A trip full of Triple Stay / Annual Pass / VIPassholder Fun - A Late Feb/Early March Trip

[lvcourtneyy]

Joining in!

I love hearing the girls’ thoughts on the day! You have trip reporters in training!

 

[Tinkerbella1111]

Following along! Love your Meeko drawings!! How much fun!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

How fun! That drawing class looks awesome!

it was def a nice addition to the festival for sure. If they can keep adding stuff like that, this will become a must festival for us!

I think they get paid extra to talk up room location, LOL!! When we stayed at Kidani we were only four rooms from the farthest point from the lobby, and the check in guy said, "Oh, it's just right down this hall", and gestured to the right According to my watch it was .4 miles away!!

Ha right?!?! He def was trying a little too hard with the sell. There were people farther away as even though we were technically in a perferred room, I didn't really pay more for it, so I wasn't too upset about it.

Um, so am I!! I've never seen the jumbo ones, only the regular sized ones. I might need the Minnie macaron pillow!!

Right?!? Gwen actually decided to not get the jumbo macaron. (she has the small version)

yum! i want them to have something like this at food and wine!!

I feel like they will, but who knows..

I love your drawings, so cute, I didn’t even know you could do that at the Festival!

Yay to AP’s it’s hard not to have them once you do!

I know! I think Andy is convinced that it is worth doing for one of us going forward after this, just for TIW discount and memory maker.

Steve had those scallops and thought they were good but not as good as his F&G shrimp lol.

I almost forgot about the Shrimp!!!! Hopefully we can try it when we are there. is it the same description as last year?

Joining in!!

YEAH!!! Glad you are here!

Glad you guys got to do the animation class. Meeko is a different character to draw than I normally see!

Meeko was def a little hard! had to have been harder than the orange bird!

I'm here but will need to go back and get caught up!

Glad you are here!

Yay! Now, where did you get it?

Etsy... I got mine from a shop was called BellaDesignsStl . But Andy bought his, himself but I know it was on Etsy, I think DesignandDream17 shop.

Joining in!

I love hearing the girls’ thoughts on the day! You have trip reporters in training!

So glad you are following along!!! They really are!

Following along! Love your Meeko drawings!! How much fun!

Thanks for being here! We really enjoyed it.

 

[evre13]

Your first day looks like so much fun -- but don't leave us in suspense!

Did you ever get a margarita??

 

[Cloe Colton]

I'm here!

I love the girls perspectives! So cute!! Fun to have documented for them to look back on!

We had issues with our magic bands at our first hotel too! We didnt take the magical express so we didn't know until we had walked alllll the way to our room. And we had even stopped by the front desk too! Glad they were able to sort yours out before making the walk!

The drawing class looks so fun! I think yours turned out great! Its really a shame that they dont offer these all year long!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi joining in. I love how you surprised the girls! That's something I've always wanted to do when my kids were little but just never did. I'm such a planner and always wanted to talk about the trip it just never worked out.

I enjoy seeing how the girls grow from trip to trip. You are definitely instilling a love for Disney in them.

 

[jrmint427]

I'm late (as usual) but so excited to see you have a new trip report up!

We went back when the girls were 2 and 5 and thought maybe we will go again in 5 years... Ha! Never did I think back then that we would become Annual Passholders, but that is exactly what happened this trip!

Haha I think this is going to be us... when we went 2 years ago we said we would go a few times as a family, and now we're going on our third year in a row. No regrets, though!

How did the moves go? Did we like it? Was it worth it?

I'm looking forward to hearing how the moves went!

With the news completely revealed, EVERYONE was super excitied to go!

How fun that they were truly surprised! You really fooled them by getting them in the car to go to school!

Also, Morgan and Gwen journaled some of the trip themselves. They did drop off at the end of the trip. But I thought it was be cute to see their perspective on the trip.

That is great that they kept their own journals. I have a few journals from when I was probably around Morgan's age and on vacation and I love having those today. It's nice to hear about the trip from their perspectives too!

He also, spotted the girls with there Perry plush. And said hold on a second. He ran off and came back with 2 gray magic bands. He asked the girls to come over. And he said that everyone in our party needs magic bands. And gave the plush each there own. The girls thought this was great!

How nice! It's really these small touches that can make a big difference for the kids.

After we checked out the living statues and some chalk art on the way back.

