1/11/25-1/25/25: 2 weeks, 5 people, a million “it’s cold”s: our freezing but amazing trip: COMPLETED

[jo-jo]

Studio vs bigger villas.....it's not just it's so nice to walk 3 feet and have a washer, but on the laundry app, it says one empty washer, but you're looking at all the washers busy. And of course those who toss a load into the washer and go to pool for a few hours. I don't know the math of 2 or 3 washers for 300 studios, but I think it should be at least twice the amount they have. Maybe some resorts have a better ratio?

Once we were coming from Fort Wilderness to BLT on the little boats, the captain said, NEXT STOP, THE ANTARCTIC

 

[disneydreamer1980]

1/15 continued

We left Aladdin’s Carpet ride and continued around towards Frontierland. We were hungry and Pecos bills was nearby, so we decided to eat there.


There was a huge group of teen girls dressed alike in line to order. I think they were a dance group. So we decided to mobile order rather than wait in that long line. So we stood in Pecos Bills waiting on our order.




Emma got a nacho bowl. She liked it.


I got a chicken tamale. It was pretty good. But maybe my favorite food of this trip was my dessert. In the back of my picture you can see what looks like a piece of a corn cob. This was actually a dessert! It looked like street corn. It was corn mousse with raspberry powder to resemble spice and white chocolate to resemble the cheese, and omg it was soooo good. Expensive for how tiny it is, but good. My family was shocked it wasn’t a corn cob, it really looked like one.



Gabe got a kids chicken and rice bowl with a side of fries.

And above is Isabella’s Impossible meat rice bowl. She said it was good. DH wasnt hungry for some reason.

After filling up our bellies we headed towards Liberty Square where we rode Haunted Mansion. We watched the fireworks as we walked there.


Extended evening hours had started by this point and we knocked out small world, Peter Pan, Mickeys Philharmagic, and the Barn Stormer one right after the other, making our way around the park, scanning in at each ride to prove we’re deluxe guests.





It always surprises me that they just scan one member of each groups party to verify that you’re staying at a deluxe resort.
Anyway, next we crossed from Storybook Circus over to Tron.

 

[jo-jo]

A cliff hanger! How long do we have to wait to find out if you got on tron???

 

[disneydreamer1980]

A cliff hanger! How long do we have to wait to find out if you got on tron???

lol I’m finishing up the day now. It only lets me post 10 pictures at a time

 

[disneydreamer1980]

1/15 continued

We got on Tron. This is one of their favorite rides.


We checked out the Tron dump shop but didn’t buy anything.


Next was Tomorrowland Speedway. The kids love this, I have no idea why.


When we got off they actually wanted to ride again but we talked them into moving on.

We rode Seven Dwarves next.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

1/15 continued

Our last ride of the night was Pooh. After that we headed out of the park.





The girls wanted to ride the bus home but we overruled them. We got on the boat at 11:25 pm. We had a very funny captain who told us a million jokes.


We were in our room by 11:45. We watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid together and fell asleep.

All in all a very fun and relaxing day. We got a lot done in only about 6 hours in the park. I love extended evening hours!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Thursday 1/16/25 day 5

Since we were up so late the night before, we slept in today. We ate breakfast in the room and headed out of the room at 12:50.



A HS bus pulled up right as we arrived at the bus stop. We boarded at 12:57, stopped at the Contemporary on the way, and arrived at the park at 1:20 pm.


As usual, my DH had to check out the old tow truck. There was some kind of a high level Disney executive there and when he saw my husbands interest he spoke at length with us about the tow truck. It was interesting but I honestly can’t remember what he said, although I’m sure DH can.



While he was finishing up examining the truck I got us lemonade slushes from the nearby stand.


Those stupid paper straws just would not work with these slushies so we had to just drink them without straws. I usually pack silicone straws but forgot them this trip.

We had a Slinky Dog ride scheduled so we started to head towards Toy Story land.

Continued

 

[disneydreamer1980]

1/16 continued

We headed to Toy Story land.


We had a little time to kill before we could ride Slinky so we decided to stop at Woodys Lunchbox and eat.


It was crazy packed. Gabe wanted to pose for some pics while DH waited in line. We would’ve mobile ordered but the next available time was over an hour away, so we waited.


We finally ordered our food. While we were waiting for the rest of our order, the family at a nearby table was getting up, so we asked if we could have their table and they said sure. I sent the girls over to sit there as we carried over the food. Right as they went to sit down a man came out of nowhere and jumped in the seat my DD was just about to sit in. I ran over snd said “excuse me, we waited for this table and my daughter was in the process of sitting down when you shoved in front of her” but the man didn’t speak any English and just sat there. I decided to just find another place to sit, but I was so irritated. It really made me mad because he was still sitting there with no food on the table yet when we had finished our food. Anyway, luckily we caught another family leaving and we were able to get another table right away.
I ordered the brisket grilled cheese with tots and it was so good.


