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What began as a value trip....became a WL CL Family Fiesta!

Wow your right it really was pouring rain ... But love all your rain ponchos : ) so cute! So glad your girls got to see The Frozen sisters so fabulous!

The girls were wet when they were hugging the Frozen sisters. Elsa asked Lucy if she had been hugging Olaf, lol. And the boys liked it too.
 
The photo on dinosaur where aiden isn't even looking at the Dino about to attack him cracked me up!! Not even phased!

Your girls' photos with Anna and Elsa are so sweet!!
 
The photo on dinosaur where aiden isn't even looking at the Dino about to attack him cracked me up!! Not even phased! Your girls' photos with Anna and Elsa are so sweet!!

I know! I have pics of this same ride when he was 6 and he was not even visible because he hid the whole time. Teenagers, lol. Tough crowd.
 


Meeting Anna and Elsa- so precious!! Your girls look so HAPPY! And the pics with the boys are cute too! Great trip report!
 
I have been following along as we have WL booked for January. Also, we were at wdw the same time you were. That MK rain was brutal that day. We left soon after it started and I remember saying why are people heading into the park like this. That was you :) good thoughts though and I am glad your girls loved the princesses.
 
Catching up on all your adventures so far. Man, you all are really maximizing the club level. We r doing the same in sep and you've confirmed my suspicion we could make a meal of it. Not to mention the free alcohol. Heaven ; )

So you seem to have encountered 2 areas I've never seen, the playground area presumably near splash mountain and a water area near kali. Where are these? I've got one encroaching on 40 inches but if she doesn't mAke it by sep would be good to do rider swap with near by play areas.

Anna and Elsa pics are priceless.
 


Catching up on all your adventures so far. Man, you all are really maximizing the club level. We r doing the same in sep and you've confirmed my suspicion we could make a meal of it. Not to mention the free alcohol. Heaven ; ) So you seem to have encountered 2 areas I've never seen, the playground area presumably near splash mountain and a water area near kali. Where are these? I've got one encroaching on 40 inches but if she doesn't mAke it by sep would be good to do rider swap with near by play areas. Anna and Elsa pics are priceless.

The playground was right next to splash. Right to the right of the ride entrance, The splash area is actually at the exit of kali.

And yes, definitely can make a meal. They replenished food a lot, and no one frowned on seconds. And the wine was great:)
 
I have been following along as we have WL booked for January. Also, we were at wdw the same time you were. That MK rain was brutal that day. We left soon after it started and I remember saying why are people heading into the park like this. That was you :) good thoughts though and I am glad your girls loved the princesses.


Yup that was me...trust me if it wasn't for Anna and Elsa...no way.
 
Love reading all about your trip and family time! The pics of Lilly and Lucy meeting Elsa and Anna are priceless - so sweet!

I love your touring plan....taking in the major attractions at each Park and personalizing each family member's likes. Great job! :thumbsup2 Also coming back to the WL early enough in the evening definitely made use of saving on dining in the Parks (plus in the morning for breakfast) plus allowing relaxing time is the perfect vacation.
 
Love reading all about your trip and family time! The pics of Lilly and Lucy meeting Elsa and Anna are priceless - so sweet! I love your touring plan....taking in the major attractions at each Park and personalizing each family member's likes. Great job! :thumbsup2 Also coming back to the WL early enough in the evening definitely made use of saving on dining in the Parks (plus in the morning for breakfast) plus allowing relaxing time is the perfect vacation.

Yes, and before 5, the kids got drinks, cookies, snacks. I forgot to mention that on the 10th, I took the kids to Roaring Forks and then got drinks in lounge and ate upstairs.
 