Violet

That is beautiful! You're making me want to go during the Festival of Arts some time. I didn't even realize that was a thing!

Our character this time was Meeko! Which Morgan was also super excitied about drawing. I was a little more meh on the character. The animator took you step by step through drawing the character, so, it wasn't "hard" to draw just hard to make it look good!

The whole family's pictures are amazing! They all look exactly like Meeko (who I happen to love). This would be so fun to do some time!

I can't wait to read more!

 

[amazingact21]

As someone who is absolutely terrible at drawing, I think all your Meeko drawings are fantastic!

 

[joules12]

Finally hopping over here from your PTR and all caught up. Looking forward to reading more from your trip!

I've heard and read about the drawing class from the Arts Festival but, seeing photos from it, I'm even more impressed by it -- how fun! And what a wonderful keepsake/WDW art for your home! We had considered attending the AoA class when we stayed there, since our girls are drawing addicts, but thought they might still be a bit young for it. After seeing your pictures, I realize what a prize it is to have these mementos and I'm going to try to fit the class into a future trip (or maybe we'll eventually make it to the Arts Festival).

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Your first day looks like so much fun -- but don't leave us in suspense!

Did you ever get a margarita??

Coming up shortly!!! But I am just realizing that I probably could have gotten Andy to get one at the FOA booth when he got the scallops. Oh well.

I'm here!

YEAH!!!!

We had issues with our magic bands at our first hotel too! We didnt take the magical express so we didn't know until we had walked alllll the way to our room. And we had even stopped by the front desk too! Glad they were able to sort yours out before making the walk!

Ugh, that must have sucked! Thankfully that didn't happen. And I double checked when we checked in at the Poly later. To be safe.

The drawing class looks so fun! I think yours turned out great! Its really a shame that they dont offer these all year long!

It is a shame but when they did have have it in HS, it wasn't very big and the wait was long. So, I can see why they got rid of it..

Hi joining in. I love how you surprised the girls! That's something I've always wanted to do when my kids were little but just never did. I'm such a planner and always wanted to talk about the trip it just never worked out.

It was not easy! I am glad we have a trip that we are talking about openly now. So much easier!

I'm late (as usual) but so excited to see you have a new trip report up!

Thanks for coming over!

That is great that they kept their own journals. I have a few journals from when I was probably around Morgan's age and on vacation and I love having those today. It's nice to hear about the trip from their perspectives too!

I have to remember to bring them to our next trips, so she can add to it.

How nice! It's really these small touches that can make a big difference for the kids.

It really was/is. And for Morgan this trip, I could feel a small difference in how she was treated. Not that they were mean or anything, but they def treated her less like the little kids. Less of the heloo princess and stuff like that. So, this was nice for sure.

That is beautiful! You're making me want to go during the Festival of Arts some time. I didn't even realize that was a thing!

It has def gotten better over time, for sure.

As someone who is absolutely terrible at drawing, I think all your Meeko drawings are fantastic!

Thanks.

Finally hopping over here from your PTR and all caught up. Looking forward to reading more from your trip!

Thanks for coming over and following along.

After seeing your pictures, I realize what a prize it is to have these mementos and I'm going to try to fit the class into a future trip (or maybe we'll eventually make it to the Arts Festival).

They really are a great keepsake!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day One: Travel Day & EPCOT (Part 5)

I left us off heading to the Frozen ride. We made it over in time to use our fast pass.


We have only ridden this one other time, as when I ask which Tier 1 ride they want, they usually say Test Track. So, I was excitied to ride it again.

The fast pass line wasn't bad at all and we were on the ride in 10 minutes.(But standby was 85 minutes) While we were waiting Gwen was asking questions about the ride. We realized that she didn't really remember it from last time.


I think this ride and Pirates may have the worst ride photos. I do like the lady in the middle of the boat. She seems very happy!


I like this ride. It's not a hard must do but it's def fun!


The animitronics are great and I love the little snow monsters at the end. (not pictured)

After the ride, Gwen wanted to head back to the hotel. But Andy and I really wanted to try a few more food booths. And really we needed to get food in us for dinner while we were here. We swayed Morgan with promise of a pretzel but Gwen was just hangry.

We checked out the dump shop. We always get the Swedish Ginger Snap Cookies for both grandmas. As they both like them. And I also let the girls pick out 2 candy bars to try at home later.


