Mega-Con? Mega People! Mom and Daughter travel again! 1/30-2/5, Link to new TR 5/12*

[Wood Nymph]

Your room at AS was really cute. I love the way Disney remodeled these rooms.

I hate the 7:30am early opening time for Animal Kingdom. The animals don't do early hours. They keep on their regular schedule. We didn't see hardly any animals of the early safari. So there is no reason for them to open the park so early. ;(

 

[KaSe]

Yay to having you here. I hear you, I liked when Andi could go as often as I could. 1-2 trips a year with her now is what I hope to keep getting. A cruise sounds fun, have you ever done a Disney cruise? I really want to sail on the new Treasure In 2025 but I don’t know if Andi is a fan. Maybe my husband would come for all the food!

I am so excited about this cruise -- we booked it last spring & we're now 19 days away from the start of the trip.

It's not a Disney cruise (and no, I haven't cruised on a Disney ship, but I'd definitely like to at some point!). We got a great price for a 10-day cruise with discounted excursions and free alcohol package through Norwegian. The free booze pretty much clinched the deal. But, I'm sure you'd agree that even though we can't do it as often, still being able to spend that time together with adult children is priceless.

 

[iivye]

Yes it is fun to compare! I didn’t think Disney was to crowded earlier in the week but wow the weekend at Universal was the busiest I have seen in quite some time! How did you think the crowds were?

It's just my husband and I now so I try really hard to book when there won't be crowds. This was an utter fail. It was just a quick weekend trip but everything was crowded. Just getting a Lyft from the airport took us over 30 minutes and one cancelled on us right when he pulled in! That was a sign of how the trip was going to go. We did Magic Kingdom Friday morning and the lines were ridiculous. We also did Hollywood Studios and Epcot which were both packed. We still had fun but I don't know that I'll go back in Feb. I found out about the Pro Bowl a few weeks before we left but I didn't know about Mega-Con or the South American groups being on school vacation.

Your report is making me want to try AS. Travel day is the best and it sound like things went perfectly for you two. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[pkondz]

Yay to being first. I wish I had a great prize for you! Here is a virtual one.

Yuss!
I’ll print it off and frame it.

I knew I liked you Always nice to hear as we get older!

Typo. As you get younger.

Probably could have retired awhile ago if I didn’t like to travel so much

She takes after her mom

 

[pkondz]

She had a sensor coming on for one of the tires on her car and wanted to play it safe

Those things are good and bad. Nice to know when you have a problem but… sometimes ignorance is bliss!

I picked up Qdoba for supper.

We have that up here but I’ve never been. Hmmm… maybe once? Take out? Don’t remember.

Andi wanted her dad to check her tire while we are away! It would give him something to do while we were away!

Andi did the same and of course we both over packed.

Better over than under.

We had a layover in Minneapolis for several hours. Our flight didn’t leave until 4pm.

I don’t mind those… unless the connection is tight. Then it’s stressful.

We had a nice leisurely lunch at a sit down pizza place. We had the bruschetta appetizer and the Quattro Formagio pizza.

Sounds good!

Minneapolis has a really nice airport. It is easy to navigate and has really nice shops and restaurants.

I agree!

I watched the newest Mission Impossible. It was really action packed and rather unrealistic.

I think they all are like that.

I am always happy to see the ugly MCO airport carpeting

Pro tip I always try to buy gift cards on sale for our trips.

I’m always afraid That they’d only be valid in Canada.

I bought $1000 dollars and saved $100 dollars. I pay for everything with gift cards on our trip!

Good deal!

I had made a reservation for AS Sports for this first night. I knew we would be arriving later and I got a really good AP price. It was under a $100.00.

Wow!

We saw a group of cheerleaders or dance team members practicing out on the football field area.

Uh oh…. Foreshadowing?

It was a ground floor room in a quiet area.

Nice. Best kind.

