No One Does a Trip Report Like Gaston - January 2016 (Updated 4/14)

[blestmom]

Apparently...my original plan for a Trip Report did NOT work. I had this grand idea that since my teenage son and I were here for a long 2-week trip, it would be a super relaxing trip. I planned that each evening after heading back to the resort, I would leisurely upload all my photos and write my Trip Report while I was on the trip.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

It WAS a super fun trip, but I don't know if "relaxing" is the correct word to use. My son was completely, go, Go, GO! every day. We stayed as late as we could in whatever park we were in, and then would hop over a park open even later. We came back to the resort happily exhausted...there is no way I could ever keep up.

After I got home, I decided that a day-by-day synopsis of a 2-week trip would be...kind of boring. We park hopped over and over, so the days would just sound repetitive. So I've decided to do a park-by-park trip report. (I decided this after I posted a few days at the beginning of my trip, which I've now edited, so the first few comments probably won't make a whole lot of sense... )

All the Pre-Trip Details are given in my Pre-Trip Report linked here:

Clickable links:
PRE-TRIP Report: No One Does a Trip Report Like Gaston
MAGIC KINGDOM
EPCOT
ANIMAL KINGDOM
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
OTHER STUFF


In a nutshell, it's me (Deb - mom) and my son, Andrew (17). We flew from Alaska, and are staying for 17 days at Pop Century.

On our layover in Seattle, we were advised that the Beecher's macaroni and cheese is almost worth missing your flight for. Thankfully, we had enough time to grab some before the long flight...

And we're on our way!!

We're staying at Pop Century. Being the Tea Nerd that I am, I had to bring my Teavana travel cup along with my beloved Peach Tranquility Tea, which I like to drink each night before bed (except those nights that we got in way past closing time at the food court where I got the hot water)...

MAGIC KINGDOM

We love nights at the Magic Kingdom! We started our trip there, and this was the sunset that greeted us on our first evening. Beautiful!!

Frontierland is such a pretty area:

The Riverboat during the day is a very relaxing ride. I wasn't aware until the first time we rode it that there are all these scenes to see along the way...

The Riverboat also gives some excellent views of the Haunted Mansion...

It wasn't until I got a better view from the Riverboat that I noticed the "bat" weathervane!

Sometimes I'm in such a hurry, I don't slow down enough to really look and appreciate all the details. This was a view from Liberty Square. It looks just like a real colonial town.

What a beautiful site...the entrance to the Magic Kingdom!! The Happiest Place on Earth!!!

I just love this statue...Roy was a pretty cool dude. Seems he kept visionary Walt in line with the business end of things. What a great team. I'm glad to see this appreciation of him in the park.

Oh yum! Casey's Corn Dogs...I love the corn dog nuggets.

We really liked the refurbishment of the area around the castle.

They seemed to move these little statues from the area around the Walt statue, and the new place is a great area for them.

Tomorrowland is especially magical at night with all the neon lighting...

I love the Partners statue...

Yum!! Disney popcorn is just the best. Really. It tastes better.

The castle is so pretty at night. Stay for the "Kiss Goodnight" if you can.

One night we were up in the Swiss Robinson Family Treehouse when the castle show and fireworks...complete with Tinkerbell flying down from the castle...was going on. We were able to stop and watch from there (it was later at night and hardly anyone was touring the treehouse.)

(You can see Space Mountain in the background...)

The entrance to the treehouse...

Frontierland is my favorite. I just think it is so pretty over there...

We love the Columbia Harbor House!

Their Chicken Peppercorn Salad is so good.

And, of course, the beloved Dole Whip...

I love these Fruit and Nutella waffles SO much!

This was also our first time to "Be Our Guest" restaurant. We went for lunch. So pretty in there.

The French Onion soup was delicious.

At Gaston's Tavern...the delicious LeFou's Brew. Yum!

