How I Learned To Hate Florida in September - A Belated Trip Report (Sept 2024 - COMPLETE!)

[EilonwyWanderer]

I can't believe I never posted here about our trip in September of 2024. My husband and I had fond memories of going to Disney World in September back when there were no lines and the weather didn't try to kill you. Now that we have kids, we usually go in December but decided we wanted to take them out of school at the very beginning of the year so they could experience the joy of no wait times and the Halloween Party.

They enjoyed one of those things, because the other no longer exists!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

We flew out on September 13th in the afternoon. I've learned my lesson about early morning flights with young kids--one it's terrible to wake them up and try to get them motivated to get to the airport and two, sure you get to Disney early and then you wait and wait and wait for your room. Armed with all those past mistakes, I made sure that we'd get in around 3, so we could get to the hotel around 4 and therefore not have to wait very long for our room.

And it worked! My kids, dressed as Bluey (10) and Bingo (8), were very good on the way down and once we got to the Grand Floridian our room was already ready so we were able to head right over! We were in one of the buildings by the pool (I do not remember the name and am too lazy to look at a map) and had booked a theme park view studio room for fun thinking we could see the fireworks every night from the room.



While I love the Grand Floridian and it was nice, I would never book a room like this again. For one, we were RIGHT on the water and you hear EVERY SINGLE BOAT HORN starting at 5 am. Every day. Maybe you're a morning person and are already up. We tend to go all rope drop...but not till like 6 am. So that wasn't great. Then maybe we just had the worst theme park view ever, but you couldn't actually see the castle out of the window unless you stood in the corner of the room or were out on the balcony. Just not a great use of a view, in my opinion.

It WAS cool to see the water pageant go by every night.



We didn't have park tickets for the day so instead just chilled out and readied for reservations at Snow White's meet and greet dinner at the Wilderness Lodge!

This is where I learned another lesson: don't schedule a dinner for the night you get there. Maybe when the kids are older. Everyone was pretty exhausted from traveling and I think we would've been better off going to bed early. They were fine at dinner, but everyone was just dragging.

I also think this dining experience was a one and done. Everything was really nicely presented, but no one really loved anything they got.



Pretty sure my youngest was thinking to herself "I could do this. I could be the Evil Queen."


We ate, we walked around the grounds a bit and saw the geyser go off, then we headed back to our resort in time to see the fireworks from outside Gasparilla Grill where we'd gone to get drinks, which was kind of a magical way to start the vacation.



I don't remember how to link pictures here are these even working.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 2 - September 14th

This was the day we realized the weather was going to be a problem. Right away. It was sunny and beautiful and hot. Not just hot, but humid. The kind of humidity that tried to strangle you the minute you stepped outside. We made sure everyone was covered in sunscreen and had water, but we really underestimated how much the heat takes out of you. But worse?

The crowds. It was so crowded. My husband and I just kept looking around being like I swear, September used to be slow.

We always start our trip with a visit to the Magic Kingdom so headed over that way. We started the day with the tea cups and amazingly this was the first time our kids got to ride with each other since we now had a 10 year old and her sister was over 7. Every single time the cast members would kind of freak out because my 10 year old is short and my 8 year old is tall and they'd question them about their ages, but they were over the moon that they could ride things together!



I'm told this gets even better when they're old enough to wander the parks while the adults go to bed. I can only dream.

We had our very first meltdown due to the heat as we waited for food ("I don't want to wait, I'm too hot! I'm hungry!" "Well we have to wait so we can get inside and get food and the AC." "I DON'T WANT TO WAIT I'M MELTING!!!!") and thank you, dad I made eye contact with with outside of The Plaza who gave me the most sympathetic look and mouthed 'We've been there.'

Haven't we all.

