I can't tell if we've landed...Spring Break 2018 with Grammy and the teens-UPDATE 9/30

[Lancemidtx]

Late to this as well...I have two teens and enjoy following along!

 

[buzzrelly]

Late to this as well...I have two teens and enjoy following along!

Never too late! Thanks for reading

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 12, 2018
RELAXING AT BLT



We got back to BLT around 2. I love how by this point in the trip, everyone is so relaxed and unhurried...



We just headed back to our room to relax a little bit. Excuse the messy room, but this pic cracks me up because my mom's legs are so short that she can lounge with them fully extended on the chair


She saw me laughing at her and started laughing too


After a couple hours of relaxing, we started to head out to Disney Springs. But first, we had to go take our traditional Mickey Ears picture behind the CR.



Here are some from years past






This year's didn't come out great because of where the sun and shadows were, but sadly, this was going to be our last chance to take this because Allison was leaving the next day When we planned this trip, we had booked BLT until 4/15, then she found out that she had a dance competition the weekend of 4/14 and 4/15. She made the decision to leave on 4/13 so she could attend the comp. We were all sad about her leaving, but we know how much she loves dancing so we had to be okay with it. In hindsight, I think we all wished we had gone home with her on the 13th for couple reasons. First, we all missed her terribly and we were just kind of sad when she left, although we did make the best of it and even scheduled a couple dinners that we knew she wouldn't have liked. And secondly, she had a phenomenal day to fly home, and ours, well...more about that later...

Anyway, this kind of felt like our last night so we took our time and got some pics around the CR...




We did eventually head out front to the bus stop...​

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 12, 2018
DISNEY SPRINGS-1

I don't recall how long we waited for our bus but we weren't in a hurry to get there since our dinner ADR wasn't until 6.




We arrived at DS around 5 so we had a little time to poke around in the shops. The kids ditched us fairly quickly, so mom and I walked around and shopped a bit. The only thing I bought was a little piggy soap in Basin that I'll put in Allison's stocking this Christmas.




We all met back up at Homecomin', although, Grammy and I walked in circles for a little bit because we couldn't find it. I felt bad because I hated that she had to walk even more than we would have if I hadn't gotten so turned around.

We eventually made it and checked in...


After a five minute wait, we were seated AT THE EXACT SAME TABLE MIKE AND I SAT AT THE ONLY OTHER TIME I'VE BEEN HERE. How odd is that?


We ordered hushpuppies for the table. I loved these the last time I came, but these seemed a little overdone.




I ordered a grilled chicken salad that was really free and delicious, but really big. I didn't come close to finishing this.


Allie got…what else?? Chicken and french fries. Her go-to meal everywhere.


Nicholas ordered Chicken & Dumplings. He loves this when I make it at home. don't think he liked this version as much. I tried it too and I like mine better, but this was decent.


Continued in next post...​

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 12, 2018
DISNEY SPRINGS-2

I think Grammy and I got the same thing because I don't see another food picture. Either that or we split that salad…which now that I'm thinking of it, makes way more sense. But of course, we couldn't leave Homecomin' without having a slice of the amazing Hummingbird cake for dessert. As you can see, we cut this in half. The kids weren't into it so Grammy and I ate this whole thing




It was a perfect evening and we just walked around some of the DS shops after dinner.




Allie was dying to try out the Sprinkles cupcake dispenser…

Soon after we headed back to BLT where she ate her cupcake while waiting for the bus...





Since it was her last night, Allison wanted to go swimming. It was a fairly cool night, but I agreed to go down with her. I sat under some towels trying to keep warm while she swam.


After she'd had enough, we headed back up.

​

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 12, 2018
ANOTHER HAPPILY EVER AFTER



Allie and I got upstairs just in time…HEA was just starting.








There is really something to be said for standing in your living room watching Disney fireworks

We got to bed early because we wanted to spend a few more hours in a park before Allie had to leave for the airport. ​

 

[disneyAndi14]

What a fun day and evening, everyone looks happy being leisurely! We tried Homecomin for the first time this trip.

