We're back and we're 40 inches. A Nov '15 Trip Report

[deannaf87]

Hey y'all and welcome to my November 2015 trip report. I'm not entirely new to this trip report thing as I've started one... and abandoned one (don't judge). I'm committing to finishing this one right now! Don't let me slack.

I tracked my planning in a pre-trip report which can be found here.

For those who didn't follow the PTR, allow me to introduce you to the group. First off we have the husband and I (known outside our household as Daniel and Deanna). Daniel is a Physical Therapist Technician and I'm a CPA. We live exciting lives.

I am definitely the Disney enthusiast of the pair. I could go to Disney every six months and still not feel it was enough. This was our second trip in three years and he acted like Disney was old news already, haha. Luckily he values my happiness and plays along to amuse me.

The fun half of our group are our awesome kids, Audrey and Ezra.


This was a great trip for Audrey because she was finally tall enough to ride EVERYTHING! She didn't come across a ride she didn't want to try on this trip, which I loved.

Ezra hit the magical 40 inches this trip, which was a pleasant surprise since the measuring tape at home was only showing 39". He also had the perk of being old enough to remember this trip since he was 14 months on our last trip.

What trip report introduction would be complete without a quick fact rundown?

Logistics
Who?: Daniel, Deanna, Audrey and Ezra
When?: November 13 - 21, 2015
Where?: Three nights at Shades of Green/ Five nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge

Favorites
Daniel
Park: Epcot
Ride: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
TS Restaurant: 50's Prime Time
QS Restaurant: Columbia Harbour House
Character: Jack Skellington

Deanna
Park: Magic Kingdom
Ride: Expedition Everest
TS Restaurant: Garden Grill
QS Restaurant: La Cantina de San Angel
Character: Rapunzel

Audrey
Park: Magic Kingdom
Ride: Expedition Everest
TS Restaurant: Be Our Guest
QS Restaurant: The Mara
Character: Belle

Ezra
Park: Magic Kingdom
Ride: 7DMT
TS Restaurant: Tusker House
QS Restaurant: Anything with french fries
Character: Pluto

I am looking forward to reliving my trip with you all. Let me know if you're reading; love to make new disfriends!​

 

[deannaf87]

Table of Contents

Day One - November 13th
Departure Day (aka the day we spent 7+ hours in the world's most boring airport terminal)

Day Two - November 14th
Mummies, Leaky Cauldrons, and a Terrible Voice Double
An Evening at Disney Springs

Day Three - November 15th
Why Can't I Have Lunch Before 11AM?
A Very Poly Christmas

Day Four - November 16th
Ohana Breakfast and AKL Check-In

Day Five - November 17th
The Time I Took My Unwitting 3 Year Old on Tower of Terror
An Evening in France

Day Six - November 18th
Our First Time in Future World
Our First Time in Future World (cont'd)
An Evening with the Beast and the Masses

 

[deannaf87]

DEPARTURE DAY (aka the day we spent 7+ hours in the world's most boring airport terminal)

The planned day of departure for our trip was November 13th. We were flying from DCA to MCO on a 4pm flight. Daniel and I both took the entire day off because well... why not? We slept in a bit then got up to take Audrey to school. Unfortunately Audrey was having a bit of a umm "stomach issue" this morning, so we swang by the store for some Pepto before taking her to school. I really didn't want her to miss that day since she would be out the whole next week. She said she felt okay to go, so we peptoed her up and sent her on her way.

The next item on the agenda was dropping the dog off at the kennel.

Meet Luke our 9 year old furry friend. He is a boxer and would be heartbroken to know we went to Disney without him. Shhh don't tell him. All went well at the vet drop off and I met the cutest kitten who was up for adoption.

Her beauty didn't really transfer the picture. This was easily the most beautiful kitten I've ever seen. I'm not really a cat person, but even I was like "I want this animal in my life". My husband has been wanting a cat for a while now, so when I told him about the kitten he was pumped. He spent the rest of the vacation asking if we could adopt the cat. SPOILER ALERT: the cat found a home while we were on vacation. This was probably for the best as we didn't really need another animal in our busy lives.

I spent the rest of the morning doing last minute packing and errands. I'll spare you the gritty details. Around lunchtime we hit up some nutritious fast food. I believe it was a lovely Taco Bell/KFC combo. Then Daniel and I took Ezra to the barbershop for a pre-trip haircut.

Here he is post haircut, mid lollipop.

Soon enough we were packing up the car and heading to pick up Audrey from school around 1PM. We left straight from there and headed to DCA, which is about a 35 minute drive with light traffic. I had prepurchased a parking spot from Best Parking at the Hilton Crystal City. I ended up paying $81.51 for 8 nights of parking, which was far cheaper than any airport parking options. The hotel has an on demand shuttle to the airport and before long we were pulling up to Terminal A. We opted to spend a little extra for curbside check-in because the earlier we could dump our 4 bags and car seat, the better.

We went through security easily and were all set up at the gate at about 2:15. Some terminal waiting pictures for viewing pleasure.



