An August Adventure with a Disney SequelUPDATED with UNIVERSAL

adriawest · Jan 1, 2016

Joining in! We are also East Texas natives, who are slightly obsessed with Disney. Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report. We're booked for August and are anxious to see how the crowds were for you. (Haven't been in August for several years). We're also Poly peeps. Sounds like we have a lot in common....

thornton0511 · Jan 2, 2016

adriawest said:
Joining in! We are also East Texas natives, who are slightly obsessed with Disney. Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report. We're booked for August and are anxious to see how the crowds were for you. (Haven't been in August for several years). We're also Poly peeps. Sounds like we have a lot in common....

That is so cool! Glad to have you here and :welcome:

August was not as bad as we thought it was going to be. Definitely not our favorite time to go, but it was still very manageable :goodvibes

thornton0511 · Jan 2, 2016

First Mishap of Our Trip….It Was Bound to Happen at Some Point

We made it to Blizzard Beach a little before 8:30am and there were only a handful of people waiting at the entrance with us. As more people started to arrive they started to let people in, but then held them at both the right and left sides of the park until 9am. There were 2 things that needed to happen at rope drop this morning. We needed to get a locker and life vest for DD, and also stake out our claim for the day. So when they initially let us in DS and I headed to the left, towards Lottawatta Lodge, and DH and DD headed to the right towards Snowless Joes.

I had discovered that the covered pavilions over by the warming hut were highly recommended due to their proximity to food, lockers and restrooms, and melt away bay. This was where we were hoping to stake our claim. That being said DH had headed over to Snowless Joes to try and get a locker in this location. I will say that all the information I could find for both waterparks was quite limited and dated so I was unsure of how accurate any of this was going to be. :scratchin

DS and I were held with everyone else by on the bridge by the lazy river to the left side of the park right by Lottawatta Lodge. DH and DD eventually found their way up to where we were, and that is when he informed me that the lockers over by the warming hut are no longer there :eek:

and so he had to get a locker on the other side of the park by the chair lift and Snowless Joes. This was going to make things a bit different. The locker location was somewhat important to where we were going to claim our spot, but having the lockers completely not there anymore was not something that I had even thought would be an issue lol. There was nothing I had found to say they had been moved or shut down, and the map on WDW website still showed them as being there. :confused3

Ugh! At this point it was too late to backtrack so we just decided to continue with our original location.

At 9am the sounding guns went off and it was a fast paced mall walk for everyone to claim their spot. Another family seemed to be right with us in our mall walk and it seemed that we were heading to the same area. The father jokingly made a comment about it and said it seemed as though we had read the same blog…lol he was right. :rotfl:

To both of our astonishment apparently others had read the same info that we had because this prime location right under a covered pavilion was already taken by the time we got there… :scared1:

and we had all mall walked as fast as we could lol! Both of us were kind of not expecting that and didn’t really know what to do lol. We soon found another shaded and sandy area nearby with lots of available spots so both of our families made camp there instead. :thumbsup2

Now we had to figure out how to adjust to our locker being all the way on the other side of the park lol! We left our bag with our basic items (sunscreen and such), shoes, and towels on our chairs and headed towards our locker to put away things we would not want to get stolen. For recording this day we had brought both our go pro and DH’s Iphone. Both were in waterproof cases, and although we had yet to test the go pro submerged in water, we had on several trips already used the Iphone under water with the life proof case we had.

Since neither of us were wanting to really mess with the go pro at this particular moment, we decided to lock it up, and just bring the Iphone since it would take both pictures and video. When then headed towards the Chair Lift to get to Teamboat Springs. Only the chair lift was experiencing technical difficulties so we had to make the climb up the stairs instead. Good lord there are a lot of stairs to get up that mountain lol! :crazy2:

The wait for Teamboat Springs was very minimal at this point in the morning, and we were soon loaded in our family size raft ready to ride, only once we were seated the CM noticed DH’s phone and told him he would have to put that away and could not have it held in his hand for safety reasons. :headache:

Understandable. I did not even think about that. So he didn’t know what else to do other than put it in his pocket. I was a bit bummed that I did not just bring the go pro at this moment because I was wondering if this was going to be the policy on all of the rides with the phone, and I did not want to necessarily waste time trekking all the way back to the locker to get it and the head strap to wear with it lol.

