The One with the Line Jumpers & the Perfectly Timed Fart -- August 2024 Trip Report

[MamaMouse0920]

Hello & welcome to my latest (& hopefully greatest) trip report!!

We've been back for a little under a month now and I'm so deep in the Disney Blues it hurts, so I figured now was as good a time as any to start this ol' trip report and try to re-live the magic a little bit.

If you feel so inclined, you can peruse my pre-trip report (found HERE) as well as any of my previous TRs (Feb 2023; Sept 2023; & my most recent: Feb 2024), if not I will do a super quick recap of introductions to my crazy crew.

The Who: Me (Bethany), DH (Matt), DD5 & DS4
The What: 10 days of park hoppers
The When: August 12th through 22nd, 2024 (yes it was hot)
The Where: Art of Animation
The Why: Because YOLO - but also because DD5 was about to start kindergarten and we wanted to celebrate her!! And also Matt's birthday was 6 days after we returned. And also it's our 10 year wedding anniversary next week. And also because WE GO TO DISNEY WORLD A LOT AND ARE FINANCIALLY IRRESPONSIBLE (can I get that on a "celebration" pin?).

Okay- now before I get started on the fun details of the trip....... I just have to say something. If you've been around for a while you already know that I start almost all of my trip reports with a statement something along the lines of "I know I say it every time, but this one REALLY WAS THE BEST/MOST MAGICAL/MOST AMAZING TRIP WE'VE EVER TAKEN!!!" and folks.............................. I'm here to tell you this one wasn't. There was magic, fun, excitement, wonder, and allll that happy good stuff and obviously I cried happy tears more than once (hi have we met?) but I'm just going to warn everyone that this trip had a lot more of the "and THAT is why we'll never go to Disney World again!" that so many other parents/adults seem to experience. It was shocking! The rudeness of other guests was absolutely unparalleled and I just really realized this trip just how much WE (the parents/Disney lovers) are responsible for making the magic for our kids and for ourselves. It's WAY too easy to let the negatives outweigh the positives, and I'm NOT here for it!! So fear not, positivity wins- I just had to get it off my chest.

I have to hop off for now but will be back with our travel day details tomorrow!! DD5 started Kindergarten last week so things have been nuts over here, but I'm hoping there won't be too long of gaps between updates!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more .

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!
We were there during the same period (August 12-20th) and it was indeed VERY hot!
(In fact, I think I saw you from afar in the Spaceship Earth queue one evening!)

Can't wait to hear more about how your trip went

 

[Araminta18]

joining in!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Following!
We were there during the same period (August 12-20th) and it was indeed VERY hot!
(In fact, I think I saw you from afar in the Spaceship Earth queue one evening!)

Can't wait to hear more about how your trip went

Whaaaa- really??!? I only made it on Spaceship Earth our very first night (Monday 8/12) and was looking a MESS so if that's when you saw me, I apologize

I hope your trip had less crabby people than ours did!!

 

[SEAGULL59]

I'm in!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I'm realizing in my haste yesterday I promised introductions and only delivered the 'who what when where & why' of the trip, sorry about that!

Here's a quick "who's who" of our wild fam --

Me (Bethany): the Disney planner/itinerary-maker, the leader of our pack as we weave throughout the parks, and your all time favorite Type A, over-the-top, go-big-or-go-home 30 something mama from the Twin Cities area of Minnesota! I love coffee & carbs, the Minnesota Vikings, sweatpants, and exploring new local restaurants/breweries (craft beer is my jam!).



My lovely husband (Matt): the stroller pusher, crowd-navigator, meltdown-tamer, owie-kisser, and overall calm to my crazy. He loves all of the things I listed above (except sweatpants- he tolerates jeans whereas I have a 2 hour limit to wearing them before I go nuts and need to change).





We've been married for 10 years & I'm so excited to have converted him to "one of us" and he is just as Disney obsessed as the rest of us - though sometimes I think I've created a monster because now I have no one to slow my roll when I start getting the itch to book another trip..... we just look at each other like this and suddenly there is a $200 charge on the credit card:

DD5: She is smart, funny, kind, loyal to a fault, and just the sweetest girl ever (though she has her moments where her mama's attitude shines through). She started Kindergarten last week and I've been walking around pretending there isn't a huge hole in my heart - the truth is she was ready, her dad and I were not!





DS4: Wild & crazy, 100% BOY. Loves to be outside and act like a wild animal who escaped from the zoo. He is sensitive and sweet (a huge snuggler) who loves his mama more than anyone or anything else. He had his fair share of moments this trip (stay tuned) and keeps us on our toes 24/7. Definitely the reason why I have grey hairs (& Matt has no hairs!).... but we love him & his goofy self more than words can describe!




And there you have it- that's us! We are crazy and loud & put the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional' but we love each other so that's what matters right?!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Yay!!!! A new trip report. I can't wait to hear all about it. I'm ready to roll with this. And to hear what craziness is happening in Minnesota as well. My niece just became a teacher in Forest Lake. When did I get old enough for THAT to happen???

