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

[MamaMouse0920]

And so we turned on our heels and walked right back into Epcot and made our way toward the International Gateway. I guess we were going into the World Showcase after all! It was 8:15 by this point and I was getting VERY nervous about the Walmart order as I had just gotten a text from the driver saying they were 11 minutes away. Oh no!! To make matters worse, DD5 informed all of us she had to go to the bathroom.. so we stopped quickly. DS4 was enjoying the fountain while we waited:







Looking like such a little teenager with his hat backwards.

Eventually we made it on the Skyliner, huffing and puffing feeling awful knowing that the delivery driver would be pulling up to the resort any minute and we still had to do a transfer over at CBR. I snapped this picture at 8:34-



As soon as we got off and Matt got the stroller set back up, I left him with the 2 kids and basically ran to the lobby from the Skyliner station to meet her. It made matters worse that she didn't speak a word of English. I attempted to clear the cobwebs back to my high school Spanish class days and was able to at least apologize & thank her so much for waiting. I was able to gesture over to the Bell Services area as I would need a cart for the groceries to take back to the room, which I gladly paid Bell Services to help me with since this was more than I would be able to carry. Matt hadn't made it back to the room yet so I quick called him and asked if he could walk with the Bell Services guy while I ran in to Landscape of Flavors and refilled our mugs + water bottles and also picked up some food for us all to share since we were hungry. I ordered an adult meal of chicken alfredo & a kids meal of penne with marinara, and realized at that moment that I shouldn't have sent Matt away with the stroller because it was going to be a STRUGGLE carrying all this. 3 water bottles tucked into my armpits, 2 refillable mugs in one hand and the tray of food in the other, I approached the cashier and realized I was entitled to a beer with my Adult QS meal. I asked if he would trust me to run to the cooler and grab it since my hands were full but he said no it couldn't be done, he needed to see the beer with his own eyes (which I understand). So I set ALL my stuff down at his little counter area and RAN to the beverage cooler and grabbed my beer. Ain't no way I was about to let that $$ go to waste, I'm here to beat the Mouse remember!?!?

Out of breath and thoroughly mortified, I scanned my magic band to pay for everything, regathered my belongings & attempted to walk back to the Lion King section. I made it all the way to the front door when the beer rolled off my tray and landed with a crash (but not an explosion, thankfully) on the ground. Another embarrassment for me, but oh well. Also it was after this day that I learned that the cashiers have paper bags stashed in their area, so another free tip: ask for that instead of a tray. Why he didn't offer me one as he watched me remove 3 water bottles from the depths of my sweaty armpit I'm not sure, but oh well.

We all sat at the table (/Murphy bed) and wolfed down our late dinner, Matt & I multi-tasking eating + trying to put everything away from our Walmart order. We had ordered a case of water bottles, a 12pk of beer for pool days/nights, some shelf stable yogurt, apple sauce, apples, oranges, cucumbers, goldfish, pretzels, and some muffins for our breakfasts 'to go' throughout the next 1.5 weeks. As the kids were in the shower after they finished eating, we set up the Murphy bed to surprise them- they loved it! They crawled into bed and were asleep in record time.



Matt and I on the other hand stayed up til about midnight unpacking our suitcases and getting the room all set up/organized. As we were just about to fall asleep I got a text - our theme park nanny Miss Maya had texted me letting me know she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to be with the kids the next day (bummer! they love Miss Maya!) but that we would be with Miss Kate instead, Maya assuring us that Miss Kate is wonderful and that she (Maya) would let us know if she was feeling better by the time she was supposed to watch the kids for the second time this trip. I wished her well & for a speedy recovery from whatever illness she was suffering, and was off to dreamland by 12:15 with the alarm set for 6:15am.

OOF! What a long, busy travel day! All in all it didn't have too many hiccups, with the exception of DS4's meltdown during the lengthy wait for Mears and our tardiness with the Walmart order. Not bad for a travel day!

TOTAL STEPS: 21,029 (7.6 miles)

Up next: Tuesday, August 13th (Day 2)

 

[Minnesota!]

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!).

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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).

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Just wanted to say hey - another Minnesotan here, and if you live anywhere near where the Matt's Basement pic is - I am not too far from there. We were down there around the same time frame you were - it was gloriously hot, yes.

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!

If it is the same breakfast spot we use at T2, it is MSP-MKT..right near the center of the terminal. Good, fast, albeit a little pricy, food. To the right of Starbucks.

