Girl's Trip to Disney World - September 2015!

[Jessicavoet]

This trip came about during the drive home from our previous Disney trip in July 2014. I couldn't stand the thought of not going back, ASAP, and my husband didn't really want to go. So, enter mom! We decided that we would have a mother - daughter trip to the Food and Wine Festival the following year. Flash forwards a few months and my husband's daughter realized that she would be able to fit in the trip between her college classes. So now it was a mother - daughter - grand daughter trip!

Originally we had elected to stay at Pop Century, but when we added Dacey to the trip we talked about it and decided that 2 double beds between the 3 of us wasn't going to cut it, and neither was the teeny bathroom. So we switched to Coronado Springs.

This was also going to be the trip where I checked off a LOT of my "Disney Food Bucket List." We had ADR's at Ohana, Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Yachtsman Steakhouse, San Angel Inn, Via Napoli, and a lot more.

People going are:

My mom, Michelle
Me! Jessica
and daughter, Dacey


So here we go!

We drive to Disney, it's always been way cheaper than flying, and honestly I enjoy road trips. I love being able to be in the car seeing the country with my family. It's about a 15 hour drive from Northwest Louisiana, Google says it's 13 hours, but that's a lie.

We dropped my youngest off at school that morning, and then hit the road.



From left to right:

Dacey, mom, me!



Shortly before leaving for the trip, I found out that one of my friends was going to be in New Orleans on the same day we were driving through so we decided to stop and have lunch together! We had planned on stopping somewhere in Florida anyway for the night and finishing the drive the next day, so we figured if we took a little extra time in New Orleans it wouldn't hurt anything.

We arrived in New Orleans around 1:30pm, right on time to meet for lunch!



I can't explain how much I love New Orleans.

I swear, I leave a piece of my heart there everytime I visit. The food, music, people.... Everything.

My mom and me in front of the St. Louis Cathedral



Super sweet lady took a picture of all three of us



We met my friend at Rivers Edge for lunch, it's a little pricey because it's right smack dab in the middle of the touristy area, but still tasty.

After lunch we did a little wandering and shopping, and then got back in the car and got back on the road.

Our original goal today became Tallahassee, FL.

I'll give you a spoiler here....

That didn't happen.

We did however, make it through the absolutely AWFUL traffic east of New Orleans and past the almost car crash on the bridge, and made it safely to Mississippi!



Played some car games with mom while Dacey napped in the back seat



We drove through Biloxi and I listened to my mom reminisce about living there. My dad was military and I was born on Keisler AFB in Biloxi, MS. I of course remember none of it because I was 4 when we moved to K.I. in Michigan, so I just enjoyed listening to the stories.

Miles and miles of nothing ahead....



We were driving through Mobile, AL as it was getting dark. It's very pretty all lit up!



Made it through the tunnel!



And we got our first glimpse of the "ocean"



This is about the time I started doing calculations in my head, and realized that if we really did push through to Tallahassee, we wouldn't get there until around 11:00pm. Which is definitely later than we had planned. So we ended up deciding to just drive until we were tired, and we would just find a hotel.

This plan ended up being a TERRIBLE idea on our last trip when we wound up in a 1 star hotel where we threw the blankets on the floor before sleeping in the beds in Mobile.... But thankfully we had better luck this time.

This is my fabulous picture of the Florida sign. I had told my mom I wanted pictures of all the state signs on our way. She forgot.



We called it quits in Defuniak Springs, FL and found a sweet deal at a Super 8 Motel off the interstate. I definitely recommend it! There's several gas stations nearby, plus a Starbucks and quite a few places to get food. We went to Starbucks, mom wanted a non coffee drink that they make, I forget the name, and to Wendys to get a late night meal. The room was $70 for the night, was more than nice enough, and the people working there were great. They had a continental breakfast in the morning that was yummy! We were more than pleased with our stay here!

We hit the sack as soon as we were done eating and got some rest. It was 9:30pm and we had been driving since 8:00am and were exhausted!

Since we didn't make it to Tallahassee, FL we had about 5 hours to go the next day so we wanted to get up early!

Tomorrow is our first, REAL Disney day!

 

[accountingbabe08]

NOLA is a beautiful city.. I am following along

 

[Jessicavoet]

Part 2 of our travel day + Disney!

We woke up bright and early, READY FOR DISNEY WORLD!!!

Grabbed an uneventful, but filling, breakfast at the hotel, put gas in the car, bought the obligatory beef jerky from the gas station, and then hunkered down for the next 5 hours.

I really wanted to push lunch off until we got to Disney World, but the other 2 members of my driving party weren't having it, and we stopped at a Burger King somewhere in Florida.

If my husband had any idea how often we ate in the car on this trip he would freak out.... It's a huge pet peeve of his lol

We hopped on the toll road, and before we knew it we were seeing signs for Disney World! There were signs for other parks too, but those aren't important today....

Soon enough, THIS SIGN was in front of us



The heavens were singing and I'm not ashamed to admit that I teared up a little.... I was so happy to be back!

I was surprised that Coronado Springs was so close to the entrance, we were there in no time at all





Check in was a breeze because I'd already done our online check in 60 days before. During online check in, you're given the option to choose between Ranchos, Cabanas, or Casitas. I couldn't choose because I thought all the sections were gorgeous so I didn't pick any. I just selected "ground floor". Dacey had a knee surgery about 2 years ago and climbing stairs is difficult for her, so ground floor was a priority.

We ended up in Ranchos, building 7A, room # 7123.

Literally the furthest building back....

It was about a 10 minute walk from our room to the main building, sometimes closer to 15 if we were walking slow or had too much to drink. One day my mom and I got distracted and hung out in a hammock instead of going back to the room.... It was relaxing.

Oh and we did see the alligator one day! But only that one time, and we didn't get a picture so I have no proof. We saw his turtle friends a few times though...

Anyway, we made a lot of comparisons with this trip and our trip in July 2014. In July we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and loved every second of it. I felt truly immersed in the scenery, and I didn't mind the 10 minute or so walk from our Alligator Bayou room that we had because it was shaded and cool. Coronado Springs is not shaded, and is not cool. So that 10 minute walk seemed a lot longer to us.

Our room:





It was a good size, but I felt like it was missing some of the "Disney" details that we'd had at Port Orleans. I know it's a convention resort and they're trying to cater to a more general crowd, but I felt like it was lacking something. Also, the grout in the bathroom needed to be touched up pretty badly, it was brown in areas where it definitely should have been white. I will still say it was a beautiful room though, just not quite what we were expecting.

We dropped our things off at the room, unpacked a little, and ran off to catch a bus to Downtown Disney. But we wanted to walk some around the resort so we decided to walk up to the main building and catch the bus there, that way we could get a feel for the place.







This is me, extremely happy to be at Disney World





Getting to Downtown Disney took a little longer than we had expected it to. It seemed like 2 buses for each of the parks would come by before a Downtown bus came by, we noticed it later in the week too so I assume that they just have less buses going to Downtown?

But we did finally make it, and we window shopped a LOT. I think we literally went into every single place we could.

We had reservations at Ohana this night, and I had a super cute luau themed dress to wear. But because it took us longer to get to Downtown Disney than we thought it would, we realized it was pointless to go there, then go back to the room and change, and then go to Ohana. So we said screw it, we're going to wear what we're already in, and enjoy Downtown Disney for a little while instead.

