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

[MamaMouse0920]

After saying goodbye to Miss Maya and thanking her for loving our kids so much, we quick scurried to see if we could catch the projection show on the Chinese Theater this night since the kids were so bummed we didn't get to last night. We found a spot a WAAAAAYS back, when a CM appeared and said "there's space closer up!" so we thanked her and moved maybe 20 yards forward. A few moments later she appeared again and said "no no, I meant way up there!" and led the kids by the hand (Matt & I struggling with the ice creams & stroller to catch up) to almost the very front! We were so shocked!! We had a great spot and the kids LOVED dancing along to the music and pointing out the characters/scenes/movies.



After the show was done the same CM appeared again and gave the kids an adorable little pouch of Mickey glitter/sequins AND stickers!! We thanked her so much, of course me wiping away those pesky tears. What a great gift! I was glad to have caught her name and entered another Cast Compliment for her (Katie)!



The kids drank their now melty ice cream/milkshakes as we exited the park & made our way to the Skyliner. We were back to the room, showered & Jammied up by 10:00pm.

We had a great day!! Matt & I over-indulged a bit but thankfully we weren't too terribly hungover the next morning.... (stay tuned, ha!)


Total Steps: 18,647 (7.3 miles)

UP NEXT: Monday, August 19th: Day 8

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Monday, August 19th: Day 8

The plan was Epcot, and we had pre-purchased LLMP this day, with our LLs arranged like this:

- Frozen @ 9:05
- Land @ 10:00
- Figment @ 11:00

Early Entry was 8:30 this day, and possibly due to our over-indulgence the night before... but also in part because our LL was so early, there wasn't a HUGE need to Rope Drop, we decided to sleep in. At 7am I had joined the VQ for Guardians of the Galaxy, getting Boarding Group 34.... and when I scrolled down to "my plans" or whatever it said I had also at some point purchased the ILL for GotG for 12:05pm. Whaa. How does a person just forget that they did that?! Cause I seriously had no recollection of making that purchase, ha!!



Oh well.

We ended up leaving our room around 7:35am, but realized shortly after departing the building that the kids had forgotten their sunglasses so I had Matt join the line for the Skyliner while I ran back to get them and would join the rest of my family once they found their place in line.

HOLY SHOOT. The line to the skyliner was ALL THE WAY INTO THE CARS SECTION. I had never never EVER failed a rope drop so terribly this before and I was instantly reminded WHYYYYYY I don't sleep in, ha! We finally found our place in the WAY back of the line around 7:45 if I had to guess, and were on around 8:15, so 30 mins all said and done. OOOF. We got to Epcot around 8:40, the line from the International Gateway appearing long (we seriously were kicking ourselves BAD at this point) but thankfully it moved pretty quickly and we were in the park around 8:45 so not terrible at all.



So pretty!

By 8:55 we were making our way to Norway to scan in for our Frozen LL...





..only to have Frozen break down and we were issued an "anytime" pass. We also were able to then book another LL, so I reserved us a LL on Soarin' for 10:30am. At that same time, we changed our Guardians ILL to tomorrow, since we had a decent callback time for the VQ and we figured it wouldn't be an awful wait.. in fact by that time they were already getting closer to our boarding group so we decided to head to the front of the park and wait it out until our boarding group had been called. We got coffee at the Connections Cafe (Starbucks) and then a giant donut at the Joffrey stand nearby.









Delicious (but not very nutritious) breakfast done, we slowly made our way closer and closer to Guardians, just waiting for that magical moment our boarding group would be called. We were dressed in our "Mickey's Pals" outfits today and DD6 had already gotten TONS of compliments on her Donald dress that morning!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

DS4 was supposed to be Pluto, but without his ears on you can't really tell, ha!



Eventually it was time, and around 9:40 we scanned in.










Time stamp on the photo above just before getting on the coaster is 10:16, so not terrible! We got "I ran" which I believe was a first for us!

I have to hop off for now but hope to punch out a few more installments tomorrow!

 

[disneyAndi14]

We left our phones in the room so no pictures of the swimming, BUT I did want to point out that I stuck my head under the water and heard zero whale noises. Can anyone confirm if this is a thing?!?! Or was that lady just pulling a fast one on us?!?

