Escape from Tornado Alley to Food, Tropical Storms and Mickey - Completed 3/22

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Great updates! I can't get over how adorable he is!

We are thinking about staying at Pop the next time we go to WDW. I love the over the top theming of the values and think that my kiddos will enjoy them more than the mods. I like that you can walk over to AOA from Pop also. I will save mods and Deluxe for when they are older. The rooms are small but we don't stay in them too much. Too bad that your MK late night didn't work out as planned. That is one thing I want to do again.... tour the MK or Epcot at night with my hubby while the kiddos are in the room. Maybe I can talk our parents to go with us one time so we can do that.

Hubby and I went to Universal for 1 day on our Honeymoon. We didn't get to ride too much because I was very newly pregnant. I can't wait to go back but will also wait for that for when the kids are a little older and will ride more thrill rides.

I'm guessing you wrote these originally in the summer.... Congratulations on selling your house so quickly. We will be starting our house hunting in a few months. Still not in our own home since the tornado. I look forward to reading more!

We really enjoyed our time at Pop. The staff was great and we found it very clean and well kept. The overall atmosphere of the resort was great!

I did write these in the summer. I teach and coach football so the fall is extremely busy for me. Just getting around to posting!

Braxton is absolutely beautiful! You are a lovely family.

Thank you. Thanks for reading!!

 

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Monday, June 3 – Part 4 – Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular Dessert Party

I will make this update quick, as I don’t have any pictures to include. We showed up at 8:15 for the 9:00 show and the dessert reception on the dock at Lombard’s Landing was ready for us. I knew it was going to be questionable to keep Braxton up for the show as he goes to bed around 8:30 or so and about 8:30 he started getting a little restless. I had to take him to the other end of the dock and let him down to walk around and play and so I didn’t really get to spend any time taking pictures during this hour or so.

The dessert reception was nice, although not as good as the Wishes Dessert Party at MK, but I don’t think they are trying to make it that nice as the price is much lower than the Wishes Party considering for just $40 it includes dinner as well. The reserved seating was in a great spot, but I think you can get a good spot anywhere around the lagoon just a few minutes before show time.

So yes I do think the dinner package was worth the money as it included a great meal with appetizers as well as the dessert party. But no…I don’t think it is something I will do every trip. I will also say the Cinematic Spectacular show is excellent on the water screens and with the great music and script. There is one section to remember though if you have little kids they do a section about Horror movies Universal has made and it gets a little graphic. Braxton wasn’t old enough to know what was going on, but April still got up and moved so he wouldn’t see that scene. Braxton did really well with the fireworks and we were worried as this was the first time he had ever seen them. We tried to get him to keep earplugs in, but he wouldn’t and so we went without. He didn’t seem phased by the fireworks though, so that was a nice plus early in the trip.

We headed out of the park as soon as the fireworks were over and took the boat back to the hotel. April’s mom really was feeling very well…I am guessing dehydration by this point, and we had to wait about 20 minutes for a boat, but she wouldn’t have done well walking. We were in bed by 10:00 so we could be at early entry for WWoHP in the morning.

Next Up: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter​

 

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Tuesday, June 4 – Part 1 – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We set the alarm for 6:45 this morning so we could get to our 8:00 early entry to Islands of Adventure so that we could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We were up at 6:45 and out the door by 7:10 or so heading to IOA. We walked along the waterway as the boats were not running yet and it was a nice walk in the early morning. We were waiting in line at the gates by 7:30 or so and they actually opened the gates at 7:45.

We headed straight in and walked into the queue for The Forbidden Journey. Let me just say this ride is amazing. The ride system is extremely intriguing to me and it is certainly unlike any other ride anywhere. It was very realistic; especially the spiders, which April was really not looking forward to, but we made it. We could have gotten in line again with very little wait, but April gets a little dizzy on rides like that so we headed back to explore the streets of Hogsmeade. We were obviously going to try some Butterbeer and figured this was as good of time as any. It was incredible. Very sweet, but not too much, and the foam is excellent. I also like how it actually freezes a little thicker once it gets out into the warmer air. It makes it a really good consistency when you drink it. Overall we were very impressed with Butterbeer.

After this we took a few pictures in Hogsmeade.

After exploring that area for a while we headed back towards the front of the park at around 8:45 and they had opened the main gates as people were pouring into the park back towards the WWoHP. We instead sat at a nice little table outside a coffee shop at the Port of Entry and waited for them to open up the other side of the park. At 8:55 they opened the other side and we went on Spider Man. We love this ride, but this time something very interesting happened. All of the scenes kept locking up and we missed some of the ride sequences. It was a very weird ride because of this. I think I got back on the ride and rode again and it was fine, but April didn’t want to ride again to keep from getting dizzy again. We then headed over and rode the Hulk which is probably my all time favorite roller coaster. The launch is incredible and it is just the start of a great ride. We were actually done in this park by about 9:30 as we had done everything else the day before so we headed out and towards Universal Studios.