I tried honey mustard for the first time and I loved it on the chicken. Who knew lol

Come up here and I’ll introduce you to honey dill dipping sauce. It’ll change your life.

Stay tuned for a tribute to the best ride ever!

Always up for a HM tribute.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Because I fly southwest, I never see anything in Minneapolis except Terminal 2. But flying out of Terminal 2 after Christmas to get back to VA was a DREAM. I walked in on Dec. 30 and there was NO ONE in the Southwest area and I think 2 people ahead of me for TSA. While that is all a bonus, there just isn't much in terminal 2 in terms of restaurants and stores.

Yes, Terminal 2 is a breeze and usually very quiet! It really doesn’t have much for shops or restaurants but sometimes that is worth the quick and easy check in!

Because I fly southwest, I never see anything in Minneapolis except Terminal 2. But flying out of Terminal 2 after Christmas to get back to VA was a DREAM. I walked in on Dec. 30 and there was NO ONE in the Southwest area and I think 2 people ahead of me for TSA. While that is all a bonus, there just isn't much in terminal 2 in terms of restaurants and stores.

Sorry double post! We have flown out of terminal 2 a few times! We mostly always fly Delta

Anyway, glad you all had an uneventful travel day. Can't wait for your AK day!

It was quite a chill day. I was glad it worked out so well!

Your room at AS was really cute. I love the way Disney remodeled these rooms.

I like the remodeled rooms at the value resorts. I think a night or two at these resorts is perfect before moving to a mod or deluxe resort.

hate the 7:30am early opening time for Animal Kingdom. The animals don't do early hours. They keep on their regular schedule. We didn't see hardly any animals of the early safari. So there is no reason for them to open the park so early. ;(

I do as well, it really is just for all the crowds to run to FOP. Nothing is really open or available except Pandora and Dinosaur

I am so excited about this cruise -- we booked it last spring & we're now 19 days away from the start of the trip.

I hope you all have a wonderful time!

It's not a Disney cruise (and no, I haven't cruised on a Disney ship, but I'd definitely like to at some point!). We got a great price for a 10-day cruise with discounted excursions and free alcohol package through Norwegian. The free booze pretty much clinched the deal. But, I'm sure you'd agree that even though we can't do it as often, still being able to spend that time together with adult children is priceless

I have a coworker (she is very young), she went on a similar cruise with the free alcohol package and her husband and her really took advantage of this. She said her husband had 24 drinks one day! lol
I agree, traveling with the adult children is amazing! I have to get my son to join us once in awhile

 

[disneyAndi14]

It's just my husband and I now so I try really hard to book when there won't be crowds. This was an utter fail. It was just a quick weekend trip but everything was crowded. Just getting a Lyft from the airport took us over 30 minutes and one cancelled on us right when he pulled in! That was a sign of how the trip was going to go. We did Magic Kingdom Friday morning and the lines were ridiculous. We also did Hollywood Studios and Epcot which were both packed. We still had fun but I don't know that I'll go back in Feb. I found out about the Pro Bowl a few weeks before we left but I didn't know about Mega-Con or the South American groups being on school vacation

I had no idea the weekend would have so many things going on around Orlando, ugh! It really did bring the crowds. We have been this time before and it was always low crowds! I was shocked how busy Universal was! Crazy! Andi told me about the South American vacations. We heard so many different languages that week! I guess there isn’t a quiet time anymore ever!! Such a bummer. We got spoiled traveling years ago and having the parks almost empty it was amazing!

Your report is making me want to try AS. Travel day is the best and it sound like things went perfectly for you two. Looking forward to reading more!

I really like the value resorts now after the remodel and perfect for a night or two. The AP rate was really good!

Typo. As you get younger.

Those things are good and bad. Nice to know when you have a problem but… sometimes ignorance is bliss!

I know sometimes these Sensors in the vehicles can drive you crazy. It had something to do with a bead?? Joe got it figured out

We have that up here but I’ve never been. Hmmm… maybe once? Take out? Don’t remember.