The ride was a blast though! The only complaint was despite the warm humid August weather, that water was FREEZING!! :cold:

Almost to the point of your mind being so wrapped around how much you are shaking that you forget how much fun the ride is. At the end you get to a part where water is just dumping in the form of a waterfall and we were all but climbing over each other to try and dodge the freezing ice water from falling on our heads lol! :lmao:

After regaining body heat from hyperthermia we made our way over to the Toboggan Racers, skipping both Summit Plummet and Slush Gusher. We are not really big thrill seekers and I was good with skipping any ride that might result in my top flying off or atomic wedgies. :blush:

I did decide to skip on the racers though because I was just not ready to deal with freezing water again quite yet. Instead I took DH’s phone and went to the bottom of the hill to record the rest of my family race down. As they were getting their toboggans ready to race I got the phone ready to go….only it wasn’t coming on. Holy crap you have got to be kidding me I thought. :scared1:

I looked the phone over and it didn’t seem wet. The life proof case was locked on tight, and there didn’t seem to be any water inside. I was beyond panicked as the family laughed their way down the slopes. DH asked when they got to the bottom if I got a good video of them coming down….nope. I handed him the phone. He is much better at handling a crisis than I am and managed to not look as upset as I apparently was. Not to mention this was his work phone.

We walked back to camp to access the possible damage. The life proof case came off, and only a trickle of water could be found by the camera lens portion of the phone. :sad2:

Well there was nothing we could do about it now so we headed back to the lockers to put the waterlogged phone up and grab the go pro instead. This is why there are no pictures up to this point folks. I am sad to report that the phone was unfixable and all pictures taken up to this point were gone. :worried:

And since we had purchased the case on craigslist there was not warranty for the phone either. Not a good way to start a vacation for sure.

We tried to get past our little mishap and enjoy the rest of the day. After all it is Disney , and hey, better for it to happen at the beginning of the trip at the beginning of the day, then at the end when we could have lost so many more memories.

At this point the chair lift was still out of commission so we headed back up the hill (oh those dreaded steps) :rolleyes2

and rode all of the other slides. All of them were so much fun but that water, it was just so incredibly cold! I had just about called it quits at this point and decided to just record and film for the rest of the day lol. :cold:

The family decided it was time to check out Melt Away Bay so we made our way back to camp again to put water shoes on the kids. I will tell you that we did all wear flip flops, crocs, or water shoes to BB but the only time we felt the need to wear shoes was when I forced the kids to in Melt Away Bay. All of the walkways were kept wet and cool and at no time during the August heat did we experience hot burning sidewalks. :tiptoe:

However, the concrete on which Melt Away Bay sits it so incredibly rough (obviously necessary for traction) that I was not going to risk the kiddos getting cut up feet from it. DD still managed to find a way to scratch up her knees however. Only my child. :rolleyes2

After this is was time for us to take a break anyway and have lunch. So I took DD to get her knee cleaned up and we headed to Lottawatta Lodge for lunch.

Gracefulskinny · Jan 2, 2016

thornton0511 said:
Well there was nothing we could do about it now so we headed back to the lockers to put the waterlogged phone up and grab the go pro instead. This is why there are no pictures up to this point folks. I am sad to report that the phone was unfixable and all pictures taken up to this point were gone. And since we had purchased the case on craigslist there was not warranty for the phone either. Not a good way to start a vacation for sure.

Not a great way to start things off for sure!

thornton0511 said:
We tried to get past our little mishap and enjoy the rest of the day. After all it is Disney , and hey, better for it to happen at the beginning of the trip at the beginning of the day, then at the end when we could have lost so many more memories.

This is very true! Think of how devastated you would have been had this happened at the end of the trip!

DisneyJo · Jan 2, 2016

Oh no how terrible about your phone, good thing it was early in the trip but still a huge pain!

We took our camera on Teamboat Springs last year with no problems so I hope they haven't banned them too!

adriawest · Jan 2, 2016

thornton0511 said:
First Mishap of Our Trip….It Was Bound to Happen at Some Point

We made it to Blizzard Beach a little before 8:30am and there were only a handful of people waiting at the entrance with us. As more people started to arrive they started to let people in, but then held them at both the right and left sides of the park until 9am. There were 2 things that needed to happen at rope drop this morning. We needed to get a locker and life vest for DD, and also stake out our claim for the day. So when they initially let us in DS and I headed to the left, towards Lottawatta Lodge, and DH and DD headed to the right towards Snowless Joes.

