Our 7th Trip to the World & Not Using Lightning Lane or Genie+? How Did We Do? A May 21-28, 2022 Trip Report (Updated 9/7/22)

[Riss]

Welcome to the trip report about the week that my family spent in Disney World! Here will be the table of contents for easy access of when I post updates along with the date of the trip I'm covering. Thanks for reading and enjoying with me!

Table of Contents
Welcome! Introduction to our trip (6/10/22)
Saturday, May 21 Part 1: Traveling & Arrival (6/12/22)
Saturday, May 21 Part 2: Disney Springs & The Only Rain All Trip (6/16/22)
Sunday, May 22 Part 1: A Pretty Good Morning at Magic Kingdom (6/23/22)
Sunday, May 22 Part 1: First Time for the Fireworks (6/28/22)
Monday, May 23 Part 1: You Win Some, You Lose Some (7/16/22)
Monday, May 23 Part 2: You Mean Hollywood Studios Wasn't That Bad? (7/20/22)
Tuesday, May 24 Part 1: Our First Late Morning (8/4/22)
Tuesday, May 24 Part 2: Our Only Trip to Animal Kingdom & Some Birthday Fireworks (8/6/22)
Wednesday, May 25: Going Around Disney Property (8/21/22)
Thursday, May 26 Part 1: A Pretty Good Epcot Morning (8/31/22)
Thursday, May 26 Part 2: Seeing the Highly Recommended Harmonious Fireworks (9/7/22)​

 

[Riss]

Welcome! Introduction to our trip

Welcome to this trip report detailing the week that my family spent in Disney World from May 21 - May 28. I honestly think this is the longest time we've ever stayed at Disney, with most trips being weekend ones or a couple of days spent with the band. But, we've reached beyond the band now, with our high school days behind us, and so we have more freedom in choosing where we want to stay and what we want to do. Enough of that, though. Let me get on and introduce the main characters for this trip and a brief info about out trip overall.



Well, look at that bunch, and yes, we did get Memory Maker for this trip. We got it on our last trip and absolutely loved it.

But let me get into introducing the members of this family trip. Starting on the left, the man and woman standing next to each other are the parents of us four grown adults, the other taller individuals standing there. This year, since us four children are grown and have adult jobs with adult money, almost all of us, we decided to pay our own way for our trips, easing the burden off of my parents who always paid for every trip before this one. My parents actually outnumber all of us children in the times that they've been to Disney. I think they're both at 10, or who knows, maybe Mom is the one who actually outnumbers everyone with 10. I know she went for her senior trip in high school, besides the trip she went with my dad when he graduated basic training and on their honeymoon. So maybe Dad is at 9 and Mom is at 10. Either way, this trip they did offer to pay for the two children and they actually graciously paid for all of our meals and snacks.

Moving on to the four siblings, the man in the blue shirt is my younger brother. Actually, they're all younger than me since I'm the oldest. Our age range is from 27 - 23. He works a corporate job and has been since he graduated his undergrad around three years ago. We're going to jump around and introduce the woman in white, my younger sister, who is also joining the same corporation my brother is at in a couple of days, starting her new job. Going back over, the blonde woman in the black shirt is my youngest sister. She works at an orthodontist office in the front office but is thinking about going to school to perhaps become a dental hygienist, I'm not actually too sure. But she is mother of the little boy she's holding in her arms, the reason we took this trip, my nephew. We celebrated his 3rd birthday during this trip. Then, by process of elimination, that leaves me in the dark red/maroon shirt. Remember how I said that almost all of us have adult jobs with adult money? Yeah, well, it's me. I'm the one who doesn't have a job yet. I recently graduated with my Master's degree, yes I'm the oldest and went back to school after working a couple of years, so I'm in the process of searching for a job. Finally, there is the other young child standing in front of my brother. We've been babysitting him since he was six months old, he's now six, and so we consider him a part of the family and take him everywhere we go. When we had gone the last time, in 2018, it was all because Mom wanted to take him and thought it would be fun for everyone. This time we're back, only with a 3-year-old, too.

To introduce you to this trip, though, after loving the Art of Animation so much our last stay, we decided on staying there again and it just so happened that my nephew loves Finding Nemo. Therefore it was a no brainer to go back to the Finding Nemo Family Suites. The only slight downside this time would be that we would need two rooms because we were too many to fit into one. So we split up the rooms, putting the four siblings in one and my parents and the two children in the other, and booked it. What ended up happening was that my youngest sister moved to my parents room to stay with her son, like we knew what would happen, but the way we originally booked it was so we could split the cost between the four of us.

Our trip was scheduled for Saturday, May 21 - Saturday, May 28, with my nephew's birthday on May 24. We made our reservations beforehand and booked with Sunshine Flyer to get to and from the airport to the resort. Our reservations went as:

Sunday: Magic Kingdom
Monday: Hollywood Studios
Tuesday: Magic Kingdom
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Epcot
Friday: Magic Kingdom

While we didn't have an initial Animal Kingdom day, we did end up Park Hopping there at some point throughout the trip. We also booked Magic Kingdom so many times because we knew that there was enough there that the two children would want to enjoy, however, what we didn't anticipate was them so easily falling in love with the other parks.

So for a party consisting of 6 adults and 2 children, of which we weren't buying Lightning Lanes and Genie+, how did our trip go? Were we able to do everything we wanted to and more? Also, seeing that we're avid lovers of the dining plan, what did we manage to do without it? If you're interested, I welcome you to come along for the ride!

 

[Hubie]

Following along.

 

[tigerlilly]

Following along What a lovely family you have!!!

 

[Riss]

Saturday, May 21 Part 1: Traveling & Arrival

Travel days aren't that exciting ever, at least I don't think so. Our family is always notoriously late to things. For example, when we had gone to Disney in 2018, we arrived at the airport at 7am...for a flight that left at 8am with boarding started at 7:30am. By some miraculous miracle, though, we managed to get through security, all 6 adults and 1 child, and get to the gate before boarding started. Talk about lucky.

This time around, we learned from our past mistakes and our flight wasn't until around 12pm, 11:58am to be exact. Or at least I think that was the exact time. We also learned that with so many people, and having to take 2 cars anyway, it might be best for us to look into car services for our time home to and from the airport. After some difficulty, and some more luck, we were able to secure a car service to transport 8 individuals with 8 pieces of luggage, plus carry-on bags, to and from our home airport. I'm not sure of the cost, as my dad was the one who looked into it all, but it was at least a couple hundred of dollars.

We left for the airport at around 9am that morning, early, yes, but like I've stated before, we're always late. We smoothly arrived at the airport, printed out our boarding passes, passed on our luggage, of which every piece was around 30lbs, and made our way to security. When we were checking the weight of our luggage, we actually found that the two suitcases we were bringing along for the children would actually fit as carry-ons and decided to go that route instead. Security was also fairly easy. We all managed to get through and make our way to the gate, but explored our home airport along the way, while also getting some lunch.

Our flight was on time and by 11:30am we were boarding. I sat between the child and my younger sister, the distinction between the two will be that one will be my younger sister and the other will be the youngest. On the other hand, the distinction between the two children will be the child and my nephew. Anyway, the flight was smooth and easy, nothing really much to write about.