We snacked on some nachos



And when it got closer to our reservation time, we snagged a bus to the Polynesian!

We checked in early for our ADR and they gave us a buzzer, my mom ran to the restroom real fast. While she was in there, literally immediately after she walked through the door, they called us for our table. So we went ahead and got seated, and I texted my mom directions to the table.

If y'all only knew my family.... We are so directionally challenged it's not funny. She ended up calling me, I told her how to get to the table, watched her walk by a few tables away, and ended up getting up to go get her lol.

With mom safely back at the table, and knowing we didn't have to drive! We ordered the best drinks in all of Disney World!

Pina Colava!



And then I forgot to take any pictures of the food.... Really sorry.... But it was so delicious that my brain told me "EAT IT NOW!!!" instead of taking a picture.

I assure you, there are plenty of food pictures in the rest of the review though!

I'm going to take a second and describe how strong of a woman my mother is, and why this trip became so important to us.

This is mom.



In February, her fiance had a sudden heart attack and passed away in her arms in their home. The day of his funeral her dog died. The following week her dad passed away. Within one week she had lost some of the most important people in her life, and she was somehow able to keep going. It was a really hard road, but she did it. Her dad lived in Washington State (we're in Louisiana) so she flew up to take care of the estate and me, my sister, and brother came up to help go through his things and take care of the funeral. Y'all, my grandpa was an extreme hoarder. He had a two story home with a full basement, and there was not an inch of space in that home that didn't have something there. There's even a wall in the basement, that turned out to not be a wall at all. He just had stuff piled from the floor to the ceiling and made a wall out of it. But the hard part was that you couldn't just go through and dump everything out, because in between the junk was really cool, and important stuff. So we spent a week sifting through things, determining what was trash, what was being kept, and what was going to be donated. We barely made a dent in it. My mom spent from February through July at his house, going through everything, having estate sales, and getting the house ready to be sold. It was a chore, but I'm glad that she was able to take her time with it because I think that helped with her healing. It helped keep her mind off of the terrible things that had happened, but it kept her away from us kids. So when she finally got back in July she needed this vacation more than ever. Coming home was nice for her, because it's home, but she then had to face what had happened with her fiance and deal with the grief that she still hadn't been able to get out. We started on her and her fiances home, little things here and there, cleaning some things out and putting my grandpas things that she wanted to keep in. This Disney trip became something happy to look forward to, when she'd had nothing but gloom to look at and deal with for so long. So I was determined to make this the best trip ever for her, because I admire her strength, and she deserved it.

My mom and Dacey both got birthday buttons, so they got birthday cupcakes!



Since we didn't have a car (thankfully, since we had more than one Pina Colava...) we hopped on the monorail and went to the Magic Kingdom, but not to go inside, we were just hitching a ride there so we could get a bus back to Coronado Springs.

We got in our room in a food coma, and promptly passed out.

The next morning would be a moment I had been waiting months for!

 

[Jessicavoet]

NOLA is a beautiful city.. I am following along

Yay! I have a reader! Thanks for tuning in!!

 

[rdkeim]

Following along! I'm glad you included the back story on your Mom. It will make reading about your trip more meaningful.

 

[Jessicavoet]

Part 3! 09/20/15

We had picked today to be a Magic Kingdom day based on Josh at Easy WDW's suggestions. It was a "green" day and "most recommended" because there was a Halloween party on this night, so most people didn't want to "waste" a park ticket on going to a park that wouldn't be open all day. We knew that we were going to a Halloween party later in the week, and we had park hoppers so if we wanted to go to another park after Magic Kingdom closed we could.

This was literally the day I was most looking forwards to on this trip.

My mom loves Winnie the Pooh.

She even has a tattoo of him on her leg....

So I got us prepark opening ADR's at Crystal Palace! That way we could get into the park well before it opened and get in line for rides early, plus my mom could accomplish a child hood dream and meet Mr. Pooh Bear himself.

It was so. early. when we woke up. But I was all smiles!



I'd read a cool tip somewhere about taking a screenshot of your MDE plans for the day, and saving it as your background. That way you could see what your plans were every day without having to log into MDE and use the data, time, battery, etc... It ended up being a really useful tip and I recommend it to everyone!

So this was our snap shot for the day



Very big plans!!!

We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom, and checked in all the way at the left side of the gates. There was a lady holding a big white sign and directing people where to go for tours and prepark opening ADR's. The line looked really intimidating and long, but it went fairly quickly and before we knew it we were in!

The Magic Kingdom was all decorated for fall and Halloween







We didn't spend a whole lot of time with the decorations because we were on a mission to get to our reservation, and we knew we would be back for the Halloween party later in the week. Today was all about food and rides!

We got to Crystal Palace, checked in, and were handed a beeper. The lady told us we could wander anywhere around the building but not go too far or our beeper wouldn't work.



So we found some nice people to take our pictures



and envied the cute little ducks who get to live at Disney... Lucky ducks....



We didn't wait long though, around 10 minutes. We were brought inside, and our server explained how the buffet works (pretty self explanatory), and led us to our seats.

Piglet was already walking out so we just waited for him before going to get any food.

My mom was so happy, I loved every second of this meal





Eeyore immediately followed Piglet, so we also met with him real fast



Then there was a break in characters, so it was food time! We all got pretty much the same stuff.

This is my plate, Pooh's french toast, sausage links, both types of breakfast potatoes offered, and a Mickey waffle



My mom also got a boiled egg, and we got a plate of fruit to share, but that was really it. Depending on what we're eating, we either eat like hogs or we eat daintily. Breakfast is one of those dainty foods for us. I'd almost say a buffet is a waste of money for us to go to on a regular basis because we don't eat enough to make it worth it. But when you're at Disney and there are characters there, it is worth it!

Tigger came out next! He was so much fun! He interacted with all the tables, and was pretty sporadic. He would be interacting with table A, then all of a sudden run over to table D to do something funny, then go back to the normal order of meeting with everyone. He did meet with all the tables, he was just funny, very "Tigger".



I asked him to bounce with me, and he did!

Next was Winnie the Pooh. When my mom saw him coming out of the door, she actually let out a little squeal. It made my heart so happy!

Yes, we know that they're people in costumes. That doesn't matter, we love it!

I could almost cry just looking at these





Day. Made.

If we had left and went back to the resort right then and there, I would have been ok with it. Seeing her that happy was worth all the money we'd spent to go to Disney, and the money for the breakfast.

I love my mom!

After we paid the bill for breakfast, we started on our "list." The "list" is something that Dacey and my mom laughed at me for. I had typed up a list of rides, and the best order to ride them in, in order to maximize our time that morning.

They were not laughing at me after we checked off a huge chunk of that list within the first 45 minutes of being there.

Like I said previously, we kept comparing this trip to our one in July, and this one was so much easier to do. The amount of people there was minimal in comparison to what we experienced in July. We were walking through Adventure World and I remember telling Dacey "Look! We can see the sidewalks!!!" Because last time there were so many people around you could seriously only see a sea of people, it was downright miserable. Also, it was much cooler. We only had one day where we were overwhelmingly hot, and it was our very last day that we were there, at Epcot. We brought our misting fans with us and never used them once. We did bring Brita refillable, filtered water bottles during this trip. We would fill them with water and put them in the fridge at night so we would start out with cold water in the morning, and when we drank all of that we would get refills of ice waters at the quick service places. I'll never travel without one again!

