Bring on CarsLand! A Fun-Filled Mother-Daughter Birthday Trip! FINAL UPDATES 9/8!!!!

[RGirl]

Going Wide Right!​

We were up at 7:00 on Friday and REALLY excited! Today we had early entry at 8:00 at CA! We were out the door at 7:30.

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We were ready to try the much-touted “Wide Right” technique to ride RSR this morning! As I understood it, we needed to go to the main entrance to CA and stay to the RIGHT, and continue to stay to the RIGHT as the CMs walked us from rope drop to Carsland. We were excited as we headed through DTD to CA.

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Before we knew it, we were at the rope! We were all the way to the right behind one other family. We got to talking with them, and they were doing Wide Right too. We met up with them 3 or 4 times over the course of our trip.

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Soon the RSR CMs were marching towards us.

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The CMs carried a “rope” with gasoline tank handles at the ends and started walking us towards Carsland and RSR. The anticipation was building!

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As we walked, a couple of people tried to crowd past us, but the dad in the family in front of us and I were both “walking wide” as well - they were NOT going to get past us! We were moving at a brisk clip, and before we knew it we were heading into the RSR queue.

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We were the second family in line and made it into the first car of the day!

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Up Next: Going Wide Right! (cont.)

 

[RGirl]

Going Wide Right! (cont.)​

Want to go for a ride with us? (If you don’t want to know what this attraction is like before you visit someday, scroll past the rest of this update.) First we enjoyed a spin through Ornament Valley with soaring music.

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Then we turned inside and nearly collided with Mack!

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The Sheriff came out and warned us to slow down - “you’re not racing yet!”

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Mater came out and taught us how to tip tractors.

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This combine (is that what these farm machines are called??) scared us, and we sped up the pace!

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We turned into Radiator Springs (I think I got better pics later, so will post those in another update). Lightening and some girl Car (seriously - I do NOT know the Cars - I’ve been looking up the names as I type ) wished us luck in the race.

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And we veered to the left to get our tires replaced at Luigi’s.

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Once we were all spiffed up, we moved on and got a little pep talk from this guy.

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Then we pulled into here…

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And another carful of guests pulled up beside us, and before we knew it, we were OFF on the race!!! I have no pictures of this part because it is FAST and fabulous! We ended our race here where Mater and Lightening talked to us for a bit as we made our way to the unloading spot.

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Another hilarious ride photo.

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Seriously - this is one of the best attractions ever made. Pictures and words can’t do it justice. You MUST go straight to DLR and do it!!!

Up Next: I Guess We Can Leave CarsLand for a Few Minutes

 

[RGirl]

I Guess We Can Leave CarsLand for a Few Minutes​

After our awesome RSR experience, we knew we wanted to head out of CarsLand and head to Paradise Pier. We took a peek at Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree as we walked by, but we weren’t going to waste early entry time on that - we’d be back.

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Willow stopped for a PP photo shoot.

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Soon, we were heading into Paradise Pier.

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Can you guess where we were going???

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TSMM does not hold the same power at CA as it does at DHS. I’m sure the line gets long at busy times of the year, but we have been able to ride this before in the middle of the day with no wait. However, the weather was unseasonably nice, so I figured crowds would be a bit heavier this year (and they were), so we decided to ensure that we had no wait by going ahead and riding at about 8:30. And no, there was no wait at all. Zero.

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There is no cool queue area at the CA version of this attraction like at DHS (I’m guessing because of space and because it just isn’t as necessary). Other than that, the attraction is pretty much the same, I think (as opposed to most other dual-coast attractions, which are almost always a little different). This will show you how crowded it was.

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Of course, we had a great ride! I think we both got our best scores ever - which are woefully bad compared to every other DIS’er.

Up Next: I Guess We Can Leave CarsLand for a Few Minutes (cont.)

 

[RGirl]

I Guess We Can Leave CarsLand for a Few Minutes (cont.)​

It wasn’t 9:00 yet, but I knew we needed to head out of Paradise Pier.