Up Next: Universal Studios Touring and Lunch with Forrest​

 

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Tuesday, June 4 – Part 2 – Universal Studios Touring and Lunch with Forrest

After leaving Islands of Adventure we headed over to do a few things at Universal Studios. We were talking into this park by 9:40 so it was still not extremely crowded and we rode Despicable Me with about a 10 minute wait. This was our third simulator ride in an hour and a half, and April was finding out her body was not liking them very much. This was an ok little ride, but it is not one I would wait in the long lines for like it gets later in the day. We then headed over and rode ET. This is a classic ride and I really like it because it is one ride a I have a memory of from my childhood when we came to Universal Studios with my parents. I also love the theming in the queue area as well.

We then went back and took a ride on the Simpson’s Ride with only about a 5 minute wait thanks to the express pass. It was at this point April was done with simulator rides for the day. I didn’t think she would do this one, but she wanted to and she regretted it afterwards. So we sat for a little while and had some water. We went back and took one last ride on Men in Black and then I took a final ride on the Mummy.

We left around 11:30 and headed over the City Walk to grab some lunch. We took some pictures in front of the globe on the way.

We debated where and we ended up at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company. I guess it was early for them because I think we were one of only two tables in the place having lunch. Our waitress was great though and gave us the Forrest Gump Quiz. April aced it as she loved that movie…I am not quite a big of a fan though so I didn’t do so well on the quiz. It was a good lunch though and April got a good sized meal and took about half back to her mom who had stayed back with Braxton since she wasn’t feeling well.

Up Next: Can we get into the Transformer’s ride?​

 

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Tuesday, June 4 – Part 3 – Can we get into the Transformers ride?

We were back at the hotel by around 12:45 or 1:00 and got Braxton and headed down to the pool. It was a cloudy afternoon, so it wasn’t all that hot and the pool was relatively un-crowded. We swam for about 20 minutes before it started sprinkling. There was no lighting at the time so we stayed in the pool, but the rain picked up and we headed back to the room around 2:00. Braxton was ready for a nap anyways and we all laid down so he could fall asleep.

I had really wanted to see about getting in the new Transformers rides during the soft openings which had been taking place around 5:00 pm each day. I was going to go back to Universal Studios myself since we had finished about everything we wanted there, but April wanted to go and take Braxton with us while her mom rested some more. So we headed back to Universal Studios at around 4:00. We walked by the ride at 4:15 and it was not yet open and there were hundreds of people just standing on the street waiting to see if it would open. We walked by and went to the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue. We enjoy this show quite a bit and Braxton actually watched and enjoyed the music. I then got in one final ride on The Mummy and as I walked out the parade was coming by. I didn’t really know many of the characters in the parade, but Braxton enjoyed watching none the less.

At around 5:30 Transformers still wasn’t open so we decided to have some dinner. We stopped in Starbucks as April just wanted coffee. Here was Braxton waiting on her coffee:

We then headed over the Monster’s Café for Braxton and I’s dinner. I got the Meat Loaf and was pleasantly surprised. It was good counter service food and I was impressed as there were people right there making it fresh behind the counter. I also got Braxton an order of breadsticks and marinara and he loved it. Ate two big breadsticks all by himself.

We wandered a little bit more and at about 7:00 I went to take one last look to see if I could get on this:

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Unfortunately I didn’t want to hang around, as there was no official word as to whether it would open or not that evening. We stopped in the gift shop and bought a souvenir cup and magnet and headed back for our final night at the resort. Braxton fell asleep at about 7:45 this night, which would have been right as we were walking in the door. We were wearing him out on these days, which is a good thing to help him get a good night sleep. I think I ran out to find a Walgreen’s to get April’s mom some cold medicine as she still wasn’t feeling extremely well. We went to bed not too long after 9:00 as we had to get up very early in the morning for our final hotel change.

Up Next: Review of Universal Orlando and the Royal Pacific Resort​

 

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Great update!

 

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Tuesday, June 4 – Part 4 – Review of Universal Orlando and the Royal Pacific Resort

I want to right up a review of both the Universal Orlando resort as a whole as well as the Royal Pacific Resort for a family with a small child.

The Royal Pacific Resort Review
- Check in and park ticket pick up was very simple and they explained it well at the desk.
- A major drawback was that there was no good quick service option at the hotel that we ever found and there are times when you just really need something simple and quick to eat.
- The distance to walk to the park was a little far for us, but we had good luck with water taxis for the most part.
- The pool is awesome with a great play area for older kids, maybe 4-10 years old or so. It has water cannons and stuff shooting everywhere.
- The rooms are very nice, but don’t come with a fridge so you have to be prepared to pay for that.
- This is a high-end hotel and they do charge $24 per night to valet park or $18 to self park. We just valeted for only $6 extra, not much since we were only staying two nights.
- We really do feel this hotel was worth it though for a two night trip as it comes with some big perks, the biggest being the unlimited express pass.