So first up on the list was a ride with Peter Pan!

Our kids call my mom Nana, I found her a new house...



I was 100% intending on NOT going on It's a Small World. But my mom wanted to. And this trip was all about cheering her up.

So we went.

And I hated it just as much this time as I did last time.



Next was a Fast Pass + ride with Snow White and the 7 dwarves! I know this ride receives a lot of criticism, and I certainly wouldn't wait 2 hours to ride it, but with a fast pass I love it!





We of course couldn't skip Winnie the Pooh! We climbed up into a honey pot and away we went! I'm fairly certain we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride 80 times on this trip.

If you ever get this guy as your jungle cruise guide, you are in luck!



He was hysterical!

We ran to the mountains, and conquered both! When we got on Splash Mountain we were noticing that the people in rows 1 and 2 were soaked to the bone, and everyone behind them wasn't so bad off. So when we were told to go to rows 1 and 2, my mom and I nonchalantly got into row 2, and made Dacey sit in row 1. When she realized what we had done we started laughing at her, we all got wet but she was soaked completely. She was literally dripping leaving the ride. It was awesome.

This was followed by a ride on the Haunted Mansion.... *insert creepy music*



I think the Haunted Mansion is one of my favorites at the Magic Kingdom. Every time I ride it, I find something different.

By this time, we were hungry, and thank goodness our ADR at Be Our Guest was coming up!

We checked in at the gate, and walked over that bridge taking everything in....



It was stunning, but honestly a lot smaller than I imagined it would be. The meal had some highs and lows, and we were glad that we went for the experience, but unfortunately I won't really bother getting an ADR to go back again. It just wasn't really worth it.

Dacey and I got the croque monsieur, and my mom got the braised pork. My mom and I made it a habit this trip to either split a meal, or order two different things so we could share. I gave her half my sandwich and she gave me half her bowl of food. We also got the potato leek soup for the table.

I did slip up, and forget to take pictures.... But the croque monsieur was weird. I couldn't place whether it was the cheese, or the bread, or what but it just didn't "do it" for me. My mom's braised pork however? That was good. I was glad she ordered it because I got to share it lol. The soup was definitely praise worthy as well.

We got the masters cupcake, the lemon cupcake, and the triple chocolate cupcake.

We took a nibble of all of them, and then didn't finish it. The cake part was too dry on all of them.







We left lunch not exactly full, but we at least weren't starving anymore. We hopped on the Little Mermaid ride, then hitched a ride with Buzz (which I beat both my mom and Dacey by a LONG SHOT by the way!)

Then we made a terrible decision.

Dacey loves Stitch.

The Stitch ride was RIGHT THERE.

With no wait!

Against all of my better judgement, because while I hadn't experienced it myself, I had read all the reviews and it didn't sound like something I wanted to experience.

But we did it anyway.

Never again folks.

Never EVER again.

We wrapped up our day by riding Space Mountain twice, the People Mover and Carousel of Progress, and laughed with the monsters at Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor!

We decided to call it a day, it was almost 5pm by that point and we had really accomplished everything we had hoped to do. On our way out we saw that Tinkerbell only had a 10 minute wait so we went inside so Dacey could meet her.



The only thing we didn't do today that I really wanted to was ride the Dumbo ride. But there is always next time!

We exited the park and went to our resort to take a nap, because we're old and boring people.

After old people nap time, we woke up and started getting ready for dinner.

I am not a seafood eater, but my mom can eat her weight in crab legs. I knew that we had to go to the Clambake at Cape May, so I booked us reservations there way in advance. We drove to the Beach Club, checked in for dinner, and walked around the resort waiting on them to call us.



Even though I don't eat seafood, I found PLENTY to eat here and it was all very very good.

First plate is a greek salad (EAT THIS!) The dressing is to die for, one of the best salads I've ever had, watermelon salad with feta, cheese, grapes, cornbread, focaccia, regular dinner roll (I like bread. A lot.) and BBQ chicken.



I also went back for a plate of more Greek salad, and pastas. There was a penne pasta with a mushroom sauce and a home made macaroni. I picked up a few desserts too, but honestly wasn't overly impressed with them. That was the only disappointment of the meal. But it was definitely overcome with everything else that was offered.

My mom said the crab legs were amazing, and she ate until she was stuffed. I think she made 4-5 trips up to the buffet.

We settled our bill, thanked everyone we passed as we rolled out the door, and then were left deciding what to do next. We had contemplated getting back in the car and driving over to Epcot for a little while, we had park hoppers so we could go ride a few things. But we then decided that riding anything as full as our stomachs were was a terrible idea.

We settled for walking over to the Boardwalk resort to visit there for a little bit.

My pictures are terrible, but this place was beautiful!



I had yet to make it over to this resort, and I was walking around with my jaw on the ground. There was a breeze coming off of the lake, music, food, smells of food, and people having fun everywhere. The Boardwalk is definitely on my Disney bucketlist now.

We came upon this guy who was telling jokes while using a light up yo-yo, and we watched him for a while.



Then we got ice cream... Because, you know, ice cream really just fills in the extra spaces in your stomach so it's not like actually eating more "real" food....

Witnessed some Disney magic on the way back to the Beach Club to get our car. There were 2 ladies in one of those bike things that are covered, and two people are pedaling. They were struggling to get up the hill, and this random guy who was jogging came up behind them and helped push them up the hill! It was both funny and kind!

Once back at our resort, we changed into pj's so our very full tummies could have some room, and passed out. The beds at the Coronado were like clouds, and I kind of wish I could have one of them at my house....

 

[Jessicavoet]

Following along! I'm glad you included the back story on your Mom. It will make reading about your trip more meaningful.

Yay! Thank you for reading! I love my mom so much, she's stronger than anyone I have ever known.

 

[Jessicavoet]

Part 4! 09/21/15

Today was one of our Epcot days!



Originally I had wanted to eat at Kona Cafe today, but when we woke up I really didn't want to get in the car and drive to the Polynesian, then drive to Epcot. So we decided to not go to Kona at all, and just ate at the Pepper Market at Coronado Springs instead.

I was going to order a regular Mickey Waffle meal, but then a kid in front of me ordered the child's Mickey waffle meal and it looked like plenty enough food so I ordered that instead. This ended up being a great idea! And something I did for the rest of our trip for breakfasts.



It was delicious, and I got the Mickey waffles, slice of ham, an orange slice, and a bottle of water for under $8!

Dacey got a ham and cheese croissant



My mom got a child's order of an omelet and ate it before I could take a picture. She also ordered kids meals the rest of the trip.

We can never seem to be on time, or do anything right when we go to Epcot. I don't know what the deal is.... But we always end up changing our plans, or flat out messing stuff up. So today our plan WAS to get to Epcot at rope drop and ride Test Track because we had fast passes for Soarin. But we didn't make it there until waaaaaaaaay after rope drop and the wait was already longer than we were willing to wait for. We had fast passes for Test Track later in the week on our 2nd Epcot day, so we just didn't worry about it. REMEMBER THIS STATEMENT!

It was BEAUTIFUL out today. Not too hot, a breeze was blowing, it was perfect.



We walked onto Living With the Land, very informative. Decided that the Living With the Land ride would be a good place to hide out during the zombie apocalypse if you could make it more secure. You could grow your own food in there forever....



