A trip (report) down memory lane...Sept 2016 free dining/WWoHP/beach vacation

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 11- No pain no gain!- Epcot Day 4
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September 6th, 2016

First I have to mention 2 things from the night before. When we came back to our room we noticed mousekeeping had decorated our window a little and laid out some of the kids disney pjs and disney stuff on the beds. It was a cute touch! And 2nd, by the time we came back from Hollywood Studios my feet were COVERED in blisters and bleeding :/ It hurt to even walk and I have a pretty good pain tolerance. I had mostly been wearing my trusty mickey crocs. On our last trip my feet were so sore and one day at Animal Kingdom I caved and bought the ugly things, but they saved my feet that trip! This trip I guess was no luck. I tried all the other shoes I had brought and none of them were comfortable. So it was off to walmart to try to find new shoes. I ended up getting something similar to the sketchers with the memory foam. Anyways, so we woke up for Epcot day and got ready. My new shoes didn't feel great and it still was super painful to walk but there was no way I was missing out on anything so I decided to take some ibuprofen and ignore it the best I could.

Outside our room!

silly faces waiting for the elevator

and then waiting for the bus...super hot day again!

We got off the bus and thru the gates a little bit after park opening. First order of business was a few pictures by Spaceship Earth.

We had fastpasses for Mission Space first, but Soarin' actually had a short line so we rushed over there. This was our first time since they changed it up and I love the new version! I got a little teary eyed at the end haha. Such an amazing ride! After Soarin' we decided to grab some food since we still had some time. We went to Sunshine Seasons for a quick meal. I cant remember what all we had, I think Tommy got some kind of stir fry and I got some kind of meat and veggies type meal. But it filled us up! It was time for our fastpass so we headed over to Mission Space. Last time I was scared to ride the orange version so I was determined to do it this time. And it actually wasn't as bad as I expected! Gabriel came with me, Tommy and Chloe did the green version. After that it was time for our fastpass at the Character Spot so we headed that way. Good thing we had a fastpass cause the line was long!

Since the Baymax meet and greet was right across from there we went to do that. The line for Joy and Sadness was way too long so we came back to them later.

On the way to World Showcase we stopped at Club Cool to try out the different sodas. I already knew about the Beverly and even though we tried it on the last trip I guess the kids forgot. I got some pretty funny video of their reactions! Neither was a fan lol.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210298077713799

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210298085233987

Gotta love the Beverly! haha

After stopping to get our Agent P's World Showcase Adventure all set up we head to our first mission in Mexico. We stopped to meet Pluto on the way.

At this point my feet were in agony, it was insanely humid and hot, and I was just miserable. Gabriel wanted to run all over the place to do the Agent P's missions and I just was not feeling it. Then every character meet I wanted to do had a crazy long line and they would end up taking them back inside for a break well before we got to the front. So I was hurting and frustrated and had a bit of a meltdown moment :/ Happens to the best of us I guess. We sat down for awhile, got a drink, I bandaged my feet up (which were bleeding again ugh) and took some more ibuprofen, and then resolved to not let it ruin the day. Even tho my feet were killing me, I was at Disney World and I was gonna enjoy it! We did a few of the missions in Mexico and then we went to our next fastpass at Frozen Ever After. It was a cute ride but I don't know that it lived up to all the hype. After the ride we spent some time in the gift shop coloring the Duffy Bear fan and talking to the CM's.

Then we went to meet Anna and Elsa, which Chloe was super excited about! She was a bit starstruck! I liked how the line was set up to go thru their house, it made it entertaining to be in line at least.

She was definitely fangirling hahaha

Elsa loved both our outfits, braids, and ears! Chloe was so happy

To be continued...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 12- Soarin' and sippin' -Epcot Day 4
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Side note- My best friend's brother texted me today to ask for me advice about some Disney ticket packages he can get at work. I told him my opinion and then said if he needed any other help let me know, cause I love planning Disney trips. He was like well I have hotel and tickets, what else do I need? LOL...I was like uhhhh fast passes, dining reservations, crowd calenders, touring plans..You can't go to Disney with no plan! So then he was like okay help then. I sent him a ton of info and probably scared him, poor guy. He's like wow I didn't realize it was so involved. Im more of a let's go tomorrow and wing it kinda guy. It just kills me when people don't have a Disney plan, I want to help them so bad lol but I guess everyone does it their own way. Anways!

So after we finished up with Anna & Elsa we decided to split up for a little bit. Gabriel wanted to go back to Mexico to do some more Agent P's mission stuff and Tommy wanted to go to Germany to get a beer. Chloe decided to go with him. We met back up in Germany and just explored for awhile.

One of my fave pics from the trip

Next we stopped at China to take a few pics.

After China we continued around the world stopping at different places. We spent a lot of time in Japan because it was Gabriel's favorite.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210299980241361

The kawaii stuff was so cute!

I would totally rock this outfit

Next up was Aladdin and Jasmine meet. I had the time written on my itinerary and we were a little earlier but decided to take a break from walking and just wait there. It was a little confusing though, they didn't have any signs up really about where to line up for the meet and there was no one else in line yet. I asked a CM in the store and they ended up telling me the wrong place, so I sat there forever before I saw people lining up inside the store. We ended up in the back of line lol. At least my feet got some rest.

Jasmine asked Chloe if we could come work with Abu and make Mickey Ears and skirts for everyone who visits lol

After that we made our way to the rest of the countries and then headed back towards Garden Grill for dinner. The food there was really good! I liked the family style set up. And the restaurant rotating was cool too. The characters all came by several times and spent a lot of time with everyone. Chip & Dale were really funny.

