“You’re My Favorites: Now Go Away!” Feb/Mar 2019 First Family Trip (Complete 8/19)
- Thread starter TheOneWithTheTriplets
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TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
It's funny how much fun the little things can be. The girls were having a ball just jumping in and out, too.
Thanks! I'm very much a numbers person, so I like seeing it broken out this way for my own sake.
We did get a lot done, when push came to shove. I guess the character thing bugs me because, while I understand unexpected things can happen, rain in Orlando should be expected and planned for. Maybe, once the rest of the major construction is done in that park, they'll have time to throw up a covered greet space in TSL.
Maybe she'll want to try it this trip. My kids were nervous when I described it to them, but as soon as they saw other kids on stage, they wanted in!
Haha love did you see a man and 2 girls in Chewie dresses
Yeah, I can only imagine what was going through his head that prompted a barking laugh when I asked if he had seen them. They must have been making a spectacle of themselves.
Ugh kids, with takingto eat... why?????
Seriously, it is so frustrating. One of those daily parenting battles that I wish I didn't have to fight. With my girls, it's the talking. They rarely stop long enough to chew.
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
They had such a blast, I'm really glad they decided to try it after all.
I'm slowly coming around to Storybook Dining. I was quite sad when I heard they changed Artist Point to a character meal (I LOVED the original restaurant!), but the characters seem fun and most seem to enjoy the food. It's too bad your girls didn't love sitting through dinner as much as they did lunch, but I'm glad you got to fit in the experience! (Also, the "Heigh Ho Guys"? That's brilliant!
They knew the song before the knew the movie, so they often forget the word "dwarf" and will say, "You know, mom, the heigh ho guys."
I have no experience with the former Artist Point, so there's nothing to compare, but I like that they're expanding the options for which types of characters you can meet at meals. It was really cool to be able to meet characters otherwise inaccessible in the parks.
Yup, the bags being downstairs was a big help in the morning.
Maybe that's the part that was so frustrating. Everyone say rainy days are good because at least the parks clear out a bit. It felt like the rain made the crowds worse, not better, on this day.
You're right, it's easier to focus on the mess ups, but we still got a whole lot done on this day.
They have a lot of personality and they aren't afraid to show it. I'm definitely not raising introverts.
That show scared the you-know-what out of me. That snake!!
Thanks! My family rarely got to go to amusement parks, so we were always open-to-close people when we were lucky enough to have tickets. I think I'm raising another generation of parkstormers, at least once they're old enough to have bed times after park close
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
Park Day Nine: Magic Kingdom (TP Crowd Level Predicted 6 and Actual 8)
Our last day at Disney dawned windy and cool. The forecast only had a high of 61, so it was going to be another day with long pants and jackets. I was up with the sun again, and this time I got right to work. I finalized our last checked bag and headed down to the lobby at 6:20am before anyone else was up. Bell Services brought the rest of our bags around to RAC and the staff there were able to check in our whole party despite Hubby not being present. I had read that everyone over 18 would need to be there and show ID, so I assumed they’d be able to do some level of check in with me but that I’d have to go back to the room and send Hubby down to finish up. When I told the CMs that Hubby wasn’t there because he was in the room with the sleeping kids, they said it was absolutely no problem for them to check us all in. I didn’t know if that was standard policy or a lucky exception, but I wasn’t going to question it. Everything was super quick and I found myself out on the boardwalk before the bakery was even open.
After getting our coffee filled up, I headed to the room and work up Hubby. We got everything we possibly could done hoping the girls would hear us stirring and wake up on their own, but they were out cold. Since we had put them to bed in their clothes, we were able to wait until the very last minute to wake them. Teeth and hair brushed, they rested in the strollers we while dropped our carry-ons at bell services and headed for the bus stop. We were waiting for the bus at 7:00am with the girls starting to fully wake up.
While we were waiting for the bus, a family came over at 7:05am and asked if we knew when the next Hollywood Studios bus was coming since it wasn’t on the board. I told them that BW generally got boat service to HS, not buses, and that they wouldn’t be starting for a little while with a 9am park open. They quickly got upset because they were trying to get to the EMM at HS that started at 7:30 and had no way to get there. I told them, with 25 minutes to go before the event started, I would definitely be walking to the park. It turns out they didn’t know that HS was walkable from BW. Now, I know some people find that walk to be a bit long, but this was a young, healthy looking couple with a kid in a stroller. Plus, it was a cool, crisp morning so heat wasn’t going to play into the equation. They headed off toward the path and I sure hope they got there in time. Since that event only includes an extra hour of park time, I’d be pissed if I spent that kind of money and missed any of it.
The bus to MK arrived at 7:17am and we had room to spread out.
We were in the bag check line at 7:30am and through security and the tapstiles at 7:41pm. When we were let into the park at 7:45am, we headed directly back behind the castle. The wind was really whipping, to the point that my bare hands on the stroller handle were starting to sting. We went straight to the restaurant and were the first family in the pre-ordered line at BoG.
There was a quick welcome ceremony right at 8:00am and then we headed in to finalize our pre-orders. I had read that each party would only get one plate of pastries and I didn’t want the kids fighting over them. To that end, I had Hubby on a separate ADR from the rest of us so his separate ticket would guarantee us a second set of pastries. Of course, his food came right away but our order didn’t come out until 8:20am. I had watched so many people seated after us get their food before us (we were the first table!) that I was worried our order had been lost. Right when I was going to track down a CM to see what was going on, our breakfast was delivered. Of course, after going through the hassle of doing split ADRs, our order came out with two pastry plates anyway. Since we had extra QS credits, we let the girls each order something different and they ended up sharing all three entrees between them. I inhaled by Croque Madame, which was delicious, but I think their Croissant Doughnut was my personal favorite. It’s the least responsible meal on the menu, we were essentially eating dessert for breakfast, but that’s what vacation is for!
Despite the meal coming out late, we were still able to use the bathroom and head out into the park by 8:50am. We gave the girls the option of what ride they wanted to do first, and they tried to pick Small World! That wasn’t going to happen, so I explained the reasonable options a little more clearly. We had a FP for 7DMT later in the morning, so starting there would get us an extra ride and we might have time to sneak over to PP with a short line if we were lucky. The other option we gave them was to go straight to PP, which would guarantee a ride there but would mean only one more ride on 7DMT that day. They opted for Peter Pan and we were the first family in line.
Being in a relatively empty Fantasyland was surreal and worth the PPO breakfast on its own. As soon as we heard the fireworks from the welcome show, the CMs walked us to the ride and we were in fact the first family into the line, which made the kids incredibly happy. Getting to be the very first people on Peter Pan is one of the stories that they keep repeating whenever folks ask about the trip.
From there, we blew through a lot of rides in fast succession.
Winnie the Pooh: In line at 9:06 and in our pot at 9:21
Under the Sea: In line at 9:27 and in our clamshell at 9:32
Small World: In line at 9:45 and kids were in the front row calling “All aboard!” at 9:53
Carousel: In line at 10:09 and galloping along two ride cycles later at 10:21
7DMT: Tapped in for our FP at 10:26 with ride photos timestamped at 10:41
At 10:50am, we tapped into our Tinkerbell FP and went straight to the front of the FP line. Our goal was to see Tink and then follow the 11:00 Move It! Shake It! to the hub. As luck would have it, Tink must have gone on break right when we arrived because neither side of her line moved at all until 13 minutes later at 11:03.
