A Whole New World, A Whole New Life! -- A Jan-Feb-Mar 2015 TR -- *COMPLETED* 9/29

[DisneyFreak98]

Today was Saturday, and it was also Valentine's Day! We got up early this morning and it was cold. The boys left to go play golf around 8:00 while Mom and I stayed back at the RV. While the boys were gone Mom and I hung out at the RV, I got some schoolwork done and uploaded some PhotoPass pictures.
Around 10:00 we started getting ready to go to Magic Kingdom! When we were in Disney two years before we were there for Valentine's Day, and they did a whole special True Love Week. There were special characters and other different things, but we didn't know beforehand so we couldn't really take advantage of it. We weren't really sure what to expect this year, but we were counting on there being some special stuff!
The boys got back from golfing a little after 11:00, and they all got changed and ready for MK. We ate leftovers for lunch a little after 11:30, and afterwards we cleaned up and finished getting ready. We made sandwiches for dinner and packed the rest of the stuff we needed, and we were out the door around 12:30!
We walked down to the boat dock, and when we got there a boat was waiting for us! We hopped on and had a chilly ride over to the Kingdom. As we approached the boat dock, we could already tell that the park was wicked crowded. We figured it would be crowded because it was Saturday, Valentine's Day, and also President's Day weekend, but it looked worse than we had anticipated. As we went through bag check and entered the park we began to realize that it was much worse than we had anticipated. You could hardly even move on Main Street there were so many people. I mean, you couldn't even see in front of you. It was really intense.
We stepped off to the side to develop a game plan. After checking the app for wait times and seeing that even rides like the Barnstormer and It's a Small World had 45 minute waits, we began to lose hope. The shortest line was actually Pirates with a 30 minute wait, so the boys decided to head over there while Mom and I met some characters there in the hub.
We got in line for Marie from the Aristocats first; we only waited about 10 minutes for her. I had never met her before, and she was really sweet!

After we met her we checked out the times guide to try and figure out the best order to meet other characters in. We decided on Mary Poppins next because her line was short. We were the last people in line for this greeting time, so that was fortunate!
We spoke to the character attendant there about any special characters that might be out for the day. We found out that the only out of the ordinary characters were Snow White and Aurora, and they didn't even have their princes with them! We also found out that the Princesses in the Fairy Tale Hall didn't have their princes with them either. I thought for sure that they would be there for Valentine's Day, and I was kind of heartbroken. We even had FastPasses for the Fairy Tale Hall for that reason. I was bummed, but what can you do?
We found out later that the princesses in Epcot had their princes meeting with them. I was so disappointed that I picked the wrong park!
While we were waiting in line we saw the most adorable little brother and sister. I guess the little girl has Down Syndrome, and Mary Poppins is her favorite character. So, she dresses up like Mary, her little brother dresses like Bert, and they visit Mary Poppins several times a week. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life! The character attendants even know them by name.

Soon enough it was our turn to meet Mary. She was very nice and very proper. Her penguin was with her too, so that was cool!

When we were done meeting Mary, Sam called to inform us that wait for Pirates was not in fact 30 minutes, but 1 hour. They were on their way back to Main Street so we could figure out a new plan, so we went over to the Ice Cream Parlor to meet them. Getting up Main Street was a struggle, and it was even worse for the boys trying to get back. It was just before 2:00 at this point, and Main Street was already lined with people waiting for the 3:00 parade.
The boys finally made it back, and after discussing our options the boys decided to go back to the RV while Mom and I stayed to meet some characters. The boys figured they would have more fun hanging out at the Fort, going fishing and playing shuffleboard/basketball, than they would staying and waiting 1 hour+ for rides that they could ride another day with a minimal wait. So, we got what we needed from the backpack and the boys made their way through the crowd and out of the park.
Mom and I looked at our options and decided to meet Aurora next. She was meeting at the front of the park, so we made our way down there to get in her line. Her line was closed at the moment, but she was coming out again at 2:30 so we decided to wait. We were first in line for her next time, so that was good.
Well, it turned out that the character attendant in charge of the line totally messed up and let way too many people in the line before closing it. Aurora was supposed to leave at 2:00 and come back at 2:30, but she wasn't able to leave until 2:20. The character attendant in charge of Aurora informed us that she was sorry, but Aurora wouldn't be returning until 2:55. We had already stood there for 20 minutes and we didn't really want to be there for 35 minutes more, plus there were other characters to meet, so we decided to just leave. We were a little upset at the poor management, but the girl who messed up was a College Programmer who was still earning her ears, so we understood.
The next character we decided to wait for was Peter Pan! We headed over to Adventureland to get in his line. His next meeting time wasn't for almost an hour, but he has a nice waiting area where you can sit on the ground and lean against the wall. We were 3rd in line, so that was good, and we settled in for the wait. While we were sitting there we met this super nice girl. She lives in the Orlando area and goes to Disney all the time, so we talked to her for a while about the parks, characters, holidays at Disney, and other stuff like that. She had this super cool photo book that she made that she was having all the characters sign, and I thought that was a super idea.
Soon enough it was 3:30 and Peter was coming out! After 2 other people it was our turn, and we had a really nice meet! Peter was funny, and we talked about pirates and treasure. He informed me that I was smart to hide my "treasure" (braces) in my mouth so that the pirates couldn't get it!

Once we were done meeting Peter, it was time for our Princess Fairy Tale Hall FastPasses! Even though the princes weren't there I was still going to see the princesses! So, we headed on over to Fantasyland. We scanned our bands and it was only about 5 minutes before we were meeting the princesses. Cinderella was first, and she was really sweet. We talked about princes and balls, and she asked me if I had a prince to take me to the ball. When I told her no, she offered to let me borrow her prince!

Next was Rapunzel! She was so precious, and I got like 3 hugs from her. She noticed how our hair was the same color, and I told her about how mine used to be very long (although not as long as hers) before I chopped it all off. She told me about how it takes at least 2-3 hours to brush her hair, but that's mostly because she gets it all tangled when she uses it to play jump rope!

Rapunzel is my favorite "new" princess, so I was really glad I gt to meet her.
After we left the Hall, we decided to meet one more character before calling it a day. I had been wanting to meet Buzz, so we headed over to Tomorrowland to see him! When we got there we saw that his line wasn't too long, so we hopped in it. It ended up only taking about 10-15 minutes, but it seemed longer because there were a lot of kids yelling and screaming. They were older kids, so they totally knew what they were doing, too. They kept shouting at Buzz and yelling at each other. It got so bad at one point that the character attendant had to ask them to quiet down.
Pretty soon it was our turn to meet Buzz, and it was so great! He was a charmer, and very sweet.

Buzz was our last character of the day, so once we were done meeting him we started making our way out of the park. It was still crazy busy, so we were glad to be getting out of there. We realized that we had spent the whole afternoon at MK without riding a single ride, which had never happened before! It was kind of strange.
We made our way to Main Street, and before leaving we decided to get a picture together. We found a PhotoPass photographer and got some really cute shots!