 

[hpygrll]

Following! I love your trip reports!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

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!

1. Thank you! I can't remember where I got them - Old Navy perhaps?
2. I suppose a wild HAIR up your a$$ is far more likely than a wild HARE up your a$$ (I'm LOLing as I type this)
3. Do you know where the Wild Bar is?? As in the hockey team? It was just to the left of that!! No clue what it's called, it looked like mostly grab & go type stuff (donuts, croissants, pre-sliced fruit etc.) but the sandwich was made to order and like I said was very tasty!!
4. I'm sure I was just hyper-focused on my own embarrassment/chaos and totally made up the judgement! I would like to think that everyone who has kids or has been around kids would know better than to judge an airport/Disney meltdown.. cause nothing humbles you quicker than the karma of your own kids tantrum that is sure to come after that!
5. I don't think it bothered him at all either thankfully!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Just wanted to say hey - another Minnesotan here, and if you live anywhere near where the Matt's Basement pic is - I am not too far from there. We were down there around the same time frame you were - it was gloriously hot, yes.



If it is the same breakfast spot we use at T2, it is MSP-MKT..right near the center of the terminal. Good, fast, albeit a little pricy, food. To the right of Starbucks.

YES!! MSP-MKT @Stacybaeasm !!

Re: the Matt's Basement -- I had won Bingo Boat Cruise tickets off of Kool 108 radio station and the boat took off from Stillwater so we made it a day-date and checked out the many local breweries there before the cruise! What is Matt's basement? We didn't have time to investigate, just snapped the picture and made our way to the dock! It didn't look like a restaurant?

 

[MamaMouse0920]

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!

Yes so true- it only takes being burned once and then you don't make that mistake again!!!

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."

Gosh I remember one flight where DS4 (probably 2 or 3 at the time) was being an absolute bear, he actually slapped me at one point! The flight was so awful I cried - and an older lady behind me (after we landed) said to him "aren't you just the sweetest little thing and so good for your mommy!" or something similar ................. I stared at her, flabbergasted. Were we on the same flight, lady?!?!?! Cause no way was he "so good for mommy" hahaha

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.

You are so right about that!!!!!! We had such a hard time getting the kids to stop crawling into our bed in the middle of the night, and now that they've stopped I find myself actually missing it. I wonder if I will miss the meltdowns some day.................. probably not, but time has a way of making us forget the less-than-positive parts doesn't it so I suppose we will forget they ever existed and we'll remember our babies as being angels 24/7!

 

[Minnesota!]

YES!! MSP-MKT @Stacybaeasm !!

Re: the Matt's Basement -- I had won Bingo Boat Cruise tickets off of Kool 108 radio station and the boat took off from Stillwater so we made it a day-date and checked out the many local breweries there before the cruise! What is Matt's basement? We didn't have time to investigate, just snapped the picture and made our way to the dock! It didn't look like a restaurant?

FUN!! It is a N/A bar, waffle bar, gaming hub. I have not been in there, but we park right there when we visit Stillwater, so it jumped right out at me

 

[Isabelle12345]

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!!

Looking back at my pictures, yes it seems like it was on the 12th (also our one time on Spaceship Earth) so I guess it was really you!
And if it helps, I was pretty far so I didn’t notice anything!

As far as crabby people, we were pretty lucky, aside from our last day in AK - it was so crowded and hot, I had to send DH back to the hotel to take a break - he was getting really frustrated with everyone and it was making me crabby

Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

 

[Araminta18]

Wow! Crazy first day but seems like fun. Good call on the upgrade—my husband and I stayed one or two nights in the little Mermaid rooms and they are tiny. Couldn’t imagine with two littles!!

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!

I’m on my phone and can’t see! What does it say? Is it one of those “I have her the D” shirts? I think those are gross

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Wow! Crazy first day but seems like fun. Good call on the upgrade—my husband and I stayed one or two nights in the little Mermaid rooms and they are tiny. Couldn’t imagine with two littles!!

Right- agreed!! So thankful for the extra space!

I’m on my phone and can’t see! What does it say? Is it one of those “I have her the D” shirts? I think those are gross

It says “OnlyDads” - a play on “OnlyFans” we did see plenty of the “I wanted the D” “I gave her the D” shirts which I also think are gross & so tacky!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Looking back at my pictures, yes it seems like it was on the 12th (also our one time on Spaceship Earth) so I guess it was really you!
And if it helps, I was pretty far so I didn’t notice anything!