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Sunday, August 11th (Pre-Travel)

About a month before this trip took place Matt & I realized that we should try to re-watch a lot of the "classic" Disney movies as a way to ramp us up for the trip & so that they would be fresh in the kids' minds when we saw little snips of Hunchback of Notre Dame etc during Happily Ever After, or Jungle Book during Fantasmic etc. Don't get me wrong, we're a Disney family through and through so Disney+ is streaming in our house more than anything else but generally speaking we only watch TV on the weekends so we had a LOT of movies to cram in a handful of weekends. So this Sunday morning, the day before we leave, we had about 15 more movies to go This worked out though because it allowed us to play a constant stream of some of my favorite movies ever made (i.e. Lion King, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, etc.) in order to entertain the kids while the adults got all the boring grown-up stuff done. Mopping the floor & doing dishes is a lot more tolerable with "I Can Go the Distance" playing in the background, amiright?!



At some point throughout the day, we all took a screen-time break and went outside for a family walk (Matt & I had a goal to walk 3-4 miles/day to prepare ourselves for the onslaught of 30k step days - didn't want a repeat of February 2024, after all!). As we returned home, the kids wanted to stay outside so they rode bikes & Matt and I got wild hares (or is it hairs?) and decided to wash our cars & pressure wash the patio (don't ask me why, I'm sure we had better things to do- but alas, it's how we decided to spend our time, ha!). At some point Matt drove the mile over to my parents house and installed the kids car seats in my moms van- as she would be picking us up at 5:15am the next day and having the car seats installed ahead of time would obviously make for a smoother morning. I got my usual pre-trip mani/pedi (opting for a very pale, shimmery pink!) & when I returned I painted DD5s nails (she opted for white + glitter) while we watched Star Wars as a family.







Around 5 we ate dinner (leftovers- gotta clean out that fridge) & after a quick last minute load of laundry & making sure the kids tablets were charged up & the apps were refreshed (they are only used for travel so the apps sometimes go out-of-date & need to be re-downloaded) we were off to bed. We put the kids in their airplane pajamas so that first thing in the morning we wouldn't have to get them dressed or anything, just a quick brush of the hair & teeth and we'd be off! Eeeek! We couldn't believe the trip was finally here!!

 

[piglet1979]

I am in. I can't wait to hear about your trip.

 

[Jsharp13]

follow

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Monday, August 12th (Day 1: Travel Day)

Around 2:30am I happened to wake up so I rolled over & took a quick peek to make sure nothing happened with our flights (we were flying Sun Country this time instead of our usual Delta), all good thankfully so I rolled back over and went to sleep for another 2 hours til my alarm went off at 4:30. I hopped in the shower while the rest of the family slept on, eventually waking the kids around 5am. Since they were staying in their jammies we were able to let them sleep in a tiny bit longer, and when you have a 5am wake up call, every minute counts!

My parents pulled in around 5:15 and since we live <15 minutes away from the airport, they were dropping us off at Terminal 2 (that's the smaller terminal, if you aren't familiar with MSP airport) in no time. They snapped this quick family photo of us before we made our way inside:



This trip we had 2 checked suitcases and the 4 of us had backpacks, no carry on's thanks to Sun Country's lovely baggage fees- so after stopping at the Sky Cap all we had to manage throughout the airport were backpacks, which is always nice!



Our suitcases were under 50# (a bloody miracle, seriously) and after the kids handed the bag handler $1 each, we made our way inside.

The regular line for security was long but thankfully we have TSA Pre-Check and our line wasn't terrible, time stamp for the photo below was 5:48am.



We made it through security just in time for 6am CST (7am EST) to roll around, and I had a Virtual Queue to join! The 4 of us quickly stepped to the side so we didn't block traffic as I pre-selected my group (just the adults + DD5, DS4 is too short, sadly) & waited for 5:59:58 to hit "join queue". I was able to get us Boarding Group 43 for Tron (was not bothering with Tiana's this day, as I knew they were being WAY more strict about return times on that one). Boarding Group secured, we did the obligatory "walk to the gate to make sure it exists, then promptly turn around and leave to get food" song & dance. I had packed some snacks, so we found a little area for the kids to sit while Matt waited in an atrociously long line to buy an atrociously overpriced breakfast sandwich (sausage egg & cheese bagel $10).





I also used the time to fill up all of our empty water bottles while we all shared the bananas + breakfast sandwich (which was huge and surprisingly tasty, so made the price tag a bit easier to stomach). We eventually made our way to the gate where we lounged around, taking turns going for walks around the airport to stretch our legs & got in one last minute potty break just before boarding.