Universal Orlando Resort Review
- We loved it overall, but it is very different from Disney if that is what you are expecting.
- In our opinions the cast members here are just not on quite the same level as Disney cast members in their helpfulness and attitude.
- The rides are awesome! The theming is always great and you are able to get some thrills that you don’t get at Disney.
- We didn’t like having so many ticket slips. We had one for park tickets, one for room key, one for express pass, one for our meal package at Lombards, one for the dessert party at Lombards, one for citywalk party pass, and even other extras we didn’t use. I did miss the Key to the World card that has everything on it.
- We loved Universal for a change of pace, but we don’t think it is something we need on every trip…although the Butterbeer is one thing I would consider coming every trip for!
- There was not much at all for a 1½ year old to do. There were about three rides he could do in both parks. I know that is not their demographic, but you would think they could throw us a little bone!
- Harry Potter world is Fantastic! The theming is incredible and The Forbidden Journey is incredible as well. This is worth it if you haven’t seen it.

Overall we loved this part of our trip, but again don’t think it is an every trip type event, but we will definitely be back.

Up Next: Can we make it to Rope Drop at the Magic Kingdom?​

 

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Wednesday, June 5 – Part 1 – Can we make it to Rope Drop at the Magic Kingdom?

This is going to be a pretty quick update, but it is interesting how we made this morning work anyways. I don’t have any pictures because we were in such a hurry, but I have a bunch of pictures for the other updates I will do later on this day.

Our goal for this morning was to check out of our Universal Hotel, drive to the Boardwalk, Check In, Drop our bags at the bellhop, return the rental car to the Dolphin, and catch a bus from the Dolphin to Rope Drop at the MK. This sounds crazy, but with the schedule Braxton was on this was the best way to do it. It wasn’t hard to get to rope drop as he was up early enough anyways. Then we would head back the Boardwalk around noon and hopefully our room would be ready and we could let him (and us too!) nap in the early afternoon. So did it work out according to plan? Surprisingly…Yes!

Now, at about 8 pm the night before when I took the car out to get April’s mom some medicine I took all of our big suitcases out to the car so we wouldn’t have to do that early in the morning and that proved to be a big time saver. We woke up around 6:30 and since the luggage was already in the car getting ready to go didn’t take that much time. We got ready quietly and let Braxton sleep until about 6:50 and I went down to check out while April and her mom made sure we got everything out of the room. We left Universal at 7:00 am on the dot and were pulling into our “home” for the next 10 days, the Boardwalk at around 7:30.

Check in went very fast as there were no other people checking in at this time of the morning. Our room was not ready, but we were expecting that so while I was checking in April was checking our bags at bell services. After I checked in I headed to the concierge desk to get our park tickets switched over from our Pop Century room keys to our Boardwalk KTTW cards. I was not looking forward to this and was just hoping everything transferred smoothly. To my surprise the guy had new keys for us in about two minutes and all of our tickets were on there and ready to go. We left at 7:50 and drove to the Dolphin to drop the car off. We were at the bus stop by 8:00 or 8:05 waiting for a MK bus. We caught a bus by 8:10 and ended up getting through the turnstiles at around 8:35 at the MK with plenty of time to get close to the rope before park opening. We were ready for our first MK rope drop of the trip.

Up Next: MK Touring and a meet with The Great Goofini and the Amazing Donaldo​

 

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Wednesday, June 5 – Part 2 – MK Touring and a meet with the Great Goofini and the Amazing Donaldo

We headed in at rope drop and I took our passes and went over and grabbed a Peter Pan fastpass with a return time of 9:40 am. I then met April and her mom at Winnie the Pooh where they were unloading the stroller. We rode Pooh and I tried to get some pictures of Braxton and April, but only one came out decent at all.

After Pooh we went on Dumbo and I can’t find the picture of this. I think April’s mom may have taken it on her camera and not ours. Braxton loved Dumbo and I think we may have ended up doing it twice. We went into Big Top Souvenirs to look around and find a snack and we saw some really big danishes. So I picked a cheese Danish and was expecting to pay $4-5 or so and was shocked when it only cost $2.95 or something including tax. That is a really good value and it was very large. So April and I shared that for the next few minutes. I was going to head over at this point and grab some fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain and so April, her mom, and Braxton did it’s a small world while I did that. Yes…I got out of small world!!!

I got the Big Thunder FP at 9:45 and had a RT of 10:55 am. The ride was down when I got there, but went ahead and pulled passes hoping it was just late opening and would open later. The cast members were encouraging people to get fastpasses so I figured it would work out.