We boarded a little late but were all settled in by 4:15ish (schedule departure time was 4pm). The pilot let us know that something was wrong with the reverse thruster but they thought they could fix it and have us on our way in 30 minutes. About 45 minutes later we were deboarding, the reverse thruster repair was a no go and they had to bring in a new plane. We were told the new departure time was 9:30pm.. commence tears. We headed back to the terminal and prepared ourselves for 5 more hours at the world's most boring terminal. I don't know how many of you have experience with Terminal A at DCA, but it's the worst. There's a little restaurant in the middle and then one "grab and go" kiosk. The restaurant in dependent upon you ordering from the ipads at the seating areas, so if there's no open seat you have to ask someone if you can use the ipad at their seat. It's a good idea in theory, but when the terminal is busy it can be annoying.

The five hour delay ended up being somewhat tolerable due to two families we met. One was a mom, dad, and 5 year old girl headed to Disney and the other was a mom, grown daughter, and her boyfriend. We all talked and played games and drank questionable amounts of alcohol and had an all around good time. The kids entertained themselves by playing iPads and then later when the terminal got fairly empty they ran around like lunatics. Normally I'd be mortified by that type of behavior but they'd been there for hours and it the place was fairly deserted.

This was November 13th so as we were waiting for our new plane the news reports from Paris started to pour in. Very unsettling to watch those reports while in an airport terminal. I diverted my attention to my upcoming plans to get my mind of the tragedy. The plan for Saturday Nov. 14th was to rope drop Universal Studios, take a rest in the afternoon, and then have dinner at Raglan Road that evening. I knew with the plane delay we were not going to be even close to making rope drop and would probably want to spend the evening at Universal instead of Disney Springs. I cancelled the Raglan Road reservation, but that would come back to bite me the next day.

The good news about our delay was the Southwest gave us $200 vouchers for each ticket, so we now have $800 in airfare to play with. The husband and I are thinking about an adult only trip to Mexico late next summer.

About 9PM we boarded the new plane and were quickly on our way.



Can you tell how exhausted Ezra is here? No... what about now?

He was out within 20 minutes. It was a quick ride to Orlando and we were spotting the Orlando Eye before we knew it. We landed around 11:20 and headed to the baggage check and rental car counter. I had an issue with the Alamo counter, because they were telling me I booked the car with an international code. Wasn't really sure what that meant but after a supervisors override it was all fixed and they let me have the same price of $230 for a midsize SUV.

When we made it out to the garage, the entire midsize SUV row was empty. At this point it was about 12:30AM and we were exhausted. I spotted a Hyundai Santa Fe and grabbed it. I honestly had no idea if it was considered midsize but I just didn't care. We loaded up our stuff and were on our way to Shades of Green. We arrived a little after 1AM, took baths, and passed out.

And that ends our first day of vacation.....thrilled yet?​

 

[deannaf87]

Mummies, Leaky Cauldrons, and a Terrible Voice Double

Disclaimer: I was still tired from the long night the night before and the pictures are lacking this day

We slept until about 8:30 and had a leisurely morning getting ready. I ran to the shop at Shades of Green and picked up cereal, donut holes, milk, juice, etc. The total for a few days of breakfast was about $25. Not bad at all. The newly remodeled store there is really nice and they appeared to have a decent selection of souvenir items as well. We ate our breakfasts and made it out the door. It was a quick drive to Universal and before we were being directed through Universal's labryinth parking garages by a little after 10AM.

We had just gotten out of the car and were walking to the elevator as we passed a family in the process of getting all their stuff together at their car. I look over and their son, who was probably around 10, was just standing there throwing up in a plastic grocery bag. No one that was with him seemed terribly concerned. I hope this kid just had a case of car sickness and wasn't going to be spending the rest of the day being drug around Universal with a stomach bug.

There was quick the inflow of people during this time. We are usually rope droppers, so I wasn't a big fan of getting there after 10 with the masses. It was a crowded walk through the garages and Citiwalk. We split off to head to Universal Studios entrance and got in line for Guest Services. We had pre-purchased 3 day park hoppers at our local military travel center. We had to activate them before we could use them. The line moved fairly quickly and we were heading into the park around 11AM.

This was the first time I'd been to Universal Studios since 2002. Maybe I've been spoiled by Disney but the entrance to Universal is just "bleh", no big wow moment. I guess you can't have that everywhere. We walked by Minions, much too high of a wait. The first ride we ended up riding was The Mummy, it was a walk on at this time. Daniel and Audrey rode first while Ezra and I hung out in the child swap room. I love the child swap situation at Universal. It's nice to be able to hang out all together while waiting in line and having a nice room to chill in while waiting on the other parent to ride. I don't think something like that would be as beneficial at Disney since there's usually plenty of stuff to do with the little kids while you wait. At Universal though the room and TV are a great plus.

After riding the Mummy we headed for Diagon Alley. Daniel and I are both Harry Potter fans and were excited to see the new addition. We had gone to the Hogsmeade section in 2013. It took us a minute to find the "hidden" entrance... quite clever, haha. Soon enough we were staring up at that dragon. The area was pretty busy and the wait for Gringotts was more than we wanted to wait, so we explored the area and headed to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. I ordered the fish and chips to share with Ezra, Daniel got the specialty chicken sandwich, and Audrey got the kid's fish and chips.




