Sailing the Skyliner: Life is the Bubbles on Spring Break - A March 2024 Trip Report

[jrmint427]

Opening Credits​

Welcome to my latest trip report!

We spent 8 nights with 6 park days, 7 days for me and my husband thanks to a date night at Hollywood Studios After Hours. We walked 65+ miles, 162k+ steps, met 27 characters, took over 600 Photo Pass pictures, had 8 table service meals, swam 3 times, and made so many wonderful memories. Maybe it’s recency bias, but we thought this might be our best trip yet.



This was our 5th trip with our kids and 3rd trip with both my parents and my MIL joining us (but 4th trip with my parents and 4th trip with my MIL – we took one trip with just my MIL in 2018 and one trip with just my parents in 2022). This was the 7th trip my husband and I took together, my 9th trip ever and his 10th. This was also a big milestone trip for us – our first trip without a stroller!

Where: Art of Animation, Little Mermaid section, Ursula building

When: March 9-17, 2024 (Spring Break)

How: After driving 14+ hours 3 of our last 4 trips, we flew this time. We also used the dining plan for 4 of us (me, Pat and the kids) thanks to a package that offered the kids’ park tickets and kids’ dining plan for half off

Why: Who really needs a reason? We went during the girls’ Spring Break this year, now that we’re tied to the school schedule

Cast of Characters


Me (Jessica) – The mom and planner
Favorite Rides: Tower of Terror, Expedition Everest, Flight of Passage, any thrill ride!
Favorite Snack: I Lava You Float (Sunshine Tree Terrace)
Favorite Drinks: Surly Sarlacc (Docking Bay 7) and Ilu Splash Margarita (Satu’li Canteen)


Pat – The dad and Galactic Hero
Favorite TS Meal: Roundup Rodeo BBQ
Favorite Character Meets: Grumpy, Daisy Duck, Anna
Favorite Snack: Root Beer Float (Sunshine Tree Terrace)


DD9 – big sister, enjoyed more of the thrill rides this year including her first time on Flight of Passage!
Favorite Ride: Slinky Dog Dash
Favorite Character Meet: Olaf
Favorite Quick Service: Woody's Lunch Box


DD7 – little sister, tried a few roller coasters this time
Favorite TS Meal: Boma
Favorite Character Meets: Rapunzel and Elena
Favorite Snack: I Lava You Float (DD9’s favorite too!)


Grandma – my mom
Favorite Drink: Pina colada margarita at Epcot (Grandpa’s favorite too)
Favorite Shows: Finding Nemo & Fantasmic
Favorite Character Meet: Snow White (she has a soft spot after Snow White was one of DD9’s best character meets when she was 3)


Grandpa – my dad
Favorite Ride: Safari
Favorite Snack: Tropical Serenade (coconut soft-serve with POG juice at Aloha Isle)
Favorite Shows: Muppets & Fantasmic


Grammas – Pat’s mom
Favorite Snack: Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Bar
Favorite Ride: Flight of Passage
Favorite Character Meet: Darth Vader

I can’t wait to share more about the fun adventures we had on this trip (and re-live the trip through this report). Stay tuned for food reviews (myself and the kids are vegetarian, the other 4 adults eat meat), my review of the dining plan (was it worth it?), a detailed breakdown of Genie+ and how much time it saved us, how we navigated the Spring Break crowds, and a ton of pictures from our trip!

 

[jrmint427]

Table of Contents

Opening Credits

Friday, March 8, 2024 - Travel Day #1
Travel / Disney100 Exhibit
Disney100 Exhibit, Part 2
Disney100 Exhibit, Part 3
Disney100 Exhibit, Part 4
Disney100 Exhibit, Part 5
Disney100 Exhibit, Part 6
Portillo's

Saturday, March 9, 2024 - Travel Day #2 / Disney Springs
Flight to Disney / Travel to AoA
Art of Animation
Landscape of Flavors
Swimming / Settling In / Disney Springs
Jaleo
Jaleo, Part 2
Gideon's
Legos and Home

Sunday, March 10, 2024 - Epcot
Rope Drop & Remy
World Showcase & Kringla Bakeri
Epcot PhotoPass Pictures
Spaceship Earth
Journey of Water
Journey of Water, The Seas, Turtle Talk
Living with the Land
F&G Festival Food
Club Cool & Soarin'
Guardians, Figment, F&G Food, Frozen Ever After
La Cantina de San Angel
Gran Fiesta and Anna & Elsa Meet
Elsa, Joy of Tea, Karamell-Kuche
Rick Springfield, Frushi & Topiaries
Rose & Crown
Luminous

Monday, March 11, 2024 - Hollywood Studios
HS Early Entry / Toy Story Mania & Aliens
Aliens, Kat Saka's & Ronto Roasters
Frozen Sing-Along, Muppets & Goofy
Goofy, Part 2
Sci-Fi Dine-In
Sci-Fi Dine-In, Part 2
Afternoon Break at Art of Animation
PhotoPass Pictures
Beauty & the Beast
Olaf
Woody's Lunch Box
Fantasmic
Fantasmic, Part 2