I'd really like to do the Behind the Seeds tour some day.

We walked through Sunshine Seasons, mom grabbed a coke, and then we hung out with Timon, Pumba, and Simba for a lesson about not damming up the river to make their own resort. I really can't wait to bring the younger kids back next year, the Circle of Life show is something I hadn't seen before and I think they'll like it a lot.

When we left the land pavilion we headed to the seas. Our fast pass time wasn't ready for Soarin yet, so we hopped on a ride with Nemo and Friends, and then talked to Crush in Turtle Talk.

I love these guys, they're so creepy and cool



Next up was Soarin! This was a new one for us because we just hadn't managed to ride it yet.

It lived up to every expectation, and then some. I can't explain how disappointed I am that it's going to be closed for the refurb during our next trip. At least we'll have a new movie for the trip after the next one.... My mom and I even agreed that we would be willing to wait stand by again later to ride it again.

But it was lunch time!

I had been drooling about Via Napoli pizza for months. Come to think of it, I would probably give up my left arm right now to eat a slice. We headed towards the world showcase, and made our way around to the Italy pavilion. We kept commenting, again, about how many less people there were this time compared to July. It was a huge difference.



There was a little confusion about where to check in because there was a crowd of people in the "check in area" who had actually already checked in, but were just standing there still. We finally got up to the desk and let them know we were there.

I put this picture on my Instagram. Just looking at it makes me want to buy a plane ticket right now for dinner.



we had a very nice server, he was training another guy so we got lots of extra attention. We placed our orders and he explained that different dishes come out of different kitchens, so they might not be delivered at the same time. But we already knew that anyway so we were good to go!

While it's not technically on the menu, you can order a plate of fried mozzarella. It comes with 5 balls of fried mozzarella, which we promptly devoured. Here is a picture of 1 that was left when I remembered to take a picture, along with the adorable silver dish that had marinara in it.



Then.

It was time.

My pizza arrived at the table. (individual size)



From that point on I didn't listen to what anyone was saying, I just ate until I felt sick. I managed to eat all but 1 slice of it, and I was thoroughly impressed with myself.

Dacey also ordered a pizza with pepperoni. We realized afterwards that we should have split a large pizza and saved some money. Oh well...

My mom ordered the spaghetti with veal meatballs. It was good, but in comparison to my slice of heaven pizza, it just doesn't come close.



We sat there for a little bit drinking some water and relaxing our bellies, then asked the server if we could fill our Brita bottles with water from the restaurant. He said "Of course!" and brought a silver pitcher with ice water and made sure we all got a refill. He was very sweet!

We knew we didn't want to ride anything else right now, because we might puke. So we just walked around some of the world showcase.



One of the things I really wanted to do was Pick a Pearl in Japan. In with my grandpa's things were pearls from both my grandma, and my great grandma. Some were still on strings, but the strings were broken, and some were loose so we have them all gathered up in a jewelry box at my mom's house. Me, my mom, and my sister are taking them up and having them strung into 3 separate necklaces that are identical. I wanted a pearl from Disney World to add to my necklace as well, because Disney is really a huge part of my heart! My mom decided she wanted to do it too, so we did it together.





My mom picked an oyster that had a 7 1/4 mm pearl, and mine had a 7 1/2 mm pearl.



I can't wait to get the necklace put together! My great grandma and my grandma are such classy women, their pictures look like pictures of movie stars and I love it. I can't wait to have this precious necklace to wear to remember them with, and I love that I get to add my love of Disney to it!

We spent some time in the Morocco pavilion, and Dacey decided to get a henna tattoo







She followed the instructions that the lady gave her, but it was still pretty faded within just a few days.

For whatever reason, when we were in Morocco Dacey started getting a headache. Last year when we were at Disney she passed out from heat exhaustion, so we were making sure to drink ample amounts of water and stay cooled off as much as possible. I don't know if it was the heat that was getting to her or what, but we decided to start making our way back to the resort just in case.

Quick stop in France



And in the U.K.



My grandma was born and raised in England so I took a lot of pictures of the U.K. pavilion and sent them to her

My only other obsession besides Disney, is Tudor history. I've read everything I can get my hands on and love watching tv shows, documentaries, movies, etc about the family.



ONE DAY I WILL SEE HAMPTON COURT PALACE FOR REAL! Until then, the Disney version will do.

When we got back to the resort Dacey took some medicine and laid down with the lights off to see if she could get rid of the headache. We didn't want to disturb her in the room so mom and I went on a walk around the resort.

We found a bar.



There was a convention for Cracker Barrel employees going on and they were everywhere today. I felt really bad for them because they were all dressed in suits and ties, nice clothes... and while it wasn't scorching hot out, we were comfortably sitting outside with our drinks, I know I would be dying if I had to wear office clothes. But everyone was very nice and they had some music playing outside too.

I got hungry and wanted to try the create your own salad.



I got lettuce, cheese, ham, cucumbers, carrots, and balsamic dressing. It's surprisingly large and filling. This ended up being a mistake because we were eating at San Angel Inn in just a little bit.

After a few hours... and a few drinks... We went back to check on Dacey and see how she was feeling. She said her head still hurt some but that she felt much better, and definitely still wanted to go to dinner. So back to Epcot!

We were eating inside the Mexican pyramid, I've always wanted to eat here!



I absolutely love it inside the pyramid. It really feels like you're in Mexico at night time. And no that was not just the beers talking, it's genuinely beautiful!





I took a picture of the table settings because I had really wanted to look for something similar when we got back, but then I forgot all about it until now.



It's really dark in there, and I didn't want to use my flash, so I didn't take pictures.

I ordered an appetizer as my meal, the tostados de tinga. The second I started eating them, I knew that my salad was a mistake. I was legitimately too full to eat them, and they were so incredibly wonderful. I was so disappointed that I forced myself to eat as much as I could, but I barely finished one of them. Also, this is a great plan for a meal because it was only $10.50 and I totally would totally get full off of the entire plate!

My mom got chicken quesadillas that were good. She had apparently never eaten "real" Mexican food, just Tex-Mex so she wasn't really sure what to make of her food. She wasn't impressed but I thought it was good.

Dacey got..... Something with chicken that she put in a tortilla....

I can't remember what it was called, but it was good. Our waiter was so awesome, very attentive, and we never waited for refills of anything. He even brought me a to go cup for my beer that I wasn't done with. When we left the restaurant I finished up my drink and we explored the pavilion, checking out the souvenirs and we rode the Donald Duck ride in there.

When we left the pavilion completely, my mom said she wanted to ride Soarin again. There was a really low wait time so we started walking that way, and then there was an announcement that Illuminations was starting soon. My mom also wanted to see the fireworks, so she had to make a decision.

She decided that she wanted to see the fireworks instead. We hurried over to Germany and grabbed some caramel goodies to eat while watching and settled in.

We didn't have the greatest view....



But we still loved it.

After the fireworks, Disney World was kicking us out so we slooooowly walked back to the entrance to get a bus ride home.

It's all so pretty at night!



When we did get back to the resort we stayed up watching movies for a little bit, got hungry and agreed that we needed pasta, walked to the main building and got some yummy pasta....



Breadstick not so yummy...

Then we fell asleep for a little while.

