Sister Trip 2024 - 6 parks, 5 hotels, 1 crazy adventure! (Complete 11/7)

[Disney102015]

Welcome!​

Time for another adults-only trip report!! I’m H and I’m a huge Disney nerd, DVC member, and current AP holder. Living my best Disney life at the moment!! I have 3 kids (6, 3, and 2) and usually travel with them plus my husband, N. But this trip was just me and my sister, D! She also has 3 kids (11, 6, and 4) - we have done a Disney trip with our entire massive crew before but this was our second trip just the two of us. Last time was February 2023 for D’s 40th birthday, and this time D had a travel agency meeting so I tagged along for the trip!


D likes to make the most of her trips by seeing as much as possible so she can make the best recommendations for her clients, so we had a crazy plan lined up - 5 resorts in 5 nights, and all 4 Disney parks plus the 2 Universal parks! It was an AMAZING time and I am so excited to relive it in writing up this trip report and sharing it with you all! Thanks for following along!

 

[Disney102015]

Table of Contents​

Travel Day and Royal Pacific

Day 1 - Universal/Islands of Adventure Part 1

Day 1 - Universal/Islands of Adventure Part 2

Day 2 - A Bumpy Start to Hollywood Studios

Day 2 - A Glorious Epcot Afternoon and Disney Springs Evening

Day 3 - Keys to the Kingdom, Quick Trip to Epcot, and Solo Boardwalk Evening

Day 4 - Four Parks, One Day, Part 1 (Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios)

Day 4 - Four Parks, One Day, Part 2 (Epcot and Magic Kingdom)

Day 5 - Final Magic Kingdom Morning and Travel Home

Day 5 - Wrap Up

 

[Disney102015]

Travel Day and Royal Pacific​

Our trip began with a small travel snafu. I thought I had to work the Tuesday we were leaving, so we booked an 8:30pm flight. But at the last minute, I didn’t have to work that day so we aimed to switch to a 7am or 11am flight - both of which had plenty of seats remaining. I had checked Delta’s policy on same day changes and it said we could make the same day change for $75 within 24 hours of our flight. Perfect!! We were mentally prepped for an extra day at Universal and I even added the day to my ticket, which was a big mistake! We make same day changes all the time with JetBlue and it’s pretty seamless - but the 24 hour mark came, and the Delta rep told me that, despite there being plenty of seats remaining, they limit the number of same day changes permitted per flight. Whaaaat?! That didn’t make any sense at all! We were super bummed but what can you do - we resigned ourselves to our evening flight and went to bed.

A glorious sight!!!​

I almost always fly out early so it was really weird to wake up and know I had the whole day ahead of me before my flight. I woke up to an email from Delta that I had been given a complimentary upgrade to Delta Comfort - which, while appreciated, sent me into a panic spiral because I am a VERY nervous flier and wanted to sit with Sister!! I immediately checked to see if I could move back to my old seat but it was gone - but the seat next to me in Comfort was vacant so I quickly upgraded Sister as well. We were going to be bougie on this flight!!



I dropped the kids off at daycare and cleaned the house a bit. Then I went to the bank and changed some larger bills for $1s for tips - something I always mean to do and usually forget! I get a free checked bag on Delta but when I realized we’d be landing close to midnight I made a last minute decision to carry on instead, so I made a quick Target run for small containers for my liquids. All the last minute vacation stuff!



Finally at 4:00 it was time to head to the airport! There’s a great bus service from our local train station to the airport so I drove myself to the station and left the car for my husband to pick up later. The bus was not even half full and we were pulling away at 4:30, and pulling up to the airport almost exactly an hour later! Sister’s bus from her area was running a little behind so I headed thru security on my own, in just under 10 minutes with TSA pre-check. I was at the Delta lounge by 5:55 and settled in with a snack and glass of wine! I was ready for vacation! Sister met me by about 6:30 and we toasted to the start of our trip.



Our flight boarded on time but there was a backup on the runway so we took off about 45 minutes late, which was a bummer since it was already such a late flight. Overall it was very smooth except for a 15 minute stretch over Jacksonville when we went thru a storm - we could see the lightning all around us, which was simultaneously cool and terrifying!



As for the drinks, let’s just say Delta didn’t make any money off of us in Comfort+ Every time either of us ordered a cocktail the flight attendant brought us a double. I actually ended up tucking a couple nips in my bag to bring to the hotel because there was no way I could finish them all! This came back to bite me after we landed as I REALLY needed the ladies room and we sat on the tarmac for over an hour! Apparently some bad weather had just passed by and the ground crews were all backed up so we had to wait for a crew before we could get off the plane. Despite being told by the captain repeatedly that it was going to be a long wait, people still lined up in the aisles, so when I just couldn’t wait any longer I had to fight the whole way down the aisle to get to the bathroom It was not ideal!



We finally made it to ride share around 12:50 - I was very glad I had decided not to check a bag!! Our first hotel of the trip was Royal Pacific and the Uber there was $52 plus tip. It only took about 20 minutes which was great - we were running on pure adrenaline at this point. Royal Pacific was amazing and one of my only regrets of the trip is that we were only in the room for about 5 hours, about 99% of which was spent sleeping! The employee at check in was wonderful in quickly giving us all the info we’d need for our stay - actually, the employees at Royal Pacific were A+ across the board, just really solid service.



The room felt truly deluxe and we had a nice view of the pool area. We were sharing a king bed for this night which was fine - Sister said I literally didn’t move a muscle all night! We recorded a short “on the go” episode for our podcast, then I quickly sorted my stuff for the morning and was probably asleep within 15 minutes of check in. We had a big trip ahead of us!



Up next…Islands of Adventure and Universal!!

 

[DLo]

Popping over from your last TR. looking forward to reading about your adventures

 

[Disney102015]

Day 1 - Universal/Islands of Adventure
Part 1​

The alarm went off at 5:50am which was slightly painful after getting to bed at 2am, but I was running on vacation adrenaline so I hopped right out of bed!! D and I both showered and got ready, and were out the door by 6:50. We said goodbye to our beautiful room at Royal Pacific - we really loved this room and wish we had a bit more time to enjoy it. Next time!!



We had high hopes of rope dropping Hagrid’s but one small wrinkle was we needed to pick up our park tickets first, and the desk in the hotel lobby didn’t open until 7am. (We could’ve picked them up from a kiosk in the lobby but you had to have the card you used to purchase the tickets with you, and I hadn’t brought it.) By the time we made it to the lobby there was already a line about 30 deep for the ticket window and it took about 20 minutes to get our tickets. We also grabbed coffee - this line moved super fast and we were on our way to Islands of Adventure by 7:30 for 8:00 early entry.



