"We forgot to go to Magic Kingdom!" (Not really) – A September 2019 Trip Report - F&W, MNSSHP - COMPLETE 4/17

It is so amazing to see the magic through their eyes!!! I am sure I will love going with older kids too (less potty breaks, less meltdowns, more rides...) but I consider myself lucky to be able to experience it when they are little too
I saw that it is fun to expierence the park as they grow. Each trip is a little different as they get older and there intrests change. And I am sure you will have the same.
 
Ugh I would be so stressed/annoyed too that morning! Arriving early and then something not working! Especially with an ADR and a plan for a ride and wanting to meet Anna and Elsa! I am so happy her gifted you an anytime FP and I hope the rest of the morning goes smooth!

I Agreed I have a major love the with character meals, but it’s easier to stomach the breakfast prices sometimes! It also helps when one is still under 3.... but I do love that we meet the characters and save us the time in line later, which is nice... I guess time is money!

The anytime FP helped our morning to still work out... we just barely made our FPs but we did! And yes, I definitely prefer the breakfasts for the character meals. I've never had a bad breakfast at Disney! I like that it saves time and the girls got to meet a lot right in a row, but I feel like the characters out in the parks spent more time with us. But the girls loved it so much that it was definitely worth it.

I love these types of pictures as well! it's true amazement!

This is the best Disney magic! It's pictures like this that make me so glad we've taken them young.

Ha! I love it! Ariel is always fun! She can be quirky.

We met her again later in the trip in her mermaid form and it was my favorite meet of the whole trip! I won't spoil the story, but she was so fun and had us all laughing the whole time.

Do it while they are young. We have no real need to do them now that my girls are older. They won't always believe that the princesses ARE THE REAL princesses.

So true. This is how I've justified the princess meals... we probably won't always do character meals, but I'll include 1-2 on our next trip for sure.

I"m glad all the characters came close enough that you could enjoy the food! I really think they character meals should all be like Bon Voyage where you get a platter to share and then order a meal. Its just so much more enjoyable when you don't have to worry about missing characters!

I love the model at Bon Voyage! Yes it's fun to try different foods, but it feels pretty chaotic when you're trying to balance trips to the buffet but don't want to miss the characters. I did really like how the timing worked out here.

This is So true!!
And I think it is the reason many of us here on the boards love bringing our young kids (despite many people’s opinion that you should wait until they are older)
It is so amazing to see the magic through their eyes!!! I am sure I will love going with older kids too (less potty breaks, less meltdowns, more rides...) but I consider myself lucky to be able to experience it when they are little too!

I totally agree! If we were going to only take one Disney trip ever, I would wait until they were a bit older. But we knew early on that we are Disney people and will take the girls at different ages. But I'm with you - I can't wait for fewer potty issues! I wouldn't wish away these years, but am excited to take them when they are older kids too.

I saw that it is fun to expierence the park as they grow. Each trip is a little different as they get older and there intrests change. And I am sure you will have the same.

So true! It's fun to know that our trips will evolve as the girls get older (and as Disney rolls out new attractions at their parks)!
 
Anna & Elsa

After we ate, we changed outfits in the bathrooms at Akershus. The girls really loved all the dress up clothes and we had a pretty good rhythm down for changes. It was around 9:30am when we left Akershus. Since we had an anytime FP for Frozen Ever After and were short on time (our Nemo FP window had started at 9:25am), we decided to try to meet the sisters and come back to the World Showcase later for the FEA ride.

The line for Anna & Elsa said 25 minutes and we waited 27 minutes. DD4 asked me if the wait was going to take "forever" like last time – haha! We waited 45 minutes to an hour last year and she was apparently scarred by that experience. I had read online a week before our trip that Anna & Elsa had replaced their photographers with the new photo boxes, and I was so disappointed to see that. But it meant I was pleasantly surprised to see real live photographers when we got into the room!

We met Elsa first, at 10:02am. I could see the girls talking to her a bit, but the room was so loud I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. We got some really cute pictures.

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I promise DD2 was very happy to meet Anna and Elsa, but she looks uncertain in most of the pictures!

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I love this shirt - Some People are Worth Melting For! It's hard to make out in the picture, but Pat's shirt has a snowflake with Kristoffs on it.

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I really liked my MIL's shirt for this meet too - There is No Better Friend Than a Sister (and she has 6 sisters, so this was appropriate for her!).