I had discovered that the covered pavilions over by the warming hut were highly recommended due to their proximity to food, lockers and restrooms, and melt away bay. This was where we were hoping to stake our claim. That being said DH had headed over to Snowless Joes to try and get a locker in this location. I will say that all the information I could find for both waterparks was quite limited and dated so I was unsure of how accurate any of this was going to be.

DS and I were held with everyone else by on the bridge by the lazy river to the left side of the park right by Lottawatta Lodge. DH and DD eventually found their way up to where we were, and that is when he informed me that the lockers over by the warming hut are no longer there and so he had to get a locker on the other side of the park by the chair lift and Snowless Joes. This was going to make things a bit different. The locker location was somewhat important to where we were going to claim our spot, but having the lockers completely not there anymore was not something that I had even thought would be an issue lol. There was nothing I had found to say they had been moved or shut down, and the map on WDW website still showed them as being there. Ugh! At this point it was too late to backtrack so we just decided to continue with our original location.

At 9am the sounding guns went off and it was a fast paced mall walk for everyone to claim their spot. Another family seemed to be right with us in our mall walk and it seemed that we were heading to the same area. The father jokingly made a comment about it and said it seemed as though we had read the same blog…lol he was right. To both of our astonishment apparently others had read the same info that we had because this prime location right under a covered pavilion was already taken by the time we got there… and we had all mall walked as fast as we could lol! Both of us were kind of not expecting that and didn’t really know what to do lol. We soon found another shaded and sandy area nearby with lots of available spots so both of our families made camp there instead.

Now we had to figure out how to adjust to our locker being all the way on the other side of the park lol! We left our bag with our basic items (sunscreen and such), shoes, and towels on our chairs and headed towards our locker to put away things we would not want to get stolen. For recording this day we had brought both our go pro and DH’s Iphone. Both were in waterproof cases, and although we had yet to test the go pro submerged in water, we had on several trips already used the Iphone under water with the life proof case we had.

Since neither of us were wanting to really mess with the go pro at this particular moment, we decided to lock it up, and just bring the Iphone since it would take both pictures and video. When then headed towards the Chair Lift to get to Teamboat Springs. Only the chair lift was experiencing technical difficulties so we had to make the climb up the stairs instead. Good lord there are a lot of stairs to get up that mountain lol!

The wait for Teamboat Springs was very minimal at this point in the morning, and we were soon loaded in our family size raft ready to ride, only once we were seated the CM noticed DH’s phone and told him he would have to put that away and could not have it held in his hand for safety reasons. Understandable. I did not even think about that. So he didn’t know what else to do other than put it in his pocket. I was a bit bummed that I did not just bring the go pro at this moment because I was wondering if this was going to be the policy on all of the rides with the phone, and I did not want to necessarily waste time trekking all the way back to the locker to get it and the head strap to wear with it lol.

The ride was a blast though! The only complaint was despite the warm humid August weather, that water was FREEZING!! Almost to the point of your mind being so wrapped around how much you are shaking that you forget how much fun the ride is. At the end you get to a part where water is just dumping in the form of a waterfall and we were all but climbing over each other to try and dodge the freezing ice water from falling on our heads lol!

After regaining body heat from hyperthermia we made our way over to the Toboggan Racers, skipping both Summit Plummet and Slush Gusher. We are not really big thrill seekers and I was good with skipping any ride that might result in my top flying off or atomic wedgies. I did decide to skip on the racers though because I was just not ready to deal with freezing water again quite yet. Instead I took DH’s phone and went to the bottom of the hill to record the rest of my family race down. As they were getting their toboggans ready to race I got the phone ready to go….only it wasn’t coming on. Holy crap you have got to be kidding me I thought. I looked the phone over and it didn’t seem wet. The life proof case was locked on tight, and there didn’t seem to be any water inside. I was beyond panicked as the family laughed their way down the slopes. DH asked when they got to the bottom if I got a good video of them coming down….nope. I handed him the phone. He is much better at handling a crisis than I am and managed to not look as upset as I apparently was. Not to mention this was his work phone.

