This is Magical, this is Horrific, and this is Epic! TR 8/27-9/7/25, update 9/27*

[pkondz]

I never get my requests anymore sad

That's unfortunate. I counted on those requests.

It was nice and not near as noisy as I thought it might be!

Good! I hadn't thought about that, but considering your room location, I would have thought it would be noisy.

Haha I sure don’t but 20 something Andi sure does!

The queue is different on test track and the inside portion has a different overlay but basically the same turns, stops, bumps etc….

Ah. So the overlay is different after all. I wouldn't expect the track to change. $$$$$$$

Andi dives deep on these things and Disney definitely changed the temperature for cooling to save money, she found many reports of this, she is a sleuth haha

The truth comes out!

Haha I’m sure money grab all the way!

The rain really put a damper on the evening, literally haha

Not the delicious Nomad lounge churros!

Some day...

It was but really a good one overall despite the rain!

That's good.

We had a little in the room breakfast with our grocery items and of course the yummy cold brew coffee.

And beer.

The bus was not very busy and we got a seat, yay

Always a plus when you get to sit.

it was a party day so the park was closing at 6pm to all non party guests, which was us.

Getting tossed out with the riff raff, huh?

We rode HMx2, JC, Piratesx2, PPF, Under the Sea, Dumbo, People Moverx2, WtP, the carousel, Tiana’s Bayou, 7DMT, Tron, IASW, and Andi rode SM.

Holy smokes! Lots!

Not at all windblown.

You must've been so terrified!

We both tried the Macaroni and Cheese hand pie

Never heard of that! Was it good?
It also looks (with the melted cheese) that you can't really eat it with your hand?

We headed back to the resort for a later afternoon rest and there was a wild thunderstorm while we were resting. We didn’t think much of it but we sure heard and saw some wicked thunder and lightning.

Good timing.

We heard the people in front of us at the IG saying the storm took out all the rides at all the parks except for Safari since it is gas powered.

We looked on the MDE app and yes indeed almost every ride across the parks were closed. Oh no

Whoa.
Not a great night to do a non-refundable party.

We ordered the Italian Beer Sangria, this is really good! Andi loved it

Not a beer fan, but it sounds interesting.

Small Margherita pizza with mushrooms.

I never thought of putting mushrooms on a margherita pizza! But... I don't see any basil?

Well, at 10pm everything was still closed except MMRR opened but had a 40 minute wait, since nothing else was on line, and the park closed at 11pm, we decided not to go!

Yeah, not really worth going. Shame.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

This area is my favorite! Andi loves it as well! So many good restaurants and lounges in this area and the walk ability can’t be beat!

This is exactly why we love staying at the YC. Everything Is so easy and stress free. There’s nothing quite like popping into France for breakfast or the Rose & Crown for a pre-dinner G&T.

We thought we the price for the special event we could go into some favorite houses multiple times and that was not the case!

That’s a tad disappointing as it was an expensive ticket. I’d have thought numbers would have been low enough to allow you to revisit a house or two.

I will be honest I just had fun this day and didn’t take many pictures and didn’t write much in my

I always have few photos of my favourite days. Sure sign you’re having fun

We heard the people in front of us at the IG saying the storm took out all the rides at all the parks except for Safari since it is gas powered.

I was shocked when I heard all the rides had been taken out by the storm. Certainly scuppered your plans at HS. I imagine Disney had to issue refunds for the MK party goers.
Friends of mine visited Disney, US and Epic this past July and said that the a/c in Disney was rubbish compared to other parks. They felt even the shops and restaurants at Disney didn’t offer the same relief from the heat. Now I know why!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Well, at 10pm everything was still closed except MMRR opened but had a 40 minute wait, since nothing else was on line, and the park closed at 11pm, we decided not to go! Ugh such a bummer, we really wanted to make use of the extra 2 hours riding TSMM, ToT, SDD, and Rise but it just wasn’t possible.

That was really unfortunate. The deluxe hours are too infrequent and hard to take advantage of every trip. At least you were able to escape the storm.