The girls were very excited to meet Tink and thank her for all of the gifts she had brought over the course of the trip. She was on the ball, immediately saying how glad she was that they liked the presents because she had picked them out specially for the girls.
Since we were too late for the 11:00 parade, we could move at a more leisurely pace to our next FP. On the way up Main St, we ran into the Dapper Dans.
We stayed for a couple of songs, but they were singing slow songs that the kids didn’t recognize, so they started to get squirmy. We moved on, this time to a snack that I had been eyeing up for weeks before our visit.
This was the only time during our visit that Aloha Aisle had a reasonable line, no doubt due to the low temperature. Hubby and I each manned a Hei Hei Cone and the girls took turns helping us eat them. They were delicious, although perhaps not as refreshing as they would have been if it were warmer out. As we were winding down with the cones, our next FP window opened so we walked over. We tapped into BTMRR at 11:40am and were quickly boarding our train. After our ride, Hubby and I power walked through the crowds to the hub so that we could make it to the 12:00 Move It! Shake It! parade. At least, I thought that was the parade time, but I had misread the schedule and it wasn’t until 12:30.
Since we showed up 30 minutes early, we were able to grab a prime spot centered in front of the castle. We suddenly had time to kill, so I volunteered to make a QS lunch run. After much discussion, we decided on a combination of burgers from Cosmic Rays and pretzels from Lunching Pad. At 12:15, I submitted both mobile orders, marked for Cosmic Rays to start our order, and headed over to pick it up.
Our last day at Disney dawned windy and cool. The forecast only had a high of 61, so it was going to be another day with long pants and jackets. I was up with the sun again, and this time I got right to work. I finalized our last checked bag and headed down to the lobby at 6:20am before anyone else was up. Bell Services brought the rest of our bags around to RAC and the staff there were able to check in our whole party despite Hubby not being present. I had read that everyone over 18 would need to be there and show ID, so I assumed they’d be able to do some level of check in with me but that I’d have to go back to the room and send Hubby down to finish up. When I told the CMs that Hubby wasn’t there because he was in the room with the sleeping kids, they said it was absolutely no problem for them to check us all in. I didn’t know if that was standard policy or a lucky exception, but I wasn’t going to question it. Everything was super quick and I found myself out on the boardwalk before the bakery was even open.
After getting our coffee filled up, I headed to the room and work up Hubby. We got everything we possibly could done hoping the girls would hear us stirring and wake up on their own, but they were out cold. Since we had put them to bed in their clothes, we were able to wait until the very last minute to wake them. Teeth and hair brushed, they rested in the strollers we while dropped our carry-ons at bell services and headed for the bus stop. We were waiting for the bus at 7:00am with the girls starting to fully wake up.
While we were waiting for the bus, a family came over at 7:05am and asked if we knew when the next Hollywood Studios bus was coming since it wasn’t on the board. I told them that BW generally got boat service to HS, not buses, and that they wouldn’t be starting for a little while with a 9am park open. They quickly got upset because they were trying to get to the EMM at HS that started at 7:30 and had no way to get there. I told them, with 25 minutes to go before the event started, I would definitely be walking to the park. It turns out they didn’t know that HS was walkable from BW. Now, I know some people find that walk to be a bit long, but this was a young, healthy looking couple with a kid in a stroller. Plus, it was a cool, crisp morning so heat wasn’t going to play into the equation. They headed off toward the path and I sure hope they got there in time. Since that event only includes an extra hour of park time, I’d be pissed if I spent that kind of money and missed any of it.
The bus to MK arrived at 7:17am and we had room to spread out.
We were in the bag check line at 7:30am and through security and the tapstiles at 7:41pm. When we were let into the park at 7:45am, we headed directly back behind the castle. The wind was really whipping, to the point that my bare hands on the stroller handle were starting to sting. We went straight to the restaurant and were the first family in the pre-ordered line at BoG.
There was a quick welcome ceremony right at 8:00am and then we headed in to finalize our pre-orders. I had read that each party would only get one plate of pastries and I didn’t want the kids fighting over them. To that end, I had Hubby on a separate ADR from the rest of us so his separate ticket would guarantee us a second set of pastries. Of course, his food came right away but our order didn’t come out until 8:20am. I had watched so many people seated after us get their food before us (we were the first table!) that I was worried our order had been lost. Right when I was going to track down a CM to see what was going on, our breakfast was delivered. Of course, after going through the hassle of doing split ADRs, our order came out with two pastry plates anyway. Since we had extra QS credits, we let the girls each order something different and they ended up sharing all three entrees between them. I inhaled by Croque Madame, which was delicious, but I think their Croissant Doughnut was my personal favorite. It’s the least responsible meal on the menu, we were essentially eating dessert for breakfast, but that’s what vacation is for!
Despite the meal coming out late, we were still able to use the bathroom and head out into the park by 8:50am. We gave the girls the option of what ride they wanted to do first, and they tried to pick Small World! That wasn’t going to happen, so I explained the reasonable options a little more clearly. We had a FP for 7DMT later in the morning, so starting there would get us an extra ride and we might have time to sneak over to PP with a short line if we were lucky. The other option we gave them was to go straight to PP, which would guarantee a ride there but would mean only one more ride on 7DMT that day. They opted for Peter Pan and we were the first family in line.
Being in a relatively empty Fantasyland was surreal and worth the PPO breakfast on its own. As soon as we heard the fireworks from the welcome show, the CMs walked us to the ride and we were in fact the first family into the line, which made the kids incredibly happy. Getting to be the very first people on Peter Pan is one of the stories that they keep repeating whenever folks ask about the trip.
From there, we blew through a lot of rides in fast succession.
Winnie the Pooh: In line at 9:06 and in our pot at 9:21
Under the Sea: In line at 9:27 and in our clamshell at 9:32
Small World: In line at 9:45 and kids were in the front row calling “All aboard!” at 9:53
Carousel: In line at 10:09 and galloping along two ride cycles later at 10:21
7DMT: Tapped in for our FP at 10:26 with ride photos timestamped at 10:41
At 10:50am, we tapped into our Tinkerbell FP and went straight to the front of the FP line. Our goal was to see Tink and then follow the 11:00 Move It! Shake It! to the hub. As luck would have it, Tink must have gone on break right when we arrived because neither side of her line moved at all until 13 minutes later at 11:03.
The girls were very excited to meet Tink and thank her for all of the gifts she had brought over the course of the trip. She was on the ball, immediately saying how glad she was that they liked the presents because she had picked them out specially for the girls.
Since we were too late for the 11:00 parade, we could move at a more leisurely pace to our next FP. On the way up Main St, we ran into the Dapper Dans.
We stayed for a couple of songs, but they were singing slow songs that the kids didn’t recognize, so they started to get squirmy. We moved on, this time to a snack that I had been eyeing up for weeks before our visit.
This was the only time during our visit that Aloha Aisle had a reasonable line, no doubt due to the low temperature. Hubby and I each manned a Hei Hei Cone and the girls took turns helping us eat them. They were delicious, although perhaps not as refreshing as they would have been if it were warmer out. As we were winding down with the cones, our next FP window opened so we walked over. We tapped into BTMRR at 11:40am and were quickly boarding our train. After our ride, Hubby and I power walked through the crowds to the hub so that we could make it to the 12:00 Move It! Shake It! parade. At least, I thought that was the parade time, but I had misread the schedule and it wasn’t until 12:30.