The main pool at AoA use to have music and whale noises under the water but so many kids were having to be rescued by the lifeguards, they stopped it!

I’m enjoying your updates!

 

[ShablamE]

Like obviously you know about rope drop.. and not just rope drop, but how imperative it is to get there extra early... but don't know that time is of the essence and/or how to scan in to the park? I don't know, the whole thing is bizarre to me!

Obviously I can't speak for them to say exactly the cause for this, but speaking from experience as someone who only goes every other year or so. On the first park day we have difficulty at times determining which finger is linked to the magic band since it was set up on first use years ago (one of us, might be me was unable to use the standard index finger on the magic band wrist because the reader that day didn't like it). Also traveling with kids we need to determine which adult finger is tied to which child's band for entry. So our first return to parks day can be a bit of a show getting through the tap styles.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

First - I kinda want you to plan MY next birthday party. Or at least come to one of your parties. Let's see, I'm in MN from Dec. 20-Jan. 2. Party time??

Second - Me too Matt...Me too (wanting to stay at the Riviera). However, I am a deluxe girl living on a value budget so I will continue to just visit there to eat.

Third - I kinda want to book Ms. Maya to nanny ME in the parks. Is that a thing?

 

[MamaMouse0920]

The main pool at AoA use to have music and whale noises under the water but so many kids were having to be rescued by the lifeguards, they stopped it!

I’m enjoying your updates!

Whaaat! That's wild - thanks for sharing!!!

Obviously I can't speak for them to say exactly the cause for this, but speaking from experience as someone who only goes every other year or so. On the first park day we have difficulty at times determining which finger is linked to the magic band since it was set up on first use years ago (one of us, might be me was unable to use the standard index finger on the magic band wrist because the reader that day didn't like it). Also traveling with kids we need to determine which adult finger is tied to which child's band for entry. So our first return to parks day can be a bit of a show getting through the tap styles.

That makes sense!!

First - I kinda want you to plan MY next birthday party. Or at least come to one of your parties. Let's see, I'm in MN from Dec. 20-Jan. 2. Party time??

Ha! My birthday is 12/24 which falls over your MN-visiting-window.... I haven't had a birthday party in several decades, may be time to change that!!

Second - Me too Matt...Me too (wanting to stay at the Riviera). However, I am a deluxe girl living on a value budget so I will continue to just visit there to eat.

Deluxe girls on a Value budget, unite!!!

Third - I kinda want to book Ms. Maya to nanny ME in the parks. Is that a thing?

It should be!!!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

You can always rent points to stay deluxe if it works for you.

It’s the only way we can justify staying deluxe!

 

[ambula603]

You can always rent points to stay deluxe if it works for you.

I was going to say this, too! This is how we stay deluxe! We have used multiple companies, but our best finds have been from "dedicated reservations" that I am constantly searching. So ya never know!!

I am LOVING your report. I love "voluntold" and need to add it to my vocab immediately. Your photos are beautiful. I think I say this every time, but it makes me want to stop and get more photos taken but yet we never do. You won't ever regret it! I am especially glad you stood up for yourself and had the photoshoot redone. You would have had so much sadness looking at them if you hadn't!

So many steps, even on rest days. But you still seem to be beating Mickey on the dining plan so I bet it was worth it!

 

[disneymouse16]

Thanks for the fun glimpse into a WDW trip! I'm enjoying your Trip Report and need to go back and read your others!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Apologies for going MIA again! We finally bought/sold/closed/moved into our new home and life has been crazy hectic. DD6 switched schools and so far it has been a really positive experience! DS4 is still in daycare for the next 6ish months, and the drive is further than the old house so mornings are absolutely a scramble but work & life are getting into a rhythm (just in time for the busyness of the holidays- ha!) so I figured now's as good a time as any to hop back on the ol' DIS horse and continue reliving my Disney trip!