The difference this time, was obviously not having the Magical Express. After looking at our options, my family decided to go with Sunshine Flyer just because of the theme. The pricing of both, at the time we were looking at it, was exactly the same. Overall, we had da good experience with it. The only downside of it, according to my mom, was waiting outside for our bus to arrive. We weren't in the direct sun, but we were already hit with the Florida humidity. The weather for the week was going to be around the 90s and it sure was. We didn't wait outside for a long time, though, and before we know it, they called for our resort.

If there is one thing I have to say about Sunshine Flyer, it's that the bus ride was definitely not an hour. I don't know if the Magical Express had to take certain routes, but our ride on Sunshine Flyer probably took maybe 30 minutes, maybe even less. At one point, shortly into the ride, I looked at the maps on my phone and saw that we were only 15 minutes away from the Art of Animation, the first resort stop. Our bus driver was great, she was very energetic and even told us that she previously worked for Disney driving the Magical Express.

As we were nearing the hotel I had gotten the text that our room was ready. Room 5612. I asked Dad if he had gotten any notification, since we did ours together, but he hadn't. I was kind of nervous that we wouldn't be near each other, but I didn't have long to worry because we were pulling into the front of the resort.



That's a picture I took from inside of the Sunshine Flyer. We took our bags and made our way inside where Dad and I went to the front desk to see about his check-in. I believe the cast member's name was Rose, or Rosie, but she was great. She told us that something blocked the process from finishing on his phone therefore it wasn't ever complete, but she was able to complete it after a couple of clicks and told us that he was assigned to room 5610. Wondering if that was near each other, she showed us the floor plan for Building 5 and sure enough, we were thankfully next to each other. After being in the room, though, I think it maybe would've been a better move to be across from each other, but we'll keep that in mind for next time.

The rooms were great and after finding them and dropping off our stuff, we began to think about our next course of action, heading to Disney Springs to find Magic Bands. We knew that there weren't many selections online but hoped that we would have better luck when we got to the parks. I was actually lucky enough to grab the Stitch Crashes Mulan edition Magic Band, along with the Stitch plush and the pin, so I had my own already. Everyone else, not so much.



I love that Magic Band and I also got a Mulan Lokai bracelet to wear as well. I haven't mentioned it, but Stitch and Mulan are my two favorite characters, so it was a no brainer to try and nab the release when it happened. Everyone else in the family hoped that they'd find something they wanted in a Magic Band, only we didn't realize how difficult it would be. Still, we started our journey to Disney Springs hopeful for the night. However, we didn't exactly know what we were getting into. After all, it was around 5pm...on a Saturday night...and we were heading to Disney Springs. Yup, piece it all together.

 

[Hockeytchr]

Following

 

[rdkeim]

Following You had a pretty smooth travel day. Sometimes group travel can be a challenge. I'm pretty certain DS was a mob scene. Anxious to hear about your trip!

 

[JennJac]

Still, we started our journey to Disney Springs hopeful for the night. However, we didn't exactly know what we were getting into. After all, it was around 5pm...on a Saturday night...and we were heading to Disney Springs. Yup, piece it all together.

Yes, this! There were times in DS, particularly in World of Disney, that felt more busy than the Emporium in MK. I wish I had known that before our first trip last Jan. Following!!

 

[Riss]

Saturday, May 21 Part 2: Disney Springs & The Only Rain All Trip

My family decided to head to Disney Springs on a Saturday night. What could go wrong, right? Well...everything. That's valid, right?

Okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but we honestly did not know just how busy Disney Springs would be. I guess it didn't dawn on us that it was a Saturday and about dinner time so the nightlife would be picking up there. Still, we headed over at about 5:15 and our first stop was World of Disney. Let me just say that that place was like a madhouse. As JennJac has already pointed out in a previous comment, it definitely felt like it was more crowded in World of Disney than it ever felt in the Emporium and we went to Magic Kingdom three separate times. There were just people everywhere in that store.

I initially didn't head there right away with my family. Instead, my youngest sister and I headed to Ron Jon's Surf Shop to see if there was anything of interest for my best friend back home. She and I were actually supposed to go to Disney and Universal in May 2020, but then, as we all remember, everything shut down and we weren't able to go. Well, Ron Jon's is one of her favorite places and she always picks something up from there whenever she goes on cruises with her parents and when we were planning for that May 2020 trip, the store in Disney Springs was planning to open and so she expressed her desire to go there. From that conversation, I knew the perfect souvenir to get her and ended up getting her a short sleeved graphic t-shirt with Disney Springs written on it. They did have ones that said Orlando, Florida, but I preferred for it to say Disney Springs.

After that my youngest sister and I met up with everyone at World of Disney and quickly looked around because it was just too busy in there to even really see anything. It was like wall to wall people. We hadn't been there since the completed renovation, the last time we were there they weren't done so we only had like half a store available, but now it just seems so big and gigantic. I actually kind of prefer the old design to this one. I liked the theming of the rooms before and how everything was split up in a way that you could find yourself traveling from room to room with different designs and different things to look at. Now, it just looks like a big box that you find yourself lost in and there's still no easy way for people to travel around.

My brother had also gone his separate way to find some Magic Bands. However, they're apparently a dying breed, even in retail shops. He went to multiple places there, but there wasn't much selection. Spoiler alert, he did end up getting one later from the place you can make your own. I forget why he didn't get it that particular night, if the store was closing soon or if it was too busy. My younger sister did end up finding one that night from the pin trading store, a silver sparkling band. The rest of my family weren't big fans of the ones they did have.

By this point, it was already almost 7:30pm and the children were definitely hungry. However, since everywhere was super crowded and it was only getting more crowded by the second, not to mention the darkening clouds above our heads, we decided to call it an early night. After all, we had Wednesday as our free day and were planning on heading to Disney Springs early for some shopping. That would be better, right?

Back on the bus to the Art of Animation we went and we stopped in Landscape of Flavors for some dinner. I ended up getting Walt's Chili that came in the bread bowl and it honestly wasn't that bad. But the bread bowl, that was pretty terrible. It would definitely have been better if the bread bowl weren't in a warmer. By the time I got it, it was just a hard piece of bread that was difficult to do anything with. The inside was still soft, and definitely was like a piece of garlic bread, but still, I ended up throwing out most of the bowl. Also, I apologize for not having many pictures of what I ate and things like that, I definitely forgot to take them along the way. The items that the rest of the family had, on the other hand, were good. The chicken parm, the chicken tenders, cheeseburger, and the sesame chicken. I don't remember if we got anything beyond that on that particular night.

Coming back to the hotel that night, my brother told the child that he would go in the pool with him when we got back, something that the child had been itching to do once he saw the Big Blue Pool when we arrived. Just when they were about to leave to go back to the room to change, they saw that it was pouring down rain, like a downpour, not a drizzle. Everyone was out of the pool and we weren't sure how long it was going to last, or even if they would open up the pool because it closed at I think 11pm and we were already close to probably 8:30pm.

Not wanting to sit and wait, though, we all made a run for it. Thankfully we were only in Building 5, the Crush building, and the side entrance was the closest entrance to the main building, so we didn't have far to run it the rain. Surprisingly, that was the only rain we saw the entire trip. We did feel some drizzle on us at some other point, but it quickly passed without developing into something bigger. Drenched, but not angry at it, it was a nice break from the humidity we experienced, we went to our separate rooms to change and get ready for some relaxing and unpacking. The boys were able to play with some of the first purchases they made at World of Disney, Star Wars and Avengers figurines, as well as a Dr. Strange for my nephew, and we began pumping them up for what would only be the beginning tomorrow, our first day in the parks at Magic Kingdom.