Since we showed up 30 minutes early, we were able to grab a prime spot centered in front of the castle. We suddenly had time to kill, so I volunteered to make a QS lunch run. After much discussion, we decided on a combination of burgers from Cosmic Rays and pretzels from Lunching Pad. At 12:15, I submitted both mobile orders, marked for Cosmic Rays to start our order, and headed over to pick it up.
sahu
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2018
I've been reading your trip report but haven't commented yet. Your girls are just the cutest and it looks like you had such a great trip!
It cracks me up that the girls wanted to go on Small World for their first ride! Don't they know the importance of PPO breakfast?
It cracks me up that the girls wanted to go on Small World for their first ride! Don't they know the importance of PPO breakfast?
SimplyGoofy
"You are not Mickey Mouse... you are a rat!"
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2011
What a great and successful morning! You were killing it on the rides! I've never been to the BOG PPO breakfast (I think it had just started when I last visited?), but to reach the Fantasyland rides with the new park opening procedure I would consider it.
Many people seem to love those Hei Hei cones. It's too bad it was chilly, but it's nice when you get a smaller line as a result!
Many people seem to love those Hei Hei cones. It's too bad it was chilly, but it's nice when you get a smaller line as a result!
missangelalexis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2012
Sounds like a great morning! I'm glad you got your bags down easily and made it for your early ADR! That's an awesome pic in a completely empty Fantasyland! You all did so many rides! And mom looks quite happy with her hei hei cones 
cinderaimee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2016
So glad the girls enjoyed Jedi Training and it looks like you made good use of the PPO breakfast! Absolute hard pass on making Small World your first ride though, good call there.
StarWarsMomofGirls!
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
I think I remember the cold spell that came into Orlando right after we left.... I think...
We have never tried it without us all there. But glad they were able to do so.
I need to take some serious notes from you and your efficeincy!!!! Maybe I just need triplets..., they rested in the strollers we while dropped our carry-ons at bell services and headed for the bus stop. We were waiting for the bus at 7:00am with the girls starting to fully wake up.
I wanted to try the donut but forgot to order it as extra. oops. glad you guys liked your breakfast. I do find the morning super rushed as everyone is trying to eat and get out before rope drop.
Perfect! Great photo! How fun to be the FIRST family on a ride. I love it! That might need to be a new goal!They opted for Peter Pan and we were the first family in line.
I want to go aboard!!!
Small World: In line at 9:45 and kids were in the front row calling “All aboard!” at 9:53
I got nervous there!! Good Job Tink!
My girls love to make mickey pretzels into meals!
amazingact21
Upendi
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2010
I'm an update behind, so I'll double back and read it later today. (After I knock out boring weekend necessities, like go grocery shopping and mop the kitchen 
.)
People sitting at QS tables playing on their phones has quickly become my pet peeve. Well, only when there are clearly people needing those tables. It's one thing if the place is empty and there are open spaces elsewhere, but when there's parents with kids clearly needing a place to eat...it's just rude.
Sorry you missed the LM FP window, especially when the CM was fine letting you and your DH in on the kids' passes. Small favors the standby line later wasn't too bad.
Your Storybook dinner sounded lovely, with the exception of the girls not wanting to eat. Lunches and breakfasts really do work better with young ones, but I can understand why you made an exception with that meal. I mean, it was a chance to meet the Evil Queen! You couldn't pass that up.
.)People sitting at QS tables playing on their phones has quickly become my pet peeve. Well, only when there are clearly people needing those tables. It's one thing if the place is empty and there are open spaces elsewhere, but when there's parents with kids clearly needing a place to eat...it's just rude.
Sorry you missed the LM FP window, especially when the CM was fine letting you and your DH in on the kids' passes. Small favors the standby line later wasn't too bad.
Your Storybook dinner sounded lovely, with the exception of the girls not wanting to eat. Lunches and breakfasts really do work better with young ones, but I can understand why you made an exception with that meal. I mean, it was a chance to meet the Evil Queen! You couldn't pass that up.
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
I've been reading your trip report but haven't commented yet. Your girls are just the cutest and it looks like you had such a great trip!
It cracks me up that the girls wanted to go on Small World for their first ride! Don't they know the importance of PPO breakfast?
I'm glad you're enjoying it- we did have an awesome time!
Yeah, my kids are surprisingly good about understanding crowd avoidance for five year olds (at our local amusement park, they'll say "let's go do x before the line gets long" but they didn't quite have the MK priorities memorized.
No way I was wasting a BoG PPO on Small World. BoG PPO was such a cool experience, I would definitely recommend it. If we weren't on the DDP, I probably still would have done it but just ordered a coffee and enjoyed the atmosphere.
The cones were really cute and tasty, even in the cooler temps.
Sounds like a great morning! I'm glad you got your bags down easily and made it for your early ADR! That's an awesome pic in a completely empty Fantasyland! You all did so many rides! And mom looks quite happy with her hei hei cones
I was really worried about my timing for this morning as it was arguably my most ambitious morning plan for the week. I tried to build us lots of buffer earlier in the trip but, on the last day, we decided to go big before we went home. If the kids had been sleepier or the RAC desk busier, we could have messed ourselves up. It was a rush of relief when the MK bus showed up and I knew our timing would be fine.
We did have a great morning. Empty Fantasyland was tons of fun and we managed to hit a lot if rides before lines really built up.
Yeah, Jedi Training was awesome. I'm so glad they decided to do it.
I had a half moment where I considered letting them do Small World first, the plan for this day was to follow the kids' lead in terms of what they wanted to do again, but I just couldn't. I mean, we still got to ride it in the morning with a short wait, so I'm not a terrible mom, right?
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
The good news is that is got cool, but not properly cold. We never needed more than long pants and a jacket, which was still delightful compared to home.
I had assumed Hubby and I would have to tag-team to make it happen, so being able to check in all at once was a nice surprise.
I've always been this person, really. It's just that before it was me being unnecessarily structured and now it is the only thing that allows us to get anywhere on time.
It was rushed but fun. I'm glad we got to make this our final morning. The PPO and lots of rides in quick succession were like the cherry on top of a great trip.
Well, if you book a PPO at BoG and then go to Small World, it would be easy to achieve
I was all prepared for her to give me a bemused look and just kind of go with it, but she was completely on point. She must get that a lot.
I'm an update behind, so I'll double back and read it later today. (After I knock out boring weekend necessities, like go grocery shopping and mop the kitchen
I've been banging them out because a) I have time since the kids are with the grands and b) I want to be done before our next trip.
Right? If you see a family wandering with a tray of food and you're playing on your phone, just get up!
The meet was definitely worth suffering through slow-kid-dinner. I know Disney doesn't do a lot of character lunches at resorts because they think they won't be as popular. But, with how quickly these ADRs book up, I'm surprised they haven't done a test where they offer lunch. If they started the character meal here as lunch/dinner, or maybe if they expanded Bon Voyage to be breakfast/lunch, I think they'd end up with full tables for lunch, too.
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
Park Day Nine: Magic Kingdom (cont’d)
The walk over to Cosmic Rays was delightfully quick. I’m a fast walker by nature, so moving with a double stroller in crowds is borderline painful. These little moments where I could go off on my own and actually move with anything resembling efficiency were like a breath or fresh air.