We loved, loved, loved the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! One time, we were riding at night during the fireworks. The train stopped at the top of a hill, and we just sat there for a good few minutes with the fireworks right overhead. It was so cool! We found that the lines were often lower during the nights, and especially if it was raining. We were able to ride it a couple times in a row those nights.

Splash Mountain ride photos...

Space Mountain is my son's favorite attraction, so we rode it so many times I can't count...

A few random thoughts ...

1. We were surprised how crowded the Magic Kingdom was. Late January is my favorite time to visit and this has been the most crowded I've encountered.

2. I think the Magic Kingdom could use one less parade. I think that 3 is too many. I think maybe the "Move It! Shake It" should go. Also, I thought the guy over in Tomorrowland with the Dance Party thing was kind of cute, but I thought it went on a long time and it was really loud. It kind of took away from the typical Tomorrowland theming music.

3. Traveling with a 17-year-old boy is much different than our last trip when he was 14. At 14, he was pretty much okay with my stopping to take pictures and kind of a slower pace. This year he is all go, go, go...and he doesn't seem to be so patient when I am pokey stopping for photography, etc. He has a FitBit and we clocked that today we walked 9 miles.

4. I wanted to stay and watch the fireworks, but above-mentioned son also had had enough of crowds and kids. He really did not want to walk out with the post-fireworks mob and then wait for a Pop Century bus. I know better than to push it, especially on our first day, so we decided to leave early and catch the fireworks another night. A benefit though was that while we were waiting for the bus, the fireworks started and we had an excellent view from the bus loading area, and they pipe the music in. I was quite happy with that!

5. I'm really not sold on the whole Magic Band Fast-Pass system yet. It was nice to not have to wait for Seven Dwarves Mine, but it made the waits at the less popular attractions so long. Gone are the days of just walking by Pirates and deciding to ride. It made for a lot of zig-zagging across the park trying to find something with a reasonable wait after using our current Fast-passes. We did get some more using the kiosks but the selections get few and far between the later the day goes.

Top 3 Cute/Adorable/Sweet things of the day I saw:

#1. The adorable little boy behind us on "Small World." Upon seeing an animatronic of a platypus in the ride, he embarked on a very detailed report on platypuses that continued for the entire ride, and he was still talking about them on the way out. He was so stinking cute! He knew quite a bit about them ("Did you know that platypuses are the only mammal that lays eggs?") He was so "grown up." Loved that kid.

#2. I got a kick out of the very proper grandmotherly looking lady who upon embarking "Winnie the Pooh," very slowly and deliberately shut the little gate that is at the end of the moving walkway after going through. Mind you, there were several other people coming off the ride behind her, and most people usually just go through and let the gate swing shut. But she very deliberately and perfectly shut the gate...because it was the "proper" thing to do. She was so adorable.

#3. Kudos to the 2 kids who had light sabres...one red, one blue...and managed to pull off a full-fledged dual while riding the Teacups. Yes, while sitting in a spinning teacup going round and round, these 2 engaged in a galactic battle. And they did it well. Way to go, kids!

 

[blestmom]

EPCOT:

Not going to lie...we found Epcot to be a little challenging. Not to say we didn't enjoy it (I am, in fact, one of those die-hard Disney fans who finds little to fault, because I am just so immensely happy there. Yes, I have Disney rose-colored glasses.) But the Future World section does seem to be in need of some attention. It didn't help that Soarin' was down for refurbishment while we were there. That put Test Track at Tier 1, and it always had horrendous lines. Innoventions is a relative ghost town. Also, in the World Showcase, the Norway pavilion is under refurbishment, too. So...I just am hoping that after the Magic Kingdom New Fantasyland with 7DMT, Animal Kingdom with the new awesome sounding nighttime hours, rides, and attractions, and Disney Studies with the super fun sounding Star Wars theming...I do hope that Epcot, and particularly Future World, will get some tender loving care in a few years.

In the meantime, even with all that, we had a good time there. My son particularly likes this park, so it always makes me happy to go there.