Speaking of work/Disney, a few weeks ago I received confirmation (I had figured it would be the case, but now I knew for sure) that I would NOT be approved to go to the conference in Orlando in February 2025. Insert big ol' Mickey-shaped-tear-filled sigh. The real kicker though is that when my boss called myself and my 2 coworkers to tell us... she said that Bethany would not be going but Coworker #1 and Coworker #2 ARE approved to go, because they didn't go last year & I did....................... okay that's fair and all, but this year (& last year too, I might add) I was the only one of the 3 of us who had even put in the request to go. So let me get this straight, you're going to off-the-bat approve 2 people's attending of a conference in FL... but they didn't even ask to go..?? The math ain't mathin' folks and I was thoroughly upset (first world problems, I am fully aware ). After a lengthy vent-session to Matt, we came to the agreement that it was really for the best, since we just dropped a sizeable chunk of change on this house & our monthly expenses are about to basically triple so it wouldn't exactly be the wisest financial decision to go to Disney a mere 3 months later.... and so we wiped our Mickey shaped tears away and patted ourselves on the back for being mature, responsible adults who make good, responsible decisions

We're coming for you, Disney World, February 2025!!!!

...hopefully.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Okay so we last left off getting on Guardians of the Galaxy around 10:15am, which incidentally was our first ride of the day- what a Rope Drop failure!



Poor DS4 looks like he's about to be ejected- but I swear he's having fun! And even brave enough to do no hands!!

After GotG, we made our way to the Land Pavilion and ultimately ended up riding Soarin'... not sure if I switched my LL from Land to Soarin' (how it would be available is beyond me, but I guess we all get lucky sometimes!). Regardless, we went Soarin'!



While in line for Soarin' (if I recall we got stopped for a while, and I actually think someone may have vomited because I remember seeing the clean-up CM walking further up ahead of us), I booked us a LL for Jungle Cruise for 5:25pm & also made some other modifications to our existing LLs (maybe swapped Figment?), Peter Pan for 7:05pm, AND managed to snag us an 11:45am Tiana's!!! Woohoo!



Since it was 10:50 & we needed to switch parks, that meant that immediately after Soarin' we were going to have to book it to the monorail, stopping first to get some lunch cause we were all starving after that one measly shared donut... as giant as it was- there were 4 of us!

So I quick placed a mobile order for Connections Eatery (a chicken sandwich & beer for the adults & chicken strips + fries for the kids) which we grabbed on our way out, pausing briefly at the exit after a CM reminded us we couldn't take our shared beer outside of the park.





Eventually we were on the monorail around 11:50am, scanning in to Magic Kingdom shortly after that. We made our way to Tiana's, scanning in around 12:35 (cutting it close, only had 10 more minutes of the LL return time window!), excited to whizz past the people in the VQ line. How did I get so lucky to grab this LL?!



We were on at 12:40, AND we got the first row!! DD6's favorite thing ever!






I snapped this picture as we made our way up the first climb...... only to be met with a huge BANG and the boat that was right in front of us said that a bolt had fallen out and landed amongst their feet. Uh. What. We all were immediately stopped on the incline and a CM directed them all out of the boat (taking the bolt from one of the guests as he walked past her), then tossed the bolt back into the boat, put a red tag on the back and sent the defunct boat (and shortly after, us) on our way. I was thinking the boat would have some exit path to take (I guess I'm not sure how that works!) but nope - that same broken boat was in front of us the whole ride! Matt and I were looking at each other like "ummmmmmmmmmmm......"



I quickly said to Matt "uh, just hang on to DS4 super tight just in case.." and away we went!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Thankfully we all lived to tell the tale and got moderately wet in the process!





We were just about to get off the ride when 1pm rolled around, so from our boat I quickly attempted to get us a spot in the VQ for Tron, which I was able to do- us getting Boarding Group 72.

After getting off I decided to stop at a Blue Umbrella since I realized our "anytime pass" for the broken Frozen LL seemed to only have applied to that park... which the CM confirmed but was nice enough to get it switched to a MK anytime pass, telling me I couldn't use it on Tiana's or Tron but any of the others would be fine. Works for me! Feeling happy with this little bit of pixie dust, we walked a few feet over to Sunshine Tree Terrace where I had mobile ordered a I Lava You float & an extra cup so I could split it between the kids & avoid any squabbles.