I headed back over and met the others at the new bathrooms by small world and then we went over to see Donald and Goofy at Pete’s Silly Sideshow. This is a great new meet and greet area and it is air conditioned! Braxton was loving the character meets by this point. Here are the pictures.

After visiting the characters we used our Peter Pan FP’s. Braxton enjoyed this ride as we were “flying” and he could look down on the sets. The last ride on our agenda for the morning was Splash Mountain and we went over so April and I could do it and we waited about 10 minutes. I love this ride and it looks good after the recent refurb. I still can’t get April to love this ride though…she just is not a huge fan of big drops on water rides. I will win her over one of these days though.

We were all ready for some lunch so we went over the Columbia Harbour House at around 11:00. I got the Lobster Roll and it was very good and fresh. April got the Lighthouse sandwich, which she really enjoyed, and her mom got the Fish and Chips. She still wasn’t feeling to well, but she was doing better than the day before. Braxton got Mac and cheese and he loved it and also the yogurt that came as a side.

We headed back to use our Big Thunder FP’s to find that the ride was still closed as it had been when we went on Splash and it did not look as though it would be opening soon. We decided to head back since I had got a text a few minutes earlier telling us our room was ready. Of course we had to leave the park by way of Adventureland and Aloha Aisle so I could get Dole Whip Float #2 of the trip. April got one as well and shared with her mom and she loved it. We took some pictures in Town Square as we were leaving. There were a bunch of people pouring in at this time of day.

We got on the bus to the Boardwalk around 12:05 and were in the room and getting settled by 12:30 or so.

Up Next: These are some long hallways!​

 

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Wednesday, June 5 – Part 3 – These are some long hallways!

We got back to the Boardwalk and took the elevator to the 3rd floor and walked to our room and found out the hallways at the Boardwalk are really long. We were a fairly long ways from the elevators, so we thought, but we were not even half way down the total length of the hallway.

Once we got into our room it was time to get Braxton down for a nap. One nice thing about DVC rooms is that they come with a pack and play already in the room so we set it up immediately and got Braxton down for a nap. While Braxton was napping we couldn’t really do any unpacking as it might wake him up so I think I went out on the balcony while April and her mom napped as well. I spent a little while enjoyed the Boardwalk view, reading, and snapping some pictures. These pictures are from out balcony, which was right on the Boardwalk just slightly down from the main courtyard area.

I came back in to find this…

After spending some time out on the balcony I took our refillable mugs and headed out to explore and get some drinks for us. I made my way to the Boardwalk and over to the Boardwalk Bakery and filled the mugs up at the new drink station. From what I’ve heard you used to have to go through the line to refill mugs and now with the re-design of the bakery the station is self serve. I headed back to the room to find Braxton awake so I took a few pictures of the room. Unfortunately I don’t have clean room pictures for you, but such is life with a toddler.

April was checking out the balcony and the view when I returned so I took some pictures out there as well.

At about 3:30 we decided to head to Epcot for a couple of hours as we knew rain was coming and we wanted to see what the walk was like to the International Gateway. Let me just say this is a huge perk of Epcot area resorts. We loved the walk and the entrance was very nice and not hectic at all like a regular park entrance. April’s mom stayed in the room as she still was not feeling extremely well after the morning in the park so she wanted to rest a little bit that afternoon.

We headed into the park and went over towards Finding Nemo and rode that. Here are some pictures while in line.

Braxton loved the stuffed animals in the gift shop.

We then walked through Innoventions and nothing really caught our eye so we headed over the ride Journey to Imagination. While in line we came by the Flubber door which I always like to get a picture of. We watch the original Flubber movie in my chemistry class every year during the week before Christmas just as an end of the semester treat. It is called “The Absent Minded Professor”. So I like to take a picture of this door for my class!

We got on the ride and Braxton sat on my lap and absolutely loved this ride. He was just giggling and dancing to the music the whole time. For some reason I really like this ride…don’t ask me why as I couldn’t tell you. I guess it is the science type theme that does it since I am a science teacher.

Here’s Braxton and I after the ride.

We came out after this ride to find the rain moved in about 30-45 minutes before they were saying it would. We had ponchos with us so we put them on and walked over to the front of the pavilion where the stroller was only to see the stroller rain cover had blown off in the wind. By strolled rain cover I mean two ponchos I had rigged over the top of the stroller. Needless to say the stroller seat was soaked…but what can you do. We put Braxton in the wet stroller and said “it’s just water…what can it hurt?” I put the stroller cover (poncho) back on the top and we took off towards the International Gateway. It was a pretty miserable walk, but we made it and a boat was there so we took it to the Boardwalk since that was the first stop. We got back to the Boardwalk at around 5:00 and tried to dry off. I even used the hair dryer on the stroller to dry it a little and finally just gave up to let it air dry. We wouldn’t need it until the next day anyways as tonight Braxton was staying with his grandma while April and I went out to our anniversary dinner.

