A Once in a Lifetime Week of Magic: A February 2016 Disney World Trip Report

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This trip was one long in the planning as we coordinated not only our family of four, but my wife’s parents and sister for an epic multi-generational Disney World Trip for seven!


Our cast of characters:

Jenn:

My wife and wonderful mother to our two awesome kids. She’s a Disney junkie like me (maybe even moreso) and did the bulk of the trip planning. Thank you, baby, for all of your hard work!


Rachel:

Our beautiful daughter and reason for the timing of this trip: She got to celebrate her eighth birthday at Disney World on this trip!

Matthew:

Our cute, funny (and sometimes exhausting) 2-year-old little boy.


Sharrie (Nonna):

Jenn’s mother and awesome grandmother (we call her Nonna) to our kids.


Bud (Opa):

Jenn’s father and terrific grandfather (we call him Opa).


Rachel (GG):

Jenn’s sister, wonderful aunt and namesake of our daughter. For the purposes of this trip report, we will call her by her nickname GG to avoid confusion.


Kevin (Me):

Father of the two cutest kids in the world and a giant fan of Walt Disney World.

 

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Day One: Saturday, February 6, 2016

The day had finally come! Well, at least the middle of the night anyway. Our once in a lifetime multi-generational Disney World Trip began around 4am with a bleary-eyed excitement. My wife Jenn and I are Disney World junkies. We spent our honeymoon in the World in May of 2006 and have been obsessed ever since. In the ten years since that trip, we took our daughter Rachel in 2011 when she was 3 and took both of the kids in 2014 when she was 6 and Matthew was 18-months-old. However, we had never shared our love for the greatest tourist destination on Earth with Jenn’s family. That was about to change.


No longer able to sleep, Jenn and I jumped out of bed to find Rachel just as wide awake as we were. Letting Matt get some more sleep, we all stumbled out to the couch and turned on the TV, snuggling in anticipation. We found the Johnny Depp version of Willy Wonka to pass the time as we went over our morning plans. After a cup of coffee, I hopped in the shower and ran out to McDonald’s to grab some breakfast for everyone. Jenn and I are constantly dieting and watching what we eat, but not during a trip to Disney! Everyone knows that there are no such things as fat, calories or carbs when on a magical adventure.

When I got back, Matt was up and trying to figure out what was going on. Though he had a vague idea of what Disney World meant, he certainly didn’t really remember his first trip or understand all the great things that lay ahead. Still, he was getting excited, too and before long, we were all ready and packed for the airport. We listened to the Lion King soundtrack (Matt’s absolute favorite) while we swung by and picked up GG. Then we were off to Detroit Metro Airport and the beginning of the magic.


We let the kids play in a play area of the airport as we waited to board our plane. GG got to board her flight earlier as she took off to Orlando before us to meet up with her parents. Opa and Nonna had left earlier in the week in their van with a ton of stuff crammed into every nook and cranny including most of our luggage and drove it all the way down there for us. Considering the amount of stuff we still had to take onto the plane with us traveling with a 2-year-old that really was a God send.

Finally, we got to board (and wrestle with the car seat and stroller) on our flight to Orlando. The kids were great even though Matt didn’t nap like we had hoped. But nobody got upset and everyone kept themselves entertained thanks to all of the cool toys and activities Jenn packed. Mostly dollar-store pick-ups, it definitely proved essential to have a never-ending stream of stuff to pull out of the backpack and hand to the kids at the first sight of boredom.


We landed a little bit later than we had planned and got into the Orlando airport around noon. We shouldered all of our stuff and awkwardly carried the car seat with us down to the Alamo counter to pick up our rental car. We only paid for an economy car and got a super nice Toyota Corolla with lots of room anyway because it was parked in the economy section. Score!


Then we were off with growling bellies to meet up with Opa, Nonna and GG at the T-Rex Café in Disney Springs for lunch. It was a cloudy, rainy day in Orlando as Jenn weaved our way through the tolls and into the parking structure at Disney Springs. We decided to leave the stroller in the trunk and just carry Matthew to avoid soaking it right off the bat. Dodging our way through the crowds and the drizzle, we found our way to T-Rex about 1:30, texting with GG as they held our seats.


This was our first T-Rex experience. Matthew is a typical 2-year-old little boy who loves dinosaurs. When planning our trip back in 2014, we had wanted to take him to T-Rex, but thought it might be too scary. We thought for sure he would be old enough now, though. Well, maybe not. As we first entered he got very quiet and gripped onto me hard. When we made our way over to our table, he was happy to see Opa and Nonna, and jumped into Opa’s arms where he cowered some more. It was touch and go for awhile, especially when the meteor shower went off and everything got very loud.

Eventually, though, he loosened up enough for me to walk him around the restaurant and soon he was really enjoying himself. The food helped. We were absolutely starving having not really eaten much since 5 o’clock in the morning. Thankfully, the food at T-Rex is delicious. I got the Fossil Fish-N-Chips and it was incredible. I don’t remember what everyone else got, but it was a very enjoyable way to start the vacation as we watched all the dinosaurs and caught up on all of our travels.

At the conclusion of the meal, we got our waitress to bring out a Chocolate Extinction dessert for our birthday girl. While her birthday wasn’t technically for a few more days, why wait while you’re in Disney? While the menu says it feeds four, this dessert is huge and easily fed the seven of us. It is very cool with the dry ice steam coming off of it like a volcano and Rachel loved it.

With lunch over, we got everybody back to the car and drove into Davenport where we were staying for this trip. In our previous trips, we had always stayed on-site at a Disney Resort – Port Orleans Riverside in 2006 and 2011 and Art of Animation in 2014. This time around, though, we were trying to keep costs down for everyone involved and also stay together. It is very difficult to find a place for seven people to stay on-site outside of being obscenely wealthy and springing for a villa at one of the Deluxe Resorts. We looked at one at the Beach Club Resort, then crunched the numbers. It just wasn’t feasible.

Doing her research, though, Jenn found a great deal for a rental house at the Aviana Resort in Davenport. Though we were a little trepidatious about staying off-property, we couldn’t pass the deal up. The few days leading up to the trip, we both started to get a little worried about the place because it was difficult to get a hold of people in order to pay and because their advertised airport shuttle service did not exist. I poured over reviews of the place on TripAdvisor and got myself prepared for the worst. I needn’t have worried.

After a stop at the grocery store to pick up supplies for the week (where Matt thankfully took a much needed nap in his car seat while I drove around the parking lot), we pulled up to the gate at Aviana. I had difficulty punching in the code, mainly because I was incredibly tired. Thankfully, Opa came up from the van behind and showed me what I was doing wrong. The gate swung open and we wended our way through the maze of vacation homes up to 251 Hart Rd.

The house was amazing. It had two huge master bedrooms with king-size beds, one upstairs and one downstairs replete with giant bathrooms with walk-in showers and huge bathtubs. In addition, upstairs there was a room with a queen bed, a room with two twin beds and a room with three more twin beds! We didn’t even use the room with the three twins. The living room was very comfy. The only difficulty we had was with the supposedly heated pool. The weather was unseasonably cold and the pool heat did not work at all, even in the hot tub. Oh well, such is life. The rest of the accommodations were top-notch, so we didn’t let that ruin our trip. We took a few cold dips in the pool to appease the kids, but otherwise just enjoyed the luxury of our giant house.