I have wanted to try the Sprinkle ATM every time we are in DS and never have, sigh!

Love the fireworks view from BLT, I would stay here again for the walk and fireworks!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Very interesting read!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Thanks for posting. Enjoyed reading.

 

[alwaysadisneykid]

I can't wait to try that cupcake ATM!

 

[buzzrelly]

We tried Homecomin for the first time this trip.

What did you think?

I have wanted to try the Sprinkle ATM every time we are in DS and never have, sigh!

There's always next time!

[QUOTE="cheryllarsen, post: 59695630, member: 376128"]Very interesting read![/QUOTE]

Thanks for reading!

I can't wait to try that cupcake ATM!

Super gimmicky, but fun!

 

[thumper*]

There is really something to be said for standing in your living room watching Disney fireworks

 

[buzzrelly]

APRIL 13, 2018
ALLIE BIDS ADIEU TO THE MK





Sadly, today was Allie's last day with us. She was heading back to CT this afternoon so that she could attend a dance competition. We were all a little sad today because of this. Well, everyone except Allie was sad. She was excited to be going home to something she loves.

The kids and I were up and ready early. We headed over to the resort airline check-in so she could check her bag. She was just taking this little one home and I was going to take her bigger one when we left on Sunday.

She was kind of making fun of me because I kept taking pictures of her leaving me

Once we had her bag all squared away, we walked together to the MK together for one last time. As per usual, Grammy had a hard time getting going so we went along without her.

I actually remembered to take a pic of our plans for the day...

Since it was Allie's last day, I think even Nicholas was a little sad and decided to be somewhat cooperative about getting his picture taken. We stopped for a few photopasses on Main Street...

Allie had requested to ride Space Mountain this morning because she would have to leave before our FP for it, so we headed there right away.

When we got there, we found out SM was closed so we did the second best thing in Tomorrowland...

And because Space Mountain was down, we got to see it with the lights on! None of us have ever seen that, so we thought it looked pretty cool!

While in Tomorrowland, we had to get one last ride on Carousel of Progress...

By the time we were done with COP, it was about time for our Splash FP, so we headed there.
Too sunny, I guess!

I always love this view from the top

Grammy arrived just in time for us all to share one last ride together on It's a Small World…

Uh, oh! Time for us to go! The DME was picking us up around 11...

One last picture of Allie before she and I headed out of the MK and walked back to BLT to wait for the Magical Express.

Up next-one sad Mama...
​

 

[buzzrelly]

Good morning! I am going to take a short break from this trip report to put somewhat of a mini pre-trip report for Mike's and my October trip! Some of you already know that Mike isn't a big fan of WDW, but we went together last October/November for the HHN at Universal and the Food & Wine Challenge at WDW. For anyone who missed that and would like to read, click here.

I'll keep any PTR posts in this font, so if you're not interested, just skip ahead to the pink that I usually use.

While we had an amazing time, we decided to do this trip a little differently. First, we are not going back to UO. It was fun, but HHN just is NOT my cup of tea AT ALL!

Also, I actually thought Mike would like UO more than WDW because he loves comics and superheroes. He liked UO but he likes WDW better. He is not a huge coaster/scary ride guy. His favorite ride at WDW is It's A Small World…that should give you some idea of the kind of rides he likes Although he does love Soarin' too, but that's about the biggest "thrill" ride he'll go on.

Second, we are going a little bit earlier in October. Our first few days in Orlando last trip were COLD…

I know the weather in Orlando can be very unpredictable, but I didn't even bring long pants and I froze that morning

We also decided that being there for the crossover from Halloween into Christmas wasn't really something we wanted to do. We really wanted a Halloween trip and felt we kind of missed out on that because we got to WDW on October 31st,

And by the time we got back to the MK on November 2nd, it looked like this…

So gorgeous and amazing, but definitely not in line with our Halloween trip. Even the stores had mostly switched over to Christmas by October 31st, and we weren't really in Christmas mode yet…though I definitely want to bring Mike back for a Christmas trip someday.