During lunch Ezra choked on an ice cube and got really upset. A nice waiter, I mean wizard, came over and offered him a dessert to cheer him up. Ezra was still crying and refused to try to the dessert. I ended up putting a bit of my finger and rubbing it on his lips to force him to taste it. He liked it like I knew he would and stopped crying and started chowing down.


See all better!

We were still tired at this point and decided to jump on the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade.


Top notch photography happening there.



You know I gotta say the Hogwarts Express wasn't as cool as I was expecting. It wasn't bad by any means but felt a little forced I guess... if that even makes sense. One thing I noticed was that Hermione's voice double was preeeeettty bad... like no where close. Surely it couldn't have been that hard to find someone that could sound remotely like Emma Watson?

We arrived in Hogsmeade and collected Ezra's stroller. A Universal employee grabbed my attention and said "lift is this way". I couldn't really tell what she said at first. Obviously "lift" didn't register with me. When we followed the crowds and noticed our only option in that area was the stairs, it clicked that they were trying tell me where the elevator was, haha. We ended up letting Ezra walk down the stairs and carrying the stroller instead of going back to search for the "lift". When we made it to Hogwarts castle the wait was posted at 20 minutes so we hopped in line. It was fun walking through the castle. Last time we rode single rider and missed it all. The guy in front of us kept taking pictures of the most random things like handrails, leaves, the floor. It was bizarre yet amusing. I would like to see that guy's trip report. I bet it's super detailed, haha.

A few Forbidden Journey line pictures

Don't really remember what he was upset about here





We utilized the child swap room again this time and Audrey and I were the first group to hit the ride. Last trip when I rode this for the first time, I was legitimately terrified. Those animatronics are so close to you! Audrey seemed to be a little scared at first, but when I started laughing she loosened up and enjoyed the ride. About the time we were fighting off the dementors, I started to feel pretty woozy. I don't normally get motion sickness but I guess riding this ride after lunch was a bad idea. I went to the child swap room to try to recover and Daniel and Audrey went for the second round. When they got back Daniel said he was nauseous too. We both had one of those "we're not 18 anymore moments" and stumbled out of the castle.

Leading up to this trip Ezra talked nonstop about riding rollercoasters, so I figured Flight of the Hippogriff was a perfect first rollercoaster. Daniel didn't want to ride as he was still feeling dizzy, so the rest of us hopped in line. It was about a 15 minute wait I guess. Ezra and I rode together and Audrey rode by herself. I don't know if I was still feeling off from the Forbidden Journey or what, but I felt like Flight of the Hippogriff is pretty fast for a kiddie coaster. Ezra was pretty scared and said he wanted to go home after we got off the ride. I resigned myself to a week full of dark rides after the way he reacted to FotH. We met up with Daniel and we all concluded that we were just done. We were nauseous and we were tired and it was hot. We walked to through IoA towards the entrance. Ezra had fun checking out Suess Landing as we walked through. We spotted a Starbucks and made a pit stop. The kids got some chocolate milks and Daniel and I got our staple Caramel and Coffee frappucinos, respectively.



It was around 1:45M at this point. I pointed out that we cancelled our Raglan Road reservation the night before expecting we'd be at Universal longer than we actually made it. Daniel likes to have reservations as he's more a table service kinda guy. I looked up what was available at Disney Springs and of course of Raglan reservation was long gone. Daniel said he was up for some seafood so we ended up making a 4:45 reservation at Fulton's Crab House. We finished up our Starbucks and headed out to the car. By the time we got back to Shades of Green I was ready for a nap and regretting making any type of reservation for that evening.

Next up: Fulton's and Disney Springs


​

 

[locashaina]

Following along!!

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

Following along! Too funny because I was just at DCA Terminal A a couple days ago! And we will also we flying out of there (but AA for our next WDW trip). I can't wait to hear the rest of your trip report! Other than the flight delay seems like it was off to a good start!

 

[deannaf87]

Following along!!

Thanks for joining in!

Following along! Too funny because I was just at DCA Terminal A a couple days ago! And we will also we flying out of there (but AA for our next WDW trip). I can't wait to hear the rest of your trip report! Other than the flight delay seems like it was off to a good start!

Welcome! Thanks for reading!

I really like DCA because it's not usually too crazy, but man terminal A is rough. It's also pretty small. When we got back from our trip it was practically wall to wall people in there. We were so glad we didn't have to stick around in that.

 

[deannaf87]

An Evening at Disney Springs

When we got back from Universal that day, the kids and I had a nice nap. Daniel used the break time to play World of Warcraft. His perfect vacation would consist of staying home and playing that game. Does anyone watch The Middle? Daniel can totally get in "Kenny" mode from time to time.


I pulled myself and the kids out of bed and pulled Daniel out of "Kenny mode" and we headed to Disney Springs for dinner. We followed the purple Disney signs for Disney Springs and made our way to the new parking garage. We parked on the top level. The new garage is really nice and so needed.


One thing that confused us was the "bridge" to Disney Springs. We went to ground level, then noticed you can't get to Disney Springs from there. Then we followed the directions on the elevator, I think it's level 2 for the bridge? Anyways, we did that and I was expected a literal bridge that headed straight to the stores. Really it's just a bridge across a section of the parking garage that leads you to another elevator you have to take to ground level. Eventually we figured it out and were entering right by Splitsville. We spent a few minutes wandering around like confused children, but what's a Disney vacation without that happening?