We walked back to camp to access the possible damage. The life proof case came off, and only a trickle of water could be found by the camera lens portion of the phone. Well there was nothing we could do about it now so we headed back to the lockers to put the waterlogged phone up and grab the go pro instead. This is why there are no pictures up to this point folks. I am sad to report that the phone was unfixable and all pictures taken up to this point were gone. And since we had purchased the case on craigslist there was not warranty for the phone either. Not a good way to start a vacation for sure.

We tried to get past our little mishap and enjoy the rest of the day. After all it is Disney , and hey, better for it to happen at the beginning of the trip at the beginning of the day, then at the end when we could have lost so many more memories.

At this point the chair lift was still out of commission so we headed back up the hill (oh those dreaded steps) and rode all of the other slides. All of them were so much fun but that water, it was just so incredibly cold! I had just about called it quits at this point and decided to just record and film for the rest of the day lol. The family decided it was time to check out Melt Away Bay so we made our way back to camp again to put water shoes on the kids. I will tell you that we did all wear flip flops, crocs, or water shoes to BB but the only time we felt the need to wear shoes was when I forced the kids to in Melt Away Bay. All of the walkways were kept wet and cool and at no time during the August heat did we experience hot burning sidewalks. However, the concrete on which Melt Away Bay sits it so incredibly rough (obviously necessary for traction) that I was not going to risk the kiddos getting cut up feet from it. DD still managed to find a way to scratch up her knees however. Only my child. After this is was time for us to take a break anyway and have lunch. So I took DD to get her knee cleaned up and we headed to Lottawatta Lodge for lunch.

I hate to hear that about your phone. It's such a sick feeling when something like that happens. . Like you said, though...at least it wasn't at the end of your trip.

thornton0511 · Jan 3, 2016

Gracefulskinny said:
Not a great way to start things off for sure!

This is very true! Think of how devastated you would have been had this happened at the end of the trip!

Absolutely! We do normally upload all pictures and videos everyday when we get back to the resort to our laptops but still if this had happened at the end of the day as opposed to the beginning the entire day would have been lost!

DisneyJo said:
Oh no how terrible about your phone, good thing it was early in the trip but still a huge pain!

We took our camera on Teamboat Springs last year with no problems so I hope they haven't banned them too!

I could have been that this is always the rule and we just happened to have a CM that enforced it. Who knows. One thing I have learned with Disney is there is always inconsistencies and one thing may be one way one day and completely the opposite the next lol. We just usually try to go with the flow and not argue with the CM's. That is interesting that you were allowed to have your camera though.

adriawest said:
I hate to hear that about your phone. It's such a sick feeling when something like that happens. . Like you said, though...at least it wasn't at the end of your trip.

Yes it is an awful feeling. Looking back now it doesn't seem like a big deal at all, and everything worked out okay in the end, but yeah at the time it's hard look past and move on.

thornton0511 · Jan 3, 2016

Lunch at Lottawatta and More Blizzard Beach Fun

So since our Iphone was out of service I was left with only a Go Pro to capture our day with. Since we do not have the LED attachment screen for the back (which you can’t use if it’s in the waterproof case anyways) you just have to aim and shoot for videos and pictures lol. Guesstimating has gotten better for me as time has gone on, so I am pretty good with videos, but I had never used the Go Pro for pictures so it was anyone’s guess as to how well any of these were going to turn out lol!

We headed over to Lottawatta Lodge for lunch. I thought the themeing here was really great.

The entire ordering/eating process takes place outside (which makes total sense considering it’s a waterpark). Since we were not on the dining plan this time we ordered a few meals to share. We had no issue finding a table since it was still quite early in the day for lunch, but we had been up since 5am so we were starving lol!

The kids decided to split a pepperoni flatbread, which they said was good.

DH went with a grilled chicken sandwich with fries, which he also had no complaints about.

And since I wanted to stick with something somewhat light, I went with the grilled chicken wrap. It left a lot to be desired unfortunately as it was essentially lettuce and big hunks of cold chicken wrapped up in a tortilla, with a side of Ranch in a dressing packet. I did want to go with light food though, so I suppose I got what I asked for lol. It wasn’t terrible at all, just kind of tasteless I guess?

I did get a side of Disney house made chips, which proved to be a big hit for the whole family. They were very yummy!