One of the first things that I did was go purchase my beloved Laila perfume. My older son had given me a Disney Gift Card for Christmas, and I told him that is what I was going to spend it on.

Epcot is my son's favorite park...

This was our first time on the newer Test Track, as it was under refurbishment last time we visited. We did kind of miss the whole "test" thing, but the ride itself was pretty much the same, and we still love it. My son really liked the whole "design the car" aspect. He's a techie-physics kind of guy.

We did Mission: Space (orange) just once. It hasn't really bothered me in the past, but I didn't want to take any chances on days when we had a meal planned, or had just eaten or whatever...so we only got in one ride.

My son is showing an interest in photography, and he just got a new Nikon. So me, with my Canon, he with his Nikon, stayed late one night at Epcot and had a blast taking a ton of photos. This was one of my favorites...Taken across from the Land Pavilion.

Journey Into Imagination...What can really be said? The building at least is pretty at night. It's not that it's a bad right, it's just that it could be so, so much more.

My son, practicing his photography skills...

4


Extra Magic Hours at night at Epcot = hardly anyone in the park at the end...

My attempt at creative photography...lol!

Canada Pavilion...

England Pavilion...

There was hardly anyone in the World Showcase after the fireworks, but the park had evening EMH. Great time for photos!

France Pavilion...

Morocco Pavilion...

Japan Pavilion...

America Pavilion...

Italy Pavilion:

German Pavilion...

World Showcase Lagoon...

China Pavilion...

Norway Pavilion...

Mexico Pavilion...

Illuminations, Reflection of Earth...

Test Track ride photos...

Random thoughts....

1. FastPass choices at Epcot right now, I think, are a joke..."Living With the Land" was a walk on, and it was just sad to see FastPass for "Journey Into Imagination" and "Finding Nemo." It seemed to me that even the cast members think the whole thing is silly. I mean, we're walking stand-by onto "Journey Into Imagination" neck-and-neck with the FastPass line. We all reach the end at the same time. The cast member holds up his hand to stop us, and the lone party in FastPass sits down ahead of us, but in the same car. I mean, it seems really rather silly. We saw this scenario repeated several times throughout the day. So far, not a big fan of FastPass.

2. We had lunch at Teppan Edo. It was our first time there, and my son's first time ever at this kind of restaurant. He asked specifically to go there. We really enjoyed the whole experience, and we thought the food was great. I had the chicken, and my son had the shrimp and steak. Also, the salad was very good...my son never eats salad at home but he loved this. We also ordered the chocolate ginger cake...yummy! The only thing I was disappointed with was that there was a party of 4 other people seated at our table, and they never said one word to us. They just conversed amongst themselves. I was waiting until maybe there was a lull in conversation, but they kind of turned away from us and never seemed interested in even saying "hi." That was kind of a bummer. But the meal was great, and the chef was a lot of fun.



Top 3 Cute/Adorable/Sweet things of the day I saw:

#1. My favorite one so far...this young girl was in the single rider line at Test Track with her dad. The lines were moving slowly. It was finally their turn to move forward...but there was one problem. While waiting in line, this young girl had absent-mindedly tied the strings of her hoodie in a knot around the metal handrail...and she got them stuck. They were really tied in a knot! The dad was so embarassed trying to undo the knot and they were holding up the entire line, as the young girl was literally tied to the railing. I don't know why but I found it so funny...several of us looked at the dad as in "yeah, we've got kids...been there, done that." Then he started laughing and she started giggling...it really was funny. Finally they were able to get her hoodie unstuck and move forward. And as fate would have it, the little girl ended up sitting next me and my son (as she was a single rider). She was just a sweet girl...and lots of fun to have in our car.

#2. Two thumbs up to the dad with 2 little girls, who was masculinely wearing their "Hello Kitty" backpack. It takes a real man to pull off that Pepto-Bismol pink kitty well.

