She's Collecting Castles and Staying at Copper Creek, a January-February 2021 Trip Report (Completed 5/7, Updated 5/17)

[DaisyDuck001]

I've done lots of split stays, and for me the variety of themed environments was worth the effort of moving. I do think it would be a bit more cumbersome to move with a larger party, but hopefully still worth it for you guys also!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I've done lots of split stays, and for me the variety of themed environments was worth the effort of moving. I do think it would be a bit more cumbersome to move with a larger party, but hopefully still worth it for you guys also!

That’s good to hear. We did a split at Copper Creek in 2018 between a 2 bedroom and a cabin, and didn’t mind it too much but did feel it split things up. For next year we will just be the smaller party of 6, so we are pretty flexible. Grandma and Grandpa don’t come every time, but are looking to the next one.
We are having fun with the planning, figuring out the things we want to do when we are at Beach Club, like breakfast at Topolino’s and popping into Epcot for the evening. Finishing up at “home” at WL will be nice too, since I’m still not ready for a WDW trip where we don’t get to stay there.

 

[QueenJen]

A fun couple of updates. Fantastic that Marshall wanted to ride Everest and enjoyed it. Very sweet of Jon to buy Donald for Allie. Happy she is still enjoying the toys at home.

What do you do with all of the beautiful pictures Paul takes?

Very exciting to have the next trip booked.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

What do you do with all of the beautiful pictures Paul takes?

They put them in these trip reports!

 

[shairpdrh]

We enjoyed our split with GFV and BWV. We did it back when I was renting points before we bought and had to split to find enough points, but it ended up being a great way to explore different areas. It will be fun to read your experience next year.

 

[MyGoofy26]

Too funny about Everest. I was telling my husband that I can’t wait to get our girls down there, because they’re so little that to them that’s the real castle and the real Mickey. Guess I need to add “real Mt. Everest” to that list.

Exciting about the upcoming reservations! It’ll be fun to get a little change of scenery but still get the comfort of “home” too.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

A fun couple of updates. Fantastic that Marshall wanted to ride Everest and enjoyed it. Very sweet of Jon to buy Donald for Allie. Happy she is still enjoying the toys at home.

We had some great days, and have more fun ones coming. This trip was just particularly good, perhaps because we appreciated it more after a year of uncertainty. Marshall is our adventurous one, and he loves it. Allie does love the Nuimos, and the fact Jon bought her Donald makes it even neater. They had some silly bet or something about her being able to jump up and touch something and she won it.

What do you do with all of the beautiful pictures Paul takes?

Like @DaisyDuck001 said, we share them here on the DIS. I do post daily pictures on the Wilderness Lodge thread when we are there, but mainly they go here in the trip reports. We also have the best background images and screensavers...

Melissa is the main photographer at home, and does some photography work on the side. I shoot with her as well, but at WDW I wind up taking more pictures, and I'm the one getting up to go take the early resort pictures, largely because I am the one who is strangely obsessed with WL.

Very exciting to have the next trip booked.

We are excited. The very best part of DVC is knowing that we will be back, but having the trip booked is always neat.

They put them in these trip reports!

Exactly! We gotta have something to make the reports interesting.

We enjoyed our split with GFV and BWV. We did it back when I was renting points before we bought and had to split to find enough points, but it ended up being a great way to explore different areas. It will be fun to read your experience next year.

Yeah, since we need to get extra points somewhere, it is neat to get to try somewhere new. We can't wait to see how it goes. If we like the resort but not the split stay, then we have a tougher decision to make for each trip.

Too funny about Everest. I was telling my husband that I can’t wait to get our girls down there, because they’re so little that to them that’s the real castle and the real Mickey. Guess I need to add “real Mt. Everest” to that list.

Exactly, and the real countries in Epcot. That's how we tour the world...

Exciting about the upcoming reservations! It’ll be fun to get a little change of scenery but still get the comfort of “home” too.

Yes, we still should have enough time at WL to get to enjoy it, and the peaceful location and beautiful scenery. Nothing against Beach Club, but I just don't think it is quite as pretty, but I certainly will see what I can see, and the great location will be fun.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

On Monday, I woke up just after 5 but stayed in bed until about 6. I was looking at DVC resale listings and points for transfer and points charts, figuring out how we were going to come back next year. My mission for the morning was to be up and online at 7:00 to attempt to get our Rise of the Resistance Boarding Groups.