Tuesday, March 12, 2024 - Magic Kingdom
MK Early Entry / Peter Pan & It's a Small World
It's a Small World & Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion, Pirates & Jungle Cruise
Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets & Main Street Bakery
WDW Train & Sword in the Stone
Sword in the Stone, Part 2 & PhilharMagic
Castle Pics & Monsters, Inc.
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe & Tron
Meeting Ariel
Cold Treats and Meeting Mickey Mouse
Meeting Mickey Mouse & Under the Sea
Skipper Canteen
Big Thunder Mountain, Fireworks & Teacups
Dumbo, Tomorrowland Speedway & Buzz

Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - Rest Day & Hollywood Studios After Hours
Travel to the Riviera
Topolino's
Topolino's, Part 2
Topolino's, Part 3

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’m joining in! I love the title and introduction!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Hooray, you started! I’m definitely in and can’t wait to hear all about your trip.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[jrmint427]

I’m joining in! I love the title and introduction!

Thanks for joining in! Pat and DD9 helped with the title

Hooray, you started! I’m definitely in and can’t wait to hear all about your trip.

Yay! I'm excited to share more!

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks for following along!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Following!! Can't wait to hear about your trip. My daughter (9) and I are planning to stay at Art of Animation in November for a mom/daughter trip.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Always great when you can say 'Best Trip Ever', and really mean it! Enjoy!

 

[Jsharp13]

Sounds like a fun trip ahead!

 

[Griffin11]

Great intro, following along. Looking forward to hearing about the vegetarian food reviews - I eat meat but prefer the plant-based options a lot of the time!

 

[jrmint427]

Following!! Can't wait to hear about your trip. My daughter (9) and I are planning to stay at Art of Animation in November for a mom/daughter trip.

That is really exciting, I hope you both love it there! We absolutely loved the theming and thought it was a great location with the Skyliner.

Always great when you can say 'Best Trip Ever', and really mean it! Enjoy!

So true!!

Sounds like a fun trip ahead!

I can't wait to share more!

Great intro, following along. Looking forward to hearing about the vegetarian food reviews - I eat meat but prefer the plant-based options a lot of the time!

Thank you! My husband and his mom also eat meat but sometimes ate vegetarian items with me, I plan to include all the food in our reviews. This trip report is a joint effort

 

[jrmint427]

Friday, March 8, 2024​

Travel Day 1 / Disney100 Exhibition​

Travel days are usually boring, but this one was a little less so! We now live about 3 hours from the Chicago airport, which was the cheapest option for us to fly to Orlando. We planned to work and go to school this day, then to drive to Chicago in the evening so we could fly out early the next morning.

A few weeks before our trip, we were watching the Disney 100 documentary on Disney+ and they mentioned that the Disney100 exhibition was going to be traveling the world, with a stop in Chicago. DD7 immediately asked if we could go to see it. I looked up the dates and saw it would still be in Chicago while we were there, but not much longer. Pat and I quickly decided to go for it, so I bought tickets for 6:00pm on the evening we were getting into Chicago (March 8th) before we even got up from the couch.

This meant that we were going to need to take the girls out of school a little early so we could get on the road and make our appointment for the exhibit. I initially requested a half day off work and then changed that to the full day off, but Pat worked most of the day. His mom stayed with us the night before since she was going to fly out with us, and it was helpful to have her with us while we were packing. My parents were driving from elsewhere in the Midwest to meet us in Orlando.

We had a few early mornings coming up so I was hoping to sleep in, but I woke up at 6:00am and was so excited, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was supposed to get my hair cut the prior weekend but after getting sick the week before that, I moved it to our travel day since I was already off work. I wrapped my hair appointment up just 15 minutes before I needed to pick the girls up from school!

We had about one more hour to finish packing, and we got on the road at 2:15pm, 15 minutes later than we had planned.



We listened to a Disney playlist I had made based on the Art of Animation soundtrack and then a couple of podcasts about the Flower & Garden Festival, which helped us decide what food items we wanted to try there. It rained the entire way to Chicago. I had planned an extra hour for our drive just in case of Chicago traffic and thought we would still be fine with a 45-minute head start, but I was wrong! The expected arrival time kept ticking up well past our appointment time of 6:00pm. I tried to not stress too much, knowing we could still enter later, but the exhibit was closing at 7:30pm so every minute we were late was a minute we were going to miss out on the experience.

We thankfully made up some time (Google kept offering alternative routes) and arrived at 6:05pm, only a few minutes late. We ran to the restrooms and then started our tour!



Just like WDW, there was a pre- pre-show room counting down to the next show to start our experience.



Our guide informed us that we were the last family to be entering for the day, so we had the pre-show room all to ourselves. It was a fun room with sparkling lights, which got us even more excited.



DD9 enjoyed having the space to do cartwheels! Especially after spending nearly 4 hours in the car.



Our guide explained that there were going to be 10 rooms with different themes, and recommended we pace ourselves since we were going to have about an hour and 15 minutes to cover all 10. Quick math meant we were going to have 7-8 minutes per room. We could have used a lot more time to take it all in, as we had to rush through some rooms to ensure we had time for the whole exhibit.