That is really nice that Aiden got to go off with his cousins while you were able to concentrate on rides that Lily and Lucy wanted to do. My grandchildren loved "Where's the Fire". It looked boring to me but I guess it is fun for young kids. :)
 
The bag check lines were short, though! We headed to walk thorough castle, which had the girls in awe. Aidan noticed that there was very little excitement on Aurora's side. He told me he felt sorry for her and hoped we were taking pics with her too. However, the girls wanted something more laid back, so we went to ride the Under the Sea ride. Some people complain about this one, but it was the ONLY dark ride that Lucy loved. She got off smiling and happy and was so glad we had done it.!
Your son is very thoughtful. I'm feeling sorry for Aurora myself now that she and Snow White are misled out. I also love the Under the Sea ride and don't understand why it's panned.
 
The playground was right next to splash. Right to the right of the ride entrance, The splash area is actually at the exit of kali. And yes, definitely can make a meal. They replenished food a lot, and no one frowned on seconds. And the wine was great:)

Do you remember what kinds of wine they had? Really wish they had a sweeter one, like a Moscato, but I heard that wasn't the case...

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards
 
Do you remember what kinds of wine they had? Really wish they had a sweeter one, like a Moscato, but I heard that wasn't the case... Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


Two Vines Chardonnay most nights, well as a Columbia Crest Cabernet
 
Last park day! Magic Kingdom, and it's Dad's birthday! I made sure to get him a button.



We of course woke up bright and early for our last day.
We collectively decided not to risk missing the opening ceremonies with the main boat. We hopped on the CR boat as soon as it arrived.



This time, we took the walkway to the MK.






We got there about 8:25, which was perfect timing for show.


The opening show, if you haven't seen it, is a lot of fun and very worthwhile. The mayor greets everyone, the dancers dance, and then the characters (including Anna and Elsa, btw!) all roll in on the train and then they welcome you into the parks.





First stop...Space Mountain. Everyone was riding except mom, Lucy, and Lily. We parked mom and girls by the speedway track to let Lucy see the ride and get a gauge on her comfort level.

There was no wait on Space.





Space was one of my dad's favorites when I was young. Now, he says he is somewhat underwhelmed after Everest, which he thought was great. My mother never liked it, which is why she volunteered to babysit. Aidan was ten last time he rode, and this trip was the first time he loved it.

From here, we bounced to Buzz, which also had no wait.










Dad came out beaming. "That was fun!!!" Aidan had ridden TSMM on Sunday night and said he actually preferred Buzz.

My brother considered leaving us here to go to thunder mountain again, as we were going to the speedway. For some reason, he thought his boys (10 and 9) were too old for it. Ha ha. They shot him a death glare, and he conceded to go with us. Aidan actually bailed on us to ride Space again while the wait was still just 10 minutes.

The posted wait at the speedway as 30 minutes, but this was a huge exaggeration. It was about 9:30, and we were on by 9:40.





This was so much fun with a large group. The boys enjoyed bumping their dad, while I puttered my car with Lucy as slow as we could go. I thought the track was much longer than I remember.

After this point, my brother left with his family to attempt thunder or splash. I was headed for Dumbo. The playground was such a hit that the girls were a little miffed that their pager went off so soon (about five or six minutes).



Aidan messaged me when we were done here and met up with us at Gaston's Tavern.

Since mom was the only one with us when we rode the Mermaid ride, and because Lucy instantly recognized it and begged to ride again, we went ahead and rode it. The wait was posted at 15 minutes, but was walk on. Even Aidan rode. He sat with Lucy and I, while Lily rode with my parents. It was well received by all, especially Lucy. Aidan remarked that the animatronics were impressive and he thought the sound was good.

Continued in next post.
 
Continuing....

It was time to stroll towards Adventureland, where I had a FP approaching for Jungle Cruise.

We had to stop at the restroom on the way, and the stepsisters were out!

Their line was closed, but we had fun watching them while we waited for everyone to regroup.


My brother met up with us here, after riding Splash, and seeing the Hall of Presidents.







My nephew was chosen to drive the boat!


