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

[MamaMouse0920]

This was honestly one of my favorite parts of the whole trip - it was so beautiful and peaceful! This is exactly what Matt and I meant when we said we needed to slow down and see more of the parks than we previously have. We spent the next 30 minutes or so (I can only slow down so much, OK??? ) sipping our shared coffee & eating our slice of pumpkin bread while we pointed out all the animals we saw. It is so wild to me that these were hand carved and with a time limit on how long the artists had too- only something like 6 hours or so til the epoxy started to dry??? So crazy!! I can't even draw a stick figure and there are people with this amount of skill level. It's insane!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

After our restful breakfast/coffee we moseyed over to DinoLand, USA (tear!!! I can't even say the name of the land without being sad that it's leaving) for what would end up being our last ride on this attraction Now I really might cry!!!!!

When we were in the pre-show and Dr. Seeker goes "What could go wrong?" Matt muttered under his breath "..I need to call my bookie" as a joke and DS5 goes "yeah, I need to call my Wookiee"









For loving this ride, those two sure look scared

Thankfully Matt had taken Dramamine so wasn't feeling too icky afterward. After getting off, DD6 had requested more characters so we got in the line for Moana at 9:20am. The estimated wait was 25 minutes and it ended up being closer to 35, but I suppose character lines are hard to gauge since you don't know how long each family is going to spend with her etc.





Such a beautiful queue/area!!

While in line, we were behind a family of 5 who were probably the worst behaved family (and yes I'll include the parents in that as well) I'd ever encountered. They had twin girls about 7 I would guess and a boy around 9 or 10 and they were absolutely destructive - ripping up plants and shaking/pushing on the pole that held the divider rope, attempting to knock it out of the ground.... it was pure chaos. The dad had left at some point in the queue to get coffee or something and the mom absolutely did not care that her 3 children were being so destructive to Disney property. Eventually the dad came back and then even joined in on the chaos, was chasing lizards and being super aggressive trying to catch them. Matt and I (and even DS5 & DD6) all just sort of watched in horror. At one point a CM came between our two families to pick up some litter that was in the wooded area to the left of the queue (I was sure to tell her that she IS the magic) and I was so surprised that she didn't say anything to Destructo Family. Not that it matters and I'm not even sure why I'm including it but all 5 of them (mom + dad + 3 kids) were all sooooo good looking and well dressed that it was super out of place seeing a family of basically super models acting like they belonged in a zoo. They looked like the picture perfect family and like I said it was really off-putting seeing them act so poorly. ANYWAY. Back to Moana.

Eventually it was our turn!







The kids had a really cute exchange with her, asking where Maui is and she said that he's super busy demi God-ing (yes it's a verb apparently!) but that he sometimes swings by to visit and that he shape shifts into one of those little lizards. She said that the way to know whether it's Maui or just a regular lizard is if you see the lizard doing push ups - that's DEFINITELY Maui if you see that.

Good to know! We kept our eyes peeled all day.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

At this point we were really just trying to let the kids guide us through the park, and as we passed it DS5 wanted to check out the otter grotto so we went down the stairs into the cool dark cave for a bit to see what the otters were up to.







We somehow made our way back to the Tree of Life after that and noticed Pocahontas was back there!



Unfortunately just as we approached her the CM let us know that she was off to look for berries so was not going to be able to visit, darn. We instead looked at the tortoises nearby for a while.







After the tortoises we attempted a couple DIY family photos, even though the wall is up I still think they're pretty cute!





Again we were really just leisurely wandering at this point, and found ourselves in Africa where DS5 wanted to bang on the drums.



It was right after a particularly hard whack that I noticed he had just banged his hand right on a pile of bird poop, ha! So I got out the wipes and wiped his hands off. Out of curiosity, I slid a wipe against the surface of one of the drums and the wipe was BLACK so that is pretty gross, take that information as you will

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I asked the others if they wanted to take the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch which we all agreed to. We were getting pretty hungry (it was only 10:25am by this point!) so we agreed that after taking the train back we would make our way next door to Harambe for lunch, followed by Pandora for 2nd lunch.







We sat right behind the engine and had a great ride, I loved seeing things "behind the scenes"!





