Escape From Craziness to Pandora, Po Boys, and Oppressive Heat - Finished & New TR Link 12/28

[Dentam]

Just wanted to let you know that I've been enjoying your report! Your family is too cute!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am falling behind on everyones Trip Reports!!!!

We timed it just right on this day and walking into the park at 7:50 is perfect timing probably for everything unless you just want to ride Seven Dwarfs, in which case you’d want to be a little earlier.

Chilling and heading to bed early paid off.

DS5 wanted to ride Space, but when I pointed the line out he changed his tune and said, “Daddy, that is a Loonnggg Line!” I couldn’t agree more!

It always looks like that! They need to do a major refurb of the whole thing once Tron is open.

I love that he reconizes that that is too long to wait! You know you are raising them right if they can tell if the line is worth waiting gin.

We’ve really grown to like the circus area. It is a great place to come early in the day and get on those two rides easily and we also like the meet and greets here which we have plans to come back to later if we can make it!

It's a great area. Very well themed.

 

[Minnie17]

Love love love this trip report!!!!

 

[cstorm65]

Hey everyone. It's been so long. It has been a long hard fall. I am the Head Football Coach and Athletic Director at our high school and just got out of football season. It was a little longer than normal because we made it all the way to the State Championship Game. Unfortunately we got beat 35-28, but it was such a fund season. Of course fun also means busy in the football coaching business which doesn't leave a lot of time for trip reporting. Well, I'm going to get this finished, especially since we aren't taking another trip until the summer of 2020, so I need some "Disney" stuff to pass the time.

Day 13 - Part 2 - Daddy, Look at My Muscles!

At this point it was only about 8:50 and we had finished the Storybook Circus area so we headed over to do one of DW’s favorite rides. But first she wanted a selfie.

Now, onto one of her favorite rides:

And the boys were ready for this one too.

After a ride Under the Sea we headed over for a quick snack here:

DS wanted a picture before heading in to eat.

We were after one of these. We just got one to share and in hindsight we should have gotten two. The boys loved it!

DS5 was enamored with the decor in the seating area.

We also got a LeFou’s Brew to share. DW doesn’t really care for them, but DS5 and I like them.

After our snack we headed over to take a spin on DS1’s favorite ride. Not sure what this face is all about, but he loves the carousel.

It was 9:25 at this point and we had a FP over at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train...still one of our favorite rides.

After the mine train we were heading over to use another FP in Tomorrowland, but DS5 wanted to stop first for a spin on the Tea Cups. He would ride this over and over!And DW won’t ride it, so guess who gets to take him!

At 9:45 we headed to use our next FP here:

It was a fun ride. I tried to give my best scared face since DS5 was trying to drive.

Up Next: This Must Be Like Gran Fiesta Tour​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 13 - Part 3 - This Must Be Like Gran Fiesta Tour

We had just finished a FP over at the Tomorrowland Speedway and we headed back up into the circus area as one of our favorite attractions was not open:

This character greeting place is so much fun and it isn’t often that crowded early in the day. Much to DS5’s dismay we went over to the girls side first and first up was Daisy:

After Daisy it was time to meet the first lady of Disney World!

After we were done with Minnie we hopped back in line for the boys side as the line on that side usually doesn’t build as quick and we met Goofy.

Then it was time for Donald and the lady said Donald was having some trouble with something and would be out later. So I took a pic of the empty set and told DW it must be like the Gran Fiesta Tour today where everyone was just looking for Donald!

We said our goodbye to Storybook Circus for now:

We then headed over to battle the crowds through Fantasyland to get to our FP at Peter Pan.

After our ride on Pan we headed into one our family favorite attractions, Mickey’s Philharmagic!

After we finished Philharmagic the boys were getting hungry after our early morning, so good thing it was almost time for our lunch reservation:

Up Next: Who Knew Chicken Noodle Soup Was Good in the Summer​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 13 - Part 4 - Who Knew Chicken Noodle Soup Was Good in the Summer

It was about 11:10 and we checked in for our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest and were seated about five minutes later. A few shots from around the restaurant:

We had pre-ordered our food which is super easy. DW wanted the kids turkey sandwich and sweet potato fries. She didn’t love the sandwich remarking that it would be better if it had mayo or something on it. It was just dry. But overall the kids meal is a lot of food.

DS5 wanted the grilled cheese and for his side...chicken noodle soup. I’m not a huge soup guy anytime, certainly not when it was 100 degrees outside, but DS5 loves his chicken noodle soup and this was no different. He ate every bite of it. The grilled cheese was good as well. This is the same thing we got DS1, except fries instead of soup and he ate all of his grilled cheese as well.