Had to cut this post in half cause I had too many pics! Continued in next post...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 13- More soarin' and more sippin' -Epcot Day 4​

After our meal we had to go ride Living with the Land and also Soarin' one more time.

A hidden mickey

Then we went over to the Seas Pavilion to see the aquarium and do the nemo ride.

Next we split up again because Gabriel wanted to go back over to Japan and my feet couldn't take it. Tommy took him cause he wanted to drink some more beers too. Me and Chloe went to meet Joy & Sadness. The line was still long but I didn't want to walk anymore so we waited.

Tommy and Gabriel came back by then and we went to ride Spaceship Earth. That was a really cool, interesting ride. We skipped it last time so I am glad we did it now.

Next we went over to Test Track. It had been down off and on all day and the line stayed long, but if we didn't go ahead and get in line we wouldn't get to ride it at all. This was the longest we waited in any line the whole trip, I think it was about 40 minutes. It was really cool tho! Tommy, being a car enthusiast, liked it of course.

I think we did thumbs down cause Tommy didn't like this car lol I don't remember now

We didn't have much time left and we had missed Illuminations, which was fine because it's our least favorite of the night shows. We went back on Mission Space and then back to Soarin' which at that point was a walk on so we rode it a bunch of times.

We stopped for a few more pictures and then headed for the bus. We were all wore out from another awesome day at Disney! We shared a quick meal at the resort and then it was time for showers and bed.

To be continued....

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 14- The only reason I would ever wake up at 530am on vacation is...- Magic Kingdom Day 5
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September 7th, 2016

We are not morning people, early bird gets the worm, rise and shine type of people. Especially on vacation. We prefer to sleep late and stay late. I have to set about 10 alarms to get myself up for work every morning and even then I sleep until the last possible second. There is only one thing that could drag me out of bed willingly at 530am on a vacation day, or any day, and that is a pre-park opening reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table! The kids had no idea we were going to eat in the castle, it was the last little surprise I managed to keep secret the whole time! Eating in the castle has been a dream of mine since I was old enough to know it was something you could actually do. When we got back to the hotel the night before I was so excited of course I couldn't sleep. I think I managed to fall asleep a little after midnight. But for once, the moment my first alarm went off I was jumping out of bed to get ready with a smile on my face. My blisters on my feet had finally calloused over at some point late last night or maybe they had finally went numb LOL, but at least they weren't as painful as the day before. And I figured out the perfect combination for footwear. I took the memory foam inserts out of my new shoes and put them in my crocs. The kids weren't quite as thrilled to be getting up so early but we all managed to make it down to the buses in time. We got to the gates and had to wait about 30 minutes to be let in to the parks. And I will go ahead and admit now, all you people who swear by being there at rope drop to get the most out of your time and lower wait times, you are right! It was so worth it! We got to fit more in to that day than we ever have before and we had such a more relaxed day because of it. It actually turned out to be the best day at Disney I have ever had on any trip. It was absolute perfection. I think next trip I might try to be there at rope drop most days even! I am officially converted

Waiting at the gate

We finally go to enter the park and I wanted to get some empty-ish Main Street pics. It wasn't quite as empty as I had hoped but it was the best we'd probably ever see. Unfortunately they had the crane behind the castle too! We spent about 30 minutes taking pictures and then headed over to line up for CRT breakfast. Chloe was ecstatic when she found out that's what we were doing! Gabriel, being a teenage boy who isn't as into princesses and castles LOL, wasn't quite as excited but he still thought it was really cool we got to go inside the castle.

While we waited in line for our meal, we got to really notice all the details on the castle that we never noticed before since there are usually a ton of people walking thru. It is so detailed and beautiful!

This woman even had her dog dressed up! So cute!

Finally it was the moment I had been waiting for...time to go inside the castle!!

First we got to stop and take pictures with Cinderella herself. She complimented Chloe on her outfit and her ears

Then we were seated at our table. Everything inside the castle is just beautiful. I was in awe the entire meal. I cried a few times. Maybe that is kind of silly, but this moment just meant SO much to me! As a little girl this is something I dreamed about and once I grew up and went thru some things, I just never thought I'd make it to the point in life where I could make anything like this happen. As a little back story, I had my son at a very young age. Then shortly after my mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed away when I was still pretty young. We went thru some years of extreme financial and emotional struggle, and some years where I didn't have much hope that life would ever get better or I would ever be able to afford the kind of life I wanted my children to have. Thankfully, I kept working hard and refused to give up. With the support of my husband, who worked hard to do everything he could for us while I went back to school, we made it thru those bad times and came out better than I would have ever dreamed of back then. If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would own a beautiful home, have a career I love, live a comfortable and secure life, be able to take my children to Disney World or cruises, etc I would have never believed it. So when we are able to do things like this it just really floors me that this is actually my life and it gives me so much pride that I made it happen despite all the hardships I once faced. And I am just so, so grateful to be able to give my kids these experiences and memories. And hopefully to have taught them that with hard work and dedication, you can make dreams come true! This was just one of those moments that it overwhelmed me thinking about it all. This was one of many moments like that on our trip. Okay sappy part over...Sorry! Back to the trip report. The princesses were great. They came by the table twice I think and spent time talking to everyone and taking pictures. Gabriel got a sword and Chloe got a wishing star and a wand. I had the Beef Tenderloin and Egg, Tommy had the Caramel Apple Stuffed French Toast, Gabriel had the Traditional Breakfast, and Chloe had the Royal Children's Breakfast. I think my meal was the best They also brought us a basket of pastries as an appetizer. The food was all good, a little smaller portion sizes than some other meals we had, but IMO you come here for the experience not for the food. The meal didn't feel rushed like I had read in some other reviews. We probably spent about an hour here.