Isabella got totchos

DH and Emma both got grilled cheese and soup


And Gabe got the kids grilled cheese with tots


It was all good as usual but the best thing was the hot chocolate flavored lunchbox tart we got for dessert-omg it was amazing.
After eating and throwing mean looks at the guy who stole our table and still didn’t have food on it, we headed to Slinky Dog. HS is my girls favorite park and they were very excited to ride Slinky.


After Slinky we were deciding what to do next. We never want to wait for Swirling Saucers so we never ride it and the wait for Buzz was too long, so we decided to head to SW land where we had a ride on Rise scheduled next. Gabe was really excited because he LOVES Star Wars and wanted to head there right when we entered the park.

Continued next post

 

[disneydreamer1980]

1/16 continued

We went into SW land, shopped, looked around, taking it in. Gabe was very happy to be there.

A stormtrooper stopped and spoke with Gabe, which made his day.




Next we had to buy those round sodas. We already have a collection of those empty bottles at home but they insisted we save these too.




As we were drinking the sodas the stormtroopers came by again, this time looking for “new recruits”. Gabe joined the line and completed his training.




After being trained as a new recruit Gabe decided we should get some blue milk. Isabella and I hate it, DH likes it in small doses but Emma and Gabe like it.




After that we headed towards Rise. This ride is absolutely amazing every time. After that we headed o er to ride Millennium Falcon.




Continued

 

[disneydreamer1980]

1/16 continued

We made it to Millenium Falcon. This time the girls were the pilots, the guys were the gunners, and I’m always the engineer because I let them all have the fun roles.




Excuse my bad pictures lol.

After that Gabe wanted to build a lightsaber that he could really play with, so we went with the much cheaper route and did the make-your-own lightsaber thing at Tatooine Traders. Every Disney trip he comes home with a new lightsaber.








This is nowhere near as involved as the super expensive version but it’s still fun and cute.
His blade is yellow but you can’t see it in this pic.

After that we were supposed to ride Mickeys Runaway Railway but it was temporarily down.



We headed towards Tower of Terror instead




Gabe didn’t want to ride so DH sat out with him while us girls got on.

After ToT we headed towards dinner. Where will we eat?

Continued in next post

 

[jo-jo]

After looking at the pictures, this trip wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without Gabe. He looks like a cool kid.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

1/16 continued

When we left off we were heading to dinner at….50s Primetime!!

We had actually originally had a reservation at Roundup Rodeo, but that morning the girls asked to eat at 50s Primetime instead, so I switched our ADRs. This restaurant is a family favorite and I have memories of eating there with my family when I was young.

The experience you have at this restaurant fully depends on the waitress you have, and we had an awesome one this time. When we arrived at our table, she handed the napkins and silverware to the kids and made them set the table. She was very interactive, really playing up the whole schtick they have there. Gabe loved it and was really playfully antagonizing her, so she made him wear a “trouble maker” hat. He loved it.





I ordered the pot roast, which was good. Emma gave me a piece of her chicken too.


Emma had the fried chicken

Isabella got meatloaf
DH got a salmon Caesar salad


And Gabe got a kids Salmon meal

.
Now, Gabe had never had salmon before this trip. He had some on our Animal Kingdom day at Tusker House for the first time ever, a few days before this. He liked it a lot, so he ordered it again.

Anyway, the waitress continued her playful teasing throughout the meal, especially with Gabe. After we were done eating she actually had him come back into the kitchen with her and clear off the plates! lol. She was an awesome waitress and she made Gabes day. We made sure to tip her well.

After dinner the kids rode Rockin Roller Coaster while DH and I sat out on a bench.



When they got off the ride we headed to the Fantasmic stadium to get seats. We were supposed to do the Fantasmic/Sci Fi package on our next HS day after this one but I was able to get us a regular SciFi ADR for that day so I cancelled the package and figured we’d just see the show this night.

We were there early enough to get pretty good seats. We sat and waited, and eventually Fantasmic started. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t have the best time.

It started out nice, we were enjoying the show, we had great seats and we were just happy to be there. All of a sudden Gabe said “I think I’m going to be sick”. Now, my family makes fun of me for the random things I pack in our park bag but at that moment we were all happy I had some large ziplock bags on me. We didn’t have time to leave the area before he started vomiting. We were able to sort of shield him as he quietly threw up into the ziplock bag so no one around us was aware of what was happening. When he was done he said he felt better so we decided to finish out the show. We watched a few more minutes and then all of a sudden the show went dark and a “technical difficulties” announcement was made. We took all of this as a sign to leave. Once we were out of the stadium area the show restarted, but we had seen enough and just wanted to go home.

We headed to the bus, stopping once on the way for Gabe to throw up in another ziplock.
Luckily we didn’t have a long wait for the bus. We sat in the back and there was no one around us. Which was good because he got sick again on the bus. Poor guy, not only was he sick but he was so embarrassed. We were dropped off first (we always seemed to share a bus with either Contemporary or FW) and got to the room and settled in for the night.