I got the French Dip sandwich. It was ok. There wasn’t a ton of meat on it and a lot of bread, so the au jous helped that a little bit. I think I’d get the Croque Monsieur over this in the future.

Snapped a pic of DS5 as we were leaving at around 12:00.

We ran by Space Mountain on our way out and I took a ride with a final FP we had and picked up a CS for DS5 and someone to use later this evening. Not sure where my ride pic is???

We did get to stop and watch the parade on our way out. It is always fun to catch this parade in action, that song is so catchy.

We headed onto the buses and you can see if was getting cloudy in this pic, but you can also see I caught DS5 in a yawn...we were all having so much fun, but worn out as well!

We got to the bus stop at 12:45 and waited 12 minutes for a bus which put us back to French Quarter at 1:10. We were in our room and taking naps not too long after that.

Up Next: Cloudy and 85 Degrees...Perfect!​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 13 - Part 5 - Cloudy and 85 Degrees...Perfect!

We spent our final afternoon at Disney World taking naps and swimming at the French Quarter pool. It was a great time of rest before one final night of fun for this trip.

We headed back to the bus stop at 5:00 and the Magic Kingdom bus was pulling up...perfect timing! We got off of the bus at 5:15 at the Magic Kingdom and you can see there were some dark clouds around.

We headed into the park and our first stop was to get DS5 a lollipop. He had been asking for one and he had finally earned enough points with good behavior to get himself a reward and this is what he chose.

We then stopped for some Photopass Pics in front of the castle.

After getting some pictures we headed back to use a Fastpass on Big Thunder Mountain. DS5 and I rode first, then DW and DS5 rode after.

This picture is why we go to Disney! DS5's face!!!

After Big Thunder we noticed the rain appeared to be holding off and DS5 and I decided to go on Splash Mountain with a child swap pass we had from earlier. It was about 85 degrees, but cloudy which made this a really nice night for the summer in Florida. Anyways, on to Splash Mountain.

It was a fun ride on Splash as it always and when we got off we headed over to Pecos Bills for dinner. DW got the nachos and she enjoyed them. This is a pretty good meal with all of the things on the fixin’s bar.

I got the fajitas, which is actually a huge meal. It would be a really easy one to split. Again, the fixin’s bar helps this one.

DS5 had corn dogs and DS1 had mac ‘n cheese and they both ate all of it! It was about 6:50 PM at this point and we were ready for some dessert. But we’ll get to that in the next update.

Up Next: A Great Final Night​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

The last day is always bitter sweet but sounds like you are having a great time.

 

[cstorm65]

The last day is always bitter sweet but sounds like you are having a great time.

It is certainly hard sometimes that is the last day. Of course on this trip we knew we were going back at Christmas and again the following summer with our annual passes. It is right now that I'm struggling as we aren't planning on being back until summer of 2020. We have some other fun vacations planned between now and then, but it is still hard not have a set trip on the horizon.

 

[cstorm65]

Day 13 - Part 6 - A Great Final Night

We had just finished our last dinner of the trip at Pecos Bills and were ready to enjoy our last few hours in the parks. Of course we needed some dessert first, I mean, you have to have dessert at Disney World, right?? So where else would we go?

Yes, I had to have one final Dole Whip. I actually had far fewer Dole Whips on this trip than I had on previous trips. For some reason it always was like 9:30 in the morning when we would pass Aloha Isle and that isn’t the greatest time of day for ice cream. Now, I’m not gonna lie, there were times I had one at 9:30 AM, but not every day we were at the Magic Kingdom. After dessert we headed over to take a ride on The Haunted Mansion. Not sure why DS5 was giving a mad face here...probably just messing around.

While in line I talked him into doing a scary face in honor of the Haunted Mansion.

We enjoyed our ride here and then headed over for DW and DS5 to use a child swap pass we still had for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

They had a great ride! I mean Seven Dwarfs is awesome and one of those rides that is just a completely different experience after dark. By this time it was almost 8:00 and I wanted to use a CS we had left on Space Mountain. DS5 hadn’t done it yet on this trip as we weren’t sure he would like it in the dark, but he would not let it die. So we gave in and said he could go with me. Of course this was the FP line we found.

This is one negative to the new FP+ system. These lines seem to happen, especially at ride like this that don’t shut down during weather delays. We had multiple delays during this day which means all of the people who had FP’s for outdoor attractions got one for any other attraction and so often they pick Space Mountain, so of course the FP line backs up. Then, to top it all off, I couldn’t believe my eyes when we got into the loading area and they were only using one track. And we observed this another night on the other track, so I don’t think it was a broken ride or anything, I think they were just trying to run with less staff. I hope that is a not a trend that continues. While we were riding DS1 was doing what he loves...dancing!

