Memorial Day Getaway & Baby's First Trip: A Belated 2021 TR - Updated 6/5 x 4

[Disney102015]

Animal Kingdom Evening​

By the time we pulled up to AK, both kids had fallen asleep. By some miracle, they both STAYED asleep after being transferred to the stroller. I guess all the dinosaur excitement wore them out! We debated what to do - our plan had been to go to Rafiki’s planet watch but it was closing soon and we didn’t feel the need to go if the kids wouldn’t be awake to enjoy it. It was starting to drizzle and the masses were heading out of the park. What are two parents of sleeping kids to do to kill some time in a rainy Animal Kingdom? Nomad Lounge of course! It felt like a true miracle that we were able to get there so we were pretty pumped. We joined the walk up list and were called in no time. We had to wait a few extra minutes for a table that could accommodate our stroller (no way were we waking these kids up!) which was totally worthwhile. We got to enjoy 2 drinks and relax and wait out some rain while the kids slept. It was SO nice and relaxing!

Both kids were stirring as we finished up so we headed for the best safari I have ever been on. The posted wait was 15 minutes but we walked right on. The rain had picked back up which was for the best because the animals seemed to be loving it! The hippos were being fed lettuce as we rode by so we saw hippos galore, all out and about and being super active. I was really hoping to see giraffes, since they’re DS’s favorite and we hadn’t seen any earlier in the week. Well, we hit the giraffe jackpot, as there were tons of them hanging around as soon as we entered the savanna. DS was PSYCHED. I know we saw a lot more animals on the savanna but I hardly took any photos because there was just SO much to see. It was so fun, and extra fun to watch DS’s face watching all of it. Probably one of the very best rides of the trip. DD was less impressed and snuck in another quick cat nap. (Seriously, the bouncing safari truck basically rocks babies to sleep!)

Next we had a private walk through of the Maharajah Jungle Trek, without another guest in sight.



The park was closing a few minutes after we left, and it was really starting to rain. I hadn’t planned to do Expedition Everest but since crowds were so low on this evening I decided to hustle over there to see if I could sneak a quick ride before closing. (DH doesn’t do heights and DS was still shy of the height limit so I was solo for this one.) The posted wait was ten minutes and I walked right on. It was crazy to ride it in the rain, getting hit in the face by all the raindrops!

Next, daddy learned a big lesson. As we were walking toward the park exit DS suddenly said “OH! Daddy! Don’t forget my tree, at the store!” DH’s jaw dropped. Apparently earlier in the week DS had gone into a store with DH and seen a rather large plastic Tree of Life replica, with ranger Minnie and Mickey inside, and fallen in love. DH knew it was too big to make the trip home in our suitcase so told DS we’d come back for it later…assuming he’d forget. You know how this story ends, right? Kid has a mind like a steel trap. We follow through on our promises and ended up needing to squeeze the massive Tree into our luggage a few days later. And daddy learned a lesson about toddlers having memories like elephants. Hahaha. I still tease him about this incident and the priceless look on his face when he realized Little C remembered the promise from days earlier.

We were back at the Poly by 7:45 and after grabbing some drinks from Tambu Lounge and food from Captain Cook’s, we called it an early night.

The next day was our last full day!

 

[Disney102015]

Yikes all, I was determined not to ghost on this trip report yet here I am writing an update 4 months later! Sorry bout that. Life got crazy, as it tends to do, plus we may have snuck in a very quick, very last minute trip just a few weeks after my last update (TR coming soon!) Anyway, we’re onto our last full day here so let’s bring this thing in for a landing, shall we?

A Quick Morning at MK​

It was an early morning as we left the room just after 7am and were entering MK by 7:25. The posted wait for Mine Train was already 50 minutes but we decided to stick it out since this was our main goal for the morning. It didn’t end up being quite that long of a wait but I didn’t write down exactly how long. We got rider swaps at the entrance and DH rode first while I killed a bit of time with the kids. When it was my turn to ride with C, he was a bit hesitant and whiny - I think he was tired, actually. I ended up carrying him through most of the line but we got to the front without a meltdown and were on the ride before we knew it. He seemed to really enjoy it although he did get a bit nervous when he first realized we were also swaying back and forth! After the ride we grabbed cinnamon rolls at Gaston’s and planned our next move.

We decided to head to Frontierland to ride Thunder Mountain. There was a HUGE line but it seemed to be moving, except it was rerouted to go up a set of stairs I had never seen before and it wasn’t really clear where to go to get a rider swap. I told DH to go on ahead and I’d hang with the kids - G was dozing in the stroller and C was content when we found a little shady spot to sit and throw some little leaves and rocks in a puddle. (The things kids will find to entertain themselves…) DH encountered a CM in line and explained about the swap issue and she added the swap to his band, but by the time he got back we could tell C was really getting tired and I didn’t mind missing the ride so we decided to head back toward Main Street.