Delicious cool treat down the hatch, we made our way to the buses so we could all take a nap back at the hotel before returning to MK again for the night. I didn't write down the timing of this, but time stamp on the photo above is 1:21pm & I have a picture of us on the bus returning to MK at 4:18, so I'm guessing we napped from about 2:15-3:30pm. On our way from our room to the bus stop, we stopped in the lobby & I asked if we could have a Celebration pin for DD6 starting Kindergarten, which they gave me --







Our first ride of the evening was the Tiki Room - since the kids hadn't done it before! Of course it was cute, but man-oh-man was it stinky in there- ha!! It's like the entire collective room forgot deodorant that day and it felt like we were sitting inside someone's stinky armpit. Oof.

After Tiki Room the kids wanted to go on Magic Carpets but it was down, so instead we moseyed around the area until it was time to scan in for our 5:25pm Jungle Cruise LL. During this mosey-ing, I remembered something I had seen about a pirate scavenger hunt, so we stopped inside A Pirate's Adventure to check it out.





It was pretty cool! The kids each had their own treasure map & had their own thing to look for. Unfortunately we completely forgot about the tasks for the rest of the trip and never got to complete the hunt but it was still cool & we will try it again next trip! Either way it was a fun souvenir, too- the kids love playing pirates at home!

We eventually scanned in to Jungle Cruise and had a great ride as always, afterward we were feeling ready for dinner so I mobile ordered Pecos Bill for me & DD6 and Columbia Harbor House for Matt & DS4. We took our Pecos Bill food 'to go' and all ate our dinners inside of Columbia Harbor House.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I think the boys food was good (that salmon & rice/green beans does look tasty!) but I was less than thrilled with mine & DD6's Tex-Mex... it was "blah" to say the least. Just felt like it had ZERO flavor! Even the picture looks so bland and unappetizing. Boo! I had carnitas for me & beef tacos for DD6- me having a slight panic attack every time I looked at her eating her messy meal with her BEAUTIFUL Snow White TJ dress.



About 30 mins later we rode Haunted Mansion (I didn't make a note of whether or not this was LL or standby.. but I'm guessing it was a LL after riding Jungle Cruise).





After Haunted Mansion we decided to see if the Carpets were back up & running since the kids really wanted to ride, but first stopping for a potty break between Liberty Square/Adventureland. On our way to the airport, Grandma had given each kid $10 and both kids had decided they wanted to spend it on the pressed pennies - so that's what we did!



I tried to convince them to maybe divide & conquer and get DIFFERENT coins.. since they were scattered around all the parks, but no dice - what DD6 gets, DS4 wants so we now have two sets of the same exact coins- ha!!

Carpets was back up so we hopped in line! The kids both wanted to ride with mom so poor dad was sitting solo in the back row all by his lonesome



Around 7:30 it was time for our Peter Pan LL so we made our way to Fantasyland next, the LL line being slightly lengthy so we tapped into our popcorn bucket (thankfully I had the forethought to bring it with for the line!) ..but I didn't bring any water so we were all dying at the saltiness with nothing to wash it down with. Oops!

No pictures, but I'm sure Peter Pan was great as always!


After Peter Pan we decided to hit one more ride before fireworks, so we did a last minute viewing of Mickey's Philharmagic a little before 8pm. The show was cute as always, and everything was fine up until the very end. We were walking out of the theater, about to return our 3D glasses when I see DS4 put his over the little cloth lined trash bin thing, and... he snapped his glasses in two. I was absolutely shell-shocked. Why on earth would he do that?! What went through his little 4 year old brain that made him think it was a good idea?! As soon as the plastic snapped he looked at me and I didn't even know what to say. I told Matt what had happened (he didn't see it) and the tears started flowing. I *think* they were tears of guilt but also maybe he knew he was in trouble, but either way Matt took him by the hand and found the CM that was standing near the exit of the theater and made him tell her what he had done and that he was sorry. Matt says she was stern (but not unkind) with him and asked him why he did it (he said he didn't know.. classic answer) and that Mickey was going to be upset. That really brought on the water works, but I think the message sunk in and hopefully he doesn't let his intrusive thoughts/impulses win again! I still to this day am just flabbergasted. My only thought/guess is that he wanted to see how far it could bend since the parts that go over your ears are kind of circular and bendy and he bent them too far??? I really don't know- he is wild and a handful at times but not usually violent/destructive just for the sake of causing mayhem so this was so far outside his norm.