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We got some coffee, cocoa and a chocolate chip muffin and headed to where we understood the FP procurement line to be for RSR - near the entrance to ITtBaB (NOT near RSR).

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We saw this guy heading out to the front of the park for opening at 9:00.

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The line for FPs was growing quickly, but they wouldn’t open the machines until 9.

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We found a spot in line and enjoyed our breakfast while we waited. Soon we had our FPs (for maybe 9:30-10:30, I think?), and we decided to head straight to ToT. As you can see, there was no wait at all here at 9:10 in the morning on a Friday in January.

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Willow was excited, of course!

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We had a great ride! (ToT is the one attraction that I think is better at WDW than DLR - they don’t vary the drop sequences at CA, so it’s pretty much the same ride every time, I think - maybe I’m wrong, but something is different! Also, when you enter the elevator, it doesn’t travel down the hallway to the ride area - it’s already there.)

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On our way to the bathroom after ToT, Willow spotted Frozone - a character we had never met before! Obviously, we stopped! (There was no line - he was just hanging out.)

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It was a great meet! But as soon as we left, Willow realized that we had forgotten to get his autograph - no line means no time to prepare! What did we do??? We turned around and got in line behind the two families that had queued up while Willow was meeting Frozone the first time.

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Up Next: And It’s Back to CarsLand

 

[amandaw]

You know I'm super excited about this post! RSR is one of the big reasons for us going to DLR. It looks so awesome!! I know Reid is going to absolutely love this ride. By the way, just for informative purposes, the blue girl car is Sally and the blue car that gave you the "pep talk" is Doc. I'm going to have to remember your "wide right" tactic.

And I wonder if we did the same next June - wide right to RSR and then TSMM, if we'll have short waits also. I'm hoping so. I think the TSMM lines must get heavy in the summer b/c I've seen some people on here debate whether RSR or TSMM should be done 1st.

I love that y'all met Frozone! He is my favorite character from the Incredibles. I've been known around my house to randomly yell out, "Honeyyyy, where's my super suit?" We also met him once @ DHS but the he had to leave right before it was our turn.

I'm seriously going to have to start re-reading this TR now that I know we're going to DLR next year. I need to take notes! I'm also going to show it to Ed and Reid.

More, more, more!!

 

[hstrickland]

Cars Land looks way cool!!! When my parents went last year, they had a ball...and it was just the two of them. They kept talking about Lightening McQueen riding up and down the streets. Now I see what they were talking about. How awesome is that??!! I wouldn't be surprised if WDW does that eventually. If not, they should!

And how about Toy Story No wait??!! Are you kidding? Weird, isn't it? Wish that was the case at DHS! It's one of our very favorite rides, and as you know, there's ALWAYS a wait.

One day, one day, one day....we'll make it out there! I hope! But the price of a family of 5 flying to California would cost more than the actual Disney Land trip One day!

 

[petals]

joining in alot late and catching up..

How cool that you had characters greet you when you arrived at the hotel!

Your DD looks fab in her Belle dress

The monorail pool looks so cool!

Your Minnie breakfast sounds and looks like it was awesome. You saw so many characters!

Willow is very brave with her ride choices.. I'm alot older and won't ride the coasters or TOT

Carsland looks amazing. I'm not sure i'm brave enough to try the racers... may see how fast they are when I get there

 

[RGirl]

You know I'm super excited about this post! RSR is one of the big reasons for us going to DLR. It looks so awesome!! I know Reid is going to absolutely love this ride. By the way, just for informative purposes, the blue girl car is Sally and the blue car that gave you the "pep talk" is Doc. I'm going to have to remember your "wide right" tactic.

The Wide Right is legendary here on the DIS - it is VERY effective. Reid will LOVE this ride - it is one of the best Disney has ever done, I think.

And I wonder if we did the same next June - wide right to RSR and then TSMM, if we'll have short waits also. I'm hoping so. I think the TSMM lines must get heavy in the summer b/c I've seen some people on here debate whether RSR or TSMM should be done 1st.

Lines will definitely be much longer in the summer, but if you take full advantage of early entry and always go early, you should get to do everything you want. At least I hope - I'll let you know next month!