I left the room at 6:20 with two phones to try on when the time came. I had been looking at service levels and checking WIFi speed at the resort, and my plan was to use cell data where service was good. Before that though I got some pictures of the lobby, then went around the front of the resort and towards the cabins on the North side.









I was sleeping.

I made my way to the transportation boat dock, where the cell service seemed good and tested faster than the resort WIFI.


I had everything ready to go, but unfortunately my first try showed an error, and then immediately refreshing seconds later showed that no groups were available. They were gone in under 20 seconds.

It wasn't too disappointing since we had gotten to ride it last year, but it would have been neat for Grandma and Grandpa to see. I consoled myself by taking pictures of the 7:00 Geyser from the dock.



I then got a mug refill and made my way to the room, where I sat on the balcony and uploaded pictures. This was a great balcony, and I wanted to take advantage of it. Soon Marshall got up and came to see me, saying that he wanted to go with me out for a walk. Melissa got up soon after, and then we got him dressed and I took him out to go exploring. Following him we did the lobby stairs down to Whispering Canyon, then did the ramp down to Roaring Fork, then on down to Geyser Point.






We mobile ordered some bacon from Roaring Fork to supplement our cupcakes for breakfast, and it was ready very quickly. We noticed a huge difference in the resort crowd on the weekday vs the weekend.

We took the food up to the room and ate it while everybody got ready.

The cupcakes and bacon for breakfast were great. The Salted Caramel ended up being the majority favorite but Allie preferred the chocolate marshmallow.

We messaged with Grandma and Grandpa, and made plans to be at the bus stop at 10. We left our room at 9:50, and on the way down saw that they were re-tiling the floor in one of the lobby elevators. Overnight they had built a construction wall around it in the lobby. We hadn't noticed anything wrong with the tile, but Disney maintains the lodge beautifully, and with the lack of crowds being down an elevator wasn't a big issue.


We got to the bus stop at 9:59, and the sign showed 10:05 for a bus but it arrived at 10:01, loaded us up, and left by 10:05, again with just our party on board.


We made it to Hollywood Studios at 10:16, and went right into the park. The new security process was great here, and it was so much easier than emptying out our bags as it seems we have often had to do here in the past.

We have definitely had our security woes at Hollywood Studios but we sailed right through, and made our way in the park through the fancy Passholder entrance.


Without Rise to worry about, our next priority was Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, but first we took a right turn and headed to the restrooms.


This gave a convenient chance for Melissa to look at the Dooney and Bourke items in the window display.


I have been looking for a new wallet for a while, my old trusty Fossil is about 6 years old and the inside is starting to fall apart. I kinda had my eye on the Sketch Dooney print but couldn't find the placement I wanted with the castle on the front. There it was though in the window, the PERFECT placement. I didn't want to make everyone wait while I shopped though so we headed off to ride while I planned on revisiting the possibility of someone getting the wallet on display for me later.

We all got in the line for Runaway Railway, which showed a 45 minute wait despite the fact it went across the courtyard.




It wasn't bad at all though, and moved pretty quickly. We were on the ride in about 30 min.

During the wait we chatted about what to do for the next trip and how to make it work.

Jon and Brandy said they wanted to come back the following year, which is always great to hear. I brought up the points borrowing issue, and we agreed that transferring points from another member might be the way to go.

It made the wait not seem bad dreaming of our next trip before we'd even gone home

Once we got on the ride, I was thoroughly impressed. I feel this is an underrated ride, being still overshadowed by the Star Wars attractions.

I'm just gonna throw it out there that my expectations for this ride were not high, but I really really enjoyed it.


I thought it would be more similar to the old movie ride, but the trackless vehicles were really impressive, and it was a great way of showing off the technology (without obtaining a Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group). I loved how it brought you into the old style cartoons, and it just seeped so perfect for Disney.


Both kids loved it. It was super cute, I also am probably in the minority here but the new Mickey Cartoon style has grown on me. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

After that, we headed to Toy Story Land for Marsh's anticipated ride on Slinky Dog Dash.