 

[DLo]

Following along looking forward to reading more

 

[Stacybaeasm]

You had what to drink at Via Napoli? Because I'm not sure all of those words go together - Italian Beer Sangria. LOL.

I'm so sorry the storms derailed your evening. I heard about all the rides going down, but honestly, it didn't truly register how much that probably impacted everyone there.

 

[buzzrelly]

Hi Caroline!

yay for another Andi trip!

I just stayed at the newly rewly refurbished YC and loved to room too! I would pay good money for that wallpaper!

HHN scares the pants off of me, I don't know how you do it!

Looks like an amazing MK day! And can't go wrong with a Bar Riva nightcap!

 

[GGOOFY1]

Hi Caroline, we were at the YC the same time you were! We were there 8/28-9/10! It was very HOT, drank a lot of water. The crowds were not bad at all, even over Labor Day. Look forward to the rest of your TR!

 

[suse66]

Overdue catch up post! I thought I commented earlier but it must have been my imagination, lol!

Love, love, love your room at Yacht Club. It's still one of my favourite resorts. Just wish it wasn't so spendy.

You are brave to go to horror nights. I would have the worst nightmares.

The bed was comfy and the room was clean and quiet! This room was far from the ice machine and elevator which was a little bit of a negative.

Sounds great!

Today was our MK day with Epcot and HS in the evening, join in to see how we did!

Just a casual three park day.....

Our Via Napoli reservation was for 7:10pm so we started to make our way over to Epcot around 6pm. The storm was over yay!

I love Via Napoli.

Our plan was to try the cider flight in Morocco before our dinner. Tangerine Cafe had a couple F&W options and we picked the cider flight.

I love that flight, they always used to have a pomegranate cider that I really enjoyed.

Well, at 10pm everything was still closed except MMRR opened but had a 40 minute wait, since nothing else was on line, and the park closed at 11pm, we decided not to go! Ugh such a bummer, we really wanted to make use of the extra 2 hours riding TSMM, ToT, SDD, and Rise but it just wasn’t possible.

Ugh, too bad! That must have been a doozy of a storm!

 

[amazingact21]

Mel’s Die In, they had zombie wait staff on rollerblades with body parts on their trays!

So, my sister in-law is a big HHN fan, and she has a tradition where she calls Evie every year when she goes. And this year, Evie LOVED the roller-skating zombies. She hung up and said, "I would love to know how they got the body parts so detailed."

I don’t think we would do it again, mostly because we couldn’t eat/drink enough to make the ticket worth it.

Thanks for sharing this info.
My SIL and I are waiting for when Evie's old enough to go to HHN, and I wondered if doing something like this would be worth it.
What age was Andi when you first took her?

#1 El Artisa A Spanish Haunting,

This one looked very cool.

#2 Galkin Monsters of the North,

This was my SIL's favorite. She said it was great.

I really liked the series, the house was not that great, it wasn’t really scary I thought it could have been better based on the show.

That's a bummer to hear. I enjoyed the tv series, too.

The cat lady on crooked lane was the best scare zone this year in my opinion.

This scare zone looked awesome.

Well, at 10pm everything was still closed except MMRR opened but had a 40 minute wait, since nothing else was on line, and the park closed at 11pm, we decided not to go! Ugh

How disappointing that everything lost power! I'm glad you were able to have a busy MK morning and enjoy some pizza at Via Napoli. Still...that's a lot of ride time you lost!

 

[disneyAndi14]

That's unfortunate. I counted on those requests.

I know, I keep trying using my TP subscription. We did get 4th floor so I guess we did get a little of our requests

Good! I hadn't thought about that, but considering your room location, I would have thought it would be noisy.

We like to take afternoon naps so I was concerned but not bad at all and actually fun to watch the people soup

Ah. So the overlay is different after all. I wouldn't expect the track to change. $$$$$$$

Yes overlay is different and no more building your car

The truth comes out!

Just ask Andi not google haha she is full of information

And beer.

Breakfast for champions

Always a plus when you get to sit.

I agree, standing on the bus is okay just not my cup of tea! I like the time to relax and no relaxing for me standing up

Getting tossed out with the riff raff, huh?