Dacey woke up at some time during the night with a full blown migraine. We gave her everything we could, got cold rags, had her drink water, everything we could think of to get her settled for the night and she did fall back asleep. I went back to sleep hoping that she would wake up feeling better, the next day was the Halloween Party and it was all she had talked about.

 

[Jessicavoet]

Part 5! 09/22/15

Today was the day of the Halloween party! A large part of our trip had been planned around this day, and after Dacey's migraine the night before I was really hoping she was up for it. The Halloween party is a "hard ticket event" so if you are going you have to purchase an extra party ticket, a regular park ticket won't get you into the party. We were not using park tickets this day, our plan was to resort hop in the morning and head to the party around 4:00pm when the gates open for party tickets. But, when we started waking up it was clear that was not happening. Dacey was still in pain and needed to be taken to a doctor to get something stronger than an over the counter migraine medicine.

I did a quick search of quick cares in the area, and Centra Care came up as the most popular one. So I told my mom we would be back a little later, hopped in the car, and drove as quickly as I could to get there.

I can not say enough good things about the staff here. They were so caring, and just amazing with everything. When we first got there we were the only ones in the waiting area, but a few more people showed up after us all wearing magic bands for Disney. It hurts my heart that people get sick at the happiest place on earth, because being sick definitely isn't happy, but I'm glad that a place like this exists. They got Dacey in a room very quickly, and everyone was so sweet. They got her a prescription for pain meds and a muscle relaxer, and I was given strict instructions to get her to the room, give her the medicine, have her drink a lot of water, and then leave her alone. She needed it to be dark and quiet so she could rest and the medicine could do its job.
This meant she was down for the count today.

We got her back in the room, got her water and brought her lunch from the Pepper Market. Then we left plenty of water in the room, and had to leave to let her to rest. I felt so terrible leaving her, but I knew it was the best thing. She wouldn't have been able to relax with us in the room because we would be making noise and moving around.

My mom and I debated about what to do, we didn't want to go to a park and use any of the tickets. We bought the military tickets where you get a 4 day ticket with park hoppers, and we had 4 full days planned at the parks. We'd already used 2 park days, and still had the rest of the week at Disney and hadn't gone to Animal Kingdom yet, and we wanted to go to the Food and Wine Festival. We ultimately decided to go to the outlet shops and do some retail therapy.



The shops are huge and outdoors, it goes on forever and ever. Every time you turn a corner there's just more shops, it would be easy to get lost there.

We found the Disney outlet store and picked up a few things. We actually found that goblet that you get at Be Our Guest for $6, compared to $16 inside the restaurant. Unfortunately, my mom had already bought one at the restaurant.... When we left the Disney store I realized I still hadn't eaten anything today. We quickly found the food court and I had this rather card-boardy tasting pizza with a surprisingly good salad.



Definitely not Disney food....

We found the Vera Bradley store, my mom and I both have a terrible obsession.... and the entire store was 50% off! It wasn't in my budget this time to purchase a whole lot of souvenirs, so Vera Bradley was out of the question, but my mom picked up a duffel bag and some make up bags that were a steal.

Shortly after Vera Bradley we started making our way back to the car, still discussing what we were going to do. I felt bad going to the party still since Dacey couldn't go, but my mom pointed out that there wasn't a whole lot else we could do that would occupy our entire night so she could rest. We stopped in at our room and checked on her, brought her some food to eat, and she still wasn't feeling up to doing anything. I checked that she was taking her medication correctly and drinking enough water, made sure she was as comfortable as could be, and left her to rest again.

We had such a fabulous time going in September that I know we'll be back again, and I know I'll get to take her to another Halloween Party, I just felt really bad for her that she wasn't able to be there with us that night.

We climbed on a Magic Kingdom bus, sat next to Darth Vader and a pirate, then Peter Pan and the entire crew hopped on right behind us and we were off!



Seeing the Mickey pumpkins was magical!

We stopped off at the ticket counter and purchased our party tickets for the night, and then walked through the gates. The cast members were handing out bags for trick or treating that we could use later. The party hadn't officially started yet, it was probably around 5:30pm-6:00pm or so, and we just took in some of the sights.







We walked onto Main Street just as the Move It! Shake It! parade was going by







Since there wasn't any party stuff going on yet, we looked for the lowest wait time we could find and headed that way. It turned out to be the magic carpet ride. We waited maybe 10 minutes total, and got to meet the most adorable little girl in line who was trying to share her popcorn with everyone.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!



This poor family in front of us got spit on by that camel every time they passed it.

When we got off of the carpets, Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road suddenly had a super low wait of 15 minutes so we ran over there and hopped on. Then it was time for a snack.



Mickey pretzels are the best pretzels.... We also walked back over to adventureland and got my mom a Dole Whip float.

One of my favorite times of the trip happened right then. My mom and I have been through some ups and downs during my life, and I'm so glad that we've worked past all of it. We sat on a bench right outside of the Haunted Mansion eating the Dole Whip float and Mickey pretzel, and just people watched and talked. I honestly can't say how long we sat there for, but we noticed that the crowds were thinning out and all of a sudden we started hearing an announcement that the party was starting and all the "regular" guests needed to start making their way to the exit. They also said that the party was sold out that night. Thank goodness for military tickets! Even if the party is sold out, you can still buy a party ticket at the gate if you're military.

Now that the party had officially started, and it was a Halloween party, AND we were on a bench outside of the Haunted Mansion, riding the Haunted Mansion is obviously the right thing to do.

So we did.

And it was awesome because we got stuck here



But only for a few moments! They had us going again in no time.

I wanted to start heading up towards where they had candy stations and check out some of the party snacks, so we walked past the Tangled bathrooms.

Which, by the way, I finally understand the significance of these lantern things. I didn't watch Tangled until after we got back from the trip. I honestly just thought that Disney thought it was a cute design....



We came upon Philharmagic and it was DEAD.

This was the waiting area



Insane.

Also, this show makes me cry. I don't know why, but it does. It makes me happy.

Upon leaving Philharmagic, we noticed that the wait times to meet special characters were way more than either of us would have ever ever been willing to wait. So we made a decision.

We weren't waiting for them.

We were going to take advantage of the insanely low wait times and ride stuff instead.

Carousel was right there, so we walked right on.

It was so beautiful at night!





And we had this fabulous view of Cinderella's castle



Followed up the carousel ride by going through the Winnie the Pooh story again, and then again.... My mom loves Winnie the Pooh, a lot lol

I noticed that there was only a 20 minute wait for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train! Naturally we got right in line! I do have to say that I liked the stand by line because there's a lot of interaction, but because the line was moving so quickly it took a lot of effort to not walk around the people trying to play that gem game instead of moving ahead.

These are the faces of pure happiness!



Plus the park is gorgeous at night!

We spent the rest of the night running around and riding rides with little to no wait, getting candy from the trick or treat stations, and just enjoying ourselves. The Hocus Pocus show was a big draw this year, and we had intended on trying to watch it but it was impossible to find somewhere to actually see it. Honestly the only time I ever felt like the place was crowded was around Main Street. We could have done jumping jacks and twirled in circles without touching anyone everywhere else in the park. We called it a night and headed out, but not before I got my dream picture.



I love it so much! I've always wanted to hold the balloons!

We grabbed some food at the Pepper Market, and slipped into our room as quiet as little mouses so we wouldn't wake up Dacey. I said a prayer that she would be feeling better in the morning and we passed out for the night.