We spent a few hours unpacking the car and the van before getting dinner together at the big dining room table. Spaghetti, salad and garlic bread prepared by the two best chefs I know: my wife and her father. Yummy. After dinner, the day’s travel hit us like a brick. We took the kids upstairs and got them bathed and snuggled into bed in the bedroom right next to ours. After an unsuccessful attempt at getting the hot-tub to work, Jenn and I crawled into bed and got ready for the real vacation to begin.

Next up: Universal’s Islands of Adventure!

 

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Day Two: Sunday, February 7, 2016: Universal’s Islands of Adventure

We awoke bright-eyed and bushy tailed with our kids crawling into bed with us. After a bit of a tckle-fight, we went downstairs to indulge in the luxury of having our own kitchen, coffee-maker and couch. After so many trips staying in an on-property resort, I have to say it was very nice to relax in our own home atmosphere instead of the usual difficulties of morning in a hotel room. We had bagels and coffee and got the kids cereal and milk and didn’t have to run down to a food court in order to do it. The kids relaxed on the couch and watched cartoons on Nick Jr.

When Nonna and Opa got up, both kids squealed with delight. It was so nice having everyone together in the same place – in a huge beautiful house no less. That might have been one of the greatest parts of the trip. The not-so-great part of the trip was the weather on that Sunday morning. It was cold, gray and very windy. We got everybody ready by dressing in lots of layers before packing up the van for our excursion to Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

Now, Jenn and I love, love, love Disney, but none of us in the group had ever been to either of Universal’s parks. However, GG and Nonna both are huge Harry Potter fans so when we first started discussing this trip, it became a part of our itinerary pretty quickly. Looking at the options, we decided to go with Islands of Adventure tickets for our family and for Opa and dual-park tickets for GG and Nonna so they could experience both parts of the Harry Potter stuff. We’re just not huge Harry Potter fans, but we are big Jurassic Park fans and the kids love Dr. Seuss. It was a no-brainer to go with IoA.

When we made it to Universal just prior to park open, it was freezing. The wind was whistling through the parking structure and the ramp over to City Walk. I had read that if you wanted to ride The Forbidden Journey with little to no wait, you had to hoof it back into the Wizarding World as quickly as possible after park open. However, it was too cold to go that fast. Instead, we stopped into the Universal Studios store and bought warm stuff. We got a cool Captain America blanket for Matt along with a Captain America action figure because you can’t just buy a blanket for a 2-year-old when there are a million toys in the store. We also got some warm Gryffendorf socks for Jenn who had worn flip-flops anticipating a warmer day and a ride on the Jurassic Park water ride.

We don’t know a thing about the Harry Potter crests, but apparently Gryffendorf is ok according to GG. Jenn promised to give her the socks once she no longer needed them. Rachel kept herself busy being her typical crazy self.

Now warmer, we pushed our little blanket guy into Islands of Adventure to go Forbidden Journeying with Harry Potter. In order to do that, though, you have to go through Dr. Seuss land and even though all of the strategy guides everywhere say run as fast as you can to Hogwart’s Castle, well, you’ve got to stop and check out Seuss Landing a little, right?

Playing the role of taskmaster, I hurried everyone along as quickly as possible. We went through the Lost Continent section very fast barely noting the weird rock faces and other stuff that we largely didn’t care about. On the other side was our destination: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Of course we had to stop for a few more photos.

By the time we reached the castle, the wait time was up to 45 minutes. Let this be a lesson to all of you rope droppers out there: a party of seven aging from toddler to grandparent is not going to move fast no matter what you do, so you would be better off taking a page out of Elsa’s book and just letting it go. As it was, the wait wasn’t so bad and there are lots of cool things to look at in Hogwart’s Castle, even if you aren’t interested in the books or movies. When we finally got to the ride, Jenn took the kids out the duck-out exit and I took the two big Harry Potter fans and my father-in-law on the ride I had hurried us all morning to try to get on. What a mistake.

In my own defense, there wasn’t really any way for me to know what this ride was going to be. I knew it was immensely popular and was billed as a motion simulator. I was picturing something along the lines of Star Tours, only Harry Potter-themed. Now, my mother-in-law loves motion simulators and I assumed based on the popularity that both GG and Opa would love it, too. I was so wrong!

First, you have to get onto a conveyor belt in near pitch-dark and sit down in some very cramped seats. The bars came down, and then they immediately came up. A worker came rushing over yelling at us to get up, so we did. Then we had to walk the wrong way back down the pitch-dark conveyor belt in order to get on a different car where they separated us completely before the bars finally came crashing back down and we were off. I can only figure that we were overweight together or something, but there was no time for explanations in the frantic dark of The Forbidden Journey.

Now on the ride, I began to feel nauseous as I was jerked to and fro toward one screen and then an animatronic and then another screen and then another animatronic. It went on like this until a dragon breathed fire in my face and I sank to the terrible conclusion that I had killed my in-laws by forcing them onto this terrible torturous ride. When The Forbidden Journey had gratefully concluded, I walked off with shaky legs to find my sister-in-law laughing hysterically at how horrible the ride was. Thankfully, when we finally located her parents, they were laughing, too. Despite my fears, no one had died. Turns out we were all just happy to be alive.

We found Jenn and the kids in the Three Broomsticks restaurant and spent some time eating some snacks and recovering from our ordeal. After laughing and laughing about our experience, we finally got the energy to continue our day. Thankfully, the sun decided to come out at that time and we moved on to Jurassic Park. The day was starting to get much better!

Walking through the big gates into Jurassic Park was very cool. In fact, everything in this section of IoA is awesome. We took the kids over to the Discovery Center and got them set up with Opa, Nonna and GG while Jenn and I shed some of our layers and ran over to the River Adventure ride. Even though it was still chilly, the sun made it just warm enough and the ride was amazing. One of the best flume rides I’ve ever been on. I ‘d say it’s better than Splash Mountain and the animatronics with the T-Rex are every bit as fantastic as the old Yeti on Expedition: Everest. It was truly a good ride that made Islands of Adventure more than worth the price of admission.

Jenn loved it even more than me and spent the next forty minutes or so riding it again and again with her sister and her. Meanwhile, the kids were having a ball in the Discovery Center just running around and climbing up on stuff. Matthew loved the big dinosaurs.

Eventually, I took them over to the Camp Jurassic playground to run off even more energy. This playground is amazing. One of the coolest kids playgrounds I’ve ever seen with so many neat little touches. There’s a whole section that makes it look like raptors have broken out and invaded the forest right off the path you are. They shake trees out in the distance and it really looks like raptors might be closing in on you. Matt thought it was awesome. Rachel got scared, so we headed back to the slides before hooking back up with Jenn and Opa. GG and Nonna split off from us to go spend the afternoon doing more Harry Potter stuff.

As for us, we stopped into Thunder Falls Terrace for a pretty yummy lunch of ribs and chicken. After lunch, it was time for me to shed layers once again and get super wet with Rachel on the Popeye ride. When we first planned this trip to celebrate her birthday at Disney World, she was so excited to ride her two favorite rides again: Soarin’ at Epcot and Kali River Rapids. Well, it just so happened that both of those rides got shutdown for refurbishment while we were there. She was a little disappointed, but like a trooper didn’t let it bother her too much. When we were planning our day at Islands of Adventure, I realized that Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barge in Toon Lagoon was basically Kali River Rapids. She was so happy! I promised her I would ride it with her.