This is where Disney really shined for us though--our youngest had recently (like only three weeks before) been diagnosed with a shellfish allergy after a bad reaction at dim sum. Disney was AMAZING with allergies. We were new to it, still hadn't seen an allergist to figure out what exactly it was or how bad it was (did you know they book like six months out? I didn't!), so we were being SUPER careful and they were AMAZING. They had a special menu at every restaurant and it was the first time she felt safe eating since she was diagnosed. She had a hamburger and promptly fell asleep eating a fry on the table.



This was the first time both of them were tall enough for all the rides, so we made sure to hit everything! While my youngest was hesitant to do the roller coasters, she loved every single one. Except space mountain, which we all agreed was too jerky. We did Tron, which I loved, but my youngest was really nervous so requested to ride in the back with my husband. She did like it and I'm hoping next time we go we can get her to try the bike.

And just to note here--I was nervous about the bike. If you are nervous about it, don't be. You are SUPER secure and it's VERY fun!

Normally we do like a 13 hour day at the parks but it was just too damn hot. We had an early dinner reservation at the Crystal Palace and I was so sick with heatstroke I couldn't eat anything and the waitress was so sweet she ended up making sure to take me off the bill. But we're talking head down on the table, sick to my stomach, terrible headache awfulness. We ended up bailing after that and heading back to the hotel to just sit in the AC. We did go back to MK in the evening to ride Tiana's Bayou for the first time--my oldest was SO excited since Tiana is her favorite princess. But once again it was SO HOT that we didn't even stay for the fireworks. I was sweating from places I never even knew you could sweat from. We're talking not only dripping down the back sweat, but dripping down the LEGS. It was INSANE.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 3 - September 15th

About now is when we realized we hate boat horns and would take a parking lot view if it meant no boat horns.

Day two for us is always Epcot, so off we went! This is where staying at a monorail resort really shines because it's just so easy to get around. Epcot is a favorite and we made sure to snag Guardians right away--not that we got on it right away, but we got in on that virtual queue goodness, then hit up Nemo and Friends. Once again the kids were thrilled to be able to ride together despite the questioning of the castmembers. We looked around the aquarium for longer than we probably needed to in order to linger in the AC, then headed over to live with the land.





I really miss the old theme song. But even THIS had a line! What is happening, Disney in September!? Where did all these people come from!? What happened to responsible parents keeping kids in school?!

We did Soarin' and got the top row (YES!) then dreaded walking the world showcase because, again, it was SO HOT. My oldest was devastated that Test Track was down, but was happy we could do the Figment ride. Sadly, the leap frog water was also down, but we marveled at the upside down waterfall and by then it was about time for our lunch at San Angel Inn.

This is a tradition and I love it. Once again they were great with allergies and we just love the view and telling the kids as we do the boat ride how it used to be CRAZY AMAZING and how this is fine. I mean I love Donald Duck but you just don't know how crazy wild it was before and how much we miss the people that used to try to sell you things at the end.

After the lunch the kids put their foot down and were like no, we are not walking the world showcase it's too hot, so we did stuck around only long enough to do Guardians where we unlocked a core memory:

As we were walking out, Take On Me was playing and everyone, everyone started singing. Including the chorus. All the way down the stairs and then outside even though we couldn't hear the music. It was amazing!

Then we headed back to the hotel to do some swimming. Well, their dad took them to do some swimming. It already felt like we were swimming just walking around that's how thick the humidity was. I stayed in the nice AC and took a nap. We all agreed that it was simply too hot to exist, so we stayed at the hotel for dinner and watched the fireworks from Gasparilla Grill again. It's pretty nice, they pipe in the music!

Then we went to bed early, delighting in the AC.

 

[leebee]

Day 2 - September 14th

This was the day we realized the weather was going to be a problem. Right away. It was sunny and beautiful and hot. Not just hot, but humid. The kind of humidity that tried to strangle you the minute you stepped outside. We made sure everyone was covered in sunscreen and had water, but we really underestimated how much the heat takes out of you. But worse?

The crowds. It was so crowded. My husband and I just kept looking around being like I swear, September used to be slow.