I love that y'all met Frozone! He is my favorite character from the Incredibles. I've been known around my house to randomly yell out, "Honeyyyy, where's my super suit?" We also met him once @ DHS but the he had to leave right before it was our turn.

It was fun to meet him - amazing that after all our character meets we still had some first on this trip!

I'm seriously going to have to start re-reading this TR now that I know we're going to DLR next year. I need to take notes! I'm also going to show it to Ed and Reid.

I hope they are excited for the trip!

More, more, more!!

Sorry for the long delay - I have been sick for months. Going to try to get this thing moving since we leave in two weeks!!!

 

[RGirl]

Cars Land looks way cool!!! When my parents went last year, they had a ball...and it was just the two of them. They kept talking about Lightening McQueen riding up and down the streets. Now I see what they were talking about. How awesome is that??!! I wouldn't be surprised if WDW does that eventually. If not, they should!

CarsLand is really blow-you-away good. I hope they keep it at just DLR - I like that the two coasts have some things specific to them and not found at the other coast.

And how about Toy Story No wait??!! Are you kidding? Weird, isn't it? Wish that was the case at DHS! It's one of our very favorite rides, and as you know, there's ALWAYS a wait.

Well, it certainly was made less difficult because of the time of year, but CA has a LOT to offer as far as rides, so I just don't think it gets the same level as popularity as at DHS where there aren't that many other choices (especially for families with smaller kids).

One day, one day, one day....we'll make it out there! I hope! But the price of a family of 5 flying to California would cost more than the actual Disney Land trip One day!

Ugh - I know. That airfare situation is ROUGH! One of the reasons we are traveling by car this summer is for the adventure, but the other is to avoid more airfare and save up miles in hopes of getting another airfare-free trip to WDW in 2015.

joining in alot late and catching up..

Not late at all! Thanks for joining in!!!

How cool that you had characters greet you when you arrived at the hotel!

That was such a surprise!

Your DD looks fab in her Belle dress

Awww - thanks!

The monorail pool looks so cool!

It is a great pool complex - can't wait to be there again next month!!!!

Your Minnie breakfast sounds and looks like it was awesome. You saw so many characters!

We had so much fun - really a great way to enjoy brunch.

Willow is very brave with her ride choices.. I'm alot older and won't ride the coasters or TOT

I dread the day that she learns there are true thrill rides out there - I can do all the Disney rides, but I don't think I could handle a lot of the really big thrill rides in other parks.

Carsland looks amazing. I'm not sure i'm brave enough to try the racers... may see how fast they are when I get there

Oh, I hope you try RSR - it is just a fabulous ride and so incredibly well-themed.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

somehow I missed this update! what??!? i'm glad I saw it because it was awesome!!! RSR looks so fun! I can't wait to try it now.....of course, I've got quite a long time until we're going to cali, but still....

the frozone meet looked fun. we love the part in the movie where he can't find his super suit and tells his wife he needs it for the greater good. I often tell DH that i'm "the greatest good you're ever gonna get!"

I like how the characters just seem to wander around the DL. it's cool how you all just seem to run into them randomly.

willow looks like she's having an awesome morning!

 

[RGirl]

somehow I missed this update! what??!? i'm glad I saw it because it was awesome!!! RSR looks so fun! I can't wait to try it now.....of course, I've got quite a long time until we're going to cali, but still....

Hi Lori!!!! You will love RSR soooo much - it is amazing!

the frozone meet looked fun. we love the part in the movie where he can't find his super suit and tells his wife he needs it for the greater good. I often tell DH that i'm "the greatest good you're ever gonna get!"

I love that - awesome!!!!

I like how the characters just seem to wander around the DL. it's cool how you all just seem to run into them randomly.

There are definitely scheduled meets, but it's much less obvious. And the fact that you still run into characters without handlers or PP is pretty cool. You don't feel like you have to find out where/when the meets are (at least in the slow season), because you are bound to stumble across them.

willow looks like she's having an awesome morning!