After our meal we had our first fastpass coming up for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and we wanted to try to catch a few rides before the lines got crazy!

To be continued...

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[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 15- I want adventure in the great wide somewhere- Magic Kingdom Day 5
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As soon as we left the castle we made a beeline for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, it wasn't time for our fastpass yet but we were hoping to catch one extra ride before the lines got crazy. The park had only been open officially for like 10 minutes but the line was already over an hour long! Since we had a fastpass soon anyway, we decided to do something else. We rode Peter Pan's flight without much wait and then Winnie the Pooh ride also without much wait. The line for Winne the Pooh is cute, I like how there is some entertainment for the kids while they wait. Gabriel even played a little!

After that we went over to meet Rapunzel and Princess Tiana. Rapunzel is another one of mine and Chloe's favorites, so we were really excited to meet her. Chloe has her room decorated in Rapunzel theme and also had a Rapunzel birthday a few years ago The wait wasn't too bad yet, I think about 10-15 minutes. I liked all the decor while waiting in line.

Rapunzel told Chloe her hair was almost as long as hers, Chloe loved hearing that because she always says she has long hair just like Rapunzel

She gets so starstruck when she meets the princesses, I love it <3

Next we rode the carousel before heading back to Seven Dwarfs for our fastpass time. Loved that you got a video on photopass from the ride! It was definitely more on the tame side for a roller coaster but we enjoyed it. Hopefully by the time we go back it won't be as new and the line will be a little more manageable because I would have loved to ride it again!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210401938030242

Next up we went to Enchanted Tales with Belle. This turned out to be such a magical moment! First off, Belle is my favorite princess (tied with Ariel) and I loved the theme of everything while we waited. I loved the part with the magic mirror. When they picked people to participate, I ended up getting picked for the wardrobe and Chloe got picked to be the Beast! I didn't know at the time that meant she got to dance with Belle at the end of the story. So when that happened I was so surprised and excited, and of course I cried again haha. Chloe LOVED every second of it, I am sure it was her favorite thing of our whole trip. It was definitely one of my top memories. Even Tommy got a little emotional and thought it was super sweet I think it was one of those moments that really sold him on the whole Disney thing.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210445819647255

Chloe's little "RAWR" was so cute hahaha

The cast member that helped Chloe was so sweet He did a great job with the kids

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210306828172555

My heart was melting and tears were definitely falling I love this place <3

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210445796366673

Tommys video was a little longer than mine, but blurry for some reason when I uploaded it

My heart <3 this pic still gets me awww

We also got nice little bookmarks from Belle. Avid reader + huge Belle fan= super happy girl!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210445796686681

Tommy was dying laughing at me being the only "grown up kid" up there with all the little girls and I had the stupidest happy grin on my face hahaha. Kid at heart forever <3

The day had barely begun and already it was amazing! Also just realized its gonna take me about 10 posts to get thru this one day haha. Too many pics Sorry!

To be continued....

 

[2Gma]

Finally caught up on your trip report. Your Disney approach seems so relaxed and fun! Love all the great photos and especially all the cool Disney family coordinated outfits. Glad you were able to snag a meal at CRT, you're absolutely right about it feeling so special the 1st time inside the castle. I remember getting tears in my eyes the 1st time walking into MK with my kids and seeing Mary Poppins. It was just so real to them! Anyways, I really liked what you said about being at Disney made you realize how hard life was and how far you've come that it made this vacation sweeter knowing how hard you worked to make this life happen. I could say the same about mine, everything that I have in my life is a million times better than I could have hoped for during those rough years!

ETA: your poor feet, glad you were a trooper and kept on going in true Disney spirit!

 

[JanJan324]

Love reading about your trip! So much fun seeing how people who went at the same time as us had such different experiences. Looks like you guys had a great time. Btw - definitely do the Halloween party if you go at Halloween time again. I had a heck of a time getting Syd to stop to take pictures, so I'm kinda envious of all the good ones you got.

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Finally caught up on your trip report. Your Disney approach seems so relaxed and fun! Love all the great photos and especially all the cool Disney family coordinated outfits. Glad you were able to snag a meal at CRT, you're absolutely right about it feeling so special the 1st time inside the castle. I remember getting tears in my eyes the 1st time walking into MK with my kids and seeing Mary Poppins. It was just so real to them! Anyways, I really liked what you said about being at Disney made you realize how hard life was and how far you've come that it made this vacation sweeter knowing how hard you worked to make this life happen. I could say the same about mine, everything that I have in my life is a million times better than I could have hoped for during those rough years!

ETA: your poor feet, glad you were a trooper and kept on going in true Disney spirit!

Thank you!! I had a lot of fun making the outfits
It is such a special place, isnt it? Definitely one of those things that makes you realize how lucky you are to be there! I wish everyone could have that experience at least once. And the bad times for sure make you appreciate the good ones even more. CRT was the icing on the cake that day for me. I was really lucky to get the reservation time I got, it worked out so perfectly!
My feet were ridiculous! I'm not even one to complain in general, but it really was SO bad. And it was so weird because no one else in my family had any issues with their feet, just me. Next time I am going to have to figure out a better pair of shoes in advance. I almost brought my work shoes (they are Alegria brand nursing shoes), maybe Ill try those when we go back. They are great at work.

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Love reading about your trip! So much fun seeing how people who went at the same time as us had such different experiences. Looks like you guys had a great time. Btw - definitely do the Halloween party if you go at Halloween time again. I had a heck of a time getting Syd to stop to take pictures, so I'm kinda envious of all the good ones you got.