As far as crabby people, we were pretty lucky, aside from our last day in AK - it was so crowded and hot, I had to send DH back to the hotel to take a break - he was getting really frustrated with everyone and it was making me crabby

Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

Oh that is so funny- what a small DIS world!!! Are you doing a TR for this trip?? If so I’d gladly follow along!

Totally get it on the overwhelmed DH & needing a break- hope it helped!!!! Crowds were NUTS that week in our opinion!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Oh my gosh! I did the same thing in April - headed to the buses instead of the Skyliner to get back to Pop. And I was super sick at the time. It caused ME to have a quiet meltdown. I don't think I'll make that mistake again.

Also - I fully support you spending the extra money for the suite (Not that you really asked). I have done something similar for Thanksgiving. I could have gotten a room for $30/night cheaper at Coronado but I stuck with Pop. For that $30, I would much rather have a) Skyliner to 2 parks (especially at a busy time like Thanksgiving) but also have a resort that I know VERY well as opposed to a resort I have never stayed at. Sometimes, it is worth a little extra $$ to be comfortable.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I always enjoy reading your trip reports! Glad to see another one.

Your first day was very busy and a long day but your kids really hung in there. Looks like a great first day!

I don’t blame you for upgrading. And with your free dining and only paying $90 extra per night for the room you really made out well!! I really don’t think you paid rack rate and still got the “free” dining.

I’ve never stayed at a value resort but my DD18 went with a friend in July and stayed at ASMu for 5 nights. She enjoyed her time there and really enjoyed the resort but said she started getting claustrophobic after 3-4 days due to the small room. She said it’s nice for a short trip but anything more than that and she would have to stay in a larger room.

Can’t wait to read more of your adventures!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Tuesday, August 13th (Day 2)


I happened to wake up 10 minutes before my alarm went off (though I was definitely still sleepy and could have used the extra zzzz's) so decided to just start getting ready. Our general morning routine on park days goes like this:

Mom gets up & starts getting ready (as I take the longest)
10 minutes after I wake up, Dad wakes up
10 minutes after Matt wakes up (we are both fully dressed/ready by that point), we wake the kids up and get them ready

So about 20 minutes later, Matt's alarm went off & he got dressed, and 10 minutes after that we started to wake the kids (who also could have slept longer, but they knew they were headed to Disney World which makes waking up a bit easier!). I prepared them a little breakfast of those bakery muffins & a yogurt pouch each and we were out the door around 6:55am. As we walked to the bus stop, I was able to join the VQ for Tiana's and got Boarding Group 46- Yay!!!!



We approached the bus stop and realized how "late" we were- something I am not at all used to when it comes to Rope Drop. This was a MNSSHP day, with Early Entry for MK this day being at 8:30, so my getting to the bus stop 1.5 hours prior should have been plenty of time... but nope! This was our first clue how nuts the crowds were going to be this trip, another thing we're not used to since typically we have gone the 1st or 2nd week of September, right after school is back in session. The line for the bus was long and we were worried we wouldn't catch the first bus- but oh well, nothing we could do about it now! The kids were still hungry after their light breakfast & decided on the (2nd) breakfast of champions: slightly stale popcorn from yesterday.



We had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus, which was a blessing in disguise as it gave us time to get the double stroller ready to be collapsed. We hadn't yet worked out the kinks of the stroller+transportation song & dance, but boy would we figure it out soon enough. We saw another dad in line who used the stroller hook (off the stroller) to hold all of their water bottles + mugs so we decided to steal his idea and take one of the stroller hooks off and I would carry that with the water bottles & mugs & popcorn bucket (which isn't exactly an easy feat by the way, my water bottle is 40oz and while the kids are only 12 oz, all 3 of them are stainless steel and like triple insulated so they are heavy AF when filled) as well as the bags while Matt managed the collapsed double stroller (also not an easy feat, as it weighs about 40lbs empty and is just big and awkward to carry). We had 2 bags, 1 being the rain bag (contents: stroller rain cover, rain jackets for the kids, ponchos for the adults, and mine & Matt's walking sandals to change into if it looks like rain) and the other being the "catch all" bag, which this morning contained the bubble wands & stroller fans (AKA, the metal-detector-setter-offers), as well as the miscellaneous stuff you need in a park day: sunscreen, snacks, wipes, hats, sunglasses, etc.). Suffice it to say I felt like the Hulk as I carried all that and tried to hold both kids hands as well.