We winded our way through the crowds. Disney Springs on a Saturday night, even at 4:30, is a bit claustrophobic. We got stuck in a major people gridlock when a lady decided to stop in the middle of the walkway to tie her shoe. Besides the fact that that isn't very good crowd etiquette, I would be terrified of being taken out by a rogue stroller if I bent down in the middle of a flow of people.

We check in at Fulton's about 4:30 and were told we couldn't be seated until our reservation time at 4:45. They have a system there when you give them your cell number and they send you a text. Seemed pretty handy for any long waits when you want to go shopping while you wait. We opted to just wait on the bench inside the restaurant since it was only 15 minutes and there was really no stores close enough we wanted to go to. We were seated in a little corner table, which was very awkwardly placed. Anytime the waiter came by he had to squeeze through the table behind us. It's hard to explain, but it was just really terrible table placement. I felt for the poor guy. I don't remember the waiters name but he was very friendly but seemed a little frazzled. He eventually got around to drink orders. I got a glass of the True Myth chardonnay, which I really liked. The waiter also brought out a little crab dip and crackers plate. Doesn't this look appetizing. I didn't get a picture until it was pretty much devoured.


That's the extent of food pictures I managed to take at Fulton's. I found it's really hard to remember to take food pictures when dealing with a 3 year old. They tend to demand your attention when things start being dropped off at the table. Anyways, we got the calamari appetizer, which was delicious. Audrey got the chicken tender meal which she enjoyed. Daniel and I ended up splitting the Seafood Tower for Two. All the items on this offering were really good. I am terrible at cracking crab legs, so Daniel cracked mine like I was a child. I am not ashamed, haha. The total for dinner at Fulton's including tip was $126.50.

After dinner we headed to World of Disney to let the kids pick out some toys. The store was crowded of course and Ezra insisted on walking, which was kind of a nightmare. After a long debate, he settled on these things.

It kills me when he picks out things we can easily get at Target at home, but there's no arguing with a 3 year old who has made up their mind.

Audrey perused around the store and didn't find too much she liked. She's kind of outgrown the typical princess stuff. Eventually she found the "Attractionista" doll section and picked out Celeste.


After leaving World of Disney we decided Disney Springs was too crowded for navigating and headed towards the parking garage. We got back to our room and got ready for bed. The next day we were rope dropping and needed our rest!​

 

[deannaf87]

Why can't I have lunch before 11AM?

We woke up bright and early on Sunday November 15th in order to get to Universal by their 9AM opening. I took a few pictures of our room at Shades of Green while everyone was getting ready. Ignore the messes, please. The rooms here are really spacious. The beds are super comfy and the bathroom is HUGE. It's a great option for military families.




The kids were ready to hit Universal.

All went well getting out the door and we were parking in the garage by 8:30. It really stinks having to pay for parking every day; I was definitely ready to hit the Disney parks after 2 days of paying $20 for parking. We headed towards the Universal Studios entrance this morning in hopes to ride Minion Mayhem without a huge wait. Before we went in we measured Ezra at the general measuring stick at the entrance of the park. According to Universal's calculations he had hit the magical 40" mark. I was pretty excited, but tried not to get too pumped up just in case.

When we got in the park the wait for Minions was 10 minutes so we hopped in line.

Don't they look happy to be there?


The inside of Gru's house is pretty cool.


We got our 3D glasses and prepared for motion simulation, which is apparently Universal's go to. Ezra was pretty anxious and kept saying he was scared while we were on the ride. I was worried we had traumatized him but when it was over, he said he wanted to go again. That was his ride pattern for the rest of the trip. He was always brave and wanted to try everything, said he was scared while we were on the ride, then begged to ride it again.

After being turned into minions and then back into humans, we decided we'd rather be wizards. We went to Diagon Alley in hopes of riding Gringotts without an outlandish wait. If I remember correctly the wait was 20 minutes, so we got in line. We took the obligatory picture and headed down into the vaults.


Ezra was mad he couldn't ride this one.

When it was time to split off, Ezra and I went to the child swap room and Audrey and Daniel went to the ride. During this time the ride broke down and it was a good 30 minutes before they got done riding. At this point Ezra said he needed to go the bathroom so Daniel took him out of the ride while Audrey and I took a turn. This ride was one of my favorites. Very well done, although I'm not a fan of the snake jumping out at you. At one point, I think when you were "falling" with the trolls, I felt myself shaking from adrenaline. I just love experiencing rides for the first time. When we were done riding we headed out to Diagon Alley to find Daniel and Ezra. Ezra was having a good time on Hagrid's bike.



Daniel was ready to head on to something new, but I wanted some butterbeer. I led the group towards "The Hopping Pot" but the line was nutso. Daniel had a plan B though. He led us to "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" and suprise, no line at all. I don't know if this was an anomaly or what but if you're looking for butterbeer, try "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" for smaller lines. I got a regular butterbeer for Audrey and I to share (Ezra was disgusted by the idea) and Daniel got a frozen one. They were both delicious, but I do prefer the regular kind.


Had to get a picture of our butterbeers as we left Diagon Alley.

Ezra wanted to join in on the photo shoot.