We always start our trip with a visit to the Magic Kingdom so headed over that way. We started the day with the tea cups and amazingly this was the first time our kids got to ride with each other since we now had a 10 year old and her sister was over 7. Every single time the cast members would kind of freak out because my 10 year old is short and my 8 year old is tall and they'd question them about their ages, but they were over the moon that they could ride things together!

I'm told this gets even better when they're old enough to wander the parks while the adults go to bed. I can only dream.

We had our very first meltdown due to the heat as we waited for food ("I don't want to wait, I'm too hot! I'm hungry!" "Well we have to wait so we can get inside and get food and the AC." "I DON'T WANT TO WAIT I'M MELTING!!!!") and thank you, dad I made eye contact with with outside of The Plaza who gave me the most sympathetic look and mouthed 'We've been there.'

Haven't we all.

This is where Disney really shined for us though--our youngest had recently (like only three weeks before) been diagnosed with a shellfish allergy after a bad reaction at dim sum. Disney was AMAZING with allergies. We were new to it, still hadn't seen an allergist to figure out what exactly it was or how bad it was (did you know they book like six months out? I didn't!), so we were being SUPER careful and they were AMAZING. They had a special menu at every restaurant and it was the first time she felt safe eating since she was diagnosed. She had a hamburger and promptly fell asleep eating a fry on the table.

This was the first time both of them were tall enough for all the rides, so we made sure to hit everything! While my youngest was hesitant to do the roller coasters, she loved every single one. Except space mountain, which we all agreed was too jerky. We did Tron, which I loved, but my youngest was really nervous so requested to ride in the back with my husband. She did like it and I'm hoping next time we go we can get her to try the bike.

And just to note here--I was nervous about the bike. If you are nervous about it, don't be. You are SUPER secure and it's VERY fun!

Normally we do like a 13 hour day at the parks but it was just too damn hot. We had an early dinner reservation at the Crystal Palace and I was so sick with heatstroke I couldn't eat anything and the waitress was so sweet she ended up making sure to take me off the bill. But we're talking head down on the table, sick to my stomach, terrible headache awfulness. We ended up bailing after that and heading back to the hotel to just sit in the AC. We did go back to MK in the evening to ride Tiana's Bayou for the first time--my oldest was SO excited since Tiana is her favorite princess. But once again it was SO HOT that we didn't even stay for the fireworks. I was sweating from places I never even knew you could sweat from. We're talking not only dripping down the back sweat, but dripping down the LEGS. It was INSANE.

Yeah, you know the heat/humidity is intense when your shins sweat!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Yeah, you know the heat/humidity is intense when your shins sweat!

I really have never experienced anything like it! Even at night! There was absolutely no relief.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 4 - September 16th

I knew this day was going to be prime for meltdowns because we had a couple of reservations that were going to keep us at Hollywood Studios for most of the day. We got there pretty early and headed over to Toy Story Land because we had an early pass for Slinky Dog and...it was down. Which was bad, because it was my youngest's FAVORITE ride and she was really looking forward to it.

Instead we headed over to Tower of Terror, which neither kid had been tall enough to ride last time. Thankfully since we had the lightning lane we didn't need to wait in the very long line in the intense heat, so we basically walked right on. My youngest ALMOST chicken exited, but stuck it out, especially when I pointed out we got the famous guy! We didn't get a picture though because she was too freaked out.

But she LOVED it! They both did and insisted we go on it again. This time we had to stand in the long line and it was less fun, but they had those mist sprays going which helped a little bit. Everyone was pretty cranky when we finished there though. We still had some time to spare before our lunch reservation and we were already lagging, so we looked around for something that didn't have a line. Yay Star Tours! We rode that like three times in a row until the line started filling up. Then we checked in on Slinky Dog (still down) and headed to our reservation at Woody's Roundup BBQ.