We walked to the park this morning which was really lovely and pretty shaded. It only took 8 minutes which was great! The lines were held outside the gates - some of the lines were pretty long but we moved to the far left and found a shorter line to hop in. The line started moving at 7:55 and we followed the crowd to Hagrid’s, hopping in line at 8:05.



One note on Universal vs. Disney - many Universal rides require you to use a locker for your stuff rather than bringing it on the ride. We had planned ahead and brought Fanny packs / small cross body bags that could be worn on most rides (except a few, like Velocicoaster, which don’t allow you to bring on anything). The downside to this was we didn’t have our water bottles with us and it was already HOT! I would’ve liked to grab a cold bottle of water before hopping in the Hagrid’s line but none of the shops were open yet.



The posted wait was 35 minutes at 8:05 which was not too shabby. We had Express Pass by virtue of staying at Royal Pacific, so we knew that this was one of the only lines we’d be waiting in today. The line was pretty decent too - lots of shade, even some air conditioning in various places, and plenty of entertaining scenes to look at along the way. The time flew by and we were on the ride by 8:50, so just about a 45 minute wait.



WHAT A COOL RIDE!!! I won’t include any spoilers here but WOW, we were blown away. It was also a lot more intense than I expected! When the train first left the station I thought “oh this kind of reminds me of Everest.” But about 5 seconds later I thought “oh ok this is NOTHING like Everest!!” Haha. D is a little wimpy about roller coasters but she really wanted to ride it so she was very brave and really glad she rode!



Next we found a shady spot to record a quick podcast “on the go,” call home to check in, reapply sunscreen, etc. I also bought a bottle of water which was SIX DOLLARS!!!! Six!! I was so mad I didn’t have my refillable bottle with me on this day. What a racket! (I noted a few days later that a bottle of water at Magic Kingdom was like $2.75 - less than half the cost at Universal!!) Ok, rant over.



We hopped in the express line for Forbidden Journey next at 9:10, and were off by 9:20. D LOVED this!! I was so glad! She hadn’t been to Universal since all the Harry Potter stuff opened so it was really cool to get to see her experience everything for the first time. She wanted to complete all the HP rides so we hopped in line for Flight of the Hippogriff next. We were in line by 9:24 but it broke down just before we boarded so we waited the full 20 minutes to ride. At least it was shady!



Next we decided to split up - I wanted to ride Velocicoaster, which was a hard pass for D She headed to Skull Island and basically walked on. The Velocicoaster line was 15-20 minutes even with Express Pass, due to the backup at the lockers and metal detectors. This ride BLEW MY MIND, OMG!!! The most intense coaster I have ever been on, by far. It was so so so fun but also I was genuinely terrified the entire time. I felt like I was coming out of the seat every time we went upside down (and we went upside down a lot!) I really enjoyed it and would definitely ride this again. So. Much. Fun.



Next we decided to check out Spider-Man even though neither of us are big super hero fans. We were pleasantly surprised how much we liked this!! All the different effects were really neat. It was a 35 minute posted wait and we were on and off in about 10 minutes with Express Pass.



We had an early lunch reservation at Mythos for 11:05. We walked by about 10:55 and there was a huuuuuge line outside (it opened at 11:00) so we decided to keep walking and poke around Hogsmeade to kill a little time rather than waiting in the line. We popped into Honeydukes and a couple other stores before heading back to Mythos, where our table was ready in just a few minutes. This was a perfect break and exactly what we needed after being on the go in the hot sun since 7:30! The atmosphere in the restaurant is really cool and of course we enjoyed the air conditioning. We each chugged several cold waters (I didn’t think I could stomach another $6 water bottle!!) and I also had the Lady Roz, while D had Poseidon’s Fury. To eat, D got the lamb meatball app, and I had the fork, spoon, and knife grilled cheese. Everything was great and we were totally refreshed by the end of lunch, ready to take on Universal!



There was only a 10 minute posted wait for Hogwarts Express but we practically walked on with Express Pass. D just about lost her mind walking into Diagon Alley for the first time and it was SO fun to see!!



Escape from Gringotts had a 65 minute posted wait so we were very happy to have Express Pass, as we were on the ride in under 10 minutes. I hadn’t been on this ride since 2017 so I had forgotten pretty much everything - especially the elevator ride down, which is NOT enjoyable for someone with anxiety!!



One thing we noticed about Islands of Adventure was that there was a TON of shade and we didn’t feel super hot just walking around. That was NOT the case at Universal - there were just giant expanses of concrete baking in the sun. It was not enjoyable and got to us pretty quickly. We were headed for ET but decided to stop for drinks on the way - I forgot the name of the kiosk where we stopped but the employee was really nice and we chatted with him for a bit. We told him Jaws was a sentimental fave from our childhood and he pointed us to the shark photo opp so we popped by there for a photo before continuing on to ET.



We were at ET by 2:00 and a 20 minute wait was posted, but we walked right on. This ride is so sentimental for us - we remember riding it as little kids and still really enjoyed it! Yes, it’s dated, but still really cute. Next we popped into the new Dreamworks land to look around but we were both starting to drag from the heat and our early morning so we started heading out of the park by about 2:20. We stopped at the Tribute Store on the way out and this was super cool!



We were at the boat launch at 2:40 and waited about 15 minutes for a Royal Pacific boat. We thought it was really nice that Universal does a separate boat for each resort instead of making multiple stops! We were back at the resort in just about 5 minutes for some MUCH needed pool time.



Next up…pool time, a storm rolls in, and a quick evening return to the park!

 

[Disney102015]

Evening at Universal​

We both needed to cool off for a bit before changing so we found a little alcove to sit and call home to check in. Royal Pacific has lots of cute little areas like this, just little corners with pretty benches where you can sit and kill some time. Once we had stopped actively sweating we went in search of a spot to change into our swimsuits. Our room keys weren’t working for the gym or pool gate, which an employee told us sometimes happens on checkout days, so that was annoying. We ended up getting into the pool as someone was exiting so that worked out and we changed in the pool bathrooms which…were in pretty gross shape so that was one of my few complaints about Royal Pacific.



