The one with the dusty, wrinkly, moldy-oldy 4 day park hopper ticket from 1992! August 2025 Trip Report

[erinch]

Loving the report!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Whew! Finally here and caught up!! First - the kids are getting so BIG!!! I can't believe you have a first grader! And she truly is your mini-me. And your son is already going on Everest??!! Weren't they just babies yesterday???

Second - I love the cars suites. I got upgraded to one for free once (pre-Covid) and would love to experience them again but I'm not paying for that when I stay by myself.

Third - you got a LOT done on your travel day. I'm tired just thinking about it!!! Weird about the ice cream never coming though.

Can't wait to hear more!!!

Gosh, right?! When I was linking my TR from our first family visit in 2022 I just about died seeing them so little! Time flies!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Sorry about your Twilight Zone free ice cream experience. Ice cream? What ice cream? They shouldn’t mess around when it comes to people’s desserts.

Right?! I wholeheartedly agree - though again I really wanted the strawberry shortcake so I'm telling myself that the sundae would have been disgusting and I made the right call by walking away

My son and Family stayed in a suite at AOA and had nothing but nice things to say about it.

I honestly don't see us staying anywhere else until the kids are much older - LOVE AoA and LOVE those suites!!

Your poor mom with getting to and from buses/skyliner station and the walks to the parks. I imagine she had a hard time with all the walking in the airport to/from Orlando too.

Yes she did say that the walk from the plane > baggage claim > Uber (which then took her to Disney Springs to sort out the dusty ticket and get it converted to todays version of tickets) and then navigating Disney Springs was a BIG ouch!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

My 6yo tried to lose her tooth at Disney for our trip earlier this month too because she wanted tinker Bell to be her tooth fairy but she lost it right before
Funny coincidence

That would have been devastating! She was SO DESPERATE to lose it there - we had dental cleanings the Monday before we left on Wednesday and even the hygienist was like "that thing is SO loose I didn't dare even touch it" hahahaha I'm sorry for your daughters missed opportunity! Sounds like another Disney trip will have to be in the works

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Following, we visited Disney the same week! With DD5 and DS3. Fun to see into the future two years with following your trips.

Oh man such a small world (both that we were there the same time and that we have the same dynamic only a few years apart ) If you end up doing a TR let me know, I'd love to read it!!!

 

[alohamom]

Oh this is so fun so far!
I am def following-you guys powered through that first day!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Thursday, August 14th (Day 2)

We had our alarms set for 6am with the goal being to leave the room no later than 6:45am on 8:30am EE opening days- whether bus or Skyliner, same time frame applied. The plan for the day was to rope drop Epcot, then head back to the resort for our afternoon 'rest' which is where we anticipated meeting Grandma (but since she was flying standby we couldn't really bank on anything - so we didn't dare modify our plans too severely), and then spend the evening in Hollywood Studios which is where we had our much loved theme park nanny, Miss Maya, scheduled for 4 hours that evening. My mom and I had discussed though, a couple days prior, that since we had the nanny already arranged for the day and didn't want to cancel on her at the very last minute (I did not think for one second that the kids would be pulled away from their grandma with this super exciting surprise - even though they ADORE Miss Maya, they adore grandma even more ) that I should/would just ask Miss Maya if she would be willing to hang out with the kids that morning instead of the evening.

...of course that fact escaped me until it was already this morning. Whoops! Anyway, back to 6:45am.

We met our goal of the 6:45 departure from the room, with Matt making his way to the Skyliner station to hold our family's place in line while I got in an equally important line... the one for coffee. WHY Landscape of Flavors doesn't open until 7am is beyond me. That feels so late in general, but at Disney World?! That's basically noon to us rope droppers!! (JK but seriously)



So I waited outside the mall-like security style door, looking like an absolute psycho I'm sure (though eventually other people joined me so I'm not the only coffee fiend, it seems) for 7am to roll around and I could fill up our shared coffee mug. Since there were 4 of us, we got 4 mugs included with our 'free' QS Dining Plan. The kids don't drink pop, so that made it pretty easy for Matt and I to dedicate specific mugs for specific drinks - i.e. the blueish/teal mug was dedicated to coffee. The pink lid was for Powerade (which we do give the kids in small doses). The orange one was for anything else (pop, lemonade, whatever), and the green lid was for my mom. This makes for less mingling of flavors (sorry but once you pour coffee in a Disney mug, that's all it's gonna taste like- rinses between fills don't do diddly!) as well as easy identification. We kept reminding ourselves "Green = Grandma!" or "Pink = Powerade!" etc., lol!