When I got to the restaurant, the Mobile Order counter did not look good. There were at least a dozen people waiting for food and the CMs were repeatedly calling names of people who weren’t there. The app still said that my meal was being prepared and that they’d alert me when it was ready, so I just stood to the side to wait it out. While I was there, I popped up MDE and grabbed overlapping Buzz FPs for about an hour out.
The CMs kept calling people who weren’t there yet to get food while a clump of us got progressively more restless. It seemed like the group of us waiting just kept growing while very little food was getting picked up. Eventually, a CM with a tablet came around to help with the crowd: one couple in particular was having trouble because their app crashed before they could mark themselves having arrived. At this point, I’d been waiting about 20 minutes so I asked the CM if she had an update on my food. After pulling up my order, she said that it was already ready. We walked over to the counter and, lo and behold, there was my tray. I’m not entirely clear why my name was never called, and the app never did update to say I should come get my food, but I didn’t have any time to stay and complain about the delay. At this point, it was 12:37pm which meant I was missing the beginning of the parade.
The rest of the family was situated on the inner circle of the hub facing outward, so I was going to have to cut across somehow, too. Luck was on my side because, right as I got to the edge of the parade, they made the announcement to have people come out and dance. I was able to zip through just before the crowd of kids filled in and caught back up with Hubby and the kids.
The kids had a blast. They hopped right up and danced their hearts out. Shy, reserved girls they are not! As soon as the parade was over, they hopped back in the strollers to have lunch. Since I had only been able to grab the Cosmic Ray’s half of the meal, we headed for Tomorrowland while the kids munched. We went up to the Space Mountain CM to grab me a RS and then Hubby found a place for the kids to sit and eat while I headed up to complete the Lunching Pad mobile order.
At the mobile order counter, there was also a line with people who were picking up having paid at the register. After waiting a few minutes and noticing that no names were being called, I asked the people around me if any of them had placed mobile orders. One of the other guests said that they were having the mobile order people get into the same line as the register folks to pick up their food. When I made it to the front of the line, I told the CM that I had mobile ordered and she just asked me what I was getting. She didn’t even want an order number, just brought me the food. It wasn’t until hours later that I got a notification in the app that my order was complete. Between this experiences and Cosmic Rays, I’m wondering if they were having issues with the mobile order system on this day. All of our other experiences with it earlier in the week had been great, so I’m not sure what was up in Tomorrowland.
Once I got back with the food, Hubby headed over to Space Mountain. He was using his anytime FP that he’d gotten when RnR went down in the last hour of operation the day before. Unfortunately, the FP line was pretty backed up. The kids and I had time to eat, use the bathroom, and move the strollers into the parking near Buzz before he finally emerged.
We headed over to Buzz at 1:37pm to a line stretching well outside of the FP queue. More concerning, the line wouldn’t move for large chunks of time. Finally, it moved enough that we could see the loading area, but they stopped loading guests again. The ride ran empty for a while, then we saw a lone engineer riding which would have been funny if we weren’t losing valuable park time on our last day. I get that rides go down, but Disney should have just closed the ride given us anytime FPs for the trouble. Eventually, a CM came through with a walkie talkie who seemed to have a bit more authority. We asked him what we could do about our FP if we didn’t want to wait and he said that, if we walked through past loading, we’d find CMs at the exit who would give us an anytime FP. Our family and a few others at the front decided to bail and found the FPs who gave us replacement FPs. I specifically asked what they’d be valid for and the CM said everything but PP and 7DMT, which I expected. As we exited through the gift shop, we saw that the ride photos were still displaying despite the empty cars, which gave me a little chuckle. The girls decided to add it to our PP for good measure.
By this time, it was 2:20pm, a full 43 minutes after we’d gotten in line, and we were running out of time in our park day. The plan had been Buzz, Peoplemover, and then I’d take my ride on Space, but we’d lost too much time. Hubby and I decided he would take the girls on Peoplemover while I used my Space RS. Then, we’d use our FP to visit Mickey and Minnie on the way out. I was really glad we opted to leave the Buzz line before it officially closed. About a minute after I got into the Space line, Buzz closed down and I’m pretty sure that entire queue went straight across Tomorrowland to hop in line for Space. Once I got in line, I double checked MDE to make sure that our FPs had loaded, which is when I saw that it was good for everything but PP, 7DMT and the Mickey greet. So much for doing that on the way out! I texted Hubby to ask the girls what they wanted to do and they requested BTMRR, so that was the new plan. Being a single rider, I was bumped to the front of the line at Space pretty quickly and only had a 10 minute delay between tapping in and my ride photo.
I met back up with Hubby and the girls at 2:45 and we started power walking towards Frontierland. Unfortunately, as soon as we got to the hub, I realized there was no way we were going to be able to fit in BTMRR: the crowds waiting for the parade were just too thick. There was nothing else in Tomorrowland to use the FPs on: Buzz was down, Speedway was under refurb, and they were too short for Space. If it weren’t for the parade, we could have figured out one more ride to do. However, if we ended up exiting with the parade crowds and had bad bus luck, we could very well miss our ride to the airport. We decided we’d just head towards Town Square and see if the FP CM at the Mickey greet would have sympathy on us.
On our way down Main St, we stopped at the confectionary. We still had 9 QS and 15 snacks left to use, and I was going to use them on sweets! (Actually, we had earmarked a couple to be sandwiches we ate at the airport, but mostly sweets.) We went nuts and converted 7 of the QS into candies to take home. There were cake pops, pecan caramel deliciousness, and several bags of Goofy gummies. Next, we continued to Town Square where we asked the CM if there was any way we could use our FPs to see Mickey. I explained the whole story: that we had asked the ride CM and she said the only exceptions were 7DMT and PP, that we were leaving that day and didn’t have time to go deeper into the park, etc. He still wasn’t willing to let us through, which was frustrating but there wasn’t anything to be done about it. If we’d had more time, I would have been having a conversation with guest services about keeping people sitting in a line for a ride that wasn’t functioning, and CMs not giving correct information about the anytime FPs. The misinformation was what really got me: if I’d have known the limitations upfront, I would have foregone my ride on Space so that we could have one last family ride together. It stunk because, after an amazing morning, the last hour meant I was leaving the park with a sour taste in my mouth.
We said goodbye to Magic Kingdom and headed for the bus stop. While we were waiting, everyone started getting a little choked up about vacation ending. Rather than letting the kids wind themselves up into a proper cry, we talked to them about how it’s ok to be sad when something fun is over, but it’s better to focus on how much fun it was.
There was a good wait for the bus, which eventually arrived at 3:35pm. The driver apologized for the delay but said that there was major traffic out front so we’d be taking a back exit. He narrated while we past through Tron construction, the monorail service center, and the fireworks shooting location. We were back at the Boardwalk to say goodbye at 3:55pm.
Our first order of business was a final trip to Ample Hills. The girls and I got treats but Hubby wasn’t hungry, so I sent him over to use our final two QS credits for Italian hoagies from the Boardwalk Pizza Window. That left us with 11 snacks to go, 8 of which we used grabbing bagels and croissants from Boardwalk Bakery. At the gift shop, the kids grabbed trail mix with their final 3 snack credits, picked out a set of dolls with their remaining gift cards, and grabbed Boardwalk and 2019 pins to add to their collection. At this point, it was 4:42pm and we had a 5:00 ME to catch. We got our carry ons from bell services and worked on consolidating our recent purchases into them. While we could have had 5 carry ons and 5 personal items, we didn’t want to be dealing with all of that hand luggage plus the strollers. Instead, we were able to fit most everything into a thin duffel that we had packed just for the purpose, although some of the treats got a little smushed. The bus was there right at 5pm to take us to the airport and we begrudgingly said goodbye to Disney World.