After that we decided to make a quick stop at the PhotoPass center to try and figure out a little problem I was having with our Memory Maker. There were some photos missing from our account, but they were showing up on their computers there. I was hoping that maybe they had fixed it!
Once we were done there we made it out of the park and to the boat dock, where a boat was waiting for us! It was pretty packed, and we had to stand, but we didn't mind. We made it back to the Fort and walked home, and by the time we got back to the RV it was close to 5:30. When we got back I checked our PhotoPass account for the missing pictures, but they still weren't there! I was kind of frustrated and very confused, but I didn't know what else to do.
We ate sandwiches for dinner, then at 6:00 we headed down to the campfire to play Disney trivia! Chip and Dale were there playing with us, and we had a lot of fun. We almost won, but we lost to a couple of girls who were looking up the answers on their phones. We still had fun, though!
We didn't feel like staying for the sing-along, so once trivia was over we headed back to the RV. When we got back the boys decided to go down to the Meadow and play tennis while Mom and I stayed back at the RV. We just chilled out and I worked on this trip report for a bit while they were gone, then when they got back about 20 minutes later they told us how the Meadow was insanely crowded! I guess there were a ton of people at the pool, on the tennis courts, at the Bike Barn, and just everywhere.
After they got back we all just chilled out for a while and watched TV before going to bed around 10:00. Even though this day didn't go exactly as we had planned, it was still an amazing day! Tomorrow we planned on going to church in the morning and Downtown Disney later in the day!​

 

[mdsouth]

Howdy, folks, and welcome to my first trip report ever!
My name is Shannon, I'm 17 years old, and this is pretty much the story of how my family went crazy, moved into an RV, and went to live in Florida for 3 months. It's actually a pretty long story, but this trip report is just to talk about the Disney-related aspects of our crazy adventure. So, I'll start at the beginning and get you caught up.
Last February my dad had this idea to sell our house, move into an RV, and live life on the road. We were all slightly hesitant at first, we being my mom, two brothers, and me. He eventually convinced us, though, and everything happened very fast. We sold our house to one of my older sisters, found the perfect fifth wheel RV, moved in, and parked at my brother's house until January 1st, which is when we left for Florida!
I'm sure you're wondering how we could possibly live in an RV and travel all the time and still be in school and have jobs. Well, we kids were already being homeschooled, and our dad has an online business, so it actually wasn't that big of a transition on that front. I'm sure you're also wondering who these other brothers and sisters are that I mentioned above. I actually have 7 brothers and sisters, but 5 of them are married and have their own homes, so it's just me, my younger brother, and my older brother that is closest to my age.
So, that's it for the intro, now on to the fun part! I hope you guys stick around for this, but even if you don't I'm going to write it out anyways, and it will just be like an online journal. I really hope you guys enjoy and follow along, though!
​

Hi! I just now found your report and am subscribing. It will take me a bit to catch up. I just wanted to let you know I am here and excited to read all about your experiences. I have often thought it would be lots of fun to camp at Fort Wilderness and be at WDW for an extended length of time. AND so your report is like living a dream of mine through your storytelling. Thanks for sharing!

 

[dvc at last !]

We love every report -you are living the dream !

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Hi! I just now found your report and am subscribing. It will take me a bit to catch up. I just wanted to let you know I am here and excited to read all about your experiences. I have often thought it would be lots of fun to camp at Fort Wilderness and be at WDW for an extended length of time. AND so your report is like living a dream of mine through your storytelling. Thanks for sharing!

So glad you'll be reading along!

We love every report -you are living the dream !

Thank you!

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Today was Sunday! We woke up and started getting ready to go to church. Travis and Sam stayed home to get some work done, so it was just Mom, Dad, and me. We left the house around 9:30, and we had a great time at church. Afterward we had to stop at a few different stores, so we ended up getting home around 2:00.
When we got home we put all of the groceries and other things we had gotten away, then we hung out at the Fort for a while. Sam had a little more work to finish up, Mom went for a bike ride, and Dad, Travis, and I played shuffleboard.
Around 4:00 we started getting ready to go to Downtown Disney! We didn't have to bring much because we were going to get food there, so we just threw a couple of things into the backpack before heading out! We only had to wait a few minutes before our internal bus came, but once we got to the Outpost it seemed to take forever for a DTD bus to come. We saw at least 3 Hollywood Studios and 3 Epcot buses before ours came.
Our bus finally arrived, though, and we made it to DTD around 5:00. The first thing we did was go to the pin store. We looked around there for a while and traded some pins, then we decided to get dinner. We picked Earl of Sandwich because we had never eaten there before, and we were very excited to try it out. It was pretty crowded, so it took about 20 minutes to get our food, but we didn't mind waiting. The food was totally amazing! I got their barbecued chicken sandwich, and it was wicked good. Their prices are really great too, so I would totally recommend eating there if you're ever in DTD!
We had a really nice dinner together, and once we were done we decided to split up. Mom and I were going to go shopping while the boys went to Disney Quest. So, we all headed out!
Mom and I looked around some different stores like Tren-D, the Co-Op, and World of Disney. Of course we found some great stuff, but we didn't buy anything tonight. We also went to Basin, which I had never been in before. It is seriously the coolest store! They have all kinds of bath salts, soaps, scrubs, and other stuff like that. Everything there smells so good, and they have tons of samples for you to try. They're not that expensive either, so that's great.
Once we were done in Basin, we decided to head home. Before we left, though, we realized that we didn't have a key to the RV! We called the boys and they were ready to leave too, so they were heading over to meet us near the exit. Downtown Disney was quite crowded tonight, so it took them a while to make their way over. There was this gigantic dance team there, and also a few other large groups. Mom and I sat near Rain Forest Cafe and watched the people go by while we waited for the boys.
About 20 minutes later they finally arrived, and we all headed out of the park together. According to the boys Disney Quest had been extremely crowded so they didn't get much done, but they still had a great time.
After a quick stop at the bathroom we made it to the bus stop, where a bus was just pulling away! It was a pretty cold night, so the 15 minute wait for the next bus wasn't too pleasant. Our bus arrived, and we gratefully hopped on. The bus was pretty much as packed as possible, so it was a squished ride back to the Fort.
Once we got back we only waited a few minutes for our internal bus, and we made it back to the RV. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out and watching TV. I worked on the trip report for a while, and we ended up getting to bed around 10:00.
Today was an awesome day, and tomorrow we planned on going to Typhoon Lagoon!​