Which was like swimming upstream because the crowds coming up Main Street around 9:45am were HUGE! Our goal was to get G her Mickey ears to match the ones we got C as a baby. It took a bit of time to find the location since some things were closed on Main Street but once we found it we were in and out in no time.

We hadn’t been at the park all that long but we had accomplished what we came to do and everyone was a bit tired (and we thought we’d be back again on our departure morning….stay tuned to see if that happened!) so we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We took the monorail back and grabbed some Captain Cook’s on the way back to the room…and everyone was out cold for naps by 11:30am! We all slept for almost 2 hours - it was glorious and relaxing and just what we needed. When we got up, we freshened up to head over to Hollywood Studios, nice and well rested.

Next up...our last night, and my favorite night of the trip!

 

[Disney102015]

A Perfect Hollywood Studios Evening​

Honestly, I didn’t make a ton of notes on this night (or apparently take many pictures), because we were just having an absolute ball. It was our last night, everything we did just kind of fell into place, and if I can be real cheesy for a sec, it really felt kind of magical!

We got to the bus stop just as a Hollywood Studios bus was pulling away. The app said the next bus would be in 20 minutes but it was only about 10 minutes. Our first stop at Hollywood Studios was guest relations. We had an issue on a prior trip that resulted in 3 FPs each being loaded to our account for a future trip. Obviously, FPs weren’t a thing on this trip due to Covid, so I wasn’t sure if there would be a way to use them but figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. I’m so glad we did because they did honor them and it was easy peasy! The CM told me it was easier on her end if we picked our 3 rides, and we could choose anything except Rise of the Resistance. I chose Slinky, Runaway Railway, and Toy Story Midway Mania. (We weren’t aiming to do Galaxy’s Edge at all - we had already done Millennium Falcon on our last trip and C didn’t meet the height limit anyway, and I had promised my sister I’d be waiting to experience Rise with her for the first time!)

We knew we’d be pushing it a bit for our Mama Melrose reservation but decided to chance it and catch the Lightening McQueen show, since C is a huge fan and it was right at the front of the park. It was totally worth it - we only waited about 5 minutes to enter the theater and C absolutely LOVED it. Super cute show.

We got to Mama Melrose about 10 minutes late. They made it seem like we’d be waiting a while due to our tardiness but we were actually seated about ten minutes later. Dinner here was solid, as always. Not super fancy but always a good meal - we really like this restaurant. Next up was Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railroad - we walked right through since we had a Fast Pass which was obviously great but I did wonder if we missed any sort of preshow that gives some kind of context? We found the ride really cute and enjoyable regardless although I was clinging to baby G pretty tight around some of those corners!

Next was Slinky - I LOVE this ride. It’s just so fun, especially the little hills that make your stomach flip flop. It seemed too good to be true that we were essentially going to get to just walk right on - I was super grateful for those old recovery FPs. I was so excited to bring C on this ride and held my breath while he got measured at the entrance - he was JUST tall enough! He was a bit more serious on this one than on Barnstormer and Mine Train but he was very brave. When we reached the part where you stop for a minute before the launch I was able to squeeze his hand and ask if he was doing ok and he nodded yes. After we got off, he said “that was a little scary!” I ended up getting him a little slinky toy to commemorate his bravery.

Next up was Toy Story Midway Mania, where even the Fast Pass line was long! C rode with DH and G rode with me - she seemed a little overwhelmed by the twists and turns but didn’t fuss. Afterward C requested some ice cream so the search was on. We walked over to Gertie but that was closed. Luckily a CM pointed us in the direction of Hollywood Scoops, where we each had an ice cream treat before moseying out of the park. With that, we had accomplished everything we hoped to do at Hollywood Studios and had an awesome time, so decided to head back to the hotel.

We got to the Poly around 8:10 and got our suits on for a night swim. On the walk over we saw a crowd gathered at the beach for the Electric Water Pageant and decided to stop to watch. C loved this even more than I thought he would - especially when the dinosaurs lit up. He was clapping and bouncing along - I was so glad we caught this show! Afterwards we headed for the pool - is there anything better than a night swim with the castle lit up in the distance?? It was a magic way to end our last night and after our swim we were all out cold!

Next up - departure day!

 

[Disney102015]

Departure Day​

Man, did this morning go sideways! But it still wound up being a nice and (mostly) relaxing last day. So you may recall from the beginning of our trip that we often use JetBlue’s Same Day flight change option when traveling, which has never been an issue in the past. We originally booked the cheapest flight home from Disney which of course was the latest flight of the night, and we intended to do a same day change to a midday flight that’d be easier with the kids. The best laid plans, right?

