Escape From Craziness Part II to Fireworks, Food and A DVC Tour - A June 2018 Trip Report - Completed 3/30

[cstorm65]

I’m really enjoying your report! You really fill your days, which is impressive with two little ones!

Thanks for reading along! Long afternoon breaks are the key for us! Our boys get up and go to the parks pretty easy in the mornings so we take advantage of this, they just have to be back for a nap by about 1:00! haha

 

[cstorm65]

Day 6 - Part 5 - Exploring World Showcase

We headed inside the International Gateway at 6:30 PM and our plan was to just spend a little time around the World Showcase. Our first destination was something we hadn’t done since April and I’s first trip way back in about 2010 or something like that. Here’s a hint:

If you guessed The American Adventure you are right! I wished we could have seen Voices of Liberty before, but they were done for the day by this point.

Anyways, we headed inside for a 6:45 PM show. We were hoping the boys would be ok here, but I really wanted to watch and so we had the iPads at the ready. But at 6:40 we headed inside!

DS6 wanted a picture by all of these flags!

I didn’t make any specific notes, but I’m sure we had to use the iPad’s to keep the boys busy and quiet. I enjoyed the show and was very happy to get to see it again after such a long hiatus. I like getting into history and stuff like that. DW can take it or leave it, she might have even got a little nap in!

It had rained some while we were in the show, but it appeared to be leaving the area when we came out. At about 7:15 we stopped to look around Germany a little bit and some of the cool stuff they had up, even a toy soldier.

The highlight of our night though was coming as DS2 found the drums at the Refreshment Outpost and he had the time of his life. By the end he was saying that the drum was, “My Drum” and talking about taking it home. Oh boy! We might have a future drummer on our hands.

We finally got him away from these and headed over to China which DS6 loved! For some reason he is enamored with Chinese stuff. I think just because it is so far away and they must have talked about it at school at some point or something.

He especially was in love with all the swords. In the same way we couldn’t get DS2 away from the drums we couldn’t get DS6 away from the swords!

Up Next: Was This Our Last IllmuiNations?​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I didn’t make any specific notes, but I’m sure we had to use the iPad’s to keep the boys busy and quiet. I enjoyed the show and was very happy to get to see it again after such a long hiatus. I like getting into history and stuff like that. DW can take it or leave it, she might have even got a little nap in!

How long is that show? We haven't seen it yet. I had heard it was long.

He especially was in love with all the swords. In the same way we couldn’t get DS2 away from the drums we couldn’t get DS6 away from the swords!

Oh dear!

Gwen is playing drums this year. So, far it isn't too bad! So far....

 

[cstorm65]

How long is that show? We haven't seen it yet. I had heard it was long.

I think between 30 and 40 minutes. Pretty long if I remember correctly.

Oh dear!

I know! haha

Gwen is playing drums this year. So, far it isn't too bad! So far....

So far...haha! We'll see how long you say that!

 

[cstorm65]

Hey everyone. I hope you all had a great holiday season. Just wanted to let you know I went ahead and started a trip report on the Royal Caribbean section of the boards for our cruise this past summer. I've got a backlog of stuff to report on and am going to try to get that going as well. Would love for you to join us over there too!

Escape from Home Life to July 4th on the High Seas​

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[cstorm65]

Day 6 - Part 6 - Was This Our Last IllumiNations?

By about 7:40 we had made our way over to Mexico. This is always a fun pavilion to explore, DS2 enjoyed messing with all of the big hats! Ok, I might have enjoyed it too! haha

After exploring a bit we headed over for a ride on Gran Fiesta Tour. I wish more pavilions had little rides like this. It makes exploring the World Showcase with kids so much better. I mean they don’t have to be E-Ticket attractions, but just a simple boat ride like this is nice to break things up a bit!

Anyways, we were off on our voyage.

We actually had a thrilling moment during this ride. The weight in our boat was not very proportional and as we took off we all thought the boat was going down! I mean we were about one inch from water coming in the boat. Luckily some guy in the back row slid to the other side of the boat and we balanced back up enough to stabilize things. It was an interesting moment though for sure. Some guy behind us said “we almost all had a free trip if this boat had gone down”!

After the ride we came out to this awesome sunset:

We walked around to the plaza as earlier in the day I had been able to get us an IllumiNations FP after using our 3 FP’s at Magic Kingdom. It was about 8:15 so we had a little time to get around there. We had a shoe kicked off on the walk, but DS6 was on top of the situation.

We also stopped to pick up a popcorn refill before we went to the viewing area. DS6 was the one excited about it this time!