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Today was Monday! Because we had been doing extra school during the week and also on the weekends, Mom let us take the day off and go to Typhoon Lagoon! Dad and Sam still had to work, so it was just the 3 of going. We got up at 8:00, ate breakfast, got ready, and were out the door a little after 9:00. We got to our bus stop to wait for the internal bus, but it seemed to be taking longer than usual. An employee drove by in his van and noticed that we were still waiting there, so he offered to give us a ride down to the front. We graciously accepted, and he dropped us off at the Outpost. Mom had to run into the main lobby so she could add Bethany to our reservation (she was coming to visit again while she was on school break!), so she did that while Travis and I waited at the bus stop. It only took Mom a few minutes, and when she was done she met us over there. The bus stop was crazy crowded, more so than we had ever seen before. A couple of buses came before ours, and most of the people got on those. Our bus came within 10 minutes, and it was only us and one other guy heading to Typhoon Lagoon.
We arrived in about 10 minutes, and we headed through the gates. We were about 5 minutes early, so it wasn't too long before they let us into the park! When you enter the park you can either go to the left or the right, and we picked the right side. We found some chairs near the wave pool to set up our stuff, and after putting on some sunscreen we were off to do the water slides!
We did the Storm Slides first, which had no line. They have 3 different slides, so we did it 3 times in a row. After that we did Keelhaul Falls, which I think is designed more for little kids. It's still fun, but very tame. Next was Gangplank Falls, the family raft ride, which is crazy fun! We got totally soaked, and it was tons of fun. After that was Mayday Falls, which is the more intense tube slide. It's wicked fun, especially when your tube gets turned around backwards! After that we did Gangplank Falls one more time because it's so fun and still had no wait.
All of those slides are in the same area, so once we were done over there we headed back to our stuff to grab a snack. The next thing we did was Crush n Gusher! The lines weren't too long, so we rode 3 times. The water roller coaster is quite possibly the coolest thing ever invented, and it's so fun! The only downside is that it's killer to have to walk up those stairs every time you want to ride.
After that we decided to hop in the lazy river and float around for a while. At this point we were noticing that the park was getting pretty crowded. It was probably the most crowded we'd ever seen it, but it was also the nicest day that we had been there.
After we rode the lazy river all the way around, we went back to where our stuff was set up. It was about 11:45 now, so we decided to eat lunch. We had packed sandwiches, so we ate those while dried off in the sun. After eating we put on some more sunscreen, and by that time it was a little after 12:00. That meant that the shark reef was open, so I headed straight over there! Mom and Travis didn't feel like swimming with the sharks, so they went to ride Crush n Gusher again.
I got over there and waited about 15 minutes before it was my turn. There was a group of Spanish-speaking girls in front of me in line that were trying to figure out how to wear their masks. They asked me for help, and even though I've taken 4 years of Spanish I could not for the life of me figure out how to tell them the right way to wear the mask. They eventually did figure it out, though.
Soon it was my turn to get in the water, and it was so great! There were tons of fish swimming all around, I got to see the sharks, and a bunch of sting rays swam this close to me! The shark reef is probably one of the coolest things you can do.
Once I was done, I headed over to Crush n Gusher to meet back up with Mom and Travis. They were hanging out in the little pool there, so I joined them, and we discussed what we should do next. Mom and Travis decided to go ride the Storm Slides one more time while I went back to our chairs and laid in the sun for a while.
They met me back at our stuff when they were done, and now it was time to decide what to do again. The park was crazy crowded at this point, and the wait times were climbing. We had pretty much done everything in the park, so we decided to head home. We packed up our stuff and made our way out of the park. It was only about 1:15, so we felt pretty good that we had been able to get everything done.
We got to the bus stop, and once again it seemed to take a really long time for a bus to come. There were tons of other buses coming, and we even saw 3 come for the same resort before ours arrived! Busing seemed to be very strange lately.
Anyways, 25 minutes later our bus finally came, and we were on our way home. We got back to the Fort and waited a few minutes for a yellow bus, and we were back at the RV around 2:00. We all took showers and got changed, then we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the RV. We were going to Epcot that night, so Mom made an early dinner around 4:45.
Today was James' 5th birthday, so we Skyped with Scott, Sarah, James, and Maddie while we ate. We said happy birthday and talked for a while; the kids were really funny! They were having waffles and strawberries for dinner, which is exactly what we were having! They thought that was hilarious. It was really great to talk with them, and James was glad we called him for his birthday.
Once we said goodbye and were done eating, we cleaned up the kitchen and started getting ready to go to Epcot! We stuck a few things in the backpack and were out the door around 5:30. We waited about 15 minutes for an internal bus, which is longer than usual. Then, once we got down to the main bus stop, it was over 20 minutes until an Epcot bus came! We saw 2 Animal Kingdom, 2 Downtown Disney, plus 1 Hollywood Studios bus come before an Epcot one finally arrived.
We ended up getting to the park around 6:30.

Our Figment FastPasses were from 5:30-6:30, so they had just expired, but we went over there first to try them anyways. We were only about 5 minutes late, so our bands still scanned green. We pretty much walked right on to Figment and had a fun ride! They seemed to be having some technical difficulties with the ride cars, but once we got going it was fine.
After Figment we had Test Track FP's to use, so we headed over there! Our FP was from 6:30-7:30, so we were clearly in the window, but for some reason when we scanned our bands they all lit up blue (blue is bad). We had to pull up the website on our phone to show the ride attendant that we did in fact have a FastPass, and once he saw that he let us in, no problem. It was very strange, but we didn't think much of it.
We waited about 10 minutes, and we had fun designing our cars. Travis and Sam designed one together, and Mom and Dad let me do ours.

It's so fun how there are so many different ways you can get your car to look!
We had a super fun ride, and once we got off we decided to head into World Showcase! It was pretty crowded tonight, so we walked straight through Mexico without going inside. The next country we stopped in was Norway! Apparently it had been Dad's plan all along to go to Norway and get schoolbread, so that is exactly what we did. We ordered 3 to share, and thankfully they did not drop them on the floor this time! We ate them at the tables outside, and we just had a really nice time.

Like I said, the park was pretty crowded tonight, so we didn't feel like fighting our way to walk through the rest of World Showcase. Instead we decided to make our way out of the park, riding Spaceship Earth on the way. We made our way to the front of the park, and we had FP's for Spaceship Earth, so we used those. They all scanned blue again, and we had to pull it up on the phone. It was really weird, so we were going to look into it when we got home.
We walked right on to the ride, and I rode with Travis. We had a good ride, even though we got stuck a couple of times!

Once we got off, it was time to head home.

We made it to the bus stop where there were quite a few people waiting already. It took about 20 minutes for the bus to come, and by that time the line was pretty much full. Once again we were confused by the fact that we saw 3 Port Orleans, 3 Caribbean Beach, and 2 Pop Century buses before we saw one of ours. They only had a handful of people in their lines while ours was overflowing! It was just really weird.
Our bus did come, though, and we were certainly packed in there. We stopped at the Wilderness Lodge first, where most of the people got off, before heading back to the Fort. We got back and only waited about 5 minutes for a yellow bus, which was also extremely crowded. We finally got back to the RV where we chilled out for the rest of the night. After watching TV for a bit and getting ready for bed, we ended up getting to bed around 10:15. Between going to the water park and spending the night at Epcot, we were pretty tired! Tomorrow we planned on just staying around the Fort!​

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Today was Tuesday! We got up this morning around 8:00 and everyone got to work pretty soon after that. Travis and I did some extra since we had skipped yesterday, and we finished a little before noon. When we were done we Skyped with our oldest sister Courtney and her family. We hadn't seen them since we left home, so we missed them very much. It was great to talk to them, and our 2 nephews were very excited to see us!
After we were done talking with them, it was time for lunch. Mom made tortellini soup, which was good because it was pretty chilly outside.
After lunch Travis and I decided to go swimming! Even though it was cold out, the pool is heated so we didn't mind. We got changed and walked down to the pool, where we swam for about 45 minutes. The hoedown dance party was going on while we were down there, and that was always fun to watch. We also played name that Disney song, which we kicked butt at! We won, and we got a spiky ball as a prize.
We headed back to the RV around 1:00, and once we got back we showered off and got changed. Dad and Sam were done with their work at this point, so we decided to go for a walk! We wandered around over to the Meadow and through some of the loops on the Orange route. We saw some places we hadn't seen before, and we had a really nice time.
Once we got back to the RV, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and relaxing. It started raining around 3:00, so we were glad we had taken our walk earlier! I worked on the trip report for a while, edited some pictures, Sam and Travis played their video game, Mom knitted, and Dad worked on some stuff on the computer. We ate leftovers/sandwiches for dinner around 5:30, and afterwards we pretty much did more of the same. Mom and I played cards for a while, we watched some TV, and Mom had made cookie bars earlier so we ate some of those. We got to bed around 9:30, grateful for relaxing days spent at home with each other. I don't think we could have survived without days like today!
Tomorrow we planned on heading to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon!​

 

[xlsm]

Ahh! I got so behind!!

I LOOOOVE all of your meet and greets! I really regret not getting in line for A&E and Cindy/Rapunzel on the evening last month i spent in MK alone. I prefer Anna over Elsa, so I'm glad your meet with her was good.

I'm glad that your allergy issues were gone by the next day.


The Mary/Bert story is adorable.


Glad your school bread survived!!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Bummer about not seeing a lot of unusual characters on Valentine's Day, but at least there was a Penguin!

When you all finally got to try the schoolbread, how did you all like it?

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Sorry this post is kind of long and wordy with not too many pictures!