#3. I so loved the adorable little girl at the Color attraction in Innoventions, who was so mesmerized by the colors, and she was so thrilled with it all her enthusiasm was infectious. She was talking with wonder at the beauty of all the colors. So sweet.

 

[mdsouth]

Just found your thread and loving it! Your pictures are AMAZING!!! Totally understand about having to deal with a teenager who is not too keen on waiting around for you to get the perfect shot. I have two kids, one 19 and the other 12. My hubby is really into photography and I enjoy taking a lot of photos too wherever we go and the kids' attitudes are quiet annoyance and impatience.
That and the fact that I am a middle school teacher and hang around teenagers all day long.


I also am totally enjoying how you are adding your top three random cute/swee/adorable things that you notice about other guests and things during the day. I, too notice lots of little interactions when I am touring the parks and so it is refreshing to see someone else who notices them too.

 

[blestmom]

Your pictures are AMAZING!!!

Thank you Being a middle school teacher could help me some with teens, that's for sure. The difference between 14 and 17 years has been quite noticeable. I'm seeing solo trips very soon here for me as he's my youngest. It will be weird but kind of nice to take as long as I want taking photos.

 

[blestmom]

ANIMAL KINGDOM

Animal Kingdom is my favorite park (followed closely by Magic Kingdom). I could be happy heading over there just about every day of my vacation. Maybe down the road if I do a solo trip I will do just that.

Kilimanjaro Safari is my favorite attraction in my favorite park.

The Painted Dogs are apparently new to the safari...

Expedition Everest is my favorite coaster...I lost count how many times we rode it.

Animal Kingdom is SO pretty at night. I'm so excited for all the changes coming to the park!

My photographer son again...

DiVine...

I celebrated my birthday at the Yak and Yeti...I had the Chicken Masala with Jasmine Rice and Garlic Naan Bread. So good!

And for dessert, Mango Pie. It was amazingly delicious!

A counter service meal I really liked was the Cornbread Chicken Salad from Flame Tree Barbecue...

Expedition Everest ride photos...

Dinosaur ride photos...

Random thoughts...

1. Animal Kingdom is quite pretty in the rain.

2. Royal Anandapur remains my favorite place to get a coffee in all Disney property.

3. The singer at AK by the safari was talented, it was SO LOUD you couldn't even hear the person around you. I really don't like these loud musical things. I miss the quieter background park music.


Top 3 Cute/Adorable/Sweet things of the day I saw:

#1. Kudos to the mom on the Pop Century bus going back to the resort after a long day. She had a young boy on her lap, maybe 2? Everyone was exhausted...including her. But her little boy was pretty lively. This mom sang songs with her little boy the entire way back. Every time the little boy was about to lose it, she was so patient and gentle with him, and redirected him with another song. Way to go, mom!

#2. I just love seeing gentlemen give up their seat to those who need it on the buses. This young man was sitting by his girlfriend, but immediately jumped up and offered his seat to a mom who was carrying a small child. Not only did he give up his seat, he then proceeded to play with the young child, and keep him entertained during the ride.

#3. Saw the sweetest elderly gentleman in front of us at Dinosaur. You could tell that the walking was difficult for him, but he was so determined to ride the attraction with his granddaughter. He just walked very slowly, but smiling the whole time. What special memories for them both!

 

[jwwi]

Very fun TR, I Love your top three at the end, so so sweet...

 

[nilla]

Love your baby gorilla photos!

Well, all of your picture are great, to be honest. But those are the best

 

[ariane37]

Joining! We missed you by one day, DH and I did a kid-free trip 1/15-1/20. I agree with pp's your pictures are gorgeous!
17 days, jealous! Although I imagine coming from Alaska it makes no sense to do a short trip lol. We're in NY and while it gets cold here and we'd checked the temps in Orlando before heading down, we were still a bit surprised at how cold we were. Definitely our chilliest trip to date.
-the Painted Dogs are VERY new! They hadn't been added yet when we were there last Nov.
-I also love the FO soup at BOG
-AK is our favorite park in the rain
-I'm not going to comment on FP+ since it gets hotly debated here I'll just say I do miss legacy FP.