On our final day, we had an incredibly successful morning followed by afternoon frustration from ride downtime and misinformation. The only thing we missed from our plan was that I never managed to ride Peoplemover. Between long lines earlier in the trip and the compressed timeline on this day, the only ride our clan took was Hubby and the girls while I rode Space. In all, we had seven family rides, one rider-swapped ride, one Daddy-and-the-girls ride, one character meet, two shows, too many treats to count (we used 7 QS-for-snacks and 19 snack credits in one day), and a very early breakfast to see a very empty Fantasyland.
The walk over to Cosmic Rays was delightfully quick. I’m a fast walker by nature, so moving with a double stroller in crowds is borderline painful. These little moments where I could go off on my own and actually move with anything resembling efficiency were like a breath or fresh air.
When I got to the restaurant, the Mobile Order counter did not look good. There were at least a dozen people waiting for food and the CMs were repeatedly calling names of people who weren’t there. The app still said that my meal was being prepared and that they’d alert me when it was ready, so I just stood to the side to wait it out. While I was there, I popped up MDE and grabbed overlapping Buzz FPs for about an hour out.
The CMs kept calling people who weren’t there yet to get food while a clump of us got progressively more restless. It seemed like the group of us waiting just kept growing while very little food was getting picked up. Eventually, a CM with a tablet came around to help with the crowd: one couple in particular was having trouble because their app crashed before they could mark themselves having arrived. At this point, I’d been waiting about 20 minutes so I asked the CM if she had an update on my food. After pulling up my order, she said that it was already ready. We walked over to the counter and, lo and behold, there was my tray. I’m not entirely clear why my name was never called, and the app never did update to say I should come get my food, but I didn’t have any time to stay and complain about the delay. At this point, it was 12:37pm which meant I was missing the beginning of the parade.
The rest of the family was situated on the inner circle of the hub facing outward, so I was going to have to cut across somehow, too. Luck was on my side because, right as I got to the edge of the parade, they made the announcement to have people come out and dance. I was able to zip through just before the crowd of kids filled in and caught back up with Hubby and the kids.
The kids had a blast. They hopped right up and danced their hearts out. Shy, reserved girls they are not! As soon as the parade was over, they hopped back in the strollers to have lunch. Since I had only been able to grab the Cosmic Ray’s half of the meal, we headed for Tomorrowland while the kids munched. We went up to the Space Mountain CM to grab me a RS and then Hubby found a place for the kids to sit and eat while I headed up to complete the Lunching Pad mobile order.
At the mobile order counter, there was also a line with people who were picking up having paid at the register. After waiting a few minutes and noticing that no names were being called, I asked the people around me if any of them had placed mobile orders. One of the other guests said that they were having the mobile order people get into the same line as the register folks to pick up their food. When I made it to the front of the line, I told the CM that I had mobile ordered and she just asked me what I was getting. She didn’t even want an order number, just brought me the food. It wasn’t until hours later that I got a notification in the app that my order was complete. Between this experiences and Cosmic Rays, I’m wondering if they were having issues with the mobile order system on this day. All of our other experiences with it earlier in the week had been great, so I’m not sure what was up in Tomorrowland.
Once I got back with the food, Hubby headed over to Space Mountain. He was using his anytime FP that he’d gotten when RnR went down in the last hour of operation the day before. Unfortunately, the FP line was pretty backed up. The kids and I had time to eat, use the bathroom, and move the strollers into the parking near Buzz before he finally emerged.
We headed over to Buzz at 1:37pm to a line stretching well outside of the FP queue. More concerning, the line wouldn’t move for large chunks of time. Finally, it moved enough that we could see the loading area, but they stopped loading guests again. The ride ran empty for a while, then we saw a lone engineer riding which would have been funny if we weren’t losing valuable park time on our last day. I get that rides go down, but Disney should have just closed the ride given us anytime FPs for the trouble. Eventually, a CM came through with a walkie talkie who seemed to have a bit more authority. We asked him what we could do about our FP if we didn’t want to wait and he said that, if we walked through past loading, we’d find CMs at the exit who would give us an anytime FP. Our family and a few others at the front decided to bail and found the FPs who gave us replacement FPs. I specifically asked what they’d be valid for and the CM said everything but PP and 7DMT, which I expected. As we exited through the gift shop, we saw that the ride photos were still displaying despite the empty cars, which gave me a little chuckle. The girls decided to add it to our PP for good measure.
By this time, it was 2:20pm, a full 43 minutes after we’d gotten in line, and we were running out of time in our park day. The plan had been Buzz, Peoplemover, and then I’d take my ride on Space, but we’d lost too much time. Hubby and I decided he would take the girls on Peoplemover while I used my Space RS. Then, we’d use our FP to visit Mickey and Minnie on the way out. I was really glad we opted to leave the Buzz line before it officially closed. About a minute after I got into the Space line, Buzz closed down and I’m pretty sure that entire queue went straight across Tomorrowland to hop in line for Space. Once I got in line, I double checked MDE to make sure that our FPs had loaded, which is when I saw that it was good for everything but PP, 7DMT and the Mickey greet. So much for doing that on the way out! I texted Hubby to ask the girls what they wanted to do and they requested BTMRR, so that was the new plan. Being a single rider, I was bumped to the front of the line at Space pretty quickly and only had a 10 minute delay between tapping in and my ride photo.
I met back up with Hubby and the girls at 2:45 and we started power walking towards Frontierland. Unfortunately, as soon as we got to the hub, I realized there was no way we were going to be able to fit in BTMRR: the crowds waiting for the parade were just too thick. There was nothing else in Tomorrowland to use the FPs on: Buzz was down, Speedway was under refurb, and they were too short for Space. If it weren’t for the parade, we could have figured out one more ride to do. However, if we ended up exiting with the parade crowds and had bad bus luck, we could very well miss our ride to the airport. We decided we’d just head towards Town Square and see if the FP CM at the Mickey greet would have sympathy on us.
On our way down Main St, we stopped at the confectionary. We still had 9 QS and 15 snacks left to use, and I was going to use them on sweets! (Actually, we had earmarked a couple to be sandwiches we ate at the airport, but mostly sweets.) We went nuts and converted 7 of the QS into candies to take home. There were cake pops, pecan caramel deliciousness, and several bags of Goofy gummies. Next, we continued to Town Square where we asked the CM if there was any way we could use our FPs to see Mickey. I explained the whole story: that we had asked the ride CM and she said the only exceptions were 7DMT and PP, that we were leaving that day and didn’t have time to go deeper into the park, etc. He still wasn’t willing to let us through, which was frustrating but there wasn’t anything to be done about it. If we’d had more time, I would have been having a conversation with guest services about keeping people sitting in a line for a ride that wasn’t functioning, and CMs not giving correct information about the anytime FPs. The misinformation was what really got me: if I’d have known the limitations upfront, I would have foregone my ride on Space so that we could have one last family ride together. It stunk because, after an amazing morning, the last hour meant I was leaving the park with a sour taste in my mouth.
We said goodbye to Magic Kingdom and headed for the bus stop. While we were waiting, everyone started getting a little choked up about vacation ending. Rather than letting the kids wind themselves up into a proper cry, we talked to them about how it’s ok to be sad when something fun is over, but it’s better to focus on how much fun it was.