It is fine but Andi just loves it. I think she loves the Queso!

I don’t mind those… unless the connection is tight. Then it’s stressful.

Same. I started to make sure we had a cushion since I hate the running and constant stress when the first flight doesn’t take off on time!

Good deal!

It really was! I hope Costco runs that deal again! You could definitely do the Disney gift cards, Lyft not sure if it could only be used in Canada

Uh oh…. Foreshadowing?

Not really, for once we didn’t run into to many dance/cheer groups in the park Thank goodness

Come up here and I’ll introduce you to honey dill dipping sauce. It’ll change your life.

That sounds very interesting. I discovered this pickle dip recently and I am obsessed it is really good

Always up for a HM tribute.

Haha. I said favorite nostalgic for that one but we know which ride is the best one EVER!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I had no idea the weekend would have so many things going on around Orlando, ugh! It really did bring the crowds.

We arrived on Sunday, Feb 4th and the Mears Connection area at MCO was slammed - with almost zero buses arriving to pick up passengers, and this was at 10am! They finally sent a Mears taxi to take us to Wilderness Lodge after waiting close to an hour. Our taxi driver told us that there was some huge festival in Orlando that weekend and that was why it was so busy.

The Olympic marathon trials were held in Orlando that weekend. That was one of the activities.

 

[pkondz]

It had something to do with a bead??

Ah!

It is fine but Andi just loves it. I think she loves the Queso!

Mmmm… queso…

Same. I started to make sure we had a cushion since I hate the running and constant stress when the first flight doesn’t take off on time!

Yes!

Not really, for once we didn’t run into to many dance/cheer groups in the park Thank goodness

Phew!

Haha. I said favorite nostalgic for that one but we know which ride is the best one EVER!!

It’s the same in both categories.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We arrived on Sunday, Feb 4th and the Mears Connection area at MCO was slammed - with almost zero buses arriving to pick up passengers, and this was at 10am! They finally sent a Mears taxi to take us to Wilderness Lodge after waiting close to an hour. Our taxi driver told us that there was some huge festival in Orlando that weekend and that was why it was so busy.

The Olympic marathon trials were held in Orlando that weekend. That was one of the activities.

It was crazy how many things were going on that weekend. The Pro Bowl, Mega Con, cheer/dance competitions and I didn’t even know about the Olympic trails! Wow no wonder it was very busy

 

[franandaj]

OK, my life has finally slowed down enough that I can resume the DIS!

My daughter Andi and I have been traveling to Disney for 14 amazing years together!

That's awesome! How great to have had so many great times!

We started when Andi was 10 to build special mom/daughter travel memories and it exploded! We enjoyed the trips so much and looked forward to a new one every year! We started adding more trips a year, APs, tours, ticketed events, and different resorts.

That's very impressive!

We average 30-33,000 steps a day on our vacations so yeah I need a week to recover!

I don't think I could travel with you two! I can only do about 15,000 steps before I'm toast!

I now work with patients to provide the best discharge plan possible from the hospital. This is still challenging but my back thanks me everyday now! I plan to work 5 more years before retiring.

I bet that's a much better job than acute patient care. From the wife of someone who spent at least 1/3 of the last year of her life in the hospital, I know how hard those nurses work.

Here we are celebrating 14 years of Mother and Daughter trips!

Such a cute picture!

I see you are on a wine tour, lucky lady!

Well, by the time that you posted this, I was actually back home and recovering from a cold that I picked up in Wine Country.

Andi ended up coming home the night before. She had a sensor coming on for one of the tires on her car and wanted to play it safe. She put air in the tire and made it home around 7pm.

I hope that everything turned out OK. I had a similar problem when I came back from Egypt and it resulted in $1200 worth of new tires for my Ford Escape.

It is really nice to fly out of a small airport!

I say the same thing about Long Beach Airport, but even though it's small, it's ALWAYS busy, flights are leaving nearly every 15-20 minutes. And landing too, I know that because I can see the planes landing from my bedroom window and my kitchen window too.