We hopped in the enormous pool and swam for about an hour and a half! (Using the word “swam” loosely here…”floated in the shade and chatted” is more like it!) It was lovely and got us nice and cooled off. We dried off and headed to the pool bar but just as we ordered, the whole pool area was closed for lightning, including the pool bar. We took our daiquiri and pina colada to go and returned to our little alcove to drink them in the a/c. We also found an indoor restroom to change in which was much nicer than the pool bathroom.



We were ready to head back to the park - we assumed the boats wouldn’t be running due to the weather so we walked again and were back in the park by 5:30. It was looking prettyyyyy ominous outside!



We popped back into Diagon Alley to finish exploring and do some souvenir shopping for D’s girls. The dragon breathed fire unexpectedly right as we were walking underneath it and we both SCREAMED, haha. We noticed it was much more crowded in the parks this evening - we were wondering if maybe the new nighttime entertainment is bringing more locals to the parks in the evening. Hogwarts Express had a 45 minute wait posted and we waited about 10 minutes (we wanted to ride it in both directions). D also really wanted to ride Forbidden Journey again - she was so nervous riding it the first time (since she had never ridden it before) that she wanted to try it again to fully enjoy it. It also had a 45 minute wait posted and we were on and off in about 10 minutes.



The skies were still looking dark but it was just spitting rain a bit so we soldiered on to the Owlry so D could send a postcard home. This is a really cool thing to do in Hogsmeade! I mobile ordered us a few things from Three Broomsticks in the meantime - we waited a little bit for a table then waited a LONG time for our mobile order to arrive - almost 25 minutes!



Now we had a decision to make. We had grand plans of sticking around for Cinesational and Hogwarts Always, but the radar was really not looking good for showtime. We had done just about everything else we wanted to do at Universal, and were running on about 3 hours of sleep. Did we want to kill another 2.5 hours at the park just to wait for a nighttime show that looked likely to be canceled? We debated for a little bit and ultimately decided to head out - we had another big day coming up and didn’t want to overdo it on day 1. We grabbed drinks at the Hogs Head for our walk out of the park and said goodbye to Universal. We had had a GREAT day and are looking forward to bringing our collective 6 kids here when they’re all a little bit bigger and can fully enjoy it.



We took the boat back to Royal Pacific and picked up our luggage at bell services. An Uber arrived almost immediately - we were off to Pop Century and VERY excited to get into the Disney Bubble for the next 4 nights! We had gotten the room ready text in the mid afternoon and had a room in the 80s section, building 9. The Uber ride was only about 20 minutes but it took us some time to find our room once we arrived - the signage left a bit to be desired. We liked the room more than expected! It might be tight with 4-5 people but was more than spacious for the 2 of us and very clean and fresh.



I won’t lie, I was absolutely dead on my feet by the time we got to Pop! We had been up since 5:50am, on about 3 hours’ sleep, and walked 25816 steps!! D was going to walk down to Petals for a drink and explore a little bit, but I collapsed onto the bed and never ended up getting back up! She recorded our “on the go” podcast solo from the pool area and made her call home to check in. I was out cold by the time she got back - we had another big day coming up and were off to a great start!



Up next…a bumpy start to our Hollywood Studios morning!

 

[footballmouse]

 

[Disney102015]

Hollywood Studios Morning​

I slept like the actual dead at Pop Century. D had the regular bed and I had the pull down bed - maybe it was the complete and utter exhaustion but I thought it was really comfortable!



We were up at 6:40 to prep for the 7am Genie madness. I had purchased Standby Skipper for several reasons this trip, one of which was to try to snag an early Slinky Dog Dash LL, so this was a huge success - we got 9:15am! We also got a Rise ILL for 9:05 and Guardians for 1:25 since we were planning to park hop.



With all that done (WOW won’t it be fun not to do this at 7am on our next trip?!) we took turns showering and I made some coffee in the room. I cannot function without some coffee in my system, no matter how weak it may be! ️ Then we dropped our bags at bell services for the transfer to Coronado and we were off to the Skyliner!



…or so we thought. We arrived to the huuuuuge line at 8:16 and it was not running. Womp womp. Not a good sign. We hopped in the line and started making our phone calls home to kill time. It started moving about 10 minutes later and everyone started cheering…but then it started stopping and starting every couple minutes. It wasn’t so bad at first - we were in the shade - but as the line started moving we eventually got stuck waiting in the blazing sun during one of the longer stoppages. That was a bummer. Finally around 8:55 a CM came down the line and told us buses would be coming. Which was nice buuuut it seemed like maybe they should’ve started that before a full almost 45 minute closure. I got an email requesting feedback on Pop and expressed this opinion but got no response back



Anyway, a bus was waiting just as we got to the lobby so that worked out well, so we got to Hollywood Studios around 9:10- missing early entry, but oh well. We were still in QUITE a line to enter the park - we didn’t tap Slinky til almost 20 minutes later. Literally 10 seconds after we tapped we got an alert that Standby Skipper had snagged us a Remy’s LL for later that night! The time was too late for us but the speed was INCREDIBLE. If Skipper could work to modify LLs for you, it’d be FLAWLESS. Luckily I was able to modify almost immediately for a time that worked for us, and we were good to go!



We were off Slinky less than 10 minutes later which was pretty impressive considering the standby line was posted at 100 minutes! That alone made Genie worth it for us for the day.



Our next stop was Woody’s Lunchbox! Totchos were a must as well as two Grown Up Lemonades. Was it 10am? Yes. Were we on kid-free vaca? Oh, heck yeah! No shame in our game. We enjoyed our breakfast and beverages and were walking onto Rise at exactly 10am! It was amazing as always. I remember thinking during the ride…damn, I am not even a huge Star Wars fan and I am riding through this ride with the BIGGEST grin on my face. It’s just pure Disney magic and SO fun.



Next up was Millennium Falcon, which had a 60 minute wait posted so we decided to try the single rider line. Man, it was AMAZING just walking into the a/c in that line! It wasn’t even 11am and it was already totally oppressively hot. The single rider line was a great choice - we were on and off in less than 20 minutes! And, we were each paired with awesome groups - the family I was with was riding for the first time and had a little kid (maybe 10 or so?) in the pilot’s seat. They were all screaming at each other (in a good natured way!) and it really made the ride a blast!



D and I met back up outside the ride and pulled off into the shade to record a quick on the go podcast (which actually had technical difficulties and we found out later it didn’t record! Oh well.) We took a stroll thru the Star Wars shops and stopped to refill our water bottles. All, this water was WARM and icky tasting! Not refreshing on a blazing hot day! Luckily our next stop was Oga’s where we had some nice cold drinks.