So for those reasons, we are going earlier in October so we can see more of the fall decorations and Halloween merch. We also kind of missed being at home for Halloween and want to be back for that, as well.

Another thing we are doing differently this trip is skipping the Wine & Dine 10k/half-marathon. I have done two Run Disney races now and I think I am all set with that. I might be convinced to do another 10K someday but only if it fits into my plans. Doing the challenge basically made us miss two nights that we could otherwise just be spending having fun. But because we needed to get up at 3:30 am, we had to get to bed early, etc. I'd rather just have fun and enjoy the parks. Maybe if we lived closer and went to WDW all the time this wouldn't be a big deal, but we don't go frequently enough that I want to forego any park/nighttime fun.

So that's what we are NOT doing. Now you're probably wondering what we ARE doing.

Trip dates:
October 16-October 24, 2018

Where:
October 16-21 at the Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
Standard View Studio using DVC points

October 21-22 at Animal Kingdom Villas-Jambo
Standard View Studio using DVC points

October 22-24 at Animal Kingdom Villas-Jambo
Value Studio, cash room with APH discount

We originally had booked just the Poly for five nights and then we were going to go on the Dream for a 4-night cruise. Well, life happened (meaning unexpected expenses came up, like replacing our pool heater, etc), and this summer while we were in Hilton Head on vacation we decided to nix the cruise part of the vacation and extend the WDW part since most of it wasn't going to cost us anything out of pocket. We are using DVC points for all but two nights of our stay. The last two nights I got a great AP rate on an AK value studio…I actually booked this when there was a glitch in the system and I happened to be following along on a thread here on the DisBoards that alerted me that there was availability for both my points stay and my cash nights. This, despite having had a waitlist in place that never went through.

We obviously have to pay for food and our MNSSHP tickets, but we would have done that anyway.

Someday, I want to go on another cruise with Mike because I think that's definitely more his style of vacation, but for now he's happy going to HH once/year and maybe throwing in a Food & Wine festival now and again.


How:
Those of you who read my TR from last October know that Mike won't fly. I will compromise occasionally and drive with him…we drove to FL in 2013, and drove to HH in both 2016 and 2018…but I literally HATE driving.

So Mike will yet again be taking a train down a couple days ahead of me and visiting his mom who lives in Ocala. I will fly down on the morning of October 16th. My plane leaves from BDL at 6:45 am, and I land at 9:35 am.

I think I am going to take the DME to the Poly, although Mike will have his mom's car for the week so he could pick me up if we decide that. But I actually don't mind the DME and I think it may just be easier for him to meet me in WDW.

I think that answers the basics! I'll be back soon with the fun part…the plans!




​

 

[buzzrelly]

Okay, so here is what we have planned for now. Of course, I've already changed many of these reservations and fastpass reservations multiple times, but I think these are mostly set in stone by now.

Tuesday October 16th-
My plane lands at 9:35 am. I'll take the DME and meet Mike over at PVC. I'm sure our room won't be ready, but we'll maybe drop off some of our things with bell services and head to the MK.

I haven't decided yet if I'll do a grocery delivery via Amazon Prime Now. We did that last April and I was very happy with the service. But Mike will have the car and we won't be buying too many groceries since we are staying in a studio, so we may just have him stop and get some water, yogurt, banana and snacks on his way to meet me.

We'll head to the MK by monorail or boat and use our fastpasses:
10:40-11:40 Jungle Cruise
11:50-12:50 Pirates of the Caribbean
12:55-1:55 Peter Pan

Besides our FP+ reservations, I don't really like to plan the day. We'll see how it looks when we get there and see where the day takes us. Mike loves the glass blowers on Main Street and we somehow missed that last October, so we are for sure making it a point to see that. I would love a ride on BTMR or Splash Mountain, or both! If the stand-by lines aren't bad, I may try to ride those…by myself, of course.