My parents were impressed at how well this ride has actually held up over the years. The kids all enjoyed it as well. I highly recommend a fastpass because it had a 60 minute wait at 11.

Afterwards, I got a dole whip for the girls and we headed to the Tiki room. I will say my longest wait on the entire trip was at Aloha Isle.

The tiki room was well received. I apologize that I don't have many pics here.

From here, another fastpass for Pirates. This was also fortuitous because the wait was nearly an hour here without one. Believe it or not, Lucy was ok with this ride.

By this point, my father had been wished Happy Birthday nearly everywhere we went. Even other guests were wishing him Happy Birthday.

Now, it was hot as blazes and we were hungry. Happily, I had a fastpass for Be Our Guest for right then. My brothers was for fifteen minutes later, so he opted to wander around while we went ahead and checked in to get out of the blazing sun. Lucy fell asleep on my shoulder...her first nap the whole trip.

Checking in was a little chaotic, to be honest. We went to find seats and opted for the main dining room as there was a nice big round table handy.




It was a beautiful room.

Dad and I got the roast beef, Aidan got the croque Monsieur, and mom got the tuna salad. My parents both had a cup of soup, and the kids had kids meals. Our food was fantastic but the kids food was terrible.

My brother sat in the West Wing, so we went to check out his seating. It was dark and stormy in there, lol. Actually...one of the servers was hilarious. She went to my nephew (same one who drove the boat) and, with apparent concern whispered loudly to him "How did you get in here? It's FORBIDDEN!"

When I stepped back to our table I was surprised how it now seemed like it was stormy in the main room. Well, that's because it was now pouring outside again. My heart sank a little because my last fastpass for that day was the parade. We finished eating and waited for the rain to slack up.

It was actually time to head to the hub for the fastpass area. I only had fastpasses for my group, my brother was doing thunder with his. We headed over to find out if they were even having the parade. Well, no one knew. We waited actually till 3:15 before they declared it canceled. My one issue with fastpass plus was this scenario. No one knew how I would get a replacement. I wound up going all the way to the front of park at the emporium to get a replacement. Aidan hung back at space mountain hoping to ride it again. They said there was a malfunction apparently, I should have automatically gotten a choice of ten different FPs to pick that would have been good for any time that day. Anna and Elsa was one of them, btw. However, I was at the emporium so I chose Mickey, who happened to have a 75 minute wait at the time. She was nice enough to give Aidan Space Mountain.


Mickey even told dad Happy Birthday!

As we walked out of this, my aunt called to wish my dad Happy Birthday. He said "You know who JUST told me the same thing? Mickey Mouse. I'm not kidding. He told me Happy Birthday."

We took the boat back to WL. It was about 4:00 at this point. We had reservations at California Grill at 9:30. I got the girls and I cleaned up and headed up to the lounge. They had tomato fennel soup with three cheese focaccia, along with the awesome salads and cheeses. We snacked a lot...basically snacking and relaxing until about 8:45.







We were seated at the best table you could imagine.





We ordered a ton of appetizers...two of the charcuterie plates, a flatbread, a dragon roll, a ravioli, a couple of meatball orders, and a cheese plate. We ordered a kids pizza also. All the adults had mixed drinks...I had a pomegranate margarita that was delicious.

But, as soon as our drinks were served....


It was amazing. And quiet! Lucy loved it! Lily thought this was also for my dad's birthday, and thought that was some kind of special.

Our meal was very very good.

The boys, including Aidan, left with my brother to go to MK and ride more rides. We took the boat back, and dad marveled it was the best birthday he had possibly ever had!
 
It was time to stroll towards Adventureland, where I had a FP approaching for Jungle Cruise.

We had to stop at the restroom on the way, and the stepsisters were out!

Their line was closed, but we had fun watching them while we waited for everyone to regroup.


My brother met up with us here, after riding Splash, and seeing the Hall of Presidents.







My nephew was chosen to drive the boat!