We'd never eaten there before and it was SUPER cute! Needed a bigger waiting area outside and it was, have I mentioned, HOT, but we were called pretty quickly and the kids rode horses to the table. The theming was AMAZING and the kids LOVED the "Andy's Coming" bit. The food was fine. My midwestern husband loved the BBQ, but the kids and I were less enthusiastic about everything and mostly picked. Service was SLOW, I assume because it was so busy (what happened to no crowds in September!?) and we were very ready to leave when we finally got the check.

Of course then it was back out into the heat to trudge over to Star Wars land where we BUILT DROIDS! And this is me telling you if you're on the fence about it? It's totally worth it. We built two droids and each kid had a blast and absolutely LOVED the little practice area to drive them around. While they did that I went around solving puzzles for the Resistance until everyone was so hot we agreed it was time to go.

I wasn't feeling really well and headed to one of the bathrooms with my youngest where, of course, I discovered I had gotten my period sometime in the last hour and was completely unprepared because it was early. The bathroom was PACKED so I was trying to shout to my 8 year old to go find the tampon machine. She had no idea what I was talking about of course, so that's when all the ladies in there stepped up and handed me tampons under the stall! I was so, SO grateful!

But also why are tampons and pads not free, Disney?! They're free at Orlando airport! Even if my 8 year old could've figured out where the machine was, she did not have a couple quarters on her. No one carries coins anymore!

Anyway, I got all settled and cleaned up and made a mental note to always carry some supplies in the future not only to be prepared for me, but so I could help out someone else in the same sort of situation. Because ugh, that was not the kind of surprise I wanted to have happen in the middle of a Disney park!

We headed back to the hotel where the kids made little beds for the droids then left them with me to babysit while their Dad took them for a swim.



Once more we felt it was too hot to go back to the parks and just chilled at the Grand Floridian and had dinner at Gaspy's. I cannot recommend that caprese sandwich enough! I still dream about it.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 5 - September 17th

Probably my favorite day even though, once again, we were SO HOT. This was our Animal Kingdom day and three things I really wanted to do: get on the safari ride to see a giraffe since they're my oldest's favorite, ride Everest with my youngest who was VERY nervous about it, and eat at Nomad Lounge.

And I got to do it all! We did the safari first thing and the line was LONG. Once again, what happened September?! We finally get on and see a bunch of giraffes though, so everyone was happy. We even saw the lions! Then we skipped the trails because SO HOT and headed to Everest where the kids loved it so much we probably rode it 5 times in a row until the crowds caught up to us and the wait time ticked up. At that point we went over and saw the Nemo show (still adorable) and then headed over to do Dinosaur, which we all agreed...used to be way better. It's like every time something breaks they don't bother fixing it. I wondered if it was because they knew it was going away? We sat in the back and it was SO bumpy I actually jammed my hip at one point, which wasn't great considering the walking we'd need to do to get to the front of the park.



Then because I had harped on it so much, my family agreed to go eat at the Nomad Lounge. Which was fine. The food was good but the portions were tiny and expensive. I did like the look of it though!

We debated trying to do anything in Pandora land and I gave my usual speech about how much I hate it, so everyone agreed it was too hot to do anything but go back to the hotel since we had a Halloween party to get to!!!!!! We were going as Sleeping Beauty and the three fairies.

We made sure to get all dressed up and head over so we could get in right at 4 pm. We did stop to take pictures in the Grand Floridian lounge and I have to say, we were a hit all night! People kept running up to us and taking pictures. My husband got LOADS of compliments all night and when I posted a picture to a Disney facebook group it got over 14,000 likes!





We had an absolute great time but it was, even at night, ridiculously hot. And my costume's skirt was hugely poofy. We got a ton of candy, rode everything we could ever want to ride, and then when sitting on a bench for a breather while my youngest and her dad used the bathroom, my oldest fell asleep. So even though it was only like 11, I called it. And then I got the most iconic picture of our trip that ended up on our Christmas cards and will probably end up in their yearbook and wedding albums:



There's just no tired like Disney tired for Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather!