Regardless we told him there had to be a consequence and he had lost his opportunity for a treat that night. So when it came time for fireworks, we parked the stroller at the WAY back of Main Street (near the train station) and DD6 and I went and picked out a treat for her.





As if the night hadn't already taken a turn for the worse with the breaking of the glasses and the subsequent almost constant stream of tears afterward, even our horrendous viewing point (picture above taken right when we found our spot), miles away from the castle, was filling up and people were awful- elbowing their way into your space, standing directly in front of you (I'm talking if I talked/breathed- their hair would move) and was just overall awful. People were touching our stroller and it was super anxiety inducing. The fireworks started, but none of us except for maybe Matt could see anything. Between that & DS4's meltdown we decided to just call it a night and left the fireworks shortly after they began. We felt a less-than-mediocre viewing of the fireworks wasn't worth battling the crowds in the mad dash for the buses. So we left early and hoped to get a head start. On the bus, Matt and I briefly discussed the possibility of buying tickets for the dessert party, since this experience (well, ALL our experiences with fireworks thus far to be honest) had been so downright awful and HEA is my all-time favorite. It was hard to justify the price tag-especially since we had done it before- but the kids were in tears at the miserable experience & us pulling the plug early (multiple nights, now). We also figured when you've spent this much.. what's another $300?

I didn't end up booking it that night, and we were all in bed by 10:10pm. The day kind of went like this:

- poopy morning
- GREAT mid morning/early afternoon
- poopy night

I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes!

TOTAL STEPS: 23,173 (8.3 miles)

Up Next: Tuesday, August 20th (Day 9)

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Tuesday, August 20th: Day 9

This was our last "rest" day, with no LLMP purchased and a 9:15 Capture Your Moment photo session scheduled at Magic Kingdom but not much else in terms of set plans. We left the room around 6:30 for a 7:30 park open (so a little behind schedule, but oh well), and were getting on a bus to MK by 6:50. Since we were headed to Magic Kingdom, when 7am rolled around (we were on the bus) I put us in the VQ for Tron- getting group 17, not too shabby!

It was dark & a bit chilly that morning- the kids were sleepy but excited for the day ahead. Our second to last day, waaah!





We weren't in the best rope-dropping spot, and it wasn't a party day so the crowds were normal as we made our way to Fantasyland.





Obviously we weren't going to attempt 7DMT, so Peter Pan it was! Incidentally, this was my first time riding this one via Standby since they had refurbished the queue (what, 10+ years ago?), and I was excited to see it since I had heard such great things! As we wove through the outdoor portion of the queue, I snapped a picture of Matt (well, really DD6) at the same time that he snapped a picture of me, it was kind of funny & we chuckled a bit once we made eye contact with each other and noticed it!





We were moving too fast through the queue to get any good quality pictures, but suffice it to say I was not disappointed! The interactive parts in the nursery were by far my favorite, but I loved everything about it. Those Imagineers, man!





At one point Matt had taken DS4's ears (I believe he wouldn't leave them alone so that's why they were taken) and I had to take a picture to show him how big of a goober he looked like --



We were off the ride by 7:50am & were all considerably hungry so I mobile ordered a breakfast sandwich, some tots, and a smoothie (or maybe it was a raspberry lemonade slushy type thing.. either way, it was at breakfast & a smoothie sounds healthier so we'll go with that!) to share at Friar's Nook.



We paused briefly to wolf it down but didn't want to squander away our precious Early Entry time so a few minutes later were weaving through the Winnie the Pooh queue.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I'm just realizing I lied - I had purchased LLMP for this day, whoops! Here were my pre-arranged LLs/plans:

- Pirates @ 0805
- CYM @ 0915
- Haunted Mansion @ 1045
- Tiana's @ 1145

And then the plan was to rest in the afternoon/evening & get laundry done as well as pack everything except for our outfits for the next day (& the airport, obviously).