After lunch we noticed that the Chair Lift was finally working so we hopped in line to give it a go. I was very thankful to not have to climb those stairs again! DS was less than thrilled to ride however. None of us are big fans of heights but DS will avoid them at all costs. Chair lifts were no exception. I did manage to talk him into it though, but I have to agree that I was a bit weary as we were going up as well. I was kind of glad to be off. Once up top we rode Teamboat again and I finally gave Toboggan Racers a go after much guilt by my family. And I ended up being that person that could not balance the weight correctly to get my mat going so I was kind of stuck while everyone else was racing down the hill…..there’s mom still up there wiggling like and inch worm trying to get her mat a gliding. It was an incredibly awkward experience and I was in no rush to do that again. I did not take any pictures while we were up on the mountain this time around because Disney is very strict about no one having anything with them when they get on the chair lift. I saw many people waiting in line only to not be allowed on the lift because they had something with them. Makes total sense seeing how if anything was dropped it could possibly really hurt someone really bad.

Once we had done pretty much everything we wanted on the mountain we made our way down and decided to let the kids run free in the Ski Patrol Training Camp Area. This was great because I was finished with the whole water thing all together again and about ready to call it a day. The kids had an absolute blast though and this proved to be their favorite area.

I did find multiple seating areas here, with quite a few shaded places. It was also located near a set of lockers and restrooms….and no sand! I was not a fan of being covered with sand each time we went back to our camp. If we ever decided to return to BB this is definitely where I would want to stash our stuff for sure. I did forget to mention that DH and the kids took a lap around the lazy river before we did the kids play area. I had really thought the water would be warm but it was just as freezing as the other areas so I passed.

We let the kids play around for a good amount of time here before calling it a day. DD favorite area was the ice burg thing, and DS really liked the zip line. I had read somewhere beforehand that they did not allow older kids to do the zip line, but I am happy to report that my almost 14 year old was able to do it no problem.

It was mid afternoon at this point and we felt like we had just about done everything we wanted to do. We turned in our locker key and the deposit was returned to our account (all which was done with our magic bands) and I made a stop at the mini donut stand on the way out to get an order to go. I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I ordered a full dozen with white chocolate and regular chocolate as my 2 included sauces…or so I thought. I was so ready to go that I didn’t pay much attention to how much I was charged and just swiped my magic band and left with my donuts. I noticed later that the price seemed a bit high and noticed on my receipt that they had charged me an additional $3 for the 2 sauces. I had thought they were included with a dozen but I guess not. Made for pretty expensive donuts lol.

I made sure on the way out to get a redo picture of the kids by the entrance (so glad I did considering) and we made our way back to the bus stop to go home. My overall impression of Blizzard Beach was okay. I’m glad I had the experience but I don’t know that I would necessarily be excited to do it again anytime soon. For me the combination of freezing water, walking around in swimwear, and getting my hair wet, is not my idea of a fun. But the kids had a blast and watching them enjoy it so much makes it worth it. I would say if you have to go to a waterpark Disney is definitely the way to go. The themeing and attention to detail is just as amazing as it is in the theme parks. DH had a good time but he would rather spend another day in MK than do a waterpark again I think. Surprisingly the crowds were never unmanageable despite it being summer and a good weather day. We did notice the crowds picked up as the day went on, but it was never overcrowded in my opinion. Overall it was a good day, despite a few setbacks, and I was happy we had experienced something new. I was also happy at this point to be going home to WL to relax.

BellaBaby · Jan 3, 2016

What a shame about the phone. You have such a good attitude though! :sunny:

We have never been to a disney waterpark in all of our visits. They look cool, but we have a huge waterpark near our house and I guess we'd rather visit the parks while in Fl. Never say never though, like you we do try new things once in awhile!!

thornton0511 · Jan 7, 2016

BellaBaby said:
What a shame about the phone. You have such a good attitude though!

We have never been to a disney waterpark in all of our visits. They look cool, but we have a huge waterpark near our house and I guess we'd rather visit the parks while in Fl. Never say never though, like you we do try new things once in awhile!!

New experiences are never a bad thing for sure when it comes to Disney! :goodvibes

thornton0511 · Jan 7, 2016

Welcome Home

After a full day at a water park we were glad to be back home. I ran upstairs to our room real quick and noticed just how awesome the view of the lobby was from our floor. So pretty! I made my way back down to meet the family at the outdoor seating area by roaring forks.