When we got off, I had the kids pose in front of the engine so I could send the picture to my dad (a real life engineer for the railroad) when the conductor spotted us and asked if we wanted to sit inside the engine. uhhh, yeah!



So he let the kids on and even let them honk the horn several times- it was magical! This CM looked so young and reminded me a lot of my little brother - was so wholesome and kind, I made note of his name (Carlos) so I could enter a Cast Compliment for him. He handed the kids a cute little card, naming them honorary conductors!





Seriously, we were so lucky with the amount of magic this trip!!

The rest of the people on the train had long left, so we didn't really know where we were going. We eventually wound our way around the trail until we found the Wilderness Explorer station, which was empty save for the lone CM who was working. He gave each kid a booklet and a pencil and explained what they needed to do (go around this little garden area and circle all the animals they are able to find) which they had an absolute BLAST doing. This was our first time doing anything Wilderness Explorer related, despite seeing the stations all around the park! I only got video of the experience, no pictures. After the kids found all the animals and got their sticker in the book, we moved on.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

This mural thing gives big 90s/2000s vibes IMO - it reminds me a lot of our local 'free' zoo called Como Park here in St. Paul where we had a lot of our school field trips as a kid! That and Zaboomafoo- which apparently is making a comeback because my kids mention watching clips of it in school! So I was feeling pretty nostalgic looking at it

I think because of the nature of the petting zoo, my phone stayed in my pocket the entire time so I have no further pictures to commemorate our time there! I do remember one goat in particular was kind of over being touched by all the young kids and was trying to dodge them when he happened to get within arms reach and so I bent over and gave him a scratch - where he stopped dead in his tracks LOL I surmised that he liked these long sharp nails giving him good scratches, so I obliged for the next couple minutes.

Eventually we left the Affection Station (scrubbing our hands with soap & water long and good haha!) and made our way back to the train. Our stomachs were definitely grumbling at this point!



Matt and I had a delicious lunch, the kids opting for the Satu'li lunch options instead so they just kind of hung out while we ate. After eating (it was delish) we made our way to Satu'li, stopping first at two Wilderness Explorer stations where we learned a TON. Did you know that venus fly traps are native to North and South Carolina?!?!??! And that there are 600 species of carnivorous plants?!?!? Cause I sure didn't! I think Matt and I were more flabbergasted and asking more questions/interested in what the CM was saying than the kids, ha!! I was slapping my forehead big time for not starting this Wilderness Explorer thing sooner!

Satu'li was an absolute mess, with the CM at the door not letting people in unless their mobile order showed it was ready for pick up (which I understand the need for crowd control, but that just meant there was a huge crowd OUTSIDE the doors). The kids entertained themselves with their WE books while Matt and I took a selfie.







DS5 at some point in that wait said he had to go to the bathroom so Matt took him. DD6 took it upon herself to angle both of their fans at her face, let out a big sigh and said "ahhhh, I'm living my best life" which of course gave me a good laugh!



Wouldn't you know it, when Matt & DS5 are gone is when my app alerted me that the food was ready so I heaved that giant stroller into the building and weaved my way to the Mobile Order Pickup window. I had ordered 2 kids meals: the cheeseburger steamed pod and the all-beef hot dog wrapped in dough which I had told the kids was an alien version of a hot dog to get them more likely to try it since it obviously looked nothing like a hot dog, ha! I had also ordered the green beer for Matt and I to try. When the CM put the two plates & the beer down I thought to myself "shoot" (or some other similar, grown up word ) and wondered how on earth I was going to do this? Why do I always seem to make this mistake, ha! It's hard enough for me to steer the giant stroller on it's own, let alone adding a full cup of beer and 2 (glass/ceramic- definitely breakable anyway) plates full of food.

I ended up combining the food to one plate, taking 2 big sips of the beer (it was okay, not our favorite) until I could precariously set it inside the sling-type cup holder that came with the stroller, and have DD6 hold the plate of food, requesting she be extremely careful to try not to spill. I then did a lap around the restaurant looking for an open seat but found nothing. Matt called me by that point, obviously having come back to where we were standing and finding us gone. I told him the scoop and asked him to start looking for a table outside. Not ideal since one of the reasons I placed this mobile order was because I knew it granted you access to the indoor (AC) dining, but what was I going to do? So DD6 and I made our way back outside where Matt thankfully found a table in the shade and we sat down for the kids lunch.