While checking those things out, we found our first "official" Figment painting. I took a picture so they girls could add the sticker where needed. (Spoiler Alert, they never bothered)

Gwen needed to use the ladies room, so I took her to do that, while Morgan and Andy went to check out the other store in the area. Which I guess was quick, as instead they had a little photo shoot to show just how big Morgan is getting!


I mean, she looks so OLD in this picture. Who is that kid?!?!

Once re-united, we continued around the world. (against Gwen's desire). But as we made it into Germany, we found Morgan a pretzel!!!!

She was very happy. But Gwen was mad that it didn't come with the traditional plastic cheese.

While I waited in line with the girls to get Mo's pretzel, Andy went over to the kiosk in the area for FoA to get us some food.


This was a braised short rib with a parsnip puree of some sort. (sorry, this is why I don't do a real dinning report, well you can't get it right now anyway... ) But it was REALLY good! Really good! Morgan tried a little bite or two and really liked it as well. She didn't like the glaze that was on it. I want to say it was some sort of balsamic glaze. It was good, don't base it on her. Ha!

We ate these on top of the trash can! I mean it wouldn't be a festival without at least 1 meal eaten on top of a trash can right? Morgan ate some of her pretzel and well.. to be honest... Gwen sat on the curb mopeing... She needed food stat!

We headed onto towards China.


Andy snapped this picture as we went along.

And we stopped at the booth in China. Andy got inline and i found benches not too far for the girls to sit. I made Gwen have a few bites of Morgan's pretzel while we waited.


We got the sushi donut and a sapori beer to share. The sushi was good but not amazing.. It was good though.

We sat momentarly while we ate, but didn't sit long, as Gwen still needed food.

We made it to America, and was going to get Gwen Chicken Nuggets but she said she didn't want them. So, i got her good old popcorn instead. And that started to do the trick. It wasn't great but I think the snack-y-ness made it easier to much on. Full on chicken nuggets she would have insisted that we sit and eat.


We did find another Figment! (and again another spoiler alert... the last one... )

I was hangering for a drink at this point! So, I figured I would get a slushy from France. So we headed that way. And well, the line was long... Morgan wanted a macaroon. And of course the line inside was so long. She said she would "make do" with a gelato one. So, we got in line there. The line wasn't that bad at all.


So, I decided to get the gelato martini instead! Oh man this thing is WAY too filling. And I guess it is nice that they give you 2 scoops but I probably only need 1 scoop! I went with (1) scoop Carmel and (1) scoop Vanilla and then the Whipped Cream Vodka. It was GOOD!!!!! Strong but good!

So, not a margarita but still a good adult beverage!


Morgan decided on a Chocolate Macaroon. She said it was really good. I do wish they had more flavor options that the standard vanilla, chocolate, strawberry.

Also, completely unrelated, but the squinting that Morgan is doing in this picture. I just noticed. Might be time for a new perscription in her glasses! oye!


And Gwen didn't want any at first but decided on Mango Sorbet. And she said it tasted like cold Mangos! And she loved it and between the popcorn and the sugar of the sorbet, her spirits had been lifted.

Andy didn't get anything, he was holding out for Pear Beer in England.

We took our goodies to go and kept walking. We stopped in England for Andy to get his beer. And he got 2! The ciders are good but at like 4% alchol content. So, he figured it evened out to my shot of vodka.

As we walked Morgan asked if she could get a book to journal in. So, we said we would stop and look. We stopped in Disney Traders (the other pavillion at the begining of World Showcase) and got our Annual Pass Magnets! We went to the one desk and she scanned our bands and gave us the magnets and we were on our way in no time.

We slowly made our way over to Mouse Gear, and Morgan quickly found a book to write in. Checked out and head out!

Gwen was def feeling better, as she started doing cartwheels one the way out.

She said she wanted to do them in each park. Umm ok...


We snapped a picture of the FoA sign on our way out.

We headed to the bus stop and waited a bit for a bus. There was one couple already sitting waiting when we got there. And they were talking about what to get for dinner when they got back. All I could think was, you are leaving a park with a TON of food chioices. Why would you get take out? And Chinese? Odd...

But a bus came eventually. So, strange thing, when the bus came into the property, it basically has to pass 3 of the stops to do a uturn and then start dropping people off. It was strange but I assume a result of where they ware building the Riveria. Not sure if it will stay that way or not. But it wasn't too bad. More strange than anything.