Eventually I had my coffee acquired, and power-walked my way to join Matt at the Skyliner line. Now, line jumping at Disney in the parks? Nooooo. One measly mom joining her family with a newly-filled mug o' caffeine? I feel like that's more acceptable. Sound off on me in the comments, if you wish



It was an absolutely beautiful morning! The line wasn't too bad at all by this point, time stamps for the photos below are 7:03 & 7:05.





We waited for 7:25 which is historically when they've started running the Skyliner, the kids of course excited to look for turtles & fish in Hourglass Lake.



Did I mention it was a beautiful morning???



Eventually they let us on, though always always always starting with the Pop Century line first... Matt and I commented that at least this trip they have a dedicated CM to direct the flow of traffic ("okay Pop side you can begin...... **lets maybe 30-40 people through** "okay AoA side, once that family is through then you guys can enter the station.....") vs last year's trip when it was just a free for all and the Pop side is closest to the station so they just continuously spill in, never allowing for any sort of zipper merge. Regardless, we were in the air by 7:33am so not too shabby!





When we arrived at Epcot we made it through security & the tapstiles without incident and I realized shortly after that Epcot must have implemented the new/same rope drop rules as MK where they don't hold you at specific points anymore, they let everyone get to whichever ride they want to go on and wait for the park to open there. We were in a halfway decent position for rope dropping Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, but still behind maybe 100-150 people. The line was moving, and mostly chaos-free (thankfully) with the only point that we were dreading was the awful stroller drop off situation. There isn't really a good way to do this - it's not like all 4 of us can/should wait while Matt parks the stroller because no one, and I mean NO ONE will let you budge your way back into the line - I don't even mean where we WERE in the line, I mean in the line at all. It moves without you whether you like it or not, and I'm not waiting for all those people to pass before finding the end of the line (as if that would even remotely be close to fair). So what we've come up with is, once again, parent # 1 (in this case, me) takes the kids by the hands & stays in the steady thread of people inching their way closer to the queue while parent # 2 (this time Matt) parks the stroller and then re-joins the family. Is it ideal? No, but at least it's ONE person re-joining a group, not a group re-joining ONE person. Again, I hate line jumpers as much as the next guy (I think we all remember what Matt did to the 10+ line jumpers on Guardians last year....................) but this is so much different.

Anyway, that's what we had planned.




We aren't moving super duper quickly (the park isn't open so it's not like the queue is moving, we're all just finding our place in the winding outdoor queue area for the ride), but Matt is taking slightly longer than he should. I kept looking over my shoulder, trying to see if maybe he couldn't find me? but don't spot him. I'm past La Creperie by now and getting closer to the fountain, getting nervous that NOW it would be less acceptable for him to join us when finally I see him approaching. "What on earth took you so long?!" I ask.

"a dad forgot his kid in the stroller"

"...what?"

"Yeah, a dad pushed his stroller into the parking area and then left. I saw hair poking out from under the canopy, paused a moment and then looked in the seat.... yup, there was a kid in there. I was like "SIR- YOU FORGOT YOUR KID" but he didn't hear me so I had to sit with the kid until a CM got there"

...................................


"how old was the kid?!"

"I don't know, 3 maybe?"

..omg. my jaw I think was on the floor by this point, the parents behind us were listening to the conversation and all of us were in awe.


I ask "so what happened? did he finally remember he had forgotten his kid??"