When the bus arrived, as predicted it filled up before we could get on... fortunately, a 2nd one pulled up right behind it immediately after and we were able to get on that 2nd bus around 7:25! When we arrived at MK it became even more apparent how busy this day was going to be.... what on earth was happening??!?! I literally planned to go to Magic Kingdom for EVERY SINGLE MNSSHP day to take full advantage of the low wait times... it seemed perhaps the secret was out! I blame TikTok.

There was a HUGE line for security- Matt took the kids & stroller to the wheelchair/stroller line and I took all of the bags into the regular line. Unsurprising to literally everyone, my bags alerted and I joined ANOTHER long line (maybe 15 people in front of me) for bag checks. Matt on the other hand made it through security without incident and found his place in line at the Tapstiles - me advising him to go as far left as he can since people tend to navigate to the right and the lines to the left can be shorter. When I finally made it through the bag check (yes yes, it was the bubble wands & stroller fans) Matt was calling me in a panic saying they were moving closer and closer to the tapstiles-- a problem since the kids' magic bands are connected to my finger for the biometrics capture. Oops! I felt awful weaving through people in line but I needed to get to my family pronto! Eventually I found them with barely a minute to spare - me using that minute to tell Matt that from now on, the second we get off the bus I don't care if it takes 2 minutes & lets another 50 people in front of us, we are getting the stroller set up with the kids stroller fans + bubble wands so that the miscellaneous "catch all" bag is essentially empty (the rain bag is actually a mesh beach bag, so security can see-through it and quickly assess it doesn't have anything bad). We agreed that the 2 mins it takes to set up the stroller is better than the 20 mins I just spent in that bag-check line.

After scanning in, we could tell we were not set up for a successful rope drop of 7DMT. There were hundreds of people ahead of us (we were maybe 50 feet behind Cheshire Cafe). While we waited we discovered we had never rope-dropped this ride with the kids (everyone remember the linebacker who knocked me off my feet during our Feb trip when we rope-dropped 7DMT?) and had no idea how the stroller parking worked. Would it be like Rise where there are CM at the entrance who take your stroller for you? Where even is the stroller parking for 7DMT? We concluded after dusting off the cobwebs in our brain that it was a shared space between 7DMT & Winnie the Pooh, so we'd head that way when the masses in front of us moved and allowed us to.

...Except that didn't work, because as we attempted to walk (being pushed and shoved and nearly ran over by grown adults running to a 3 minute roller coaster with a 38 inch height requirement) to the left to park the stroller, the masses were all joining the line to the right, which obviously caused it to grow and grow and made it completely worthless to even try to join.. so we said F it and parked the stroller and walked on to Winnie the Pooh instead (NOTE: Peter Pan was under refurb until our 2nd to last park day this trip, so rope dropping that was out of the question). The kids were sad to not get to ride 7DMT but adapted quickly to the change of plans and we wove through the fun queue for Pooh. Usually I cringe at the kids touching all the interactive aspects of queues but since it was the first ride of the day & only a handful of people had been through the line before us I thought perhaps it wouldn't be too germy & let them go nuts.

Soon enough we were on our "Hunny Pot" for the first ride of the day! Time stamp for the photo below says 8:36am.



Quality picture, isn't it?

After we got off & made our way further into Fantasyland, the kids caught a glimpse of Prince Charming's Regal Carousel and promptly BEGGED to ride it (blah - makes me queasy!) so Matt parked the stroller while the kids took a whack at the Sword in the Stone.



Her face while she tries to dislodge that sword cracks me up - she tries SO HARD. One of these days I hope she gets it- I can't even imagine her reaction!!!! Reunited with Matt, the kids painstakingly picked out their horses (you'd think this was a life or death decision- seriously!).






A poorly timed itchy nose for DS4, I guess





The kids had a blast but as I said it made me (& Matt too I believe) feel a little woozy- we both agreed that next time we ride we'd try being on an actual horse instead of standing, maybe that would be better?