Thanks! Did you guys not have a good experience on your trip? It was our first time going in September, last trip was June. I thought the crowds were a lot lower but the heat was worse! I am planning on doing the Halloween party for sure next time I have a chance! It looks and sounds like a great time. I'm surprised Gabriel cooperated with pictures, he normally hates having his picture taken lol. He even managed to smile in most of them

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 16- On top of Splash Mountain!- Magic Kingdom Day 5
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After our great experience with Belle, we stopped in Pinocchio Village Haus for a quick break, I thought the decor was really cute and I took a few pics Then we did PhilarMagic, love that show! We ended up doing every attraction in the park that day except for It's a Small World and Thunder Mountain since they were both closed, so I might be leaving out some in the order we did them here.

At this point Chloe had announced that she wanted to give Splash Mountain another try! I think her good experience with Tower of Terror had given her a little confidence. Even though the line was kinda long we decided we might as well go for it. I occupied myself by taking pics of all the cute decor thru the line. Chloe decided she liked it much better this time!

View from Splash Mountain

This time I managed to get a good pic of the castle and Space Mountain right as we dropped. This is the view I was talking about when we rode it at night during fireworks, its so cool seeing them as you go over the drop.

After the ride we had to backtrack to Fantasyland because it was almost time for our lunch reservations at Be Our Guest! We had time to stop and ride Tomorrowland Speedway, fastpass Space Mountain, and then ride Dumbo. We watched a band play outside the Dumbo area for a minute too.

I was still a little nervous

We actually saw our friends from Tower of Terror while on this ride too, cool to meet up with them again.

We had lunch next, continued in next post cause too many pictures!

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 17- Try the Grey Stuff, it's delicious!- Magic Kindgom Day 5​

So with a few rides done, we were ready to eat! This was another meal I was so excited for. Already have established my love for Beauty & the Beast, so I am sure you can see why. I think its so awesome you can use a quick service credit here for lunch and still get the atmosphere and experience of a table service meal almost. It was a great value for the dining plan. The food was delicious (the grey stuff was just okay tho lol) and the theme-ing is so cool and well done. Tommy didn't want to preorder so we got in line to place our order, the CM was super helpful. Gabriel is somewhat of a picky eater and not much on the adult menu appealed to him, so he was just going to order the kids grilled cheese. The CM offered to give him an "Adult" size grilled cheese meal so he would get more food and could still get a dessert with the dining plan (kids meals dont get the extra dessert). So thats what he did, and he picked the Triple Chocolate cupcake for dessert. Tommy ordered the Carved Turkey Sandwich with the Master's Cupcake for dessert (the one with the grey stuff). I ordered the Braised Pork and subbed my dessert for a French Onion Soup. Chloe got the Mickey Meatloaf kids meal. Everyone loved their meals, I think the braised pork was one of the best meals I had on the trip. It tasted homemade like it had been roasting in a crock pot all day. And the soup was really good too. Chloe said the meatloaf was excellent also, she ate every bite. I love the serving carts, so fancy. And the paintings and wall hangings are gorgeous. We got a seat right in front of the music box, it was a good spot. After we ate we spent some time walking around all the different rooms to check it out and took a few pics. Now that we had full bellies and had got out of the heat for awhile, we were ready for more fun!

I would love to have this on my wall at home

Look how delicious that looks! I want to eat it again right now.

To be continued...

 

[JanJan324]

Thanks! Did you guys not have a good experience on your trip? It was our first time going in September, last trip was June. I thought the crowds were a lot lower but the heat was worse! I am planning on doing the Halloween party for sure next time I have a chance! It looks and sounds like a great time. I'm surprised Gabriel cooperated with pictures, he normally hates having his picture taken lol. He even managed to smile in most of them

We loved our trip! There was just so many things you guys did that we didn't do. Though we did things you didn't. I think the only disappointment would be that the hot tub at Coronado Springs was not hot at all, more like warm. This was our first "real" trip to WDW(I don't really count the ONE day at MK we had the year before). We live in WA, so are normally DL visitors. The heat didn't bother me at all, maybe I just was expecting worse? We technically live in a desert so we are used to the heat, just not the humidity. I think being there when Hurricane Hermine brushed the coast made the temps a bit more tolerable - and the Tornado Warnings were definitely an experience too! Every time I suggested we stop for a picture she complained. Every. Time. So I finally told her I paid for part of the memory maker so she was going to take pictures regardless.

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

We loved our trip! There was just so many things you guys did that we didn't do. Though we did things you didn't. I think the only disappointment would be that the hot tub at Coronado Springs was not hot at all, more like warm. This was our first "real" trip to WDW(I don't really count the ONE day at MK we had the year before). We live in WA, so are normally DL visitors. The heat didn't bother me at all, maybe I just was expecting worse? We technically live in a desert so we are used to the heat, just not the humidity. I think being there when Hurricane Hermine brushed the coast made the temps a bit more tolerable - and the Tornado Warnings were definitely an experience too! Every time I suggested we stop for a picture she complained. Every. Time. So I finally told her I paid for part of the memory maker so she was going to take pictures regardless.

Oh okay! Yea I think we could go for 2 weeks and still probably miss some things! There is so much to do there. I was surprised the heat got to me like it did, we live in NC and it gets pretty hot and humid here, and I love hot weather. Maybe I wasn't expecting it to be much different than here and it was so thats what got me lol. We almost stayed at Coronado! I could have upgraded to that for like $200 I think. But decided against it cause I felt like if we didn't start out at a value we'd get spoiled and not ever want to try one in the future haha. ASM wasn't bad tho. We were barely in the room or at the resort at all anyways. Next time I wanna try Coronado or Port Orleans.