Before we split up and went to bed that night, we did establish a plan for the following day. Early park entry would allow us to get in at 8:30, however, we're not rope drop people, so we thought that we would try to leave the hotel at around 8:10-8:15. Seeing that we're always notoriously late for things, I didn't really give it too much hope that we would be out on time. Our general plan for the day would be to head to maybe Fantasyland so the children could start getting on some rides, making a mental map in my mind about where we should go and the best plan of action to do it. We weren't interested in getting Genie+ or getting Lightning Lane, so I knew that we would have to do our best to navigate around the crowds. So, how did we do our first day? In all honesty, I think we'd did rather great, but that's a story for next time.

To make up for my lack of pics this post, here's a picture of the boys pretending to sleep in what would be the child's bed. They were amazed that the table turned into a bed and so I told them to pretend to be sleeping so I could take their picture.

 

[Riss]

Sunday, May 22 Part 1: A Pretty Good Morning at Magic Kingdom

As I've mentioned before, my family is notoriously late to everything. That day, Magic Kingdom had their Early Entry slated for 8:30am. Knowing that we would probably never get there for opening, also we aren't rope drop people, my family and I agreed that we'd attempt to leave the resort between around 8:10am - 8:15am. Of course I knew that that was probably not going to happen. Also, we weren't getting Genie+ or Lightning Lanes and while I was initially concerned about it, I determined that we would probably be okay. After all, it wasn't until our 2018 trip that we even used Fastpasses for the first time.

I did get up at around 7am, since we also agreed that breakfast should take place at about 7:45am, and got ready for the day. My younger sister was also up and while my brother didn't get up at that time, it doesn't take him long to get ready so we weren't worried about the sleeping in. I called Mom to get some updates from their room and was told that my youngest sister was going to mobile order some breakfast for the children and bring it back up to the room. My younger sister and I wanted to check out the available options and so decided to head down to look at the breakfast instead. I ended up getting a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich that was actually pretty good. No complaints there.

By the time everyone finished getting ready and having breakfast, we didn't leave the resort until about 8:45am, or maybe we left our rooms at that time, I don't remember exactly. Sure, that was later than our initial estimated time, but I wasn't mad because that is probably the earliest we've ever left to head to the parks! I'm pretty positive that if I spoke about our previous trips to Disney World, some might get frustrated at the complete lack of planning and how we probably left to go to the parks around 9 or 10am, well after they were open. Still, it wasn't that long of a bus ride since I have our first castle picture time stamped in my phone at 9:15am.



Yes, it's not the greatest picture, but you always have to commemorate when you first enter Magic Kingdom and look at the castle! Seeing as this was our first, and probably only, time during the 50th Anniversary celebration, we also were taking in the decorations on the castle. Not too bad.

Our initial plan the previous night was to head to Fantasyland since our high priority was getting on rides that the children would enjoy and that they'd able to get on, in the first place. I was monitoring the wait times on my phone on our ride over and determined that we should head to Tomorrowland instead since they would like the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. It was posted at a 15min wait and I hoped that it would stay that way until we got over there. Thankfully the time didn't change and the outside queue was very minimal. Honestly, the wait wasn't even 15min. We were probably on within 5min and enjoying the ride. We walked right through the outside portion and in through the inside. The only place we had to stop for a little was probably at the point where the cast member filtered in people. Everyone enjoyed the ride, children and adults, and when we were done, our plan was to head towards Fantasyland.

But first, a quick pit stop by Tomorrowland Speedway that was posted 20min. Once again, this wait was probably closer to 20min, but I think it was probably around 15min. The timestamp of the video I have of me on the ride was at 10:14am, so clearly right about an hour after we first entered the park. Getting on 2 rides within the first hour, we weren't doing too bad. After we all had fun in our separate cars on the speedway, the children were together with an adult, we were finally on our way to Mad Tea Party, aka the teacups. That wait was also posted 15min but we got on the very next ride, so it was clearly under, and this picture from before the ride started is from 10:35am that morning.



Once the teacups were done and everyone was dizzy, especially those in our cup, Dumbo was the next ride. The child didn't want to go on so my nephew would be the only one taking the journey as most of the rest of the adults were also going to relax. We let my nephew choose who he wanted to go on with and Dad was picked. The wait time for that was posted at 15min as well and a video from them on the ride is on my phone from 10:58am. That wait was probably about 15min, though. However, for it just being 11am and us being at the parks for only 2 hours, my entire family felt like we had already done a lot of rides and the children were happy.

After teacups we took a little break from rides and went into Big Top Souvenirs to have a look around. My youngest sister wanted to get my nephew his name on a hat, but we also wanted to see if they had anything new or different from times we'd been there before. I did end up getting a lemonade slush, one of those Goofy Glaciers, the first of probably many on this trip because it was extremely hot and humid. Mom, on the other hand, had gotten one of those chocolate cupcakes with the rainbow icing and a gingerbread looking Mickey. Yes, we know he wasn't gingerbread, but my nephew, for some reason, loves gingerbread men, so he loved the treat. It's just really the shape of them he loves, not the actual flavoring of gingerbread itself.

By that point in the day it was already about 11:20am and we saw that Chip and Dale were out meeting, however, they were ending but the cast member told us that they would be back at around 12pm. We then had to make a choice. Should we find somewhere for the children to get some food? It was already almost around lunchtime and we were in the corner of the park. Or, should we just hang around the area until Chip and Dale came back? Would we be able to occupy our time for 40 minutes in the area? In the end, we decided to wait and my youngest sister and I decided to take the child and my nephew on Barnstormer. It was posted for a 20min wait so we thought it would be the perfect distraction for them and it was. They loved the roller coaster and once we were off, there was only a little bit more waiting until Chip and Dale. So we let the children run through the splash area back there and also had a little snack and rest time for them.

It was during the snack time that we began to seriously discuss where we should have lunch. My brother began looking at mobile ordering and looking at the time frames for everything. Most of it had a time starting of 'Now,' which meant that we wouldn't have to wait until our window opened to hit that we were at the restaurant. So he ordered some chicken fingers and fries, a classic staple for the children, at Pinocchio Village Haus. As for the rest of us, we would decide along the way, but we knew that the children would definitely be hungry after seeing Chip and Dale. Which, by the way, they were out by 12pm. On the day that we saw them, they didn't have a Photopass photographer, but that was fine.



Once our time with them was over, my brother left to go pick up the food while the rest of us took a detour to the bathrooms. However, he did call to tell us that there were bathrooms right next to the restaurant and so we headed over there instead. As we were getting the children into the bathroom, and anyone else that had to go, my brother and younger sister had gone inside to get the food and a table. My brother ended up getting 2 tables right next to each other so the children could eat and those that were hungry could figure out what they wanted from mobile order. Let me just say that we loved mobile ordering during our trip and feel like it definitely saved us a lot of time, especially when the children needed to eat. At some parts it was easier to just wait in the line, especially if the earliest pickup window wasn't until some time later, but we almost never ran into that issue.

By around 12:30pm we mostly figured out what our next plan of action would be. My youngest sister still wanted to get my nephew a hat and some others were hungry for some lunch, so we decided to split up. My youngest sister, nephew, and I would head to Fantasyland to a gift shop that makes the hats while everyone else would head to Cosmic Rays for some food. Before we entirely went our separate ways, though, we decided to take a Photopass picture behind the castle. Our first one of many.