Of course, that was before the weather was in the 50s. By the time we got on, though, the sun was shining brightly and it may have even touched 60 degrees. The bright big smile on her face was really all I needed to keep me warm. Also, since it was a little chilly, there was no line for it at all. In fact, the workers didn’t even make us get off at the end and we stayed on for three full rides around getting more and more wet as we went. Rachel absolutely loved it and I think it was more fun than Kali River Rapids. The Popeye theming is well done especially the octopus and the barge itself. I realized half-way through our third ride around though that Rachel really didn’t know anything about Popeye. The whole ride Sweet Pea is trying to get the can of spinach over to Popeye until he finally eats it and defeats Bluto at the end. Toward the end of our last ride, Rachel turned to me and innocently asked, “What’s with the spinach?” I just had to laugh.

When we finally got off, we found Matthew running Jenn and Opa ragged up and down the stairs at the play area next door. I grabbed the backpack from her and Rachel and I changed out of our wet clothes. With the sun high and bright in the sky, we ventured down into Marvel Super Hero Island. Matt was starting to get cranky as he hit his naptime, but he refused to sleep. We did get lucky and found a short line to meet Spider-Man. That kept Matt happy for about one minute. Originally I was going to browse in the comic book shop and get him a comic book, but his attitude convinced me otherwise. We shoved off and headed over to Seuss Landing. Thankfully, Matt fell asleep in the stroller on his way over.

Jenn and Opa took Rachel on the Cat in the Hat ride while I sat in the shade with Matt. When they were done, I took Rachel on the carousel before we went into the Circus McGurkus Café to rest and wait for Nonna and GG to meet up with us. Jenn took Rachel over to get her face painted while we waited. When Matt woke up from his nap, he was still pretty cranky and everyone else was getting tired. We had originally planned to eat at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for dinner, but we decided to cancel our reservations and head back to the house for some pizza. First, GG and I took Rachel on the trolley which runs throughout Seuss Landing. There are some spectacular views from this ride, but it is incredibly short.

With that done, we made our long trek back to the van and stopped at the Papa Johns in Davenport for two big pizzas. Unfortunately, it was Super Bowl Sunday, so everyone was getting pizzas at the same time, but it worked out eventually and we went home to relax. We devoured the pizzas and got the kids in bed before watching the first half of the Super Bowl and chilling out in our huge comfy living room, or as Nonna referred to it “our recovery pod”. It was a good first day at the parks, and we hadn’t even been to a Disney Park yet. Jenn and I crawled into bed, dreams of the Magic Kingdom dancing in our heads.

Next up: The Magic Kingdom!

 

[DVC Debbie]

Great trip report. Love your pictures. Looks like you had a good time.

 

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Loving your report so far

 

[renholder777]

Great trip report. Love your pictures. Looks like you had a good time.

Thanks! We certainly did. Wish we were still there...

 

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Loving your report so far

Thank you!

 

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Day Three: Monday, February 8, 2016: Magic Kingdom

Once again we awoke early with Matthew climbing into bed with us. I grabbed him and his sister and took them downstairs to let Jenn get a little more sleep. Before long, everybody got up and got ready for our big day at the Magic Kingdom. On our trip in 2014, we had done character breakfasts both mornings that we went to the Magic Kingdom so we hadn’t actually seen the opening show at rope drop in years. I was determined that we would see it this year and despite all of what goes into packing up seven people into a van (including a wholly uncooperative toddler), we got parked and over to the front of the park at exactly 8:40am just in time for a spectacular view of the front of the park.

When the train pulled into view and the music started playing, I admit I actually got a little teary-eyed. That show is just a little thing really, but it is indicative of what makes Walt Disney World so special. It was really cool to be able to share that feeling not only with my family, but with our whole extended family, too.

Once the show was over, we made our way inside where we moved with the crowd up Main Street. I had learned my lesson this time, though, and didn’t try to force any of us to move faster than was comfortable. We stopped at the bathroom and got a birthday pin for Rachel before spending some time in front of the castle getting all sorts of pictures taken. I love this one of the four of us, even 2-year-old Matt pointing at Rachel’s birthday pin.

With our pictures taken, we headed over to Peter Pan’s Flight to see the new queue. Now, call us weird, but we were very excited to see this update, even if it does basically boil down to just another line. The theming inside the queue really did live up to our expectations. It very much feels like being in Wendy’s bedroom and some of the effects are really cool. The ride as always is a good one. Matt loved seeing Captain Hook.

Afterward, we headed right across to It’s A Small World with no wait. This ride is classic and everyone liked it. What’s not to like? I just don’t understand people who bag on this ride.

After that, we went and used our Fastpasses on the Winnie the Pooh ride, letting Matt ride with his grandparents this time around. We pulled into Storybook Circus after that at about 10:30. Originally, we had thought about riding Dumbo, but the wait time was already about 20 minutes and it felt like everybody just wanted to pop a squat and rest for a minute. Having done the big trek around Islands of Adventure the day before, it was good to slow down the pace and just enjoy the day. It was bright and sunny and absolutely gorgeous outside.

We went into Big Top Souvenirs where Rachel used some her money to buy Figaro the Cat in a cool cat carrier basket with some vet toys. She had saved up all of her Christmas and birthday money for the trip and had $60 to spend! I think she made a wise choice with her first purchase. I grabbed some caramel corn and we got a blue Icee for Matt to drink. When we were done resting, we went and got in line for the Little Mermaid ride.

There is something about this ride that just isn’t as magical as the older classics. There’s too many exposed pipes and wires and things, I guess. Still, it has some good animatronics and great music. Jenn’s parents loved it. We moved on down through new Fantasyland with a stop at Gaston’s tavern as we waited for our Fastpassess to come up for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Despite the poor signage, we eventually did get some drinks and snacks at Gaston’s before going over to the Beast’s castle for the show.

Enchanted Tales with Belle is such a unique experience. The last time we did it, I was selected to be a knight in the show, which was fun but didn’t really allow me to see what was happening. This time around, I got to sit in the audience while Opa had to play his part as a knight. Rachel didn’t get to be the Beast this time like she did on our last trip, but she still had fun being in the show all the same.

When it was over, we headed into Be Our Guest for our lunch reservation. I have to say, though it’s a little strange ordering your lunch weeks ahead of time, it really does make the whole process so smooth. We checked in, they handed us our rose that told the wait staff where we were and we found seats. Within a few minutes, there was our food. Compared to the insanity of trying to get food at the Three Broomsticks the day before, I honestly would be ok with Disney doing this at more quick-service restaurants. It was so simple and relaxing. We ate in the ballroom which is just gorgeous. All in all, it was a fantastic lunch.

After lunch, the park really started to fill up with more and more people. We headed over to the Country Bear Jamboree with the idea that Opa and Nonna would do that with the kids while GG, Jenn and I ran over to use our Fastpasses for the Haunted Mansion. Well, even with Fastpasses, the line for the Haunted Mansion was pretty long and it took us awhile to get through. It is a really fun ride and one that GG says was her favorite. I also got a nice picture of the sisters while we waited.

