear and stress!

ad a grand flight on Dumbo, even though Ashlyn got really mad because she couldn’t figure out how to make her elephant go higher. She did eventually get it to work (the toggle was sticking). But then the ride was over and she was mad again. Oh well.

This happened to my girls. They were SO mad... I kind of avoid it for that reason now.. It's not worth it. ha.

Next we headed to Barnstormer because Miles wanted to ride a rollercoaster. Posted 20 minutes, we waited 20 minutes. Miles started to chicken out as we boarded but we quickly whisked him into the ride car before he could protest. What do you know? He loved it and begged to do it again, but the line was too long to do it again. It’s just too short to justify it! Maybe I feel a tiny bit bad about telling him no…but not really.

That is the hardest part with the lines. I mean there has to be lines... but it's hard with little kids.

Since then, I’ve caught each of us singing or whistling “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” several times. (Yay!)

I love it!!! raising another Disney lover right!

On our first trip ever, our oldest daughter Emma was 5. She was obsessed with carousels, and I remember being tired at the end of the night and we just wanted to leave! But Emma was begging for one more carousel ride. We looked at a park map and saw CoP so headed that way. We were not expecting what we got, and Emma was super confused as to why this was called a carousel, lol.

This is hilarious! I don't think we even went on the right our first trip but probably would ahve thought the same thing...

We never had trouble getting time slots exactly when we wanted them.

This is good to hear. I feel like all I have heard was horrer stories of people having to wait hours to get a time slot.

 

[kclark9830]

Closing Out the Night: Magic Kingdom day 1, part 3

Happy early weekend all! I wanted to finish up this update for our first park day before the weekend .

I left off yesterday with us heading back to Magic Kingdom around 7PM. The park was set to close at 9PM. I think we waited around 10 minutes for a bus, so not bad at all, thank goodness!

On the bus, there was a lively conversation going on. Several people on the bus were discussing how excited they were for the fireworks. As an avid Dis'er, ahem, I knew there were no fireworks going on. There was one other family on the bus who was trying to explain the no fireworks thing, but one woman in particular was not hearing it. I thought it was so strange to spend so much money on a vacation and know nothing about what’s going on there. Not that I don’t know it happens all the time the world over, it’s just foreign to my personality.

When we arrived at MK, I saw the people on the bus weren’t the only ones wanting fireworks this night. Main Street was packed, lined with people staking out spots.

I almost felt bad for them as we passed them by on our way to Fantasyland. Almost.

Out first stop was the Winnie the Pooh ride, but the line was snaked out almost to the Teacups and there was no social distancing going on, so it’s not like the line was shorter than it looked.

We bypassed it and headed to the carousel first. We had to wait for the next cycle and we were on. It was disappointing to not be allowed to choose your own horse (we were assigned a section) but it was still a fun little ride. Carousels are simple and enjoyable, IMHO.

We decided to do Mickeys Philharmagic next. The wait time said 15 minutes but they were about to start the next show so we were able to walk right in. This show always delights. Maybe I’m too easily pleased though, LOL.

We made up for the lack of wait with our next ride . It’s a Small World was a posted 10 minute wait, and it took us 30. Ah well, I like this ride too. It was finally starting to get a bit dark, and the lights were coming on all around Fantasyland. My favorite!



When we got off the ride, it was almost park close. Peter Pan didn’t have a long line, so we hopped over there and into line. Ashlyn and I had ridden it that morning, but Micheal and Miles hadn’t yet.

We waited probably 20 minutes once again, which really isn’t bad of course. Miles enjoyed the queue, especially the little Tinkerbell fairy light that zips around the kids' bedroom scene.

On the way out, Micheal and I stopped for some castle pics with just the two of us. As you can see, they didn’t turn out so well . That’s OK, they still make me happy!





We talked about doing some shopping, but there was quite the line to get into the stores on Main Street so we passed on that.

Out at the buses, we waited right at 40 minutes for a bus. It was after park close, though, so I do get it.

So that’s a wrap on our first park day! It really was pretty perfect, and it set the tone for the rest of our week. Sorry for the skimpy pictures this update, there are more to come, promise!