On Sun Country you have to pay for your seats and I splurged and got us row 6 (not first class, but the row behind first class!) cause I figured we would want to be among the first ones off the plane and start our vacation as soon as possible! The seating arrangements were the usual me + DD5 & Matt + DS4, but somehow I fudged up and put DD5 in the window seat, me in the middle & then left the aisle seat to be taken by a stranger, with Matt on the other side of the aisle in the middle seat and DS4 to occupy the window seat. WHAT my thought process was on that one I don't know, but it made for an awkward flight attempting to pass snacks & tablets back and forth over not one but TWO strangers laps. Thankfully the two strangers were a grandfather + grandson combo and they both were very nice, but still I felt bad.




We had to wait a little bit (maybe 10-15 minutes?) to take off, but eventually it was our turn and we were in the air. Matt & I got excited when we noticed Sun Country had free wifi & thought that we could maybe be texting/scrolling social media the whole flight (this plane did not have the built in screens on the seat ahead of you) but were sad to discover it only worked on their handful of offered movies/games. So that was a bummer, but we didn't care much - we were on our way to Disney World!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

The kids were beyond excited to play on their tablets (as I mentioned they only get them for travel) so they happily entertained themselves throughout the flight. I had pre-made some sandwiches and DD5 ate hers pretty much as soon as we took off, so I made a mental note that we would be needing to get some food in us pretty quickly after landing. Oh - free parent tip: I discovered this "hack", using the stand of the case to hang the tablet on the tray-table, so DD5 could watch The Sandlot without having to hold the tablet. The Sandlot is a current obsession for both kids, Matt & I are thrilled! But DD5 keeps calling Ham "Chunk" (The Goonies is another obsession- how did we get so lucky that our kids love all the classics and not annoying kids movies?!?!) so we keep having to correct her every time she calls him Chunk



One uneventful (huzzah!) flight later, we landed early (double huzzah!) around 11:15am FL time, my shoes hitting the iconic MCO carpet by 11:19:








We made it!!! We scuttled to the front car of the Fake O Rail & my kids got to experience the "flying" feeling while we listened to Buddy Dyer greet us warmly.







By 11:30am we had picked up our bags (there was a bit of a delay in them arriving to the carousel, so we had plenty of time to go potty) and this was also when our Boarding Group for Tron had been called- eek! We knew we wouldn't make it within the next hour, but it still was exciting & starting to feel so real!

After collecting both of our bags, we made our way to the Mears area, joining the Art of Animation/Caribbean Beach Resort/Pop Century line which maybe had about 30 people in it by 11:45am. We figured we had some time so as soon as we found our place in line, we got the kids all set up with the remaining sandwiches that hadn't been eaten on the plane. However as soon as we got them set up the line started moving, crap! So Matt & I felt like idiots as we scrambled to hastily pick up our picnic, gather the 2 suitcases, the 2 kids, the 2 stuffed animals, the 4 water bottles and the 4 backpacks & tried quickly cramming everything away while the kids were whining that they were hungry (sorry to tease you with a snack and then ZOINK yank it from your hands and tell you to get up and move!)

..... only to have the bus fill up and we were stopped with only one family ahead of us as they re-placed the rope. WHAT A TEASE. We didn't dare re-create the same fiasco we had just endured, but I knew DS4 especially was hungry and the adults were frazzled. DD5, true to her form, was content to sit there quietly and do as she's told but DS4 was reaching his boiling point as we told him we couldn't dig back out the snacks since our hands were full & we were afraid that they would start filling the next bus (we could see several empty buses parked out front). The family in front of us had 2 young girls (maybe 1 & 2?) who were content sitting in their stroller and I felt the mom giving me piteous looks as if to say "sighhhh, aren't my kids angels while your son is quite the handful, poor you" - in my head going "yeah okay lady, give your kids another couple years when they get old enough to have opinions (and voice them) and then let's talk"

An hour later (12:45pm) we were finally on the Mears bus and driving away, where we encouraged both kids to close their eyes for the 25 minute drive since they hadn't slept on the plane- which they both surprisingly did:





Matt and I still feeling frazzled and embarrassed by DS4's meltdown but reminding myself I wasn't likely to see these people again, we tried to let the excitement creep back in and enjoy the quiet ride as we entered the Bubble. We were almost home!!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

So many things:
1. Those pjs are so cute. If you hadn't said they were pjs, I wouldn't have known.
2. It is wild hair (I had to look it up.) It comes from the saying "To get (or to have) a wild hair up your a$$"
3. WHERE did you get the breakfast sandwich? I fly in and out of Terminal 2 on Southwest all the time and I have only ever found the Subway.
4. I bet the mom in front of you wasn't judging but instead was all "I'm so sorry. Mine will be doing this soon (or have just done this.)
5. I would have been happy to pass stuff back and forth across the aisle for you on the plane. Wouldn't have bothered me at all!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

We pulled in to the Art of Animation property a little after 1pm, with the plan being to check in, drop off our bags, quick change the kids out of their PJs and head to MK! As we approached the lobby, just outside the doors was a CM with an iPad who checked our reservation and confirmed that our room was ready, yay! We were in a Little Mermaid standard room and after quick stopping to pick up our mugs & get them activated, we quickly discovered just how far of a walk the LM section is from the lobby- and holy moly was it H O T. We felt like we were melting as we trekked across the property with all our luggage & bags, the kids already starting to whine about their little legs being tired. Passing the Lion King rooms & seeing the Nemo rooms from afar, we eventually entered the Little Mermaid section where DS4 wanted to explore the larger-than-life statues but he didn't have sunscreen on and was (I'm sure) overheated like the rest of us so I only gave him a couple seconds to check out each one before we moved on.