There was a good wait for the bus, which eventually arrived at 3:35pm. The driver apologized for the delay but said that there was major traffic out front so we’d be taking a back exit. He narrated while we past through Tron construction, the monorail service center, and the fireworks shooting location. We were back at the Boardwalk to say goodbye at 3:55pm.
Our first order of business was a final trip to Ample Hills. The girls and I got treats but Hubby wasn’t hungry, so I sent him over to use our final two QS credits for Italian hoagies from the Boardwalk Pizza Window. That left us with 11 snacks to go, 8 of which we used grabbing bagels and croissants from Boardwalk Bakery. At the gift shop, the kids grabbed trail mix with their final 3 snack credits, picked out a set of dolls with their remaining gift cards, and grabbed Boardwalk and 2019 pins to add to their collection. At this point, it was 4:42pm and we had a 5:00 ME to catch. We got our carry ons from bell services and worked on consolidating our recent purchases into them. While we could have had 5 carry ons and 5 personal items, we didn’t want to be dealing with all of that hand luggage plus the strollers. Instead, we were able to fit most everything into a thin duffel that we had packed just for the purpose, although some of the treats got a little smushed. The bus was there right at 5pm to take us to the airport and we begrudgingly said goodbye to Disney World.
On our final day, we had an incredibly successful morning followed by afternoon frustration from ride downtime and misinformation. The only thing we missed from our plan was that I never managed to ride Peoplemover. Between long lines earlier in the trip and the compressed timeline on this day, the only ride our clan took was Hubby and the girls while I rode Space. In all, we had seven family rides, one rider-swapped ride, one Daddy-and-the-girls ride, one character meet, two shows, too many treats to count (we used 7 QS-for-snacks and 19 snack credits in one day), and a very early breakfast to see a very empty Fantasyland.
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
Dining Plan Day 10
Day 10 Actual Spending
Be Our Guest: $157.29
Aloha Aisle: $11.32
Cosmic Rays: $42.40
Lunching Pad: $14.10
Main St Confectionery: $111.29
Ample Hills: $23.39
BW Pizza Window: $29.92
Boardwalk Bakery: $31.34
Boardwalk gift shop: $19.24
DDP Day 10 Value: $440.29
Total DDP To Date: $3,246.60
Dining Value Above DDP Cost: $1,131.69
Moderate Splurge Adjustments
This is probably the day where I’m making the most adjustments, since I wouldn’t have been burning credits to finish things off. I’m estimating we would have shared 3 meals at BoG for breakfast, with no alcoholic beverages. At Cosmic Rays, we would have gotten two of the simpler burgers with no drinks, so that total is adjusted down as well. I would have only done one pretzel at Lunching Pad and no stop at the confectionery on the way out. At Boardwalk, I pulled the drinks off of the order with the sandwiches, but I’m still keeping in the cost of dinner. If we didn’t have credits to spend, we likely would have bought dinner at the airport, but it’s still an expense we would have incurred. I also removed the stops at the bakery and gift shop from our total.
While not totally necessary, it was fun having the extra treats to come home. Every time we ate one, or shared it with a friend, we remembered our awesome trip and how much fun we had. I obviously wouldn’t have spent that kind of money out of pocket just to bring food home, but I appreciated the extra credits when I got to have a Boardwalk Bakery chocolate croissant for breakfast before my first day back at work.
Moderate Splurge Day Ten Estimated Cost (Tax and Tip): $179.32
Moderate Splurge Budget To Date: $2,103.35
Day 10 Actual Spending
Be Our Guest: $157.29
Aloha Aisle: $11.32
Cosmic Rays: $42.40
Lunching Pad: $14.10
Main St Confectionery: $111.29
Ample Hills: $23.39
BW Pizza Window: $29.92
Boardwalk Bakery: $31.34
Boardwalk gift shop: $19.24
DDP Day 10 Value: $440.29
Total DDP To Date: $3,246.60
Dining Value Above DDP Cost: $1,131.69
Moderate Splurge Adjustments
This is probably the day where I’m making the most adjustments, since I wouldn’t have been burning credits to finish things off. I’m estimating we would have shared 3 meals at BoG for breakfast, with no alcoholic beverages. At Cosmic Rays, we would have gotten two of the simpler burgers with no drinks, so that total is adjusted down as well. I would have only done one pretzel at Lunching Pad and no stop at the confectionery on the way out. At Boardwalk, I pulled the drinks off of the order with the sandwiches, but I’m still keeping in the cost of dinner. If we didn’t have credits to spend, we likely would have bought dinner at the airport, but it’s still an expense we would have incurred. I also removed the stops at the bakery and gift shop from our total.
While not totally necessary, it was fun having the extra treats to come home. Every time we ate one, or shared it with a friend, we remembered our awesome trip and how much fun we had. I obviously wouldn’t have spent that kind of money out of pocket just to bring food home, but I appreciated the extra credits when I got to have a Boardwalk Bakery chocolate croissant for breakfast before my first day back at work.
Moderate Splurge Day Ten Estimated Cost (Tax and Tip): $179.32
Moderate Splurge Budget To Date: $2,103.35
NJlauren
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2014
What a bummer to end on such a sour note! however over all what an amazing trip! It was so fun following along with you!
What a great morning with BOG! and getting so many rides in that quickly! We are doing EMM at Mk this trip, and i am already explaining to Dillon why we have to do Small World AFTER the park opens... kids love this ride don't they?
And to think your going back in just a few short days!!!
What a great morning with BOG! and getting so many rides in that quickly! We are doing EMM at Mk this trip, and i am already explaining to Dillon why we have to do Small World AFTER the park opens... kids love this ride don't they?
And to think your going back in just a few short days!!!
tundra1
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2019
QUOTE="TheOneWithTheTriplets, post: 60968117, member: 620806"]
Moderate Splurge Day Ten Estimated Cost (Tax and Tip): $179.32
Moderate Splurge Budget To Date: $2,103.35
[/QUOTE]
Wow! What a great decision to go with the dining plan! If I recall, your original cost was $2114.91. The different was only a little over $11! You made such a great choice, especially with all the extras you were able to eat/drink, and the convenience of having the DDP available. We are going next year, and I am trying to figure out if it would be worth the cost. I am not sure how many character meals we will have, but just knowing that we could have that extra convenience would be pretty fun. And.... I really want to go to BOG, Crystal Palace and the Hoop De Doo Review! LOL!
Thanks for sharing your planning tips and I loved enjoying all your adventures! Your daughters are so precious. What great memories they will have from this vacation!
Moderate Splurge Day Ten Estimated Cost (Tax and Tip): $179.32
Moderate Splurge Budget To Date: $2,103.35
[/QUOTE]
Wow! What a great decision to go with the dining plan! If I recall, your original cost was $2114.91. The different was only a little over $11! You made such a great choice, especially with all the extras you were able to eat/drink, and the convenience of having the DDP available. We are going next year, and I am trying to figure out if it would be worth the cost. I am not sure how many character meals we will have, but just knowing that we could have that extra convenience would be pretty fun. And.... I really want to go to BOG, Crystal Palace and the Hoop De Doo Review! LOL!
Thanks for sharing your planning tips and I loved enjoying all your adventures! Your daughters are so precious. What great memories they will have from this vacation!
Isabelle12345
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2019
This was an awesome trip report!