While I was doing that DH had stopped by the Mercantile to see if they had any dry rice we could purchase to put his phone in. We really had never had any experience with this sort of thing but figured it was worth a shot. I figured maybe since this was a DVC resort they may carry boxes of rice? Unfortunately they didn’t. Emptyhanded he then made his way to roaring forks to purchase refillable mugs for the 4 of us. I know most people probably do not think that’s a great investment to actually purchase these for your stay, especially if you are not on the dining plan and getting them for free, but we have become accustom to having them on our Disney vacations and planned on using them for our entire stay.

With our mugs and overpriced donuts we had a nice afternoon snack.

We split up the donuts and sauce and I have to say they were pretty darn good. I probably would forgo the sauces if I knew they weren’t included. The donuts alone were good without needing the sauces.

After our snack it was time to head up to the room and get cleaned up…and rest. I like that most of Disney’s resort rooms split up the sink portion of the bathroom from everything else. Makes things so much easier!

After cleaning up we rested a bit in the room. I know it makes for a boring TR sometimes but I will never regret taking afternoon Disney naps lol. I am old and I have to recharge!!

thornton0511 · Jan 7, 2016

Dinner at Roaring Forks and Relaxation WL Style

After resting up a bit we walked downstairs to have dinner at Roaring Forks. I was loving the convenience of having everything under the same roof!

The entrance here was my favorite for some reason lol.

This area was split up into two sides, one for ordering and one for sitting. They were not busy at all this evening!

With our order placed we went across to the other room to find a table. I think I remember with this place that they gave you a buzzer and let you know when your food was ready?

DD had decided to go with the kids’ pasta with grapes and a cookie for her 2 sides. I loved how they put everything on the side so that your kiddo can decide if and how much sauce and cheese they want on their pasta. Very smart Disney. She said it was excellent and probably her favorite of all of the kid meals she has had at Disney QS…she is a pasta girl though too.

Both DH and DS went with a Chicken Caesar Salad and both said they were just okay. I have found it seems to be hit or miss with ckn Caesar salads in Disney. They all seem to be prepared a bit different depending on where you go.

After my underwhelming lunch from my decision to go with something light I made no mistake with dinner and went with a good old fashioned Disney cheeseburger. It did not disappoint at all and hit the spot.

While we were having dinner we ended up having a friendly conversation with a nearby CM (business was slow and he was just kind of standing around). It’s so funny to me how in real everyday life every member of our family of 4 is quite shy and introverted and we do not go out of our way to talk to people, especially strangers, but for some reason when we are at Disney it is completely opposite. I don’t know if we feel that everyone else there has the Disney obsession fever like we do, and that somehow gives us a common bond, or what, but we find we have no issue talking to complete strangers on vacation lol. Anyways after our conversation the CM disappeared for a bit, and then came back with a cupcake for us

Just because he enjoyed our conversation and wanted to treat us. Seriously people how can you not love Disney? GAH it’s my favorite!

After dinner we finally had a chance to just walk around and explore inside the resort grounds (I believe it was storming again outside). We then found that coveted little sitting area upstairs by the fireplace to be open so we had a seat and just kind of hung out a bit and talked about our day.

It was very nice. Please note that my feet are not on the table even if it appears that way lol!

The kids were over on the side inventing some sort of game and DH finally got up to see what it was all about. It may not sound like much, but its times like these that I just want to freeze in time as they hold such many good feelings. It’s the simple things. Today was a good day full of new experiences and lots of adventures. Tomorrow was our return to Magic Kingdom and we were super excited to be reunited!

thornton0511 · Jan 9, 2016

A Day at Magic Kingdom

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, we are a rope drop kind of family. So it should come as no surprise that we were up and on a bus to Magic Kingdom by 8am for a 9am opening. The kids were full of energy, and I was realizing that I had not had coffee this morning.

Once we had secured our front of the line spot by the right side tunnel, the kids ate their on the go breakfast of poptarts, and we anxiously awaited for 9am to roll around. The Welcome Show went on as planned (which I still get emotional watching no matter how many times I experience it) and we were headed with the masses to 7DMT. We went with the mine train rope drop plan last year and it and found it very successful. This year it was again and we literally walked on and were on the ride a few minutes after the official 9am opening time. Since our kids are a bit older I think it makes it more simple to stand our ground for the rope drop procedure, but we yet to experience any issues with the walk to the mine train.