It was his favorite last year, after not being tall enough for it the year before. Grandma went shopping, and Brandy went to work on e-mail, so we had 6 of us for this ride. We got in line at 11:33 with it showing a 50 minute wait.


It was a long wait, and another time where I missed having a fast pass but it was bareable.

By 11:48 we were in the original line queue, and we were off the ride by 12:15. It is a great little roller coaster.


The kids really love it and it's just fun. I might get stoned for saying this but I prefer it to Mine Train.

I think it is a fair comparison, and both are great entry level coasters. Slinky is probably a little scarier, especially seated on the outside, and more exciting too with the magnetic launch.

True, it's fun.

With that, we had just enough time to visit another world before lunch, but we'll cover that in the next update.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

After Slinky we had just a little time before our lunch reservation so we cruised through Batuu.



Grandpa had never seen it, or the Star Wars films, so it was a new world. We watched some characters put on a show before heading to meet Grandma at 50's Prime Time.


We arrived right on time at 12:35 for the lunch, and then I noticed that the reservation was actually for 12:25. It was no problem, but I did feel a little dumb for not correctly reading the time that I had conveniently placed on our daily schedule and had seen in MDE. While we waited Allie FaceTimed her friend at home.


It wasn't long until they texted Paul to say our table was ready. We were sat at a long table all together and our waitress was really cute.


It was nice. She wasn't super active, but was nice and did give some of us an appropriately hard time. I went with the meatloaf, and Allie went with the sampler.



I ordered the pot roast because it's my favorite. Allie ate almost all of her lunch, she loved the comfort food.


It was great comfort food, and we didn't really need dessert, but they had a brownie with ice cream, so we tried one of those.


I also tried the apple crisp. The brownie was good but neither desert was anything to write home about. I don't think I'd order the apple crisp again, it was fine but just fine.

Still, we left suitably stuffed, and at that point Jon and Brandy and Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the resort, but we had one more ride planned for Allie. Her goal was to conquer Rockin Roller Coaster.

On the way over though I was on a mission to see if I could obtain the wallet in the window.

We walked in the shop to see if there were any other wallets that were what I was looking for and they had none. I talked to the CM at the register and explained what I liked about that wallet and if it was possible to buy the one in the window, she said she wasn't sure she would go find someone to ask and also look in the back to see if they had any wallets with the castle on the front.

In typical Disney fashion, Samantha, the CM at the counter did her very best to make the guest happy. She found a wallet with the castle on the front, but it wasn't as perfect as the one in the window.

It didn't take long until someone in a suit, I expect the store manager, and someone from perhaps maintenance came back with the keys to the window. The CM with the keys said she would get it out but wanted me to look over it carefully for sun fading.



I couldn't find any visible signs of fading and the placement of the castle was perfect.


The manager who got the comment made a comment to another cast member, " Making the Magic" as she could tell we were excited to get exactly what we had wanted.

With that castle acquired, Allison had one more task to accomplish. She was clearly nervous, since she is not as adventurous as her little brother, who gladly would have gone on any ride if he was tall enough.


Since Marshall was not tall enough I took him over to Lightning McQueen's racing academy. We got lucky and were able to walk right in the theater and they sat us in the front row. Marshall just gets immersed in this and LOVES it.

Allie and I got in line at 2:27, and it showed 40 min. She was scared, but convinced herself to do it. We followed the queue around through a side entrance, and saw that they were not doing the pre-show.

It took less than 30 minutes and we were buckling up to head to the concert.



It was her first upside down roller coaster, and she loved it. She was so happy and excited that I bought her a Rockin Roller Coaster T-Shirt.


They still weren't off the ride when we were done so we took some pictures and then did some shopping. Marshall got a new car and the CM at the register was so cute and opened it for him and tossed all the packaging so he could play with it.


I feel like they encase those things in granite sometimes. We found a bench outside to sit and wait for a minute until Allie was done shopping.

We met back up, then shopped a bit more on our way out. We got a couple of Cokes and some bubble refills at the big shop on the main street, which was pretty crowded.


We then left the park at 3:25.

Read about the rest of our day in the next update.

Check it out as we do something we never thought we would in a Disney hotel room...

 

[storey13]

Allie and I got in line at 2:27, and it showed 40 min. She was scared, but convinced herself to do it. We followed the queue around through a side entrance, and saw that they were not doing the pre-show.