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 18- Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts- Magic Kindgom Day 5
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After our meal we stepped outside and saw a line to meet the Fairy Godmother. We decided to do that since the line wasn't too bad. She was one of the most personable and fun characters we talked to, she definitely played her part perfectly! I want her job someday lol. I told her that, and she said come back in 30 years and it was mine haha. She loved my bag to have the characters sign also. She wrote "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Love, Fairy Godmother".

She gave great hugs too

Next we rode Barnstormer and then we stopped at the little Splash area near Dumbo ride to cool off. Chloe's skirt was starting to get itchy so she changed into some shorts and we all got soaked. Then we decided to head back over to the front of the park to check out Adventureland again and eventually use our fastpass for Jungle Cruise. We took the train back to the front since we had never done that before. It was better than walking too! Once we got back over to Adventureland we did the flying carpet ride again, then Enchanted Tiki Room. Next was our fastpass for Jungle Cruise. Right after that I grabbed a fastpass for Pirates of the Carribean and we went over there. Another ride I really love. Something was going on with the ride though and we kinda got stuck at the end, but that was okay because we were enjoying the dark and cool area and relaxing. Once we got off we saw that they had started Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial so we stopped for that. Chloe got to go on stage and got a membership scroll for joining the crew.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210445796006664

We grabbed some Dole Whips (yummm) and made our way back over to the castle and Liberty Square area. Chloe saw where they were selling handpainted parasols and decided that is what she wanted for her souvenir so we ordered one and had to come back to pick it up a little later. We walked around for a little bit just enjoying the day and checking out different things along the way. On the way we fed the ducks at the castle again. The line for Haunted Mansion wasn't bad so we decided to do that next.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210445795366648

After that we wandered some more and ended up back on Main Street area where we stopped for more pictures. We hadn't met Tinkerbell yet so we decided to do that, I think I might have grabbed a fastpass for it? Can't remember. But the line wasn't too long if we didn't have one. Tinkerbell is so fun, she talked super fast!

We circled back around to the castle again for a few more pictures on Main Street. Then a few quick rides in Tomorrowland, and we were ready to find a good spot to watch Celebrate the Magic/Wishes! Every time we have been to Magic Kingdom, we have never really made watching the nighttime show a priority. We have always used the time for rides or just stopped and watched for a minute wherever we may be at the time. So this trip I wanted to make it a point to sit down in a good location and watch it all. I am glad I did because shortly after our trip the announced that Wishes would be changed to something else!

Finally wrapping up this epic day at Magic Kingdom in the next post! To be continued...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 19- Oh, a world of wishes, a world where dreams come true- Magic Kindgom Day 5
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I've been sick the past few days so haven't been able to update! Feeling a little better today finally. So left out at Magic Kingdom on our last Disney parks day. Like I said, we wanted to scope out a great spot to watch Wishes and get there early so we could relax. Even though we fit a lot into the day it felt very relaxed the whole day and was by far the best day at Disney we had on any trip! We decided to pick a spot on one of the grassy areas in front of the castle. After we found our spot we took turns taking the kids to do different things while we waited. First I took Chloe to pick up her custom parasol. She loved it! They do a cute job on those and the price wasn't awful, I think it was $20.

Tommy liked the parasol too haha

Chloe decided to practice her cartwheels while we waited...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210445782526327

Me and Gabriel went to the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and got some ice cream cones and sundaes for everyone! They were huge and yummy! Tommy took Chloe to do a quick ride or 2. Then it was finally time for the show to start. A family with a little girl about Chloe's age sat beside us. Chloe gave her some glow sticks and they were instant best friends, it was so cute Sitting down to watch Wishes was so worth it. If yall think I was crazy for crying at CRT, you would have really thought me crazy watching Wishes lol. I might have bawled my eyes out the whole show It was just the absolute perfect ending to a perfect day.

Wreck it Ralph projection, so cool!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210312573476184

Part of Celebrate the Magic

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210312608517060

Gabriel's fave part

Tinkerbell coming from the castle. I would pay so much money to be allowed to do this just one time haha. And she gets paid for this! What a job! Could have sworn I had a video too but can't find it now hmmmm

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210312693439183

One of my fave pics from the whole trip. Its sooooo pretty!!

Another good one!

And another fave

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210312728480059

And your wish will come true!

Chloe and her new best friend! Wouldn't it be cool if adults could be like that haha.

After the show we walked out way SLOWLY out cause I didn't want to go! Stopped in a gift shop and bought a few things, and then it was back to the bus for the final time

Hopefully so!

After we got back to the hotel I was way too hyped to go to bed so I got some pictures of some of our goodies and redid our window decor...tomorrow was our split day, with me and Gabriel going to Universal Studios and Tommy and Chloe hanging out at Disney, so I knew I had to get some sleep! Eventually I was able to fall asleep around 1230 I think.

Chloe's Capt Jack Sparrow Pirate certificate and our bookmarks from Enchanted Tales with Belle

To be continued...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 20- I solemnly swear that I am up to no good- WWoHP Day 6
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September 8th, 2016

We woke up pretty early because the plan was to grab breakfast together and then Tommy was dropping me and Gabriel off at Univeral. This day was a huge dilemma when I was planning our trip. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. And when I say fan, what I really mean is maybe slightly unhealthily obsessed lol. I have read the books/seen the movies a million times, I was one of those people at every midnight book party in costume, I have a Harry Potter theme bathroom, other HP decor around the house and my work desk, and last but not least a tattoo covering about half my back based on Harry Potter lol. So needless to say, there was no way I could go to Orlando and not go to WWoHP.