I got the best Disney gift card deal with Costco. It was a limited time and I jumped on it. You spend $225 for a $250 dollar card.

I wish that I had jumped on that deal when it was going on. I heard about it and didn't bother to make the purchase.

I had made a reservation for AS Sports for this first night. I knew we would be arriving later and I got a really good AP price. It was under a $100.00.

That is a good price! We are staying off-site our first night so that we can do shopping the next morning before checking into our room.

I tried honey mustard for the first time and I loved it on the chicken.

That's my "go to" sauce for chicken nuggets/tenders.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more .

 

[disneyAndi14]

OK, my life has finally slowed down enough that I can resume the DIS!

Glad to have you here! Your wine and dine trip looked very nice!

I don't think I could travel with you two! I can only do about 15,000 steps before I'm toast!

Our days especially this trip were packed full! Andi use to aske me to slow down years ago on our trips now I ask her to slow down

I bet that's a much better job than acute patient care. From the wife of someone who spent at least 1/3 of the last year of her life in the hospital, I know how hard those nurses work.

After all my years at the bedside, I think to end my career in this role is just right!

Well, by the time that you posted this, I was actually back home and recovering from a cold that I picked up in Wine Country.

I hope you are feeling better!

I hope that everything turned out OK. I had a similar problem when I came back from Egypt and it resulted in $1200 worth of new tires for my Ford Escape.

It was a minor problem, thank goodness, Joe had it fixed when we returned.

I say the same thing about Long Beach Airport, but even though it's small, it's ALWAYS busy, flights are leaving nearly every 15-20 minutes. And landing too, I know that because I can see the planes landing from my bedroom window and my kitchen window too.

Ours only has 2 airlines. Delta and United so not busy at all. It is perfect to fly in and out of.

I wish that I had jumped on that deal when it was going on. I heard about it and didn't bother to make the purchase

I hope they bring the deal back

That is a good price! We are staying off-site our first night so that we can do shopping the next morning before checking into our room.

It is hard to spend a large amount for just one night

That's my "go to" sauce for chicken nuggets/tenders.

I really like it! I always used ranch before and this is a nice change

Following along. Looking forward to reading more .

Hi, Glad to have you here!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I said the best nostalgic ride in the first post, NOT THE BEST RIDE EVER!!!

I am back to clear up a little miss statement! Dinosaur is the best ride hands down. Andi agrees!

We slept pretty good our first night! The beds are comfortable and the room was quiet.

Our plan for this morning was to make AK early entry. We talked about our priorities and Dinosaur was #1, FoP if the line wasn’t crazy, and the two trails. Early lunch at one of our favorite places! Satuli or Nomad.

I had bought Genie+ this morning and booked NRJ for 0930 and booked Rise for 2-3pm and Guardians for 6-7pm.

We packed up and I called Bell Service to pick up our luggage to bring it over to POFQ.

The CM, I spoke with, said Bell Service isn’t available until 0715, what?? I feel bad for people with early flights having to take their luggage to the front of the resort.

I don’t know if it was just today or if they really don’t have bell service until after 7am now??

I was able to give the CM all our info and we could leave the luggage in the room. They would come and pick up.

I also made a small grocery order and this was going to be delivered around 4-5pm at POFQ.

We headed out a litter later than we wanted so we decided to take a Lyft.

We arrived at AK, and of course because we wanted to hurry, I got stopped for extra security. I had nothing different than all the other times I have come into the parks. The security guard took everything out of my bag and just said you’re good.

We didn’t get into the park until about 7:25am. We agreed to go and check out FoP and if it was really long, we would skip it this trip.

The line was huge and switched back way down the Africa bridge so we passed.

It was time to head straight to Dinosaur yay

I think everyone was in Pandora because the rest of the park was very quiet.

Andi was excited to ride Dinosaur especially because we don’t know when this area will be gone forever!

