Betrayed by the Peoplemover-Aug 21 TR *updated 11/5*

[ashw100]

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The only way to get over what was quite possibly the best vacation ever is to know that two weeks later you get to go to Walt Disney World. Our WDW trip wasn’t supposed to become the salve to sooth the sadness of leaving Hawaii, but that’s what it became, among other things. First let me introduce myself. I’m Ashley, a 30-something mom to three incredible boys. I am a Disney planner which helps support my Disney addiction, but I earn the bulk of my income working freelance. We are currently on the virtual school train, so I double as learning coach as well.

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While we’re at it, I will introduce you to the rest of the cast.

My Mom

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My mom is the generous benefactor of this and many other trips. She isn’t a huge Disney fan, but she has grown to love the parks in her own way. She is an elementary school teacher in Washington and loves her job despite how tough the last few years have been. She joined us sporadically throughout the trip, so you’ll see her here and there.

C

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C, my oldest is 11. He is my little Disney fanatic in the making. He loves learning all about Walt, the rides, the shows you name it. He is always up for an adventure and makes a great travel partner.

J

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J is 9 and the sweetheart of my family. He is kind and quiet, but can break out of his shell when he is really passionate about something. He loves sports particularly basketball and golf. He probably won’t be a Disney fan when he is older, but he still enjoys his time in the parks.

N

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N is 7 and my little spitfire. He says and does the craziest things, and is always making us laugh. He is still very much into Mickey and all the cutesy stuff of Disney. He still believes in the magic of Disney and for that I am very grateful.

This trip took place from August 23-28. We stayed at Pop Century and the Grand Floridian, went to three parks and did the Boo Bash. It was a really great trip and I can’t wait to share it with you, so I hope you following along.

 

[ashw100]

Table of Contents
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Day 1
Home Schooling, but Make it Disney
Let's Take Pictures with the Stairs

Day 2
Squealing Like a Kid on Christmas
Santa on Vacation
Hugs from Grandma

Day 3
Feeling Fancy

 

[MaleficentMe]

Following! It's so sweet you get to do this trip with your mom and kids... I hope I get to do these types of things with my grandkids someday!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following! Excited to read about your trip!

 

[rdkeim]

Following!

 

[footballmouse]

 

[SEAGULL59]

Follow along!

 

[Bama Mom]

Follwoing along. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

 

[suse66]

Joining in!

 

[erinburrsir]

Following!

 

[ashw100]

Following! It's so sweet you get to do this trip with your mom and kids... I hope I get to do these types of things with my grandkids someday!

We used to do more things like this, but the distance makes it hard, so I cherished getting this time with my mom and my boys.

Following! Excited to read about your trip!

Thanks for following along!

Following!

Welcome!!

 

[ashw100]

Follow along!

Welcome!!

Follwoing along. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

Thanks, glad you're along for the ride.

Joining in!

Hi, thanks for coming along on another one

Following!

Thanks for following along!

 

[ashw100]

Homeschooling, but Make it Disney

In the beginning of August my entire family traveled to Hawaii for the most amazing trip we’ve ever had. However, when we came home it was quite chaotic. School was to begin just 10 days later and things were kind of a mess. I won’t go into the gory details but just days before the start of the year we pulled them out. We eventually put them in the virtual option, which is basically glorified home school, but that wouldn’t start until after labor day. I set about creating a homeschool curriculum for the in between time. It was a very crappy time for me, but I had the Disney beacon to get me through it. Originally we were supposed to go from August 25-29, but with nothing like school tying us down anymore, I decided to switch things up. My mom was very limited in her schedule because she had training and meetings before her school year was to start. But I talked it over with my husband and her and we moved our trip a bit. The boys knew nothing about this, so when they woke up the morning of the 23, they thought we would be having a home school day, but instead we told them we’re going to get some education at Disney World!!

My husband drove us to the airport on his way to work. This was my first time going completely solo with all three kids, and I was a little nervous. They’re very good travelers, but N tends to be a wanderer so it can be a little stressful. I wanted Joe to walk us in, but he had to get to work, so we said our goodbyes at the drop off outside. We got our bags all checked and made it through security easily. We usually fly Southwest, but my mom prefers American, so she always books us through them. We had had an amazing lounge experience on the way to Hawaii, so I decided to book a day pass for us this trip as well. Honestly, for our situation, it was perfect. I believe it was $59 per adult, up to three kids get in free. That breaks down to less than $15 for each of us to go in. We would have spent that much on breakfast in the terminal, so it was totally worth it to us. Sadly, we didn’t get the same terminal as last time and this lounge wasn’t as good. But we filled up on the continental breakfast and enjoyed the peaceful longue.

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When it was time to leave, we had a little bit of a walk to get to our gate. It was very quiet down there, a huge change from the chaos we experienced at the beginning of the month. Since we changed our flights less than a week before, we were stuck all the way at the back of the plane. So the night before I bit the bullet and upgraded us to the premium seats so we could move up.

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The flight was actually not sold out and C had the whole row to himself, so I asked the flight attendant if J could move over and he said it was fine.

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Even Duffy got his own seat

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I always see these cool planes, but never get to ride on them.

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I really liked how these seats had tablet and phone holders. I was watching the Behind the Attraction show on the flight over.

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Our flight was very uneventful, and really aren’t those the best kind? We landed and I was a little turned around. We’re always in the same terminal with Southwest, but this time we were in the other one. We had the most stressful part of our trip once we deplaned. Even though I asked them all to go on the plane, they all had to go to the bathroom once we were off. I hate separating from them, but there were several times over the coming days where I had to leave them so I could use the restroom or vice versa. Definitely a downside to having opposite sex children from yourself. We finally made it to baggage claim to grab our bags and then we were in line for Magical Express. The line wasn’t too bad and move quickly.