She really just had such a great trip - clearly, it makes a big difference to not have the heat and crowds! Kinda scared for what our experience will be next month.....

Hold onto your butt - going to post another update!

 

[RGirl]

And It’s Back to CarsLand​

After we finally made it to the bathroom, we headed straight back to ToT.

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But we weren’t there to ride, just passing through, and grabbed some of these because we could.

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You guessed it - we were heading back to CarsLand! More pictures of this place with which I am now obsessed (interesting given that I’ve only seen the first movie and by “seeing it,” I mean I’ve been in the same room while it’s been playing).

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How can you not love little touches like this????

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The Cozy Cone is now my favorite CS establishment - because it’s so ridiculously adorable! Who cares what they’re serving, I want to go there!

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Look at the fence!

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Okay - we eventually moved on. We thought we could fit in a spin on Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree before using our RSR FPs.

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A nice view of the horribly drenching Grizzly River Run.

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Now, I thought this ride looked pretty silly - like a time-waster or something to do when you aren’t riding RSR. And I guess it kind of is, but honestly, we had a LOT more fun on this than I expected!

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Up next: And It’s Back to CarsLand (cont.)

 

[RGirl]

And It’s Back to CarsLand (cont.)​

When we exited Mater’s ride, our FPs for RSR were ready to go, so we headed over there - it was 10:00 at this point. Yep - we had only been in the park 2 hours. What a great morning!

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Now, I had noticed a sign earlier that had indicated that 7 was the magic age for using the single-rider line, so we stopped to ask a CM before entering the FP queue. Yep - 7 was the number. As we went through the queue, we talked about what the single-rider line was - i.e., we wouldn’t ride together, etc. - and Willow was keen to give it a try. But for now, we were riding together! So we made our way through the queue.

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The regular queue was already packed (as it pretty much always is, EXCEPT during early entry when you are in the first car ).

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Willow was CRAZY for this attraction. I know it surpassed ToT in her ranking, probably tied with EE.

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When we exited, we talked some more about single rider, made a very specific plan about where Willow would wait when she got off, what to do in every possible circumstance, and decided to give it a try! This was a short wait at 10:15 in the morning!

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And we ended up in the same car - one in front and one in back. Willow was psyched about that.

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We got off the ride at 10:30, and you totally know that we turned around and did the single-rider line again.

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Regular queue.

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We got different cars this time. As you can see, Willow did not feel as comfortable living it up being in a car separate from me. (I’m happy to report, however, that later, she tried it again, and had a great time.)

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Oddly, she was not at all nervous about waiting for me on the other end. And was psyched to jump out at me when I came off the ride. She had had fun watching the ride photos pop up on the screens while waiting for me. So our first two single-rider experiences had definitely made Miss Willow a BIG FAN of the single-rider line. She was hoping for one at every attraction we did from then on.

Up Next: We Leave CarsLand and Return in About 6 Seconds

 

[RGirl]

We Leave CarsLand and Return in About 6 Seconds​

After all that fun on RSR, we needed to head through a bug’s land and back to Hollywood Land for an appointment with Terror. It was about 10:50 at this point, and our ToT FPs were ready to go!

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We had another great ride, of course!

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And, you know what we did next - back to CarsLand! By this point, we were feeling a bit hungry, so there was nowhere else we could go except Cozy Cone, of course! We chose to visit the PopCone.

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Willow got us a table while I waited in line.

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Got a few pics of the fabulous Cones.

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Willow was happy to learn they were featuring bacon-cheddar popcorn!

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We really enjoyed sitting in the sunshine, eating popcorn and just taking a little break. When we were finished, Mater had come out to the meet-and-greet spot by the Cozy Cone, so we had to go say hi to him.

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You will NEVER guess what we did next!!!!

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Yep, we totally hit up the single-rider line again!

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We were VERY thankful for the single-rider option!

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We got separate cars again this time.

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But Willow enjoyed her ride a lot more than she did the first time we were separated.

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McQueen was out and about when we exited.

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But Willow wanted to browse the shops a bit.