2:35 pm Lunch at Tony's-I know this is not a fan favorite, but I've been many times and always enjoy it.

We may take a break and go back to PVC after lunch, especially if our room wasn't ready in the morning. I really don't want to be getting back to the room between 12-1 am and worrying about getting our luggage.

And why would we be getting back to the room so late? Because we are attending MNSSHP this night. Normally, I would have inserted the here, but so far, I haven't been reading very positive reports so I've lowered my expectations. I am kind of bummed about this because I love MNSSHP and I was really looking forward to it. Now I'm a little worried that it's going to be a big, fat waste of money. We'll see. We went last year on Halloween and it was SUPER crowded and we still had a good time, so hopefully it'll be okay. We don't plan on waiting for characters this year. We stood in line for a couple hours last year waiting for Jack & Sally and while I loved meeting them, I don't want to waste hours of party time waiting in line for them…although, those seven dwarves are adorable

Hopefully our lunch will be filling enough to hold us all night, but I'm sure we'll end up trying some of the party snacks along the way.

Wednesday, October 17th-
So this is CRAZY, but we are attending Toy Story Land Early Morning Magic at DHS this morning! I would NOT have planned it this way, but they announced this AFTER I bought our MNSSHP tickets and they only offer it on Mondays and Wednesdays. I guess I could have gotten the tickets for the following Monday, but those are going to be weird, resort transitioning days so I didn't want to add any more confusion to the mix.

This was originally planned as an EPCOT day so I actually think, in that regard, this works out pretty well.

We'll check-in at DHS by 7 am (there was some weirdness about some people starting at 7am vs some starting at 7:30 am. Our party starts at 7:30, but on the off chance we can get in sooner than that, we plan on getting there by 7…that's when my email confirmation says we can check-in.

I'm actually really excited about this since it'll be our first time in TSL and I can't wait to ride SDD! Mike won't go on that, but we can ride together on *** and TSM. The EMM also includes breakfast, so we'll do all the rides, have breakfast and then head out to take the boat or walk to EPCOT. The only thing I'm thinking here is that it would be really nice to drive ourselves to DHS this morning, but then we'd have to go back after EPCOT to get the car and that seems like a pain in the neck. I think we'll probably just take the bus…or maybe we'll try Uber.

Once in EPCOT, our fastpasses are:
10:45-11:45 Spaceship Earth
11:50-12:50 Soarin'
12:55-1:55 LWTL

At some point, we'll head to the WS to try some of the Food & Wine offerings. I will not be trying any wine though…I learned my lesson last year. I had one drink and I just got super exhausted and had to leave. I'm just a wicked lightweight and not a day-drinker, at all.

We have a dinner ADR at Via Napli at 4:45 pm, but I think I may cancel this. After staying out late the night before and getting up super early, I think we might need a break. Also, I was thinking that after the break, we should head to the MK for EMH 9pm-11pm. This is only of our few chances to see HEA this week since there are so many parties, and they are my favorite fireworks by far. I think if we can rest a bit i the afternoon, we should be good to go by 7 or 8pm. We can figure out something else to eat, though I'll be a little sad to skip VN.

I have to bring Allie to swim and then dance so I have to run for now! More to come soon!

 

[Rich M]

We will be at the Halloween Party that night also. I am sure it will still be a great time.

 

[buzzrelly]

We will be at the Halloween Party that night also. I am sure it will still be a great time.

I hope so! The posts about the crazy crowds have me a little worried…they can't be worse than the crowds on Halloween, can they??

 

[buzzrelly]

Thursday, October 18th-

This was our planned DHS day before we found out EMM at TSL, so we just decided to keep it this way. Thankfully, we do not have an early morning planned and having seen all of TSL the day before, I don't think we will rush out this morning.

Our fastpasses:
11:10-12:10 Toy Story Mania
1-2 Tower of Terror
2:05-3:05 Star Tours

I'm not even sure I'll go on TOT…Mike definitely will not and I don't know if I want to go by myself. I do enjoy it when I go with the kids, but I'm a little bit of a chicken on my own.