Feel free to take a look at my Jan. TR, the link is in my signature. It's my first shot at writing one (well, along with my Nov. TR going on at the same time) so keep that in mind

Enjoy the rest of your trip; look forward to reading more!

 

[blestmom]

Very fun TR, I Love your top three at the end, so so sweet...

Thank you!

 

[blestmom]

Love your baby gorilla photos!

Well, all of your picture are great, to be honest. But those are the best

Thank you! That baby gorilla is so stinkin' cute!!

 

[blestmom]

Joining! We missed you by one day, DH and I did a kid-free trip 1/15-1/20. I agree with pp's your pictures are gorgeous!
17 days, jealous! Although I imagine coming from Alaska it makes no sense to do a short trip lol. We're in NY and while it gets cold here and we'd checked the temps in Orlando before heading down, we were still a bit surprised at how cold we were. Definitely our chilliest trip to date.
-the Painted Dogs are VERY new! They hadn't been added yet when we were there last Nov.
-I also love the FO soup at BOG
-AK is our favorite park in the rain
-I'm not going to comment on FP+ since it gets hotly debated here I'll just say I do miss legacy FP.

Feel free to take a look at my Jan. TR, the link is in my signature. It's my first shot at writing one (well, along with my Nov. TR going on at the same time) so keep that in mind

Enjoy the rest of your trip; look forward to reading more!

Ooh...a kid-free trip! One day I want to do a solo trip. DH is not a Disney fan, and my youngest is 17 so my time with my kids here is winding down. I think a solo trip sounds like fun.

17 days is a long time...it's our longest yet. You're right in that since its such a long ways away, we like to stay awhile. Plus, since we've homeschooled its been easier to take longer trips during the value season.

You're from NY? My youngest daughter is there right now, having the time of her life in the "Big Apple"...especially Broadway.

Yes, it certainly was chilly here at the beginning of our trip. Good thing I had my winter gear!

I very much look forward to reading your January Trip Report...I love experiencing Disney through other's people's experiences.

 

[blestmom]

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Full disclaimer about the Indiana Jones ride: My son has reached an age where he really doesn't like shows. Or parades. So...I decided to not do so many this time around. I've done them in the past, and I will do them again. But I was okay with cutting back on those this trip. So...we went to Indiana Jones, but we got there just as the show was starting. We opted to stand in the back. I think the first 5 minutes are the best anyway, so we stayed for that while took some pictures...and then we left! I got my photos, and my son didn't have to sit through the entire show! Win-win, LOL!

I am so beyond excited about Disney and Star Wars! I'm a huge Star Wars fan. I saw the original movie 21 times in the theater as a kid. Sometimes I'd sit through it twice. I'm so nerdy I brought a cassette tape recorder to the theater, then came home and spent the entire summer typing out the script. Why? I have no idea! So Disney AND Star Wars? This is great fun.

We got to visit the new Star Wars Launch Bay...

The famous "blue" milk that Luke drinks...

Stormtroopers were out in the courtyard...

We had a meet and greet with Chewbacca...

...and Darth Vader (it was the last week before switching over to Kylo Ren...)

We loved the new Star Wars fireworks...they were fantastic!

We took advantage of a late night EMH for some nighttime photography at the Studios...

I think Fantasmic is a great show, and even though it can be a pain getting in and out, I try to go each trip. We usually sit in the first section when you come in so that we're first out.

We were also brave, and we went on Tower of Terror twice! This is a big accomplishment because in the past Andrew hasn't liked it, so we've just skipped it. But we did it this time!