After the ride, the crowd for the parade began to fill in along the path on both sides while we tried to go find Opa, Nonna and the kids. Originally, Jenn and I had hoped to watch the parade from an area in Liberty Square that seemed to offer a good view. She went there to hold a spot while GG and I slipped our way back to the Country Bears and the stroller. Of course, Opa and Nonna were nowhere to be found and we couldn’t get them to answer their cell phone.

Eventually we found Nonna and Rachel camped out in Frontierland in the crowd, but Opa had gone back to where the stroller was! Meanwhile, Jenn was still down in Liberty Square holding our spot. I called her and told her she needed to come find us as there was going to be no way to get all of us back to Liberty Square by the time the parade started. Eventually, GG got a hold of Opa and he got back to us with Matt. Jenn found us after a little while (and a whole lot of frantic waving and phone calls).

Despite the difficulty in getting set-up for the parade, we actually did wind up with a pretty good spot to see everything. The caramel corn I bought earlier in the day also came handy as I used it to keep Matthew busy until the parade started. And once it started, it really didn’t matter how difficult the crowd had made things. It is such a good parade. Everyone loved it. Of course, when it was over, everybody was ready to head back to the house for a rest.

I ran through the crowd and got fourth Fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain for later that night. I tried to get Seven Dwarves Mine Train, but of course that was a pipe dream. Then I ran back through the crowd and met up with everybody at the Frontierland Train Stop. We rode the train back to the front of the park and headed back to our house in Davenport.

After a super-chilly dip in the pool with Rachel, I warmed up with some soup and sandwiches Jenn and Opa made for dinner and we got the kids bathed and tucked into bed. Everybody else decided to call it a night, but Jenn and I headed back to the Magic Kingdom for a little nighttime fun! When we got to the gate, I realized we had left our parking pass in the van and we were now in the rental car. It didn’t matter as the guy at the gate asked me to guess a number between 1 and 10. I guessed 7 and he waved us through!

We parked and took the monorail back to the park savoring our precious time together minus the demands of the kids. When we got in, we got in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean and watched the strangest display of humanity ahead of us.

A guy was in a wheelchair being pushed by one of his sons. Every time the line stopped, the son would ram his father’s wheelchair into the back of his mother’s leg. Eventually, she got incredibly angry – and the guy got up out of the wheelchair to put his arm around her while his other son climbed into the chair! Clearly, he did not need the wheelchair and was just playing around. Sure enough, when we got through the queue down to the loading area, he pushed the wheelchair off to the side and left it behind. So weird.

After Pirates (which was as good as always), we went over and used our Fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain. It’s a fun roller coaster and I think it’s even better in the dark. We looked to see if any Fastpasses were available for Seven Dwarves, but of course they weren’t. We grabbed one for Haunted Mansion instead and went over to ride it again. This was also a strange ride as we went into the area where the ceiling grows, but it was only us and like 5 other people, one of whom was hanging around far too closely and kept leering at Jenn. Creepy. He was also about half my size, so it wasn’t that scary, just strange. Anyway, the ride was just as fun as it had been in the afternoon. In previous trips we had to skip Haunted Mansion because it was too scary for Rachel. So, for not having ridden it in a decade, we got to ride it twice in one day!

When we were done, it was almost time for Wishes. We figured that was our best bet to wait for Seven Dwarves Mine Train and we were right. The posted wait time dropped to 30 minutes and we probably got through the queue in about 25 minutes while we watched the fireworks from in the line. Not really the greatest vantage point for Wishes, but it was perfect as far as getting onto Mine Train. Such a good ride, and shooting out of the tunnel to see the illuminated castle at night directly in front of you is awesome.

With that, we were starting to get very sleepy, so we waited through the monorail line back to the parking lot and drove back home to Davenport. What a truly magical day!

Next Up: Animal Kingdom and our Princess’s Birthday!

 

[c3h3a3r]

 

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Day Four: Tuesday, February 9, 2016: Animal Kingdom

We awoke a little slower after our big evening out at the Magic Kingdom, but a two-year-old climbing on top of you doesn’t really lend itself to sleeping in. Besides, it was our daughter’s birthday! After changing Matt’s diaper, we woke Rachel up with a chorus of “Happy Birthdays” and went downstairs for coffee. Opa and Nonna got up and hugged our big eight-year-old princess as we recounted the strange adventures we had the night before. We didn’t have long to relax that morning, though, because we had to get ready to make our breakfast reservations at Tusker House!

Everybody got dressed and into the van without much difficulty. Before long, we were at the Animal Kingdom parking lot. Let me stop here and say that the drive from Davenport is not far. When we first booked the house at Aviana, we were a little unsure about staying so far away. There was a part of me that thought staying off-property would remove us from the magic. In actuality, I think being in charge of our own transportation was so much better than endlessly waiting for buses. Traffic was not that bad even at peak times and being able to strap our little guy into his car seat made for a much better experience than trying to hold onto him on a bouncy bus. After about 20 minutes on the road, we were parked and ready for Rachel’s birthday trip to Animal Kingdom.

When we had first planned the trip, we put Animal Kingdom on her birthday so that she could ride her favorite ride Kali River Rapids. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before that didn’t work out due to refurbishment, but Animal Kingdom still had plenty to offer and she was very excited. Both of our kids love animals and we were looking forward to seeing as many as we could. But first, it was time to eat!

In our previous trip in 2014, we had done a ton of character dining experiences. While some were better than others, the breakfast buffet at Tusker House is unrivaled. Hands down one of the best breakfast spots in all of the World in my opinion. Plus, you get to meet Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Daisy! What’s not to like about that?

The food was just as good this time around as we remembered it. Lots of variety and the juice they give you is very tasty. But, of course, we were really here for the birthday girl to meet some friends, and boy did she! So did her brother.

The characters really do spend some quality time with each child even with having to hit so many tables. While the character dining experiences are usually pricey, it is so worth it not to have to wait in line to meet these guys.

After breakfast, we headed over to the nearby theater to catch the first show of the Festival of the Lion King. We got terrific seats on the floor in the second row. Now, Matthew is the biggest Lion King fan that might exist. He loves it and will watch it over and over and then watch episodes of Lion Guard over and over. Back in 2014, we took him to the show – and he slept through the entire thing! We tried to wake him up, but he would not budge. He was just too sleepy. This time around we hoped he would manage to stay awake if we put it right after breakfast. He did, and it almost blew his mind, I think. In fact, it might have blown my mind, too, even if it was the third time I had seen it. It’s such a good stage show and a must do.

After it was over, it was time for our trip into the savannah on Kilimanjaro Safari. We used Fastpasses for both the Lion King and Kilimanjaro. We might not have had to because the crowd was light, but Animal Kingdom doesn’t have the many, many options of the Magic Kingdom, so why not use your Fastpasses and guarantee your times?

The safari was as good as always. It was really fun watching (and listening to) Matt’s reactions to all the animals. He just loved it. So did his sister. When the ride was coming to a close, he gave his sissy a birthday kiss. It might have been the cutest thing ever.

After the safari, we decided to split up into three groups. Rachel wanted to get her face painted, so Nonna volunteered to take her to do that. I didn’t think Matt would be patient doing that, so I took him into Pangani Exploration Trail to see the gorillas. Meanwhile, Jenn, GG and Opa walked over to Asia to use our Fastpasses on Expedition: Everest. Right by the entrance to the exploration trail, Matt spotted Beshte the hippo from the Lion Guard. If we went around the park and found all of the Lion Guard characters, he would have gotten a certificate. We didn’t really want to spend all day doing that, but he was sure excited to have found one of them.