Up Next: Anniversary Dinner​

 

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Wednesday, June 5 – Part 4 – Anniversary Dinner

April and I got cleaned up so we could head out to our Anniversary dinner…or that is what we were calling it. Our anniversary is actually a couple of weeks after our trip, but we figured it was close enough! I had not told April where we were going for dinner, just that she needed to dress for a signature restaurant. My original plan had been to book dinner at California Grill and stay for fireworks, but they announced before our 180 day mark that it would be closed for renovation during out trip. So I had to choose again. I took a picture of where we were going from the balcony before we left.

I also figured out I had a panorama setting on my iPhone so I messed with that from the balcony as well.

We left the Boardwalk at 6:40 on a boat to the Yacht Club as we would be eating at Yachtsman’s Steakhouse. One of April and I’s favorite spots for special occasions here at home is a steakhouse like this and she loves it, so I figured she would enjoy this as well. We walked through the Yacht Club Resort and turned the corner and went up the stairs to the restaurant and April got really excited as she loves steak. I found the butcher station by the entry area really interesting and a nice addition to the theme of the restaurant. Our server was named Kathy and she was really nice and did a great job. We first had the onion bread and it was amazing! We had to ask for more, which she brought us. She also told us about a special chef’s appetizer that was not on the menu…a squash and crab Rangoon. It was incredible! The crab inside it was awesome and it came with a cherry ginger sauce that was out of this world. There were only two rangoons, one for each of us, but they were incredible. Here is a picture:

April ordered the signature steak, the 12 ounce New York Strip and loved it. She loved the flavor of the spices they put on it. It is served with “gruyere potato gratin and peppercorn brandy sauce”. The potatoes were just ok and was probably the only thin we didn’t love about this meal. Here is April’s plate:

I ordered the 16 ounce boneless ribeye and it had outstanding flavor and was cooked perfectly. It was served with bone marrow, brioche and red wine butter. The bone marrow was something I had never tried, but I had a small bit with a bite of steak and wow…it was really good. I wasn’t expecting it to be, but was very surprised. I absolutely cleaned out the bone marrow and the little brioche muffin it came with was really good as well. Here is my plate:

Overall, this was a fantastic meal and we will definitely visit Yachtsman Steakhouse in the future. After dinner the plan was to head over the Beaches and Cream and get something for dessert. I got a shake and I didn’t write down what April got, but we enjoyed it…I remember that! We were walking out of Beaches and Cream at around 8:30 and decided to walk over to Epcot and catch IllumiNations. We walked in at around 8:40 and grabbed a spot behind some people sitting down on the bridge between the UK and France.

Now, I love Disney World, but during this show something reminded me that some people just do not “get” the magic like we do. There were two families sitting on the rail and when the show started one of them stood up from their spot with their small children to watch the show. We didn’t hear the whole story, but somehow the family next to them didn’t like this because it blocked their view and they started screaming and cussing at each other…in front of all their children. Some other people went a got a cast member, but they had quit cussing by the time the cast member got there to deal with it. I just hate it when people lose their cool when in the parks, especially when kids are around. I love the magic of Disney World, but wish people like this could handle things a little more appropriate manner.

We still got to enjoy IllumiNations, but the distraction was a little bit of a downer, but we just tried to tune it out and enjoy ourselves. Once the show was over we took the walk back to the Boardwalk and talked about how nice it was not to have the fight the crowds to get out at the front of the park. A nice end to a great anniversary date night for us!

Up Next: Shall we “weather” the tropical storm?​

 

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Thursday, June 6 – Part 1 – Shall we “weather” the tropical storm?

Thursday morning started with a decision for us as tropical storm Andrea had made landfall throughout the evening. Would we weather the storm and head to Hollywood Studios or make other plans. With the stroller incident of the day before while the prelude to TS Andrea moved over Epcot we decided it may not be best to take Braxton out as it would likely be raining until 3:00 PM or so today without stopping. April’s mom was also not all that excited about being out in a constant rain. So April and I went ahead and decided we would go to Hollywood Studios, but would alter the touring plan a little. We had another Hollywood Studios day later in the trip where we were going to hit the thrill rides heavier, but since we weren’t going to have Braxton today we would switch that plan to today. We would then take the day later in the trip and do Toy Storm multiple times as well as Disney Junior.