Beyond that, we may watch Indiana Jones and I'll definitely have to go into One Man's Dream. Whatever we do, I'm guessing we will be done by 3-4 pm.

Dinner this night is a Homecomin' at 5:50 pm. This was Mike's favorite meal last October and this was one of Mike's requests for this year, along with Trader Sam's and Jellyrolls. I am looking forward to it as well…gotta get me more of those deviled eggs! Afterwards, we'll spend the night at DS or maybe head out and try to get into Trader Sam's.

Friday, October 19th-

I'm honestly not sure what we are going to do this morning. We have fastpasses later in the afternoon at Animal Kingdom, but no plans in the morning.

I'm thinking maybe we will go to EPCOT and have some lunch at the Food and Wine booths, or I am considering looking to see if there is a Marceline To The Magic Kingdom tour this morning. We did the KTTK tour last year and thought it was fabulous. Even my non-Disney-loving husband really enjoyed himself! I think he would really like this one too because I hear there is a sneak peek at the Haunted Mansion and he really likes that ride. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? What would you do??

Our Animal Kingdom fastpasses:
3-4 Kali River Rapids
5-6 Kilimanjaro Safari
6:55-7:55 Flights of Passage

Before my FP+ day came along, our AK day was going to be Tuesday but I couldn't get FOP on that day so I ended up kind of panicking and swapping my EPCOT and AK day. In the end it worked out because I was able to switch the Via Napoli ADR to my EPCOT day, and now I may cancel it all together anyway!

I would like to stay and see ROL at AK and since we will be there late this evening, I may finally be able to do that! I have had plans on the last two trips and just didn't feel like staying late at AK. It starts at 7:45 so if we (I…since Mike won't go on!) go on FOP right at the beginning of our window, we could make it over there to see the show. Alternatively, I could also use Mike's FOP FP since he won't be using it and I would LOVE to have a second ride! But that FOP queue takes forever so I wouldn't be able to do FOP twice and then ROL. Again, anyone have any thoughts on that? It's quite the dilemma, isn't it?!

I have no idea what we will eat for dinner this day, since I did not make any ADRs. We like Yak and Yeti QS so maybe we'll just get that. Or maybe we'll eat so much at EPCOT earlier in the day that we'l just get a snack. I purposely left a couple days like this where we aren't tied to any ADRs…we'll see how it goes!


Saturday, October 20th-

I have this planned as another DHS day. When I was making my FP reservations, this was the first day I could book SDD…60+4.

Our DHS Fastpasses:
10:30-11:30 TOT (again…I may or may not go on by myself)
12:15-1:15 Star Tours
3:30-4:30 Slinky Dog Dash

Here's the thing, I told you all how much we loved that Garden Grill PPO breakfast this past April. I was thinking that Mike would really like it if it meant we could go on Soarin' a couple times before the park opens. I was under strict orders from Mike to not make as many buffet ADRs this year, and he's right, for us it's just too much food and very wasteful. But I was thinking about this one and I think he would be okay with making this one exception. The problem is that none of this occurred to me until well after our ADR making date and of course there are no more PPO GG ADRs available. So I currently have an ADR for 8:35 am but I have signed up for the TP reservation finder and I am hopeful that we will get the 8-8:10 am reservation. I have already been getting notifications for reservations in the 8 o'clock hour, but they were for 8:40-8:45, which doesn't help. If it comes through, great. If not, no big deal, but I'll most likely cancel the 8:35 am ADR I'm currently holding. Let me know if any of you want it!

If we eat at GG we'll likely monorail to EPCOT and then take the friendship boat or walk to DHS afterwards.

We actually have fun plans for this night, so we'll stay in this area all day and then we have a 5:40pm ADR at Yachtsman's Steakhouse. Mike and I ate here in 2013 and we loved our meal. After dinner we are going to go to Jellyroll's. This is exactly what we did on our 2013 trip and we have always wanted to go back ever since. That place is so much fun! Or at least it was five years ago…I hope it's still awesome!