After leaving the Wizarding World we headed towards the Simpsons area. Daniel and I both decided we didn't really want to test the Simpson's ride. There's only so many simulators you can take in a day. Ezra spotted Kang and Kodo's Twirl and Hurl and wanted to try it out. Daniel decided to sit this one out so the kids and I hopped on. There was no wait.


Audrey had a spaceship to herself

And Ezra and I manned another saucer. It was a fun ride and I thoroughly stunk at "guiding" the ship to hit the targets.

When we got off the twirl and hurl, thankfully without hurling, we were feeling a bit hungry. It was only around 10:30AM at this time though, so none of the food places in Simpsons land were open. I figured they would open at 11, so we headed towards E.T. to pass the time. I remember riding E.T. when I went in 2002 and liking it. Ezra of course said he was nervous, but I ensured him E.T. was friendly and the ride would be fun. I'm glad he decided to try it because he ended up loving it. Even though the ride is dated, I love it. I dare say I like it much more than Peter Pan, which it shares some similarities with. I can only imagine how awesome it was when it opened in 1990.

After saving E.T.'s planet and having instant hair frizz from the "humid" section of the E.T. ride, we headed back to Simpson's land in search of sustenance. It was exactly 11AM at this point and no signs of movement in any of the restaurants. We admitted defeat and headed towards Transformers. We didn't actually want to ride Transformers, it being a simulator of course, but we had promised Ezra a toy from the gift shop since he likes Transformers. He spotted a meet and greet happening with Bumblebee, but Ezra wanted nothing to do with that monstrosity. He was completely fine just getting a toy. He ended up picking out some sort of Lego knockoff set with 4 mini figures. I predicted then and there that only 2.25 figures would make it home. I was pretty close.

We had been in the park for a little over 2 hours at this time, which is about our breaking point. We are not troopers. Maybe one day when Ezra is older and less tantrum prone, we'll be better. As we were walking towards the exit we saw signs for Hard Rock Cafe and thought that was a good option. We went out the little side exit under Riptide Rocket and tried to go to Hard Rock. I guess the back exit was closed at this time because we couldn't get in. We decided that Universal wanted us to starve and descended into utter madness and ruined the rest of the trip.


Just kidding we went to Margaritaville. This day was the best weather day we had that week with highs in the 70s and plenty of breeze. We grabbed a seat on the porch with a nice view of the Universal globe.




Ezra had fun playing with his new Transformers friends.


Audrey had fun stuffing her face. As you can see here, she got the kid's cheeseburger.

Daniel and I decided to get the Volcano Nachos and Cheddar BBQ Burger to split.


Both were delicious but it was definitely too much food. I couldn't finish my half of the burger and we left a substantial amount of nachos on the plate. I didn't feel too bad about it though because when the bill came, I was pleasantly surprised. The total, with tip, was $54.03. We really enjoyed the food there and the price was reasonable, especially compared to some Disney prices.

We contemplated going back into the park to ride the Riptide Rocket, but we had a late night planned that night so we wanted to get plenty of rest time. We headed through Citiwalk and towards the car.



The kid's stopped to play on whatever that thing was and then we were on our way to the hotel on a mission for some rest.


Mission accomplished

Up next: I have some "me" time and we hit up a very merry party.




​

 

[BridgetR3]

YAY!! I found your TR from my TR and I'm so glad I did!! We are going to Universal for the first time in May and I can't wait to see all of your pictures of it!

 

[BridgetR3]

Yay! And I'm all caught up! Wow, I don't know how we would have done in the terminal for that long! I hate flying so we usually drive our 13 hours. I'm anxious for my kiddos to enjoy UO but I don't do simulators hardly at all (Star Tours makes me ill.) so I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a WHOLE lot of sitting! Can't wait to read more of your report! You are moving fast!

 

[deannaf87]

YAY!! I found your TR from my TR and I'm so glad I did!! We are going to Universal for the first time in May and I can't wait to see all of your pictures of it!

You found me! Welcome, I'm glad you are following along!

Yay! And I'm all caught up! Wow, I don't know how we would have done in the terminal for that long! I hate flying so we usually drive our 13 hours. I'm anxious for my kiddos to enjoy UO but I don't do simulators hardly at all (Star Tours makes me ill.) so I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a WHOLE lot of sitting! Can't wait to read more of your report! You are moving fast!

Universal has to be like 95% simulators. Okay maybe I'm exaggerating, but still... it's a lot. I can do a few here and there but IMO Universal just has too many.

After the flight delay debacle I was kind of wishing we would have drove. From the time we left our house to the time we got to our hotel, we could have easily driven from DC to Orlando and saved ourselves some money.

 

[Volunteer]

Here and subbing!

I don't know how many of you have experience with Terminal A at DCA, but it's the worst. There's a little restaurant in the middle and then one "grab and go" kiosk. The restaurant in dependent upon you ordering from the ipads at the seating areas, so if there's no open seat you have to ask someone if you can use the ipad at their seat. It's a good idea in theory, but when the terminal is busy it can be annoying.

I was flying through LaGuardia this summer and Delta re did one of their terminals to include this style of eating/seating. My opinion is like yours ... very annoying if the terminal is busy.