I had bought a Dino Institute t shirt for this trip. It was perfect for our morning!

Dino was a walk on and we rode three times in a row. Twice the CM let us just stay on the vehicle! Score! We spent time talking to one of the CMs about our love for Dinosaur and how many memories we had with this ride! She agreed it was the best ride ever!

Here we are enjoying the best ride ever x 3!



Dino Land without any people.

I heard a person saying this area reminds them of a parking lot! Well, sir, that is exactly what the Imagineers were going for!

We said goodbye to our beloved land and walked to Everest.

The single rider line was actually open this early morning, yay for Andi.

The stand by line was only 10 minutes long at this time.


I actually got a blurry picture of Andi on Everest! Which is good because we never did get our photo pass picture.

It was still pretty early so we got ourselves coffee at Joffrey’s. I had the iced chai tea latte and Andi had a special iced coffee. I can’t remember the name of hers but she liked it!

We headed to the Maharajah trail next and had to wait a few minutes for it to open at 9:00am.

It was awesome being one of the first people on the trail! The Komodo Dragon was not out because it was too cold for him this morning! I was fine with that.

We did see a few bats up high getting sun rays. We saw the tiger out walking around and he was growling. I looked it up and it is a growl or chuff? I just say a roar. It was really cool.

We went to the Gorilla trail next. There were a handful of CMs standing around the Okapi! We got up close and a baby Okapi was standing with mom! It was his first day out on the Savannah! He was really cute and the CMs were so excited for his debut!

After that fun encounter, we quickly walked the gorilla trail and saw a few meerkats out and Grace the gorilla, she is getting really big! The CM told us she is a really good big sister to Ada! How sweet is that! We also saw the younger and older males on the other side. We didn’t spend much time there today. We were on a time schedule!

Stay tuned for a wonderful meet and greet, Pandora, and a relaxing early lunch!

 

[Newsies]

Love your DAK morning so far!

Epic Dinosaur/Dinoland adventure to start things off -- wouldn't expect anything less from you!

Expedition Everest PP is so hit or miss, I feel like this is the ride where my family struggles to get photos back, too!

Love, love your trail photos and commentary on the animals! I haven't done the trails in a hot minute, I'll need to pencil them into my DAK itinerary for September!

 

[amazingact21]

I'm so happy you two were able to ride Dinosaur three times in a row! I know it's a beloved attraction for you all.

Evie loves Okapi and was very excited to hear there was a baby one that's began appearing "onstage." She asked if we could take a trip to see it.
While you weren't able to beat the FOP craziness, you two had a really productive DAK morning!
Looking forward to see which place one out for lunch.

 

[suse66]

It was our travel day yay! Andi ended up coming home the night before. She had a sensor coming on for one of the tires on her car and wanted to play it safe. She put air in the tire and made it home around 7pm. I picked up Qdoba for supper. Andi loves Qdoba more than Chipotle! We had a nice dinner and spent the evening talking about our plans. We needed to prioritize since we only had 2 full days at Disney! We talked about what was the most important in each park and anything above that was icing on the cake

Nice to hve a planning evening together!

We had a nice leisurely lunch at a sit down pizza place. We had the bruschetta appetizer and the Quattro Formagio pizza. Andi had a beer and I had the limoncello martini. This was really good. We enjoyed everything. It was nice to sit back and relax some before the flight.

Everything looks good!

We used the little table in our room to eat on. The chicken strips were really tasty and the fries were just fine. I tried honey mustard for the first time and I loved it on the chicken. Who knew lol I didn’t get pictures of the food. The cupcake was just fine, nothing spectacular but the cookies and cream frosting was good.

Your room looks great. The remodel job on all the value rooms was really well done.

Our plan for this morning was to make AK early entry. We talked about our priorities and Dinosaur was #1, FoP if the line wasn’t crazy, and the two trails. Early lunch at one of our favorite places! Satuli or Nomad.

Perfect!