I actually went down to the bakery at 7:20 or so and grabbed a chocolate croissant, which was delicious, and filled our mugs. April and I headed out at 8:00 and Braxton stayed with Grammy in the room to play. Andrea was actually sitting right over us at the time being, but the rain wasn’t pouring, it was just a steady rain. There were no boats in sight out of our window and we weren’t sure if any would come because of the rain so we just walked to Hollywood Studios. It was a pretty miserable walk in the rain, but we made it to the turnstiles at about 8:30 and found a spot about 20 people back. Most turnstiles had about 100 people in them because they were covered but the rain had backed off at the moment so we went ahead and jumped in an un-covered turnstile line that was shorter. Here is April looking excited with her poncho on.

The gates opened at 8:45 as had been the trend the last several months and we headed to Toy Story. The plan was to just ride once today and then head down to the thrill rides. I was ready with my glasses!

We had a great ride as usual…and I won as usual! We headed town to Rock in Roller coaster at 9:05 only to find the ride was not going to open on time. We dealt with this at Big Thunder yesterday morning and now Rock in Roller coaster. We weren’t catching the break yet. I pulled a FP and we headed over to Tower of Terror. April doesn’t ride this ride despite my repeated attempts to get her to try it. She just doesn’t like drop rides and she definitely doesn’t trust me when I tell her it is so much better than most drop rides. We walked back by Rock in Roller coaster to check its status at about 9:25, but it wasn’t open yet. I did get a picture of April there with her poncho on.

We then headed over to do Star Tours. I grabbed a FP at about 9:45 and we headed into the standby line and basically walked on the ride. We stopped in the line so April could take a picture of me by one of my favorite Star Wars characters.

This ride never disappoints. I love the thrills as well as the way you get a different sequence every time you ride. We were off the ride and heading over towards the Great Movie Ride by 10:10. We got the Western Scene on this ride through. I still enjoy this nostalgic ride every time we get to do it. At this point we headed out of the exit to the ride and saw TS Andrea was ramping up the intensity a little as it had started to rain really heavily. So naturally we threw the ponchos on and walked to the other side of the park to use our Rock in Roller coaster fast passes. The ride was open and we enjoyed this the ride. This is April’s favorite ride so I was glad we got to do it at least once despite it being broken early in the day.

We stopped and looked in some gift shops on Sunset Boulevard as well as Hollywood Boulevard on and then headed back over to use our Star Tours fast pass and had another great ride and got some more pictures while in line.

It was about 11:30 at this point and we did some shopping in the Star Wars gift shop and decided it was time for lunch.

Up Next: Let’s Enjoy some Resort Time​

 

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Thursday, June 6 – Part 2 – Let’s Enjoy some Resort Time

We headed in to Backlot Express for lunch since we were on that side of the park. We tend to think this is one of the better quick service locations in the Studios. It is mostly burgers and sandwiches, but it seems to be pretty good most of the time. I had a bacon cheeseburger and April had a grilled turkey and cheese. It also helps that they have indoor seating in hot times of the year. We also like that the drinks here are self serve machines so you can get refills without much trouble and the toppings bar is pretty good as well. It is not Pecos Bills’ topping bar, but a nice addition.

After lunch we headed back to the resort as all of the running around in the rain had kind of worn us out. We did stop for a Mickey Bar on the way out. Yes it was good despite the rain! The rain actually started picking up again as we got to the boat dock and we waited about 10 minutes for a boat to arrive.

By the way…let me explain April’s shirt today. The “SWAG” is a shirt the staff started wearing at her school and it means “Students Will Achieve Greatness”. She had people stopping her all day, despite the pouring rain, to take a picture of the back of her shirt where it says that. They loved it and wanted to show the people at their schools. Just thought I would explain the shirt as it looks a little out of place on her!

We got back to the Boardwalk at around 12:30 and found Braxton still in his pajamas. I guess that is ok considering we were in the midst of a tropical storm outside.

April had half a grilled cheese left for Braxton to eat and I went to the Bakery to get something for April’s mom. Over lunch we discussed what we wanted to do with Grammy’s last night here at Disney World. We decided to go to our dinner ADR at Cape May Café and then head to Epcot for some rides and World Showcase time.

A nice bonus this afternoon was that the rain stopped at about 3:00 and Braxton and I headed to the pool for about an hour. April and her mom came down as well and took some pictures, but didn’t swim.

Once we got back up to the room we just sat on the balcony and enjoyed the view. This was a great afternoon for it as it was a beautiful 75 degrees outside as the storm was moving out of the area. Eventually though we started getting dressed for our ADR at the Cape may Clambake Dinner…something I was really looking forward to!

Up Next: Cape May Clambake Dinner Buffet​

 

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Thursday, June 6 – Part 3 – Cape May Clambake Dinner Buffet

We headed to the boat line at about 4:45 to head over to the Beach Club for our ADR and the boat came fairly quickly. I took a few pictures while on the boat ride across the lake.

Once we got off of the boat we took a few pictures while walking into the Beach Club, first of April, her mom and Braxton.