Very helpful!
And thank you for sharing the costs of the DP and the actual budget you would have allowed... it was well worth it considering all the extras you did!
Looking forward to your next trip report! Enjoy your August vacation!!!
Very helpful!
And thank you for sharing the costs of the DP and the actual budget you would have allowed... it was well worth it considering all the extras you did!
Looking forward to your next trip report! Enjoy your August vacation!!!
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
They really do love that ride. Hands down, if you ask my kids their favorite ride in Disney, it's unanimous for Small World.
Thanks for reading along! My girls are a lot of things, but shy is not one of them.
I do plan on doing another TR soon.
I know I'm the exception, not the rule, but the DDP worked great for us.
BoG is a great value on the DDP breakfast/lunch but a pretty bag one for dinner. HDDR is a bad value on the plan too, actually. Depending on what other meals you're looking at, this may not be the trip for the DDP for you.
Thanks for reading along!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I really wanted those DDP numbers for myself, but I figured they'd be helpful for someone else, too.
Thanks, the next trip is coming up so soon!
TheOneWithTheTriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
Departure and Final Wrap Up
Our ME was pretty full. While we were able to get two sets of two seats together (with me as a solo rider), we were a couple rows apart from one another. The girls were engrossed in the little movie, so the distance wasn’t a problem. If anything, it gave everyone else a bit of entertainment: when the movie started suggesting we all come back for holiday events, the kids yelled “Did you hear that, Mom, we can come back to do Halloween with Mickey!” and all of the adults chuckled at my poor bank account.
We were at the airport at 6:16pm and, after a bathroom break, headed for security. I was very glad that we all ended up with precheck again for the return flight because the regular security lines were really bad. All of our family made it through security quickly, but our double stroller wasn’t so lucky. We had checked it on the way in, so I was surprised when it got pulled aside and one of the supervisors swabbed every inch of it. As it was only covered in crumbs, not explosives, it did eventually get approved and returned to us.
When we got to the gate, we pulled out our hoagies for dinner. As a Philly native, I have strong feelings about how a hoagie (or sub, or hero, depending on where you’re from) should be prepared, and generally anything south of Delaware only brings disappointment. That’s why Hubby and I were both pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the sandwiches, especially considering they had been in a bag for a couple of hours at that point. Maybe this is a very limited use case, but, if you’re on Crescent Lake and looking for a meal that travels well, I would definitely suggest checking out the Italian hoagie from the pizza window.
Because of how tired the girls were, I opted to ride between A and C while Hubby was in the row behind us with B. The flight seemed to be going well until C told me that she felt like she was going to be sick. Luckily, I pulled out a bag in time, so we were able to catch it all. However, that left me holding a bag of sick while trying to clean up and comfort my daughter. A woman across the aisle very kindly offered to hold the bag, which gave me the opportunity to get Hubby’s attention. He hadn’t heard what was going on but, when I asked for his assistance as a stranger was holding a bag of our daughter’s vomit, he quickly hopped up to help me out. His standing in the aisle got the attention of the flight attendants, who came over to check on us and dispose of the remnants. Of course, as all of this was happening, B realized that she was going to be sick but, with no adult focusing on her, she did so all over the ground in front of her, mostly hitting her seat neighbor’s winter coat and bag. That poor woman!!! The attendants were absolute pros about the whole thing. They got us towels, found an empty seat for the woman along with a trash bag to carry her soiled coat, and got me small cups of ginger ale for the girls. I was instructed not to let them drink it, only sips, and cut off any food or screen time until the end of the flight. That seemed to do the trick, because all three of them fell asleep and A managed to avoid the vomit trifecta. Meanwhile, the oh-so-understanding aforementioned seat mate had folded a few napkins into little dolls and sent them up with the attendant, along with her hopes that the girls were feeling better. It turns out B tossed all over the belongings of a saint!
By the time we had landed, all of the girls were completely out cold. I let the other passengers exit, then headed out to the jet way to set up both strollers. When I turned to go back on the airplane, two attendants quickly stopped me and asked if they could get something I had forgotten. Obviously, standard procedure is no re-admittance, which I didn’t know because I had never tried. When I explained that I had three sleeping kids to carry out, they laughed and said I could go ahead and get them myself. Hubby and I got the girls, still asleep, into the strollers and headed for baggage claim. It took us long enough to deplane that the bags were already moving on the carousel by the time we got there.
We quickly got our bags and started trying to figure out how we were going to get them out to the pick up area. Between using curbside check in, ME luggage handling, and RAC, we hadn’t ever had to move anywhere with both strollers and all of the bags. Worse, the Philly airport dedicates the first four lanes of arrivals traffic to commercial vehicles, so we had to cross that and get to a median to meet my father in law who’d be bringing our van. While we were trying to figure things out, our unlucky seatmate and her sister saw us and offered to help. I apologized profusely for the vomit, thanked her for the dolls, and said that we could handle the bags once we got them lined up properly. She and her sister were having none of it. They said that they were from a large family who all had to pitch in and that their mom had taught them better than to leave us with all of that stuff ourselves. They essentially gave us no choice, each grabbing a large rolling bag and heading for the exit. When we all made it out to the median, we thanked them and apologized again, but they brushed it off and said they were glad to help. Seriously, saints!! My father in law was there within minutes. We quickly loaded everything and headed for home. After a short ride, we carried the kids and bags into the house and promptly crashed.
The next days were filled with exhaustion, laundry, and post-Disney blues. Our breakfast of Boardwalk Bakery chocolate croissants and milk from our resort mugs did help to ease our transition back to the real world.
The girls had money left on their trip gift cards, which they opted to spend on lightsabers. They selected Rey’s, Darth Vader’s, and Yoda’s, respectively. They came downstairs the next morning with their clothes on backwards so they’d look plain, like Jedi. When I asked them to pose for a picture, B told me in a menacing voice, “Darth Vader doesn’t pose,” so I’m definitely going to have my hands full with that one.
We had an absolutely incredible, unforgettable trip and I couldn’t have done it without these boards. I am so incredibly grateful for the wealth of knowledge and helpful, thoughtful folks that comprise the members.
For those interested in our final dining plan calculations, we spent $2114.91 on the plan and got $3,246.60 in value from it, a difference of $1,131.69. Obviously, for what we ate, the plan was a much better choice than going OOP.
Comparing the plan to our moderate splurge budget is a bit more complicated. We spent an additional $207.20 in tips, so our total real spending was $2,322.11. By offering the dining plan, Disney managed to eek $218.76 more out of us than we otherwise would have spent based on my estimates. For that money, we got to do Storybook Dining and HDDR in lieu of quick service, booked character meals at our preferred time instead of the cheaper breakfast time, enjoyed 27 adult beverages, had countless more sodas or fun drinks in lieu of water, got souvenir mugs, and brought home a bevy of treats to enjoy over the weeks that followed. We also got to spend the trip saying “yes” to ourselves and the kids when it came to treats that we wanted to try.
From a pure dollars-and-cents perspective, we spent more on the dining plan than we otherwise would have. However, I’d say we got well more than $200 of additional enjoyment out of our meal choices. Storybook Dining alone would have bumped us over that total and it was one of our favorite character visits of the entire trip. I think it helps that, once we had booked the plan, we weren’t making our dining choices in order to maximize our value. We were eating what we wanted when we wanted, even if that meant using a bunch of QS and snacks for take-home treats. For our family, with three kids under 10 and so many character meals on the docket, the dining plan was certainly the way to go.