And we had a great ride. DS5 ended up loving the ride. So much so that he wanted to go again.

There was photographer in front of Space so DS5 and I stopped to get our picture taken. Before getting in line again.

It was about 9:00 when we walked out of our second ride and the fireworks were just starting. DW and DS1 had found a table in Tomorrowland just next to the Speedway so we all sat down to watch. You can’t see the projections here, but there is no hassle and no crowds to deal with. It was a fun place to watch from.

After the fireworks finished DS5 wanted to take a “spin” on the tea cups. As you may remember DW doesn’t do this ride, so I’m the lucky guy who gets to. Really, I don’t mind. The spinning doesn’t bother me, at least not yet in my life, so for now I enjoy taking him!

After the ride we made our way around the park as DS5 wanted a final ride on Big Thunder Mountain. Of course we had to get some fun shots in Liberty Square on the way.

We waited about 15 minutes to ride Big Thunder at 9:35 and DS5 loved his last ride. I didn’t take any pictures and just enjoyed that last ride of the trip with him.

After our ride I wanted to stop and have a final citrus swirl, but Sunshine Tree Terrace was closed, at 9:50. I mean I thought they might close at 10:00, but the park didn’t close until 11:00. I would think late night ice cream would be popular at Disney World in July. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to have some beignets at the resort to satisfy my late night sweet tooth. We stopped at the confectionary on our way out and grabbed a rice krispie treat for the boys and got our sad faces pic before we left.

We were at the bus stop by 10:20 and the bus came at 10:30. We were back in the room 20 minutes later getting ready for bed. It would be a long travel day tomorrow.

Up Next: We've Already Broken a Lightsaber​

 

[cstorm65]

Day 14 - Part 1 - We’ve Already Broken the Lightsaber

We were all awake by 8:00 or so and I headed down to do a load of laundry. We really like just unpacking clean clothes at home instead of unpacking dirty clothes. And, clean clothes are a lot easier to get back in the suitcases! I stopped through Sassagoula at some point while doing laundry.

At one point I walked back in the room and DS5 wanted to take a picture...why you ask?? To show off that he had broken his lightsaber. At some point in the trip we had gotten him this one for around $10. He wanted a Kylo Ren lightsaber, but we could not ever find one that would fold up and be able to go in our suitcase to get home. He wanted to get this cheap one with good behavior points he earned at some point along the trip. He struggles with the concept of “saving” his points to get something larger.

Well, good thing for DS5 at this point was that he was pretty close to having enough points to do a build your own lightsaber somewhere today. So, we could at least bribe him to be good for the next couple of hours!

DS5 and I did about an hour of swimming here this morning while DW finished up some packing. Then, we headed over towards the lobby once we were all packed up and did resort airline check in at about 11:00. If you are traveling with a lap child you can use the airline check in for your bags, which is still great, but you can’t get boarding passes due to the child. So you don’t have to lug your bags around, but you do have to get in line at the airport to get a boarding pass for everyone.

We didn’t have to leave for the airport until around 2:30, so we were thinking of going to find a few souvenirs at Disney Springs or something, but this was back in the time Disney Springs still had some construction so we decided to go to Epcot instead. We would be able to let DS5 check Mouse Gears for a build your own lightsaber, as long as they had the Kylo Ren supplies.

DS5 had a little cotton candy to finish from the last couple of days and of course we can’t let that go to waste!

We caught an Epcot bus at about 11:30 and were in the park 20 minutes or so later. It was an empty bus!

Of course a few last pics with Spaceship Earth and the fountains.

We headed into Mouse Gears and DW went off in search of DS1’s first set of ears.

While they did that DS5 and I went over and to our surprise they had the Kylo Ren lightsaber materials back in stock. They had been out several days before when we’d been hear, but now we were in business!

After I took that picture he made me re-take it because he was smiling. He wanted it with a mean face!

We finished up with the last minute souvenir shopping before heading off to find some lunch.

Up Next: Now I Can Leave in Peace...I’ve Had Beignets​

 

[MImommy]

I love reading your trip report! Your family is adorable.

 

[cstorm65]

I love reading your trip report! Your family is adorable.

Thanks for reading along!!

 

[cstorm65]

Day 14 - Part 2 - Now I Can Leave in Peace...I’ve Had Beignets

After accomplishing our first goal of the day, finding a Kylo Ren lightsaber, we headed off towards the World Showcase to find our last lunch of the trip.

We headed to the right and through Canada, but that wasn’t our destination.