"no, I told the CM what he was wearing and she went and grabbed him to bring him back to get the kid but I stayed there because I didn't know what else to do, I didn't want the kid to be alone"

The 3 of us (me + the mom & dad in line behind us) busted out laughing and the mom and I high-fived. Yay us for not forgetting a kid at rope drop!!! We may not be perfect, but at least we were better off than that guy (for now anyway, the day is young LOL). I can only imagine what his wife said to him when he re-joined her in line and she went "where's little Sally?"

I was DEAD, y'all. Deceased.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

OK but how on earth do you park a STROLLER, an item that exists for the sole purpose of transporting your KID, and just walk off WITHOUT SAID KID!? I wish you’d witnessed the exchange with the mom when he returned empty handed and was like “mission accomplished!” Too funny that you and the mom behind you high fived LOL.

 

[Stasieki]

I left my now 15 year old in Mexico (we joke with her now she got left in Mexico, but it was Epcot Mexico - ha) when she was about 5. I can laugh about it now but it was the longest 3 min of my life. I think Frozen was the new ride and we had fastpasses for it. We were leaving the inside pavilion with our large group of 9. Quickly realized it was raining so we hurried to get ponchos on. We had to run to get there in time. I think we were already late. I thought my husband had her and he thought I did. We get to the back of the fastpass line then all looked around. We then ALL ran back screaming her name. Felt like the airport scene in Home Alone. She was at the top of the stairs standing there looking sad with tears in her eye. To this day, I still think about that.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Oh dear. Forgot his kid?? That's...well...I'm not a parent so it isn't for me to judge but wow. And, at the same time, who knows how long they had already been at Disney, how much sleep they got the night before, etc. But hey - now you can say to yourself whenever you feel like you are being a not so great parent "Yeah but at least I didn't forget my kid in a stroller at Epcot." LOL

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Sorry I've been MIA! With the kids back in school it's been playdates & birthday parties & colds (currently battling one myself, ugh) aplenty! PLUS - my sister had her baby this past weekend, eek!! I'm an aunt!!!! We also have DD6's birthday party coming up in 3 weeks so I've been busting my butt to get all the things ready for that. It's Haunted Mansion themed and when I say I am excited.... that is the understatement of the century. It is going to be SO SO FUN.

Anyway, I'll hop back into the TR in the next post!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Where we last left off, Matt had just re-joined us and was regaling the group with the story of the dad who left his young daughter in the stroller while he scurried back to find his family, which had all of us almost in tears laughing so hard. We eventually found our place in the queue when the line stopped moving, waiting for the park to officially open for Early Entry.





The kids entertained themselves throughout the 30 minute wait by playing Rock Paper Scissors with each other while seated on mom & dads feet (didn't want their butts on the gross ground). We also all were entertained when we found a lone eyeball sticker stuck to the ground and proceeded to pretend like our eyeball had just fallen out and was rolling away.












Eventually at 8:30am the line started moving again so we wove our way through the queue and onto the ride, which was a blast per usual. It was right after this picture was taken that I realized in horror that I hadn't asked Miss Maya about the swap so I quick texted her and she responded shortly after saying that she would get ready and head over to Epcot, probably could be there in the next hour. Woohoo!



We were off the ride by 8:45am and slowly started moseying toward Norway since we had a Frozen LL for 9am. As we were leaving France we happened to spot Aurora! So the kids hopped out of the stroller to say hello.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

On our way, we stopped for an iced coffee at a Joffreys in America, and as we strolled I modified our Living with the Land LL to 9:45am. I was trying to shift things around since I had paid for the 4 of us to have LLs and now with Miss Maya coming in the morning, the kids wouldn't be able to use them since obviously she didn't have it. Once I had done as much as I could do to fiddle faddle with the LLs, we stopped briefly in Germany to watch the trains - which is a must in our book.









After getting our fill of watching the trains (though we did have to pull the kids away - they could have stayed longer!) we continued our way around the World Showcase- stopping briefly to bang on the drums in Africa (also a 'must do', if you ask DS5 and DD6) though I think passerby would wholeheartedly disagree



We made it to Norway with about 10 minutes to spare so we figured we'd go say hello to our favorite troll. The CM who was standing nearby had a giant clown sized toothbrush and asked the kids if they wanted to help him brush his teeth. Uh, yeah!!! So they did.