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Next up was Anna. She’s always a playful character to meet. She was telling the girls to say “yoohoo!” at the store for 5% off, and DD2 tried to hide behind DD4. Anna said, “Your tongue’s a bit frozen? I do recommend hot chocolate for that!” I told you we heard different versions of how quiet the girls were all day. We still got some very cute pictures.

The younger sisters:

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Hugging pictures are my favorite ❤

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Next up was a bathroom break. The Frozen bathrooms are one of my favorites in the parks! As you can see, this area was not very crowded at 10am.

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When we finished here, we had exactly 10 minutes left before our first FP would expire. Would we make it in time?
 


Great Anna and Elsa meet!

Ugh I hate those stinking boxes! I’m hoping they don’t end up actually using them. I understand it but the Meets with real photographers are way better!!

I think you make your FP!
 
Those pictures are adorable! Your daughters are precious! Love the outfits too!

Thank you!!

Glad the princesses lived up to their reputation! It looked like a great meet!!
(And not as bad of a wait as last trip! This made me laugh... isn’t it crazy how kids remember such small details?)

Kids have amazing memories haha. Sometimes too good... but I was also glad the wait was shorter!

Ugh I hate those stinking boxes! I’m hoping they don’t end up actually using them. I understand it but the Meets with real photographers are way better!!

I hated them too. I’ll post later in the trip but our box pics were not great. I read a week after our trip, they got rid of the boxes!! I’m so glad they listened to feedback.
 


I hated them too. I’ll post later in the trip but our box pics were not great. I read a week after our trip, they got rid of the boxes!! I’m so glad they listened to feedback.
Wow really?!? That would be amazing I thought they are still in some meets! We had them only at Tinker bell and I agree blah!
 
The Seas w/ Nemo, Turtle Talk, Soarin’, Living with the Land & Spaceship Earth

It was 10:15am by the time we finished up in the World Showcase – we only had 10 minutes left to make it to Nemo. I know there is a grace period, but we had a tight morning planned (trying to fit in all rides at the front of the park), and I didn’t want to be late for our other FPs. We tapped our magic bands right at 10:25am (just squeaking in without the grace period) and were on the ride just four minutes later. It’s a quick ride but the girls seemed to enjoy it. I love the real sea animals at the end.

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I had Turtle Talk with Crush planned next, and a show was just about to start as we walked in, so the timing worked out well. DD4 sat up front with the other kids, but DD2 wanted to sit with the adults. I really enjoy this show and Monsters Inc. where there is a bit of improv with the audience.
After the show, our group split up. We had a 10:25am FP for Soarin'. DD2 is too short to ride and my dad gets motion sickness, so they stayed to check out the aquariums for a bit.

I was a little surprised that DD4 wanted to give Soarin’ a try. I showed her videos of how the seats worked and explained that we would go up high. She said she wanted to fly! She was so proud and excited to be going for the first time.

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We chatted with a family ahead of us while we waited. They were visiting from Brazil. There was a funny moment where their son tried to talk to DD4 in Portuguese and I don’t think she understood he was speaking a different language at first. His mom helped to translate, which was sweet. I’m not exactly sure how long we waited, but it took about 25 minutes from the time we got in line until we were off the ride. The stand-by line at the time was 35 minutes.

I forgot which row to request for the best view on Soarin’, but I’ve never had a bad view before, so I figured it wasn’t a big deal. I should have done my research though, because it apparently makes a big difference to be on the top row and more centered. There were feet distracting from the view and the Eiffel Tower was definitely distorted. I’ll know for next time!

DD4 had been so excited for this ride. She buckled in and didn’t get scared when we were brought up into the air, which is what I was most concerned about. She seemed a little nervous when the movie started. And then there was the whale. I had forgotten all about the whale – and all about how it splashes you with water when it lands right in front of you. DD4 FLIPPED OUT. She was so scared and was screaming to get off the ride. When the elephants came on, we convinced her to peak out, because she loves elephants. But then, of course, the elephants sprayed us with sand. It was a repeat of the whale and the water. So she stopped trusting our judgment at that point.

I felt so bad, but was proud of her for giving it a try. She ended up closing her eyes for most of it, but despite all the fuss on the ride, she told my dad she liked it!