 

[Riss]

Sunday, May 22 Part 2: First Time for the Fireworks

Once my family decided to split up, the first thing on my agenda was getting a treat. I wasn't interested in lunch, since I ate breakfast, but I was interested in getting some treats. I was also interested in treats because we'd always have the dining plan in previous years and I guess kind of always felt a little restricted by it? Not in the way that you would probably think, but more in the way that my family definitely doesn't eat that much and eating full meals means that most of us won't be hungry for snacks. Therefore this trip I wanted to try snacks I'd never had the opportunity to before. Hence, I wanted to go to Storybook Treats and get something. I'd never been there before and have read some things about it and the new Seven Dwarfs ice cream. The duo of that day was root beer and chocolate, I believe? I'm just realizing that I didn't actually save any of the Snapchat pictures I sent about it. Not really being in the mood for that, I decided to go with a typical root beer float. It was okay. Not the best one I've ever had, but not entirely terrible.

But after getting that, I made my way towards the gift shop, the one that's connected to Mickey's Philharmagic, to meet my youngest sister who was inquiring about the hats. I quickly found her, because that gift shop isn't that big, and she was deciding which hat to get him. It was quick process and they gave her an estimated time for it, it was probably around an hour maybe? Maybe less?

During that time, though, I told her about how I heard about a Belle meet and greet, over at Enchanted Tales with Belle. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but Beauty and the Beast is one of his absolute favorite movies. He especially loves the Beast, but Belle comes in at a close second. Well, when we took him, he was extremely excited about it. He was asking her questions about everyone at the castle and what they were up to. He wasn't shy like we were expecting him to be.



After that, we decided to get his picture taken by Gaston's Tavern, where the fountain is in front. He also loves Gaston, too. All of the characters, really. When we were standing there, waiting for others to get done with their pictures, my youngest sister looked on the Disney reservations/dining availability and saw a 10:30am time for Be Our Guest Restaurant on Tuesday, May 24, my nephew's birthday. She quickly booked it in hopes of him being able to see Beast, which, as I mentioned, is his favorite character.

But here's the thing about it, my youngest sister doesn't eat well. It's not to say she's a picky eater, but she knows she can't really eat heavy things without feeling terrible all day and my nephew really only likes chicken fingers and fries. The menu wasn't really appetizing to her, but the possibility of meeting the Beast, his favorite character, was the draw for the restaurant. How did it go? Well, that's something that happens on Tuesday.

The meeting with Belle allowed for enough time to pass and for us to go back to pick up his hat. Once secured, we made our way to the front of the castle to meet with the rest of the family who was finishing up at Cosmic Ray's. As we were walking down one of the side paths, towards Tomorrowland, we just so happened to see them from across the bridge and quickly met up so we could take some more pictures with a Photopass photographer.



By that point it was around 2pm and we began to think about possible options of what to do with the rest of our day. After looking at the app for wait times and thinking about when the children would be able to rest, we ended up deciding to see Mickey in Town Square Theater. It had a posted wait of 50mins and we thought that that might take us to the 3pm showing of the Festival of Fantasy parade.

The line for Mickey honestly wasn't that bad. The wait was probably less than 50mins since I know we were out of there before 3pm. We were thinking about staying for the parade, but my brother had asked about what time the parade would near the front of the park and hearing that it may be around 3:30pm, we decided just to head back to the hotel since we would be pushing it at that point for the children.

We ended up being back at the Art of Animation from around 3:30pm until 5:30. Some of the family decided to go into the Big Blue Pool and everyone else was just hanging out in that area. The splash pad, I believe, was closed that day due to some maintenance and we hoped that it would be open the next time so my nephew would be able to experience it since we thought he'd have fun. By 5:30pm, my parents decided to get some pizza from the quick service and let me just say that that pizza was really good. We ended up getting it multiple times throughout the trip.

After dinner and everyone getting ready, it was about 6:50pm and we made our evening plans. My brother wanted to go to Disney Springs to see if he could make his own Magic Band while Dad wanted to see Collin Raye at Epcot for the Flower and Garden Festival. The rest of us, on the other hand, were going to go back to Magic Kingdom. My youngest sister wanted to take my nephew's birthday pictures to get them over and done with so she could post them on his birthday on Tuesday. She was already disappointed before that, though, when she found out that they didn't have any of the traditional clear balloons with the Mickey head in the middle. They also didn't have the glow ones at night either. Her original plan was for him to have three of them, since he was turning three, but due to supply chain issues, according to the cast members, they were completely out of them.

For all of us, though, the night didn't exactly go as planned. My brother was able to make his own Magic Band, but he was trying to go to Epcot to catch the show with my dad and wasn't able to make it in time. He was waiting at French Quarter for a bus but it never came. He was waiting with some others who were attempting to catch the Epcot fireworks even, and the bus just wasn't coming. Therefore he decided to go back to Disney Springs to catch some of the live entertainment there. Dad did end up heading over to Disney Springs after the Epcot concert to spend time with him there. On the other hand, my youngest sister wasn't able to the pictures she wanted because my nephew had a long day and wasn't very cooperative due to him being tired. He even fell asleep during the pictures.

Instead of being there during the pictures, though, I took the child back on It's A Small World by myself and he absolutely loved it. It was only a 5min wait, with it mainly just being us walking through to the boats. He told me afterwards that it was so cute he could've cried! I was happy he enjoyed it since I didn't know what he was going to think about it. When we told Mom later, she told him that she wanted to go on it with him another day.

Those of us in Magic Kingdom met up at around 8:30pm and discussed what we wanted to do. I wanted to stick around for Enchantment since I've never seen it before, well none of us saw it in person before, and I wanted to see it. I've seen it on the internet, but I felt like I should see it in person before I form an actual opinion of it. My younger sister ended up staying with me and everyone else went back to the resort to rest.

By the time my younger sister and I got in front of the castle, we just decided to find a spot and stand there. Most of the people were sitting along the edges back towards the Emporium and we decided to stand around there, not really knowing what we were going to do after the fireworks since Magic Kingdom was closing at 11pm. Honestly, the fireworks were okay. I don't know it just didn't have that emotional feel for me. I loved Happily Ever After and am sad that I was only able to experience it once in the parks before it went away. I don't know if it's because that soundtrack incorporates the movie characters singing their parts and definitely has more singing than Enchantment, but Enchantment just didn't hit my younger sister and I in the feels like Happily Ever After did. It's still a good show, but just not our cup of tea.

After the show we booked it back to Space Mountain where it was a posted 35min wait. It ended up being a little longer than that, but we weren't in any hurry and didn't know what else we would've done ride wise anyway. We got off the ride and were walking through Tomorrowland at about 10:15pm and decided to call it a night, but not before snapping a couple pictures of the nighttime castle.



The both of us went back to the bus area and happened to see that there were 2 buses at the station for Pop Century. One loading and another one waiting with the line not being long at all. Knowing that Art of Animation and Pop Century are connected, we decided to hop in line and were back in no time, first stopping in Pop Century to fill my younger sister's resort mug.

On the way back, we did talk about the plans for the next day. We were going to Hollywood Studios, a park that I knew was probably going to be busy. The family agreed on a 7:40-7:50am leave time since the parks had Early Entry at 8am. Honestly, out of all of our park days, that was going to be my worry park. After all, it was probably going to be the busiest. So how did we do? Stick around to find out!