Thats my back tattoo in progeess, eventually want to get my entire back done

Last trip we went for 1 day but that was before they finished Diagon Alley and had the Hogwarts Express running. The only thing I hate, even though I understand why it is necessary, is that you have to have a park to park ticket to ride the train. And what would the point be in going if I couldn't ride the train? Unfortunately for all 4 of us to go for 1 day with park to park tickets would be like $600 and that would have killed our budget. After talking it over a lot, we decided to split up for the day. Chloe can't ride a lot of the bigger rides at Universal yet and Tommy didn't really care one way or another if he went. So he agreed they would stay at Disney and go to the water park or just hang out at the resort, while me and Gabriel went on our own. It turned out kind of nice because Gabriel didn't have to wait for Chloe to do her princess/kid stuff and Chloe didn't have to wait while we ride swapped for the bigger rides. They both got their own day to do their own thing. But I was a little sad we didn't all get to go together :/ Definitely next time! Anyways, so we got up early and went to get breakfast at the resort. Then we drove to Universal and got there right around park open. I almost forgot our tickets in the car which would have really sucked lol luckily I was able to call Tommy before he got too far down the road and he got them back to us.

Better pic of the window decor

Gabriel was not thrilled to be up early haha

Chloe just wore her jammies to breakfast

Obligatory mickey waffles pic

So once we got inside the park we had to figure out what to do next. I'm not as familiar with Universal since we only went for the 1 day before and it was basically all spent at the WWoHP section of IoA. We came in Universal side this time and got kind of lost right off the bat. We were trying to rush back to Diagon Alley before it got crowded. We ended up stopping to ride Revenge of the Mummy which was super awesome, way more intense than I expected! Then we finally figured out how to get to Kings Cross. Stupidly I went in Kings Cross and asked where Diagon Alley was and the CM (is that what Universal calls them too?) acted like he had no clue what I was talking about, but said he saw some "weird looking people" walking over that way lol. So they definitely stay in character. We stopped to take a few pics before we figured out where the weird people were all going

I could not get the phone trick to work! I tried for like 10 minutes and it was too hot in that little box so I gave up lol.

Knight bus!

First peek at Diagon Alley

Lots of selfies and phone pics today because we didn't get their photo package

Everything is so freakin cool. Everything! They did an amazing job

U-no-poo haha

Puking Pastilles

After we browsed around for a minute I decided I had to have a wand. The overpriced $50 interactive wand I swore I wasn't going to spend the money on lol. Ah well. It kinda made the experience so it was worth it I guess!

I got Hermione's wand of course!

Then Gabriel wanted to try it out. Some of the little magic spots were kind of tricky but we ended up getting most of them! This one made the toliet flush

Seriously perfect!

Knockturn Alley

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210325438917812

This one was a harder one, he had to try a few times. Makes rain come from the umbrella!

Of course we got in line for Escape from Gringott's next. This ride was INSANELY COOL! The inside was beautiful. I loved every single thing about it. Everyone started clapping at the end of the ride. Unfortunately Gabriel lost his cooling towel on the ride so we had to share mine the rest of the day and it was HOT lol. The only thing I really dislike about Universal is the locker situation for every single ride. They are so overcrowded and such a tiny space (and we weren't even there on a super busy day at all!) and chaotic inside the locker area. And I wish they had fastpass like Disney. They do have some kind of skip the line thing but it cost a lot extra and doesn't work on all the rides. We had planned to eat before leaving that area but neither of us were hungry yet. So we decided to go ahead and get on Hogwart's Express because I had been dying to do it forever! It was worth it! Another thing they did such an amazing job on. It's just like you are actually in the movie. Blew me away! And the disappearing thru platform 9 3/4 thing, sooooooo super cool. Gabriel got a video for me!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210325432397649

To be continued...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 20- Mischief Managed- WWoHP Day 6
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We got off the train at Hogsmeade and went to do some exploring. Since we had been to this side before I figured we would just do the rides and not wander around so much, that way we could try to catch some stuff in the other areas of the park too which Gabriel really wanted to do.

This was on the train

Seriously blows me away! It looks so real!

Stopped to get a pic with the train conductor guy. He said I had a funny accent lol which was funny to me because even though I am from the south, I really don't have much of an accent according to people around where I live! But my husband picks on me when I talk to my family from PA cause he says I adapt their accent all the sudden lol.

First we rode the Dragon Challenge on both sides of the track. This ride I kinda did a bad thing. They have signs up at the lockers saying no cameras, no phones, everything has to go in locker. I KNOW last trip I brought my phone because I took pics of all the cool stuff you see while you are walking up to the ride. So I thought I'd be a rebel and sneak my phone with me (bad I know). Well to my surprise they now have metal detectors towards the end of the line and of course it went off, and I had to do the walk of shame all the way back to the lockers to put my phone up lol. Lesson learned! The ride was still fun though. I think we actually rode each side twice cause there was no line! We came back out and walked around a bit. We did the wand show but neither of us got picked.

And we stopped to do more magic. I got complimented on my swish and flick technique And Gabriel discovered sometimes if you just shake the wand around randomly it will do what it is suppose to do lol

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210325429197569

We stopped to watch some of the Beauxbatons/Durmstrang show going on near Hogwarts, it was cute. And I got a picture with them!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210325421117367

Then it was time to head over to the castle for Forbidden Journey! Of course I LOVE this ride, but now it might be tied with Gringotts for fave ride in the park

After the ride, we were kind of getting hungry but Gabriel didn't want to eat anywhere around here. I wanted a butterbeer but we decided to wait on that too. We headed out to explore the rest of Islands of Adventure!