After a beverage, we grabbed D some coffee at the Trolley Car on our way out of the park and headed for the Skyliner over to Epcot!

 

[Disney102015]

An adults-only trip with your sister must be such a fun and different experience compared to traveling with the whole family. How did this trip compare to your last one in February 2023?

It’s SO different from traveling with the kids! I liked the February weather a lot better but overall I think this was my favorite of the two trips!

 

[PAsFab5]

Following along! Sounds so fun!!

 

[footballmouse]

I remember thinking during the ride…damn, I am not even a huge Star Wars fan and I am riding through this ride with the BIGGEST grin on my face. It’s just pure Disney magic and SO fun.

Same here!

 

[CariadMartin]

Following along with this one! Sounds great, I have such fond memories going to Universal with my DH, brother and SIL before kids! We're hoping to take all the littles soon, and definitely eying up the split stay next time we do Orlando, Universal and WDW.

 

[Disney102015]

Epcot and Disney Springs​

When we left off, we had just hopped onto the Skyliner headed to Epcot. This form of transport is growing on me. I hated it at first - it just made me so nervous! But as I’ve gotten more comfortable with it I really appreciate how efficient it is. Our first stop at Epcot was Guest Services because I had forgotten to add Memory Maker to my AP. I grabbed an LL for Soarin’ for 3:30 and was able to immediately modify it to 2:30 which worked better for us. We had an LL lined up for Remy’s which converted to a multi experience pass - which was kind of weird because our arrival window hadn’t even opened yet! We had to revamp our plans on the fly. It required a bit of backtracking but we decided to hit La Cava first!



We had gotten drinks to go here before but never sat inside. There was a fairly long line at the door so we assumed that’d be the case again. But as the CM came down the line asking everyone what they were waiting for, everyone said they were just waiting to grab a drink at the bar! After asking maybe 8 other parties he got to us - and said he had a table for 2! Score! We were psyched. This was the perfect break on a hot day.



We got to our table and the table next to us was doing a fancy tequila tasting which was real cool to see! We each ordered a drink and also got some nachos and queso. My drink came and the waiter made a big fanfare about it - it had a lid on top and I didn’t know what was going to happen! I was worried there would be fire involved so I was leaning away from the waiter but it turned out it was just a smokey drink - sister and everyone around us were laughing SO hard because I was like ducking away from this drink!! Haha.





Next up we decided to ride Three Caballaros which actually had a 10 minute wait! It was totally worth it - such a cute ride.



Next up we had our ILL for Guardians! We tapped in at 2:00 and were off at 2:25. This is one ride where I really struggle with the crowding. We found it worked better to hang all the way to the back left during the preshows so we weren’t in the crush of people crowding toward the door to the next room.



Next up we hit Living with the Land. We used our anytime pass from earlier even though we obviously didn’t need it - the line was only 5 minutes. Then we tapped in for our Soarin’ Lightning lane at 2:57, which had a 35 minute posted wait but we waited maybe 5-10 minutes. Unfortunately we were seated allllllll the way to the far right - I could see the shadows of our feet dangling on the screen! Oh well, still a fun ride.



After that we were done at Epcot for the day! We were at the bus stop at 3:45. We were so excited at first because we saw that Coronado Springs was stop #1 - little did we know that stop #1 was allllllllll the way across the parking lot, haha. We hiked over to the stop and a bus pulled up about 2 minutes later - perfect timing!



We had already gotten our room ready text so we knew we were headed to the Casitas and headed straight there. We really liked this room a LOT! It was very clean and super spacious - it definitely felt updated. I called down for our luggage not really expecting it to be there yet, but to our surprise it was there! We had planned to explore a bit but it was POURING rain so we took the chance to just veg out a little bit and freshen up before heading out for the night. Our luggage only took about 15 minutes to get there which was great. Next we were heading to Gran Destino to meet some of D’s fellow travel agents for a drink before dinner. Since it was raining, and kind of a hike, we took the bus over to the main tower.



Wowwww, is Barcelona Lounge gorgeous!! So so pretty. It reminded me of a cross between AKL and Riviera, with the huge windows and the beautiful backdrop to the bar. D’s agent friends recommended the sangria-tini so we each got one and it did not disappoint! It was great to meet everyone and we sat and chatted for a bit before it was time to head to Disney Springs for dinner. We took a Minnie Van and were pulling into Disney Springs in no time. The agents had all booked a ton of tables at Summer House on the Lake so it was fun to give a new restaurant a try! I got a Lavender Haze to drink and a margherita pizza which was delish. I would definitely come back here!



After this D and I split up - I wanted to go to the TRex store because I had promised my son to build him a dinosaur. I was also pretty worried about how I’d handle the crowds at the drone show so I was content to hang back a bit rather than heading into the viewing area. There was a little bit of a line to build a dino but it was very important to my son so I didn’t mind waiting! I picked out an ankylosaurous and they stuffed it, then I was on my way! The drone show was just starting as I made my way back to that end of Disney Springs. I stopped on the bridge to watch - my view was a bit obstructed but it was worth it to me to be out of the crowds. D watched at the grassy viewing area with the other agents and absolutely loved it. I hope they start doing more of these shows at Disney!




The crowd control after the show was actually pretty good and I didn’t feel too overwhelmed until I got almost to the grassy viewing area where things were BONKERS! Luckily the crowds were all flowing toward the buses and D and I quickly pivoted and decided to head to grab an Uber! We headed straight to the Gran Destino Tower because we wanted to hit up Dahlia Lounge.



This wound up being one of my favorite stops of the trip!! The view was so nice and there was a great breeze on the outdoor patio. We had a couple great drinks and just sat and chatted. It was SO awesome. Then one of D’s agent friends stopped by and we stayed and talked a while longer with her. It was just a really chill, fun night!



Things went a little sideways after this - it was too late to catch an internal bus inside Coronado so we had to walk back to Casitas and signage was SERIOUSLY lacking. We went the complete wrong way and it took almost 25 minutes to walk back to our room!! We learned our lesson and went a different way the next morning but holy moly the evening walk was quite long! We’d definitely strongly consider staying at Gran Destino Tower next time - the resort is just very spread out (and to be fair, we probably just weren’t there long enough to get the lay of the land).



We finally made it back to the room and passed out! We both had big days coming up.