DW’s must have made her collage of the day at this point:

We finally made it to the viewing area at 8:40. We didn’t have a spot right on the fence for viewing, but we were right behind that front line. I would recommend arriving 30 minutes before so you are far enough up in the line when they open the reserved area to get right on the fence.

We got some Disney Magic though as a guy and his wife were on the fence in front of us. He actually moved behind her to where he could still see and said we could let the boys stand up on the fence. So we were able to let DS6 stand on the fence and have the stroller right behind so DS2 could stand in his seat and see. That way we were blocking anyone by the boys could see. It was very nice of that guy!

I didn’t take a lot of pictures as I just wanted to enjoy what would be our last time viewing IllumiNations since it’s now gone.

I will definitely miss IllumiNations, it is one of my favorite things from our first trip that got us hooked on Disney. I mean I’m sure HarmonioUS will be great when it starts up, but IllumiNations will be missed!

We were able to get out of the park by 9:25 or so at the International Gateway and it is so nice after this to be able to walk back and not have to fight transportation crowds. Before long we were passing Stormalong Bay at night...we’d be there tomorrow!

What a great walk this is. We were back to the Dolphin by 9:40 or so and got the boys in bed quickly. We would have to be out in time in the morning to change resorts. Which will be interesting since the Dolphin is not a Disney resort so I can’t just have bell services move our bags.

Up Next: An Interesting Resort Change​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I went ahead and started a trip report on the Royal Caribbean section of the boards for our cruise this past summer. I've got a backlog of stuff to report on and am going to try to get that going as well. Would love for you to join us over there too!

Heading over there now!

After exploring a bit we headed over for a ride on Gran Fiesta Tour. I wish more pavilions had little rides like this. It makes exploring the World Showcase with kids so much better.

I agree! Even as an adult, it is nice to have a ride or two. Maybe people would drink a little less.

We actually had a thrilling moment during this ride. The weight in our boat was not very proportional and as we took off we all thought the boat was going down! I mean we were about one inch from water coming in the boat. Luckily some guy in the back row slid to the other side of the boat and we balanced back

Yikes!

I mean I’m sure HarmonioUS will be great when it starts up, but IllumiNations will be missed!

Can they change the name? I don't love the name.

Which will be interesting since the Dolphin is not a Disney resort so I can’t just have bell services move our bags.

OH no! Disney does make that super easy with moving bags for you. It really is a great feature that they provide.

 

[cstorm65]

Heading over there now!

I agree! Even as an adult, it is nice to have a ride or two. Maybe people would drink a little less.

I do think they are attempting this with Remy's ride and the thing having to do with Mary Poppins, so hopefully those will become more of a thing in the future.

Yikes!

It was interesting for sure!

Can they change the name? I don't love the name.

I don't either right off. I think it looks weird and I assume it will be a US based show in the World Showcase, also kind of weird. I don't know, I guess we'll find out, I'm sure it will be great.

OH no! Disney does make that super easy with moving bags for you. It really is a great feature that they provide.

I know. This is something I didn't think through until a week or so before our trip because on all of our other trips they just move our stuff for us. We'll see how it works!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Cape May Café! I know it's a favorite of your family.

I enjoyed Illuminations even if it wasn't my favorite nighttime show... but it will be very strange to not see it again! I'm glad you got to enjoy a final viewing!

Oh dear, I hope your transfer wasn't too difficult! I didn't even think about the fact that since the Swan and Dolphin aren't "Disney" resorts that they won't transfer the bags for you!

 

[cstorm65]

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Cape May Café! I know it's a favorite of your family.

Such a favorite! We've always had such good meals there and this time was no different!

I enjoyed Illuminations even if it wasn't my favorite nighttime show... but it will be very strange to not see it again! I'm glad you got to enjoy a final viewing!

I know! I will miss it, but I'm the type of person who is also optimistic about what's coming and hoping it will be great as well.

Oh dear, I hope your transfer wasn't too difficult! I didn't even think about the fact that since the Swan and Dolphin aren't "Disney" resorts that they won't transfer the bags for you!

I didn't think about it either until a couple of weeks before the trip. At that point I was just thankful the resort we were switching to was right next door!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 - Part 1 - An Interesting Resort Change

Our plan this morning was to sleep just a bit, although sleeping past 7:30 in our house is a good thing with DS2. He’s an early riser and he wakes up happy and completely ready for the day. DW and DS6 are definitely not that way. They need time to get woken up. I’m somewhere in the middle. DS3 got up at 7:45 and so DW and I got up and finished up our packing so we could get the bags over to the Yacht Club. As we were packing the boys enjoyed this view for the last time:

By about 9:00 we had everything ready to go and laid out on the bed.