It was her first upside down roller coaster, and she loved it.

This brought back memories of when my oldest, Eli, who is now 21, was 10 when he first went on Rockin' Roller Coaster. He was so nervous and I remember the cast member asking him if he was sure he wanted to go. Fortunately he said yes and loved it. When we got off the coaster, the same cast member who asked he if was sure he wanted to go on it, asked him how he liked it. He replied that he loved it and the cast member asked if he'd like to ride it again right now! Of course he said yes, so they had us go through a door and got us on the next coaster. One of those disney magic moments I'll never forget. So glad Allie loved it!

 

[suse66]

Looks like an amazing day at the Studios! I love Marshall decked out in his Woody sweatshirt on Slinky Dog. Too cute! Yay for Allie in trying out RnRC! I am glad she loved it!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Looks like a great day in HS!

It is awesome that both kids were able to enjoy their respective roller coaster rides - I love that Disney has some coasters with relatively low height requirements so little daredevils can still get their share of the fun! (My kids are the same - the eldest is a little more careful and his sister would try almost anything!)
Allie looked so proud after conquering her fear! Good job!

Too bad about RotR... this is what makes me nervous about a virtual queue system: even people who have done it before and know what they are doing will occasionally miss the mark... and knowing that we will most likely have just one day in HS on our next trip makes it nerve racking!
I guess it’s not the end of the world if you miss it, but I will try to lower everyone’s expectations just in case!

And I love that wallet by the way!

I am really enjoying your trip report! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I was sleeping.

I would have been as well!

I had everything ready to go, but unfortunately my first try showed an error, and then immediately refreshing seconds later showed that no groups were available. They were gone in under 20 seconds.

It is so stressful to get those boarding groups!!!

Once we got on the ride, I was thoroughly impressed. I feel this is an underrated ride, being still overshadowed by the Star Wars attractions.

So true. Everyone wants every ride to be the most amazing ride ever. But it's ok for some rides to be just fun. I am so looking forward to riding this on our next trip.

I might get stoned for saying this but I prefer it to Mine Train.

I agree! And I feel like it is probably a more popular oppion that you think.

The CM with the keys said she would get it out but wanted me to look over it carefully for sun fading.

I wouldn't have even thought of that. Good that they suggested it to you before you got home.

It was her first upside down roller coaster, and she loved it. She was so happy and excited that I bought her a Rockin Roller Coaster T-Shirt.

When we took the girls on it, we didn't tell them it went upside down. My oldest would have never gone on it. But now it's her favorite. Glad she was brave and gave it a try!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

This brought back memories of when my oldest, Eli, who is now 21, was 10 when he first went on Rockin' Roller Coaster. He was so nervous and I remember the cast member asking him if he was sure he wanted to go. Fortunately he said yes and loved it. When we got off the coaster, the same cast member who asked he if was sure he wanted to go on it, asked him how he liked it. He replied that he loved it and the cast member asked if he'd like to ride it again right now! Of course he said yes, so they had us go through a door and got us on the next coaster. One of those disney magic moments I'll never forget. So glad Allie loved it!

Aww, that's neat. It is so awesome, and memorable, when a CM goes out of their way to make something special happen. Allie would have hopped right back on as well!

Looks like an amazing day at the Studios! I love Marshall decked out in his Woody sweatshirt on Slinky Dog. Too cute! Yay for Allie in trying out RnRC! I am glad she loved it!

Yes, it was a fun day in what typically is our least favorite park. With the new rides and changes, we find ourselves spending more time here, and now it is a must do for both kids. We even wound up coming back again later in the trip...

Looks like a great day in HS!

It is awesome that both kids were able to enjoy their respective roller coaster rides - I love that Disney has some coasters with relatively low height requirements so little daredevils can still get their share of the fun! (My kids are the same - the eldest is a little more careful and his sister would try almost anything!)
Allie looked so proud after conquering her fear! Good job!

It was great, and everyone had fun. We were concerned we'd have to spend most of the day in line to catch those three rides without fastpasses, but it wasn't bad at all. The kids did love both roller coasters, and both of them talk about them quite often even now that we are home. Allie wore her Rockin shirt over the weekend.