We all talked and played games and drank questionable amounts of alcohol and had an all around good time. The kids entertained themselves by playing iPads and then later when the terminal got fairly empty they ran around like lunatics. Normally I'd be mortified by that type of behavior but they'd been there for hours and it the place was fairly deserted.

When I drink questionable amounts of alcohol, I run around like a lunatic and mortify people ...

It was a quick ride to Orlando and we were spotting the Orlando Eye before we knew it.

It's very easy to see at night when you're coming in for landing. Still no desire to ride it, but it's pretty!

One thing I noticed was that Hermione's voice double was preeeeettty bad...

We've noticed it too. Horrible.

I predicted then and there that only 2.25 figures would make it home. I was pretty close.

 

[deannaf87]

A Very Poly Christmas

Last we left off the group was resting up for a late evening. We had tickets to the November 15th Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!!

I slept for about an hour and then started to get very restless. The kids were still fast asleep so I decided to do some exploring on my own. I wanted to see the new Poly lobby, so I figured I'd take a walk that way. A major perk of Shades of Green is that it's within walking distance of the Polynesian and the monorail.


Took a quick picture of SoG on the walking trail.

I tried to get some sushi at Kona Island but it was too early, they didn't have any ready. The only logical alternative was a Dole Whip Swirl.

Delicious.

After my citrus break, I walked around the property and took some pretty underwhelming pictures.





I checked to see if I could get into Trader Sam's but it was at capacity. I grabbed a table on the Tiki Terrace instead and got myself one of these.

That's a hippopotomaitai for those wondering. The drink was tasty and the glass is a very nice souvenir. After I finished my drink it was a little after 4, so I thought I'd head back to the room and start getting the troops ready for the party.

After some grumpy wake-ups and a few outfit changes we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom for the first time this trip!


Blurry monorail picture

We got through the turnstiles and were given our wristbands for the night. Then it was time to head in!

Tried to snap a picture of the MK tree and discovered my phone takes terrible nighttime pictures.


Tired of my below average pictures yet?

We made it to the hub around 6:00 and decided to find a spot for the Frozen wish/Castle lighting show.

He looks thrilled right?


A picture of the castle with a very obstructing light pole. Everything you never knew you needed in your trip report life.

The Frozen show was cute but it was CROWDED. Now I know why they recommend going to later show. After that I decided we should head towards Tomorrowland and take a quick ride on the Peoplemover. When we got over there they weren't letting anyone go up to the Peoplemover, so that was a terrible plan. I wanted to ride Astro Orbiter because I've never done it and I felt like it would be a fun nighttime ride. I was overthrown. The kids wanted to find something else. Maybe it was the height of the thing? Not sure, but they had no desire to ride it. We took the back route past the teacups and ended up at Big Top Souvenirs. The minions decided they absolutely must have treats. Ezra picked out a mickey head rice crispie covered in M&Ms, which was delicious. Audrey picked out an Olaf apple and Daniel grabbed some sort of nut covered apple. We hung out for a bit and ate our treats and grabbed some hot chocolate to go with them.





Once everyone was full they were finally ready to ride some rides. We hit up the Haunted Mansion, which Ezra was so brave on. He didn't even freak out too much in the stretching room. I just kept telling him it was all make believe and silly. He seemed to accept that.

Our next stop was the Jungle Cruise, I mean Jingle Cruise. Last trip we really loved the Jungle Cruise, so we were exciting to see the holiday version. I don't know if it was because it was dark and we were in a full boat, or what but I didn't really enjoy it. I couldn't see much and our skipper was "meh". The best part was a guy who obviously prepared all year to be Santa, who was definitely "in-character". He got on the boat and yelled, "IS THIS THE JINGLE CRUISE?!?!" and all the kids were like "SANTA'S ON OUR BOAT..OMG!!!!". It was cute.

While we were in Adventureland we decided to take ride on Pirates and test out these "boats full of water rumors". We ended up on the third row and sure enough the boat had at least 3 inches of water in it. Luckily we didn't get wet at all but I heard some serious screaming from the front when we went down the drop. Ezra really enjoyed PoC and kept talking about "Squidhead", aka Davy Jones.

After avoiding sudden death by being exposed to PoC water, we headed to Frontierland and decided to test out Ezra's 40" height at Disney. He passed the test at Universal, so I was feeling optimistic. 40" is 40" right? We went to Big Thunder Mountain and the CM had Ezra hit the measuring stick right away. She said he..... passed! Yay!!! She of course warned up that he would probably be double checked at the loading zone. We went through the line which was... 0 minutes and were loaded on a train without a second height check. I love BTMRR in the dark. This ride was my favorite of the trip. It's just the perfect length for a rollercoaster of that size. Ezra was a little nervous during the ride and held onto the lap bar for dear life. Audrey on the other hand was going full blown hands up, screaming style. I love her adventurous spirit. I foresee lots of thrill rides in our theme park future.

When we unloaded the runaway train, it was about time for the first parade. I was planning on seeing the second parade, but we happened upon a decent spot in Frontierland and decided to roll with it. I will share you the 20 blurry parade pictures and only share the semi-decent ones. Have a mentioned that my phone (and I) suck at night pictures?




And that's it. Where's my photography award?