Our room was 7709, located on the 3rd floor of Little Mermaid Building 7, so we attempted to locate the elevator where I snapped this blurry family selfie, time stamp shows 1:30pm (so about 25 minutes after arriving to the resort, oof!) --



We entered our room and were reminded just how small regular Disney resort rooms are. I did a quick wipe down of the surfaces while Matt started to get the kids changed & sunscreened up. Our stroller was to be delivered at 2pm so we were racing the clock- me realizing partway through the changing/sunscreen frenzy that our stroller gear (i.e. the stroller hooks, the stroller bag, the rain bag (everyone remember our CBR/Epcot fiasco from last year where we left it with Bell Services by mistake and then were stranded in Germany with absolutely zero gear?! Didn't want a repeat of that!) etc. was all packed in one of the suitcases - and thanks to a 4:45am shuffle of contents in an attempt to re-distribute some weight amongst the two stuffed bags... I wasn't sure which one they were in. So I tried to (without making a mess) open them both up and locate these items, of course finding them in the second bag I searched through.

Suffice it to say our room was already in shambles and we hadn't been in it for more than 20 minutes, something that makes my eye twitch just thinking about. As 2pm got closer and closer, we basically flew from the room and made the 10 mile hike (obviously an exaggeration, but that's how it felt) BACK to the lobby to meet the stroller rental guy. During our 10 mile hike, Matt and I quickly discussed the idea of upgrading to a family suite- not cheap, mind you, but money doesn't exist in the Land of the Mouse & so we had said if it would be a difference of <$100/night, we'd go for it. So he waited in line to speak with a lobby CM while I met the stroller guy and got it all set up - the kids loving the lobby itself, especially the little corner with the padded seats & the Mickey cartoons ("Old Mickeys" as my kids call it, even though they're not old at all- they just have that vintage-y look to them).



Matt and I had been texting from different ends of the lobby, confirming we would be okay with $90/night for either a Cars or a Lion King themed suite- I quick asked the kids which one they preferred (both are equal distance to Skyliner/bus stops, so I didn't care) and they picked Lion King, so Matt worked it out with the CM! Was I thrilled to be spending another $1,000? No. Was I super excited about the extra bathroom, living space, microwave/sink/extra drawers etc. that the suite had to offer?

You betcha!

buuut the downside was that the CM said we had to do the switcheroo like, right now... so we had to hoof it all the way BACK to the Little Mermaid section, clear our stuff out of THAT room, then bring all of our stuff to our NEW room in Lion King..... oh, and it had started to rain. Ha!!! At least the kids had the stroller finally so we were able to put their shades up & they didn't have to trek the 10 miles ().

Somehow, with me pushing the stroller, the kids sitting in the stroller with their laps absolutely piled with stuff, me wearing a backpack & Matt wearing a backpack and pushing not one but TWO giant suitcases, in the rain....... we found our new room, room 528 on the first floor of Lion King Building 10. Literally the first room after the elevators/building's main doors - which has its pros & cons but overall we were thrilled.









Apologies for the poor quality, but I had a castle to see!!

I again did a quick wipe down of surfaces but other than that we just threw our bags in the room and hit the road - headed back to the lobby to catch a bus to MK!

By 2:50 we were on a bus & by 3:15 we were inside Magic Kingdom!!



Our very first order of business: Food. I quick mobile ordered some corn dog nuggets with fries & a cup o plastic cheese from Casey's Corner and made our way down Main Street to pick it up.



As I was placing the order I realized Disney doesn't make it easy on you to "hack" the dining plan, but your girl wasn't born yesterday and isn't afraid of a little extra work so you know I was going to beat the Mouse on this one. Free tip: Don't waste adult credits at Magic Kingdom since there's no alcohol in this park and literally the ONLY way to beat the Mouse is by using every single meal credit to the utmost potential (meaning, the more $$ the meal costs the better and booze = $$). So we had long planned that MK would strictly be spent on kids meal credits. Knowing that a handful of QS locations don't offer kids meals, Casey's being one of them, I intended to modify the selection that Disney automatically makes for you (not surprising), which for this meal was an Adult QS credit for the nuggets & fries, and a snack credit for the cheese cup. Sorry, but no, so I quick modified my selection to be a KIDS meal credit, and I'd pay the measly $1 for the cup o cheese out of my own pocket instead of wasting a snack credit on a freaking dollar.