After the Carousel we made our way to Little Mermaid, assuming that would surely be a walk on, since clearly this morning was NOT about to be a successful/beneficial "EE Rope Drop on a MNSSHP day". I don't remember what the posted standby wait time was (probably 15 minutes) but it was essentially a walk on.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

By 8:53 we were in our respective clamshells, us telling the kids WEEKS ago that the parents would take turns after each & every single ride who sits with who to avoid potential squabbles between them. Since I sat with DS4 on Pooh, it was DD5's turn with me:



By 9:00 (park open to all guests) we were off the ride, and decided to take advantage of the Little Mermaid backgrounds since that was our outfit theme for the morning! ... unfortunately my kids are not all that photogenic (cute? yes! does it capture well on-camera? not so much) so they were a bit of a bust









That first picture with DD5's hair completely covering DS4's face

A kind passerby noted our outfits & offered to take a family picture, which I gladly took her up on, & that one turned out super cute!!



After Little Mermaid we made our way to Haunted Mansion which had a 13 minute wait time so it was a walk on. This was our kids first time with the stretching room! Previous trips I didn't know how they would handle it and also were trying to avoid germs a bit more but I guess this time we threw caution to the wind and went for it. I'm happy to report they LOVED it (I think DS4 had a little crush on the girl on the tightrope painting because every time we rode after this one he wanted to be able to see her- ha! He also loves alligators/crocodiles so that could have been it too I suppose ) and we didn't have anyone coughing in all that "dead space" so a win/win.

Speaking of winning, DD5 & Matt win the ride-photo:





..whereas DS4 & I failed miserably

 

[MamaMouse0920]

After Haunted Mansion (one of our absolute favs!!) we were all pretty hungry so I mobile ordered us breakfast at Sleepy Hollow, around 9:30am by this point.



The no-longer-fresh berries were less than ideal (I don't love frozen then thawed fruit-blah) but we cleared our plates nonetheless- the kids particularly enjoying the Nutella! Soooo good!



DS4 in his happy place!

It didn't take us long to finish the shared waffle (I believe the breakfast version qualifies as a snack by the way, not a kids OR adults meal credit), and by 9:45am we were entering the standby line (posted 15 minute wait) for Big Thunder Mountain. DS4 got stopped to be measured but cleared the stick by 2 inches so no tears today!!! Time stamps below are 10am so the posted wait time was accurate. Despite the INTENSE crowds, we were doing very well this morning! Not sure where everyone else was in the parks, but we seemed to be picking the right rides at the right times!







We had a blast of course! After BTM we made our way to Pirates which had a 10 minute wait time, which I have video footage of the whistling prisoners trying to entice the key-holding dog at 10:21, so I'm guessing it was pretty accurate as well!

We decided to go for the pirate theme for our ride pic on this one!



By 10:30 we were ready for another shared snack, so we stopped at Sunshine Tree Terrace on our way out of Adventureland & shared a new (to us) treat: The I Lava You float!



It was sweet but very refreshing- the Pop Rocks were an interesting twist (no complaints from the kids, if you couldn't guess). This was their 2nd experience with Pop Rocks, the first being when we ventured to a vintage candy & soda shop in search of vintage grape soda bottles for DS4's Up! themed birthday party and decided to let them each pick out a treat - DD5 picking Pop Rocks of all things Their reactions were hilarious as we gave them zero warning, ha! This go around, they knew what to expect and loved sitting there, mouths agape, listening to them crackle.

After a few spoonfulls we were ready to walk & eat, but I didn't trust either kid to pass the cup back & forth as they shared in the stroller, so I ran back to the window and asked for an extra cup so I could scoop half into a cup for the other kid.




As we left Adventureland, I noticed the Spring Roll cart had no line so I decided to take advantage of that and grab some on our way out of the area. Before I scanned my magic band I confirmed that it was a snack credit on the DDP and the CM said "oh no actually it's a meal credit". I was flabbergasted!! Two tiny little spring rolls constitutes a meal?!

So I used my digital gift card to pay for the "meal" instead.

We sat nearby and enjoyed these, DS4 trying only the pepperoni but DD5 who is our more adventurous eater loving both, pepperoni & cheeseburger.

Matt had been patiently waiting for an opportunity for us to grab coffee, however we had agreed that the best use of our snack credits would be to get the biggest size coffee on the menu (+ extra shots of espresso, obv) at Starbucks instead of the smaller Joffrey's offerings. So we figured this was a good time for us to go back down Main Street and get the goods.

Iced Mochas (with half the chocolate & extra espresso, just the way we like it!) in hand, we made our way back toward Tomorrowland since according to MDE Buzz was only a 15 minute standby, it being a little after 11am by this point.