As those of you who have been following my PTR know, our decision to wait four years to return to Disney fell apart soon after our return. Long story short: Hubby and I had one crazy kid-free day at AK in July and we’re bringing the whole crew back for a last-hurrah-before-kindergarten in just a few short days. If you want the long story, feel free to peruse my PTR. Otherwise, I have every intention of starting another trip report just as soon as we take the kids to celebrate Halloween a mere 67 days early.
Thanks so much for reading and happy trip planning!
Our ME was pretty full. While we were able to get two sets of two seats together (with me as a solo rider), we were a couple rows apart from one another. The girls were engrossed in the little movie, so the distance wasn’t a problem. If anything, it gave everyone else a bit of entertainment: when the movie started suggesting we all come back for holiday events, the kids yelled “Did you hear that, Mom, we can come back to do Halloween with Mickey!” and all of the adults chuckled at my poor bank account.
We were at the airport at 6:16pm and, after a bathroom break, headed for security. I was very glad that we all ended up with precheck again for the return flight because the regular security lines were really bad. All of our family made it through security quickly, but our double stroller wasn’t so lucky. We had checked it on the way in, so I was surprised when it got pulled aside and one of the supervisors swabbed every inch of it. As it was only covered in crumbs, not explosives, it did eventually get approved and returned to us
. When we got to the gate, we pulled out our hoagies for dinner. As a Philly native, I have strong feelings about how a hoagie (or sub, or hero, depending on where you’re from) should be prepared, and generally anything south of Delaware only brings disappointment. That’s why Hubby and I were both pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the sandwiches, especially considering they had been in a bag for a couple of hours at that point. Maybe this is a very limited use case, but, if you’re on Crescent Lake and looking for a meal that travels well, I would definitely suggest checking out the Italian hoagie from the pizza window.
Because of how tired the girls were, I opted to ride between A and C while Hubby was in the row behind us with B. The flight seemed to be going well until C told me that she felt like she was going to be sick. Luckily, I pulled out a bag in time, so we were able to catch it all. However, that left me holding a bag of sick while trying to clean up and comfort my daughter. A woman across the aisle very kindly offered to hold the bag, which gave me the opportunity to get Hubby’s attention. He hadn’t heard what was going on but, when I asked for his assistance as a stranger was holding a bag of our daughter’s vomit, he quickly hopped up to help me out. His standing in the aisle got the attention of the flight attendants, who came over to check on us and dispose of the remnants. Of course, as all of this was happening, B realized that she was going to be sick but, with no adult focusing on her, she did so all over the ground in front of her, mostly hitting her seat neighbor’s winter coat and bag. That poor woman!!! The attendants were absolute pros about the whole thing. They got us towels, found an empty seat for the woman along with a trash bag to carry her soiled coat, and got me small cups of ginger ale for the girls. I was instructed not to let them drink it, only sips, and cut off any food or screen time until the end of the flight. That seemed to do the trick, because all three of them fell asleep and A managed to avoid the vomit trifecta. Meanwhile, the oh-so-understanding aforementioned seat mate had folded a few napkins into little dolls and sent them up with the attendant, along with her hopes that the girls were feeling better. It turns out B tossed all over the belongings of a saint!
By the time we had landed, all of the girls were completely out cold. I let the other passengers exit, then headed out to the jet way to set up both strollers. When I turned to go back on the airplane, two attendants quickly stopped me and asked if they could get something I had forgotten. Obviously, standard procedure is no re-admittance, which I didn’t know because I had never tried. When I explained that I had three sleeping kids to carry out, they laughed and said I could go ahead and get them myself. Hubby and I got the girls, still asleep, into the strollers and headed for baggage claim. It took us long enough to deplane that the bags were already moving on the carousel by the time we got there.
We quickly got our bags and started trying to figure out how we were going to get them out to the pick up area. Between using curbside check in, ME luggage handling, and RAC, we hadn’t ever had to move anywhere with both strollers and all of the bags. Worse, the Philly airport dedicates the first four lanes of arrivals traffic to commercial vehicles, so we had to cross that and get to a median to meet my father in law who’d be bringing our van. While we were trying to figure things out, our unlucky seatmate and her sister saw us and offered to help. I apologized profusely for the vomit, thanked her for the dolls, and said that we could handle the bags once we got them lined up properly. She and her sister were having none of it. They said that they were from a large family who all had to pitch in and that their mom had taught them better than to leave us with all of that stuff ourselves. They essentially gave us no choice, each grabbing a large rolling bag and heading for the exit. When we all made it out to the median, we thanked them and apologized again, but they brushed it off and said they were glad to help. Seriously, saints!! My father in law was there within minutes. We quickly loaded everything and headed for home. After a short ride, we carried the kids and bags into the house and promptly crashed.
The next days were filled with exhaustion, laundry, and post-Disney blues. Our breakfast of Boardwalk Bakery chocolate croissants and milk from our resort mugs did help to ease our transition back to the real world.
The girls had money left on their trip gift cards, which they opted to spend on lightsabers. They selected Rey’s, Darth Vader’s, and Yoda’s, respectively. They came downstairs the next morning with their clothes on backwards so they’d look plain, like Jedi. When I asked them to pose for a picture, B told me in a menacing voice, “Darth Vader doesn’t pose,” so I’m definitely going to have my hands full with that one.
We had an absolutely incredible, unforgettable trip and I couldn’t have done it without these boards. I am so incredibly grateful for the wealth of knowledge and helpful, thoughtful folks that comprise the members.
For those interested in our final dining plan calculations, we spent $2114.91 on the plan and got $3,246.60 in value from it, a difference of $1,131.69. Obviously, for what we ate, the plan was a much better choice than going OOP.
Comparing the plan to our moderate splurge budget is a bit more complicated. We spent an additional $207.20 in tips, so our total real spending was $2,322.11. By offering the dining plan, Disney managed to eek $218.76 more out of us than we otherwise would have spent based on my estimates. For that money, we got to do Storybook Dining and HDDR in lieu of quick service, booked character meals at our preferred time instead of the cheaper breakfast time, enjoyed 27 adult beverages, had countless more sodas or fun drinks in lieu of water, got souvenir mugs, and brought home a bevy of treats to enjoy over the weeks that followed. We also got to spend the trip saying “yes” to ourselves and the kids when it came to treats that we wanted to try.
From a pure dollars-and-cents perspective, we spent more on the dining plan than we otherwise would have. However, I’d say we got well more than $200 of additional enjoyment out of our meal choices. Storybook Dining alone would have bumped us over that total and it was one of our favorite character visits of the entire trip. I think it helps that, once we had booked the plan, we weren’t making our dining choices in order to maximize our value. We were eating what we wanted when we wanted, even if that meant using a bunch of QS and snacks for take-home treats. For our family, with three kids under 10 and so many character meals on the docket, the dining plan was certainly the way to go.
As those of you who have been following my PTR know, our decision to wait four years to return to Disney fell apart soon after our return. Long story short: Hubby and I had one crazy kid-free day at AK in July and we’re bringing the whole crew back for a last-hurrah-before-kindergarten in just a few short days. If you want the long story, feel free to peruse my PTR. Otherwise, I have every intention of starting another trip report just as soon as we take the kids to celebrate Halloween a mere 67 days early.
Thanks so much for reading and happy trip planning!
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Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!