Gabe was better by morning, just like earlier in the trip when he was sick. We discovered that the only common denominator between both times he was vomiting was salmon. Both times, he had eaten salmon. The only two times in his life he ate salmon, and he threw up each time. We were just glad it wasn’t a virus or something contagious, and that it was over so soon. No more salmon for him though, ever again!

Despite the vomiting, this was a really fun day.

 

[jo-jo]

Before reading the bit about Fanstansmic, I thought the picture of the rollercoaster, he was looking a bit green. I thought "uh oh, too much after a meal???" And then your post.

Good catch about the salmon. (no pun intended). Maybe it's not even the salmon, but some spice they put on it. But since he has been sick twice and no one else is getting sick, sure sounds like a food allergy and not a bug that usually affects other members of family. Glad he was ok the next morning.

And to repeat, Gabe is the cool kid......hope he got to keep the hat. Great story to tell at family gatherings.

And kudos to you for your mom bag. We took the grandkids shortly after things opened after Covid. Still wearing masks, ofcourse, I had extra masks in the my stash. Not a chance the mask on their faces would last 5-6 hours without it falling to the ground. One of the girls was saying she was hot and her hair was bothering her. I ripped off the elastic ties off a mask and used them to tie up her hair.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'm anxious to hear about your second week. I was there that same week, and to me in was freezing cold, wet, windy, just plain miserable. I envy anyone who did much of anything!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Before reading the bit about Fanstansmic, I thought the picture of the rollercoaster, he was looking a bit green. I thought "uh oh, too much after a meal???" And then your post.

Good catch about the salmon. (no pun intended). Maybe it's not even the salmon, but some spice they put on it. But since he has been sick twice and no one else is getting sick, sure sounds like a food allergy and not a bug that usually affects other members of family. Glad he was ok the next morning.

And to repeat, Gabe is the cool kid......hope he got to keep the hat. Great story to tell at family gatherings.

And kudos to you for your mom bag. We took the grandkids shortly after things opened after Covid. Still wearing masks, ofcourse, I had extra masks in the my stash. Not a chance the mask on their faces would last 5-6 hours without it falling to the ground. One of the girls was saying she was hot and her hair was bothering her. I ripped off the elastic ties off a mask and used them to tie up her hair.

Yes, Gabe is definitely a cool guy and I’m so glad his vomiting episodes were short lived. We still have the hat, I’m always planning to make scrapbooks (plannings the key word here lol) so I save everything. And being prepared does make the trip so much smoother. Good idea with the elastic straps! Moms and grandmoms are great improvisers!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I'm anxious to hear about your second week. I was there that same week, and to me in was freezing cold, wet, windy, just plain miserable. I envy anyone who did much of anything!

Yes, that second week was absolutely miserable weather wise. I’m glad our first week was decent but that second week was really tough. Wait til you see our fireworks dessert party night! lol. I felt so bad for people that may not go often or were having a once in a lifetime trip during that week because it was really awful weather wise.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Gabe’s photo poses are great poor kid tries salmon, enjoys it enough to order it as his entire meal a different night, and gets sick again. Ugh life can be cruel! But so glad it wasn’t an illness!

On your Magic Kingdom extra hours night you guys got so much done! I love being in the parks at night but since we are bringing our toddlers on their first trip this spring I know I won’t be able to do the extra hours. I know plenty of people still do but our littles are still very much early risers no matter how late (or early) they go to bed so we will be skipping the late nights this trip!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Gabe’s photo poses are great poor kid tries salmon, enjoys it enough to order it as his entire meal a different night, and gets sick again. Ugh life can be cruel! But so glad it wasn’t an illness!

On your Magic Kingdom extra hours night you guys got so much done! I love being in the parks at night but since we are bringing our toddlers on their first trip this spring I know I won’t be able to do the extra hours. I know plenty of people still do but our littles are still very much early risers no matter how late (or early) they go to bed so we will be skipping the late nights this trip!

The extended evening hours are great but you definitely don’t want to mess with toddlers sleep schedules! You’ll end up with some miserable toddlers. Disneys so much fun with toddlers, enjoy it, the time goes by fast.

 

[Paulaparm]

Our trips overlapped by a few days. We were wearing our winter coats the first few days!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Friday 1/17/25, day 6

We woke up at 9:30, ate breakfast in the room and got ourselves together for the day. The girls didn’t want to leave the room so we left them there and headed to the boat dock.

We were on the boat at 11:24. No early days this trip!



We arrived at MK and were through the gates at 11:38.


We lingered on Main Street for a bit then headed to Adventureland (we always seem to start there).



We passed a sunglasses cart in Adventureland and DH wanted a new pair, so he got some.

His new glasses

Gabe wanted to do the treehouse, so we did.




After that we headed to one of his favorite rides, Pirates. I have a candle at home that smells exactly like this ride and every time we ride it I think about that candle lol. I think it’s called We wants the redhead? It really is exactly the same smell.

After riding Pirates, we decided to head over to Tom Sawyer Island. We hadn’t been there in forever and they’re supposed to be closing it soon so we wanted to spend a little bit of time there.

But first we decided to see the Tiki show and get a snack.


Continued