My dad and DD2 were waiting in the Land food court when we got off the ride. It was 11:36am when we got in line for Living with the Land. The posted wait time was 20 minutes but we only waited for 7. The girls love to work in our little garden with Pat (I don’t do bugs, which means I don’t work in the garden), so they love seeing all the food growing at Disney.

DD4 asked if the Dragon Fruit is fruit being grown for the dragons 😊

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I always like looking for the hidden Mickeys on this ride. This first one was obvious (so not really hidden?):

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But this one I didn’t see until I was looking through my pictures later:

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The curves in the ceiling add to the black circle to make a hidden Mickey! They must have done that on purpose, right?

I liked how they had signs showing which F&W dishes each plant was being used in at Epcot. I was also fascinated with these snake gourds that really looked like snakes.

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As we were walking to the Nemo ride earlier in the morning, DD4 saw people having their pictures taken with Nemo and Dory and asked if she could have a picture there too. There was a line and we were in a hurry, but I promised her we would come back for her picture. After Living with the Land, we had just enough time for a quick picture stop before our next FP, so we swung back for the PP stop.

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Our Spaceship Earth FP window was 11:25am – 12:25pm and we showed up right at 12:23pm. Timing worked out almost perfectly this morning! We had just a four minute wait. I rode with DD4 and my parents and DD2 rode behind us. Instead of our own picture, we saw the head of the lady riding in front of us, and my parents said they got my picture.

With our tour of the front of the park and most rides complete, it was time to start our tour of the Food & Wine Festival. There was one item in particular I was most excited to try and it was not far from the start of the food booths…
 
Love the pictures in front of Nemo and Dory! Your daughters really seem to enjoy themselves!
Too bad about soarin... at least she « thinks » she liked it!
 
I promise DD2 was very happy to meet Anna and Elsa, but she looks uncertain in most of the pictures!

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OH DD2! Her face... I love it... Hey, she is standing there by herself and not clinging to you for dear life!!! A huge improvement!

Hugging pictures are my favorite ❤

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Love it.


DD4 had been so excited for this ride. She buckled in and didn’t get scared when we were brought up into the air, which is what I was most concerned about. She seemed a little nervous when the movie started. And then there was the whale. I had forgotten all about the whale – and all about how it splashes you with water when it lands right in front of you. DD4 FLIPPED OUT. She was so scared and was screaming to get off the ride. When the elephants came on, we convinced her to peak out, because she loves elephants. But then, of course, the elephants sprayed us with sand. It was a repeat of the whale and the water. So she stopped trusting our judgment at that point.
Oh poor DD4. It is so hard to know how kids will react to these things.

DD4 asked if the Dragon Fruit is fruit being grown for the dragons 😊

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Ha!

A great sister photo! This is the Photo you should do each trip!!!
 
Love the pictures in front of Nemo and Dory! Your daughters really seem to enjoy themselves!
Too bad about soarin... at least she « thinks » she liked it!

Thank you! Yes, I guess just have to hope the liking part is the memory that sticks :rotfl:

OH DD2! Her face... I love it... Hey, she is standing there by herself and not clinging to you for dear life!!! A huge improvement!

LOL you remember!! Yes, we have come a long way... maybe next time we will even get smiles.

A great sister photo! This is the Photo you should do each trip!!!

I think you're right! I went back to look and we have a picture here from last year, but it's our whole family.
 
Food & Wine Festival and The Three Caballeros

Our plan for the afternoon was to make our way around the world as we made a lunch out of samples from the food booths. After an over-scheduled morning, the plan was to take our time moving around the World Showcase at a leisurely pace, but to be in Morocco by 4:35pm in order to meet Jasmine.

Pat and I read the F&W menus in advance and had noted the items that were on our must-try list. First up was the Light Lab.

If you’re saying to yourself, I thought they got rid of that this year? Well, you would be right. I had newer items on our list too, but I must have reviewed an old menu at some point to add the Light Lab to our list. The glow in the dark “booth” looked like a lot of fun, and I had noted that it was behind Club Cool. What I found behind where Club Cool would have been was a construction site. We wandered around a bit and I eventually asked a Cast Member, who told me they thought it was “over there”… needless to say, we never found it and quickly gave up looking. It wasn't until later that I read it no longer existed! As you will read later in the trip, this wasn't the only update to the parks that I missed in my research this year.