Too bad about RotR... this is what makes me nervous about a virtual queue system: even people who have done it before and know what they are doing will occasionally miss the mark... and knowing that we will most likely have just one day in HS on our next trip makes it nerve racking!
I guess it’s not the end of the world if you miss it, but I will try to lower everyone’s expectations just in case!

Yeah, we intentionally planned on two HS days last year just to make sure we got to do Rise, but this year went with one and didn't get lucky. Fortunately it wasn't a huge deal for anybody, and if it had been we could have rearranged our schedule to get another shot, but nobody was too upset about it. I felt like a bit of a failure for not being aboe to get on, but I knew I did everything I could.

And I love that wallet by the way! ☺

Thanks! Like a lot of Disney Dooney stuff, it is the print placement that makes it exciting, and this one is just perfect. So far it is working out nicely as a wallet too.

I am really enjoying your trip report! Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks so much. We love writing the report, and havign the nice log of what we did when it is all done. Seeing that other people join in and enjoy it too really adds to the fun.

I would have been as well!

I feel like a little kid, but I just don't sleep in at Disney. I am more of a morning person than Melissa anyway, and I really enjoy the quiet morning time at the resort. It is also a break from the needs and demands of the large group, which can be a nice change.

It is so stressful to get those boarding groups!!!

Yes it is, and having to tell everyone that we didn't get them was a bit of a bummer, but at least we didn't all have to get up and into the park early to make our attempt. They weren't disapointed since they didn't invest much.

So true. Everyone wants every ride to be the most amazing ride ever. But it's ok for some rides to be just fun. I am so looking forward to riding this on our next trip.

Yes, and we'll gladly ride a few nice rides than wait all day for one super one.

I agree! And I feel like it is probably a more popular opinion that you think.

Yeah, Slinky does seem to do pretty well in the crowd popularity contest, although Mine Train is never empty either.

I wouldn't have even thought of that. Good that they suggested it to you before you got home.

They are so nice, always waning to make sure that the guest is happy. It worked out great in this case.

When we took the girls on it, we didn't tell them it went upside down. My oldest would have never gone on it. But now it's her favorite. Glad she was brave and gave it a try!

Yeah, we had told her about the upside down part, but that worked out ok because now she isn't as scared of the concept. Someday we will all get to ride California Screamin, (Ok, the Incredicoaster, whatever...) and Allie is actually looking forward to it.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

What about the early afternoon opportunity to get a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance, which has worked for me a couple of times? Was that not available during your trip?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

What about the early afternoon opportunity to get a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance, which has worked for me a couple of times? Was that not available during your trip?

We did have the opportunity to try again at 1:00, and Brandy and I both thought about it as we got to lunch, thinking that we would still be at lunch and able to try.
So that was our initial plan but we were having so much fun we completely blew it. 1:00 came and went and I think it was almost 2:30 before we realized we missed it.
Oh well, obviously it wasn't too big of a deal to anybody.

 

[QueenJen]

Like @DaisyDuck001 said, we share them here on the DIS. I do post daily pictures on the Wilderness Lodge thread when we are there, but mainly they go here in the trip reports. We also have the best background images and screensavers...

Melissa is the main photographer at home, and does some photography work on the side. I shoot with her as well, but at WDW I wind up taking more pictures, and I'm the one getting up to go take the early resort pictures, largely because I am the one who is strangely obsessed with WL.

I certainly enjoy viewing them. I never thought about screen saver/background images. I'm really bad at taking photos and even worse about uploading them or getting film developed. I actually have some old film rolls that I found that have not been developed.

I think the Wilderness Lodge is the the prettiest resort on property. I'll have to go check out your pics in the WL thread.

We mobile ordered some bacon from Roaring Fork to supplement our cupcakes for breakfast

The true breakfast of vacation!

The CM with the keys said she would get it out but wanted me to look over it carefully for sun fading.

How nice that the CM pointed that out. I'm another one that would have never thought of that.

I couldn't find any visible signs of fading and the placement of the castle was perfect.

Wonderful that you got exactly what you wanted!

It was her first upside down roller coaster, and she loved it. She was so happy and excited that I bought her a Rockin Roller Coaster T-Shirt.