By 9:10am we had managed to ride 7DMT and were boarding our pirate ships on Peter Pan’s flight. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the new interactive queue, but from our walk through it seemed fantastically done!

After Pan we passed 7DMT (wow the line was long at this point) and hit The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It had a posted wait time of 5 minutes and we virtually walked on it as well.

By 9:30 am we had been on 3 Fantasyland rides, that essentially will have long waits as the day goes on, and were now in about to board our racecars for Tomorrowland Speedway.

DH and I drew straws for who would have to ride with our maniac 9 year old driver and he lost lol.

After Speedway we split up and DS and I headed over to Space Mountain, while DD and DH went for a spin on the Peoplemover (which is one of DD’s favorite rides lol). We walked on Space at 9:45 were exiting the ride by 10am. We were having a very successful morning so far!

By 10:10 we were shooting for points on Buzz Lightyear. After that DH wanted to stop at Auntie Gravity’s for a morning smoothie. This is his go to snack in all of Disney World and he looks forward each year to getting his smoothie lol!

We made a casual walk from Tomorrowland to Storybook Circus, so DH could enjoy his morning treat, and decided to hit Barnstomer and Dumbo real quick. It was now 10:30am.

Dumbo is a personal favorite of mine and it seems no matter how old these kids get this ride always brings out that smile that parents never get over seeing.

After Dumbo we noticed that the train had pulled in and so we quickly made our way there to try and catch it to ride over to Frontierland.

We made it no problem but then we waited…..and waited…..and waited for the train to leave. Only it just sat there lol. I guess maybe it was refilling with water? At any rate we finally got to the point where too much time was passing to warrant a morning ride, and we still had some major rides to get in before the crowds picked up. So we hopped off and decided to walk instead.

Now here is where things get a bit fuzzy because I cannot remember if we used our first FP+ for Splash Mountain or did standby. Regardless it was the next ride we did and we were on by 11:30 off by 11:50am.

We made our way over to Liberty Square for lunch at Columbia Harbor House. We found a seat upstairs (which is our favorite for people watching) and split 3 orders of Fried Shrimp Platters with water to drink.

For some reason when we picked up our food the CM asked us if we wanted 2 large lemonades for free and we accepted. Who would turn down free lemonade?

After a very fulfilling lunch and much needed break from the overbearing August heat, we made our way over to Adventureland. It had been a few years since we had made a visit to Swiss Family Treehouse so that is what we did first. It was now around 12:30pm and the heat was in full force and the crowds were thickening too.

For some reason after this we decided to get in the standby line for Magic Carpets. I hate this ride with all of my being, out of fear of falling out of the carpet lol.

The posted wait at the time said 15 minutes, but given the crowds and the time of day we should have known better. We did not realize until we were invested in the line that they had it extended around the building in the back. Oh my goodness that was the worst queueing ever! Due to its slow loading and low capacity we would move a bit, then sit in the sun for a good amount of time, then inch forward again. The wait ended up being closer to 30 minutes. Bleh lessons learned lol.

After Magic Carpets we were nearing the end the time frame for one of our afternoon FP+. We made our way over to Fantasyland, stopping to get a picture of the kiddos by the castle, which I think is a must do for each trip.

Since there was still so much work and construction with the front of the castle, and walls up everywhere, we decided to go with a side castle pic for this year. Yay for improvising!

We headed over to 7DMT and used our scheduled FP to breeze through the line. By doing this ride at rope drop and then as one of our afternoon FP selections we are able to ride more than once, and we do love this ride!

Since we had caught this FP at the end we were now in the window for our next FP, which was a ride on BTMRR.

This is probably our favorite family ride at MK. We will ride this one over and over if the standby is a walk on….which now days is hard to find it seems. It was now nearing the mid afternoon hours, and we knew it was time for a break, so we made our way to the front of the park.

We did, however, have to take a tiny detour to Adventureland for a Dole Whip….