They also got rid of the Greek vegetarian nachos this year, which made me sad. That was one of my favorite dishes two years ago. At least I read about that change in advance and was mentally prepared.

Just after 1:00pm we made our first stop at Earth Eats. I was most excited to try the Impossible Cottage Pie. It comes with Impossible ground “meat” and carrots, mushrooms, and peas topped with mashed cauliflower, white beans and mozzarella.

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I’m not crazy about sprouts, so I picked those off. This dish was just as amazing as I had hoped it would be.

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Only Pat had any interest in even trying this dish, so I got to finish most of it myself. Right next door was the Wine & Dine Studio, where I had my eye on the Butternut Squash Ravioli.

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It came with brown butter vinaigrette, parmesan cheese & pumpkin seeds. It was a much smaller portion than the cottage pie. DD2 really liked this one too and I must really love her because I let her have the last bite. It had started to rain lightly while I was ordering this dish, so after I ate it quickly, we ducked into a nearby store. We hoped the rain would pass quickly and it did.

Our next stop was in Mexico around 1:30pm. Pat had the Ropa Vieja Empanada on his list.

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It has meat in it so I didn’t try it, but he said it was nicely seasoned. He also picked up a frozen mojito from the same booth.

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I normally do not like mojitos but really liked this frozen version. It was refreshing and didn’t have too much mint.

My parents and the girls had not yet found something they wanted for lunch, so we stopped at the Mexico Quick Service location, La Cantina de San Angel. We ordered some food and sat inside for an A/C break. Despite the rain, we were very hot at this point. I didn’t take any pictures apparently, but my dad ordered some chips for us all to share and the girls had mac n’ cheese. I really liked the mac n’ cheese here. My dad also got a Jarritos pineapple soda. It was very good, not too sweet.

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After sitting and snacking for a bit, we decided we needed even more A/C, so we crossed the “street” to the Mexico pavilion for a ride with the Three Caballeros. We were on line by 2:15 and it was the longest line I have ever seen for this ride. Maybe because it was so hot outside? We still only waited 5 minutes.

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Every time I go on this, I’m struck by just how much is going on in this ride. My girls loved it. We hung out at the Mexican pavilion a little longer and applied more sunblock while inside. I’m proud to say we did not get sunburns on this trip, thanks to the many applications of sunblock. We took some pictures while we were here.

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I would really love to see the ride made over into a Coco ride soon! After a short break, it was time to head back out into the heat and onto our next F&W stop.
 
Germany, Japan and Morocco (Jasmine)

I had the Madras Red Curry in India and Spicy Kenyan Vegan Gitehri in Africa on my must-try list. But as we passed those booths, I realized I was too full and thought I might come back later to give them a try, but never did. I think the heat took away my appetite.

We headed to Norway to use our anytime FP for Frozen Ever After. Unfortunately, the ride was down when we got there. A Cast Member told me it would be at least an hour before it was back up, but she wasn’t even sure it would re-open this day. She told us to check the app and if we saw a time pop-up for the ride, it meant it was back up and running. I was disappointed, but we quickly decided to move on and keep an eye on the ride for later in the day.

We knew we wanted to stop in Germany to sample the beer. We made it to the Brewer’s Collection booth around 3:00pm and forgot all about FEA (haha, not really). I knew I would love the pomegranate beer, so I ordered one of those and we got two flights to share between all the adults. We found a high table near the water and while there were no chairs, there was a bench nearby. There was a slight breeze here which was really nice.
The Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen Pomegranate Beer was my favorite, and I was happy to have an extra cup of this.

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The beer flight included decent sizes for the beer samples.

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The Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse was my second favorite. We agreed it tasted like drinking a pretzel, and I liked it better than some others in our group. I didn’t like the Weihenstephaner Festbier Lager as much, but others did. I think most of us agreed the pomegranate beer was very good. My dad picked up 2 pretzels in Germany for us to share while we enjoyed the beer, and that gave the girls something to snack on too. There were ducks near us and the girls enjoyed watching those. I have to admit, it’s not until I looked at the picture just now that I realize DD2 was trying to climb over the fence to get to the ducks.

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They were clearly not scared of the girls. I’m sure they expected to be fed!

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We made it to Japan around 3:40pm and picked up another item on Pat’s list (also not vegetarian) – the Frothy Ramen – chilled noodles and Doshi broth with a light foam topping.