My parents were impressed at how well this ride has actually held up over the years. The kids all enjoyed it as well. I highly recommend a fastpass because it had a 60 minute wait at 11.

Afterwards, I got a dole whip for the girls and we headed to the Tiki room. I will say my longest wait on the entire trip was at Aloha Isle.

The tiki room was well received. I apologize that I don't have many pics here.

From here, another fastpass for Pirates. This was also fortuitous because the wait was nearly an hour here without one. Believe it or not, Lucy was ok with this ride.

By this point, my father had been wished Happy Birthday nearly everywhere we went. Even other guests were wishing him Happy Birthday.

Now, it was hot as blazes and we were hungry. Happily, I had a fastpass for Be Our Guest for right then. My brothers was for fifteen minutes later, so he opted to wander around while we went ahead and checked in to get out of the blazing sun. Lucy fell asleep on my shoulder...her first nap the whole trip.

Checking in was a little chaotic, to be honest. We went to find seats and opted for the main dining room as there was a nice big round table handy.




It was a beautiful room.

Dad and I got the roast beef, Aidan got the croque Monsieur, and mom got the tuna salad. My parents both had a cup of soup, and the kids had kids meals. Our food was fantastic but the kids food was terrible.

My brother sat in the West Wing, so we went to check out his seating. It was dark and stormy in there, lol. Actually...one of the servers was hilarious. She went to my nephew (same one who drove the boat) and, with apparent concern whispered loudly to him "How did you get in here? It's FORBIDDEN!"

When I stepped back to our table I was surprised how it now seemed like it was stormy in the main room. Well, that's because it was now pouring outside again. My heart sank a little because my last fastpass for that day was the parade. We finished eating and waited for the rain to slack up.

It was actually time to head to the hub for the fastpass area. I only had fastpasses for my group, my brother was doing thunder with his. We headed over to find out if they were even having the parade. Well, no one knew. We waited actually till 3:15 before they declared it canceled. My one issue with fastpass plus was this scenario. No one knew how I would get a replacement. I wound up going all the way to the front of park at the emporium to get a replacement. Aidan hung back at space mountain hoping to ride it again. They said there was a malfunction apparently, I should have automatically gotten a choice of ten different FPs to pick that would have been good for any time that day. Anna and Elsa was one of them, btw. However, I was at the emporium so I chose Mickey, who happened to have a 75 minute wait at the time. She was nice enough to give Aidan Space Mountain.


Mickey even told dad Happy Birthday!

As we walked out of this, my aunt called to wish my dad Happy Birthday. He said "You know who JUST told me the same thing? Mickey Mouse. I'm not kidding. He told me Happy Birthday."

We took the boat back to WL. It was about 4:00 at this point. We had reservations at California Grill at 9:30. I got the girls and I cleaned up and headed up to the lounge. They had tomato fennel soup with three cheese focaccia, along with the awesome salads and cheeses. We snacked a lot...basically snacking and relaxing until about 8:45.







We were seated at the best table you could imagine.





We ordered a ton of appetizers...two of the charcuterie plates, a flatbread, a dragon roll, a ravioli, a couple of meatball orders, and a cheese plate. We ordered a kids pizza also. All the adults had mixed drinks...I had a pomegranate margarita that was delicious.

But, as soon as our drinks were served....


It was amazing. And quiet! Lucy loved it! Lily thought this was also for my dad's birthday, and thought that was some kind of special.

Our meal was very very good.

The boys, including Aidan, left with my brother to go to MK and ride more rides. We took the boat back, and dad marveled it was the best birthday he had possibly ever had!
 
Great trip report!!! I loved reading how you enjoyed CL. Made me want to try it out too. What a lovely, fun, memorable trip you had. Thanks for sharing it with us!
 
Great trip report!!! I loved reading how you enjoyed CL. Made me want to try it out too. What a lovely, fun, memorable trip you had. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Thanks. I have one final installment I will have done today, although it's pretty short.
 

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