Patting myself on the back for not throwing away $ (aside from the $1k we just spent on upgrading rooms... but lets not talk about that), DD5 & I waited inside Casey's while Matt & DS4 attempted to find us a seat, but (also unsurprisingly), no luck at Casey's.



So we instead decided to take our late (emphasis on late, time stamp from the photo above is 3:30!! my poor kids!!) lunch 'to go' and made our way to Sleepy Hollow, where I was determined to test my luck over there since they don't have kids meals either. For some reason the app wasn't allowing me to modify Matt's spicy chicken & waffles (RIP previous, bigger version with slaw & chips) to a kids meal so Matt & the kids grabbed a table over there and ate the Casey's lunch while I got in line to place the order with a CM, instead of a Mobile Order.

I nicely asked the CM if it would be possible to use a kids meal credit instead of an adult which she replied she would be happy to do that for me (yay!) and I was re-joining my family (again patting myself on the back) in no time. It didn't take us long to wolf down our shared lunch entrees, and we were soon off to Tomorrowland to join the VQ for Tron. On our way, I was sure to stop by a blue umbrella just to be sure nothing had changed since the last time we had visited and that we were still permitted to scan in to a VQ any time AFTER the boarding group had been called, since as I mentioned earlier that I know for Tiana's specifically they are really buckling down on that.

This was my first less-than-positive experience with CMs. I approached them with DD5 in tow, and waited patiently for them to finish their conversation with each other. They didn't greet me, but instead just looked at me- I quickly said hi & asked how they were doing and they looked at me like I had 3 heads, finally answering "...fine...." since when are pleasantries no longer a thing?!? Surprised but realizing I guess I better get to the point quickly, I started my spiel about joining the VQ from home but that our transportation took longer than expected and that my boarding group had long since been called - and one of them cut me off and snapped "boarding group for WHAT? Tiana's?" and I go "oh, no, Tron" and they almost laughed at me and said "go whenever you want".

Alrighty then.

 

[Woth2982]

Joining in!

kids tablets were charged up & the apps were refreshed (they are only used for travel so the apps sometimes go out-of-date & need to be re-downloaded)

This is our home policy as well. Long car rides (estimated travel time over an hour) and airplanes are the only time they get them. I was so proud of myself one trip remembering to check the apps before leaving and they were all up to date, what I forgot to do was check them again before the flight home. The cries over not being able to watch Minions, despite being able to see the tile on the tablet, made for some fun moments. Lesson learned. Always check the day of a trip!

The family in front of us had 2 young girls (maybe 1 & 2?) who were content sitting in their stroller and I felt the mom giving me piteous looks as if to say "sighhhh, aren't my kids angels while your son is quite the handful, poor you" - in my head going "yeah okay lady, give your kids another couple years when they get old enough to have opinions (and voice them) and then let's talk"

My look would have been "I feel ya sister! Don't worry, mine will be the devil reincarnated soon enough! They only LOOK like angels." In fact when people would tell me my kids were so cute and well behaved when we got on the plane, I would say to them "Please remember that when they are melting down causing a scene in an hour."

Matt and I still feeling frazzled and embarrassed by DS4's meltdown but reminding myself I wasn't likely to see these people again

This is what I tell myself all the time. Then I remind myself I will miss these days when my babies are not small anymore.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

So DD5 and I rejoined the boys where we trekked all the way to the entrance of the queue in order to set up our Rider Swap - Matt & I noting to one another several times throughout the trip how poorly this is designed. Why don't they just post up a couple CMs with their iPads at the bottom of the area, near this sign:



Instead they make you push the stroller UP that insanely congested hill, over the narrow bridge filled with people just standing or sitting around (presumably waiting for their party to get off the ride? Or just enjoying the shade, I really don't know) all the way to the entrance of the ride to talk to a CM... subjecting the poor kid who isn't tall enough to all the excitement of hearing the coaster whizz by, full well knowing that they don't get to ride? I really don't understand it- but we got the rider swap set up for me & DD5 to go first and DS4 and Matt to wait behind, DD5 then getting to ride again with her dad after we were done. She was so excited! Her first true "big girl" coaster! DS4 was tearful, and Matt promised to get him a treat to make up for it- so they left the area as DD5 & I got in line for the VQ.



We were already well in the line before I realized no one had measured her. We had measured her at home of course but as I'm sure anyone with younger kids knows that doesn't always mean the measuring sticks at the parks are the same - if anyone remembers our Big Thunder Mountain fiasco with DS4 last year, sometimes even the stick at the front of the queue doesn't match up with the one at the end of the queue so I didn't love the idea of waiting 30+ minutes in this line only to get turned away. I quick eyed the kids around us - were any of them as short as DD5??? After a few minutes of gazing around and attempting to compare heights, I finally saw one that looked to be similar height, me trying to catch the attention of the parent to ask if they measured that kid (cause if he was tall enough, mine should be too). When I asked her, this mom also looked at me like I had 3 heads. Did I have something on my face, or why is everyone acting like I'm crazy?! She gruffly said "no" and walked away. Okay, less than helpful but I at least felt better that I wasn't the only one in this situation.. and since she was about 20 people ahead of me, she was going to find out first- ha!