 

[Counting Stars]

Really one of the best, most iconic "Disney done" pictures I have ever seen. Totally agree with you about last September- we were there also and between the heat, crowds and the energy sucking humidity it was a very different trip than we expected. It was so uncomfortable- literally like trudging through a swamp. Enjoying your trip report- misery loves company?

 

[mamamelody2]

Bahaha!!! That picture is great!

We have gone to Disney in September 4 times, but now that we are older (50-somethings), we will not do it again. The humidity is so aggressive! It's really miserable.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Really one of the best, most iconic "Disney done" pictures I have ever seen. Totally agree with you about last September- we were there also and between the heat, crowds and the energy sucking humidity it was a very different trip than we expected. It was so uncomfortable- literally like trudging through a swamp. Enjoying your trip report- misery loves company?

The heat and humidity really ruined the trip for us. I wonder if it's because it was right before the hurricanes hit? The crowds were unexpected and awful but I could've dealt with that if I wasn't flirting with heat stroke every day, an hour after we left the hotel! Like we are the family that stays in a park all day then goes and finishes the day at Epcot. This trip? We were the family leaving the park at 1 pm to go crash because we were all too hot and exhausted. Which is not to say it was a bad trip--but it certainly took its toll and we didn't do nearly as much as we usually do! I will NEVER go in September again!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Absolutely love the picture! Right now I'm probably a little crazy because I'm actually looking forward to the September weather. Last time I went, it was rainy, windy, and rarely above the 40s. But I know that when we're there this coming September I'll be thinking "Boy, was she right!" Thanks for the report!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 6 - September 18th

I don't remember a lot about this day. I know we started with breakfast at Toppolino's and got to see the Riviera, which was very pretty. Breakfast was fine, nothing mind blowing. The kids loved seeing the characters and I did like how everything was presented in like, paint pots. But it seemed really far away from everything so I don't know that we'll ever stay there or eat there again. Just too much travel time.



They should seriously have a store where they sell the plates and things though--I'd buy them!

I'm pretty sure we went back to Epcot using the Skyliner (so hot) and met Anna and Elsa (as one does) and then limped our way around the world bemoaning the Florida sun. The lines for all the lines were too long, but the virtual queue for Guardians saved the day and we rode that again.



While Epcot is normally our favorite place to hang out, the lack of shade and places to sit were really killing us, so we decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom for awhile. There both girls made their own magic wands (which they have never looked at since and are safely tucked away) and I have to say the patience of the women running that counter is AMAZING because my oldest remade her twice and my youngest remade hers FOUR TIMES. It was a really cute thing to do though and I'm glad we did it.



We rode Thunder Mountain ten million times and then watched a really cool lightning storm in the distance behind Cinderella's castle from the bridge by Tiana's Bayou. Then during the fireworks even though we didn't have a virtual queue, my youngest being the future politician that she is ran up to the people working the line and asked where the standby line was. They informed her there wasn't one, then told her to go get her family and they'd let us through, which was amazing! It was pretty dead over there anyway since people were going to see the fireworks, but we got to see them from the RIDE so that was really fun.

MK had late hours that night, I think open till 1 am, and while my oldest had once closed the park with her dad one trip, my youngest decided that SHE wanted to close the park this time. So even though i was melting, we stayed the whole night and she was super, super happy about it.



I was super happy to get back to the hotel and the AC.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 7 - September 19th

We started the day at 1900 Park Fare, super excited that it opened up again! And while it was fine and nice to not have to go far since it was at our resort, it was a sold 'meh'. Standard breakfast food at crazy prices and the princesses were nice but seemed rushed even though we were the first seating. Only Tiana really paid us any attention.



This was going to be sort of a 'down day' in that we would hit Animal Kingdom early to do the safari ride and Everest and then head to a water park. But gasp, Everest was down! Everyone was heartbroken, but we did see more giraffes so that was fun.