 

[Hardheadedwoman]

Loving your TR! So glad you and your family were able to enjoy such a wonderful trip!

 

[Jessicavoet]

Part 6! 09/23/15

Animal Kingdom day!

I know there are a lot of people who say they don't like Animal Kingdom, but it's one of my favorites. It's so immersive and I love that every where I look I can find something new.

We woke up this morning and tentatively asked Dacey how she was feeling.

I was greeted with a sweet smile and she said she was feeling 100% better! Her headache was gone and she was ready to go. Not wanting to stir anything back up, we agreed we would just take it easy today. Which is very easy to do at Animal Kingdom, thankfully. One of our favorite things to do is "wander" and people watch, which is definitely easy at AK.

Our MDE screen shot



We packed up Dacey's medicine, just in case she needed it, and came up with a plan for what to do if she needed to go back to the room. We also made her swear up and down she would guzzle water like it was candy to make sure she didn't get dehydrated.

Originally I had planned on getting to the park at rope drop and riding Everest and the Safari, then going to a late breakfast at Tusker House. Then they changed the EMH hours and there were morning EMH at Animal Kingdom today. So instead of opening at 9:00am the park now opened at 8:00am. Arriving at the park at 8:00am and then waiting until 10:00am (our original breakfast time) didn't sound so great, so I started trying to move our breakfast closer to 9:00am. The closest I could ever get was 9:25am, so we figured that would just have to work.

We arrived right after they started letting people inside, and thanks to these awesome boards, we knew to go to the left and through Rainforest Cafe to use the turn stiles at the back of the store. There was absolutely no one waiting there, while the front turnstiles at the park were flooded with people.

Dacey had really wanted to try and ride Everest for the first time ever, she has a fear of big tall roller coasters, but with her having the migraine the day before we mutually decided it was a bad idea. She'll have to overcome that fear on another trip! She was ok waiting in the gift shop for my mom and I to ride real fast. The wait time said 10 minutes but we walked right on, no wait. The single rider line had no one at all in it either.

Everest is my all time favorite ride, and favorite waiting que, so I couldn't wait to share it with my mom because she also loves roller coasters. She LOVED it! She ended up saying Soarin and Everest were her favorites of the trip.

We met Dacey outside the ride, and then did what we do best, slowly meandered our way towards Tusker House.





Even though we were a little early for our reservation time, we went ahead and checked in. I almost cancelled this reservation, but I'm so glad that I didn't! We were handed a little buzzer and walked around the back of the building where we waited on picnic tables with umbrellas. When it was our turn to go in, I was blown away.



It was so perfect inside! Every little detail was amazing, I couldn't stop looking all over the place, just taking it all in.

Our server came to our table and poured us some water, then Dacey ordered the orange, guava, juice stuff everyone loves (I'm not really a fan....), mom and I got some cokes because we're addicted to caffiene and I don't like coffee. She explained that the buffet didn't work like traditional buffets, there's no need to stand in a line for things. Just jump in, grab what you want, and jump back out!

My first plate: Breakfast potatoes, Mickey waffle sausage patty, sweet potato casserole, and a donut hole. Everything was good except the sweet potato casserole, it had good flavor but it was weird because it was cold. Maybe if it had been heated up it would have been better.



Went back for Frosted Flakes, always good



And then biscuit with sausage gravy, cheese, grapes, watermelon, and the best sliced ham ever.



Now, while we loved the food there, and the service, none of the characters came to our table. We were truly taking our time with this meal and a good while had gone by and none of the characters were even in our room yet. We asked our server about it and she said that they should start making their way over in the next 15-20 minutes or so. Given the option of waiting another 15 minutes to see a character when we were already antsy to leave, or going ahead and getting back out in the park.... We decided to not worry about and paid the bill. Yes, I know that part of the reason these meals are so pricey is because of the character interaction, but the food and atmosphere were so good I wasn't even that bothered by it. I would totally eat here again.

We used the restrooms, and as soon as we were walking out of the door my husband called from back home. Our 17 year old had gotten bitten by a spider and his hand was swelling up.

*sigh*

If it's not one kid it's another....

Thankfully everything ended up being fine, they gave him some steroids and told him to keep an eye on it.

We decided to take a little walk on the Pangani Forest Trail to see some hippos



He was hiding under the water the whole time, I know that they're supposed to be dangerous, but they're just so stinking cute



We did also see gorillas, but they weren't close to the glass or anything so I couldn't get any good pictures of them.



I'm so in love with this bridge



King Louie and Baloo were meeting so we got in their line. These guys are so much fun!



And then we decided to take a trail infested with tigers



They weren't very active today....



I love tigers so much, they're so majestic. Also, very dangerous animals but I really really want to pet one.

Beautiful scenery





I love how well thought out every single nook and cranny of this place is



We had a fast pass for Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids coming up next.

So we took a wild ride on a dinosaur hunt! I hadn't been on this one before, it was pretty loud, and if I had been on it before I probably would have asked Dacey to sit it out because of how loud it was....

But she did fine with it and we all really loved it!

My youngest is obsessed with dinosaurs so I can't wait to bring him back to Disney and ride this one with him.

My mom did not want to ride Kali Rapids because she didn't want to get soaking wet, so she sat it out and waited on me and Dacey to ride it.

Pictures while waiting:





It was fun, as always, and we only got a little wet. The people directly to our right though, completely soaked! One of the guys was wearing swim trunks which ended up being a fantastic thing because they were dripping wet lol.

LUNCH TIME!!!

At Animal Kingdom, that means FLAME TREE BBQ TIME!

My mom and I split the plate that has a 1/4 of a smoked chicken and ribs, bbq beans, and jalapeno corn bread. Dacey got the bbq pork sandwich, and we had an order of onion rings and fries to split between everyone.





I'm drooling thinking about it.... so good.....

Also, I was impressed at how cool it was sitting under the wooden canopy things. I thought it would be warmer than it was, but there are fans under there so it was really nice.

My youngest had been asking me to bring him back a stuffed rhino so I purchased this guy for him



He named him "Grassy" because "rhino's eat grass." He now has 3 rhinos, Grassy, Charger, and Rhiny. Off topic, but at (almost) 10 years old his life goal is to save the rhinos from extinction. He reads the "Save the rhinos" webpage on a regular basis and keeps us up to date on their status. It's adorable and I love that at his age he's already wanting to do something to give back to the world.

Next we went on a safari where we saw real rhinos! I had to send pictures of the rhinos back home so that my youngest could see "how they were doing", and he was especially excited that there was a baby!

 

[Jessicavoet]

(Part 6 continued)

aaaaaaaaaaaaand then we were tired and decided we needed a boring old people nap. So we went to the resort and set the alarm for a good 2 hour nap.

When the alarm went off... I wasn't happy. Some words were said, grunting noises made, snooze button hit....

Eventually Dacey laughing at me and my anger at the alarm going off woke me up. We had dinner at 7:15pm with some very important princesses, and we had slept the majority of our getting ready time away.

Sooooooo..... we jumped up as quickly as possible and started getting showers and getting ready. I felt like we were cutting it really close, but we made it on the bus and to the Magic Kingdom in time!

This was a really expensive meal, but I wanted to eat here so bad.

How often are you given the chance to eat INSIDE Cinderella's castle?

On top of that, you get to eat amazing, fancy food while Disney princesses come to your table!