While Matt and I watched some chilly gorillas do everything from covering themselves in towels to sitting in a bucket in order to stay warm, Jenn was finally getting the opportunity to show her dad the terrific reproduction of Tibet in Asia. Opa is a very Buddhist sort of guy and is fascinated by Tibet and the monks who live there. When we first visited Animal Kingdom all the way back in 2006, we both thought it was a place her dad needed to visit. I’m glad ten years later, we finally made it happen.

Of course, while he may be very much into Tibet, he’s not that into roller coasters and neither is GG. But both of them wanted to check out Expedition: Everest and they both admitted it was a good ride. Their photo from it pretty much summarizes their true feelings, though. Contrast their expressions of horror with Jenn’s face full of joy. Priceless.

Once Matt and I were done on the trail and Rachel’s face was painted, we headed over toward Asia and saw that Baloo and King Louie were meeting guests. I got in line with the kids and Jenn came and met up with us when they were done on Expedition: Everest.

After that, we were starting to get hungry for lunch and decided to head back to the house. Rachel wanted to get some new Minnie Mouse ears for her birthday, though, so we stopped so Jenn could take her into the shop to buy them. While the rest of us waited outside, cast members started an impromptu bird show right next to us. A bunch of amazing birds flew right over our heads. You just never know what’s going to happen next at Disney World!

When we got back to the house, we made some sandwiches and then snuggled down for a much needed nap. The birthday girl claimed she wasn’t sleepy, so thankfully Aunt GG stayed up with her watching movies on the big couch downstairs while everyone else crashed hard. It was 4:00 in the afternoon by the time we got up to get ready for dinner.

When we planned the trip, we told Rachel we could eat absolutely anywhere in Disney World that she wanted for dinner on her birthday. Being our girl, she made us super proud by declaring that she wanted to eat all of the crab legs she could at Cape May Café at the Beach Club Resort! How many eight-year-olds do you know who choose crab legs for their birthday dinner? I’m sure glad she did, though, because it is probably our favorite restaurant on-property. While the ambience is nothing to write home about, you really cannot beat this buffet in the options and quality of the food. It is top-notch and worthy of three maybe four helpings.

We drove over to the Beach Club Resort (and we didn’t even have to do some crazy bus transfer to do so like we would have if we were staying on-property) and checked in for our 5:30 reservations. First, I took a picture of our gorgeous birthday girl with her face-paint and new Minnie ears outside.

Then we piled our plates high with crab legs, clams, mussels, paella, calamari, salmon, pork roast, chicken, macaroni and cheese, salad and probably a bunch of stuff I’m forgetting. It’s just such a great buffet, it makes my mouth water thinking about it, especially since I’m back to my everyday low-carb diet. Boo.

As dinner came to a close, I had the waitress bring out the birthday cake I had ordered for Rachel through the Disney Cake Hotline. It was specially prepared by the Boardwalk Bakery and delivered fresh to Cape May that day. It was originally supposed to be $60, or so I thought, but it wound up only being about $30 which was quite a deal I thought. Especially with the prices of dinner itself at the Deluxe Resort. In any case, dinner and the cake were well worth it. The whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday to Rachel, making her blush as she made her wish and blew out her candle.

It was a terrific birthday, and the best part was that we were only halfway done with the trip! There was plenty more fun to come.

Next Up: Epcot

 

[starousse]

Joining in. Great report!

 

[ariane37]

Joining! So far sounds like you had a great trip!
We did Universal last August, first time for our boys then 9 & 13 and the first time for DH and I since 2000. I'm with you on FJ, didn't feel so well afterwards However, we LOVED Escape from Gringotts! I also agree the Jurassic Park area was pretty awesome.

I'm happy to see your positive review of the Cape May Café dinner buffet, we plan to do it for the first time on our trip this Nov. We've stayed at the BW a few times and have never ventured there but older DS loves mussels and this time we're staying at the BC, so it's kind of a no-brainer

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[renholder777]

Joining in. Great report!

Thanks for joining!

 

[renholder777]

Joining! So far sounds like you had a great trip!
We did Universal last August, first time for our boys then 9 & 13 and the first time for DH and I since 2000. I'm with you on FJ, didn't feel so well afterwards However, we LOVED Escape from Gringotts! I also agree the Jurassic Park area was pretty awesome.

I'm happy to see your positive review of the Cape May Café dinner buffet, we plan to do it for the first time on our trip this Nov. We've stayed at the BW a few times and have never ventured there but older DS loves mussels and this time we're staying at the BC, so it's kind of a no-brainer

Looking forward to reading more!

I've heard good things about Escape from Gringotts. If we ever go back to Universal, we'll try Diagon Alley instead. Have fun at Cape May! I hope you like the food as much as us!

 

[renholder777]

Correction on my last update. Next up is Epcot. I was skipping ahead in my thoughts apparently

 

[renholder777]

Day Five: Wednesday, February 10, 2016: Epcot

After our relatively light day on Rachel’s birthday, we were up and ready for action early once again for our day at Epcot. Now, truth be told, Epcot is my favorite park and World Showcase is Jenn’s favorite part of all of Disney World. Normally, we schedule two days at Epcot so we can spend more time taking in all it has to offer. But, with the trip to Universal earlier in the week, we did our best to put all of Epcot into one day. This required a somewhat ambitious plan, but we were up to the challenge! At least we were when we pulled up to the park. The sun was shining and the day was beautiful.

We actually entered the park later than we had any of the others at about 9:45 with the idea that we would be staying all day. Since there is no real rope drop show at Epcot anymore, there really isn’t too much of a rush to be there right at open. We got in and walked right onto Spaceship: Earth using Fastpasses. Dame Judy Dench gave us a rundown of the history of mankind as we made our way through the fun classic animatronics. Matthew sat between Jenn and I and was very quiet and still. I think he was a little scared of the dark, but he handled it like a trooper and it was sort of nice to have him be quiet for a change. When we slid out into the top of the dome and looked at the Earth floating in space, Matt squealed with delight. Obviously, he wasn’t that frightened.

After choosing our futures (something about tourism and jet-packs – I don’t really remember), we disembarked back to 2016 in time to head over to the Living Seas aquarium. On our way over, a Photopass photographer caught us and got some great shots of the kids.

After our pictures, we went into the Living Seas and rode the Nemo ride. Matt liked it, but he was starting to get a little cranky. We thought he was hungry, so we fished out some snacks out for him, but it didn’t really improve the situation, nor did taking him kicking and screaming to the bathroom to change his diaper. We spent a lot of our time looking at the fish in the aquarium with a crying toddler who was spending most of the time just trying to run away from us. I was glad we had him in a little backpack with a leash, but while that kept him close, it didn’t improve his mood. Thankfully, it didn’t bother everybody else and we did get to see a lot of cool fish before going into see Turtle Talk with Crush.