**apparently I didn't take a picture, we were too thirsty & too decaffeinated that we must have downed our coffees in <2 minutes.... so insert Instagram worthy picture of a delicious iced coffee in front of the castle**

I was paired with DD5 on this one, and if you recall from previous TRs I don't help her with her laser and let her do her own thing- much to the chagrin of my husband apparently





I scored 307,500 & DD5 scored 2k, not bad for no help!! I didn't make note of what Matt got, but I'm going to hazard a guess it was around 100k

 

[MamaMouse0920]

After getting off Buzz, we took our obligatory Zurg pictures (a tradition for this ride)





As we exited, we figured a nice AC break was in order so we made our way to the Carousel of Progress- the kids first times! Initially I wrote it off as a "my kids would be bored out of their minds", but in a previous TR a fellow DIS-er suggested playing the song leading up to the trip (@SimplyGoofy was that you??) - which the kids loved, so they were super excited to go on this one and hear the song in real life! DS4 did get a little antsy in his movie theater style seat (it is 20 minutes after all) but they still both really enjoyed it- though they both hit us with TONS of questions throughout, ha!

It was 11:40ish by this point, and throughout the last hour or so I had been closely monitoring the progress of Tiana's VQ- which had slowly but surely been advancing forward. When we were about 5 groups away I started to get nervous since we had 12:40 reservations at Harmony Barber Shop for the kids haircuts (another tradition). We decided it never hurts to ask, so we made our way to the Barber Shop to see if they could possibly see us early, to ensure we didn't miss our callback window for Tiana's.



They said they had 1 person ahead of us but as soon as they wrap up they can squeeze us in, we were so thankful to them! So we patiently waited our turns, eventually getting the kids in the chairs at 12:15pm.





Both kids were just getting trims, and usually Matt just cuts DS4's hair himself at home, but they're only $20 & usually time well with the 12:00 parade (which incidentally now takes place at 2:00pm, by the way - so my plan to have the kids watch it from inside the Barber Shop was a bust- bummer!) so an easy choice. Plus the kids love getting their hair cut there- in fact it's the only place DD5 has EVER gotten her hair cut, ha! Spoiled girl





The nice CM asked if mom wanted pixie dust as well, so of course I said yes!





At the end while we were paying, our Boarding Group was called (maybe 12:30?) so we were really getting excited to get to ride! Splash Mountain was DD5's favorite ride and the last time we were here & it was open, DS4 was too little so both kids were ecstatic to get to ride it. Heck, so were the adults! We couldn't wait to see the changes - and had been actively avoiding any & all spoilers.

We excitedly made our way over there, only to be met with a hefty line, outdoors in the blazing sun. Oof! We scurried through the outdoor queue, trying to shove the kids in any tiny little piece of shade we could find. And when there was no shade, Matt & I attempted to shade the kids with our bodies as much as possible since we hadn't yet put sunscreen on for the day!

I also could feel my scalp (where the part in my hair was) BURNING so I was really was trying to get through the sunny bits of the queue as quickly as possible. Eventually we got nearer and nearer to the indoor portion, yay!



If you're hoping to avoid spoilers for Tiana's Bayou Adventure (at least the queue portion), scroll on!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

In True Disney form, the Imagineers went WAY above & beyond on the theming & details for this attraction. It is so stinking cute!!

I didn't get many pictures of the ride itself (mainly video of the kids reactions, I was with DS4 for his first time). But we got soaked & loved it!! Being 100 degrees outside we welcomed the giant splash with open arms





It was about 45 minutes between entering the queue and getting off the ride, so pretty standard for a VQ I'd say!

As we got off we made a quick pit stop at the restrooms before making our way back to the resort for our afternoon rest, it being around 1:45pm by this point.

By 2:05, we were on the bus back to AoA & Matt was snapping these beauties:





It was a good thing DS4 zonked out because the guy next to me was watching questionable videos (of the nudey girl variety) on his phone blah!!!

We made it back to the resort where DS4 was whiney about having to wake up, and I mobile ordered us some lunch at Landscape of Flavors before we took our afternoon naps (I don't remember what it was and didn't take any pictures, I'm guessing chicken tenders or something??) and slept from about 2:50-3:05, which felt soooooooooo short but we had our Theme Park Nanny scheduled for 4pm at Epcot so didn't have much time to rest!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

One (too short) nap later, we eventually tore ourselves from our comfy beds & got ready for the afternoon- Matt & I had a date night at Epcot!! The theme of our outfits this night were Finding Nemo & some of my favorite outfits of the trip... which ended up being a bummer because we didn't get any cute family pictures!