While in line, Matt had texted that they were going to get in line for Dumbo (20 mins standby), first checking out whatever these new smelly statue things were:



Happy to see that DS4 was no longer crying about not being able to ride Tron, DD5 and I found ways to entertain ourselves during the lengthy wait - playing "which Disney character am I thinking of?" and other similar games.





DD5, looking like such a big girl in line for Tron!! Goodness gracious, when did she get so big?!

Eventually it was our turn to ride, and DD5 was never measured - not once. Bizarre! Don't worry - future rides on this attraction she does eventually get stopped and was tall enough so was never in harms way, but still just so weird how she passed probably 6 CMs from entering the queue to getting on the ride and none of them felt the need to measure her. Oh well! I snapped this picture before quickly securing my phone, sending it to Matt to let him know we were about to ride!




She LOVED it!!





I tried to glance at her a few times and couldn't really tell if she was smiling or not but it very quickly became one of her all-time favorite rides.

After we got off, around 4:35, it was Matt's turn to take DD5 (she was thrilled to get to go again!) while DS4 and I filled our popcorn bucket for the first time this trip - first cooling off in the Tomorrowland misters cause it was a hot one, folks!




I quick glanced at MDE to find a low wait time ride, settling on *gulp* the teacups. I hadn't taken my dramamine and I HATE spinny rides but I decided to do my motherly duty and take one for the team since DS4 was freshly sad again since now dad left him to go ride the ride he couldn't. We sat outside the teacups to munch on our popcorn a bit before riding, me snapping this picture:



When immediately after I took the picture Matt texted that they were about to get on. WHAT. It had been less than 10 minutes! I've decided that everyone must feel that Tron isn't worth the $$ for a ILL (or LLSP, whatever you want to call it) but still wants to ride it so they book the VQ.... which is why the VQ takes forever and the fancy ride has zero wait time at all (much unlike Guardians or RotR, where the ILL line can sometimes be 20-30 minutes).



So DS4 and I quickly left the teacups (dodged that bullet!) to re-join Matt & DD5 in Tomorrowland. I think we stopped for a potty break at some point, but ultimately ended up heading toward the exit of MK around 5:45, the plan being to take the monorail over to Epcot and end our night over there- that way we could take the Skyliner back to the resort at the end of the night!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Oops- realizing we had stopped at a PhotoPass CM after exiting Tomorrowland!





Not the best pictures but still had to capture our first park of the trip!

Also, somehow I've either missed this in previous fall trips or it's new, but either way I loved this cute little pumpkin message as we exited MK:



The lighting is poor but each pumpkin is carved out with a letter to spell "See Ya Real Soon!" with little mickey heads on either side. Adorable!

We hopped on the monorail where the kids had a handful of popcorn to tide them over til dinner, Matt I think was thrilled to not have to collapse the stroller (the only form of Disney transportation where you don't, except I suppose the ferry) so we enjoyed our journey over to Epcot.





Shortly after scanning in to the park (around 6:10pm), I mobile ordered us some dinner at Connections Eatery. I ordered two Adult QS meal credits (1 being a "slice" of pepperoni pizza, the other a burger) with a beer each. I don't think the adults were particularly hungry, we just really wanted the beer that came with the meal, ha!!



It ended up being WAY too much food, even for the 4 of us, and we ended up throwing a good chunk of it away. I had forgotten how big the portions are at WDW! Regardless, we were all in a great mood- the kids loving the meal.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

As we sat there we attempted to make a game plan for the night. Our delivery window for our Walmart delivery (just some groceries) was from 8-10pm, so we knew we wanted to be leaving Epcot pretty close to 8pm in case it was on the early side of the delivery window. We decided that we would stick to the "low wait" rides i.e. Figment, Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, etc. and not venture in to the World Showcase tonight. The kids were squabbling over which one they wanted to do: Spaceship Earth (new to them) or Figment. We eventually decided we'd just try to fit both in, and that we'd start with Figment since it was further away.

As we left Connections Eatery we passed the little playground area and the kids were DYING to go play so we left the choice up to them since we couldn't do all 3 (SE, Figment, and playground). They came to an agreement to skip Figment, play at the park for a bit and then do SE on our way out. The kids had a blast at the playground, and it gave Matt & I a chance to drink our beers.



I had forgotten to mention -- at some point earlier in the day, Matt had realized in horror that he didn't pack a single belt for the whole trip. Oops!! When he discovered it (I think at some point between our Little Mermaid room & our Lion King room) I still had time to add items to our Walmart delivery so I quick searched for a plain belt- found one for like $10 and added it to the order, whew! Crisis averted. However at some LATER point in the day, while the Walmart shopper was actually gathering all the items, they notified me it was out of stock.