 

[Disney102015]

Keys to the Kingdom​

We woke up at 6am on Friday because we each had a busy day planned! We were headed our separate ways this morning but planned to meet up in the afternoon for a ride on Guardians, so we booked an Individual Lightning Lane for 3:40. Weirdly, we couldn’t get a hold of anyone at bell services to get our luggage so we just ended up bringing it to the lobby.



In the daylight, we found it a little bit easier to navigate Coronado Springs, and made it to the lobby in about 10 minutes. It was HOT already!! We dropped our luggage to be taken to the Boardwalk and grabbed some breakfast at the food court. We were a little concerned about timing since it was the opening day for Tiana’s, so decided to splurge on a Minnie Van to Magic Kingdom.



The security line was extra long today, but once we were thru security the line to tap in was super short. D had her agency meeting today at Epcot so she was just popping into MK for a bit for the morning, while I was headed to Keys to the Kingdom! She actually had booked a Lightning Lane for Pirates but the ride went down. She thought she’d pivot and do some souvenir shopping but the Emporium was BONKERS due to opening day merch for Tiana’s so she ended up just leaving.



I took a little stroll down Main Street but I didn’t really have time to do much before my tour and again, it was super hot, so I decided to just head to the check in area by Tony’s Town Square. My tour was at 9:30 with a 9:15 check in time, but I was there by 9:00. Everything was very organized - I was given a menu to choose my lunch at Columbia Harbor House, as well as a cold water and a name tag that we got to keep.



Right at 9:30 our guide brought us onto the porch at Tony’s to start the tour. We had little earpieces so we could hear the guide when walking thru the crowds which was great. I’m not going to share too much about the tour because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone who might take it. I will say we got plenty of breaks for the restroom and to fill our water (2 breaks before lunch and 2 breaks after, plus a lunch break at noon), and we rode Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. One thing to keep in mind - you cannot have your phone out during the tour, so keep that in mind if you’re aiming for the 1:00 VQ!



I will share a bit about our visit to the Utilidor since it was unique and won’t spoil anything for future people taking the tour. First of all I could’ve spent the entire tour in the Utilidor! There was so much to see and it was just amazing down there. Second of all, there was a party going on for the opening day of Tiana’s! Tiana was in the Utilidor taking pictures with CMs, there was a DJ spinning tunes, and there was a big photo prop with a countdown to the opening. It was really neat to see. The KTTK tour was seriously amazing and I’d highly recommend it for any big Disney fan! It was even a bit emotional at times. I am so glad I did it!



The tour ended around 2:30 so I had some time to kill before heading to Epcot. I decided to take a ride on the train since I could not remember the last time I had done that! It was a little crowded but a very pleasant way to spend half an hour or so. While on the train I canceled my dinner reservation for Yachtsman Steakhouse because I just wasn’t feeling a fancy sit down meal. When I got off the train, the parade was about to head down Main Street so I grabbed a box of popcorn and found a spot to hang out and watch.



I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about solo time in the parks but I really enjoyed it! I did some things I wouldn’t normally do and just had a nice slow hour or so. After the parade passed by I headed to the monorail - I had a bit of a wait because they had to do some safety checks after the monorail pulled into the station. While I was waiting, I perused dining reservations and decided to snag Trattoria Al Forno for 8pm. I was at the TTC by 3:45 and waited about 15 minutes for the monorail to Epcot.



When I got there, I tapped in and found D enjoying a margarita on top of a trash can (as one does in Epcot!) and she had kindly grabbed one for me. We had a quick drink then we were meeting a big group of her agent friends for our ride on Guardians! It was super fun to ride with a group - we tapped in at 4:25 and were off by 4:55. After that, D had plans with the agents (I think they went to La Cava since rain was rolling in, and they had a fireworks reserved viewing that night) and I was headed to the Boardwalk. I debated walking to the Boardwalk via the World Showcase but 1) my feet were killing me after the long walking tour that morning and 2) it looked like it was about to pour. So, I walked to the ride share area and caught a quick Lyft to the Boardwalk.



I fell in LOVE with this resort! Almost as soon as I got there the skies opened up so I decided to hang out at the Belle Vue Lounge and have a drink (a sparkling hibiscus). First I sat outside enjoying the rain under an awning but soon the wind was blowing the rain onto the patio so I headed inside. It was still raining when I finished my cocktail and I was enjoying myself just reading in the lounge so I decided to grab another cocktail.



There was some serious thunder happening outside so I was happy to be safe indoors!



After a while I was getting hungry and the rain had slowed down so I decided to go see if I could get in any earlier at Trattoria Al Forno. They said they couldn’t make any guarantees but would do their best. I decided to kill some time at Abracadabar. I like this bar a lot in theory but don’t love the drink menu. The menu was very bourbon and tequila heavy - and moving to bourbon/tequila at that point in the night sounded like a poor choice! I ended up getting a Seashore Sweet which was way too sweet for me and I didn’t even finish 1/4 of it.




I got my “table ready” text by 7:15, which wasn’t bad for a 8:00 reservation! I started with a basil lemon drop martini which I LOVED. The table next to me (a mom with her young son) asked if she could “cheers” with me, which I was more than happy to do! I wasn’t in the mood for a huge meal so I got 2 apps - the mussels and the garlic bread. Everything was excellent and it totally hit the spot!!



After dinner I finally grabbed my luggage and made my way up to the room. WOW, Boardwalk studios are spacious!! We also had a nice view of the pool area.



I didn’t take long to linger in the room, though - it was still hot and I was determined to check out the pool!! I love a night swim. I did take one ride down the slide of course - I love a good pool slide even if I was the oldest one in line by 20+ years! After my ride on the slide I just took a nice long soak in the pool, resting my aching feet and catching some small bits of the fireworks in the distance. It was a really relaxing evening!! On my way back up to the room I stopped by the Belle Vue lounge to grab a glass of wine to take upstairs. The lounge was HOPPING!! I think many of the visitors had been there since the storm earlier in the day, because it was quite a lively crowd!



I went upstairs and hopped into the Murphy bed which was SUPER comfortable. D came back after her fireworks party - some of her fellow agents hit up Jellyrolls but she was exhausted and sore, plus we had a big day coming up!! So she decided to call it a night as well.



Coming up…can we hit all 4 parks in one day???

 

[Disney102015]

Four Parks 1 Day - Part 1​

TODAY WAS THE DAY!!! We had been plotting our 4 park day for months and it was finally time! The goal was 3 rides , a drink , and an iconic photo in each park. Will we do it???