Woohoo. Way to go Allie. Extra special getting the T-Shirt as a momento.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I feel like a little kid, but I just don't sleep in at Disney. I am more of a morning person than Melissa anyway, and I really enjoy the quiet morning time at the resort. It is also a break from the needs and demands of the large group, which can be a nice change.

I always think I will stay up late or get up early but I am always so exhausted! But I get it.

to tell everyone that we didn't get them was a bit of a bummer, but at least we didn't all have to get up and into the park early to make our attempt. They weren't disapointed since they didn't invest much.

I hope you made it on the ride eventually.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I certainly enjoy viewing them. I never thought about screen saver/background images. I'm really bad at taking photos and even worse about uploading them or getting film developed. I actually have some old film rolls that I found that have not been developed.

Thanks, we love them, and seeing them at home makes us look forward to our next trip to WDW even more.

I think the Wilderness Lodge is the the prettiest resort on property. I'll have to go check out your pics in the WL thread.

Yes, I posted them on the days we were there, starting with "Good Morning from Wilderness Lodge"

The true breakfast of vacation!

Mmmm Bacon....

How nice that the CM pointed that out. I'm another one that would have never thought of that.

Wonderful that you got exactly what you wanted!

It was great that they did whatever they could to make the guest happy, and it definitely worked

Woohoo. Way to go Allie. Extra special getting the T-Shirt as a momento.

Yeah, sometimes you jus gotta buy the shirt. She wore it again yesterday...

I always think I will stay up late or get up early but I am always so exhausted! But I get it.

Yeah, I am so tired after a trip, but in the mornings, I just gotta get out and enjoy it. At least we didn't stay up too late this time.

I hope you made it on the ride eventually.

Unfortunately we didn't on this trip, but nobody was too bothered by it. We know we'll be back, and we will ride it again.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left of, we were just headed out from Hollywood Studios after a great morning and early afternoon. The walk to the buses was cold, and I wasn't looking forward to standing and waiting for a bus.


Fortunately we hopped right on a bus that was waiting for us at 3:29, and we had the bus all to ourselves, arriving back at WL at 3:40.

When we got to our room, most of our Magic Bands wouldn't work, but fortunately one of Allie's did. I took the rest of the bands down to the front desk, while Melissa stayed in the room with the kids.

It was pretty annoying to have this happen again, looking back I don't think we've had a flawless trip with keys or magic bands, maybe one? Anyway I feel like it happens every trip, at least every DVC stay so far.

I remember Allie laying on the floor that night when she was three and the bands wouldn't work.

Marshall was getting bored so while Paul was downstairs I hooked up the Nintendo Switch we brought from home. I was worried about someone getting sick or something happening and all of us being stuck in our room so we brought this for something to do.



I still can't believe our kids would like to play video games while at Disney, but it was a big hit for Marshall, and he enjoyed getting to race against Jon in MarioKart.

Besides getting the bands reprogrammed, I took advantage of the afternoon time at the resort to walk around and take some more pictures, as well as get some more Diet Cokes from Roaring Fork.


I also was in search of the Magic Cookie Bar, which wasn't appearing in the online menu for Roaring Fork, but they had them in the display case in the window. The cast member was nice and made sure they had them in the back before selling me one at the register, just like the old days.


When Paul got back to the room the competition was serious with Mario Kart. I would have never thought that we would be those people that bring video games on vacation, we barely play them at home, yet here we were.

While the gamers played, I got to see a couple of interesting things at the Lodge. They were cleaning the pool deck, and had all of the furniture moved from one side, but the pool was still open.


It was so so cold, I can't imagine anybody wanting to swim.

Another cool thing we discovered is a storage room on the 6th floor on the way to the lobby where they had brand new spare appliances just like the ones in the Villas, all ready to go in case they were needed. Another impressive way that Disney makes the magic.


It was a nice afternoon in the room. With our group, everyone really seems to enjoy coming back to the room for a bit in the afternoon. Even if just for an hour or two, it is a nice reset for the evening. In this case, our evening plans were to go back to Disney Springs, so we decided to leave the rooms about 5:30.

We pried the controller out of Marshall's hands to head to dinner at one of our favorites.

We got down to the bus stop at 5:43 and it wasn't showing a bus time, so we must have just missed it. When it did show it, it showed 6:05. It felt pretty darn cold, even though the temp was 50 degrees the wind chill was significant.