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We waited about 20 minutes for our bus to come. We lucked out and were one of the last groups on the bus.

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N was very excited to be sitting by Pluto.

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After 20 minutes, we were going under the greatest sign on Earth.

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I believe this bus was going a couple of places, but the first stop was Pop Century.

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We collected our bags from the bus and went in search of our room.

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We were only doing one night here, but I opted for a preferred room all the same. We were in 50’s building 1, closer to the parking lot though.

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I haven’t stayed here since the refurbishment, I really like it, but as I have said about other refurbishments, it’s a little sterile.

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We quickly checked out the room and then headed right back out. We were feeling quite hungry after our journey and we went off in search of food.

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We mobile ordered some burgers at the food court. I love these retro toys they had there.

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Of course my kids had to watch Mickey cartoons while they ate.

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After our lunch, we went to check out the gift shop. I spotted this patch that I knew my DH would love. I snapped a picture to see if he wanted it.

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On our way back to the room we spotted Goofy out and about.

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It was very cloudy outside, but the heat was still kicking, so we got changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool.

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We had just missed the pool games, which made the boys sad, but they had so much fun swimming. We even got to see some lifeguards earning their ears.

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I let them swim for quite awhile, but soon it was time to get cleaned up.

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[rdkeim]

I enjoy reading travel day posts! Sounds like it went pretty smoothly being solo with 3 boys. Your time at Pop was a good way to ease into being at Disney. We stayed there in March and I agree the rooms, while nice, are sterile. Anxious to read about the rest of day #1.

 

[erinburrsir]

Smooth travel days are the best days!

 

[ashw100]

I enjoy reading travel day posts! Sounds like it went pretty smoothly being solo with 3 boys. Your time at Pop was a good way to ease into being at Disney. We stayed there in March and I agree the rooms, while nice, are sterile. Anxious to read about the rest of day #1.

I love reading travel day posts too, so much build up to the excitment.

Smooth travel days are the best days!

They are, we've had some doozies before, so I am always grateful for uneventful ones.

 

[ashw100]

Let’s Take Pictures with the Stairs

Once we were changed, we headed back out. We decided to explore a bit before hitting our next destination.

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When we walked past the Hippy Dippy Pool it was cleared out. I don’t know why since the Bowling Pool still had swimmers, so it couldn’t have been from weather. But it looks like we got out at the right time. We were headed to the Skyliner. We had to stop and take a picture at the fun fact year for my mom.

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Skyliner time!

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We took the Skyliner over to Epcot, but sadly it would still be a couple of days before we were hitting the parks. We could see signs for the 50th.

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I walked over to the Beach Club until we were close enough to see if we could get on the waitlist for Beaches and Cream. Sadly, they were at capacity, so we turned around and walked toward the Boardwalk.

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We still had ice cream on the mind, so we walked to Boardwalk Ice Cream.

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There was literally no one in there. All the boys went with the Mickey Ice Creams and I got some peanut butter concoction. It wasn’t the No Way Jose, but still good.

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We ate our ice creams outside and people watched. A woman complimented my bag, it was a Haunted Mansion Loungfly I had gotten at the Disney Store in Target back in 2019. We chatted for a bit but her husband got annoyed and stormed off, so we wrapped it up. It is always fun to meet other Disney lovers. Ice cream consumed, we cleaned up and began our trek back.

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We entered the queue area for the Skyliner and got behind a woman who reeked of alcohol. Poor thing was going barefoot, could barely walk, and still had a wine glass in the hand. We took the Skyliner over to the Riviera. I hadn’t been here yet, but I just wanted to see the cool murals.

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N had been getting so many compliments on his Duffy, but the CMs working the Skyliner station at Riviera loved it, so N had to stop at chat all about it. We took the Skyliner back to our hotel, but took a right and went over to Art of Animation. I had the best cupcake there back in February, and I wanted to pick one up.

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Once my cupcake was acquired, we decided to check out the rest of Pop Century. The boys really wanted pictures from inside the huge stairwells.

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80’s baby here

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We stopped to play some Twister

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Ready for soccer season

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Had to get a picture with my birth year sign

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It was about this part of our resort tour that we started get hangry. So I mobile ordered the family pizza meal to pick up at Everything Pop.

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We were ready to relax and hang out in our room so we took it back instead of eating in the dining area.

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This is probably the best value I have found at Walt Disney World. For 29.99 we got 8 slices of pizza, 8 breadsticks, and a Caesar salad. It was so much food, we didn’t even finish it. I wouldn’t say it was out of this world, but it will fill you up in a pinch. We enjoyed the evening watching cartoons and freaking out over the new Spiderman trailer.

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Overall, it was a really great travel day. I was worried about traversing the World with just the three boys, but it was great. I really gained a lot of confidence and independence which would really help out when I was on my own with them in the parks.

Next Post​

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hi Ashley!
Happy to see another TR from you!
Hawaii sounds like a really fun trip! We actually head to Hawaii in about 20 days so that is very exciting! Did you stay at Aulani?

It looks like you encountered some interesting people on your first day! Disgruntled husband, barefoot drunk woman on skyliner! LOL Hope she didn't have to use the bathroom when on it!

Looking forward to more!

 

[erinburrsir]

The disgruntled husband should have had some Mickey ice-cream, then maybe he'd relax lol

Those are some great photos!

 

[sheri18]

Following along. I have 3 sons also..couldn’t imagine traveling with them by myself at that age..but what wonderful memories..mine are all grown with kids of their own..so now I travel with them and the grandkids