Today was Wednesday! We got up and got to our regular routine of school and work. We were able to get most of our stuff done by noon, when we had lunch. We finished up what little work we had left after lunch, then we got ready to go to Hollywood Studios! We packed our backpacks and headed out a little before 1:30. We didn't have to wait too long for either of our buses, and we ended up getting to Hollywood about 2:00.
Typically when we would go to HS we would make Toy Story Mania FastPasses, but because of the tiered system, if you do that then you can't make FP's for Rock n Rollercoaster. Today we switched things up and made Rock n Rollercoaster FastPasses, and I was going to ride for the first time on this trip! I'd ridden it once before on a previous trip, and I liked it okay. I wanted to give it another try to see if I really liked it or not.
Our FP's were for 1:30-2:30, so we headed straight over there once we got into the park. Dad definitely does not like this ride, so he sat out while we waited in line. We scanned our bands at the FP+ entrance, but just like yesterday they did not work. Sam had looked at it last night, and everything seemed to be in order on our side, but for some reason it wasn't working at the parks. It wasn't too much trouble to show them the FP on our phone, but the trouble was that for some reason the My Disney Experience app had stopped working for us. It wouldn't open, and every time we tried it, it would crash. So what we had to do was go to a FP+ kiosk, wait in line for help, explain the situation to the cast member, then have the CM escort us to the FP line where they could show the other CM our FP on their tablet. The odd thing was, when we scanned our bands at the FP+ kiosk, all of our FP's would show up; but when we scanned at the lines, it would show up saying that we had zero FP's. Even the FP+ cast members were perplexed!
The guy who helped us with our RnR FP was super nice, and he told us to come and see him again after we rode to try and figure the problem out.
He escorted us over to the ride, and once we proved our FP's were there we got in line and waited about 10-15 minutes. I was sort of nervous even though I had ridden it before, but I was also super excited! Soon enough we were boarding our stretch limo and speeding off! I really really loved it, and I had so much fun screaming my head off. I rode it every time we went to Hollywood after that, and it has actually become one of my favorite rides!
Once we got off, we met up with Dad in the gift shop and headed over to the FP+ kiosk to try and get this problem sorted out. The line wasn't too long, and we got the same guy as before. He was really helpful, and he tried a bunch of different things like resetting our Magic Bands and other stuff like that. Our next FP was for Tower of Terror from 2:30-3:30, which was good right now. He offered to walk up with us to the queue to see if what he did worked, so we all headed up to the ride! Once we got there, sure enough, our bands scanned blue and showed no FP's at all. The poor CM was so confused, and he felt really bad. He showed the line attendant that we did have FP's, apologized for not being able to fix it, and told us that we should just take a screenshot picture of our FP's to show at the rides until we could get it fixed. We thanked him for his help and hopped in line!
This was Travis and my first time riding since 2012, and we were very nervous/excited. Unlike RnR which I had sort of liked the first time I rode, I knew that ToT was for sure not my favorite ride. It had been 3 years though, so I was willing to give it another try! We waited about 10 minutes before getting in the elevator, and by this time I was totally shaking. Travis was wicked nervous too, and the suspense was killing us!
We made it through the little pre-show, and soon enough we were at the top, the windows opened, and then the fun began! I pretty much screamed myself hoarse, and I hate to say that my feelings were confirmed for this ride. I really just do not like the feeling it gives me, and it's just not fun for me. I was glad that I went on it though, and the overall experience is definitely fun!

You can see me clutching the wall there, which I did for the entire ride.
See the guy in the back being a total goober lifting his shirt? Well, when we got off the ride he and his friends got a special visit from a cast member, and she walked with them out of the building. I don't know if they were being escorted out of the park or just talked to, but we just thought it was kind of funny.
It was about 3:00 when we got off ToT, and our next and final FP was for Star Tours from 3:30-4:30. We started making our way over there, but we had some time to kill so we stopped and had a snack on the way. We walked around the Streets of America for a little while, as well.

Soon enough it was 3:30, so we headed over to Star Tours to use our FP's. When we got over there we scanned our bands just for fun, but they were still malfunctioning. We showed the CM the photo of the FP+ kiosk screen we had taken, and he let us in with no problem.
We pretty much walked right on to the ride, and we had a great time! We had a good sequence, and it was a good group of people on the ride. It's always more fun when you're with people who are excited and get really into the ride.
Once we got off the ride, we stopped at the bathrooms in between Star Tours and the Backlot Express before deciding what we should do next.

We were near the Muppets, so we decided to do that now. We made our way over there and walked right into the room where the pre-show was going on. It was about 5-10 minutes until the next show, and we had a great time watching it as usual.
Once we got out it was a little after 4:00, and we decided that we would start making our way out of the park pretty soon. The Great Movie Ride only had a 15 minute wait, so we did that before we left. We had an awesome ride, and we actually got the cowboy scene! That was really exciting.
After we got off GMR, it was close to 4:30 and time for us to head home. It was weird for us to come to HS and not ride TSM, but the wait time had been over an hour since we got there, so it just wasn't going to happen today.
We started making our way out of the park and to our bus stop, where we waited about 15 minutes for our bus to come.
We made it back to the Fort, and by the time our internal bus came and we walked back to the RV, it was about 5:00.
We unpacked our backpacks and put everything away, then we made sandwiches for dinner. We all ate together, then afterward we just hung out at the RV for a while. Travis and I went swimming a little later, which was a ton of fun! It was another chilly night, so we pretty much had the pool to ourselves. We swam around for a while, diving for pennies and having races, then we went in the hot tub for a bit before heading back home. We got showered off and changed, then we spent the rest of the night hanging out together. We watched TV for a while before going to bed around 9:30.
Despite our FP trouble, today had been an amazing day, and we were looking forward to going to Animal Kingdom the next afternoon!​

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Ahh! I got so behind!!

I LOOOOVE all of your meet and greets! I really regret not getting in line for A&E and Cindy/Rapunzel on the evening last month i spent in MK alone. I prefer Anna over Elsa, so I'm glad your meet with her was good.

I'm glad that your allergy issues were gone by the next day.


The Mary/Bert story is adorable.


Glad your school bread survived!!

Thank you!! I like Anna more too, probably because I'm so much like her!

I was actually dealing with allergy issues for basically the entire trip, as well as Sam and Dad. There was just something about the Florida air, I guess! For some reason they were just extremely bad on that day, but usually it was tolerable.

Bummer about not seeing a lot of unusual characters on Valentine's Day, but at least there was a Penguin!

When you all finally got to try the schoolbread, how did you all like it?

Yes, it was fun to see the penguin there!

Travis and I had actually had schoolbread before on previous trips, so we already knew that we looove it. It's on of my favorite foods in the world! Mom, Dad, and Sam were trying it for the first time, and they all loved it too! We ended up getting it a few more times before our trip was over.

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Today we got up and got right to our work and school. That kept us busy for the entire morning, then Mom made lunch around noon. Dad and Sam finished up their work by about 1:30, and while they did that Travis played basketball and Mom and I hung out at the RV. Once all the work was done for the day, Mom and Dad had to run to the store.
It was so freezing cold today, so we just stayed inside the RV and hung out while they were gone.
Mom and Dad got back around 2:00, and once they were back we started getting ready to go to Animal Kingdom. We were going to get dinner out tonight, so we just packed some snacks and water in our backpacks.
Like I said, it was freezing today. I mean, we had to bundle up in our hats, mittens, and jackets. It was insane!
Once we were all ready, we headed out to the bus stop around 2:30. We waited about 10 minutes for our internal bus, then another 15 for an AK one. After the 15 minute bus ride over, we arrived at the Kingdom around 3:15!
We had FastPasses for the safari from 3:30-4:30, so we had about 15 minutes to kill before those were ready. We checked out some of the animals near the front on our way into the park, and we also stopped in Africa to listen to the drummers. After that and a quick stop at the bathroom, it was about 3:45; time for our FP's! We headed over to the FP line, scanned our bands (which didn't work, so we had to show them on the phone ), and hopped in line.
It was about 10 minutes before we were boarding our safari vehicle, and we had an awesome trip! We had amazing views of giraffes, elephants, cheetahs, and lions!