I don't know that Matt gave it a try but the 3 of us enjoyed the burger pod! At one point DS5 blurted out loudly (and quite embarrassingly) I HOPE I'M NOT EATING THE BABY!

Which I then, eyes wide in horror said "..what?" and he clarified he meant the bao bun from the Pixar short "Bao". Sigh, this kid!!!



It was about 12:30 by this point, and Matt and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to do. The wait times were up there, and it was (obviously) boiling hot since it's noon and August in FL. We had done a ton, and the kids were asking to go to the pool so we said sure and after lunch slowly made our way toward the park exit.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

We were on the bus by 1:07pm-






And in our room by 1:25pm! Immediately we got our suits on & applied sunscreen to head down to the pool, where grandma was waiting for us!



It was this day that DD6 finally, seemingly out of no where, got the hang of swimming!

She was so excited/loved her newfound skill so much that we couldn't even get her to sit still for a picture - she wanted to be under the water!









And this started her obsession with being in the water. Every single day from this point on she would constantly ask to go back to the pool, and even (spoiler alert) one day later in the trip opted to stay in the pool instead of going to a theme park. What?!

We stayed in the pool til about 4pm. At some point (maybe 3ish?) we made the kids get out briefly so that the adults could have a beverage and take a break from watching the kids (I'm sure other parents will understand how exhausting it is watching vigilantly & being the one responsible for ensuring your kids don't drown for hours on end) and DD6 had an absolute meltdown about needing to get out. Oy vey. Basically the whole trip we nixed naps and instead spent our afternoons at the pool and this meltdown I think was proof that maybe naps are still a good idea...

After the tantrum faded, we enjoyed our brief break from the water before heading back in.



Around 4pm the adults reconvened to figure out the game plan, and my mom graciously offered to watch one kid tonight and the other kid the next night so that each kid could get special 1:1 time at a park with mom and dad. Say what?! We were like yes please!!!

((I think the kids would argue that the OTHER kid, the one with grandma, was the luckier kid each night though ))

So we got out of the pool and quickly rinsed the chlorine off before heading toward a bus with DD6, heading to MK for the night!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Time stamp on the photo above as we entered Magic Kingdom is 5:36pm.




Looks like rain!



It was weird, previous visits to FL in the summer, the rain always happened around 2pm. This trip the storms were hitting later and later - around the dinner hour mostly. Kind of inconvenient, mother earth!!!!!

First things first: a treat. I really wanted the peanut butter sundae from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor so that's where we headed, but as soon as we saw the menu DD6 opted instead for the s'mores milkshake. Still sounds tasty, but I really want that PB one!







Matt and I had split up at that point - the girls went to get the ice cream and dad went to get his favorite spicy chicken & waffle sandwich from Sleepy Hollow. We both got our treats/snacks and met at the hub grass for a picnic.









If she thought she was living her best life before lunch outside Satu'li, I can't imagine how she was feeling right now!!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

It was a little after 6pm by the time we slurped down that delicious milkshake (just look at the amount of chocolate! And the reason for the giant jumbo straw was to be able to suck up all the yummy marshmallows at the bottom) and Matt finished his snack (which was not at all spicy this year by the way- I had tried it on one of our first family trips and my tongue just about fell off from the spice (yes I'm a weenie) but this year I tried it and there was almost no heat at all.. maybe a recipe change? or just a one-off) and we slowly made our way toward a new one for us - Country Bear Jamboree!!!







Which was adorable and we really liked it! I didn't have the fondest memories of it as a child (almost scared of them) but was happy to try it and fell in love. We all commented that we needed to bring DS5 the next time we're at MK!

Not sure why we went that way when we left the theater but we made our way to Adventureland next, picture evidence of DD6 enjoying the spraying tiki heads:



Oh - as I see the next set of pictures I'm remembering I left out a conversation between my mom and I from the day before. The previous day when we were busy with EE and my mom was waiting for us in Adventureland (clearly they opened that area well before 8am!), my mom told me that she had seen a traumatized squirrel roaming Adventureland. She described it as having an actual hole in it's back and looked as though it had been struck by lightning. Gross, I had thought, but didn't give it much more thought. Until we passed the Treehouse and guess what/who I spotted!!!!!