We asked the CM what the trolls name was and she said that he didn't have a name and asked if we wanted to pick it. To which we replied again, uhhhh yeah!!!

Don't ask me why, but DS5 picked the name Frisbee. Like the disc that you throw for fun.

So we filled out the laminated sheet and posed for a picture. How special!!!



After sending the picture above in our family group chat to show off, it was time for us to go on Frozen! Which was fun/adorable as always.



DD6 got Mike Wazowski'd, but that's showbiz baby.

We were off Frozen by 9:35, and it was then that I realized I hadn't booked my next LL after the 2nd touchpoint, whoops! So I quick booked a LL for Tower of Terror for the afternoon, since that was our plan (mine & Matt's) once the kids were finally filled in on the surprise of grandma's arrival.

Again in no real hurry (the beauty of LLs!) we sort of just moseyed around the World Showcase, eventually stopping in Mexico and deciding a slow boat ride was in order so after scoping out the little trinkets & such inside the pavilion we walked on to Gran Fiesta where we had a whole boat to ourselves, ha! I guess most people don't spend the first 5 minutes of park opening on this ride???? Whodathunk.





Trying (& failing) to get any sort of halfway decent picture, I eventually gave up and enjoyed the relaxing ride.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Before I carry on, let's focus a bit more on our family photo with Frisbee, shall we?

Doesn't it just mesh so nicely????? Like seriously - the troll looks like he could be a 5th member of our family. He appears to have his arm around Matt's waist (don't get any ideas, Frisbee), is perfectly angled on the other side of me, is looking right at the camera and just fits in so well you'd think he was a part of the crew, other than his massive height difference LOL



It's a keeper, that's for sure!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Anyway, back to Gran Fiesta.



At the very beginning of the ride Matt and I both commented that someday we'd like to go to San Angel Inn however the tables appear sooooo close together and I'm not sure I've heard anything at all about the quality of the food at this restaurant. Any fellow DIS-ers been and can let me know if it's worth it??

We had entered the queue at 9:45 and were off by 9:54, and had a LL for Soarin for 9:45 so after debarking we made our way to the Land Pavilion.



Miss Maya arrived at the park around 10am, so we had her meet us there where the kids were thrilled to see her. The 4 of us scanned in for our Soarin' LL while she entered the standby (estimated wait I believe was 15 minutes), so we planned to wait for her at the merge point. Wouldn't you know it, she beat US to the merge point. Hmmmph. Ha! Sometimes just the way things work out I guess!

As we waited in the queue we talked briefly about her recent graduation from nursing school (go Miss Maya!) and what her plans for the future were (she wants to be a Labor & Delivery nurse- double go you, Miss Maya!). At one point in the wait she asked the kids " wait, where's grandma?!"

Not this again! Did I mention I hate surprises and I couldn't WAIT for this to be over in just a few short hours!?!?

I quickly brushed it off saying "oh she's at home, we'll see her in 9 days" and thankfully Miss Maya got the hint, the kids didn't seem any the wiser and we moved on. Whew!

The 5 of us had a blast on Soarin (the kids requesting a "Miss Maya sandwich" so sat on either side of her) and after we got off we explained to Miss Maya that the 4 of us have a Guardians of the Galaxy ILL for 10:45 so didn't know how she wanted to do this. She said Guardian's isn't her favorite (makes her tummy hurt) and that she'd just see us after. She was more than happy to stroll around Connections and see if there was any new merch, and I was thrilled to have an extra set of hands that took our stroller so we didn't have to mess around with the stroller parking. I'm telling you, if you can afford a theme park nanny it's a total game changer!

Anyway, we scanned in at 10:50, all of us SUPER excited to ride our favorite ride for the first time this trip!!



We were in the pre-show by 10:56 and were at the ramp going down by 11:09- so really not bad pretty early in the morning!







We got I Ran & it was a blast, as usual!! We love this ride!!



We were off by 11:22 and Miss Maya met us at the exit so we pretty much instantly put the kids in the stroller, said our goodbyes and darted off on our day-date adventure!!