One big bummer is that we missed getting on Rock-N-Roller Coaster. We probably could have worked it out, but it was almost comical how something always seemed to get in the way. Admittedly, I really messed up getting FPs in advance with this one, because I made them too early for what ended up being our usual 'later in the day' start. And so we missed a couple of our FP times for the ride (and there were none left the day of to make a change. So...the one and only day we had a FP for RNR in the afternoon, we got there and...it was down. So we just decided to make that an adventure for our next trip.


A few random thoughts on the day:

1. Disney cast members continue to be top-notch in my book. They are always so friendly and upbeat. So many like to chat with you if you engage them in conversation.

2. People, please...you don't need to photograph/video every ride. And you don't need a flash if you choose to. We sat behind a lady who turned on the light on her phone for the entire Spaceship Earth ride...it illuminated every scene. She either took a video or photograph of every single scene, and at the very top, and on the way down. Really, what are you going to do with those anyway? Probably nothing, and they'll just be deleted. In the meantime, you just really impacted everyone else's ride. Granted, we've been on it before, and we'll go on it again, so it doesn't really matter to me, but for some people, they may only get on the ride once or twice, and it really will ruin the experience for them.

3. These Magic Bands make it all to easy to spend money. It's so easy!

4. 1. The FastPass+ did seem to help us more again here at this park.

5. The back row of "Star Tours" really whips you around...it was so fun! The time before we had the first row, and that was fun. But this was wilder.

6. I had my first (and so far only) food I really did not like at all. It was the Chicken Pesto Pizza from Fairfax Fare. Yuck.



Top 3 Cute/Adorable/Sweet things of the day I saw:

#1. While waiting in line at a counter service that taking a really long time, another family behind me had kids in strollers that were getting really fussy with the long wait. A cast member saw it and came over with free cookies for the kids. I thought that was so nice.

#2. I just loved seeing the very elderly couple walking together...hand in hand...through the park. It may not seem like much, but they both had to have been in their 80's...and they were holding hands and you could tell still in love. So sweet...

#3. I loved the inquisitive young child in the entrance line behind us, "Mom, let's say you got your finger cut off, how would you do the finger thing? Like, would you just put the stump up there?" I love kids.

 

[blestmom]

OTHER "STUFF"

1. After months of researching what I thought was going to be the "perfect" Disney bag, I decided I had made a mistake. Sure, for the first couple of days my camera fit in there just fine, but by about Day #4 I was tired of lugging around something so heavy. And it was a pain on the rides. So I opted for this tiny Minnie Mouse bag that pretty much just held my phone and couple of credit card. It was so nice! I only brought my camera on certain days. Otherwise, I started leaving it back at the hotel. This is a big change for me. I'm even considering getting a very small compact one for my next trip. Never thought I'd ever consider leaving the DSLR behind...

2. I was celebrating my birthday this trip. I got a birthday button to wear on my actual birthday. It was fun having so many cast members wish me a happy birthday. What a great place to be!

3. I love, love, love Magical Express. I love not having a drive a car at all for my entire vacation. The whole process was so smooth and easy. I did online check-in and Pop Century, and when our plane landed I had a text that our room was ready, and I got the two requests I have selected online. A couple of hours later our bags were delivered. So easy. It was really nice.

4. I tried something new at the French bakery...the "Parfait Aux Fruits." It's described as a "yogurt mousse with fresh berries." Oh. My. Word. It is the best thing I've ever had at the French bakery. I absolutely LOVED it!!! I meant to take a picture of it, but...I ate it. :/

5. I'm finding that it's harder to travel with a 17-year-old and getting him going early. We had said before the trip that if he wanted to sleep in that I could head to the parks and he could join me later. But that isn't really happening. I've ended up just adapting to his time-frame. That's okay.

6. We had lunch at Earl of Sandwich. I'm so happy that they've added the Holiday Turkey sandwich year round. We don't have this restaurant in Alaska so this is my only time to enjoy it. It was as good as I remembered.

Andrew again astounded me by asking for dessert. I was so full...but we split a Mint Intense Dark Chocolate sundae. Oh my gosh, it was SO rich. Even with 2 of us we couldn't finish just one shared sundae. It was delicious...just so rich.