Very true but you just can’t beat party days with the low day crowds!

Holy smokes! Lots!

We did everything we wanted to at MK and when Fantasyland has open walkways you know it isn’t busy!

Not at all windblown.

Ugh I hate how I look on these rides, terrible!

You must've been so terrified!

HM does that to me

Never heard of that! Was it good?
It also looks (with the melted cheese) that you can't really eat it with your hand?

It was, we wanted to try a new menu item. I wouldn’t need to run and get it again but it was worth a try

Whoa.
Not a great night to do a non-refundable party.

I didn’t even think about that! I wonder what the guest relation line was like at MK for the party!

Not a beer fan, but it sounds interesting.

This is perfect for a non beer fan, like myself!

I never thought of putting mushrooms on a margherita pizza! But... I don't see any basil?

You are right! It was just cheese and mushrooms not a margherita one! Geez I’m a liar and terrible Trip reporter!

Yeah, not really worth going. Shame.

We were really bummed, Disney does so few HS extra hours in the evening!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hey Andi!!! I am here and following along! I love your daughter and mom trips. One day Gwen and I will start doing them. Can't wait to hear all about the trip!

 

[pkondz]

I know, I keep trying using my TP subscription. We did get 4th floor so I guess we did get a little of our requests

hmmm... probably don't even need the subscription for an entire floor request.

and actually fun to watch the people soup

and no more building your car

Don't think I'll miss that all that much, but I know some people really liked that part.

Just ask Andi not google haha she is full of information

Her full name is Andi Dis-wiz (your last name)

Breakfast for champions

Very true but you just can’t beat party days with the low day crowds!

Ugh I hate how I look on these rides, terrible!

Nope! You look like you're having fun! It doesn't get better than that.

You are right! It was just cheese and mushrooms not a margherita one! Geez I’m a liar and terrible Trip reporter!

 

[disneyAndi14]

This is exactly why we love staying at the YC. Everything Is so easy and stress free. There’s nothing quite like popping into France for breakfast or the Rose & Crown for a pre-dinner G&T.

Totally agree with you! Our stays at YC have always been really nice! Ale and Compass makes a really delicious dirty martini

That’s a tad disappointing as it was an expensive ticket. I’d have thought numbers would have been low enough to allow you to revisit a house or two.

I had visions of us doing at least 2-3 houses more than once. The rain really put a damper on it!

I always have few photos of my favourite days. Sure sign you’re having fun

I noticed this trip I didn’t take a million pictures like usual. We were having so much fun!

I was shocked when I heard all the rides had been taken out by the storm. Certainly scuppered your plans at HS. I imagine Disney had to issue refunds for the MK party goers.
Friends of mine visited Disney, US and Epic this past July and said that the a/c in Disney was rubbish compared to other parks. They felt even the shops and restaurants at Disney didn’t offer the same relief from the heat. Now I know why!

I know, especially since we didn’t even know about until walking into Epcot! I bet the party goers got a free day ticket! I can’t believe how much Disney has decreased the air conditioning everywhere it is not good! Guests need a heat reprieve in the attractions and shops and now it is literally mid 70s inside!

That was really unfortunate. The deluxe hours are too infrequent and hard to take advantage of every trip. At least you were able to escape the storm.

We were really bummed! Especially since DHS is hardly ever in the rotation and I agree the EMH is too infrequent!

Following along looking forward to reading more

Hello! Thank you for reading along!

You had what to drink at Via Napoli? Because I'm not sure all of those words go together - Italian Beer Sangria. LOL.

I know it is delicious here is the description Peroni beer, St. Germain, pear purée, orange juice, lemon juice. It is really refreshing and delicious

I'm so sorry the storms derailed your evening. I heard about all the rides going down, but honestly, it didn't truly register how much that probably impacted everyone there

It really was a bummer since DHS is hardly ever in the rotation for extra hours!

 

[disneyAndi14]

yay for another Andi trip!

The trips with her are more infrequent now so I really look forward to it!

I just stayed at the newly rewly refurbished YC and loved to room too! I would pay good money for that wallpaper!