The kids were bored with the parade before it was halfway done, but we were pretty stuck. After Santa passed through we took the path along the river to Fantasyland and circled the castle through to try to find a spot for fireworks. The hub was verrrry crowded and we found a bench just to the right of the castle. It wasn't a straight on view, so I knew Celebrate the Season wouldn't be as cool as it could be but we could sit. It was a no brainer we grabbed a spot.


That lady's face................


The kids were excited for the fireworks, but getting a little delirious. Even with the big afternoon nap, 9:30 was late for them.


Audrey decided to take a picture of Daniel and I. She's obviously more skilled than I am or she just turned on the flash?


We're those parents.

We watched the projection show and fireworks. Tinkerbell flew right over our heads, so that was pretty cool. Loved the "surround sound" fireworks, but gotta say I prefer Wishes to Holiday Wishes. The Disney songs get to me more than the Christmas songs. By the time the fireworks were over my crew was done. I wanted to stay and fit in more rides with the zero wait times but I knew I shouldn't push it. We headed out through Main Street and got to experience "snoap".




We saw a boat docked at the "Poly and GF" boat dock, so we headed that way. Unfortunately the family ahead of us was the last to fit. The boat driver (captain?) assured us another boat would be by in about 10 minutes.


It was more like 30 minutes, but no biggy. We boarded the next boat and it was a nice ride to the GF and then the Polynesian.



Boat selfies.

We walked from the Poly to Shades of Green, which was a nicer walk when we weren't so tired. A guard stopped and asked us for military IDs as we walked in, which was new. Seemed to only happen at night though. We made it our room, showered, and headed to bed. We got to sleep the next day and had an ADR for breakfast with a very mischievous alien.​

 

[BridgetR3]

lol.....i just posted on my trip report as well and spoke of my AWESOME photography skills just like you did!

Looks like a great evening!

We got an Olaf apple on our trip as well. I LOVE those apples!! SOOOOO addicting!!

 

[Volunteer]

Our next stop was the Jungle Cruise, I mean Jingle Cruise. Last trip we really loved the Jungle Cruise, so we were exciting to see the holiday version. I don't know if it was because it was dark and we were in a full boat, or what but I didn't really enjoy it. I couldn't see much and our skipper was "meh".

I think there is something about the "Jingle Cruise" script that isn't as funny as doesn't let some of the Skippers improvise as much as they usually do. That's my theory, anyways.

After avoiding sudden death by being exposed to PoC water

Surprised you lived to tell about it

I love BTMRR in the dark.

Me too, it's such a better ride in the dark!

Looks like you all had a fun party!

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

I tried to get some sushi at Kona Island but it was too early, they didn't have any ready. The only logical alternative was a Dole Whip Swirl.

I love how the alternative to sushi was Dole Whip!

The best part was a guy who obviously prepared all year to be Santa, who was definitely "in-character". He got on the boat and yelled, "IS THIS THE JINGLE CRUISE?!?!" and all the kids were like "SANTA'S ON OUR BOAT..OMG!!!!". It was cute.

That is too cute.

Ezra was a little nervous during the ride and held onto the lap bar for dear life. Audrey on the other hand was going full blown hands up, screaming style. I love her adventurous spirit. I foresee lots of thrill rides in our theme park future.

Yay! My oldest DS is the same way and loves ALL rides. I am hoping my youngest DS will be the same way. Seems like a nice night at MVMCP. Enjoying your TR so far!

 

[deannaf87]

Ohana Breakfast and AKL Check-in

After our "late night" at the party we slept in the next morning. Which means we slept til like... 8:30? I find it really hard to sleep while at Disney. There's just so much I could be doing instead.

I packed up all our bags since we were checking out of Shades of Green that day. The bill had been slipped under our door. $300 for three nights and 3 days of parking. Great price for the location and room size.

We loaded up the car and went on a very short drive to the Poly parking lot. The lot attendant scanned my Magicband. I guess they can see if you are a guest there or have a dining reservation?

We went to the 2nd floor to check in for our O'hana breakfast reservation at 10:50. It was a MADHOUSE up there. People waiting everywhere and the CMs seemed frazzled. It just wasn't a nice environment. We were given a buzzer and found some seats while we waited.


As you can see Ezra still had his Lego Transformers at this point.


After about 10 minutes our buzzer started "singing". The people around us who had been waiting much longer gave me some very annoyed looks, but apparently the singing just means the battery is dying not that your table is ready. I took it up to the stand and they said they had to switch out buzzers. Not as exciting as the table being ready, but not terribly inconvenient. Well that was until they tried to connect the new buzzer to my reservation and told me they couldn't find my reservation in the system. I just stood there in shock because I had checked in at the first podium no more than 15 minutes earlier. I kept telling them that, but they just kept telling me they couldn't find it. I ended up peeking over at their computer screen and watched as they scrolled through the reservations and sure enough it wasn't there. I held the stance that I have a buzzer, I checked in at the first podium and she obviously saw my reservation; therefore, logic says I have a reservation. At this point I had gathered a crowd of CMs around the podium and a manager of some sort walked over with a tablet and asked my name. When I told him he looked at his tablet and looked at me and said in an annoyed voice "you'll be seated soon" and waved me off.

My face at that moment.