Matt liked Turtle Talk, but quickly got cranky again afterward. It seemed that all of the fun we had been having (and the lack of napping) began to catch up with us. We let them run around for a bit in the Bruce the Shark area before heading over to the Land pavilion. We hoped a ride on Living with the Land would calm him down. By the time we got there, though, it was almost time for our 12:45 reservations at the Garden Grill. Having already ridden Living with the Land many, many times, I let everyone else go on while I ran over to hold our reservation. I admit it was sort of nice just to sit in peace and quiet while I waited for everybody to come upstairs after the ride.

When they did rejoin me, Jenn said Matt did okay on the ride and we hoped a nice meal in the Garden Grill would fix his attitude. Well, I’m not sure about him, but the great fresh food did wonders for my attitude. We had never eaten there before, but I’m glad we gave it a try. All of the food is very good and you get to meet Chip N’ Dale, Pluto and Farmer Mickey! By the time lunch was over, Matt really did seem to be in a better mood and we hoped for a better afternoon.

After lunch we headed over to MouseGear to do some serious shopping. Well, Jenn, GG and Rachel did some serious shopping while Opa, Nonna and I sat out in the courtyard watching Matt run around and around. He sure had a lot of energy. I hoped he might burn himself out and fall asleep in the stroller, but our next item on the schedule was a ride on Figment in the Imagination pavilion. The walk was not far enough for him to fall asleep and he wound up just being cranky in line again. Thankfully, the wait time wasn’t that bad and after about twenty minutes we were on.

Matt loved it! It might have been his favorite ride of the trip. He thought Figment was hilarious and all of the different scenes made him squeal with happiness. The problem was when it ended. Matt lost it at that point. He did not want to get off and just started screaming. I picked him up and walked him through the gift shop. In his desperation, he grabbed a stuffed Figment and I agreed to buy it if only so he would have something to hold onto that might calm him down. After I paid for it, we got him settled down in the stroller for the walk over to World Showcase.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, we had ambitiously thought to tour around the world at this point and have dinner at Via Napoli in Italy. We quickly began to rethink that strategy and decided we’d hit the Mexico pavilion and then head back to the house. Really, we could have taken off right then the way Matt was acting, but Mexico is probably Jenn’s favorite place ever and we wanted to share it with her family. I prayed Matt didn’t lose it inside. Thankfully, he didn’t and we rode the Donald Duck and the Three Caballeros ride twice before heading home. All in all, it was a pretty good day. It might have gotten cut short, but we still had a lot of fun and the weather was gorgeous. When you travel with a toddler, you’ve got to expect to have at least one day like that.

Matt promptly fell asleep on the ride back to Davenport. We stopped at the grocery store and Nonna and I ran in to buy some supplies and food for dinner while we let him sleep in the van. After a quick meal of heated up pizza for Matt and I don’t even remember what for the rest of us, we got him bathed and snuggled down early for bed. He didn’t fight long before going down for the count. With that done, Jenn, GG and I got dressed in warm clothes and headed back to Epcot to spend some time on World Showcase before Illuminations. We left Opa with the monitor to listen to the kids upstairs and slipped away to have some non-toddler fun.

The weather turned very chilly that evening, but it was sort of nice after the hectic pace of the day. There weren’t very many people in World Showcase at all and we zipped right along. We stopped into Italy to do some shopping. I picked up some awesome coffee and biscotti for the house before we headed over to Germany and the sweet treats of Karamel Kuche.

Now, I typically spend the majority of my time trying to eat a low-carb diet and avoiding sweets like the plague. Diabetes runs in my family and it is the smart, healthy way to go for me and my body type. I’ve lost weight and I feel better. I know all of this logically. However, I would drown myself in caramel if I could. I absolutely love it and Karamel Kuche is the equivalent of a crack house to me. But, since I only get there once ever few years, I can splurge without guilt and splurge I did. I got a large chunk of sea salt caramel and a large chunk of dark-chocolate caramel and had eaten both by the time we made it past the American Adventure pavilion. Meanwhile, Jenn went over to the beer stand and got a Schoefferhoffer grapefruit beer that she said was absolutely delicious. I don’t drink anymore so I didn’t taste it and it doesn’t really sound good to me, but she said it was one of the best beers she had ever had.

We walked around World Showcase with our treats for a little bit and then I ran down to grab our 8:30 reservations at Spice Road Table. We got a great window seat overlooking the water that was just perfect to view the fireworks while we ate dessert and had some drinks. I tried the mint tea which was really good while we ate baklava and shared a Chocolate Pyramid. We watched as they set up Illuminations with the boat in the middle of the lagoon and pretended that the poor cast member who had to go out there in the cold was named Tim. We pretended to radio him from the control tower while he almost accidentally set himself and his intern on fire. That’s just the sort of weirdos we are.

Illuminations was beautiful once again. Ten years before, Jenn and I had just begun our marriage while watching Illuminations on our honeymoon. Ten years later, it was pretty cool to see them again from a much different perspective in life. Epcot is still my favorite park, but much different now that we got to share it with everyone, including two little people who hadn’t even existed then. It was a real good way to cap the day. Two thumbs up to Spice Road Table and Tim the fireworks operator.

We headed out after the fireworks with one last shot of the ball.

Next Up: Hollywood Studios

 

[DVCStephanie]

Great trip report! Looks like everyone had so much fun!

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Subbing!

 

[renholder777]

Day Six: Thursday, February 11, 2016: Hollywood Studios

Thursday was our lazy morning on the schedule. Truth be told, Hollywood Studios was never our favorite park, so when we were planning the week, we decided to make it a late-park day and schedule some time to sleep and relax at the house in the morning. After so many days on the go, it really is nice to take a little time off from the parks and slow down the pace a bit. We relaxed and drank good Italian coffee from the Italy pavilion. We made a big pancake breakfast and lounged around in our PJs. Jenn was a very good mommy and took the kids into the frigid pool for a dip. Eventually, we got showered and ready. After some sandwiches for lunch, we piled into the van and headed over to the Studios.

Like I said, Hollywood Studios has never been at the top of our list. It always feels too crowded and just not as magical as the other parks. That’s not to say we dislike it. It is Disney, after all and it has some great rides. It just isn’t up there with Magic Kingdom and Epcot in our estimation, nor does it have the unique theme of Animal Kingdom. In fact, its theme seems kind of jumbled and that might have something to do with why it’s never been our favorite. Every single trip, it just never seemed to do much for us. Well, for whatever reason, all of that changed this time around. Thursday in the Studios just might have been the best day of the trip for us this time.

It didn’t really start out that way, though. When we first arrived, everything we didn’t like about Hollywood Studios was on display: it was hot and crowded. Of course, we were entering the park about 12:45 and it was in full swing. After a bit of an unsuccessful attempt at shopping to find Rachel some Descendents-related merchandise, we pushed our way through the crowd to the Disney Jr. stage show.

We had never done this show before and weren’t really sure what to expect. One thing we did expect was seating…and we were mistaken. The show is designed for pre-schoolers who are the target demographic of Disney Jr. and I guess that it is ok for pre-schoolers to sit on the floor. However, for all of the parents who have been hauling around backpacks and strollers for a week, getting up and down off the floor isn’t really the easiest thing to do, and it certainly isn’t the most comfortable. Matthew wanted to sit on his Mom and not the floor, so I did my best to prop Jenn up with my body so she could have something to lean on and didn’t hurt her back. By the end of the performance, my leg had gone completely asleep and Jenn was sore from struggling to hold on to our little guy. I certainly do not give a thumbs up to the seating arrangements for this show. The performance itself was pretty good, though. Rachel and Matthew loved seeing all of their favorites from the cartoons come to life. Rachel was so excited when the gold doubloons fell out of the ceiling. All in all, I’m glad we did it for the kids, but I’m not eager to go back anytime soon. Thankfully they did have some seating available for Nonna and Opa. If only we were so lucky.