We were up by 6am and ready for Genie action by 6:59. We grabbed an 8am Flight of Passage and 1:30 Guardians ILL, and Standby Skipper snagged us a 12:00 Remy’s. We had contemplated starting our day at Hollywood Studios since we were at the Boardwalk but then Animal Kingdom announced earlier opening hours a few weeks before the trip so we decided to start there.



D grabbed us coffee at Carousel Coffee and we went to drop our bags at Bell Services since we were moving to Bay Lake Tower for our last night. The CM specifically asked if we were headed to BLT or the Contemporary and we saw him write “BLT” on the tag. (This will become important later.) We said goodbye to the Boardwalk - I really enjoyed our short time here and can’t wait to come back!!



We were at the bus by 7:38. The sign said the next AK bus was 7:46 but it came immediately and we were off the bus by 7:53.



Since we had the ILL for FOP we didn’t feel like we had to go crazy trying to rope drop for 7:30. We started with Navi River Journey at 8:05 - it had a 15 minute posted wait but we walked right on. We tapped into FOP at 8:18 and there was already a 70 minute posted wait!! We were off by 8:45. Those pre shows eat up a lot of time!



As we crossed the park we stopped for Memory Maker photos in front of the Tree of Life. We were at Everest by 9:02 - there was a 10 minute posted wait but we decided to do single rider. D was SO BRAVE doing this!! She is slightly terrified of Everest - she was a few rows behind me and I could hear her screaming the whole way but she did it!! It was time for a celebratory beverage and we always love to hit the Thirsty River Bar. Who says 9am is too early for a cocktail on vacation?? I got a Himalayan Ghost - it has juice in it so it’s basically a mimosa, right??



Since we were way ahead of schedule we stopped to do a little souvenir shopping. We had a good laugh when my husband texted me at 9:30: “Are you up?” SIR!! I am in Disney and it’s 4 parks day! I have been up for AGES!!!



We decided to Minnie Van to Hollywood Studios - we weren’t sure what the bus situation would be that early. We were in the park and thru security by 10:03.



One of our other missions for today was to find the pride wall at each park so we found that and got some photos. Star Tours had a 5 minute wait posted - it ended up being closer to 15 but that’s ok. I was pretty snacky so we decided to rope drop Baseline Tap House next! We got the charcuterie plate and pretzel to split, D got a beer, and I got a flight. We happened across some of her fellow agents so we got to enjoy our Baseline time chatting with them. We had never been to Baseline before and will definitely be back!!



Next up we headed to Muppets. We were there by 11:32 and there were 13 minutes to the next show. It was soooo nice and air conditioned in there, I may have nodded off for a few minutes! When we left Muppets we had a decision to make - we had planned to try for Minnie and Mickey’s Runaway Railway but I couldn’t get a close LL time and the wait was over an hour. We had already done most of what we wanted to do at Hollywood Studios on our previous park day, and anything we wanted to do had a long wait anyway. We decided doing 2 rides per park, instead of 3, would still be an accomplishment. So we were off to Epcot! First I had to grab an Olaf bubble wand for my baby, E. We had an Ariel bubble wand that she absolutely adored but she literally wore the thing out so I had promised her a replacement.



2 parks down, 2 to go, and we were making good time!! Would we complete our challenge?!

The rest of the day is coming up next!

 

[SwissTravelingtoFlorida]

Love reading your report! Thanks for sharing it

 

[Disney102015]

Love reading your report! Thanks for sharing it

Thank you so much! It’s fun to re-live the report by sharing it!

 

[Disney102015]

4 Park Challenge, Part 2​

When we left off we had just completed the second park for our 4 park challenge - we had completed AK and Hollywood Studios before noon! We hopped on the Skyliner and were tapping into Epcot at 12:50. Remy’s had a 70 minute wait posted but we were off in about 10 minutes. We had decided ahead of time that our Epcot drink would be the champagne flight in France - this was so fun to do!! We found a little alcove to share our flight and ended up sharing a table with a really nice family and chatting with them a while.



Then we had the long walk to Guardians so decided why not grab a drink for the road! We grabbed the citron lemonade slushee which was huge!! It was a little tart but very refreshing because it was SO hot out! We tapped into Guardians at 1:54 and were off the ride by 2:19. We had gotten our Epcot pride wall photo on our first day here so all we had left to do was get our picture in front of Spaceship Earth, and we had conquered Epcot!!



We were at the monorail by 2:39. We never imagined we’d have time for a midday break during our 4 park challenge but with the heat we decided a break was a solid plan. We headed for the Contemporary and changed into our swimsuits…annnd walked out to find everyone leaving the pool area due to lightning! That was a theme this trip. Lesson learned for summer trips, that mid afternoon pool break might get thwarted due to weather!



We sat in the pool bar area and split a snack. We were really hoping the pool would open back up soon, but no such luck - in fact, it poured so hard we had to take our shoes off to run from the pool bar into the hotel - the water was literally knee high!! It was insane. At the door, a CM was handing out towels which was so sweet. We dried off and got our shoes back on, and decided to pop into the Steakhouse 71 Lounge since we still had about an hour to kill til dinner. D had a Gimlet and I had The Last Concourse. The decor here lisn’t much to write home about but the vibe in there was fun - everyone was just hiding out from the rain and in a good mood!



We walked over to BLT to drop my backpack at bell services and I got the room ready text at 5:15. Such a DVC pet peeve, how late rooms are ready!! We didn’t have time to go upstairs before dinner so we just headed off to our fourth park, Magic Kingdom!! That walk cannot be overhyped - we left BLT around 5:15 and were thru security and checking in at Tony’s 20 minutes later!! And thank goodness, it had finally stopped raining although it was very cloudy and ominous.



Our plan for our MK evening was just to chill and take things slow, knowing we had officially conquered our goal of hitting all 4 parks. So we had decided to do apps and drinks at Tony’s to kick off our night. We got the Tony's Garlic Bread For The Table and y’all…it was AMAZING. Like, lick the plate amazing. Highly, highly recommend. We also split the Fried Mozzarella which was a little weird. I’ve had this dish here before and it was like a few triangles of golden fried mozzarella. This…was not that. This was like two absolutely massive mozzarella sticks. It wasn’t really appetizing and we didn’t make a dent in it. Oh well!



Filled with carbs, cheese, and wine, we waddled out of Tony’s around 6:45. It had rained quite a bit while we were inside Tony’s and was still kind of spitting rain so no Photo Pass photographers were out. So, our last park icon photo with the castle in the background is a selfie! We also found the pride wall over in Tomorrowland and got some photos there.