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This one looked a bit odd to me. Pat said it was unusual but he really liked it. While Pat was picking this up, my dad went onto Morocco to get in line for Jasmine, and the rest of us took turns changing in the restroom. Despite being in line around 3:45pm, over 45 minutes ahead of the meet, we were still just second in line. We learned from previous trips that this line tends to fill up quickly. At least we were in the shade here. About 15-20 minutes before her meet, a CM let us inside to wait and we sat in the A/C.

Minutes before Jasmine showed up, I found out from the people ahead of us that Aladdin would be with here. My younger self flipped out and got really excited. Aladdin was one of my favorite movies when I was little and I had never met him before! I might have gotten too excited because my husband decided to position himself between me and Aladdin for the meet 🙄

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The girls were quiet and Jasmine said, “I think they speak the silent language of ---” (I missed what she said here). They talked about how if Iago was there he would be talking their ears off and the only thing to shut him up is crackers. The girls just smiled.

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I was excited to show off the earrings I had made for me and my MIL – I had on Jasmine dangles and she was wearing Aladdin and the Magic Carpet. They loved our earrings!

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It was so fun to meet a new character! Jasmine is one of my favorite meets.
 
There were ducks near us and the girls enjoyed watching those. I have to admit, it’s not until I looked at the picture just now that I realize DD2 was trying to climb over the fence to get to the ducks.

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Well, I guess she wasn't succesfful at least!

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This one looked a bit odd to me. Pat said it was unusual but he really liked it
I want to try this but DH says it sounds gross.

Minutes before Jasmine showed up, I found out from the people ahead of us that Aladdin would be with here. My younger self flipped out and got really excited.
That is awsome that Alladin was there as well.

I might have gotten too excited because my husband decided to position himself between me and Aladdin for the meet 🙄
Ha! A hint of jealously? funny.
 
I have to admit, it’s not until I looked at the picture just now that I realize DD2 was trying to climb over the fence to get to the ducks.

Story of a moms life! I feel like its better that you missed it in real time, you know what i mean?

Minutes before Jasmine showed up, I found out from the people ahead of us that Aladdin would be with here. My younger self flipped out and got really excited. Aladdin was one of my favorite movies when I was little and I had never met him before! I might have gotten too excited because my husband decided to position himself between me and Aladdin for the meet 🙄

What a fun surprise! We met them together a few years ago and loved meeting them and loved how they signed!

Overall looks like a pretty good amount of F&W items, i feel like with how much information there is out there its hard not o occasionally miss an update, i missed a whole countries QS was closed!

Do you think they will update Three Caballeros to Coco, i can never tell with all those rumors either!

Also did you see how many vegetarian items they have added to the menus at Disney recently?
 
Just binge-read through your report so far.

Your girls are adorable and I love all of your outfits for the parks.

UGH on your departure drama. Hope there were no issues with your home from the storms that arrived just as you were scheduled to leave.

What a fun playlist for your roadtrip- musical geography lessons.

The Wilderness Lodge looks amazing and I love the theming around the resort and in the rooms. I finally went there in 2015 to look around because I had never been. Really impressive. Check-in sounded like a pain. That and the ticket issue you had at EPCOT- seems like with all the automated stuff on Magic Bands there is a lot that can go wrong.

I have never dined at either Roaring Forks or Whispering Canyon. Food looked really good at dinner. It was smart to plan your meal right there so you didn't have to leave.

You really did have a jam-packed morning at EPCOT. Looks like everything worked out pretty well. I'm glad the afternoon was a bit more relaxed as you snacked around the world. I agree about the heat. There were so many things I wanted to try at Food & Wine, but our appetites were not up to the task.

I am a big fan of the grapefruit beer by the brewer as the pomegranate flavor. The one that tasted like a pretzel sounds really interesting.

I loved everything about your Aladdin/Jasmine meet! Everyone's outfits, the setting, the characters. Very sweet.

Speaking of meets, I agree with the previous poster about getting the girls' pictures at Nemo every year. It was great finding a photographer there. It is such a fun spot.

:goodvibes
 
My younger self flipped out and got really excited. Aladdin was one of my favorite movies when I was little and I had never met him before!

I would have been over excited to met Aladdin too... I had a big movie crush on him when I was a kid!!!
Love your pictures with Aladdin and Jasmine! Looked like a fun meet!
 

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