Anyway - back to Winnie the Pooh!



Once on the ride, Matt & I took a series of miserable photos that are all so bad it's comical. You ready?









Suffice it to say..... photographers, we are not.

Atrocious photos aside, we were off Pooh by 8:05, which was 5 mins after official park open. At 8:10, our boarding group for Tron was called so we made our way to Tomorrowland! First stopping for more pressed pennies, this time Pooh & Friends!



We were entering Tomorrowland by 8:12, DD6 and I to ride Tron first and then rider swap so Matt could get a turn afterward.



Time stamp above is 8:12, and below is 8:24- so a walk on!



We had a great ride! I can't even with her face!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

It was about 8:45 by the time Matt & DD6 got off (I'm not seeing any ride photos, maybe they were lost? Tron is the worst for us in terms of not having the ride photo show up so it wouldn't surprise me, but I also could have just not downloaded it from MDE... I did have like a trillion photos this trip & I suppose it's possible to miss one!), and we were worried about the timing of attempting Pirates AND making it for our 9:15 CYM, so we decided to modify our Pirates LL to Magic Carpets (why that one, I don't know- I would wager a bet the kids were begging.. they love that ride!) which had an immediate return time. As soon as we scanned in, I booked us another LL for Jungle Cruise at 1:25pm.







After Magic Carpets, we made our way to the Capture Your Moment/PhotoPass HQ to check in for our 9:15 session. We told them that the theme/celebration was DD6 starting Kindergarten and that we were thinking of doing our photos in the Confectionary but that we really were leaving the decision up to them and their creative judgement since we had already gotten our classic castle shots a few days ago! They were so relieved, ha!

They led us down the busy Main Street and started snapping away. It was a great photo session!! Picture overload- incoming!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

 

[MamaMouse0920]

These photographers did SUCH a good job!! They were absolute pros at the timing & making it look like we were the only people in the park, they did amazing!!! The kids by the end had sore cheeks from smiling so much for these photos (they crammed in SO many in that brief 20 minutes!!!), some of the smiles look forced obviously but I will take what I can get, and hands down these two (three, technically) photo sessions were the best $200 I ever spent at Disney World. So special!!

After we said goodbye to our amazing photographers, we stopped for a quick coffee break at Starbucks on Main Street before heading to our Haunted Mansion LL. It was about 10am by this point.





Fear not, we were pretending to sleep DS4 picked the pose!

As we left Haunted Mansion we happened to notice Peter Pan & Wendy were doing meet & greets near the Peter Pan queue so we hopped in the line (it wasn't terrible) and waited our turn. The kids of course wanted to tell Peter & Wendy that we dressed as them for Halloween last year, they LOVED our costumes!





Wendy spotted DD6's Celebration Pin & Peter asked what "Kindergarten" means, and when Wendy informed him it meant school he was thoroughly disgusted - "you mean you're growing UP?! WHYYY would you do a thing like that?!" but when DS4 told him he wasn't going to kindergarten yet he seemed to cheer up.



It was about 10:35 as we left Peter & Wendy and I booked an immediate return time LL for Space Mountain for DD6 and I (Matt does not care for that ride & DS4 is too short). This was her first time and she was fearful- in all our preparations for this trip I talked to her about this ride (it is one of my favs after all!) but she was scared since she wouldn't be seated directly next to me and it is in the dark. She bucked up the courage however, and away we went, while Matt & DS4 went to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.



Almost immediately upon entering the indoor portion of the queue, I heard a sliding/whooshing noise - as if something slid across the floor. "that's odd", I thought. There wasn't anyone else around us, and there was no explanation for the sound. I looked at the ground (looking for the source of the sound) and as I was glancing downward I noticed my Mickey patch made out of pearls was missing from my cross body bag. And that's when it hit me.

OHHHH NOOOOOOOO.

Yep. My cute little mickey patch had fallen into the Space Mountain Ball Pit of Doom.