We check in at 5:10 for our 5:15 ADR at:

April and Braxton watched some cartoon in the Beach Club lobby while we were waiting for the buzzer to go off.

As you can see here, Braxton’s attention span was not too long, but April is still very intently watching the cartoons!!

We got seated about 5 minutes later and Braxton and April did some coloring before while waiting on drinks and our server. As you can see April is enjoying the coloring just as much as Braxton.

We headed to the buffet and I filled a plate full of crab legs and potatoes.

That was the only picture I had of the food as I was at that point in crab heaven! We loved this meal and I was very impressed with the quality of the crab. About every time I went up to the buffet they were pulling fresh crab out of the steamer. April also loves crab legs so we both really enjoyed it. Braxton loved the mac and cheese as usual. This was overall a great experience and we will definitely be back to the Clambake Buffet in the future. We had great service and it was a great atmosphere as well.

One other good aspect that we found was the desserts were very creative and tasty. They were all small portions kind of like you get at the dessert party, but we enjoyed them and got to try several things in small portions. Although, small portions are not that big of a deal when you have eaten as many crab legs as I had previous to that. I will also say the restaurant got really crowded by about 6:00, so I would definitely recommend a 5:00 or 5:15 reservation to try and beat some of the crowd as the buffet did get a little hard to navigate as the main dinner rush hit.

After dinner we headed out side and Braxton played on the sidewalk as we headed to our destination for the evening.

Where were we headed? Wait and see!

Up Next: Grammy’s Final Night at the World​

 

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Thursday, June 6 – Part 4 – Grammy’s Final Night at the World

After exiting the Beach Club we headed out for the last night of the trip for April’s mom and we decided to head to Epcot. It was actually pretty cool due to the storm that had moved through the area earlier in the day, but it was not raining anymore. We got to the IG at 6:15 and headed straight to MouseGear so Grammy could get some souvenirs. While April and her mom were shopping I went into the “ears” part of the store and got Braxton his first set of ears. I know I took a picture of them, but now can’t find it. He wasn’t to interested in keeping them on.

After that we headed to Spaceship Earth and rode. Braxton rode with April and her mom and I rode behind them. Here is a picture after the ride…sorry about the blurriness.

We then headed towards The Land side of Future World and saw the line for the Character Spot was only 5 minutes so we hopped in line. Here are our pictures of this meet up.

Mickey

Minnie

Pluto

After the character spot we hit the Nemo ride, which Braxton loved…again.

After Nemo we finished up Grammy’s time in the World with a walk back to the IG. We shopped in the countries along the way. Braxton was tired so I tried to get April and her mom to stay and watch IllumiNations and I would take Braxton back to put him in bed, but they were both tired as well and just came with me and Braxton. April’s mom was going to have to get up at 4:00 am to go to the airport so she wanted to get in bed.

I ran into the bakery for some treats as we walked by and got a Macadamia Nut Cookie and an Oreo Cupcake. They were both great, but the cupcake was unbelievable. I could eat one of those every night! We got in bed at around 9:45. Today was a great day, despite the rain. We even got to swim a little and spend a beautiful and cool night in Epcot to end Grammy’s trip.

Up Next: Another Magic Kingdom Rope Drop​

 

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Friday, June 7 – Part 1 – Another Magic Kingdom Rope Drop

Braxton slept very well and we were able to sleep until 7:30 or so today. We were up and out the door pretty quickly and were on a bus within a few minutes of being at the bus stop. April and Braxton were enjoying a relatively empty bus this morning. This was very rare from the Boardwalk.

We got inside the gates around 8:25 and the rope drop crowd was already covering much of the area in front of the train station. We were able to walk around to the right and get fairly close to the rope as most people just congregate in the middle. Here is Braxton waiting for his day in the Magic Kingdom.

And here is a look at the crowds waiting to get in at about 8:30.

We got pretty lucky with our placement this morning. The stroller was parked right next to a group of kids who were playing with some Disney bus figurines. Braxton actually sat in the stroller the whole time and watched them play. Here he is just watching…

I never seem to mind waiting for the Magic Kingdom to open. This is one of the best anticipation feelings just standing there knowing what awaits once the countdown ends.

I also love seeing this sign every time we enter. It just adds to the experience of waiting for the park to open. Sorry for the blurry picture…I had to zoom quite a bit to get it, but I always like to take at least one picture of it.

The welcome show started right on time, around 8:50 and by 9:00 we were walking towards fantasyland. I actually made a pit stop for some Space Mountain FP’s and got a return time of 9:40. We then met up and rode Peter Pan…Braxton enjoys this one, but had a hard time finding everything to look at since almost all of the scenes are below the vehicle. We got a picture of the new Beast’s Castle on the way over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Here are some pictures from waiting in the Pooh line. We actually had to wait about 15-20 minutes, which surprised me this early in the day. Braxton really loves this ride though. He came away from Disney World with a great love of Pooh between the rides and a couple of other things that I will get to later in the report.