We first decided to take some PhotoPass pictures right next to the Guardians ship, so got in the line which had only a single woman getting her picture taken ahead of us. The positioning of this CM + umbrella is really poor in that the umbrella is right in the middle of a semi-busy walkway and it seems a lot of people are pretty oblivious to its existence. As a result of that, a man accidentally bumped into the woman getting her picture taken at some point between photos, and I kid you not this woman did the most dramatic, over the top flailing of arms and legs and acting like she was slipping and sliding and about to fall over. At first Matt and I looked at each other like ??? and then after it went on for so long started to think she was doing it to be funny?? Who knows, but it was bizarre LOL

Anyway, after the perplexity had ended it was our turn!






After our photo session, Matt and I decided we were ready for lunch since we hadn't really eaten so we made our way to America for some good ol' fashion BBQ & beer.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

We paused for a picture along the way:



And eventually mobile ordered our meal - Matt getting the BBQ Platter (ribs, smoked pork butt, smoked sausage with cornbread (we subbed for brewmaster fries - should have been an upcharge of $2 but the DDP let us for $0!) and mac & cheese) and me getting the house salad with smoked chicken. I really like this salad! The chicken I don't care for so much, but that salad is ***chefs kiss*** in my opinion.








We had a great lunch! After eating, we decided to check out the museum area next door, but Voices of Liberty weren't performing for a while so after examining the Native American section we eventually departed the area.

Unbeknownst to me at the time (I would find out later as they showed up in my MDE photo gallery), at that same moment the kids were meeting Figment! I bet they were thrilled!







We love that purple dragon!

Since Matt and I are big into Hazy IPAs and America is basically the only place that has those, we decided a beer 'to go' would be a wise choice, so we stopped at the little bar outside of Regal Eagle for beer # 2.



At this point, on the opposite side of the park, Miss Maya and the kids had stopped for their own lunch - this time opting for pizza and chicken strips!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Matt and I stopped briefly in Italy since we saw a PhotoPass CM taking a picture we'd never done before - up on the bridge! So we hopped next in line and waited our turn. The CM was chatty and very sweet. She agreed she'd do the bridge photo for us, but said we needed to do the regular ones too (not sure why, but we said works for us!)









She eventually had us go up on the bridge (yay!) but had us do this pose with our hands that I didn't love, but oh well. Still a new photo for us!



We also got photobombed by a dragonfly, so that was fun too LOL



As we thanked her and gathered our things, she gave us the usual spiel about staying hydrated (ma'am do you see the beers JK) and said that The Odyssey building is great for a cool down. We thanked her and were on our way, Matt and I commenting to each other as we left "The Odyssey.. I think it's open during festivals because we saw that one Molly & Alan video where they had like the Muppets Lab in there and super spicy wings etc. but I don't know what's in there during non-festival days" so we made a mental note to check it out when we made it that way. After Italy we stopped in China!







Believe it or not, this was the furthest into China we'd ever been! Deciding we may as well explore even more, we walked even further into China and really reminded us just how much more there are to these countries (pavilions in Epcot I mean, not the real country haha!) than what you see at first glance when you're just walking the loop, as we usually do. We checked out the little Disney museum where it shows the Shanghai parks and omggggg do those look cool!! Some super similar aspects and some entirely different. I've only ever been to WDW in Orlando (not even DL in CA!) so I know I need to change that at some point and Shanghai seems as good a place as any to start

 

[MamaMouse0920]

After exiting the museum type area we explored even more, looking at the shops & buildings - again in awe that we'd never explored this much of any country before this moment. Feeling a right Disney fraud, at this point!!



Meanwhile, across the park, the kids & Miss Maya were checking out the Cool Kids Summer area and were having a BLAST. I obviously can't upload videos, only pictures, but just use your imagination and picture the kids dancing with Goofy!



Matt and I had eventually moseyed our way toward the new Walt statue which we hadn't seen up close yet. There were a bunch of people taking pictures so we had to wait a bit til it was our turn, but eventually we sat down - me accidentally brushing thighs with the statue resulting in a loud YELP since that metal statue was H O T. I was sure to keep my distance after that!