Earlier in the day Skipper had gotten us a LL for Space Mountain. We tapped in at 6:55 and I ended up in the front row! I was SCREAMING. I think I might be getting too old for that ride. We were off by 7:12 so it was really quick.



Next up we wanted to do Astro Orbiter because neither of us had ever done it before! This ride doesn’t have LL but we only waited about 15 minutes - I think a lot of crowds had cleared out because of the weather. This was SO fun!! We rode in separate spaceships because we felt like we were too big for one. The ride goes MUCH faster than it looks!! The views were awesome, too. 10/10 would ride again, can’t believe it took me this long to ride it.



Then we headed to the People Mover which had a 15 minute posted wait at 7:33 but we were on in 9 minutes and off by 7:55. At this point we were basically just killing time til the fireworks so we grabbed an LL for Little Mermaid and tapped in at 8:14, off by 8:30.



Now we had a bit of a conundrum. We had the after fireworks dessert party booked, and fireworks were scheduled for I think 9:20. We were dragging a little bit and didn’t really want to go stand in the viewing area for an hour. And, we felt like if we stood around for an hour, then did the fireworks then the dessert party, we’d be too tired and would just want to go back to the hotel. And we had a bunch of LLs stacked and the park was open til 11pm so we really didn’t want to waste that time.



SO! I noticed they had a sign up that they had openings for the pre-party so we went over and asked if we could go to the pre-party instead. All you can do is ask! They were concerned we’d feel like we didn’t have enough time at the party, but we were really most interested in the viewing area (D had never seen Happily Ever After before!!) and figured half an hour or so of the party was more than sufficient for us. So they let us go into the pre-party instead and it was lovely! We each had a glass of wine and a few bites of desserts then made our way over to the viewing area. I knew from past experience that there are really no bad views in the viewing area so we weren’t in a huge rush to get over there. We had a great spot and it is always so special to watch HEA. We both put our phones away and just enjoyed the show. D cried and cried and so did I, of course. Our trip wasn’t quite over but it was a great way to cap our 4 parks day!!




But we still had park time left, and our LLs were STACKED! First we had Haunted Mansion - we tapped in at 10:00 but the LL line was hugely backed up so we quickly bailed. We tapped in for Big Thunder at 10:10 - there was a 45 minute wait posted but we were off by 10:20. D had never ridden this at night and now she’s totally hooked! Lastly we hit Pirates - we tapped at 10:28 and were on by 10:35.



We. Were. Totally. Beat. We hobbled out of Magic Kingdom, totally exhausted but exhilarated from conquering our 4 park challenge. 27,657 steps, all. Twenty seven THOUSAND steps! That’s bonkers to me. It took us 13 minutes to get back to BLT - but again, we were literally limping so probably could’ve gotten there faster! We popped up to Top of the World Lounge to grab a victory beverage to go. (I do wish BLT had some other places to grab drinks/food without hiking to the Contemporary main building.)



We had splurged a bit on our studio - I had some points in holding so upgraded to a Theme Park View studio. It was sooo magical seeing all the glowing lights from MK!!



Less magical was what happened next. We immediately called down for our luggage so this was about 11:00. We went and sat on the balcony enjoying the view and our drinks and recorded a podcast episode. Then it was 11:45ish and our luggage still wasn’t there. Hmmm. We called down and they said they were “looking for it.” Yikes. At this point I dozed off in my clothes on the bed, resigning myself to not seeing our luggage til the morning. But D was determined and ended up going down to the desk 2 more times. At one point they couldn’t find the bell services person, then they could find my backpack but nothing else…it was a mess. Ultimately around 2:00am they located our luggage at the Contemporary (not BLT!) and delivered it to our room. No apology!



We didn’t love BLT overall - you can’t beat the walk to MK but it’s definitely missing more food/drink options and the room definitely seemed in need of a refurb and just seemed to have a lot of wasted space. The luggage situation didn’t help matters - it put a really sour taste in our mouths and was a bummer way to end the last night of our trip!



Oh well…we had an AMAZING day up til then and we still had most of Sunday to hang out at the parks! Conquering our 4 park challenge is one of my favorite memories of the trip and I’m SO glad we did it!

 

[Disney102015]

Last Day and Travel Home​

Despite being up so late (I dozed off around midnight but woke up intermittently while D was dealing with Bell Services, and poor D didn’t get to bed til 2am!!) we were still up pretty early Sunday for our final day. We had Standby Skipper try for Tiana’s and at 7am it snagged an LL for 9:20! Score! We also bought ILLs for Tron and Seven Dwarves Mine Train. Then I think we dozed back off a little!



We eventually got up and got ready - while I showered, D ran down to Contempo Cafe and grabbed us some breakfast platters. These were actually really good!! We enjoyed them with some coffee out on our balcony. It was so nice to sit and enjoy the view with the monorail going by and MK in the background. Totally worth the splurge for 1 night.




We left our suitcases at Bell Services (praying they wouldn’t lose them like they had the night before!) and walked to MK - we left at 9:40 and it took us 11 minutes. We were following the Dapper Dans down Main Street which is such a lovely charming way to start the morning. My first order of business was to track down a fuel rod - I had plugged my phone in the night before but it didn’t charge! I tested the charger in another outlet and it worked so it must’ve been a faulty outlet - another strike against BLT! I picked up a fuel rod at the station between Adventureland and Frontierland.



Then we headed to Tiana’s tapping in at 10:03. We had heard this was going down a lot at the time so we didn’t get our hopes up about riding it and figured it’d just a bonus if we did! That turned out to be a good attitude as about 5 minutes into the line we stopped moving. Luckily we only waited for maybe 10 more minutes before they announced the ride was down and they were clearing the queue. We got an anytime experience pass on our way out so that was nice. We’ll be back and will ride it then! What we saw of the queue was really neat.



We grabbed a Haunted Mansion LL for 10:30 after that - this time we beat the Skipper to the punch! D wanted to check out Momento Mori so we headed there first. It was already super hot and we were having trouble finding a place open to grab a cold water! I left D in the store and went in search of water but it took me about 10 minutes to find something! We both basically chugged our waters before heading to tap in at Haunted Mansion.



Next we grabbed an LL for Small World with an immediate return time. Probably not a good use of an LL but it had a 15 minute posted wait and we knew we wanted to ride it (it’s a nostalgic family favorite!) so we went for it. As soon as we tapped in we grabbed Jungle Cruise for 1:15.