As I said in the last update I didn’t know if bell services would transfer since the Dolphin wasn’t a Disney resort, so we just decided to walk our stuff over since it was a short trip. I also had my computer with me and it always makes me a little nervous sending it with Bell Services.

We left out about 9:20 towards the Yacht Club. The first part of our plan was for us all to walk over to the Yacht Club. I pulled our two large suitcases while everyone else grabbed their carryon’s. I would make a second trip back to the Dolphin to grab the rest of our stuff. Anyways we were off to the Yacht Club, passing the Boardwalk entrance on the way.

By 9:40 DW and the boys were settled into the Yacht Club Lobby while I went back over to the Dolphin to get the rest of our stuff. They posted up on a couch with all our stuff!

[img[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0...1uum-EaZL7DA-4IaLiYFZhGw=w1078-h1436-no[/img]

I took the stroller with me which allowed me to load up our two bags that were left on their and throw our grocery stuff in the bottom.I’m sure it was a crazy sight and I should have taken a picture of the stroller with all of that stuff, but I forgot!

I got a few final pictures from inside the Dolphin room before I checked out on the TV around 10:05.

I enjoyed one final walk away from the Dolphin. These buildings are just so cool to look at!

Before long I was back here:

At about 10:20 we dropped all our bags at bell services until our room was ready later and headed to the bus stop.

We were at the bus stop at 10:25 and a bus to Hollywood Studios came at 10:28, awesome! DS2 wanted to sit at the back so DW went with him while DS6 and I stayed with the stroller.

By 10:45 we had arrived at Hollywood Studios ready for a little bit of park touring until our room was ready!

Up Next: “I Want to See Stormtroopers Again”​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I enjoyed one final walk away from the Dolphin. These buildings are just so cool to look at!

Glad the switch went ok. Probably only a little more than taking it down to bell services yourself.

 

[cstorm65]

Glad the switch went ok. Probably only a little more than taking it down to bell services yourself.

It went fairly well. Of course having the stroller to load a bunch of stuff on helped! haha

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 - Part 2 - “I Want to See Stormtroopers Again”

We headed inside Hollywood Studios at about 10:50 and shortly after were here:

We wanted to let the boys watch the March of the First Order as we’d seen it before, but had never actually watched the short little thing they do at the stage. Let’s just say DS6 loved it.

DS6 wanted to know when we could watch them again! We said they might come out again later which satisfied him for the time being. At 11:15 we headed in to watch the Disney Junior show that started just five minutes after that.

The boys loved this show, especially DS2.

After Disney Junior we headed down Sunset Boulevard for some more fun!

We weren’t riding Tower of Terror at this point, but had FP’s for me and DS6 to go here:

We had a great ride and DS6 loved it. He’s definitely a thrill ride fan!

It was about 12:20 at this point and so we headed for some lunch. The options, as most of you know, weren’t many at Hollywood Studios at the time as this was before Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge. So we decided to head into the ABC Commissary. It was certainly crowded here.

We did mobile order here and the food was ready about the time DW found us a table. I headed up to the mobile order area to grab the food. Despite the crowds no one seemed to be using mobile order and I was just able to walk up and grab our tray once my phone said it was ready.

DW and I were going to share the chicken, shrimp and fish platter while the boys both got cheeseburger kids meals. All of the food was ok, nothing spectacular. I remember us saying the fish and shrimp wasn’t as good as Columbia Harbour House, but not bad. DS2 really seemed to enjoy the french fries which was pretty normal for him on this trip.

After lunch we headed out and was had a FP for Star Tours at 1:20, but it was only about 1:00 so we decided to go in and try to meet Olaf. The wait only took us about 10 minutes. DS2 was excited as he likes Olaf.

We made it to Olaf in just about 10 minutes and to our surprise DS2 did not want to leave DW’s arms. He would say “hi” to Olaf, but did not want to be let down next to him. He had done great with all of the characters so far and did well the rest of the trip. So, not sure what had him not wanting to get down to see Olaf this time, but we got our family pictures anyway.

At 1:20 DS6 and I got in line for Star Tours and waited just about 5 minutes with our FP.

We got a child swap, but DW said she didn’t want to do it right then. She’s not a huge fan of simulator’s, especially right after lunch. We headed back towards the front of the park as there wasn’t a whole lot else we had planned as we were just kind of waiting on our room to be ready at Yacht Club. We did notice some major sidewalk construction around Star Tours.

We shopped around the park entrance for just a bit and found some neat items:

We were wasting a little time because at 2:00 the Stormtroopers were coming out again and DS6 had kept telling us, “I want to see the stormtroopers again.” So, we were able to make that happen!