Then it was over to Typhoon Lagoon! We actually like Blizzard Beach better, don't tell anyone. My kids are not strong swimmers so while they think they like the idea of the wave pool, they do not enjoy the wave pool for more than five minutes at a time. They can't go deep enough to enjoy floating on the waves themselves (we have to hold them) and they are not strong enough to stay up in the shallower parts where the waves can knock you down--and if you've ever scraped yourself on the bottom of that pool it's not pleasant!

But they do love the lazy river, which I could get behind. Once again they were now both tall enough to do the slides, so we did a bunch of...is it the slush and gusher? I can't tell slides apart--the one with the three slides where Mickey tries to murder you with stairs. We did those a bunch and then hung out in the pool and then just floated around the lazy river four or five times. We like eating at Typhoon Tilly's, the food is way better than it has a right to be, but we were there so late that while we ate real food, when we went to go get one of those sundaes in a bucket they were closed!

Worst. Parents. Ever.

We compromised by heading over to Disney Spring and taking our usual picture with the Pooh Bear booth. This is something we do every trip and if they ever get rid of it I'm going to have to write some nasty letters. I have a picture of me pregnant with my oldest on there--and then with my oldest but pregnant with my youngest--etc etc. It's become a real family tradition to hunt it down since they're always moving it. Then we did some shopping and got sundaes at Ghirardelli's instead, so everyone was pretty happy.

On our way out they saw a Disney balloon seller and suddenly the only thing they ever wanted in their ENTIRE LIVES was one of those Mickey balloons within a clear balloon. So we got them with the stern understanding that they were not allowed on the plane (no one tell them) and they would have to be willing to find a nice couple of kids to give them away to before we left.

They agreed and the balloons came to the resort with us, much to the chagrin of everyone on the bus.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 8 - September 20th

This was going to be our 'do whatever we feel like we didn't get to do yet day, but once again the heat got in the way. We headed back to Hollywood Studios to try to get on my youngest's favorite two rides: Rise of the Resistance and Slink Dog. We were even willing to wait in Slinky Dog's line but-it was down again! What the hell Slinky Dog! So we rode a couple things we never had, like the alien thing and of course Toy Story Mania. RotR was still a crazy wait and there were no lightning lanes, so we did Tower of Terror once more and then my husband had PROMISED our oldest that he'd take her on Rockin' Rollercoaster since she was now tall enough.

I never really liked that ride because all I remember was the music blaring in my ears full blast and I didn't care for it. But then my youngest decided no no, she wanted to go too! And since it wasn't that long of a wait, we all went.

It was better than I thought it would be and I should post the picture of us because it tells the tale of all the emotions you can go through: I'm smiling and yelling, my youngest is beside me with a maniacal grin on her face, my oldest is in the back sobbing because she got terrified the moment they strapped us in, and my husband looks absolutely dour because he has a crying child beside him.



Classic Disney family photo.

But the heat got us again so we bailed around 3 pm without having gone on a couple major rides (not through lack of trying!) and headed back to the hotel.

 

[flowergirl45]

Loving your report! Sounds like you made lemonade out of lemons, as much as possible. I went in September once…never again! Need to see that RnR coaster photo!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 9 - September 21st

This was going to be our last full day so we spent it at the Magic Kingdom! First up was a trip to BBB -- something we definitely wanted to do because we're not sure we'll get back in time before our oldest ages out of it and they LOVE coming here. That meant a day spent in the heat in costumes, but they didn't mind (we had packed a change of clothes just in case).



One mistake we made was that we had bought our own sunscreen to take with us because our youngest has sensitive skin. Well, we unfortunately ran out of it (Angel stick or something like that) and since she had chosen Tinkerbell, her shoulders were more exposed than I liked so we bought one of those sport stick sunscreens from a gift shop. Big mistake. By the time we headed back to the hotel for lunch, she was COVERED in a horrible rash. Thankfully we had a purple shirt that went with her costume and after a quick shower to get that stuff off of her, we put that on and headed back to MK for our Cinderella's Table Reservation! We like to end our trips here with a little castle magic AND it was the first time the princesses were there! Last time we were here there were no princesses except for Cinderella in the lobby. This time we saw a bunch! Merida, Aurora, Jasmine, and Ariel!