We were on the Skyliner by 3:30 and met Miss Kate to do the "hand off" at the same playground the kids enjoyed the night prior.

OH - that reminds me!

That first night at Epcot, remember how I kept feeling like I was getting bit by bugs? That night when the kids were getting in bed DS4 kept saying "my legs are itchy!" and when we woke up that morning and inspected him a bit more, sure enough he had a bunch of little bites on his legs & arms. DD5 had a handful of itchy bumps too. I ALSO discovered that first night that somehow I had completely forgot to pack pajamas. For all 4 of us. How on earth does that happen?!

Normally I'd say "just sleep in your underwear" but I'd heard too many stories of late-night fire alarms and I wasn't about to have my kids (or self, ha!!) sitting outside in just our skivvies. Sooooooo we started another Walmart order, adding hydrocortisone (anti-itch) cream, another belt for Matt, oversized plain T shirts for pajamas, some more breakfast muffins, and then to get to the order minimum ($35) I added another travel thing of toothpaste since the kids was running low & a thing of bandaids to cover the bites & stop the kids from scratching in the middle of the night.

Anyway, back to the playground! After we hugged the kids goodbye (they didn't care, and had one foot on the playground already!) and a quick discussion with Miss Kate on what the plan would be for dinner (I could/would mobile order kids meals using our DDP, or she could use DD5's magic band to redeem the credits), Matt and I were scurrying, hand in hand, to our favorite ride - Guardians! We had purchased an ILL (it's going to take me a while to get used to the new verbiage, bear with me) for 4:15pm, so had some time to spare since the playground is so close to GotG, so we took some PhotoPass pictures to kill time.











Once it was 4:10 (5 mins early) we scanned in for our ILL!




All was going smoothly until we got past the teleportation room. Once again, everyone stormed the right side of the room (which we're used to, and don't bother much trying to position ourselves on that side of the room once we can tell the type of people that we're in the room with- if it's a bunch of people who have never been on it before, sure we'll move over that way but when everyone rushes the doors like a bunch of sharks in a feeding frenzy we don't even bother) and as we left the teleportation room it was absolute chaos. Once the dust had settled we again had a quick discussion - when we do this ride with the kids, how do we keep them safe? Carry them? Hold their hands and hope for the best? We were in the middle of this discussion when a group of TEN 20-somethings started budging their way past us, saying "sorry, 2 of our friends are up there!"

Which is when the title of our trip report comes into play... My sweet, gentle, caring husband saw an opportunity, and he was NOT about to let it go by. Deciding NOW, in the middle of this line of 20-somethings trying to elbow their way through the narrow crowd, is the best time to let 'er rip.



So let this be a lesson for all the line jumpers out there.... you may want to think twice before you cut in front of Matt. No Regerts.

Once we wiped our tears of laughter away, we were assigned to row 1 and got Conga, Matt's favorite song for this ride & seemingly the only one we ever get!! I'm starting to think someone started a rumor that September is a song on Guardians cause I've never had it!!



We took a quick bathroom break after getting off around 4:40 and afterward made our way to the World Showcase, perusing the countries (pausing for my obligatory troll picture)



When we decided we were ready for dinner & drinks, we stopped in good ol U S of A for some BBQ & beer. We do really enjoy Regal Eagle! It's unfortunate though because we don't really like any of the beer they serve INSIDE Regal Eagle but do enjoy the beer they serve OUTSIDE so in order to maximize the DDP we have to choke down beer we don't even like........ alas, it's a tough job but someone's gotta do it!

So we stopped at the beer stand OUTSIDE the restaurant (which has the Hazy IPAs we do like) and, paying out of pocket, ordered two from there & then brought them inside to drink them in the cool AC.



We took our sweet time, enjoying our beer & each others company (kid free!).

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Matt, obviously just enamored with me and overtaken by my beauty, felt the need to capture that beauty.... so for your viewing pleasure, here is a series of photos--- featuring me & Matt's thumb! Photographer, he is not, but he's still pretty great & I think I'll keep him.







3rd times the charm

As you can see we had finished our beers & I was in the process of mobile ordering our dinner when he took the pictures, which was the brisket sandwich and mac & cheese, which was very tasty! Also not pictured (but I'm pretty sure we ordered), Jai Alai beer (not our fav but we'll drink it when there are no other choices) in order to maximize the DDP meal credit.