I don't shop at Walmart at home so I'm not at all used to this but apparently when an item is out of stock at Walmart, you are just kind of SOL. No replacement items, no messaging you saying "hey this is out of stock, how would you like me to proceed?" which is what I'm used to back home. So while the kids played, Matt ran into the Connections shop to look for a belt. I think he said he found one but it was something ridiculous like $50 so we said "hard pass" and made a mental note to perhaps start a second Walmart delivery for a few days down the line, since we would likely inevitably find more things that we would need.

Anyway, back to the playground. The kids were having a blast! I kept feeling like there were bugs biting me but never saw a mosquito or anything, maybe no-see-ums?




Also, peep the guys shirt in the background- ha! A bit gross if you ask me and if Matt wanted to wear that to Disney World I think I'd slap him silly or just keel over right then and there but to each their own!

We eventually tore the kids away from the play area around 7:15, heading to Spaceship Earth. I don't remember what the posted standby wait time was but whatever it was gave us juuust enough time to finish our beers and toss them right before entering the building!





@Isabelle12345 is this when you think you saw me???

As we approached the "how many?" CM, we stated 4 and somehow the kids ended up getting in the car together in front of us, leaving Matt & I to be in the car behind them and the CM didn't say anything.

I looked at him. He looked at me. I looked at him. He looked at me.

I finally spoke. "is that (gesturing to the kids) okay?". He answered "as long as you're behind them, sure".

Matt looked at me. I looked at him. Were we really doing this?!

..and we got in our own row and enjoyed the 10 minute date! I did keep a VERY close eye on DS4 as I didn't want him getting any wild ideas like standing up or anything, and thankfully he behaved himself!

We got a good laugh out of the awful pictures on the ride, but I didn't get any pictures on the ride itself only video so you'll have to use your imagination

We VERYYYY briefly enjoyed the after-ride area and played a few games but decided around quarter to 8 that we'd better skedaddle and so we did... after stopping for a few PhotoPass pictures of course! The cool magic shot ones had a bit of a line, but we didn't care so we joined the line.





We did the Super Zoom one:



Can you spot us??



As well as the funky fish bowl one (Ha! I don't know what it's actually called but we had giant bubble heads so I don't think I'll race to do this one again!! )



Feeling like we met a sufficient quota of PhotoPass pictures, we made our way to the exit............................... only to discover that I am a giant idiot and led my family to the bus/monorail and NOT the Skyliner. Doh!

 

[SEAGULL59]

We pulled in to the Art of Animation property a little after 1pm, with the plan being to check in, drop off our bags, quick change the kids out of their PJs and head to MK! As we approached the lobby, just outside the doors was a CM with an iPad who checked our reservation and confirmed that our room was ready, yay! We were in a Little Mermaid standard room and after quick stopping to pick up our mugs & get them activated, we quickly discovered just how far of a walk the LM section is from the lobby- and holy moly was it H O T. We felt like we were melting as we trekked across the property with all our luggage & bags, the kids already starting to whine about their little legs being tired. Passing the Lion King rooms & seeing the Nemo rooms from afar, we eventually entered the Little Mermaid section where DS4 wanted to explore the larger-than-life statues but he didn't have sunscreen on and was (I'm sure) overheated like the rest of us so I only gave him a couple seconds to check out each one before we moved on.

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Our room was 7709, located on the 3rd floor of Little Mermaid Building 7, so we attempted to locate the elevator where I snapped this blurry family selfie, time stamp shows 1:30pm (so about 25 minutes after arriving to the resort, oof!) --

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We entered our room and were reminded just how small regular Disney resort rooms are. I did a quick wipe down of the surfaces while Matt started to get the kids changed & sunscreened up. Our stroller was to be delivered at 2pm so we were racing the clock- me realizing partway through the changing/sunscreen frenzy that our stroller gear (i.e. the stroller hooks, the stroller bag, the rain bag (everyone remember our CBR/Epcot fiasco from last year where we left it with Bell Services by mistake and then were stranded in Germany with absolutely zero gear?! Didn't want a repeat of that!) etc. was all packed in one of the suitcases - and thanks to a 4:45am shuffle of contents in an attempt to re-distribute some weight amongst the two stuffed bags... I wasn't sure which one they were in. So I tried to (without making a mess) open them both up and locate these items, of course finding them in the second bag I searched through.

Suffice it to say our room was already in shambles and we hadn't been in it for more than 20 minutes, something that makes my eye twitch just thinking about. As 2pm got closer and closer, we basically flew from the room and made the 10 mile hike (obviously an exaggeration, but that's how it felt) BACK to the lobby to meet the stroller rental guy. During our 10 mile hike, Matt and I quickly discussed the idea of upgrading to a family suite- not cheap, mind you, but money doesn't exist in the Land of the Mouse & so we had said if it would be a difference of <$100/night, we'd go for it. So he waited in line to speak with a lobby CM while I met the stroller guy and got it all set up - the kids loving the lobby itself, especially the little corner with the padded seats & the Mickey cartoons ("Old Mickeys" as my kids call it, even though they're not old at all- they just have that vintage-y look to them).