Instead we were heading to the United Kingdom for some fish and chips!

We got some fish and chips to share. I was wanting to save some room for one last Po Boy from Sassagoula before go and we would share that as well. But we love these fish and chips!

It was about 12:30 and I was a little surprised we got a nice seating spot in the UK looking over the lagoon.

DS5 used this time to get in a little practice with his new lightsaber!

Anyways, this was a great little spot for our last lunch in the parks on this trip. It wasn’t very crowded and the views across the lake were spectacular.

We finished up eating at about 12:50 and headed off towards the front of Epcot. Goodbye to the World Showcase!

We arrived at the bus stop at 1:10 and a bus came in about 10 minutes or so. DS5 was still in love with his lightsabers.

We were back at French Quarter by 1:30. It was the last time we’d get off the bus here at what really was a great resort!

I ordered us a final shrimp po-boy to share, that I forgot to take a picture of, but trust me. It was as great as it was the other times on this trip! And then I had one final Beignet Sundae and because of this I was able to go home in peace.

Oh, those beignets are great. But I thought the sundae even took them up a notch. The ice cream on the hot beignets was just fantastic! Unfortunately it was almost time for our Magical Express bus.

Up Next: “Jon...I’m Going to Hurt You”​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

French Quarter really is a great resort. Def becoming our favorite moderate resort!

Glad you were able to finally replace the lightsaber!

I love that you were able to go to EPCOT to just grab lunch. I am looking forward to having that "luxury" once we activate our annual passes!

 

[Juliette58]

I love this TR. And your boys are adorable. One thing I must say: I haven’t read all the comments but in case no one else mentioned it, did you know your Biscuit story is a real life rendition of the toast scene in Five Easy Pieces?

 

[cstorm65]

French Quarter really is a great resort. Def becoming our favorite moderate resort!

We loved it as well! We've stayed at Caribbean and Coronado also and it was certainly at the top of the list. Nothing wrong with the other places, but just the small size of French Quarter and........beignets. Those two things give it the edge!

Glad you were able to finally replace the lightsaber!

Thank goodness. We had been looking at the build your own stations the entire trip and they were always out of the Kyle Ren pieces, but finally they got them back in stock!

I love that you were able to go to EPCOT to just grab lunch. I am looking forward to having that "luxury" once we activate our annual passes!

It was a nice and easy way to finish the trip and who can argue with one final trip to Epcot, MouseGears, and Fish & chips??

I love this TR. And your boys are adorable. One thing I must say: I haven’t read all the comments but in case no one else mentioned it, did you know your Biscuit story is a real life rendition of the toast scene in Five Easy Pieces?

Thanks for reading along! I don't even know what that is, but I'm going to go find out right now! haha

 

[cstorm65]

Day 14 - Part 3 - “Jon...I’m Going to Hurt You”

We finished our final order of beignets at French Quarter and I ran into the gift shop to pick up a few things before our Magical Express bus came at 2:40. I grabbed our two pieces of French Quarter merchandise we wanted. First, I picked up a French Quarter coffee mug. I collect these from every resort we stay at. I’m a sucker for resort specific merchandise!

Then we got our traditional ornament for French Quarter. We collect these from every resort we stay at as well, or at least the ones we can find these ornaments at. I wish they were a little more consistent on this resort specific merchandise, but I do think it’s improved a little in the last couple of years. Of course we’ve only been going for 6-7 years now, so it may have been better before that. Anyways, we enjoy collecting this stuff!

We were at our bus stop and headed towards the airport by 2:40. It wasn’t 5 minutes before this happened!

We took the quick and sad drive to the airport, but it wasn’t too bad. Since this was just the first trip with our annual passes we knew we would be back at Christmas time, our first time during that time of year!

We passed this new construction at Orlando International, turns out I think it is a train/public transit station that will connect people to the airport. Looks like a nice, big place!

I snapped one final picture of the boys and DW before getting off, of course DS1 was still fast asleep!

At 3:30 we checked in at the counter as we had a lap child with us. At 4:00 we headed to The Club at MCO, which we have access to. It was a nice little spot for some free snacks and free drinks, but it was fairly crowded. We basically spent about 30 minutes getting snacks and stuff before heading back to our gate.

Here is where I messed up. The lounge was not in our set of gates, but it was on the same side of the airport through the same security checkpoint. With that said we had to take the tram back to the security area and get the other tram to get to our gate. Well, for some reason they had it a bunch of temporary partitions set up when we got off the tram where we could only go out of the secure area. We couldn’t get to the other tram. It wasn’t TSA, it was some private security group that was working here. I should have asked them if we could get to the other tram, but before I realized what had happened between bags, two kids, stroller, and all we were outside of security.