 

[Riss]

Monday, May 23 Part 1: You Win Some, You Lose Some

I've said it multiple times, but my family is always late. One place you probably shouldn't be late at is Hollywood Studios, but what happened? We were late. Yeah, that original plan of leaving before 8am turned into us taking off from the Art of Animation Skyliner station at 8:51am. The one thing that I was worried about was whether we'd be able to do the things we wanted with the children. I knew of Hollywood Studios being the busiest park because of it having many popular attractions. I knew that we were only on the second day of our trip, but I didn't want us to wait in super long lines with the children. I also saw no point in us attempting to get Genie+ and wanted to do our best with what we had.

Before I get into our day, though, let me just say that I loved the Skyliner. It was the first time we took it as a mode of transportation, Dad had ridden it the previous night, but it was great. It was nice and breezy in the cabins and even though my youngest sister had trouble getting on with the stroller the first time, she was a pro by the end of that day. My mom even loved it and she kind of has a small problem with heights. Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled programming.

When we got to the park, my brother and I began checking the app for wait times and seeing what we wanted to do. A lot of the rides already had high times so we decided to go through the theater where I knew you could meet Sully. My brother also likes to go through the museum and look at everything. The line for Sully was admittedly a little long, probably around 35mins if my memory serves me correctly, but my nephew and the child loved it. My nephew also loves Monster's Inc, especially Boo. They loved meeting Sully, though, and the interactions were great.



After we met with Sully, all of us went back to Toy Story Land. It was a debate between Slinky Dog Dash or Toy Story Mania. Both were posted at a 100min wait, but we knew we definitely wanted to go on Toy Story Mania so we hopped in line figuring we'd hang out with each other in the meantime. No one in the family was angry, either, we all knew what we were getting into with Hollywood Studios and just accepted the outcome. However, after we had gotten in line, I noticed that no one had gotten in after us yet and we were moving along pretty quickly. We had gotten in line some time around 10:20am according to one of the pictures I took while in line. As we were looking around wondering what was going on, that's when we heard the announcement.

No, the ride didn't break down. In fact, we were pretty lucky. One side of the ride had broken down so they were running it at reduced capacity. Sure, that may sound bad, but that also meant that they had turned off the Lightning Lanes for it. The cast members at the front of the line, I felt so bad for them, had to turn away everyone that was attempting to get in line until they could get both sides running. I guess they didn't want the line to continue to build in case the other side also went down? I'm not sure, but my family was sure lucky because we were the last ones that they let into line, I guess. But no one was coming down the Lightning Lane side and we were moving through the line.

By the time we were inside, I forget at what point, they let more people come in. I guess they were able to fix both sides. Dad actually talked to one of the cast members who was redoing some of the ropes so that people wouldn't have to walk as far and around and the cast member told him that it wouldn't be a long wait at all from that point. After the announcement was made, we probably waited around 30-40mins for a grand total of probably an hour wait. Not too shabby for something that originally said 100mins and only had one side running. As most, if not all know, the ride was great and the children really enjoyed it. All of us enjoy that ride and try to make it a staple of ours for every time we visit the park, no matter how short our trip may be.

Once we were off, we noticed that Alien Swirling Saucers had a 35min wait and hopped in line at about 11:30am. We were on the ride by 11:56am, so it was a little shorter than the estimated 35mins. That ride was super fun and everyone had a good time.

Lunchtime was looming near us, as it was a little past 12pm by the time we got off, so we began to think about lunch plans. The boys wanted a hot dog, as well as Mom, so they, along with my younger sister, went to Fairfax Fare where we placed a mobile order from them. Dad and my brother were interested in items from ABC Commissary while my youngest sister and I wanted Woody's Lunch Box. I had been eyeing myself up some totchos. So, we separated and went our own ways promising to meet up for the 1pm showing of the Beauty and the Beast Show, a must-do for my Beauty and the Beast loving nephew.

Woody's Lunch Box was one instance where it was faster to wait in line than it was to mobile order. My youngest sister and I found that the time on the mobile order wasn't until after 1pm so we waited in line and ordered probably within 10mins. I had gotten my totchos and tried the Mystic Portal Punch. Both were delicious. I'm a big fan of tater tots and knew I had to try the dish. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of Mountain Berry Blast Powerade, however, I do like myself a good slushie and have to say that the combination of the Mystic Portal Punch was great. Meanwhile, my youngest sister had gotten the BBQ Brisket Melt with the Alien Sipper, but filled with soda. My youngest sister and I ended up walking and taking our food over to Fairfax Fare, which okay may not have been the best move, but we made it there in one piece and ate our food with the rest of the family.

Thankfully everyone was done by 1pm and we were able to quickly go into the show and find a seat over towards the edge. The show was great and my nephew absolutely loved it. Mom said that at one point he exclaimed "They are real!" as Gaston came up on stage. He was so enamored by it that my youngest sister wanted to take him again at a later date. It was only a half an hour show so we were done by 1:30pm and thus we started wondering what we were going to do for the night. My youngest sister was thinking of taking my nephew to the very next 2pm showing of Beauty and the Beast but ended up deciding not to thinking my nephew would do better to take a nap at the resort, learning a little from yesterday.

So we decided to leave to go back to the resort, but not before, obviously, stopping to get some pictures.

 

[Riss]

Monday, May 23 Part 2: You Mean Hollywood Studios Wasn't That Bad?

Before I start talking about our afternoon this day, let me divert into the interesting development that is currently happening at my house and that is an impromptu trip to Disney World! I sent my brother the Food and Wine Festival menus and he jokingly said to book a trip. I also showed him that Jimmie Allen will be there, too, who he does like. Then, when he, my mom, and I were going out searching for a new porch light, he brought it up and my mom said that we should do it. So, here we are, the email sent out to the travel agent about what would probably be considered a 1-day trip to Disney World just for Food and Wine. Insane? Yes, but it'll totally be worth it. It's been about a week since we first started talking about it until finally booking it. Talk about a quick turn around!

The brief information about it is that we'll be flying down on Sunday, September 11 and leaving on Tuesday, September 13. We're doing Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on Sunday, doing a 1-day park ticket for Epcot Monday, and then leaving Tuesday with our flight departing a little past 7pm to give us enough time to explore the area that we're staying in, the Beach Club! This will be our first time staying a deluxe resort and we primarily chose it because of it's close location to Epcot. MNSSHP wasn't originally in the plan, but I decided to check the schedule of parties and found that one fell on our arrival day. We debated doing it back in 2018 and decided against it since we already had so much on our plate, but this time, it's a done deal. We debated a lot with what hotel we should stay at, with the Disney+ deal giving us some 2-bedroom suites at Grand Floridian and Contemporary for a comparable price of around $1,300 - $1,400 per person. A lot? Yes, but we're treating this as a short adult's trip, even though there are children coming with us. Yet my mom wanted to stay at Beach Club and had her heart set on it. But there's 9 people in total. Everyone from this last trip and then my youngest sister's boyfriend is coming along for the ride. So, are we crazy? Maybe. There might be another trip report coming from that but we're 8 weeks away.

Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled programming.



It wasn't until after I did the last post that I realized that the picture was from the afternoon when we had come back. But anyway, the family headed back to Hollywood Studios sometime around 3:45pm - 4pm. Our immediate first stop was Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad that was a posted wait of 25mins. I've seen some videos of it an definitely knew that I wanted to give it a try and as I was explaining it, the rest of the family did too. The wait time was honestly not that bad. When we had gotten in line it was pretty much a straight walk until the room right before you go back into the mini show. We were stopped there for maybe around 10-15mins. I definitely didn't feel like it was the full 25 that was posted. By the time we entered, though, there was a long line following after us so I'm sure it was correct by that point. But the ride itself was great. I loved it. The videos don't do it justice, at least I don't think. It feels so different when you're actually there and in it all. The children also loved it and it was definitely one of the highlights.