Our car had to stop for some crossing animals, and we stopped in the perfect location to see the lions resting!

It was about 4:10 when we got off the safari, and our next FP was for Everest from 4:30-5:30. It was just about time for that, so we started making our way over to Asia. We got there about 10 minutes early, and unfortunately the FP line was backed up! Dad wasn't riding, so he sat out while we got in the line. It didn't end up taking too long, and overall we waited about 15-20 minutes. We had a super fun, although very chilly, trip to find the yeti!

You can see us at the top there, with Travis and I being goobers pretending to be asleep.
Once we got off Everest and met back up with Dad, we headed over to Dinoland! The first thing we did when we got there was Primeval Whirl, which only had a 10 minute wait. I think the temperature was keeping people away today, because the park wasn't crowded at all!

We had a lot of fun on Primeval Whirl, and afterwards we made a quick stop at the bathroom. After that we took a look at some of the animals they have hiding back near Dinoland, and we saw a huge tortoise and this cute little guy!

When we were done there, it was time for our last FastPass of the day, which was for It's Tough To Be A Bug. We made our way over there , showed our FP on the phone, and got in line. Honestly, because the crowd level was so low today, the FP didn't really save us any time at all, but we just used it anyways.
It was about 10 minutes before the next show started, and we had a great time watching.
Once the show let out it was about 5:30, so we decided now would be a good time to get dinner. We wanted to eat at Pizzafari tonight, so that's where we headed. It wasn't very busy inside, so we ordered and got our food quickly. We all got pizza, and everyone enjoyed their food.

We had a really nice time eating together, and while we ate we talked about what our plans were for after dinner. I wanted to meet Safari Mickey and Minnie, but their meet and greet closed at 6:00, so we really didn't have a chance of making it. Instead we decided to just head out of the park, stopping at guest relations on our way to try (once again) to figure out our Magic Band problem.
So, once we were done eating we gathered all our things and started making our way out of the park. Once we got to the front we stopped at Guest Relations, where a very nice woman tried to help us. Once we explained our dilemma to her, she did everything she knew how to do to fix it. She reset all of our bands, convinced that that would do the trick. We were really hoping she was right, so we thanked her and headed out. We exited the park and got over to the bus stop, where we saw our bus pulling away. It wasn't to tragic, though, because we had a gorgeous sunset to look at while we waited for the next one.

Our bus came about 15 minutes later, and we had a nice ride back to the Fort. By the time we got back, waited for our yellow bus, and walked home to the RV, it was about 7:15. The movie on the big screen started at 7:40, and tonight they were showing Muppets Most Wanted. We really wanted to see it, and this was the last night they were showing it, so we decided to brave the cold and go watch it!
Once we got back we unpacked our bags, got changed, made some hot chocolate, and headed down to the movie! Mom wasn't up for the chilly night, and Travis didn't really care about seeing the movie, so it was just Sam, Dad, and I who went. We brought our camp chairs down along with a couple of blankets, and we settled in for the movie.
Once 7:40 came and the movie started, we noticed something was very wrong. It took us a minute to figure it out, but soon we realized that they had started the wrong movie! They were playing the Muppets instead of Muppets Most Wanted. We were so confused, and thought that maybe we had read the movie schedule wrong. But after a minute or two, the movie stopped, they apologized for the mix-up, and soon the right movie was starting. We thought that was pretty funny!
We had a great time watching, even though it was freezing cold. Once the movie was over, we packed up our stuff and walked back to the RV. We told Mom and Travis about the movie mix up, and they thought it was funny, too.
We spent the rest of the night hanging out at the RV, and we went to bed around 10:00. We had an amazing day today, and we were looking forward to going to Magic Kingdom tomorrow afternoon!​

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Did Travis play basketball by himself that day, or did he find another group that was playing?

Will you be applying to any colleges this fall, to start the following academic year?

 

[DisneyFreak98]

We woke up this morning and were somewhat disappointed to find that once again, it was freezing cold outside! It felt like an eternity since we had been able to wear shorts or t-shirts, and we were really starting to long for some Florida heat!
Alas, we put on our jeans and sweatshirts and got ready for another amazing day. We spent the morning getting our work done, then Mom made lunch around noon. Once we were done eating, we decided to go for a walk. So, we cleaned up the kitchen and headed down to the meadow. From there we walked through a couple different loops in the area before heading back to the RV. When we got back it was around 1:00, and we just hung out at the RV until around 1:30, which is when we started getting ready to go to the Magic Kingdom!
We got our dinner ready, packed everything we needed, and we were heading out about 2:00. We walked down to the boat dock where we waited about 15 minutes for a boat to come, and we arrived at the Kingdom right around 2:30.
Today we had FastPasses for Festival of Fantasy, so that was first on our agenda! You can get to the FP+ area 30 minutes ahead of time, so we went right over to scan our bands. We really thought that whatever the woman at Animal Kingdom had done had fixed our bands, but unfortunately we were wrong. All of our bands still showed no FastPasses available, and the My Disney Experience app was still malfunctioning as well. We hadn't taken a screenshot of our FP, so we had to go to the nearest FP+ kiosk to get a photo of it. There's a place right there in the building where Tony's restaurant is, so we went in there to get this sorted out.
We waited in a short line so we could access our account and take a photo of the screen that proved we did have FastPasses. Once we did that, we went back outside and showed the picture to the CM (who hadn't really been the nicest about our situation), and got into the FP viewing area.
They reserve the whole center area at the front of the park, and it really does have great views. The best spot is at the front where you can look down Main Street and see the castle! We got a spot near there, but a little to the right, so we couldn't really see the castle. That was okay, though, because it was still a spectacular spot!
At this point we had about 10-15 minutes until the parade started, so we got comfortable.
While we were waiting we saw the most adorable thing ever! There was a little boy who was also waiting for the parade, and playing with his Cars toys on the street. A Cast Member came over and complimented him on his cool toys, then the little boy proceeded to ask him if he would like to play cars. The Cast Member agreed, and they spent the rest of the time until the parade driving cars around on the sidewalk. It was so precious to watch!
Pretty soon the music was starting, and we saw the dancers starting to make their way down Main Street! I don't know what it is, but every time I hear that music, my heart just jumps. I love it so much!
We had an awesome view of the parade, and I kind of went photo crazy. I'll just share a few of my favorites with you, because I literally took over 200.

I was so glad we got to see the parade again, and we had a lot of fun watching! Once the parade was done, we had to decide what to do next. I really wanted to see Dream Along with Mickey, which is the show they do in front of the castle. It was a little after 3:30 now, and the next show started at 4:15. My wonderful family agreed to wait for the 4:15 show, so we headed over the castle to get a spot!
There weren't too many people over there, except for a large tour group taking photos in front of the castle. Once they left, it was really empty, so we got a really good viewing spot. We still had about 30 minutes to wait, so the boys went over to ride Buzz Lightyear while Mom and I stayed to hold our spot.
The courtyard is sort of set up with two half circles - a smaller one in front and a larger one behind it. If you're in the smaller circle near the front, you're pretty much expected to sit down, and if you're in the back you stand. We were right in the front of the larger circle, so we were able to stand while everyone in front of us was sitting. It was a good deal!
The boys came back from riding Buzz about 20 minutes later, and the show was just about to start. The courtyard was getting pretty full at this point, so it was a good thing they were back.
This was the only time I got to see this show during our trip, so it was really special. I went photo crazy on this too, and I don't even know where to begin with which ones to feature! I'll just show you a few from each segment of the show.

(I totally like how characters like Mickey and Minnie blink now because it makes them more realistic, but I hate it when they blink for pictures!)