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Matt and I had been texting from different ends of the lobby, confirming we would be okay with $90/night for either a Cars or a Lion King themed suite- I quick asked the kids which one they preferred (both are equal distance to Skyliner/bus stops, so I didn't care) and they picked Lion King, so Matt worked it out with the CM! Was I thrilled to be spending another $1,000? No. Was I super excited about the extra bathroom, living space, microwave/sink/extra drawers etc. that the suite had to offer?

You betcha!

buuut the downside was that the CM said we had to do the switcheroo like, right now... so we had to hoof it all the way BACK to the Little Mermaid section, clear our stuff out of THAT room, then bring all of our stuff to our NEW room in Lion King..... oh, and it had started to rain. Ha!!! At least the kids had the stroller finally so we were able to put their shades up & they didn't have to trek the 10 miles ().

Somehow, with me pushing the stroller, the kids sitting in the stroller with their laps absolutely piled with stuff, me wearing a backpack & Matt wearing a backpack and pushing not one but TWO giant suitcases, in the rain....... we found our new room, room 528 on the first floor of Lion King Building 10. Literally the first room after the elevators/building's main doors - which has its pros & cons but overall we were thrilled.

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Apologies for the poor quality, but I had a castle to see!!

I again did a quick wipe down of surfaces but other than that we just threw our bags in the room and hit the road - headed back to the lobby to catch a bus to MK!

By 2:50 we were on a bus & by 3:15 we were inside Magic Kingdom!!

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Our very first order of business: Food. I quick mobile ordered some corn dog nuggets with fries & a cup o plastic cheese from Casey's Corner and made our way down Main Street to pick it up.

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As I was placing the order I realized Disney doesn't make it easy on you to "hack" the dining plan, but your girl wasn't born yesterday and isn't afraid of a little extra work so you know I was going to beat the Mouse on this one. Free tip: Don't waste adult credits at Magic Kingdom since there's no alcohol in this park and literally the ONLY way to beat the Mouse is by using every single meal credit to the utmost potential (meaning, the more $$ the meal costs the better and booze = $$). So we had long planned that MK would strictly be spent on kids meal credits. Knowing that a handful of QS locations don't offer kids meals, Casey's being one of them, I intended to modify the selection that Disney automatically makes for you (not surprising), which for this meal was an Adult QS credit for the nuggets & fries, and a snack credit for the cheese cup. Sorry, but no, so I quick modified my selection to be a KIDS meal credit, and I'd pay the measly $1 for the cup o cheese out of my own pocket instead of wasting a snack credit on a freaking dollar.

Patting myself on the back for not throwing away $ (aside from the $1k we just spent on upgrading rooms... but lets not talk about that), DD5 & I waited inside Casey's while Matt & DS4 attempted to find us a seat, but (also unsurprisingly), no luck at Casey's.

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So we instead decided to take our late (emphasis on late, time stamp from the photo above is 3:30!! my poor kids!!) lunch 'to go' and made our way to Sleepy Hollow, where I was determined to test my luck over there since they don't have kids meals either. For some reason the app wasn't allowing me to modify Matt's spicy chicken & waffles (RIP previous, bigger version with slaw & chips) to a kids meal so Matt & the kids grabbed a table over there and ate the Casey's lunch while I got in line to place the order with a CM, instead of a Mobile Order.

I nicely asked the CM if it would be possible to use a kids meal credit instead of an adult which she replied she would be happy to do that for me (yay!) and I was re-joining my family (again patting myself on the back) in no time. It didn't take us long to wolf down our shared lunch entrees, and we were soon off to Tomorrowland to join the VQ for Tron. On our way, I was sure to stop by a blue umbrella just to be sure nothing had changed since the last time we had visited and that we were still permitted to scan in to a VQ any time AFTER the boarding group had been called, since as I mentioned earlier that I know for Tiana's specifically they are really buckling down on that.

This was my first less-than-positive experience with CMs. I approached them with DD5 in tow, and waited patiently for them to finish their conversation with each other. They didn't greet me, but instead just looked at me- I quickly said hi & asked how they were doing and they looked at me like I had 3 heads, finally answering "...fine...." since when are pleasantries no longer a thing?!? Surprised but realizing I guess I better get to the point quickly, I started my spiel about joining the VQ from home but that our transportation took longer than expected and that my boarding group had long since been called - and one of them cut me off and snapped "boarding group for WHAT? Tiana's?" and I go "oh, no, Tron" and they almost laughed at me and said "go whenever you want".

Alrighty then.

I agree it was worth the $$ for more space and less of a walk. My family booked two Pop rooms on our last trip to have a little more space. With a teenage son and a 10 year old DD, everyone wants their own beds. And I get it!