I’ll share more details on the exhibit in the next couple of posts, feel free to skip if you plan to go yourself and don’t want to see spoilers (you can go to the table of contents in the post above to skip ahead once I have more posted).

Has anyone else been to the Disney100 Exhibit?

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Oooh fun way to start your trip!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Following!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

This was also a big milestone trip for us – our first trip without a stroller!

That is a big milestone!!! It is great to not have it but also sometimes I miss having a place to leave stuff.

Favorite Drinks: Surly Sarlacc (Docking Bay 7) and Ilu Splash Margarita (Satu’li Canteen)

I might need to try the margarita! I love the Surly Sarlacc!

Favorite TS Meal: Boma

YEAH!!

my review of the dining plan (was it worth it?)

I am intrested since you are vegitarian, you sometimes get less for you $$. Can't wait to hear how it went.

Everyone looks so happy and ready for vacation!

e thankfully made up some time (Google kept offering alternative routes) and arrived at 6:05pm, only a few minutes late. We ran to the restrooms and then started our tour!

We were a little late when we went to the one in Philly, too. Sounds like they had it set up slightly different from the Philly version.

 

[VAtink]

Joining in! What a cool way to start the trip, I had heard about the exhibition but never had a chance to see it, so super interested to read more!

 

[Mollydolly334]

I’m here and ready for the fun!!! Your hair looks so pretty in your car pic- nothing like a fresh cut for vacation

Jake and I also went to the Disney100 Exhibition in Chicago back in December and LOVED IT!!

 

[jrmint427]

Oooh fun way to start your trip!

It was the perfect way to kick-off a Disney trip and build up even more excitement for the parks!

Following!!

Glad you are here!

That is a big milestone!!! It is great to not have it but also sometimes I miss having a place to leave stuff.

I agree with that. There were times our backpacks got heavy and I would have loved to stuff it in the stroller. But the convenience and ease of getting around more than made up for not having that!

I might need to try the margarita! I love the Surly Sarlacc!

Yes! It's a kiwi margarita, we all loved it. The Surly Sarlacc was my favorite though, it was so unique.

I am intrested since you are vegitarian, you sometimes get less for you $$. Can't wait to hear how it went.

I was worried about that! I definitely got the value out of it, but mostly by ordering expensive alcoholic drinks with every meal I drank way more on this trip than I normally would have.

We were a little late when we went to the one in Philly, too. Sounds like they had it set up slightly different from the Philly version.

I'm curious about the differences now! It's awesome you got to see it while it was there, I'm curious which cities it will travel to throughout the next couple of years. I'd love to go again if we get the opportunity.

Joining in! What a cool way to start the trip, I had heard about the exhibition but never had a chance to see it, so super interested to read more!

Thanks for joining! It really was the perfect "pre-show" to our trip, I'll be sharing a lot of my favorite things from the exhibit.

I’m here and ready for the fun!!! Your hair looks so pretty in your car pic- nothing like a fresh cut for vacation

Glad you're here! And thank you! It lasted maybe an hour haha, thanks to the rain it got frizzy too quickly. I always love when they style it!

Jake and I also went to the Disney100 Exhibition in Chicago back in December and LOVED IT!!

How cool!! I was so excited it was still going to be in Chicago while we were there (and looks like maybe for one more month). I hadn't even heard about it until we watched that documentary.

 

[jrmint427]

Disney100 Exhibition, Part 2​

The presentation was very Disney with well thought-out interactive story telling. The first room was “Where It All Began” and focused on the very beginning of Walt Disney’s story. Each room started with a poster.



Walt was born in Chicago, so it was neat to be going through this exhibit in the city where his life began. There were some interesting artifacts including this page from a contract for the Alice Comedies.



And these early drawings of Oswald.



And an actual story script page from Steamboat Willie.



This room was very inspiring. It talked about how Walt and Lillian met with Charles Mintz, who was married to Walt’s original distributor Margaret Winkler (see the contract above where she is mentioned), but Mintz took over Oswald, a character that Walt had created. The plaque said, “Walt stoically accepted defeat, but he did not let it define him… and somehow, he would start again.”

I would have liked more time in this room, but we were just getting started, and the girls moved quickly through this room, so I suggested we move along too. I should have set a timer to pace better, but I see from our pictures that we spent 6 minutes in the first room.

The second room was, “Where Do the Stories Come From?”



This room focused on sources of inspiration, such as mythology, fairy tales, fables, stories, comic books, imagination, and literature. It featured items from some of the classics, such as Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella, Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast.




I'm fascinated with this picture where you can see the comparative sizes between the Snow White characters (the Queen's hair was taller than the Prince, and red!), and also to see a different version of Snow White's hair.



This was an actual carousel horse that Mary Poppins rode in the movie.



The interaction was light, but there were a lot of headphones to listen to videos and music, and items to take pictures with. In this room there was a physical book you could turn the pages in, and it would turn the pages of a projection of the book on a screen right in front of it, like magic.

More to come in the next post!

 

[erinch]

Joining in!