Also around this time I was texting Miss Kate asking if the kids were getting hungry and she said yes (anyone surprised? ask the kids if they want food and anything other than a resounding "YES" I will die of a heart attack). Since Epcot doesn't offer a TON of mobile ordering options, she said she'd try using DD5's magic band to redeem our DDP kids credits, which it worked! When I asked where they ended up going she said Connections Eatery (sigh, that is one of the one that DOES do mobile ordering) and I believe they just got a repeat of last nights dinner, in kids meal form: pizza & a burger.

After finishing our own (shared) meal & drink, we decided to hit those secret bathrooms in the back of Regal Eagle before going back to the World Showcase. It feels like this happens EVERY TIME we use these bathrooms, where of the two companion bathrooms, one (the further away one) is locked and stays locked the whole entire time we're in line. So it's essentially down to one working bathroom with a line of people in front of us. The first time this happened to us we actually alerted a passing CM cause we were afraid the person was dead in there, not responding to any knocks. Now it was happening again! I swear that second companion bathroom is cursed, so beware.

At 6:55pm we went on Living with the Land (row 1, of course)- such a great, relaxing ride. Soarin' only had a 15 minute standby line (this low of a wait time was never to be repeated the rest of our trip, so it must have been a fluke) so of course we rode, the 15 minutes being pretty accurate.





After getting off around 7:40, Matt wanted to stop in Connections looking for a hat (no luck) and I was starting to get hungry again so while he shopped I went next door to the Connections Eatery and ordered a General Tso chicken salad & a beer (Yuengling this time) to share.



Matt thinks all vegetables are out to get him & would kill him with just one single bite, so salads are certainly not anything he would partake in but he happily shared my General Tso's chicken which was very tasty.



The salad as a whole was delicious but was HUGE and without anyone to share it with I ended up tossing about half. By the time we were done it was 8:30, and we had the nanny til 9:00pm so we texted Miss Kate, asking her to meet us over in France. We figured we (Matt & I) could stake out a spot for 30 minutes until fireworks start, preferably somewhere close to the International Gateway so we'd be in a good spot to hop on the skyliner before the masses leave the park.

Unfortunately the World Showcase as a whole, but particularly France/UK/IG area was NUTS. We attempted to stake out a spot but with just me & Matt & no double stroller we had a hard time taking up space, and the crowds were really overwhelming starting to circle around us. It's not diagnosed but I do think I have claustrophobia (seems to worsen too as I get older) and when this sort of thing happens I get really worked up and anxious- so I was not feeling great at this point. We were texting Miss Kate who had said they were just getting off Gran Fiesta (so not terribly far away from us) but time kept ticking on and we weren't seeing her in the crowds. Matt had the "aha!" moment and said "DS4's air tag!" so we quick pulled it up on Find My iPhone and could see that they had somehow passed us on the bridge, so Matt went to find her while I attempted to look as big as possible and take up our little circle of space without getting crushed.

Finally reunited with the kids & the double stroller, we put them in it but with the people in front of us, even when the kids stood in the stroller (bringing them to a little bit under my height, so not rude to guests behind us or anything) they still couldn't see much. We watched the first 5 minutes of the fireworks (Symphony of Us) but ultimately decided this wasn't worth the awful crowds we were currently enduring nor the even worse crowds we would soon be fighting to get on the Skyliner.. so we ended up leaving. DS4 was devastated, we tried to play it off as "lets go watch them from the Skyliner!" but his lack of a (quality) nap was starting to show and he was nearing the end of his rope, becoming tearful. We could see the fireworks from the Skyliner though which WAS cool, but I wish we could have stayed/seen the show with the music piped in etc. We had watched the documentary on Disney+ "Epcot Becoming: Inside the Transformation" where they discussed a lot about the making of the fireworks show and we were really looking forward to seeing it, so that was a bit of a bummer. Spoiler alert but we never did get to see it, not at any point in the remaining 9 nights!

We made it back to AoA in no time and after showers & brushing teeth etc. the kids were in bed by 10pm and the adults by 10:30. All in all it was a fun, successful day and even though the wait times I described would make it seem that crowds were low, I can assure you they were NOT. Does anyone have a Touring Plans subscription and want to tell me the crowd level for that day??! I'm so curious (but not curious enough to start a subscription, ha!). I am especially curious how/why MK was so busy for a MNSSHP day... clearly the secret is out, boo!

TOTAL STEPS: 25,418 steps (9.2 miles)

Up Next: Wednesday, August 14th: Day 3