We headed back somewhat early due to the heat and the fact we were leaving the next day and were going to try to accomplish something we'd only tried once before--heading to a park before heading to the airport! Gulp.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Day 10 - September 22

Today was the day we were leaving and we'd had some tears the night before--they needed to say goodbye to their balloons, which they did as we went down to the lobby to ask them to store our stuff so we could head to Epcot and our Space 220 reservation! I'd been trying all week to get a different one but nada.



We headed to Epcot and found two nice little girls to give our balloons to, then got in the shade-less line to get into Space 220. And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And finally moved the kids into the shade.

And waited.

Honestly, we waited for a ridiculous amount of time before someone came out to tell us the system was down and we had to like manually confirm our reservations. But eventually they moved us inside and we got our 'ticket' and took the shuttle up to the space station. It was VERY cool.

But sadly, they were the only non-allergy friendly restaurant we ran into at Disney and it left my youngest in tears that she couldn't have what she wanted (fries). The server was super nice about it but very upfront and firm that cross contamination was going to happen and the chef came out to talk to her which calmed her down a little but it wasn't the best end to our time at the parks.

It did look cool though.



Then it was back to the hotel where my youngest started crying that while she was ready to go home (we were all so sick of the heat!) she was sad to leave and didn't want to leave Disney. Which is when this guy stepped in and gave us our final magical moment as we waited outside for the bus to the airport--they each got to make their own ear! One of them understood the instructions better than the other, but that was a really nice way to end our time.



We headed to the airport where they promptly made a comfy bed on the floor and fell asleep. Overall we averaged about 17k steps a DAY and I lost 5 pounds--probably from sweating!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

So these were our main takeaways from Disney World in September:

-Florida in September is INSANELY HOT. It was so awful we ended up ditching the parks most days around 1 because it was just too hot to be outside. It was absolutely miserable and we'll never go back at that time of year again!

-It was PACKED! September used to be the slow season but that was not the case!

-Still, I'm glad we were able to do the Halloween party even though it was STILL HOT WHEN IT WAS DARK OUT. Like, sweat dripping down your back hot. SO HOT.

-Tron was super cool. If you are at all nervous about riding the bike, don't be. They have a tester bike out front that you can walk up and try (it's nearly allll the way to the door so keep walking) with a cast member that will show you how to do it and tell you if it works for you or not. And even if you're still nervous, you can ride in a seat in the back of one (just request it when you're in line).

-Tiana's Bayou was lovely.

-We didn't love our Magic Kingdom castle view room at the Grand Floridian. Like it was fine, but if you wanted to see the fireworks you needed to either be outside (too hot!) or crammed into the corner of the room. It was as if we got the worst view room. Also starting at like 5 am all you can hear is boat horns. Constantly. I think we'll go back to the 1 bedroom villas after this, though both kids would really like to stay in the Poly next time.

-It was REALLY fun that the kids could ride together. They were nervous (and so was I!) on some of the fast rides the first time, but by the end they were riding the big rides together and our oldest took her role as big sister SUPER seriously and kept holding on to the youngest and making sure her head wouldn't hit anything, which was adorable.

-BUILD A DROID, it was so much fun and the kids are still in love.

-MAKE YOUR OWN WAND, it was a magical experience, they are SO patient.

-Crocs with socks = no feet pain.

 

[mommyk8]

We go in June and it also has the drenched in sweat from places you didn't know you could sweat. Now we rent DVC so we have a washer and dryer to through all the sweaty clothes in each night to wash. Saves on packing too many cloths since we are constantly washing.
I'm glad you had fun even if it was hotter then hades.