We always stopped in the gift shops as well and let Braxton play with stuffed animals. He picked up a Tigger one this time. He has a Tigger doll at my mom’s house and so he recognized this one as we walked through the shop.

It was time for our Space FP’s so we went over at 9:45. We also got a rider swap pass to use later in the day. While I was riding second April and Braxton went to Tomorrowland Terrace to get some breakfast. She ordered me a croissant sandwich, which was excellent. She and Braxton shared mini waffles that had a fruit topping. They both loved them…especially Braxton. This place was a great breakfast option and I didn’t even know it served breakfast. A very reasonable price as well. Each of our meals were just $3.99 each so it is a good value as well. When we got done we headed to Frontierland and grabbed Big Thunder fastpasses with a 10:55 return time before heading over to tour Adventureland.

Up Next: What should we do for lunch?​

 

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Friday, June 7 – Part 2 – What should we do for lunch?

We walked around the back way into Adventureland and decided to first take a ride on Pirates as there was only a 5-10 minute wait. This is one of my favorite rides as it is a classic Disney attraction, but it also has the air conditioning pumping so it is nice and cool in there. Braxton enjoyed his ride on Pirates, but he more so enjoyed trying on some hats with me in the gift shop afterwards. He also, found his favorite pirate…Jake!

We walked out of the gift shop and they were doing the Captain Jack show so I snapped a few picks while April and Braxton were getting the stroller.

We then headed over for Braxton’s first ride on Jungle Cruise. Despite heavy crowds that morning it was now about 10:30 and the wait for Jungle Cruise was still just 5-10 minutes. Braxton sat perfectly still on this ride and watched as we went by all of the “animals”. We were a little worried about these rides as he doesn’t always like to sit still for very long, but he made it through most of them ok during the trip.

Here Braxton was making an “ooh gross” face at something. I don’t remember why unfortunately!

After Jungle Cruise we headed back over to use our Big Thunder Mountain FP’s. We took Braxton over with us to grab a rider swap to use that night when we came back and then I pushed him over to Pecos Bills to wait on April. We love sitting in the little part of Pecos Bills in the back up the ramp as there is never anyone where. Unfortunately that are is not always open, but it was at this point so I went and set there. By the time I got there Braxton had done this…

I went and rode after April returned. Then we had to decide what we wanted to do for lunch. We were a little sick of park food and all week I had been eyeing some of the food at the Boardwalk Bakery. So we decided to just go back to the hotel and grab something there. We were in our room by 12:15 after an easy bus ride. I ran down to grab us some lunch while Braxton finished his nap. I got their special that day a quiche with bacon and a bowl of corn chowder. The quiche was good, but the corn chowder was awesome. I would highly recommended this for a nice light lunch that is different than theme park food. I got April and Braxton a turkey sandwich to share and it was plenty for both of them.

We spent the next 30 minutes or so letting Braxton nap and April went out on the balcony to study as we were driving her to the University of Central Florida for our National Board School Psychologist test the next day.

Braxton woke up at about 1:00 and played in the floor for a while.

We then went down to the pool for a little while and Braxton continued learning how much fun it was to splash mommy and daddy while in the pool. He also learned that mommy doesn’t like to get her hair wet so he splashed her even more!

We went back to the room at about 3:30 and Braxton was acting really tired again so we put him down and he took another nap! We had worn this poor boy out. He slept until about 5:30 this time and when he got up we started getting ready to head back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. While we were getting ready he decided he wanted to actually wear his Mickey Ears. Sorry for the blurry pictures…it is hard to capture a toddler who won’t stand still with a mediocre camera.

Up Next: The Biggest Mistake of my Disney Life​

 

[DVC'96]

Hi! I'm enjoying reading about your trip. Braxton is the cutest kid! Besides the rain it looks like you were having a great time & I see by your tickers that you have another exciting trip planned this year.

I wanted to tell you that I liked your Bethany football shirts. Bethany is also the town in CT that I grew up in.

Looking forward to your next update.

 

[cstorm65]

Hi! I'm enjoying reading about your trip. Braxton is the cutest kid! Besides the rain it looks like you were having a great time & I see by your tickers that you have another exciting trip planned this year.

I wanted to tell you that I liked your Bethany football shirts. Bethany is also the town in CT that I grew up in.

Looking forward to your next update.

Thanks for reading along. He is awesome! We are so blessed. The rain was bad for a day or two, but not a huge problem overall. Yes, it seems like there are Bethany's in many places. Popular name I guess!

And yes, we are very much looking forward to our first cruise this summer!

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!