The show was absolutely gorgeous, and I was so glad I got to see it!
Once the show was over, it was a little after 4:30, which meant that it was almost time for our 4:40-5:40 Splash Mountain FastPass! We started making our way over to Frontierland, and by the time we got there our FP's were good.
Because it was rather chilly, Mom opted not to ride, so she sat out with all of our bags while the rest of us rode. After showing our FP on the phone, we basically walked right on. We had a great ride, and nobody got too wet, which was good!

Once we got off and met back up with Mom it was right around 5:00, so we thought now we be a good time to eat dinner. We had packed sandwiches, so we headed over to the tables near the Hall of Presidents to find a spot to sit.
We got over there and there really weren't too many people, so found a nice table and sat down to eat. We had a nice dinner together, and once we were done it was almost time for our next FastPass, which was for Big Thunder. We packed up all our stuff and started heading over there, and by the time we got there we were about 10 minutes away from our window. The FP line was backed up though, so we got in, and by the time we got to the front our FP's were good. We still had to show them on the phone, but once we did that we headed right on in.
It took about 10-15 minutes to get through the line (it took a little longer because we requested the back), and we had a super fun ride! Travis and I rode together in the very back seat, and we had fun looking backwards out the train (it makes the ride a lot more intense!).
Once we got off Big Thunder, we decided to go ride some rides in Adventureland. They have a FP+ kiosk over there by the Jungle Cruise, so the first thing we did was look to see what FastPasses they had left for the night.
In case you didn't know, if you use all 3 of your FP's for the day, you can make more at the kiosks one at a time. If you couldn't get a FP for a big attraction like the Mine Train, it's always good to check at the kiosks, because if people cancel their FP's it will show up there.
They had a few good options, and we decided to make one for Winnie the Pooh for later that night (8:45-9:45).
Once we did that we saw that Jungle Cruise had a 20 minute wait, which is pretty good for Jungle Cruise, so we decided to ride that.
The line went quickly, and pretty soon we were boarding our boat! Unfortunately we did not have a very good cruise guide, but we still had a good time.
Once we made our return to civilization, we decided the next thing we would do was Country Bear Jamboree! We hadn't seen that show in a while, so we figured now was a good time.
We had to wait about 10 minutes for the next show, which wasn't bad at all. That show is always so fun to watch and sing along to, and we had a great time!

Once the show was over, we decided that we would start making our way from Frontierland through Liberty Square over to Fantasyland for our Pooh Bear FastPass. We still had some time before that was good, so on the way we stopped to ride Haunted Mansion. It only had a 15 minute wait, and it's one of our favorite rides! By the end of the trip Sam, Travis, and I pretty much had the entire ride soundtrack memorized.
Once we got off HM, we continued on our way to Fantasyland. We stopped at the Tangled bathrooms, which look absolutely gorgeous at night.

At this point it was a little after 8:00, so we still had about 40 minutes until our FP's were good. In the meantime we decided to ride some other rides in Fantasyland! We rode the Carousel and the Teacups, which both had 10-15 minute waits.
I rode the Teacups with Sam and Travis, and we had an awesome time spinning as fast as we could!

Once we were done on the Teacups, it was just about time for our Pooh FP. We headed over there and had to wait for about 5 minutes before we could scan our bands and get in line. Because we had made the FastPasses at the kiosk, they worked fine when we scanned our bands. We didn't understand it, but we were just glad we didn't have someone telling us we had no FastPasses available!
We only waited 5-10 minutes, and we had a really nice ride together.

Once we got off, we decided to go over to the FP+ kiosk near Mickey's Philharmagic to see what was available. After waiting in a short line, we were able to get Space Mountain FastPasses for 10:40-11:40! We were really excited about that.
Once we got that done, we decided to go over to the circus to look around the Big Top store.

We spent some time in there looking around and pin trading. We checked out some of the treats they have there, and we decided to get a couple of giant Mickey cookies to share.

We got sat outside to eat them, and they were so good. They're pretty much just gigantic chocolate covered chocolate chip cookies, but they are totally amazing.
Once we were done with our cookies, we decided to make our way over to Tomorrowland. Once we got there, the first thing I wanted to do was ride Astro Orbiter. We hadn't ridden that yet on this trip, and I really love that ride. The only other person who really wanted to ride was Sam, so he and I waited together while everyone else sat out. It took about 20 minutes total for us to ride, and we had a great time! It's so fun to get such a high-up perspective of the Magic Kingdom.
Once we got off and met back up with everyone, we noticed that the dance party was going on! We hopped in the fun for a few minutes, but Travis didn't really feel like dancing so we didn't stay for long.
The next thing we did was Buzz Lightyear, which only had a 10-15 minute wait. Because the line was so short, we decided to ride it twice in a row!
Once we got off for the second time, it was around 10:00. We still had about 40 minutes to kill before our Space Mountain FP's, so we decided to do the Laugh Floor in the meantime. We waited about 10 minutes for the next show, and it was great fun as always.
Once we got out of the show there was still time to kill, so we rode the Peoplemover! We had a nice relaxing tour through Tomorrowland, and by the time we got off out FP's were ready.
We scanned our bands, got in line, and only waited about 10 minutes. We had an awesome time blasting through space!

Once we got off it was about 11:00, and we were all sufficiently tired. The park closed at midnight, so we still had time if there was anything else we wanted to do. We knew that at this time of night the Mine Train would have a short wait, so we headed over there to check out the wait time. It was only 20 minutes, so of course we had to ride! It actually took a little less than 20 minutes, and we had a super fun ride. Riding outdoor rides always feels different at night, and I love the different experience.

Once we got off, we all knew it was probably getting to be around the time to head home.
I knew that Princess Fairy Tale Hall lines would also be short, and I really wanted to do that before we left. Everyone else was ready to go home though, so Mom, Dad, and Travis headed out of the park while Sam was nice enough to stay and meet princesses with me!
We said our goodbyes, parted ways, and Sam and I headed over to the Hall. We got in line for Anna and Elsa around 11:20, and we only waited about 15 minutes to see them! There was a wicked unruly child in front of us, so that made the wait kind of unpleasant, but the line was short so it was okay.
Soon enough we were in the room with royalty, and we had a super fun meet and greet. They were both very sweet and talkative, and we discussed cold weather, winter attire, and sleds!

Once we were done meeting Anna and Elsa, it was getting really close to park closing time. We had time to one more thing if we wanted to, so we made an impulsive decision to ride the Mine Train one more time! The line took about 20 minutes, and we just had a really fun time in line and on the ride.

Once we got off, it was midnight and the park was officially closed. We started making our way out of the park from there, and it was just really magical to be walking down Main Street at midnight. There weren't a ton of people, so we could take our time, and it was just really nice.
We made it out of the park and to the boat dock where we waited about 5 minutes for our boat to come. We made it back to the Fort and had an extremely chilly walk back to the RV. Once we got home everyone else was already in bed, so we tired to be as quite as possible as we got ready and went to bed. It was about 12:30 by the time we got to bed, and this was one of the latest nights we had.
Today was one extremely magical day, and we got so much done! This was probably one of my favorite days, from getting to see FoF and Dream Along, to eating giant cookies, meeting Anna and Elsa, and riding the Mine Train twice.
Tomorrow Bethany would arrive for a visit, and she didn't have any park tickets, so we planned on hanging around the Fort with her!​

 

[DaisyDuck001]

That's an excellent, clear picture of Teddi Barra swinging from the ceiling. Where were you sitting in the Country Bear theater, when you were able to get those great pictures?

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Did Travis play basketball by himself that day, or did he find another group that was playing?

Will you be applying to any colleges this fall, to start the following academic year?

He would usually only play basketball by himself; I think he might have only played with other kids once or twice.

I actually do not have a solid plan for my academic future. As of right now I kind of just want to focus on finishing high school and graduating, then I will most likely take a year off of school to figure stuff out and decide what I want to do. Thank you for asking!