We woke up at 7am and had a lazy morning in the hotel room. I called JetBlue to try to arrange our same day change and after a while on hold, I found out there was only ONE seat available on our desired flight. I briefly contemplated leaving DH with the kids and flying back early myself (just kidding!!!) but we quickly started rearranging our day planning for the evening flight.

Our original plan was to check out and head to Magic Kingdom for a few hours before catching the Magical Express. We headed down to Captain Cooks for some breakfast and to discuss and ultimately decided since we had a longer day ahead than expected, maybe it’d be a bit much to tackle a park that morning. This was a bit of a bummer, as I had hoped to finally get our family picture in front of the castle, but it didn’t seem worth the trek with the kids. Plus, we had done most of the rides we had hoped to do at MK, so we decided to have a chill pool day instead.

After breakfast, we headed back to the room to finish packing, which was a mad scramble as always. Somehow we fit the Tree of Life replica into our big suitcase. I also popped by the stores at the Great Ceremonial house to grab a few souvenirs including a Polynesian Christmas ornament and mug, which is a tradition for us. Then it was pool time!

This was the one day I didn’t wear my rash guard and of course got a sunburn. We visited the splash pad a few more times and had a few last blood orange margaritas. I can’t wait to get one of those on our next trip. (Edited to add: when I wrote this, I obviously did not realize I’d have a baby on board for our next trip, so no margaritas for me! Haha.) We had had Captain Cook’s a number of times by now so we tossed around the idea of going somewhere on the monorail loop for lunch, but mobile order times weren’t working out and the walk up lists weren’t open yet so we decided not to chance it. Not like either of us REALLY minded one more order of pulled pork nachos!

At some point the stroller company came to pick up the rental - this was as much of a scramble as before, with the driver and I both misunderstanding where the other was. I think this will be a lot more streamlined once the Great Ceremonial House is reopened. We also underestimated how difficult it would be to get the kids and our pool gear back to Pago Pago without the stroller. We left ourselves about 45 minutes to get everyone dry, changed, and back to Pago Pago and this was…insufficient. We were really scrambling so DH ran ahead with Baby G to try to make sure the Magical Express wouldn’t leave without us, while I followed with C.

Without thinking, we had grabbed C a Mickey ear ice cream for the walk back. Rookie move! Mickey was melting down his arm before we were halfway there and finally fell off the stick entirely and splattered on the ground. Little C took it in stride but I felt so bad leaving a pile of ice cream on the ground with no way to clean it up. We kept hustling toward Pago Pago and I saw an official looking man in a polo shirt pushing a luggage cart. Assuming he worked there I said, “excuse me! I’m so sorry but we just dropped some ice cream on the ground back there and had no way to clean it up. I just wanted to let someone know!” He stared at me blankly for a minute and I finally said “….you don’t work here, do you?” He shook his head. Annnnd C and I basically sprinted back to Pago Pago.

As it turned out, we still beat the Magical Express by a few minutes. Oddly, we weren’t assigned seats on the ride back to the airport like we had been on arrival, and there was no distancing between parties. Oh well. The trip back was pretty uneventful - we made it through security quickly and found an empty gate to let the kids loose with a few toys we had packed. Time flew by til we were boarding for our 8:30pm flight. Both kids slept almost the whole flight and we had no trouble grabbing our car service home from the airport. It was the end of another great Disney trip!!!

Next up – some final concluding thoughts!

 

[Disney102015]

Final Thoughts​

Overall we had a fantastic trip. I had a couple concluding thoughts looking back on the trip in retrospect (many of which are now completely out of date, haha).

It was GREAT to test out staying in DVC accommodations and we ended up purchasing at Animal Kingdom Lodge just a few weeks after our trip. We are so so so excited to know we have years of DVC trips ahead of us!

We felt relatively safe traveling at that point during the pandemic (May 2021). We only felt nervous at the airport and once or twice in the parks when it got especially crowded. We even did a bit more indoor dining than we expected. Masks don’t bother us so that wasn’t an issue. Your mileage may vary and I’m sure the considerations are different at different times during the pandemic.

Our usual plan would be rope drop, midday break, return to the park at night. With the shortened hours during this trip, that didn’t end up making a lot of sense and we didn’t end up heading back to the park as often as planned. The shortened hours were definitely a bit of a bummer, as was the lack of nighttime entertainment.

Conversely, we really didn’t miss Fast Pass and definitely enjoyed feeling a bit more spontaneous. Jury’s still out on the replacement as we haven’t tried Genie or Lightening Lane yet. (Spoiler – we got to try out Genie/LL on our next trip and will have…some thoughts.)

All in all, we are so glad we went and feel so lucky to have had such a smooth, fun trip. When I wrote this report, our next trip was a long way away still – September 2022 – but we ended up booking a very last minute quickie trip in February/March 2022! Stay tuned for that TR coming soon.

Thanks for following along!