Once the show was over, Jenn and I handed the kids over to GG, Nonna and Opa to take to the Little Mermaid show while we high-tailed it over to the Tower of Terror for our Fastpasses. This is possibly our favorite thrill-ride at Disney and we just don’t get to ride it often enough. The past three trips to Disney World, we skipped it altogether just because we had the kids and it is not a ride we want to go on alone. The theming is so well-done and the whole spooky atmosphere is so much fun. I’m so glad we got to ride it this time around. We even got a nice PhotoPass pic near the exact spot where we took a photo on our honeymoon ten years prior.

When we were done surviving our trip through the fifth dimension in the Hollywood Tower Hotel, we booked it back over to the Animation Courtyard area and met up with everybody as they were exiting the Little Mermaid show. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it and Matthew didn’t freak out without us there, so we counted our blessings. It was then time to go explore a galaxy far, far away in the Star Wars Launch Bay.

I was born in April of 1977. The very next month Star Wars blazed its way across America and cemented itself as a juggernaut of pop culture. I never had a chance and have been a giant fan my whole life. When I was three, one of my earliest memories was going to see the Empire Strikes Back for the first time in the theater. I have to say, seeing a Millennium Falcon model that was actually used during the filming of that movie was pretty cool. In fact, just about everything in the Launch Bay was pretty cool. Unfortunately, there weren’t any Jawas roaming around when we stopped through, which disappointed Rachel. She had been very much looking forward to trading with the Jawas and had put together a collection of shiny little trinkets she hoped to use. Thankfully, she took it like a champ that they weren’t there and there was still plenty to look at. We decided against waiting 45 minutes to meet Chewbacca, but it was a lot of fun.

After the Launch Bay, we checked the wait times on the Great Movie Ride, but decided against waiting for 40 minutes in the sun for that ride. It has never been our favorite and we were concerned that the Alien section would be too scary for Matt. Instead, we ducked into Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream, another thing we had never done before. This is actually a very fun little mini-museum detailing the beginnings of Disney, the launch of Disney World and the concepts that became the reality of our favorite vacation spot. Plus, it was air-conditioned. Matt and Rachel liked looking at all of the models on display and we got to check out a ten-minute preview of Zootopia a month before its release. Matt loved the movie and wanted to see the rest. We did our best to explain that it wasn’t out yet and that we’d see it when it was. I’m not sure if he understood, but he got a cute set of fox ears to wear, so he was ok with it I think.

Afterwards, we used our Fastpasses for Toy Story Midway Mania. On our last trip, even though I had tried as hard as I could to lose to Rachel, I still accidentally beat her and she did not take it well. Big tears and a timeout were the result. I went into this ride bound and determined not to make the same mistake. It actually proved not to be hard to lose to her as her hand-eye coordination had improved dramatically. She mopped up the floor with me and was proud of herself, giving me the thumbs up outside as we waited for everybody else to get off the ride. Everybody really enjoyed it.

It was then time to make GG very happy. As much as I love Star Wars, I think it’s fair to say that GG loves the Muppets. It was a lot of fun watching her get very excited about the Muppets theater and all of the cool Easter eggs hidden about the area as we got ready to watch MuppetVision 3-D. While the film probably needs a bit of an update at some point, it’s still a great example of using the Muppets right in a fun way. The people in charge of their new television show should take note. These are the Muppets we love, not some strange version of 30 Rock with Kermit shoe-horned in. But, I digress. Matt loved it, even if he wore his glasses upside down.

When the movie was over, we spent some time in the shop letting GG find some good souvenirs before splitting up once again. This time, Jenn took the kids to go visit the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground while GG, Opa, Nonna and I went to use our Fastpasses for Star Tours. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. With the kids, I usually have to ride Star Tours alone. While that’s fine and all, it really is a lot more fun with a group of people. All of Jenn’s family loved it and I really liked the new scene from the latest movie. It was just a blast (pun intended). I also felt like I redeemed myself for the fiasco of the Harry Potter ride earlier in the week. Star Tours is how a motion simulator should be done.

After our ride, I spent some time in the gift shop fruitlessly looking for a good souvenir. The problem with Star Wars stuff is that it is either for kids, too expensive or a million other people already bought it and now nothing is left in your size. Oh well.

Finally giving up on my Star Wars merchandise, I headed back outside to where everybody was waiting. We were supposed to go meet up with Jenn and the kids at the playground, but she texted me that they had gone over to the Frozen Sing-a-long. I told her we’d just meet her at the restaurant and we headed over to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater to check in for our reservations.

We wound up waiting for a bit as the Frozen Sing-a-Long apparently goes on for some time. We passed the time browsing in the Writer’s Stop store and just sitting down outside enjoying the nice evening air. Eventually, Jenn and the kids arrived saying they had a great time at the show.

Once we got everything sorted out with the hostess, we went inside to one of the coolest restaurants in the world.

If you have never been to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, you simply must. It is such a unique experience with the cars and the great campy, clips of the old-time movies. The food is really good, too. I had one of the best chocolate milkshakes I think I’ve ever had and a gigantic burger that puts other burgers to shame. Rachel loved getting to be the “driver” of the car and getting her driver’s license. Matt didn’t quite know what to make of all the weird monsters and aliens up on the big screen. At one point, he turned to his mom and said, “This movie is crazy!” I suppose if you thought it was all one movie, it would be. Regardless, he had a good time and all of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Once dinner was over, we briefly entertained trying to do the Great Movie Ride, but ultimately decided it was time to go. I ran out to go get the stroller from where Jenn left it near the Frozen show. It took me a long time to find it because they had moved everything for the fireworks. I finally found it way over by Indiana Jones. When we got to the front of the park, Rachel realized she had left her brand-new birthday Minnie ear back at the restaurant. I sent everybody on out to the van and fought my way back through the fireworks crowd. The hostess let me go check our table and I found her ears tucked under our seats right where she had left them. By the time I made it back to the parking area tram, the Star Wars fireworks started to go off over my head. It was a little distracting trying to find our parking space while watching beautiful fireworks, but I wasn’t complaining. When I did make it back to the van, I saw everybody enjoying the nice view we had from the parking lot while Matthew slept soundly in his car seat. Not a bad vantage point for the fireworks if you ask me.

When the fireworks were over, we headed home perfectly content with our day at Hollywood Studios. I’m not sure exactly why it was better than most of our trips there, but everyone really enjoyed themselves. We tucked the kids in and went to bed ourselves, resting up for our last day in the parks.

Next Up: Magic Kingdom

 

[renholder777]

Day Seven: Friday, February 12, 2016: Magic Kingdom

We awoke for one last day in the parks with Matthew climbing into bed one more time. Rachel crawled in shortly afterward and we had a nice family snuggle as we talked about our favorite parts of our awesome vacation so far. We were all a little sad that it was coming to a close (well, everyone but Matthew who didn’t really understand), but the trip wasn’t over yet. With a bittersweet feeling, we got up and at ‘em for our last day in the Magic Kingdom.