Can you spot it? Destined to be a "Hidden Mickey" forever.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

WHAT are the odds, seriously?!?!?!? If the patch had picked ANY other time to fall off ANYWHERE else in this park and chances are good I could have retrieved it but NOPE. It had to fall off and slide perfectly across the concrete floor, through the bottom/open area of the gate things and into the ball pit of doom.

Nothing I could do about it then, so DD6 and I wove our way through the dark queue, and in no time it was our turn to ride.





I am happy to report that she loved it!!! Woohoo!

Meanwhile, Matt had sent me this picture of DS4 waiting for the Laugh Floor:



As we left Space Mountain, I stopped at a Space Mountain CM and told her the situation with my Mickey patch. "Does anyone ever go down there & clean it out? Is there any shot at me getting it back?" but the CM was less hopeful. Well, she didn't care much I guess is the more appropriate explanation. She was just kind of like "Meh, sorry. Go fill out a Lost & Found form". So I made a mental note to do so on our way out of the park.

As we left Space Mountain, DD6 picked out more pressed pennies, these I believe were Tron themed... a bit odd since she's never seen the movie/played the game (neither have I) BUT she does love the ride so I guess that's what counts!



I must have assumed that the Laugh Floor was a shorter/quicker attraction than it is (admittedly I had never done it!) and so I stupidly mobile ordered (& picked up) lunch at Cosmic Rays, thinking the boys would be joining us shortly so the time would work out perfectly. Nope! DD6 and I basically finished our whole lunch by the time they joined us, ooops!



After they did join us and we all had eaten, we left Tomorrowland and noted the darkening skies - better pick an indoor ride! So we settled for Pirates, with an 11:50 return time. We put the stroller under the rain cover & quick scurried in line - hoping it would be a quick passing shower and would be done by the time we got off.



Poor DD6 got Mike Wazowski'd!

Of course as soon as we got off we realized the rain hadn't started yet (boo!) but that it was going to come down any minute. We quick changed our shoes from tennis shoes to sandals and put on our ponchos just in the nick of time, the rain had fully started. We had our 11:45am LL for Tiana's so we made the short jaunt that direction, thinking "well, if we're going to get wet from the rain anyway may as well ride Tiana's!" buuuuut as soon as we parked the stroller & made our way to the tapstiles, the CMs started shouting to the masses "TIANA'S IS CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER" so there must have been lightning in the area. We had been issued an "anytime" pass, but we were about to leave the park and wouldn't be returning today - and remembering what the CM had told me the day before, those redemption LLs don't transfer park to park. So I decided to stop at Guest Services and see if I could kill two birds with one stone - submit my lost & found request AND see if they could switch my Tiana's LL to the next day when we'd be returning to Magic Kingdom (our last day, waah!).

The CM at Chamber of Commerce was much more helpful/hopeful, commenting "oh that should be no problem at all, they go down there every so often and clean it out anyway. I wouldn't expect it back like, tomorrow, but you should definitely get it back". Whew! And then he was also kind enough to move my Tiana's to the next day, an anytime pass for that as well. Wow!

We left the park shortly after, with the rain in full swing but it didn't bother us since we were about to head back to the resort and take a nap/do laundry! Also in that rest time, we went ahead and bought the pre-party dessert tickets for the next day. Oh well, it's all Monopoly money in the Land of the Mouse!

(jk, it cost $316 for the 4 of us)


We left our room a little after 4:30, and let the kids play on the Finding Nemo playground for a bit on our walk over to the Skyliner. We had worn the Finding Nemo coordinated outfits earlier in the trip, but after we washed them & I went to pack them away I thought "on second thought, let's wear these again since I didn't get any cute family pictures in them!". So I tried to be more conscious about capturing these outfits, since I thought they were so cute!









Spoiler alert: I suck and got no family photos with our matching/coordinated Nemo outfits for the SECOND time this trip. Whoops! But from the pictures above you can kind of piece-meal them together: I was Nemo, DD6 was Dory, DS4's shirt lists all the characters and dad's was just a simple/minimalistic image of Squirt on the top left breast pocket area of the tee.

After the kids played for a bit on the playground, we were on the Skyliner headed to Epcot by 5pm!