I think it was around this time that we attempted to check out the Odyssey building which I now can confirm IS closed during non-festival times (or at least it was that day) so the CM was over there sending people to a locked/empty building all day It was little after 1:30pm and we made our way toward the Land pavilion (though I can't for the life of me think of why- perhaps we had told Miss Maya to meet us there to do the kid exchange?) but we must have had time to kill because Matt and I were seated at 1:37pm for the This Awesome Planet showing, which we'd never done before. It was nice and I'd like to watch it properly but both Matt and I were struggling to stay awake so I can't comment for sure that I saw the whole thing in its entirety

After the movie ended we headed down to Sunshine Seasons because I had my eye on that churro milkshake! I'm not sure why I had in my mind that it was a DDP snack credit (that would have been a miracle, I suppose, since it comes with so much stuff) but the super nice CM I ordered from let me down gently with a "sadly, it's not". Oh well! $10.99 for all this goodness still was a heck of a deal, IMO!



I took this one photo and in the time it took to pay, go up the escalator and get outside it had already melted and was falling apart - the accoutrements (a sugar cookie with sprinkles, a churro, a pretzel, and a teeny tiny Mickey bar) all sliding down the melty bed of whipped cream and we were at great risk of losing them!



Sooooo after pausing to commemorate the sad moment, we had to start eating. The 'Mickey bar' was actually more like.... sugar cookie dough? I can't really describe it - the consistency was that of cookie dough (soft and chewy but slightly grainy) but the flavor was NOT that of delicious sugar cookie dough. The pretzel was fine but seemed like an odd 'topping' for a milkshake and the churro was good! The milkshake itself was delish if you like cinnamon sugar (who doesn't) and overall was very happy with this snack. I saved as much of the toppings as I could for the kids cause I knew their minds would be blown seeing it in all its glory and after conferring with Miss Maya (she said the kids didn't want to leave!) we made our way to them at Goofy's Communicore Hall, or whatever it's called. When we entered the building we found the kids playing 'Keepy Uppy' with a giant beach ball, seemingly having the time of their lives. Disney is really on to something with this Cool Kid Summer stuff, my two really enjoyed it! They were enjoying themselves so much that even when they spotted us they didn't want to stop playing, and it wasn't until Eagle Eye DD6 spotted the yummy treat that she finally tore herself away.



Spot the CM in the background eyeing the milkshake? They came over and asked me 'WHERE THE HECK DID YOU GET THAT IT LOOKS AMAZING', ha!!



To no ones surprise, the kids loved it! We eventually said goodbye to Miss Maya (we'd see her again later this trip!) and told the kids that it was time to head back to the hotel for our afternoon rest. Little did they know, someone very special was already there & waiting for them at the pool bar................................

 

[MamaMouse0920]

We headed toward the International Gateway, joining the very short line for the Skyliner.









Eventually we were back at AoA and the kids looked sleeeeeepy --



I guess I forgot to include it in the morning's TR, but my mom had gotten on the 7am flight no problem (flying standby via my grandma's Buddy Passes, so not a guarantee that you're going to get on) and landed around 11am where she hopped in an Uber and made her way to Disney Springs to get her dusty-wrinkly-moldy-oldy-4 day park hopper ticket converted to todays version of tickets. She said that where the Uber dropped her off she ended up hiking all over Disney Springs (and I think we all know how big that place is) to get to Guest Services and after she left realized that she had pulled a "I turned left to go around the whole entire circle when the place I was looking for was just on my right" so she was sore and kicking herself pretty bad. BUT she had the ticket sorted out (and the CM she worked with was super nice, she said) and was at our resort probably around 1pm, but since she didn't have a key she just parked herself by the pool bar & helped herself to a pina colada while she waited.

It was 3pm by the time we rolled the stroller into the pool bar area, which I filmed the encounter so again you'll have to use your imagination. They somehow spotted her in no time and both screamed 'GRANDMAAAAA!', immediately hopping out of the moving stroller and into her arms. It was so special and I know all of us were so excited this surprise had finally come to fruition.