We ate breakfast at the house, showered and packed up a bit before piling into the van for our twenty minute commute to the Happiest Place on Earth. This time when we got parked and up to the monorail/ferry loading zone, we decided to take the ferry. The sun was shining bright and we enjoyed our trip across the waves, soaking in the feeling of the anticipation of one more fun-filled day.

When we arrived, we found the park had just opened. Instead of following the crowd back to Fantasyland, we headed over the bridge into Adventureland for a morning in the distant jungle. Our first stop was a groan-induced laughfest around the rivers of the world on the Jungle Cruise. While the jokes on this ride do in fact get old, it’s still fun, especially if you’re riding with kids. Afterward, we took a spin on the Magic Carpets and Matt just loved it. We followed that up with a little early morning Dole Whip action while we took turns using the restroom. I also took the opportunity to snap a picture of Rachel just before she was captured by headhunters (not really).

With our Dole Whip treats gone, we headed into the rainy environs of the South Pacific in the Enchanted Tiki Room. While you would think this attraction would start to show its age, it is always awesome. All of the animatronics, music and sound effects combine just right to put a smile on your face. It is a true Disney classic and it was very cool to experience it with three generations of our family at once.

We bid farewell to all of our birdie friends and headed over to the Pirates of the Caribbean for our first Fastpass of the day. We were a little concerned that Matt might be frightened this time around, but he did great.

He was very quiet throughout the ride, but he never complained and he was really excited about all things pirate when we got off. I took him around the shop after the ride and got him a black snake he just had to have.

Meanwhile, Jenn and GG took Rachel over to the Pirate’s League for her very special, belated birthday Mermaid Makeover. Outside, I got some food set-up for everyone for lunch at Tortuga Tavern which unfortunately was closed because it was the offseason. This meant I had to hoof it over to Pecos Bill in Frontierland and cart everything back over to where we were sitting. Oh well, it worked out and Rachel was absolutely beautiful and grinning from ear to ear with her makeover. Well worth it in my opinion.

After our grab bag smorgasbord meal of Mexican fare from Pecos Bill, we made our way through Frontierland. We briefly entertained waiting in line for Splash Mountain, but decided against it. We had spent a little longer than we had originally planned at lunch, so we pushed past the posted wait time of 40 minutes, through Liberty Square and into Fantasyland for a showing of Mickey’s Philharmagic. I love that movie every time we see it. Matt was so into it this time around, just squealing with delight when the bubbles came down out of the ceiling. It is one of the best 4-D movies ever, I think.

We then pushed into Tomorrowland. We were a little early for our Tomorrowland Speedway Fastpasses, so we took a spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. This is one of our favorite rides, even if it is a bit cheesy. That’s part of its charm, though. The kids loved it and so did we.

When that was over, we split up. Opa and I took the kids over to the Speedway to ride the go-carts and Nonna, GG and Jenn went over to the Carousel of Progress to mainly sit in the air-conditioning and secondly to laugh at the silliness of it. The sun meanwhile was blazing hot in the afternoon air. For the first time on our vacation, it really started to feel like Florida, and it was starting to have a bit of an impact. Matt was tired, hot and cranky and so was I by the time we got halfway down to the Speedway. I took everyone into Auntie Gravity’s to get some ice cream in the hopes that would make the crankiness go away. It didn’t really work and the whole ordeal just served to get everybody sticky.

So, cranky, hot and sticky, Matt and I got into our go-cart. He perked up right way and was so happy about driving. He snarled at me every time I tried to help steer, though, so we spent the whole trip just banging off the guardrail around the very hot and loud track. Not exactly the most relaxing of rides. I wound up just flooring it in order to get the ride over as soon as possible.

When we pulled up to the finish line and had to get out, Matt completely lost it. They say that a toddler will have a full meltdown at some point during a week at Disney World and this was that point for Matt. He did not want to get out of the car and was holding on with a death grip. I had to literally pry him out of the car and wrestle him and the backpack I was carrying up the stairs and out of the exit while he screamed and screamed. This is how I waited, with a wriggling, feral two-year-old in my arms until Opa and Rachel finally got off the ride. Apparently, their ride was fairly pleasant. I was just a little jealous as I carried the screaming Matt back down toward the Carousel of Progress to meet up with the ladies.

I gave Matthew over to his mom, to whom he began to list all of the ways that I had wronged him in great big sobs. I went over and got a big soda from the nearby stand and tried to calm down. We ate popcorn and rested in the shade until Matt finally calmed down. Once we thought he was good, we sent him along with his sister, GG, Opa and Nonna to do the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Factory while Jenn and I ran over to use our Fastpasses on Space Mountain. This is always a great ride and I loved it this time around, too. Of course, part of that was probably getting a break from Matthew at that moment.

After we were done, we met back up with everybody and decided to head over to ride Dumbo as our last ride before dinner. It was a nice classic way to end our day.

With the ride over, it was time to make our way to Cinderella’s Castle for our four o’clock reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table. When we had first called to make the reservations six months prior, we were a little bummed at how early we had to schedule our dinner in order to find an available reservation. As it worked out, under the hot sun with an overly tired little guy fading fast, 4:00 dinner reservations were absolutely perfect. We got right in as Rachel got to meet the big princess herself for one last birthday dinner.

Rachel was in seventh heaven as all the princess came by and wished her a Happy Birthday. We were all famished and the food did not disappoint.

Within a few minutes of sitting down, Matthew fell right asleep on his mom. It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip. A great meal where our princess got treated like the princess she is – and her brother slept right through it, making it one of the most peaceful meals we had the entire trip.

Once all of the princesses had come by and our dinner was over, we made the long walk down to Main Street for one last shopping extravaganza. Rachel had some more money to spend on a gift card she had gotten for her birthday. We spent a long time going up and down through all of the shops on Main Street while she picked it out. We also got a few more odds and ends. I picked up some candy for my co-workers, some magnets for the fridge and a Mickey-shaped pepper grinder so I could remember the trip every time I made eggs in the morning. Through the whole process, Matt snored in his stroller. It is safe to say we wore him out on this trip. As his mom would say, “Too much fun.”

As we made our final exit from the park, we ran smack dab into the Move It! Shake It! Street Party parade. With rollicking music, loud noises and big floats all around us, I tried to tell Matt that his favorite guy, Baloo, was right in front of us! He didn’t budge. Oh well.

With all of our purchases and the parade receding into the distance, we took one last look at the Magic Kingdom before taking the monorail back to the parking lot and heading back to the house.

We got Matt bathed and snuggled down for the rest he obviously needed before packing up the house and going to sleep ourselves. In the morning, we said our goodbyes to Rachel as she loaded up in the van with Opa and Nonna for the second half of her mid-winter break and a road trip back to Michigan. They had quite the adventure ahead of them still, but it was time for us to take Matt back on the plane home to snowy Detroit.

Now, every trip to Disney World is its own thing and it is difficult to compare them. Our honeymoon was amazing. Our trip with Rachel before Matt was born was amazing. Our first trip with the kids was also amazing. However, there was something very special about this trip as we got to share the whole thing not just with the two of us or with our little family, but with three generations of loved ones. It truly was a magical vacation – one we will never forget.

Thanks for reading!