After that, we decided to get on Slinky Dog back in Toy Story Land, not before posing for a couple of more pictures at the entrance. The wait time was posted at either 50 or 55mins but we were on and off within 40. Everyone in the family went on. Mom was close to ditching us but we convinced her that it was going to be a family experience. She had already been on in 2018 and roller coasters aren't her thing, but she decided to stay with the family. Even my nephew went on and had an absolute blast.

By this point, it was nearing dinner time and my brother was already checking out the menus deciding on Backlot Express. It was my first time being back that far in Hollywood Studios. The last time I was back there was probably when they had the Christmas lights. For dinner I had the children's mac and cheese meal which was honestly pretty good. I also had some of the BBQ Pulled Pork Burger that was a mistake but they told my family to keep. I think they forgot the coleslaw on it originally.

Next, it was time to head to Galaxy's Edge. No one in my family had been there since it was still under construction the last time we went in 2018. When we were first thinking about going to Disney, we figured we would stop in there since it would be cool to see but none of us are Star Wars people. Since then, my nephew is obsessed with Star Wars, especially Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers. He loved it and thoroughly enjoyed himself as we explored. My youngest sister even got him the Coke circular bottles so we could bring them home. As we were walking through, my brother saw that Rise of the Resistance was a 75min wait. This was a little after 8pm, an hour before park close. While I thought it would be cool to ride, I wanted to see the rest of the park and ultimately rejected the offer to wait. The child, however, wanted to go on so he and my brother waited. It ended up being around a 50min wait probably since we had definitely met up with them before park closing. According to a picture sent by my brother, they were in the room with the Stormtroopers at 8:36pm.



The rest of the family continued through Galaxy's Edge taking pictures and looking at everything. My parents even bought my nephew, their grandchild, a Stormtrooper outfit complete with a helmet and everything. Spoiler alert, my youngest sister, his mother, also bought him a Darth Vader outfit at Disney Springs on our rest day.

But once we walked through and saw everything, we were back in Toy Story Land and saw that Alien Swirling Saucers was a 5min wait. We got right in line and honestly the wait was only the time it took to walk through it. It was entirely empty and even the ride wasn't full when we were on it. My youngest sister did want to hit up some of the little stalls around Toy Story land so she took my nephew with her and the rest of us took our leisurely time to get to her, probably stopping for a bathroom break. At around 8:45pm we got word that my brother and the child were on their way and they would meet us in Toy Story Land so we waited at Woody's Lunch Box and it wasn't long before they found us.

As we were leaving, we saw some sort of show going on and it was actually something I'd never heard of before. I later found out that it was the Wonderful World of Animation. We saw a lot of people sitting down in front of the Chinese Theater to watch it and while we saw a little, we were mostly on our way out so we didn't stay. We did see the Epcot fireworks as we were leaving and even on the Skyliner, which was pretty cool. My brother said that he heard a lot of compliments about the show so we knew that it was going on our must see list.

When we got back, my brother and the child headed straight for the pool while the rest of us sorted out our plans for tomorrow. Another Magic Kingdom day and my nephew's 3rd birthday!

 

[footballmouse]

Great report so far! Totally jealous of your impromptu trip!!!!

 

[Riss]

Great report so far! Totally jealous of your impromptu trip!!!!

Thanks! And while we've had our hiccups so far with the planning of the quick trip, I'm definitely excited for it. We did have to switch from Beach Club to Boardwalk Inn, but I'm sure it'll still be just as fun!

 

[ButterflyEffect]

Great trip report! We are not going to get Genie + on our trip either so it is great to see how well it is working for your family!

 

[Riss]

Great trip report! We are not going to get Genie + on our trip either so it is great to see how well it is working for your family!

Yes, it definitely worked in our favor and none of us honestly ever thought about ever purchasing it throughout the duration of our trip. It may have been because we set the plans beforehand or maybe it was just pure luck!

 

[Riss]

Tuesday, May 24 Part 1: Our First Late Morning

Who knew planning an impromptu trip was just as time consuming as planning a longer one? We finally got everything sorted out, though. We had to switch our stay to the Boardwalk Inn after Beach Club didn't have any availability for us when we went to book, but that's okay! We still got the Epcot resort we wanted, after a lot of going back and forth. We got our tickets for the MNSSHP on Sunday, September 11 and already booked our Epcot day for the 12th. We also booked our flights. Can't believe we're just right under 6 weeks away until we get to go to Disney again!

But anyway, Tuesday, May 24 was my nephew's third birthday and yes, it was his actual birthday. My youngest sister actually had gotten some decorations at home and brought them on the trip with us to decorate their room to make his birthday feel special. One decoration included this Happy Birthday sign featuring Mickey. I believe it also came with balloons, which she blew up herself, with confetti inside of them.



For that particular morning, my youngest sister wanted to get a second shot at the birthday pictures she wasn't able to get the previous day. Before going to bed the night before, I gave my mom and youngest sister the run down on what they should do to get to the Magic Kingdom early to take pictures. I believe they left around 8:30 or 9am while the rest of us slept in. I believe they probably left closer to 9am since I was up and heading to their room, which was right next door, to take care of the child while they were gone. He was already up by then and I got him some breakfast and whatnot. In the end, her pictures turned out great. She took some herself on the side of the castle but they also went to a Photopass photographer and got some taken on the side of the hub, too.



Also, yes, this photo was taken later when we arrived and met up with them at Magic Kingdom, but it's just too cute not to include.

To round out the morning, Mom eventually came back with the balloons at around 10am as the rest of the family was still waking up. We lounged around the room a little bit while everyone was getting themselves ready. My youngest sister, meanwhile, was still at Magic Kingdom with my nephew. During the time they were there alone, she said that they met Belle again and went to Monster Inc. Laugh Floor. I'm not sure if they did anything else, but I know they definitely did that.

But remember that Be Our Guest reservation my youngest sister had at like 10:35am? Yeah, she ended up canceling that. She had gone up to the check-in desk to ask if the Beast was present at the meal, since that was really her main draw for going, and in the end, they couldn't give her an answer. She said that the male cast member she talked to was extremely nice and sorry he couldn't give her a more concrete answer. The first time she went to the check-in stand, he had said to come back closer to her reservation time and he might be able to say whether he was able to see the Beast come in that day or not. According to them, the Beast isn't present every day, they never know when he's going to make an appearance or not. They told her that he's not there for two days out of the week or there might even be a time when he shows up in the afternoon, but doesn't make an appearance in the morning. For the record, though, it also just so happened that that day during the Festival of Fantasy parade, Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen were the ones leading the first float instead of Belle and Beast. They were also leading the float when we saw it for the second time on our last day of the trip, that Friday.

Anyway, so she had gone back closer to her reservation and the male cast member told her that he hadn't seen him yet, so it's not guaranteed that he'll be there. They did point out that it wasn't a character experience, it was a dining experience, which we already knew. For my sister, the Beast is one of my nephew's most favorite characters so she was really only going there to see him. As far as the meal went, she probably wouldn't have really eaten anything. Same thing for my nephew. So, in the end, she canceled the reservation figuring that it probably wasn't worth it for her. I think she did the meet and greet with Belle and the other rides after she canceled it.