Which DD and I shared on our way out of the park. Once we had made our way out of the park the next decision was to take a bus or boat back to WL…

DisneyJo · Jan 9, 2016

It looks like you had a fantastic MK day, we're rope droppers too and you get so much done don't you :goodvibes

rachelrapunzel · Jan 9, 2016

Sounds like an awesome day at Magic Kingdom! You got so much done! I can't wait to read more!

thornton0511 · Jan 18, 2016

DisneyJo said:
It looks like you had a fantastic MK day, we're rope droppers too and you get so much done don't you

Yes you do! We always feel like we have wasted valuable time if we miss rope drop lol!

rachelrapunzel said:
Sounds like an awesome day at Magic Kingdom! You got so much done! I can't wait to read more!

We did, thank you!!

thornton0511 · Jan 18, 2016

An Evening of Rain and Dinner at Beaches and Cream

The decision was made, after we exited MK, to take a boat back to WL since it would be something we normally don’t do. This would have been an excellent choice if it wasn’t in an afternoon in August.

Goodness gracious that was miserable! By the time we docked at WL we were all dripping with sweat. Bleh. Lesson learned.

The first thing we did was head for air conditioning at Roaring Forks. The combination of AC and refillable mugs was just what we needed to get back to normal. We all decided that a rest would be a good idea at this point so that is what we did. It felt even too hot to swim at this point! It seriously is a hot as the surface of the sun in August.

We ended up relaxing in our room and hanging around the resort until it was time to leave for dinner. We had reservations at Beaches and Cream this evening and after our 2013 visit we were happy to be returning.

We hopped on the first park bus that came our way, and then from there hopped on a bus to the Beach Club. We had no problem getting to the restaurant and checking in. The wait was not long at all and we were happy to be seated in a booth along the wall. Our server was great and the food was good.

DH and I both went with a hamburger, and for some reason I did not get a picture of the kids’ food. I believe they each had a burger with fruit as their side?

Once we finished our burgers it was time to move on to the real reason anyone comes here to eat…THE DESSERTS!!!

DD went with the kids Mickey ice cream sundae.

And DH and DS split a Brownie a la Mode with the ice cream on the side (DS is not a fan of ice cream) and it was huge!

I went with the No Way Jose, which I had been dreaming about since our last visit in 2013. I am a sucker when it comes to peanut butter. Oh my gosh the peanut butter!!

After stuffing ourselves with yummy sweetness, our sever brought us our check along with a balloon for our anniversary, which we thought was nice. DD immediately asked if she could have the balloon and DH tied and looped it around her arm. She loves balloons, and named him balloony after a Phines and Ferb episode lol. We made a quick stop to Beach Club Marketplace to see if we could find any luck with scoring a package of bottle waters, since they did not have them at WL. I am happy to report that they did indeed sell them at the BC, and it was under $7 for the case of waters. With waters in hand we made our way to the bus stop to make our way back to WL. The plan was to drop off the water and then head back to MK for evening EMH. Unfortunately the weather had not been wanting to cooperate with us this evening and it had been raining big time for quite a while. As we were boarding the bus, DD balloon somehow came loose on her arm, and before any of us could realize what was happening, off went balloony never to return. She was sad that her balloon had floated away like that. There was nothing we could do but get on the bus at that point.

When we returned to the resort I headed upstairs with the water with the kids, while DH said he would meet us back in the lobby in a few minutes. He was up to something for sure. By the time we made our way back down there DH was, waiting for us, with a bright red balloon for DD. She was instantly thrilled! DH had stopped at the front desk and explained what had happened to the first balloon, and asked if they had one that he could purchase for her here at WL. They were nice enough to supply him with one free of charge.

While we were still trying to decide if we wanted to head back out into the storm for EMH we made stop at Roaring Forks to fill up on beverages (you will notice the red balloon DH had gotten for DD). We took our drinks back to the lobby and sat for a bit to discuss our options.

Dang rain was putting a damper on our evening. The kids were getting bored so they headed off back to RF to “refill their mugs” but returned with a handful of straws. Crazy kids.

Finally it was decided that despite the rain not letting up we would suffer through and head to MK to just see if we could accomplish anything. We left all of our stuff back in the room, only heading down with our magic bands and ponchos. No backpack, go pro, phones, nada. We figured if we were going to attempt park touring in a storm it was going to be with nothing on us to carry, or get waterlogged. It felt so weird not having anything on us. We arrived and surprisingly the park was still quite busy despite the torrential rain. We did not accomplish much at all and finally just gave up and called it a night lol. At least we had given it a go. No regrets. Stupid rain lol.