After the Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed, we had our ILL for Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We tapped in at 11:10 with a 55 minute wait posted and were off by 11:23. Then it was time for Tron. I was a little iffy about this - last time I rode I had to sit in the accessible seat which I didn’t love. But I had lost a good amount of weight since then so I was determined to try again. Lo and behold I fit! It was ALL thanks to the CM helping me - I have huge calves and he gave me the advice to point my toes before he pushed down on the restraint, and it worked! I wouldn’t say it was comfortable, but it worked I’d say it’s a totally different ride in the bike seat and I enjoyed it a lot more, although I’d still say it’s too short!



At the last minute we had made a Skipper Canteen reservation for 12:15. It was nice to sit down and get out of the heat. I could tell D was seriously fading - at the time we chalked it up to our 4 park day coupled with her late night adventures with Bell Services. As it turned out, she tested positive for Covid the next day so this day was probably the start of her symptoms. Womp woooomp. Our lunch was just ok - I’m pretty picky and didn’t love my meal, which is not the restaurants fault, but it was still nice to sit for a bit.



After lunch I needed a new fuel rod! The one I had was out of juice shockingly fast. At this point I was assuming my phone must be the problem - but I swapped out that first fuel rod and the second one worked like a charm and brought my phone to a full charge, so it must’ve just been bad luck!



We were pretty tired after lunch and had really done everything we set out to do in MK. We got some Photo Pass castle photos since we hadn’t been able to the prior day, and did a bit of souvenir shopping in the Emporium. We were hot, we were tired, and we were ready for some pool time before our flight, which we THOUGHT was at 6:45pm. (Stay tuned!) We took the monorail back to the hotel since we were so tired.



We were back at BLT about 1:45 and changed into swimsuits…and I kid you not, the pool immediately closed due to lightning in the area!! We were having the worst pool luck, haha. We made lemons out of lemonade and headed up to the bar to have a few rounds of mai tais. While sitting at the bar we watched the weather showing a large storm moving across the country which looked to be headed straight toward our flight path Did I mention my fear of flying?!



Around 3:30, I got the alert that our flight was delayed 30 minutes. Then one hour. Then 1.5 hours. I was a little stressed because I had an early morning flight with my husband and kids the next morning (why do I do this to myself??) and was worried I wouldn’t get home in time. More mai tais, please!!



By 4:00, the skies parted and the pool reopened!! We were able to take a nice swim and of course I checked out the pool slide. It was a very relaxing way to end the trip. We got out and changed around 5:30 and were in an Uber by 5:50, at the airport by 6:30.



We were flying JetBlue home so were in Terminal C, which felt more like a huge mall! There was a Summer House on the Lake restaurant inside the terminal and we figured we’d go there since we had liked our dinner at the Disney Springs location so much. I actually got the exact same thing - a margherita pizza. I noticed D was really quiet during dinner - I assumed she was just fatigued at the time but she was actually on her way to being quite sick for the next few days



Ultimately our flight boarded for an 8:30 takeoff but we taxied around the airport for almost 45 minutes before taking off. I’m assuming there was some backup from the weather earlier. D slept for a good amount of the flight while I was able to watch the gymnastics Olympics Trials on the TV - I am a HUGE gymnastics fan so this was a nice way to pass the time!



We landed a bit after midnight (did I mention I had a 9am flight with my family the next morning?!) We grabbed our bags and went our separate ways - D headed for the bus transport back to her park and ride while I Ubered home. I got home around 1am, threw everything in the laundry, slept about 3 hours, then woke up the family to turn around and head to a different airport to meet up with my husband’s family for a little reunion! It was a whirlwind turnaround but unavoidable since all the dates on either end were fixed so we made it work and it was totally worth it.



WHEW!!! What a trip. Overall it was absolutely amazing - there were some snafus here and there, especially with travel, but overall just a really smooth, super fun trip. It is always so great to have 1 on 1 time with D - we have 6 kids between us so these times are few and far between! The 4 parks in 1 day was a definite highlight.

Next up I’ll wrap up some final thoughts!

 

[Disney102015]

Final Thoughts & Wrap Up​

I thought I’d wrap up with some final miscellaneous thoughts on this trip. In no particular order:

• I’m so glad to be (mostly) done with the 7am madness and be able to prebook LL selections!!
• 5 resorts in 5 nights probably sounds insane to some people. For us it was totally worth it so D could check out some new spots to better advise her clients. And, with Disney moving the luggage, it was fairly seamless, save for the last night when our luggage got lost.
• That said, I’d hesitate to do so much moving with kids, particularly in the summer. With kids, the plan is usually a midday break back at the pool. In summer, more often than not, the pool is inaccessible in the afternoon due to storms. With just adults this was no big deal, we found ways to kill time. But if you were really counting on pool time (or a nap!) for your kids, you’d be out of luck if doing a split stay since rooms are ready so late in the day.

Lastly a breakdown of what we thought of some “new to us” experiences. As you’ll see, the “things we loved” far outweigh the “things we aren’t sold on,” which is always a sign of a great trip!



New (to Us) Things We Loved

• Gran Destino Tower: We loved the tower and it seems really convenient to all the Coronado amenities. Would 100% want to try staying here.
• Dahlia Lounge: We had an awesome night hanging out here! Beautiful view, great drinks, what more can you ask for.
• La Cava: Need I say more?!
• Boardwalk: OMG I am obsessed with this resort. Cannot wait to stay here again.
• Universal Express Pass: Wow, what a perk. Not something we would’ve paid for OOP (looking at you, LL Premier Pass!) but as a hotel perk it was pretty amazing and seamless.
• Universal Royal Pacific: Felt very deluxe. Only regret is we didn’t have more time here. Loved it.
• Baseline Taphouse: Awesome spot for some drinks and snacks! Definitely get the hype.
• Keys to the Kingdom Tour: OMG amazing. So worth the money.
• Drone show: Here’s hoping they bring this back in some way, shape, or form.

New (to Us) Things We Aren’t Sold On

• Bay Lake Tower: Admittedly the luggage snafu colors our opinion a bit. We’d give it another try.
• Fuel rods: Hit or miss for us this trip. Again, would give it another try.
• Coronado Springs: The resort has a lot going for it but it was a hiiiiike to our room. Would strongly consider the tower for our next stay.

There you have it!! An amazing trip. I’m a little sad because we probably won’t get to do a sister trip in 2025 - but we are aiming for another big family trip sometime in early 2026 so that’s something to look forward to. Never too early to start planning!!



Thanks for following along!!


H