And because these posts are so wordy, here are some pictures from our amazing dinner at Yachtsman's, and Jellyrolls in 2013:

 

[disneyAndi14]

I hope so! The posts about the crazy crowds have me a little worried…they can't be worse than the crowds on Halloween, can they??

We were at the very first party and it was crowded sold out, it was still so awesome, we had a great time.

It was hotter than Hades and it was still so much fun, I think you will enjoy it.

 

[buzzrelly]

Sunday, October 21st-

This is the day we check-out of PVC and check-in to AKL-Jambo. I'm not sure how I feel about AKL just yet, but it was all I had points for and I had enough for just this one night. I hear wonderful things about this resort, however, so I am hoping we love it…I'm looking at you @paradesintherain

I think we will check-out and leave our things with bell services for later. We will not be heading directly to AKL in the morning because we have an 11:45am ADR for California Grill Brunch Mike and I are really looking forward to this! We had an ADR last year but it was on the day of the half-marathon and we weren't sure how we would be feeling so we cancelled it. We were bummed…me especially because I was supposed to have a DisMeet with @kastoney and because we cancelled our ADR, it never happened I am really looking forward to trying this brunch because I have heard such great things about it! And Mike is super excited for the Bloody Mary Bar

After we stuff ourselves, we have fastpasses at the MK:​

1:30-2:30 Jungle Cruise
2:40-3:40 Splash Mountain
3:55-4:55 Haunted Mansion​

We'll probably head out after that to go back and retrieve our things at the Poly and head over to AKL.


Monday, October 22nd-

We have to check-out of our regular studio room and check into a Value studio, I guess. I don't know how all that is going to work but I'm hoping it goes smoothly. I have done split stays before, but only at two different resorts.

After we square that away we are heading back to AK:​

9:35-10:35 Kilimanjaro Safari
11-12 Flights of Passage
12:15-1:15 Kali River Rapids​

We will hit up all the stuff we missed on our first AK day, like Festival of the Lion King and the new Up bird show. We were big fans of the old bird show and I hear this one is not as good, but we still want to see it.

Dinner tonight is at Sanaa at 6:35pm. I am so excited for this one! I am dying to try the bread service and the butter chicken, and I think Mike will love it here too. I have high hopes for this place, I hope we aren't let down!


Tuesday, October 23rd-

This is going to sound strange, but we are heading back to the MK even though it closes super early tonight for yet another MNSSHP.

Our MK Fastpasses:​

9:40-10:40 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
10:40-11:40 Haunted Mansion
11:45-12:45 Pirates of the Caribbean​

We also have a dinner ADR at The Plaza at 3:55pm because I couldn't leave WDW without getting my Fried Green Tomato sandwich!

I am actually toying with the idea of maybe staying for another MNSSHP this night. But this will greatly depend on A-our experience the first night, and B-whether or not it's sold-out. If it is sold-out then I wouldn't want to attend anyway, that's why I am not purchasing tickets in advance for this one.

If we don't go to MNSSHP, we might head over to Trader Sam's seeing as this will be our last chance because we leave the next day


Wednesday, October 24th-

Our last day

My plane doesn't leave until 8:20 PM though, so we pretty much have all day to spend if we'd like.

We have fastpasses for EPCOT:​

10:20-11:20 Spaceship Earth
11:45-12:45 Soarin'
1:10-2:10 Figment (just never sure what to book as a third FP here)​

I am hoping to make it to EPCOT four times during this trip because I want that APH cutting board I think this would be our fourth entry so I'll be lugging that cutting board on the plane , unless I can convince Mike to carry it home on the train

I'll have to be back to AKL for the DME by 5 pm, or so. Of course, I could always have Mike drive me to the airport if we decide to stay a little later. We shall see.

So that's it! How does it all look? Any advice? Suggestions? I'm open!

Thanks for reading! I'll be back with a TR update soon! I will for sure have it completely finished before our October trip!​