To be continued...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 22-After all this time? Always- WWoHP Day 6
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First area we came in to was the Lost Continent. Here we did the Eight Voyage of Sinbad show, it was pretty cool and we got to cool off too. A lot of walking though, its more of a walking tour/stunt show than a sit down and watch show. We liked it!

We intended to go a little longer before we ate so we could find something really good, but once we got to Seuss Landing we were both starving so we just ate there. The food wasn't anything spectacular, but it did the job. I think Gabriel got pizza and I got fries with something else and we just shared. The theme of the restaurant was cute. We didn't do any rides in this area cause we didn't want to do the kiddie stuff, we were all about coasters and big rides! Right after we ate we went to Marvel Super Hero Island. First we did Incredible Hulk roller coaster. I was super excited about this. On our last trip, it was the last ride of the day. Gabriel and Tommy went first, we had to ride swap cause Chloe was way too little so I was going to go with Gabriel next. Well right as it was my turn to go, they had to close the ride due to rain, and the park was closing in like 5 minutes so I didn't get to ride it! Unfortunately I did not end up enjoying it. I have rode tons and tons of roller coasters at all different theme parks and never had any issues. Idk if it was the super quick take off, or maybe just a combination of things that day, but for some reason as soon as we took off I got an immediate stabbing headache. It hurt so quickly and so severe I was a little scared that something was seriously wrong with me cause I had never experienced that before, so I spent the rest of the ride just hoping I wasn't about to stroke out or die (okay a little dramatic lol but I was really concerned!). Once we got off I still felt really funny and had a serious headache. I didn't say anything to Gabriel cause I didn't want him to worry, but when I went to get some ibuprofen from my bag he asked for some too and ended up telling me he experienced the same thing! He said that didn't happen last time he rode it either. Really weird. We both took some meds and decided to stick to some calmer rides for a bit til we felt better. Fearfall was closed anyway (big drop ride, we did it last time) so we did the Spiderman ride, and then walked over to Toon Lagoon. We wanted to do Ripsaw Falls but the line was really long so we decided to come back to it, I don't think we ever ended up doing it though.

We made our way to Jurassic Park area, which as a 90s kid I loved that movie! We tried to do the Pteranodon Flyers til we realized we were above the height limit lol. Darn! Looked really fun though. We ended up doing River Adventure instead. Its a cool ride, we had rode last time too but I forgot most of it except the drop at the end!

Finally we were back at WWoHP. We walked thru again, took a few more pics, watched another little show, and then rode Forbidden Journey again. Then it was time to hop on the train to head back over to Universal Studios.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210325420077341

The train going back was just as awesome as the first ride! Once we got off we decided to do Gringott's again, grab a butterbeer and wander for a bit.

We sat and waited for the dragon to breathe fire so I could get a video! It took way longer than I expected lol of course when I wasn't waiting to get a video it seemed like it went off every 5 minutes

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210325408357048

We saw Kreacher up in the window!

Sadly, I left my true home behind and went to finish up the park with Gabriel lol. I think the first ride we did was Men in Black, it was kind of like a competition shooting stuff game ride and it was really fun! Also another 90s kid movie I loved Next up was Simpsons ride/area. I loved the Simpsons stuff, it was so funny. Unfortunately the ride malfunctioned while we were on it. Its one of the simulator type rides and all the sudden it quit moving and felt like we were just watching a movie, then the movie cut off and we were just staring at a white screen lol. They offered to let us re-ride but it happened at the very end and we were running out of time to fit in everything so we passed.

Thats for sure!

Next up we did E.T. Adventure. So much love! Gabriel wasn't as excited as me lol I thought it was super cute. Ever since we first came in Gabriel was begging me to ride Rip Ride Rockit. I kept putting it off cause honestly it looks terrifying lol. I didn't love the straight up 90 degree ascent part. But I couldn't chicken out and we were both feeling better from the Hulk earlier so we decided to get it over with (I mean we were super excited to do it! haha). So, the straight up part wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be, wasn't my fave way to go up but I could deal. However, we both got the super bad, immediate stabbing head pain/weird feeling again! Maybe something was just wrong with us this day idk. We drank plenty of water the whole trip and like I said have done tons of coasters all over the place. Oh well. I'd probably give it another shot if we go back.

After that we just finished up all the little shows and rides at the front of the park area that we hadn't done yet...Shrek 4-D (really funny!), Despicable Me (also really funny and I felt guilty Chloe missed it, she would have liked that). By then it was pretty much time to go. Tommy was waiting and the park was closing. We made our way out to the car.

So what did Tommy and Chloe do all day? More continued in my next post...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 23- Quest for some last minute fun- Disney Springs/Disney Quest Day 7
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September 9th, 2016

Just going to finish up with what Tommy and Chloe did all day while we were at Universal in this post since I ran out of room above. It's pretty short cause they honestly didn't do a whole lot lol. The plan was to go to a water park for the day, then maybe do some resort hopping or Disney Springs or mini golf, then time back at the hotel pool and see what activities they had going on. In reality, he said they went back to the hotel and slept in late. Then made it to Blizzard Beach for about an hour, decided they didn't feel like dealing with all the lines and people, ate lunch there and came back to the hotel for a little bit. Took another nap, briefly swam in the pool at the hotel, then they went to Disney Springs but by the time they got there it was almost time to pick us up so they didn't do much at all lol. I guess they had a good time, Tommy said they both needed the rest and Chloe seemed happy with her day! If I didn't plan our vacation thats probably how all the days would go if it were up to Tommy haha.