I loved it! I miss the constellation curtains a little but overall it definitely looks like a YC now!

scares the pants off of me, I don't know how you do it!

Haha HHN is done really professionally and I just marvel at the production, scare actors, and the imagination of the crew that makes this happen!

Looks like an amazing MK day! And can't go wrong with a Bar Riva nightcap!

Bar Riva was a nice 2nd choice since the DHS was mostly off line!

Hi Caroline, we were at the YC the same time you were! We were there 8/28-9/10! It was very HOT, drank a lot of water. The crowds were not bad at all, even over Labor Day. Look forward to the rest of your TR!

Hi there! It definitely was a hot one and yay to the low crowds. We love this time of year, not for the oppressive heat but the low crowds. How was your stay at YC, it is our favorite resort for many reasons!

Overdue catch up post! I thought I commented earlier but it must have been my imagination, lol!

Hi Susan, missed seeing you this trip. I know end of August has been a favorite time for you to travel to WDW. Our first meet up was in August many years ago!

Love, love, love your room at Yacht Club. It's still one of my favourite resorts. Just wish it wasn't so spendy.

Remember the great deal we use to get at the end of the summer, it is crazy now when I think about all our stays at GF, Poly, CR, and the Epcot resorts with that deal!

You are brave to go to horror nights. I would have the worst nightmares.

Haha I am literally exhausted when I do the HHN but in a good way. I always tell Andi I am not going to scream this time and I always do!

I love Via Napoli.

Same it is probably the one WDW restaurant we have been to the most! Sanaa a close second!

I love that flight, they always used to have a pomegranate cider that I really enjoyed.

We always stop in Morocco at the festivals for the cider flights!

Ugh, too bad! That must have been a doozy of a storm!

It really was, I was glad not to be out during it but such a bummer it caused such a problem at the parks!

 

[disneyAndi14]

So, my sister in-law is a big HHN fan, and she has a tradition where she calls Evie every year when she goes. And this year, Evie LOVED the roller-skating zombies. She hung up and said, "I would love to know how they got the body parts so detailed."

I love the Mel’s Die in and the roller skating zombies awesome especially on the premium scream night, no one else around we had the whole area to ourselves! Evie would love it! The details and professional makeup is amazing

Thanks for sharing this info.
My SIL and I are waiting for when Evie's old enough to go to HHN, and I wondered if doing something like this would be worth it.
What age was Andi when you first took her?

Overall it was great! I wish they would have left the cap at 5000 for the houses at least. We did our first HHN when Andi was 16 and she was hooked, me not so much I was really scared and could only tolerate 4 houses the first year, my sister was with thank goodness because they loved everything about it! I do love it now but man it exhausts me! I am always afraid and scream all night long haha

This one looked very cool.

It is weird to say a Horror House is beautiful but this one was with a great story, flying gargoyles above us, amazing!

This was my SIL's favorite. She said it was great.

Loved this one with the big puppets and again beautiful set!

That's a bummer to hear. I enjoyed the tv series, too.

This was campy which I know it meant to be but just missed for me. I barely saw the ghoul. I wish he would have been in it more! Okey dokey haha

This scare zone looked awesome.

This night really made the scare zones shine later in the evening since earlier the rain closed up the scare zones. We have never been able to walk through the scare zones with so few people and the interactions with the scare actors was very cool!

How disappointing that everything lost power! I'm glad you were able to have a busy MK morning and enjoy some pizza at Via Napoli. Still...that's a lot of ride time you lost!

It really was but Via Napoli and Bar Riva made it a pretty nice evening overall

Hey Andi!!! I am here and following along! I love your daughter and mom trips. One day Gwen and I will start doing them. Can't wait to hear all about the trip!

Thanks for joining in! Mom and daughter trips are priceless

hmmm... probably don't even need the subscription for an entire floor request.