As for the rest of us, we got ready and were on our way over by noon. We were on the bus at 11:47am, which is when I took these great pictures of the child just staring out the window with his cup of water.



So since it was past 12pm when we arrived, we decided to wait in front of the train station for the Festival of Fantasy to pass by and let me just say that it's probably one of the best spots to watch the parade. There was no one around us and we were so close to the floats and the characters in the parade. Mom was wearing a Tinkerbell shirt and as Wendy walked by, she had a small conversation with her about it. Plus, we were also in some shade since the big train station was behind us. Definitely loved that spot and it wasn't like we had even planned for it. It just so happened that that was the way our day worked out.

Once the parade was done, we got in contact with my youngest sister and told her where we were. Since it was around lunch time, we started weighing our options. I wanted corn dog nuggets from Casey's Corner and so I mobile ordered that. My brother wanted a turkey leg and so he went on his way to obtain that, too. Let me say something about mobile ordering, though, it was definitely a time saver during this trip. Obviously we were going in prime lunch time, but the mobile order for Casey's had the time starting "Now" which meant that I didn't have to wait until my window opened. I could place the order and just immediately hit that I'm on my way the second after. They had separate counters for mobile orders and I was able to place my order and have it before some other individuals in line even moved from their spot. If anyone is apprehensive about mobile order, I would definitely say to give it a shot. Sometimes it just works out better.

As my brother was on his journey for a turkey leg, he called to let us know that a 50th Anniversary Cavalcade was coming our way so we lined up by Main Street to watch them pass. This was around 12:45pm.



I just think that picture is funny.

Since it was sunny, we split up for a little bit. I ended up taking the child into the Emporium to look around at some of the souvenirs and he picked out a charm necklace that he wanted. I told him we would buy it a little bit later after meeting up with everyone to see what the plan was for the rest of the day and asked him if he wanted to see the stage show that would be happening in a little bit. He agreed so we went out in front of the castle to watch it. Spoiler alert, we did go back and buy the charm necklace for him after the show was done. It was the purchase he probably enjoyed the most.

The crowd for the stage show wasn't that bad. There was plenty of space and we found a spot near the Goofy 50th statue. I guess the only issue about that day was that it was kind of hot and sunny so it wasn't the best weather to decide to stop and watch a show in. However, it was a good show and I enjoyed seeing it. Honestly, it was probably the first time I've ever watched a stage show in the Magic Kingdom. Most of the other times we were probably riding rides or doing something else, not paying attention to the different shows that were put on.

When the show was over, we decided to take some pictures with my nephew to commemorate his birthday, and also because he had his birthday shirt on.



Since it was hot that day and my nephew was already ready for a nap, we decided to just head back to the hotel. Looking at a video I took, we were back in the room by 2:34pm, so not terrible. So, like every day so far, we spent the afternoon in the room taking a nice break from the heat and humidity. My younger sister wanted to go to Animal Kingdom at some point and so we deemed that day the day we would go. We didn't plan to have a reservation for it since we knew we'd probably only stop in for a little bit and so her and I got a little rest before we headed out to go there by ourselves for what would become our only Animal Kingdom stop of the entire trip.

 

[Riss]

Tuesday, May 24 Part 2: Our Only Trip to Animal Kingdom & Some Birthday Fireworks!

My younger sister and I didn't get much rest back in the room because we quickly made our way to Animal Kingdom. While everyone else rested, we decided to go by ourselves and were at the entrance to Animal Kingdom by 4pm. Our first stop to go was Expedition Everest. We weren't really interested in Pandora and actually only wanted to do Expedition Everest and maybe get a frozen drink at a stand that we saw on the Internet. It was posted as a 35min wait but we were probably only in line for around 15min. The ride was fun, like always, and after it was over we went searching for the drink stand.

We eventually did find the stand, the Warung Outpost, where I ordered the Shangri-La Berry Freeze, essentially a strawberry smoothie type thing, and my younger sister had the Maharaja Lime Margarita. I honestly loved my drink and while it is non-alcoholic, I thought they should've made an alcoholic version. I'm not really an alcohol fan, I taste too much of the bitterness, but I would definitely get an alcoholic version of that drink. One detail I think is cute is that the non-alcoholic drinks have the Disney character designed plastic cups where the alcoholic drinks are put in regular clear plastic cups.



After finishing our drinks, we went through the Jungle Trek, by this time it was about 5:15pm. We looked at all of the animals and went through the bird walk through. There was a giant peacock related bird walking in the middle of the path and a cast member was telling everyone that walked by information about the bird and making sure that it was safe. Eventually, by 5:40pm, my younger sister and I sat outside of Kilimanjaro Safari to wait for the rest of the family to catch up so we could go on. We wanted the children to be able to see the animals and experience it. The safari was probably our only "must-do" for Animal Kingdom when it came to the children. The child wasn't able to go on it in 2018, he wasn't feeling well that day, and so we definitely wanted to make sure he'd be able to go on it.

When my family got there, we actually discovered that they were on a charter bus to come to Animal Kingdom. They said that some people had gotten off of it at the hotel and that the driver said he was part of the transportation buses. At a later point, I believe that night, we did see a charter bus pull up to take people back to the hotel from Magic Kingdom. I thought that maybe it was one of the buses Disney used to use as Magical Express. I don't think there was anything Disney on the bus, though, like the outside decorations.

Anyway, the family had arrived by 6pm, I think, and the safari was posted at a 35min wait. The only wait we had was the length it took us to walk the entire way to the loading area of the ride. We also did wait on the ramp right before the loading area for probably 10 minutes. It seemed like a lot of the safari trucks they were using would all come at one time and then it would be a little bit before they all would come again, assuming it was the length of the safari itself. The wait wasn't actually that bad, though and I definitely don't think it was near the 35 minutes it said it would be. We were on the safari by 6:30pm.



Everyone had so much fun on the safari. We saw so many animals, too! We didn't know if maybe they're more active around dinner time but so many animals were out in the open and visible for everyone to see. There were baby elephants close to the vehicle, too. I think it was probably one of the best safaris we had ever been on.

Since it was close to 7pm, it was time for us to eat. Also, the park was closing at 8pm, I believe. While all of the family went to Flame Tree Barbecue to eat, my youngest sister and I went to Expedition Everest. She wanted to go on and was a little nervous since this would be her first actual roller coaster since having my nephew. The wait was posted at 15min and was probably the whole 15min, although it was continuously moving so maybe it was a little shorter. The ride was just as fun as before and my sister had a blast.

After the roller coaster we booked our way over to meet everyone where they were eating and talked about what we should do for the rest of the night. My brother was thinking about possibly going on Flight of Passage, however, that would mean he would miss the Magic Kingdom fireworks that the rest of us wanted to go see. My younger sister and I had already seen them on Monday, but no one else had. My youngest sister wanted to see them since it was my nephew's birthday and felt that would be a cool way to finish the night off. In the end, we decided to split up and the child actually went with my brother to ride Flight of Passage in Pandora while the rest of us made our way to leave Animal Kingdom and head towards Magic Kingdom.

My brother and the child managed to make it to Flight of Passage before the park closed, they probably got in line at 7:55pm and the posted wait was 105min. However, they only waited about 35-40min according to my brother. Here's a blurry picture of them leaving the park as they headed back to the hotel to do some swimming. I think he took this quickly while they were walking to exit the park.