That's an excellent, clear picture of Teddi Barra swinging from the ceiling. Where were you sitting in the Country Bear theater, when you were able to get those great pictures?

Thank you! We were sitting up in the back section, but I was using my 300mm zoom lens on the Canon Rebel T3i. That is also what I used for Festival of Fantasy and Dream Along with Mickey.

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Bethany was arriving today! She was on break from school (she's a teacher, if I haven't mentioned that already), so she was flying down to spend a few days with us. Her Magical Express bus wouldn't get to the Fort until around 11:00, so we still got most of our work and school done in the morning.
Mom left around 10:45 to go meet her at the Outpost, and they got back together a little after 11:00. We were so glad to see Bethany, and there were lots of hugs! We spent some time hanging out and catching up, then we had sandwiches for lunch around noon. After lunch Mom and Bethany went for a bike ride while we finished up our work for the day.
They got back around 1:00, and once they were back we hung out at the RV for a while. We talked about pin trading and looked at what pins we had left to trade. Bethany had brought some more pins to trade even though she wasn't going to the parks, because Cast Members around resorts and at DTD still have lanyards. She was hoping to find some good ones!
Around 2:15 Mom, Bethany, and I decided to go for a walk while the boys stayed at the RV and got the table bed/air mattress ready for Bethany to sleep on while she was with us.
As soon as we were out of the RV, we ran into Nelson, our favorite grounds keeping Cast Member! We saw Nelson around all of the time and talked to him often, so we had developed quite the relationship by this point.
He was really excited to meet Bethany, and we talked for probably a good 20 minutes. He did have to get back to work though, so we said see you later and went on our way. We were going to take Bethany back on the path we had found the other day where you can see MK from across the lake. We had a very nice walk, and I even remembered to bring my camera this time!

We saw a lot of deer while we were walking, and even though it was a chilly day we had a great time.
We got back to the RV a little after 3:00, and once we got back we decided to go swimming! Like I said, it wasn't very warm today, so only Travis, Bethany, and I decided to go. Mom still came to sit by the pool while we swam, but Sam and Dad stayed home. We got changed and headed down to the pool, where we spent about 45 minutes-1 hour swimming around and going in the hot tub.
When we were all done, we headed back to the RV where we got showered off and changed. It was a little after 4:30 at this point, and we just hung out at the RV until dinnertime, which was 5:30. Mom made meatloaf, and even though it was a little cold, we ate outside because the table was occupied by Bethany's air mattress.
After we ate dinner and the dishes were cleaned up, we all went for a walk together up to the Settlement to go look in the store there and maybe trade some pins. We had a nice walk up there, had fun looking around the store, traded some pins, then walked back home. It was a really nice evening, and once we got back we pretty much spent the rest of the night just relaxing and watching TV. Bethany was tired from travelling and all the activities we did, so we got to bed around 9:30. Tomorrow we planned on going to visit some Disney resorts!​

 

[DisneyFreak98]

This morning we got up, and it was actually warm outside! We could wear shorts and t-shirts comfortably, and we were thrilled. Mom and Bethany went for a bike ride while the rest of us got some work done, then we spent the rest of the morning hanging out and getting ready for our afternoon of resort hopping.
Mom made lunch around noon, then once the dishes were cleaned up we headed out! We were going to visit the Magic Kingdom and Epcot area resorts today, so we headed to the docks to catch a boat over to the Contemporary. We only had to wait a few minutes for a boat to arrive, and pretty soon we were pulling up to the Contemporary.
We stopped to get a picture with Mickey before going inside.

We headed inside the hotel, and we took the escalator up to the floor with the gift shops and restaurant. They have a balcony you can go on, and also the bridge that connects to Bay Lake Tower. They have some spectacular views of the Magic Kingdom from up there!

After taking in all the beautiful sights, we headed back inside to look in the gift shops and do some pin trading. They have some wicked cool decor in this hotel.

Once we were all done at the Contemporary, we headed upstairs to catch the monorail. Our next stop was the Polynesian! A monorail came within a few minutes, and we were on our way. It was a short trip over to the Poly, and once we got there we headed inside so Bethany could check out the new lobby (she had never seen the old one so it didn't mean much to her, but she still thought it was gorgeous).

Once we were done looking around the lobby and the gift store, we headed outside to visit Pineapple Lanai! The Dole Whip is Bethany's favorite Disney food, so this was a must-do. We got a few to share, and we stood out in the beautiful sunshine to eat them.

At this time they were still doing construction on the Polynesian pool, so we tried to get a glimpse of what they were working on. The walls were sealed up tight though, so the most we could see was the top of the volcano.
We continued on, exploring the outdoor area of the Poly. We saw the hotel area, the place where they hold the luau party, and some more sights we had never seen before!

As we continued walking, we noticed that we were on the path that connects the Polynesian to the Grand Floridian! That was where we were headed next, so we just kept on that path. It was an absolutely amazing day, and the views back there were stunning!

It's a really nice walk on a path that runs right by the water, and if you ever have the chance you should totally try and do it!
As we got closer to the GF, we noticed that we were approaching the wedding pavilion. I had never seen the pavilion before, but it's been my dream since forever to get married there. When I realized that that was what I was looking at, I pretty much freaked out. You can't get inside, obviously, but just to see it from the outside was a dream come true.

Once I was done drooling over what could-but-most-likely-never-will be, we kept making our way towards the actual hotel buildings.

The next thing we were approaching was the pool. As we got closer we noticed that they have probably the coolest kids play area out of all the Disney pools! It's Mad Hatter themed, and every one of us wished we were 5 years old so we could play in it.

The big hat fills up with water, and every 5 minutes or so the whole things tips over and dumps out all over the play area! It's super fun to watch.
After watching the hat tip over a couple of times, we headed inside the main lobby to check out the hotel! I had only ever been inside the Grand Floridian a couple of times, and it was when I was very little so I don't remember.
Well, today was the day that I fell completely in love with this resort. I was literally swooning over every little detail, and I didn't stop talking about it for the rest of the trip. I've decided that I absolutely need to stay here one day, and I've already started making plans to get married at the wedding pavilion and stay in the hotel.

I mean, look at the floor! The whole thing is filled with images of Disney characters, and they even have a grand staircase in the middle of the lobby. I still get happy just thinking about it.
Once we were done basking in the glory that is the Grand Floridian, we went to catch the monorail once again. There was one waiting for us, so we hopped on and made the short ride to Magic Kingdom.
From there we caught a bus to the Beach Club, which was our next destination! Bethany was sad to be so close yet so far away from Magic Kingdom, but we were having an amazing day resort hopping.
We had a nice, although crowded, bus ride over to the Beach Club, and we arrived there about 3:00.
The first thing we did when we got there was actually walk through to the back of the resort where you can see the Boardwalk.

The Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk resorts are all right there next to each other, so we took some time to visit each one and look around. We also traded a lot of pins.

The Boardwalk was probably my favorite!

And the inside was just as beautiful as the outside.

We went around to the back to check out the pool, and it is wicked cool! It's carnival themed, and they have a clown head water slide.

They have a walking path from the Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios, so we decided to take that and then catch a bus back to the Fort from there. The walk was a bit longer than we expected, but it was a beautiful day so we didn't mind. There's also some awesome scenery.