Let’s just leave it at DW telling me, “Jon, I’m going to hurt you.” Because we had to go back through security again. It wasn’t a problem that we were going through again. It had taken us about 20 minutes the first time and this time we flew through in about 5 minutes, which was really nice! Before long was our last tram ride of the trip.

We settled in at our gate as we had about 15 minutes until boarding time.

We were on the plane by 5:30 and it left on time at 5:50. DS1 was all rested after his nap and ready to be a holy terror on the plane!

As sad as we were, the one nice thing about a long trip is you are usually more ready to be back home!

We arrived at Dallas Love Field by 7:30 and let me start off by saying I hate this airport. Our flight was supposed to leave here at 8:30 and have us back in OKC by 9:40. Well, let’s just say our flight was delayed until 9:50, then 9:10, then 9:50. Finally our plane arrived from wherever it had been and we lifted off towards OKC at 10:10.

My hatred for Love Field continued during the delay. DS1 was tired again, but he was not wanting to fall asleep in the stroller so he was just crying. Finally, after walking up and down the terminal about ten times he fell asleep like this:

Both kids were struggling at this point, mainly because there was nothing open at this airport. No shops to buy drinks and certainly not any restaurants to buy food. It was just absolutely dead which was not good with sleepy and hungry kids.

Anyways, we finally touched down in OKC around 11:00 and were home and in bed by midnight. Another great trip in the books!

Up Next: Wrap Up and Next TR Link​

 

[cstorm65]

Wrap Up and Next Trip Report Link

We’ve come to the end of another trip report, but don’t worry I’ve got two other trips in the queue that we’ve been on that I haven’t even written about yet. Yes, I know, I’m terrible about being consistent with these reports, but at least I get to keep re-living the trips!

Anyways, this was a great trip for DS1’s first trip. We had some awesome memories with him and letting DS5 show him the ropes! I’m not going to spend much time on this wrap up, but a few thoughts on our resorts.

Pop Century
First off we spent about five nights at Pop Century. We still love Pop and will continue to use it when necessary on our trips. We feel it is a great value resort option, although we are trying All Star Sports at Christmas, which is the next Trip Report in the queue, so we’re about to have something to compare it to. Our visit this time wasn’t much different than previous times except that there were four of us. These rooms are definitely tight, but I think the new re-designed rooms will end up helping with that for sure. I can’t wait to stay in one of those.

Also, we had pretty good transportation from Pop to the parks and it is always nice that there are no other bus stops. Overall, Pop is a great place and we will certainly stay again in the future.

French Quarter
Let me just say we LOVED French Quarter. All of the staff was fantastic from check in to the pool staff to the food staff. I mean we had a great week here and we just loved the small size of this resort compared to the other moderates. Nothing against Caribbean Beach or Coronado Springs where we’ve stayed before, but French Quarter is a cut above due to the small size and the close proximity to Disney Springs. That boat transportation is awesome. Now, it is not quick by any means, but what a beautiful ride and a great way to arrive at Disney Springs. We took advantage of it several times during out stay.

We also loved the pool at French Quarter. It was the first pool we experienced with the new splash pads they are putting in and DS5 loved it. DS1 was still a little scared of all of the water, but the pool overall was great. The food at French Quarter was also really good. Of course I could stay a week and only eat the Po-Boys and the beignets, but there were other good things to. The mac ‘n cheese was fantastic, both the adults and the kids thought so! Also, the main dinner dishes were really good as well and you got a ton of food on those plates.

Finally, just the ambiance of the resort was awesome. Being able to walk down the little cobblestone streets around the resort was really neat. Me and DS1 took several walks in the stroller to try and get him tired or to keep the room quiet while DS5 and DW were napping. And walking around was one of the things I enjoyed the most. Also, being able to walk over to Riverside was great too. We didn’t do it too often, but when the boys get older that could be cool to be able to go over there and use a different pool area just for fun. Overall, French Quarter gets two big thumbs up from us.

Final Thoughts
For my final thoughts we just loved this trip and just like all of our other trips we had so many new and great experiences. I’ve said it before, as the boys get older it just and this time for the first trip with DS1, you just get different experiences which make these trips very much worth it. We had a great time and at the time couldn’t wait to go back. So, click the link below to read about that next trip which was our first trip at Christmas time!

NEXT TRIP REPORT LINK

ESCAPE FROM SCHOOL TO CRAZY CHRISTMAS CROWDS - A DECEMBER 2017 TRIP REPORT​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Great Trip Report. Jumping over to the next one now!