The CM, I spoke with, said Bell Service isn’t available until 0715, what?? I feel bad for people with early flights having to take their luggage to the front of the resort.

What???? That's really late!

We arrived at AK, and of course because we wanted to hurry, I got stopped for extra security. I had nothing different than all the other times I have come into the parks. The security guard took everything out of my bag and just said you’re good.

Weird!! I've had that happen too.

The single rider line was actually open this early morning, yay for Andi.

The stand by line was only 10 minutes long at this time.

Love single rider on Everest!!

We went to the Gorilla trail next. There were a handful of CMs standing around the Okapi! We got up close and a baby Okapi was standing with mom! It was his first day out on the Savannah! He was really cute and the CMs were so excited for his debut!

So exciting!!!

After that fun encounter, we quickly walked the gorilla trail and saw a few meerkats out and Grace the gorilla, she is getting really big! The CM told us she is a really good big sister to Ada! How sweet is that! We also saw the younger and older males on the other side. We didn’t spend much time there today. We were on a time schedule!

I love the gorilla area. I wonder what you two were doing next?

 

[pkondz]

I am back to clear up a little miss statement! Dinosaur is the best ride hands down. Andi agrees!

I did know that's how you feel.

We slept pretty good our first night! The beds are comfortable and the room was quiet.

Only two things you hope for, that are "musts", I think.

We talked about our priorities and Dinosaur was #1

Ya don't say!

I had bought Genie+ this morning and booked NRJ for 0930 and booked Rise for 2-3pm and Guardians for 6-7pm.

I had no idea you could book ILL rides at different parks on the same day!!

I don’t know if it was just today or if they really don’t have bell service until after 7am now??

That's... weird. You'd think they'd have it 24/7

We arrived at AK, and of course because we wanted to hurry, I got stopped for extra security.

Of course.

The line was huge and switched back way down the Africa bridge so we passed.

Ugh. Nope.
Too bad, though. It's such a good ride. (Hence the line, I suppose.)

It was time to head straight to Dinosaur yay

Andi was excited to ride Dinosaur especially because we don’t know when this area will be gone forever!

That's a good point. I hope to get back there some day... before it's gone.

Perfect shirt, indeed.

Dino was a walk on and we rode three times in a row.

Good for you!

Twice the CM let us just stay on the vehicle! Score!

Here we are enjoying the best ride ever x 3!

Great shots x 3!

Dino Land without any people.

And right there is why they want to get rid of it, I suppose.

Really good shot of EE

We saw the tiger out walking around and he was growling. I looked it up and it is a growl or chuff? I just say a roar. It was really cool.

That is cool! Haven't heard that, myself.

There were a handful of CMs standing around the Okapi! We got up close and a baby Okapi was standing with mom! It was his first day out on the Savannah! He was really cute and the CMs were so excited for his debut!

Good timing.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I was able to give the CM all our info and we could leave the luggage in the room. They would come and pick up.

This is really good to know. I would hope that the other resorts would do the same thing,

Dino was a walk on and we rode three times in a row. Twice the CM let us just stay on the vehicle! Score! We spent time talking to one of the CMs about our love for Dinosaur and how many memories we had with this ride! She agreed it was the best ride ever!

No one goes to Dinoland first thing It is fun to be in an area without people. I think it is odd that they filled your row with strangers instead of giving them their own row on your third ride.

We saw the tiger out walking around and he was growling. I looked it up and it is a growl or chuff? I just say a roar. It was really cool.

You are lucky! We never see the tiger.

We got up close and a baby Okapi was standing with mom! It was his first day out on the Savannah! He was really cute and the CMs were so excited for his debut!

The baby Okapi is so cute. He is bigger than I expected him to be, though.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I love when it is empty enough to just keep riding...although that is happening less and less these days. And yay for it being Dinosaur. I do like the ride, I'm just not quite as convinced that it is the best ride ever. But that could be because I have some fluffy hips and I end up bruised each time I ride it.