7. I really like having a refrigerator in our room. We ordered a take out pizza from the Pop food court, and we were able to keep the leftovers. We get drinks and yogurt the night before for breakfast. Super convenient.

Overall, we had a great time. I am so looking forward to our next Disney vacation!!

 

[mdsouth]

Great updates!
I can understand how you decided to modify your wants and plans to adapt to your teenage son's habits. Sometimes it just isn't worth the hassle. I have thought the next time I go I might go to the parks ahead of the others and let them catch up to me; but then I can see that might not work because I would not be there to motivate them to move along and it would probably take even extra time to actually meet up with each other. So, I understand why you chose to stay together.

Love the cute little Minnie purse you bought. Like you, the first several days of my last trip I was dragging around the DSLR and it really did start to weigh me down. I then started to leave it behind some of the time locked in the safe (a tight fit, camera body and lens separated). Love the great photos I took with the DSLR but also love the freedom without dragging it around.

 

[ariane37]

Glad you enjoyed the SW fireworks! We also watched from Min & Bills. Not quite sure if I like them better than Wishes but I definitely think they're better than the Frozen fireworks, and I thought the Frozen ones were really great!

 

[blestmom]

So...I totally failed at doing my trip report while on my trip. I only made it about 4 days... and then our whirlwind touring with my super energetic 17-year-old son prevented me from keeping up! I decided to just wait until I got home to finish it. But as I was sitting there with 17 days worth of photos, there was no way I could remember what we did every day, since we hopped around so much. I had to "refurbish" my trip report. So I'm just going to upload my photos park-by-park, and then add things as I remember them.

This is so totally unlike me as I'm usually so organized and detail-oriented...but I don't know, maybe the kids are leaving home, I'm heading into the 'empty nest' and a new phase of my life...not striving for perfection! I like it!! It's much more fun.

So here is my very 'un-perfect' trip report!! It was a great trip...

 

[gogo]

Loved reading your trip report and looking at all the fantastic pictures. I can totally relate to travelling with a teenager. My son and I started going to Disney every year in January when he was in sixth grade. We looked forward to this winter getaway every January. We continued this tradition through his high school years and how I had to adapt to him growing up. Originally, we would be rope drop people. But as my son got older he would sleep in and just meet up for a few attractions or meals. Sometimes he would go to the parks for a few hours and then head back to the resort to hang out by the pool, gym or just relax and I would stay at the parks.

We have great memories of all the trips and I enjoyed following along on your vacation.

 

[c3h3a3r]

Wow. Have loved your report so far. Photos are fab and love the 3 cute things of the day. Can't wait for the next one

 

[blestmom]

Overall, we had a great time. Even with the additional crowds. The only incidents we had were one trip on a bus from Pop to Animal Kingdom...when we got in the queue at Pop the line was full of a tour group of girls. We got in the back of the line. Shortly after, another group came (same tour group, just 2 large groups full). We were smack dab in the middle. We should have waited for another bus but it was just a short trip to Animal Kingdom...or so we thought. Ended up they were all going to Blizzard Beach. The only other people on the bus was a young couple with a little girl about 3 years old. The girls got on the bus and one proceeded to take out her iphone, and plug in an external speaker. And not of of those little portable ones...this one was huge, about the size of a dinner plate. She cranked up some music really, really loud. And they all sang (i.e., shouted) then entire way. I felt really bad for the family with the little girl. She had her face hidden in her parents lap and they were covering her ears with their hands. Once they all got off at Blizzard Beach, the bus driver turned around with a sheepish look on his face, "It's a lot quieter now, isn't it?" I was quite surprised that the bus driver didn't say anything. I don't like the "What can we do?" attitude. I think when an external speaker is plugged in and music is blasted that loud...it is the bus driver's place to say something.

 

[giftcard]

Awesome trip report! And your photos are fantastic!!!