I immediately had to take pictures to tell my mom I had seen the squirrel she was referencing!





Zoomed in so you can see the hole - what do you think did that???????

 

[MamaMouse0920]

We decided we were done with MK so headed toward the exit with the plan being to hop on the monorail over to Epcot, first stopping at a PhotoPass CM on our way! She was under the awning near Casey's and explained that because of lightning she couldn't leave the covered area, which was fine by us! She still took some great shots--

















Meanwhile, I had gotten a text from my mom, DS5 was clearly living HIS best life as well!



Back in Magic Kingdom, we strolled through the emporium. I have a coworker who loves Stitch and had asked me to grab something Stitch related that was small. I spotted this monstrosity and had to send her a picture saying "is this small enough?"



At the very end of the emporium there was a CM with a wicker basket filled with celebration pins. She asked if we were celebrating anything. I told her "well, she lost her first tooth at Disney World yesterday!" and the CM was like "how cool! her first tooth ever?!" and I clarified "well, no, but the first one she'd lost here!" LOL

So she wrote on it "1st tooth at Disney World" and handed it to us. We were on our way to Epcot!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

After we got to the top of the monorail station, Matt pointed out that I had something brown and sticky (ew) on the back of my leg. Lovely.



I'm hoping it's just chocolate from our s'mores milkshake but that means I've been walking around for the last hour or two with this on the back of my leg less than ideal but this is why I carry baby wipes with me everywhere, even though our kids have been out of diapers since they were 2.



DD6 performed a mini photo shoot while we waited for the monorail to arrive:









Meanwhile, it seems DS5 had talked grandma into buying him a souvenir and got his own mini photo shoot with his new baby groot shoulder buddy!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

We scanned in to Epcot around 7:45pm!



And immediately stopped at a PhotoPass CM without a long line-











We asked DD6 what she wanted to do and she had said characters again, so we got in the line to meet Mickey, Minnie, & Goofy. The posted wait time was 15 but again, it ended up being double that since I gather it's tough to estimate what wait times will accurately be when it comes to characters. Matt was seemingly antsy in the pantsy but I had to keep reminding him "do you have anywhere better to be???" (him probably thinking, uh, yeah getting a beer in USA? ) but we stayed put and waited it out. Surely if any character was worth waiting for, it's Mick????

While we waited, it grew dark and we could see tons of lightning in the distance. We actually got a ton of really cool video with Spaceship Earth looking like it was struck by lightning!









Isn't she so beautiful!?!

Anyway, it was around 8:30pm when we got to see Mickey- him pointing at DD6's button and then everyone (CM and Mickey/Minnie etc., well really just everyone for the entire trip) assumed/thought that it was her front tooth that she had lost here at WDW.. and we eventually just stopped correcting them. What difference did it make which specific tooth she lost really?

 

[MamaMouse0920]

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I don't ever want this age to end!!! She is so in love with them and just enthralled and I don't ever want that magic to leave

After leaving Mickey and Minnie there was only about 25 minutes left of park open and we slowly made our way to the International Gateway to head home on the Skyliner, first pausing to take a picture with Spaceship Earth in the background.



After getting off the Skyliner at AoA we paused briefly to watch fireworks from the Skyliner Station which was super special.



& then had to pause for a picture with Doc!



We were in bed and off to dreamland by 10pm, with the plan for the next morning being Magic Kingdom since it was another MNSSHP day. Since it was a party day, that meant another early morning (since the park opens earlier typically on party days) so our alarms were set for 5:15am (I think a happy medium from the days before).

TOTAL STEPS: 19,737 (8.8 miles)

Up next: Sunday, August 17th (Day 5)

 

[footballmouse]

were seated in the very last row, the ones facing the front of the bus. My mom said the seat was BURNING HOT.

We said the same thing when we were on the bus in August. Last time we sat in the last row!

My mom had ordered the croque monsieur (classic French ham and swiss served with fries)

Ohh, this is what I ordered when I went for the first time. Sooooo goooood!!!! A lot of sandwich though.

She described it as having an actual hole in it's back and looked as though it had been struck by lightning.

Now I'm feeling bad for this squirrel!