The rest of us made it to Magic Kingdom with around 20 minutes to spare before the fireworks, so around 9pm. Instead of doing anything else, we decided to just find a spot and wait while some of the others went to look around the shops. I waited with my nephew in a spot and we saw a custodial staff member make a Mickey on the ground.



That night's showing of Enchantment, at least I thought, was better than Monday's. I don't know if there was a slight breeze in the air but the fireworks seemed bigger and kind of more spread out, if that makes sense. It made the fireworks look a lot nicer as they exploded over the castle. While my nephew was tired from the entire day, I think he enjoyed the fireworks. We kept telling him that they were his birthday fireworks.

While Magic Kingdom closed at 11pm all of the other days of our stay, it actually closed an hour earlier at 10pm that night, so pretty much almost right after the fireworks. It took a little while for us to leave and, similarly to what my younger sister and I did on Monday, we hopped in the Pop Century line since it looked shorter than the Art of Animation line. It did take a little while, but it wasn't all too bad. The cast members who are working the buses really have it down to a science. The woman who was in charge of the Pop Century line really knew what she was doing and would instruct people accordingly. She had the ECVs wait in line with everyone else and as they got closer to the front, and I guess as she figured they would make it on the next bus, would have them pull out and into the spot where they could be loaded on first. I thought it went very efficiently.

By 11pm we were back in our room and celebrating the hour we had left of my nephew's birthday. My youngest sister bought him one of the Mickey Mouse dome cakes and a cupcake. The serving size of the dome cake is 4 people but it easily fed all of us, 6 adults and 2 children. We even had cake left over that we stored in the fridge. Maybe it was because we were too full from the day and it was at night, but there was no way 4 people, at least in our family, would eat the entire thing.



The rest of the night went smoothly and we knew we would get a little more relaxation in because we wouldn't be waking up early the following day. It was going to be our non-park day and while we did have a couple of things planned, it was going to be a day where we could sleep in and maybe go to the pool later.

 

[Riss]

Wednesday, May 25: Going Around Disney Property



Wednesday was the first day of our trip where we didn't really have anything planned. We were hoping to go to Disney Springs to look around, but that didn't really require us to wake up early. The Skyliner picture is what I saw out of our window every morning. It was a nice sight to sometimes look at either when I woke up or at the end of the night. But on this day in particular, we got breakfast at around 10am, from Landscape of Flavors like every morning, and ended up not leaving to go to Disney Springs until about 11:30am. So definitely a later start than normal.

When we got there, we split up to do some shopping. My sisters and I went one way while the rest of them headed towards the World of Disney direction so the children could look at some things and maybe use some of the gift card that I had gotten each of them. The three of us together hit the Coca-Cola store, where I bought a black shirt that said Cola-Cola but also said Disney World Resort on the back and had a small-ish Mickey head on the front in a kind of upper corner of the shirt. They also had a red and white version of the shirt, but I just love a good black t-shirt. We also stopped in the Marvel and Star Wars stores to see if my youngest sister could see anything that might interest my nephew. We even got some drinks from Splitsville. Well, my sisters did. I ended up getting one of the Goofy Glaciers from the candy store nearby because I wasn't feeling anything alcoholic.

It wasn't until around 1pm that we met up with everyone and we decided to eat lunch at The Polite Pig.



That was the meal that I had gotten that day. It's actually one of the kid's meals, the smoked pork slider. I decided to keep the carrot sticks because, like I said on that day, I needed some veggies in my life at that point. But our meals were great. Everyone loved them and the staff were so helpful and knowledgeable about everything. I would describe it as a mix between like a fast-food and a restaurant because there were definitely staff members walking around to get refills and to clear tables, but then you waited in a line to order your food, it wasn't like they had waiters or waitresses. Still, they helped my mom find a table, after we were going to be sitting outside, and even helped her save it while she went to get everyone else and our things. I believe she saw the table when she had gone in to use the restroom. But everyone loved their food and everything that I had tried from other's was also great.

We were done our meals by 2pm and it was clear that the children were starting to get near the time for a rest. But, here was where things started to go a little wrong. My mom initially wanted to get beignets from Port Orleans French Quarter and the initial plan was to get them after we were done at Disney Springs. However, we didn't know we would be there that long and that threw a wrench in our plan since, after eating lunch, my mom wasn't hungry for them anymore. We had to readjust our plans and what we wanted to do. Something else my mom did want to do, though, was go on every mode of transportation in Disney because she thought the children would love it. That's what we ended up deciding to do. Was it a mistake? No. Did it take long? Yes.

Now I don't know if this will help anyone with thinking about how long it takes to get around Disney property, but the whole trip, starting from Disney Springs, took us around 2 hours to complete. It took us 2 hours to take every mode of transportation from one place to another in Disney. Let me document the journey.

We started at Disney Springs and from there, hopped on a bus to go to the Grand Floridian. We were at the Grand Floridian at around 3:30pm and took a quick bathroom break for everyone. From the Grand Floridian, we took the small boat to the Magic Kingdom and were on that at around 3:50pm.



The small resort boat took us to the large ferry boat from Magic Kingdom at 4:15pm. We landed at the Transportation and Ticket Center and took the monorail over to Epcot. We were on the monorail at around 4:45pm. And here was where we made a crucial mistake, an overlook on our part. The initial plan was to catch the Skyliner over to Art of Animation, but the Epcot Skyliner station is in the back of the part, inaccessible to anyone coming in from the front, like we were. So, we had to do some quick thinking and thankfully there was a bus running from Epcot to Hollywood Studios and we were on that by 5pm. From Hollywood Studios, we took the Skyliner Station back to Art of Animation and were back in our room by 5:30pm. Tired yet?

It definitely took us longer than we had initially thought, but it really was a lot of fun. Going from one mode of transportation to another and going on our own little adventure. I think this was the day we met another family who had a little boy that was also celebrating his birthday and the children made some friends. Yes we were tired, but I do think it was worth it in the end. It was fun for us to have that little adventure and do something we probably wouldn't typically do on a normal day.

That night we decided to have dinner at the resort, us being all tired out from the day, and I think we may have gotten pizza again because it was really good. I actually didn't take any pictures of food that night, so I'm not too sure if that's what ended up happening. I do know that I ended up getting the 50th anniversary raspberry cheesecake. It was good, and I enjoyed it, but I don't think it really tasted like a cheesecake. If anything, it tasted like what the raspberry soft serve tastes like at this one place in my hometown. But I love that at home so I liked the dessert there.



At around 7pm my mom and I took the children down to the pool. They were cleaning the Big Blue Pool so we hung out by the splash pad for a little bit. My nephew really loved the splash pad and was running around to the different parts and fish that were spitting water at him. When we were allowed back in the pool, we hung out at the shallow end so my nephew could hang out with us. He was more interested in the splash pad, though, so my mom let him go over there and watched him while I took the child into a deeper end. At some point I guess there was an accident and the child and I had to get out of the pool again for a little bit. By this time it was around 8pm so the poolside movie was about to start with it being Brave that night.

Around the beginning of the movie, Mom took my nephew back to the room because the wind was picking up and it was too chilly for them. They were thinking about possibly coming back for the movie but it was too cold for my nephew. The child watched some of the movie with my brother who joined us, but wasn't going in the pool, and when we were allowed, we went back in for a little while longer, probably until around 9pm since we would be having an early morning at Epcot.