It was about 2:20 by the time we were done and we headed out of the park to make our way back over to the Yacht Club and hopefully get into our room pretty quickly!

Up Next: “Mom...It’s Goofy”​

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I didn't expect that you'd move all of your luggage yourself! I'm impressed!

I didn't realize they had a bus to HS from the Epcot-area resorts! I thought it was just the Friendship boat! Good to know.

I really hope Olaf is still meeting in HS when we go in May - my daughter LOVES Olaf!

 

[cstorm65]

I didn't expect that you'd move all of your luggage yourself! I'm impressed!

Well, I'm telling you I looked like a caravan with stuff piled on top of the stroller! The double stroller came in handy for sure!

I didn't realize they had a bus to HS from the Epcot-area resorts! I thought it was just the Friendship boat! Good to know.

This was during the time period that summer where the Friendship boats were only running to the Swan & Dolphin because they were rebuilding the bridges. That is why they had busses running to Hollywood Studios!

I really hope Olaf is still meeting in HS when we go in May - my daughter LOVES Olaf!

Fingers crossed for you!!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 - Part 3 - “Mom...It’s Goofy”

We were heading out of the park, of course after all of the Stormtrooper stuff DS6 wanted to check out the light sabers!

Umm...what a cool shirt too!

We headed out of the park and looked a bit at the Skyliner construction before heading back to the Yacht Club. Of course this is old news now!

While we were looking DS6 said, “Mom...It’s Goofy!” And sure enough, Goofy was meeting outside of the park and there wasn’t a line at all. So it was time for DS6 to meet Goof!

We also saw a Photopass photographer in front of the entrance:

We saw a Yacht/Beach bus leaving as we were walking up so we decided to walk back. Why not get a few more steps in! We also weren’t planning on a park later that day so the walking would be good for us!

DS6 got a kick out of trying to sneak up on lizards while we walked back.

He also wanted to point out the Dolphin on our way back that we had just finished staying at:

After about 10 minutes we were back to our home for the last week of our trip:

DS6 was excited!

This globe in the lobby is one of my favorite things in any Disney resort lobby area!

It was about 3:00 at this point and we hadn’t gotten our room ready text yet so we were going to give it a few minutes before going to the front desk to ask. So, how long would it take?

Up Next: Yacht Club Room Tour & Stormalong Bay​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 7 - Part 4 - Yacht Club Room Tour & Stormalong Bay

We settled into the lobby for a few minutes, but I ended up going to the front desk at about 3:15 just to check on our room status. As it turned out she said the room was getting cleaned right then and by 3:30 I had gotten the text that our room was ready. We were in #1112, on the first floor, just as we requested. Our location was fantastic. We were literally a 20-30 second walk to the quick service spot where we could refill out mugs! Score!!!

We headed down to the room and were instantly wowed! The renovated rooms were great. The hardwood floors were great, the sliding door into the bathroom was also fantastic and much quiet than opening a traditional door. Finally, all of the storage spaces in the room were so nice to have so we could keep the room relatively clean! Here are the pictures:

There were so many outlets and USB charging ports in this room! Disney knocked it out of the park!

DW decided we could relax on the patio a bit and leave the boys in the room! haha

We also had this door right next to ours? Not sure what the “Captain’s Deck” is...

The boys took a quick rest...

...but what is on everyone’s mind when you check in at the Yacht Club:

That right...we were going to spend some quality time at Stormalong Bay! I mean what else is there to do when you check in here or the Beach Club? We headed over, got our wristbands and began the fun. Of course DS2 is a little OCD and has to have water shoes on before he goes swimming!

I wish I was better about getting pictures at the pool, but it always seems like I don’t do a very good job! We had a great time though and will spend some more time there in the next update!

Up Next: This Patio is Going to be Awesome​

 

[DLo]

YC is one of my favorite WDW resorts. Hope you enjoyed your stay .

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

That topiary is long gone as well!

We headed down to the room and were instantly wowed! The renovated rooms were great. The hardwood floors were great, the sliding door into the bathroom was also fantastic and much quiet than opening a traditional door. Finally, all of the storage spaces in the room were so nice to have so we could keep the room relatively clean! Here are the pictures:

We love the Yacht Club. It is our new favorite. The rooms are great, the pool is great, the location is great.

DW decided we could relax on the patio a bit and leave the boys in the room! haha

Seems logical to me...

Of course DS2 is a little OCD and has to have water shoes on before he goes swimming!

His tiny toes!!! Hey, whatever works for him.