I ran up to the lobby with Marshall to exchange the fuel rod battery for our phones, and because I like a challenge. Besides, running helped us stay warm.

It was so freezing. We have this understanding that for the most part if something like this happens, I'm leaving him and we'll meet back up later. I informed him that this would be the case on this night because I was not going to turn into an icecube waiting for the next bus.

The bus showed up at 5:58 as we ran back down to the stop, loaded Grandma's ECV, and headed out by 6:00. On the bus we chatted with a couple from Boston who laughed at us being cold. It wasn't even real jacket weather for them. They were super nice, and even offered us an extra beanie they had as they got off the bus. We got to Disney Springs at 6:16, continuing our good transportation luck.

The couple from Boston was funny and rightly assumed that none of us actually owned "real" jackets. Both Paul and I grew up in places where it gets cold and snows but we don't get snow where we live now, and it rarely dips below 39. I like it that way though.

It was very strange to go to Florida to visit the cold.

Once we made it to Disney Springs we had a new place to check out. The M&Ms store had just opened and we wanted to see.

On the way we stopped by the Ugg store and Columbia looking at jackets. We were all a little chilly.
We also stopped by the store with the full size teacup, and shopped and took some pictures with the kids.


Marshall wanted a picture with the teacup and then Allie wanted to join in too.

Once we made our way to the MnMs store, it was pretty neat. I remember visiting the one in Las Vegas shortly after it opened when I was a kid, and this one seemed similar. There were lots of flavors to choose from in bulk, and we couldn't resist getting a container full.



Allie filled a cup and then Paul and I filled one. Our favorite was the cheesecake flavor.



It is amazing that they can make them actually taste like cheesecake.

I think the M&Ms store is a great addition to Disney Springs. We'll definately be back.

After we were stocked up on chocolate, we headed back towards dinner. At 7:20, we arrived at Homecomin and they were ready for us.

Our table was right in front of the kitchen and I enjoyed watching the food come out while we were there.


Speaking of things you enjoyed watching, John was our waiter, and he was a big good looking dude.


He was for sure a great waiter in more ways than one. We ordered a couple baskets of hush puppies for the table, I love their hush puppies.

They were really good. For my meal, I got the pulled pork sandwich, while Grandpa got the Cuban, Grandma had soup, and Brandy and Jon had Catfish.

I had the pulled pork dinner with mac and cheese. Allie wanted the chicken and donuts but I didn't think she'd eat a whole adult meal so we ordered her the chicken fingers and then added on a mini donut.



That worked really well, and Allie was thrilled to have her donut. All of the food was excellent, and it was one of the better meal deals of the trip.

It has made it's way to our favorites list for sure. The food was fantastic and the service was perfect.

I preferred Erica from last year, but I see your point...

Hey now...

This is a great restaurant, and has earned a spot on our must do list.

After dinner, we had made an appointment for the kids to make mini figures at the Lego store.



They had so much fun with this.

Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the resort, while Jon and Brandy went to visit the watch store.

It seemed like a lot to spend on a minifigure but they really enjoyed the experience and honestly Marshall plays with it more than the RC car he got now that we're home.



He really loved it, and I do think it was his favorite souvenir of the trip. He designed the shirt so that the guy would be the driver of the monster truck we had bought at the Lego store earlier in the trip. Allie had her mini figure wear a I heart Rockin Rollercoaster shirt, which was cute too.

It was pretty late by the time we were done building minifigures.

We had the last appointments of the night, and the kids spent a long time making them just right. We didn't leave there till almost 9:30.

We walked towards the buses, and got to the bus stop about 9:42. We met up with Jon and Brandy on the way, and they were each having a souvenir sent home from the watch store and the sales guy looked happy.

Jon and Brandy seemed pretty happy too. We didn’t have to wait too long for a bus.

The bus showed up at 10:03, loaded up and left at 10:04, and arrived back to WL at 10:19.


Marshall fell asleep while we were waiting. Little guy had a busy day.



He didn't even wake up when we carried him on and off the bus. We headed up to the room, and since it was after 10 there was nowhere to go out to, so we all settled down and went to sleep.

It was the end of another fantastic Disney day.

Up next we head back to Magic Kingdom where we try not to freeze again and end the day with dinner with a view.

Check back for details in the next update.