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We didn’t purchase anything here, I don’t think. This was not a souvenir trip for us - Willow didn’t have any money, and we knew we would be back this summer. (Willow is currently working on building up her souvenir bank right now.)

Up Next: Something Other than RSR

 

[shan23877]

What an awesome morning! Willow and I are kindred snack spirits, I'm certain of it. That popcorn sounds awesome!

yay for single rider! Maybe I'll be brave enough to let Maddie try it. It would sure make getting her 4,000 TT rides in much easier!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[hstrickland]

You really captured the spirit of Carsland! And the single-rider line is such a great thing. You're very fortunate that Willow likes all those big rides...and even more blessed that you don't get sick! I really need to persuade Bill into a trip to the West Coast Gotta do it! How much time do you think you need at DL to see everything???

Have a great Saturday!
Heather

 

[STLMickeyMom]

wow--willow is so brave to do single rider! go willow! and you are so brave to let her do it! go mama! i'm glad she was old enough to do it because that looks like an awesome way to spend the morning!!

hey! i'm glad to see you in a PP picture!

carsland looks so awesomely themed! I love all the little touches and signs everywhere. those flowers are so cute! and I love the cones with the snacks (that popcorn sounds yummy!). soooo fun!!

I like your ToT ride photo. the guy in the front row does NOT look like he's having a fun ride!

I can't believe your next trip is in 2 weeks! that's close! i'm so jealous. in two weeks we get to make fastpass selections so I guess that will have to console me!

 

[amandaw]

WOW! What an awesome morning!! I can't get over how many rides on RSR y'all were able to do!

The Cozy Cones are just adorable! I can't wait to try out some food there. Hoping they have the bacon cheddar popcorn when we go. YUM!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Love the pictures!!

 

[RGirl]

What an awesome morning! Willow and I are kindred snack spirits, I'm certain of it. That popcorn sounds awesome!

I knew you would love that popcorn!

yay for single rider! Maybe I'll be brave enough to let Maddie try it. It would sure make getting her 4,000 TT rides in much easier!

You know, I felt pretty okay about it - it helped that the parks weren't crowded, and I was very confident that she knew exactly what to do under just about any circumstance. It's amazing how much they have matured in the last year.

Can't wait to hear more!

You will not be waiting long!

You really captured the spirit of Carsland! And the single-rider line is such a great thing. You're very fortunate that Willow likes all those big rides...and even more blessed that you don't get sick! I really need to persuade Bill into a trip to the West Coast Gotta do it! How much time do you think you need at DL to see everything???

You really need to go!!!! Honestly, you can thoroughly enjoy DLR in 3 days (at least when crowds are low), although you will not regret having a much longer stay as well.

wow--willow is so brave to do single rider! go willow! and you are so brave to let her do it! go mama! i'm glad she was old enough to do it because that looks like an awesome way to spend the morning!!

You know, she has matured a lot in the last year - I felt quite comfortable letting her do it and trusted that she knew what to do under various circumstances. It worked out very well. It definitely helped that the parks weren't crowded though.

hey! i'm glad to see you in a PP picture!

I make it in a few of them!

carsland looks so awesomely themed! I love all the little touches and signs everywhere. those flowers are so cute! and I love the cones with the snacks (that popcorn sounds yummy!). soooo fun!!

I am OBSESSED with the Cozy Cone Motel!

I like your ToT ride photo. the guy in the front row does NOT look like he's having a fun ride!

I always love looking at everyone else in the ToT ride photos - there are usually some pretty hilarious looks on some faces.

I can't believe your next trip is in 2 weeks! that's close! i'm so jealous. in two weeks we get to make fastpass selections so I guess that will have to console me!

I can't believe it either! I don't feel very prepared!! FP+ selections! Awesome!!!! I am confident you have everything well mapped out.

WOW! What an awesome morning!! I can't get over how many rides on RSR y'all were able to do!

When we like a ride, we REALLY like a ride!

The Cozy Cones are just adorable! I can't wait to try out some food there. Hoping they have the bacon cheddar popcorn when we go. YUM!

I love that place so much - it's just adorable!!!

Love the pictures!!

Thanks!