We made it to the entrance to Hollywood Studios, and from there we headed to the Fort Wilderness bus stop. From what we could tell from the outside, the park seemed extremely crowded today!
Our bus came within 10 minutes, and soon enough we were back at the Fort. A yellow bus arrived within a few minutes, and by the time we got back to the RV it was a little after 4:30.
We unpacked our bags and then pretty much just hung out at the RV until dinnertime. We ate sandwiches around 5:30, then afterwards we discussed what we should do for the rest of the night. Bethany knew that she wanted to watch Wishes from the beach and also do the campfire singalong, so we decided to do Wishes tonight and the campfire tomorrow. Wishes didn't start until 9:00, so we had some time to kill before then. Travis and Bethany went to play basketball for a while, and we pretty much just hung out at the RV. We started getting ready to go down to the beach a little before 8:00 so that we could get a good spot. They have tether ball at the beach, and we had a Frisbee, so we had stuff to occupy us while we waited.
Everyone headed out about 8:00 except for me. The Oscars were one tonight, and I wanted to watch some before I went down. I met them at the beach before the fireworks started, though.
It was just before 9:00 when I got there, so everyone was settling in for the show. They play the Wishes soundtrack through the speakers there, and soon enough we were hearing Jiminy Cricket's voice. The show was awesome, and the view is great from the beach!

Bethany was really glad she got to see Wishes, even though it wasn't from Main Street.
After the show was over, we stuck around to see the water pageant! We had been hearing it out our window every single night at 9:45 sharp, but we had yet to watch it. It was a comfortable night (not freezing like it had been recently), so we figured now would be the perfect time to stay and see it.
We had some snacks and tossed our Frisbee around while we waited for the show to start, and pretty soon we were hearing that familiar music!
I tried to photograph it, but unfortunately I didn't have a tripod so most of them came out a blurry mess. You can sort of get the idea, though!

Once the adorable little pageant was over, we packed up and headed back to the RV. It was past 10:00 by now, and we had had a long day, so we were all ready for bed! By the time we all got ready it was about 10:30, and we definitely all slept well that night!
Tomorrow our plan was to just hang out at the Fort.​

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Thanks for the idea to take a walk on the path between the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian. That looks like a fun thing for those who have done all the more obvious activities and would like to try something different!

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Monday morning we all slept in! We were just spending this day hanging out at the RV and doing some activities around the Fort. We played shuffleboard in the morning, and while we were over there we saw an armadillo! It was the cutest little thing, and he looked so goofy scurrying around.
The rest of the day was filled with exploring around the Fort, going swimming, bike riding, fishing, and hanging out at the RV.
Mom made dinner around 5:30, and afterwards we started getting ready to go over to the campfire sing-along! We left the RV about 6:45 with our s'mores gear in hand, and we made the short walk over to the campfire/movie area. We met Chip and Dale, made s'mores and sang along to silly country songs. Bethany really enjoyed it, and we were glad we got to do it with her! We didn't feel like staying for the movie tonight, which was Mulan, so we headed back home once the sing-along was over.
We spent the rest of the night at the RV just chilling out and watching TV. One of our favorite shows (The Voice) was on tonight, so we watched that and got to bed around 10:00.
It had been a really fun and relaxing day just enjoying Fort Wilderness with Bethany!


Tuesday morning we got up, and today we did do our schoolwork. Mom and Bethany hung out and went for a bike ride while we did that, and we were all finished by lunchtime. Mom made lunch around noon, and after we ate and cleaned up, we decided to go swimming! Dad and Sam still had some work to finish up, so they stayed back while the rest of us headed to the pool. We had great fun swimming around, even though it was more crowded than we were used to due to the warmer weather.
While we were there they played Name That Disney Song, but we didn't feel like getting out of the pool so we just played along by ourselves.
We stayed at the pool for around an hour before heading back home. Once we got back we all got showered off and changed, then we just hung out at the RV for a bit.
Dad and Sam were done with their work by this time, and we discussed what our plans for the rest of the day would be. We hadn't been to a park in a few days, so we decided that Sam, Travis, Dad, and I would go to Magic Kingdom for a while while Mom and Bethany stayed together. I believe they actually ended up going to the Polynesian for a bit so Bethany could get another Dole Whip before she had to leave tomorrow.
The rest of us got ready to head to MK, and once we got all our stuff together and made dinner, we were out the door about 3:00.
We walked to the docks and only had to wait about 10 minutes for a boat to arrive, so we got to the Kingdom around 3:30. It was looking kind of overcast, and it was very windy, but we were really hoping it wouldn't rain!

Once we went through bag check and scanned our bands, we headed into the park! We had Buzz Lightyear FastPasses from 4:30-5:30, so we had some time to kill before those were ready. We headed over to Tomorrowland anyways, and in the meantime we rode the Peoplemover. Once we got off that, it was just about time for our FP's! Since we hadn't been in the parks for a few days we hadn't been able to see if our bands were working again, so we were anxious to see what would happen when we tried.
We got up to the line, and lo and behold they scanned green! We were so relieved, and we were praying that this whole malfunction was behind us for good.
We basically walked right on to the ride, and we had a great time!
Once we got off Buzz we noticed that it had started drizzling a little. The sky was looking very dark and it looked like there was only more rain coming, so we wanted to get somewhere under cover. The queue for the Speedway has a roof, so we headed over to get in line. We waited about 20 minutes for that, and it was great to be under cover because it only started raining harder!
Well, waiting in the line was nice and dry, but we very quickly realized our mistake once we got on the ride. The ride that takes place entirely outdoors. Oh my gosh guys, it was so miserable! But it was also hilarious at the same time because, like, how stupid of us was that. At any rate, getting completely soaked on the Tomorrowland Speedway is now one of our favorite memories to look back on and laugh at.
We had all ridden separately, so it wasn't until we all got off and met back up that we all just looked at each other like "why the heck did we just do that, how stupid are we?" and just laughed.
Now that we were all wet we knew that it would only be a matter of time before we got really cold, plus it was still raining, so we definitely needed to get inside somewhere. We decided to pick a ride that had both an indoor queue and ride, so we jumped in line for Winnie the Pooh. The wait was about 15 minutes, and we were very glad to be inside. We had a great ride through the Hundred Acre Woods, and once we got off it was a little before 5:30. We decided now would be a good time to eat dinner, so we thought about where a good spot would be. We don't usually like to eat in restaurants when we bring our own food, but there isn't much you can do when it's raining. So, we headed inside Pinocchio's because it's right there, and we tried to find a table that was out of the way. We found a place where we thought we wouldn't be bothering anyone, and we ate our sandwiches. The restaurant wasn't too crowded, but we still tried to eat quickly so we weren't taking a paying customer's table.
Once we were all done, we packed up and headed back outside. We were fairly dry by this point, and the rain had pretty much let up.
We made a stop at the Tangled restrooms before heading to our next FastPass, which was for Haunted Mansion.

We used our FastPasses for HM with no trouble, and we waited about 10 minutes to get on the ride. We had a great ride, and once we got off it was about time for our 6:30-7:30 FP, which was for Big Thunder Mountain. We made our way over there, and by the time we got there it was ready! The line was a little backed up, but it only took about 10-15 minutes to get on the ride, which isn't bad at all. We rode in the back and had a great time!
It was about 7:00 now, and I wanted to be home by 8:00 so I would be able to watch the Voice with Mom and Bethany. The boys wanted to ride one more thing though, so we stayed and rode Pirates, which had a 15 minute wait. Pirates is definitely one of our favorite rides, so we had a great time on that. It was around 7:20 now, so it was time to head out. We started making our way out of the park, but we got held up on Main Street by the Electrical Parade! We had to wait there for about 10 minutes before there was a gap and they let us cross. It was a bummer that we got stuck, but it was cool to see some of the parade!

Soon enough they were letting us through, and we made it to the boat dock. We had to wait about 10 minutes for our boat to come, and soon we were sailing away.

We made it back to the Fort, and once we got there I walked ahead of the boys to get home faster since it was already past 8:00. I made it back in time to catch most of the show, and the boys got back about 10 minutes after I did. We spent the rest of the night hanging out, watching TV, and telling Mom and Bethany all about our rainy adventures in Tomorrowland.
We had a nice night with each other, and we got to bed around 10:30.
Today was a great day, and tomorrow we would be going to Downtown Disney with Bethany before she would have to leave.​