The inside looked just like what I imagine a castle would look like.





When you first enter the room you get in line to meet with Cinderella!



After you've taken your picture you get to hang out in there until they call your name. Then you follow your hostess up the red carpeted stairs and they take you the prettiest dining room I have ever seen. Windows that overlooked Fantasyland, beautiful wood tables and booths, plush carpeting. Everything was immaculate and I knew immediately that this was going to be an experience that I would remember forever.

Me and Dacey



Mom



This is hands down my favorite meal at all of Disney World, and all of the rest of the world for that matter. I was a little nervous because I had read some bad reviews about the food, but it was so good.

Dacey and I both got the castle salad. It had apples, cucumbers, cheese, amazing dressing, and walnuts and I literally ate every single thing in the bowl.



Mom got the broccoli and cheese soup, I didn't try any of it but she said it was delicious.



Dacey and I also got the same entree, the steak and shrimp.



The steak was so tender I didn't even use my knife on it. I don't eat shrimp so those promptly got handed to my mom, and I was scraping all of the potatoes off of the plate.

Mom got the pork, and while it was tasty it wasn't anywhere near as good as the steak



For dessert I didn't want anything heavy so I just got some ice cream. Ice cream is ice cream, it's pretty hard to mess that up and this was good lol



Mom got the strawberry cheesecake. This was so light and airy, perfect!



Dacey couldn't decide for her dessert so the serer brought her both lol.

The smores dessert



And the "chef's special" which was some kind of chocolate and raspberry cake with walnuts and ice cream.



Both were good, but the cheesecake was the winner!

We met with all the princesses, and I took a selfie with Aurora!



This meal was a total dream come true. I just wish it wasn't so expensive so we could do it again!

We were almost falling asleep on the way back to our resort that night, and everyone was all smiles!! Sleepy and full smiles!

 

[kilroy1966]

Great trip report. Sorry about the migraine episode.

 

[Jessicavoet]

Loving your TR! So glad you and your family were able to enjoy such a wonderful trip!

It was amazing! We definitely had some bumps along the way, but overall it was a wonderful trip.

Great trip report. Sorry about the migraine episode.

The migraine was a terrible thing, Florida has it out for Dacey. Everytime we go there something happens to her. I really do think that it has something to do with her living in Nebraska and not being used to the climate.

 

[Jessicavoet]

Part 7: 09/24/15

We were SUPPOSED to be at the beach today!

We had planned on getting up around 8:00am-ish and driving to Clearwater Beach. It's about a 2 hour drive and all of the pictures show the beautiful white sand that we love. We go to Destin, FL a lot so we were looking for a beach similar or nicer.

But what had happened was.....

We were tired.

So the alarm went off and I promptly shut it off. By the time 10:00am rolled around and we actually woke up, we didn't feel like driving to the beach. We had dinner plans at the Yachtsman Steakhouse that night at 8:00pm so we would need to leave the beach by 4:30-5:00pm in order to have enough time to drive back, shower, and get ready for dinner. We still had to get up and shower that day so there was no way we were leaving before 11:00am, putting us at the beach at 1:00pm. We just said screw it, we're not going.

We briefly said that we would go to Epcot today, and miss the Food and Wine festival the next day and I switched all of our fast pass stuff to today. Remember that Test Track fast pass I had talked about earlier in the week....? That copied over to today easily. We had everything set up and ready to go to Epcot. Then I stood up and put my feet on the floor, and so did Dacey and mom. There was no way that any of our feet were up to walking around at the park today.

So we said screw it again, we're just going to the pool for the day.

Only problem was, when I went to switch our fast passes back to the following day, they were gone. There was no more Test Track available, or Soarin. So I chose whatever was left and figured we would just go to rope drop and make the best of it.

So now there were no plans! And that is exactly what we needed!

We showered and put on bathing suits, went to the Pepper Market (with clothes on over our bathing suits of course) and grabbed breakfast.

Don't judge me for this.

I got the Grande Scramble with scrambled eggs, a large slice of ham, breakfast potatoes, and bacon



And then I also ordered the kids size French toast.



The French toast meal comes with a carton of milk, so I grabbed a little box of Frosted Flakes too. I kept the milk in our fridge in our room and ate the cereal as a snack later.

I was starving, and I am proud to say that I ate almost every single bite. I was quite miserable afterwards, but I wasn't hungry anymore....

Then it was time to lay blissfully and lazily by the pool for several hours.



Adults were invited to do arts and crafts so we joined in and colored mini blow up globe beach balls





Eventually we started to burn, I decided I was going back in and mom said she was done too. We grabbed a hot dog at the little snack shack place by the pool and headed to the room. We ate and then took a nap. Dacey came in at some point when we were napping and she took a nap too.

We're exciting people.

When the alarm went off to get ready for dinner, we actually felt relaxed and ready to go. No one cussed at the alarm or anything this time!

We were eating at a place I honestly didn't think I'd get to go to any time soon. A few weeks before the trip mom was at my house and I was gushing about the Yachtsman's Steakhouse and how it was supposed to be some of the most incredible food ever. I was showing her pictures and a review I had just read, and was telling her how I would love to eat there but couldn't afford it on top of the other stuff that we were doing.

Then she says "Well let's book it." and said it would be her treat for the trip.

I was blown away, and of course booked it immediately after hugging her.

It was raining out so we were rocking the poncho look!



When we arrived at the Yacht Club the guard informed us that the regular parking lot was full, but we could park in the convention hall parking. That made for a longer walk, but we got to walk around the Yacht Club resort more, which was beautiful as always.

If there's ever a dental convention at the Yacht Club I'm going....



Our waitress was super adorable, and very helpful with recommendations.

We started out with bread, onion roll on the left and sourdough on the right. Onion roll was the winner!



Truffle macaroni and cheese, was melt in your mouth good.



I ordered the New York strip which comes with au gratin potatoes. It was very very well cooked, but I wish I had the sauce that was on Dacey's filet instead of the butter that was on my strip. Not that it was bad, I just liked hers better



Mom's prime rib with sweet potatoes, and you can kind of see Dacey's filet with mashed potatoes in the background there too



Everything was amazing, but Dacey's meal was the winner of everything. Her steak was to die for.

We didn't get dessert, too full!

After dinner we went home, watched movies, and fell asleep.

Today wasn't really that exciting, except for dinner! But it was perfect, and exactly what we needed to do. I'm so thankful for my mom getting this meal, because it was AMAZING!!!

 

[rdkeim]

I'm really enjoying reading about your trip! Nice you aren't pushing yourselves and working in some down time when you need it. Glad your step-daughter is feeling better - no fun to be under the weather at Disney

 

[MsHershey]

I am enjoying your TR very much! I love that your trip is a 3-generational girl trip. My 29-yo dd and I have gone every year for the last 4 years. What better place for a mother and daughter to bond than at Disney. We, too, have to take old people naps. We usually go in September and the heat/humidity is just too much for us. Well, for me anyway. I just can't go from park opening to closing without a nap.

Our next trip we will have an addition with us. Her BF is going with us. This is a test run to see if he gets bitten by the Disney bug. Hopefully, he will love it as much as we do. He has a special surprise in store for her during this trip. He plans to propose! Her daddy and I are so happy about this as he is a really good guy and treats her very well. I'm trying to come up with a unique Disney proposal idea. Thank goodness I have plenty of time to plan.