The manager scampered off and the CM at the podium was magically able to find my name again and give me a new buzzer. In another 20 minutes or so we were finally being seated and we were STARVING. The waitress was very friendly and brought out our bread and fruit.

Audrey was thrilled with the bread.

Ezra dug into the pineapple.

And the strawberries

Fruit and bread is nice and all but we wanted some sausage and mickey waffles! It took a bit but eventually the family style skillet made it's way to our table and was promptly devoured before any photographic evidence could be obtained. At some point the parade thing happened and Audrey joined in. Ezra was having none of it.

After about 45 minutes the characters were making their way to our table.

The first one was Lilo.

Luau Mickey

The kind lady at the table next to us offered to take a family pic.

After Mickey came by the other characters disappeared. They must have needed a break or something. Ezra had to go to the bathroom so I took him. During this time Pluto reappeared and was on his way to our table. Daniel sent Audrey to get us because Pluto is Ezra's favorite and he didn't want him to miss it. We made it back in time, but Audrey never found us in the bathroom and no one could find her. So while Pluto was at our table Daniel went off searching for Audrey. She ended up missing Pluto and was not happy about it. I told her not to worry we'd be seeing plenty of Pluto.


So happy to finally be meeting "Cluto" as he calls him.

The last character to meet was Stitch and he was quite a few tables away. At this point we had been there at least an hour and half and were done with the chaos that was Ohana that morning, but we had to see Stitch! The wait was made even longer by a few families coming from across the restaurant to meet Stitch. They were probably sick of waiting too.


Eventually he made it to our table.


We grabbed our Photopass pictures, settled the bill, and hightailed it out of there. While the food was good and the characters were fun, the whole place just seemed to be so unorganized. I don't see it being a repeat for us.

After leaving the Poly we headed across property to check-in at AKL. We had requested an early check-in and were hoping it would happen. It was about 1pm when we got to AKL. When we walked up the front of the building a CM with a tablet stopped us and said "Are you the Frisby family?" I'm assuming this is somehow accomplished by magic bands? Either way it was cool. She directed us to the online check-in counter and the CM at the desk was very friendly. She talked us through the check-in process and gave us all our documents, buttons, etc. Then ever so kindly said "your room is not ready yet". Bummer, but I was somewhat expecting it. We decided to hang out in the lobby for a bit and explore the resort.


Their favorite location


Ezra had a photoshoot on Arusha rock.

Had to check out the bridge


Our first animal spotting.

Baby giraffe!

After exploring I remembered that we still needed to activate our military salute tickets. I wanted to get it done that day instead of having to do it before the next days 8AM HS opening. We decided to drive over to Animal Kingdom and activate the tickets at the Guest Relations window there. We drove the quick 5 minutes there, parked, hopped on a tram, and went through security. Then we went to Guest Relations, activated the tickets, and walked back out to the car; thus experiencing the most anti-climatic Disney park experience in the history of time. The security guard told us to have fun after he checked my bag and I was just like.... oh we will! Then we walked back out 5 minutes later.

Once we got back to AKL we got the text that our room was ready. This was about 2:50pm, so we did end up getting early check-in I guess? We were in room 2393, which is basically the farthest room you could get, haha. We were literally at the end of the Kudu trail. It was a hike, especially after long days, but in all honesty it wasn't that bad. Once we made it to our room, I saw animals outside the window. I yelled "I see giraffes!" This caused Ezra to take off running full speed for the balcony. Unfortunately it didn't dawn on him that there was a glass door in his way. He smacked right into it. It took him a split second to figure out what happened, then he started screaming.


He ended up having a pretty terrible bloody nose, poor guy.

It took him about 10 minutes to calm down and then he was able to enjoy the animals.



I was a little dissapointed with the view at first since there was a big chain link fence, but that didn't last long. It seemed like there was always plenty of animals in the little back section we overlooked, so I couldn't complain.

After we got our fill of animals and unpacked I took some pictures of the room.



I heard a lot of complaints about how dark the rooms are at AKL but I didn't find that to be an issue. I could easily do my makeup in the bathroom without any extra light.

We had definitely downgraded when it came to room size from SoG to AKL, but you can't beat the theming of AKL. We were happy to be checked in and settled for the next 5 nights. We spent the rest of the day at the resort and had dinner at the Mara. Daniel and Audrey both got chicken tenders of some sort and Ezra and I split the BBQ Chicken flatbread, which was delicious. We turned in early since we had to be up for an 8AM rode drop at Hollywood Studios.

​

 

[Volunteer]

AKL! My families true home away from home! We love it so much there, even if the bus rides are long!

Great views from the room!

Unfortunately it didn't dawn on him that there was a glass door in his way. He smacked right into it. It took him a split second to figure out what happened, then he started screaming.

This sounds exactly like something that I would have done when I was younger, so I felt bad when I read this but I also chuckled a little bit. I promise I'm not a cruel person!

 

[deannaf87]

AKL! My families true home away from home! We love it so much there, even if the bus rides are long!

Great views from the room!



This sounds exactly like something that I would have done when I was younger, so I felt bad when I read this but I also chuckled a little bit. I promise I'm not a cruel person!

Hahaha do not feel bad. My husband and I were loosing it. You hate to see your kid hurt, but omg it's hard not to laugh when ANYONE runs smack into a glass door. It's always funny.