When we got off the bus, the girls started the tradition of taking there shoes off as they walk back to the room.

The girls checked out the Tinkerbell Gifts that I left out.


The traditional PJ's for the trip. I got ones for myself and Andy as well this time.


After checking out the gifts, it was straight to bed! We had a long day with traveling and the suprise. And we had lots of fun to be had still!

Up next Day Two: Magic Kingdom!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day One: Travel Day & EPCOT (Part 3, 4, & 5) ----- Morgan's Version

Next we got our magic bands on. Mine was Blue, Gwen's was pink, Daddy's was red and Mommy's was purple. Once we were in the park and ready we walked past a store and found giant stuffed mickey and minnie treats.

Then we went over to a stand that had treats that everyone wanted. We got two paint brush churros. One Milkshake and one lobster bacon mac and cheese. Any way, next we went over to the place where the drawing person was doing his shows? But he was going on a break after that one.

So we had to come back later. Instead we went over to spaceship Earth to use our fast pass. Soon we were on the ride. Me and Gwen were in one car and Mommy and Daddy were in the car behind us. Nothing too different happened on the ride but when the video of our future started my mom gave me her phone so I could video tap ours. Meanwhile, my dad was video taping theres.

After that we went to the drawing guy and drew Meeko the Racoon from the movie Pocahantas.

After that we started the long journey of walking around EPCOT. During that, I got a pretzel and a ice cream macaroon. That is pretty much it for day one.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Looks like a fun day in Epcot! The animatronics on the Frozen ride are really incredible.

And she loved it and between the popcorn and the sugar of the sorbet, her spirits had been lifted.

Isn't it great when you finally get the hungry kids fed and they stop being little grumps?

All I could think was, you are leaving a park with a TON of food chioices. Why would you get take out?

Seriously, who leaves the World Showcase to get take out?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day One: Travel Day & EPCOT (Part 3, 4, & 5) ----- Gwen's Version

We go all the way around and then leave. We watch shows for half an hour, then lights out! Says mom.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm loving the size of the pretzel from Germany. Do they really taste different from the normal Disney pretzels? I need to add this to my list of Disney snacks to try.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Isn't it great when you finally get the hungry kids fed and they stop being little grumps?

It is!!! Do your girls take turns being grumpy or do they do it all at once?!?!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I'm loving the size of the pretzel from Germany. Do they really taste different from the normal Disney pretzels? I need to add this to my list of Disney snacks to try.

To be honest, I don't know.. I didn't try it. Morgan ate ALL of it! If nothing else it is fun because it is so big!!!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

It is!!! Do your girls take turns being grumpy or do they do it all at once?!?!

It can go both ways. Usually, they take turns but, when they grump all at once, that's a rough time.

 

[Araminta18]

I think this ride and Pirates may have the worst ride photos. I do like the lady in the middle of the boat. She seems very happy!

Completely agree. No one has good expressions 'cause it's such a random place for a picture. But yea, that lady looks *very* happy!

Once re-united, we continued around the world. (against Gwen's desire). But as we made it into Germany, we found Morgan a pretzel!!!!

She was very happy. But Gwen was mad that it didn't come with the traditional plastic cheese.

Best pretzel in Disney World! It's bigger than Morgan's head!

So, I decided to get the gelato martini instead! Oh man this thing is WAY too filling. And I guess it is nice that they give you 2 scoops but I probably only need 1 scoop! I went with (1) scoop Carmel and (1) scoop Vanilla and then the Whipped Cream Vodka. It was GOOD!!!!! Strong but good!

I don't even drink but that looks *amazing*. Yum.

The girls checked out the Tinkerbell Gifts that I left out.


The traditional PJ's for the trip. I got ones for myself and Andy as well this time.

I love your tradition of Tinkerbell Gifts! Those pjs are great

We go all the way around and then leave. We watch shows for half an hour, then lights out! Says mom.

Literally laughing out loud while reading this. Gwen is a master of brevity!

 

[cstorm65]

I'm here...although a little late to the party! What a great first day to your trip. I can certainly understand having a "hangry" kid. Our DS6 gets hangry and it hits in a hurry sometimes. But, once we get some food in him it usually leaves quickly too, thank goodness!

Can't wait to read more!