The mood necklace Chloe picked out

Blizzard Beach

The one thing you couldn't pay me to get on, Summit Plummit. No way! I'm not a fan of the ski lifts either lol...

Of course I had packed a super cute Little Mermaid bathing suit, and he put her in the plain one lol. He tried I guess..

And my wand stuff from WWoHP!

Ok anyways! We woke up that Friday (the 9th) and had to check out of our Disney room It was so hard to pack up and leave! But we did have one more magical meal planned, breakfast at 1900 Park Fare with Alice and friends! I was really excited to check out the Grand Floridian since I doubt I will ever be able to actually stay there lol. We got there early so we could check out the resort and take some pics. The meal was pretty good, one of the better buffets. The characters were all interactive and fun, probably one of the better interactions. The Mad Hatter was hilarious. We bounced with Tigger. Winnie the Pooh was there and of course Alice and Mary Poppins. Its kind of a random mix of characters but it works.

If only we were actually going to Magic Kingdom...sigh...

Strawberry soup stuff was good but I liked the one I had on our Carnival Cruise more! The omelette station was the best, you got to pick your own ingredients and they made it fresh for you.

Alice <3 one of my favorites

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10210326965955987

I missed most of it, they bounced a lot more lol

awww big Tigger hugs

and Tigger kisses lol

We stopped for some photopass pics after our meal

We planned to go to Disney Quest for the day since the kids wanted to check it out (I wanted to do Typhoon Lagoon but got outvoted lol) and we had some more passes from our Water Parks and More tickets to use up. First we walked around Downtown Disney and got lost trying to find it lol. Like really lost somehow. And it was super hot! But finally we found it. I'll say this...it is pretty outdated and underwhelming..not magic by Disney standards for sure...but the kids had fun! It was okay. I wouldn't go out of my way to go back or pay extra specifically for it, but it was an okay way to spend an afternoon.

Shopping... I also LOVE Nightmare Before Christmas stuff

Around 5pm we decided to hit the road. We were heading to Tommy's Aunts house about 2 hours away near Clearwater, Florida. We didn't want to get there too late so we would have time to spend with her!

One last mickey <3

The last part of our trip, to be continued...

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Chapter 24-Food and family at the beach, a perfect ending- Clearwater FL Day 8
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September 10th, 2016

We made it to Tommy's aunts house near Clearwater, FL around 7pm the night before. It was about 2 hours drive from Disney. She has visited us in NC before and she is such a fun and awesome person so I was really excited to spend more time with her. On our first night there we didn't do a whole lot since we were kind of wore out from our week at Disney. Her daughter (Tommy's niece) came over with her husband for a little bit. That was cool for him cause he hadn't seen her since they were kids, and it was my first time meeting her. We ended up just sitting around talking and had a few drinks.

Saturday morning we slept in til about 10 and then got up and had breakfast. We wanted to see the beach while we were there so we all got ready for that. Her house is about 20 minutes from the beach. We got there around noon, found a parking spot, and then walked around the strip area. It was a huge beach town, much bigger than what I am used to in NC. We found a good spot on the beach and unloaded. The water was so pretty and warm! We spent some time just playing in the water, talking, and relaxing. The weather was gorgeous.

There was a pier not far from where we had sat down so eventually we walked over to the pier. I think we had to pay $2 per person to go out to the end of it. It was super long and there was all kinds of birds you could see and get really close to. I tried to take a selfie with one of them and it started to come a little too close and scared me haha. On the way back to the car we stopped at a little park and let Chloe play for a bit. By then it was around 4pm and we had a big dinner planned so we went back to her house to get washed up.

She had organized a dinner with 2 of his uncles and several of his cousins and all their wives/kids/etc. Tommy was so excited because he hadn't seen any of them in years since he was really young. It was so sweet of her to put together. I forget the name of the place we ate at but it was an Italian restaurant his cousin works at. The food was awesome! I had Chicken Parmigiana but I don't even remember what everyone else had. We also had a ton of appetizers. One of his cousins has 2 little girls who were a little younger than Chloe, she had fun playing with them. We stayed quite awhile and just talked. We had a whole back room to ourselves which was nice. At the end of the meal his cousin ended up paying for everyone which was super nice of him since it was a pretty big party. He designs/builds houses and had just finished one he was really proud of that wasn't far from the restaurant so after we finished we went to look at it with him. It was BEAUTIFUL wow, I would have loved to have a house like that there! He obviously is very good at his job! After that his 2 uncles and a few cousins came back to his aunts house. We ended up staying up way too late and drinking way too much haha but it was such a good time. I love his cousins and his aunt/uncles. We finally went to bed around 2 or 3am which was way later than planned because we had to get up early to drive home! But to spend time with family we never get to see, it was worth it.

Tommy's aunts wife in black dress (married to guy in back with blue shirt/hat on), girl next to her is his cousin (daughter of the aunt we stayed with) and the guy to her left with a hat on is her husband. Guy in the back in red shirt is his Uncle, the guy next to him is his other uncle, and guy in green shirt next to him is his cousin (the red shirt guys son lol). Then in front of them is his cousin in white tank top (red shirt guys daughter), his aunt (married to red shirt guy), their granddaughters and girl in black shirt is his cousins wife (mom of the 2 daughters, husband is in green shirt). Then to the right side is his aunt we stayed with in the blue top, Tommy, me, Gabriel and Chloe! Lol if any of that made sense

The next day was unfortunately time to go home

To be continued...