Keep up the good work with your TR. I look forward to your next installment.

 

[kilroy1966]

Agree with Destin. My sister and brother-in law have a condo on Okaloosa Island. Sand is great.

 

[Jessicavoet]

I'm really enjoying reading about your trip! Nice you aren't pushing yourselves and working in some down time when you need it. Glad your step-daughter is feeling better - no fun to be under the weather at Disney

It was nice to take it easy and relax a lot. We had really low wait times so even though we were taking it easy we still accomplished so much! Poor Dacey, last year she passed out at the Magic Kingdom from the heat and this year she had a migraine. I'm afraid to bring her back lol!

I am enjoying your TR very much! I love that your trip is a 3-generational girl trip. My 29-yo dd and I have gone every year for the last 4 years. What better place for a mother and daughter to bond than at Disney. We, too, have to take old people naps. We usually go in September and the heat/humidity is just too much for us. Well, for me anyway. I just can't go from park opening to closing without a nap.

Our next trip we will have an addition with us. Her BF is going with us. This is a test run to see if he gets bitten by the Disney bug. Hopefully, he will love it as much as we do. He has a special surprise in store for her during this trip. He plans to propose! Her daddy and I are so happy about this as he is a really good guy and treats her very well. I'm trying to come up with a unique Disney proposal idea. Thank goodness I have plenty of time to plan.

Keep up the good work with your TR. I look forward to your next installment.

Napping is my favorite part of vacations! Any vacation! We're pretty go go go at home between school, work, and family life so I love being able to blissfully fall asleep in the middle of the day lol. That's so exciting that he's going to propose! I hope that he loves Disney just as much and that y'all can make it a yearly thing.

Agree with Destin. My sister and brother-in law have a condo on Okaloosa Island. Sand is great.

I haven't actually been on Okaloosa Island yet. We're military so we rent rooms at Hurlburt Field AFB near Destin regularly, so we always go to Navarre or Ft. Walton Beach. Next to Disney it's probably my favorite place, it's just so peaceful.

 

[Jessicavoet]

Part 8: 09/25/15

Today we were up way before the alarm went off because WE WERE READY!

It was our last day at Disney, and it was the opening day of Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. Since we had cancelled all of our fast passes the day before trying to move them, and lost everything for today, we were really winging it. Getting there for rope drop was a necessity to make sure we could ride Test Track so we were out the door when the sun was still rising.

We stopped at the Pepper Market for some breakfast

Kids French toast again for me!



Then it was out the door and on a bus!

We were at Epcot at 8:15am, the park opened at 9:00am and we were among some of the first people in line at the turnstiles!

Then the funniest thing happened. I made a post in our Disney group on Facebook about how we were first in line, and one of the ladies in our group said she was too!

I said "We're almost dead center, in front of the Food and Wine festival sign."

She said "Me too! I'm wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt!"

So I was reading the message out loud to Dacey and my mom, and she was literally standing right next to us in line.

Small world!

We chatted for a little while until they opened the park, and then we went our separate ways! We were brought to a second "rope drop" area by Test Track and Mission Space where we hung out for a little bit. They already had Test Track posted as a 60 minute wait, I was really hoping that was wrong...

Thankfully it was. As soon as we were able to get through the rope area we walked right on the ride.

We let my mom 100% design the car because she had never done it before.





Then we booked it over to Soarin'!

Posted wait was 30 minutes, and we waited probably close to 20. I met an amazing man while waiting in line. He is a Navy veteran, his wife worked at Disney World until she passed away. Now that they're all retired, him, his brother, and his brother's wife spend their days driving around the country in their RV and they visit Disney every time they're in Florida. When we were talking to them, they were saying they were leaving in the next few days to drive to Seattle and take a cruise to Alaska. Very sweet man, and I was honored to meet him!

Soarin' was great as always, and we stopped to breathe for a few minutes since we were power walking since arriving in Epcot.

We wanted pictures in front of Spaceship Earth.

My mom wanted one of these, it kind of worked...



We took some photopass pictures here, and these pictures convinced me that I'm ordering Memory Maker or whatever it's called on our next trip. The pictures were so good, especially in comparison to the ones we took with our phones!



It was now right at 10:30am and we were hot. Today was way more crowded than we had experienced the whole trip, and it was hot. We had already drank all of our waters and wanted refills, and wanted to be in a position to be close to the Food and Wine booths when they opened. We started walking towards France because I knew the quick service there would be open.

My boss was in the real Scotland for part of my trip, so I stopped in front of the Scotland booth to take a picture and this guy totally photobombed me. He was hilarious



We stopped for another photopass picture in front of France



Then, there it was!

France was like an oasis!



We stopped in the bakery, refilled our waters, rested in the air conditioning, and of course we ate a croissant.

When the booths opened, we started with France since we were already there.

We tried the beef dish with the potatoes, and we loved it so much that we devoured it before taking a picture.... But seriously it was good. I would have eaten it as a meal if it was larger.

Next was Belgium, we got a waffle with the fruit compote and whipped cream.



Oh my gosh.... This was good. So good we almost bought another until we saw the line.

We stopped at the Italy booth and got some ravioli. It was good, but no better than the ravioli I can make at home with premade ravioli so I wasn't really impressed with it.

After Italy we were looking at some of the other booths, but the lines were so ridiculous that none of us wanted to wait for any of them. You couldn't tell where some of the lines ended and began, and by this point it was shoulder to shoulder with people and we were pouring sweat.

We called it quits.

I know that we had come here specifically for the Food and Wine festival, but it wasn't worth all of this. It was too hot, and maybe if it had been at the beginning of our trip we would have stayed, but we were tired and didn't feel like dealing with it.

So we left.

I'd love to try it again one day, but I won't go on opening day again and maybe next time I'll have a better idea of what to expect so I won't be as disappointed with it.

Or maybe it'll be cooler or something....

Anyway, we went back to the resort and relaxed and packed our stuff. We had to leave early the next morning to start our 15 hour drive home so we needed to be packed and ready to go tonight.

When we felt like going back out we wanted to do something "Disney" but we didn't want to go to a park so we hopped on a bus to Downtown Disney. There were several things we had picked out earlier in the week that we needed to go back and pick up anyway.

We could see a huge storm cloud coming in when we were waiting for the bus, and we knew it was going to pour. But a rainy day at Disney is better than any kind of day at home so we were still going and we were going to enjoy it!

It was dinner time by the time we made it down there so we stopped in at Earl of Sandwich for some yumminess.

I had the ham and swiss with the biggest freaking grapes I've ever seen



We did lots and lots of shopping, and Dacey wanted to look at a few other stores so she stayed longer than mom and I did so we headed back to the resort and she said she'd meet us there later.

On our way back to the bus, my mom made another one of my favorite moments from the trip happen.

She stood in front of this sign and said:

"Oh! Take my picture with Gaston!"



No mom....

Apparently she's been living under a hole the last several years.

We're going to have some movie nights so she can catch up before our next trip lol.

I had wanted a picture in front of the Christmas decorations there, and this super nice bus driver stopped to take one of us



So we took a selfie together!



When we got back to the room we found that mousekeeping had set our stuffed animals and blankets out on the bed for us



And that was it. We finished packing, watched part of a movie, waited on Dacey to get back, and then went to sleep for the night.

We were sad, it was our last Disney day....