Matt collected her bags from Bell Services & the 5 of us made our way to our room to show grandma her new digs for the next 5 days. When we opened the door we noticed Mousekeeping had come as well as some extra special pixie dust!



DD6 got a special note and 4 Mickey shaped Rice Krispie treats!!! So stinking sweet!!

We immediately got switched into our swimsuits and my mom helped get the kids all sunscreened up while they excitedly told her everything that she had missed in the last, what, 24 hours since she had seen them LOL. I said earlier how if you can afford the theme park nanny that it's a game changer... well if you have a grandma that you can bring with you, it's an even bigger game changer. We are so fortunate!!! Any extra set of hands is always going to be helpful/beneficial but when that set of hands belongs to someone your kids love so much (and loves your kids that much too) it makes it even better.

Once we were all suited & sunscreened up, we made our way to the pool and spent the next hour or so swimming. The kids have had swimming lessons but still aren't independent so we quickly tried to find some life jackets that fit each of them. After about an hour, the lifeguard alerted us to the lightning in the area (it isn't summer in FL without an afternoon storm) so we made our way back to the room to figure out our game plan for the night. Surprising to literally no one, the kids had zero desire to go to Hollywood Studios since grandma couldn't come with, so they opted to stay behind with her while Matt and I got our second date of the trip (yes, we do recognize how spoiled we are!). I mobile ordered dinner for my mom & the kids and Matt & I were on our way! Thanks to the lightning, we doubted the Skyliner would be running but before going to the bus stop area we decided to ask the CM working in the gift shop if there was a way for us to know it was closed or not. They said "no, not other than asking a CM" so we said "oh okay, thank you! I guess we'll take the bus then" and she said "oh I wouldn't bother, 9x/10 the buses don't show up" I was like "whaaa?! there's no Skyliner, how are we supposed to get to Epcot/Hollywood??" and she just sort of shrugged like "who knows". I said "well I'm still going to go check, just in case" and good thing I did because sure enough, there was a bus sitting there heading to DHS!



By the time we got to DHS a little after 6:30pm, the Skyliner was back up & running. That's just the way that goes, isn't it? The good news is the rain/storms in conjunction with the time of day seemed to have driven the masses out of the park, as we were entering it seemed people were leaving in droves - something you won't ever find me complaining about!



We had a couple of LLs for the evening (Tower of Terror for sure, as I stated earlier) but I was a poor note taker and couldn't tell you what they were... I'm guessing all the rides we rode were LLs but it's possible we also got lucky with a low standby wait time here or there, who knows. Regardless, we first made our way to Galaxies Edge & rode Millenium Falcon Smugglers Run!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

When we were at the pre-show with Hondo, the CM there spotted a couple with their Happily Ever After pins and had the whole crowd cheer for them. A few minutes later, he spotted ours and again had the whole crowd erupt in cheers. Just some of the magic that wearing celebration pins and being around super sweet CM can bring!!!

We both got to be pilots (gulp, that's a lot of pressure) which was surprising since in our experience we typically are engineers after groups of 4, not the other way around (groups of 4 after us) but oh well- it was fun! We got on the ride around 7pm and my next picture of Galaxies Edge was 7:07.



We eventually mobile ordered dinner at Rosie's - a shared bacon burger, fries, & beer.



For the park seeming to be empty earlier, it no longer felt like it as we struggled to find a seat! We eventually snagged a table as someone else was leaving, and before long two young men (early 20s) were also struggling to find a seat so we budged up and invited them to sit with us since our table seated at least 6. They were super nice and we had a great conversation with them - two very young AP who were navigating the struggles of adulthood and real-life responsibilities but juggling them with their love for Disney (AKA - things that cost a lot of money, ha!) etc. We really liked them! Before long we wished them well and made our way next door to Tower of Terror as our LL must have been approaching.


(wait time says 80 mins in that picture, oof)

They had the misters going throughout the outdoor portion of the queue which I love - I love everything about this ride!! As we wove through the queue, our Ring doorbell alerted us to a person on our driveway. I opened the app and realized it was our older neighbor -- who recently had back surgery(!) -- bringing our garbage bins down. I quickly texted her and said 'DON'T TOUCH THE YARD WASTE BIN IT'S WAY TOO HEAVY' and then watched on the camera, hoping I caught her quick enough to avoid her hurting her back attempting to move the heavy can. I saw her pause, take out her phone, and then wave to the camera and walk back home. Whew! Technology can be a lifesaver I thanked her, and then Matt and I quick took this selfie and sent it to her, saying hi from the Hollywood Tower Hotel lobby!



Incidentally, it was that same moment that our other neighbor texted me asking if we were home and could their granddaughter (who is between DS5 & DD6 age) could come over to play in the cul de sac so I just quick copy/pasted the same blurb about saying hello from the Hollywood Tower Hotel lobby and that no we aren't home LOL

We got a couple steps forward from this point, just before the first "how many?" CM podium/touchpoints and the ride must have gone down briefly. The CM stayed in character but you could tell were weary. I asked if they've had a bunch of crabbies tonight and they said "like you wouldn't believe". They explained that 1 of the elevators was down so it's making everything that much slower (hence the 80 minute wait).

I'm now remembering the whole LL vs non-LL situation for what happened at this park- we DID have LLs however almost every single ride was down. I'm not a complainer (am very much a people pleaser) but I had said to Matt that had this been our only day at DHS and we hadn't used LLs at Epcot (thus making the purchase not a total waste) that I would be seriously thinking about going to guest services to inquire about a refund- it was that bad. Rock N Rollercoaster was down, Mickey & Minnie's was down, and if I remember correctly Slinky Dog was also down- it really felt like all the big hitters were not operating... hence the # of crabbies, I'm sure.

Oof! Anyway, we had a really nice long talk with them while we waited (/hoped, ha!) for the remaining elevators to get back up & running. We spoke about how Matt and I are re-watching the original Twilight Zone series and how much we love it- swapping favorite moments and episodes. It was a good time! Eventually the ride went back up and we went on our way. We were seated in the front (woohoo!) and just before the CM shut the elevator doors he also had the entire elevator cheer for us for our anniversary, which was once again very sweet and special.



It was about 8:30pm by this point so we had 30 minutes of park open left, but as I said no rides were open and the ones that were had astronomical wait times so we said screw it, lets get a Hazy IPA at Baseline so walked over that way............ only to get there and be told by a kind stranger that Baseline actually closes an hour before the park does. Say what?! So we turned on our heels and decided that we weren't going to spend the last hour of our date night walking in circles around DHS, and instead decided to hop on the Skyliner and go for a drink at Riviera, since it's right next door to our resort. And that's just what we did!



We grabbed a couple of beers from Bar Riva and sat on a porch swing and rocked back and forth as we sipped our beers and looked at the beautiful property. It was a great time!!



Eventually we walked back to the Skyliner station, without realizing we had timed it really poorly because alllllll of the people who had just left DHS and Epcot en-masse were all on the Skyliner heading to CBR/AoA/Pop... So we had to wait for a good while for a semi-empty gondola to appear that we could squeeze into. Understanding of course that the CMs pack those babies quite full to maximize their space & get as many bodies out of there as possible, you can see why it would take a while. BUT we're grown adults and didn't have the kids with us, so were A-OK.

We made it back to the hotel around 10pm and quickly showered/brushed teeth. My mom initially was all set up on the hideabed when we got inside the room but after looking at it/her I was like ".......uh, do you want to switch with the kids?" which she agreed to so Matt and I scooped up the kids and brought them to the hideabed so she could take the Murphy which I think was at least moderately comfortable- and certainly more comfortable than a pull out sofa bed!!!


We were all off to bed (the kids already long asleep, obviously) by 10:30 with the alarm set for 5:15am the next morning - Rope dropping MK for the first party day of the season!

TOTAL STEPS: 24,169 (11.2 miles)

Up next: Friday, August 15th (Day 3)