I like using the trip planner and putting my trips in so I like it for that and the line app is really helpful when we are at the parks. It gives really accurate wait times in my opinion

Don't think I'll miss that all that much, but I know some people really liked th

Yeah we never cared about making a car! My quoting quit right near, lol
Yes indeed Andi is like my own AI, haha

 

[suse66]

Hi Susan, missed seeing you this trip. I know end of August has been a favorite time for you to travel to WDW. Our first meet up was in August many years ago!

I know.....I still remember chatting to you and Andi near 7DMT. Now you are a wonderful friend and super fun travel partner! One day I'll be back at WDW.

Remember the great deal we use to get at the end of the summer, it is crazy now when I think about all our stays at GF, Poly, CR, and the Epcot resorts with that deal!

Those Labour Day specials were the best!!! I got $188 at Boardwalk, $194 at AKL, $212 at Poly etc. Those were the days!

 

[disneyAndi14]

A great plan and a not so great one!

Hello There!

Today was AK in the am, DS in the afternoon, and MK in the evening! Does it work out, well read on and see!

We had another good night of sleep. The plan was AK in the morning. We did have some coffee, muffins, and a banana before heading out.

We were not RDing the park so the AK bus was about 1/2 full. Our plan was to go straight to Dinosaur and ride a couple times before using our FP$$

We rode 3x and I have to show all 3 pictures, love this ride and some of the people on the ride are hilarious to look at, haha

#1

#2

#3

This was Labor Day weekend and we were pleasantly surprised how low the crowds had been so far. AK was no exception!

We got a few more pictures with the Dinosaur sign before moving on.


We walked the Gorilla trail today and said hi to the hidden Hippo, I thought he was a rock and it was an actual hippo. We of course said hi to all the gorillas. We saw quite a few including the two younger females. I heard Gino died recently at AK, I’m sure we saw him many times! He was over 40 years old!

Next it was time for our Safari, we didn’t see a ton of animals at this time but it is always a great experience.

We headed into Pandora for our FP$$, we rode NRJ and FoP. I really love both of these rides. The attractions never get old to me. We were having a leisurely morning at AK, no rushing to rides just enjoying ourselves.

We spent some time looking in the gift shops before heading out to get a Lyft to DS.

It was so stinking hot out again! We got dropped off on the west side of DS, you come in by AMC and Splitsville.

We walked over to Jaleo for the Sangria hour. We were seated at the bar. This is such a good deal! It occurs daily from 11:30am-5pm. The only catch is you need to eat at the bar. It was mid afternoon around 1:30pm so the bar was pretty quiet.

We both had the red sangria and the tapas on the sangria menu.
The prices are quite a deal for some really delicious drinks and tapas. The prices are below with the description of the tapas we ordered.
Everything was delicious and I loved the Sangria, Andi isn’t a huge fan of Sangria so she also had a beer on tap. The Sangria was only$7

Pan con tomate

Toasted slices of crispy bread brushed with fresh tomato $6

Croquetas de pollo
Traditional chicken fritters $6

Patatas bravas*
A Jaleo favorite: fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and alioli5

Buñuelos de bacalao con alioli de miel
Fried cod and potato fritters with honey alioli6.50

The tomatoes was my favorite, this is simple and so tasty all the other tapas so good as well! We enjoyed everything!

I highly recommend trying the Sangria Hour at Jaleo, definitely 2 thumbs up. Our server was definitely Spanish and I had a hard time understanding him, thank goodness for Spanish speaking Andi. This happened a couple times with servers and she knew exactly what they were saying!

This was such a nice chill afternoon on a boiling hot day!

We pulled ourselves away from the bar and tried to get into another bar haha the only thing was the line was out the door with a 40 minute wait in the sun! Boo. We really wanted to check out Jock Lindsey’s Halloween Bar but they don’t use text to alert you when your table is ready so you basically have to stand outside and wait!

We decided to pick up some cookies from Summer House, Gideons had too long of a line! We got a raspberry cheesecake cookie, Birthday sugar cookie and the Big Pink cookie. Total fail on getting pictures. We had the cookies packed to take back to the room.

We shared all 3 and munched on these for several days and liked all of these. The pink one had the best thick pink frosting, it was my favorite.

Next, We decided to have a drink on the covered patio at House of Blues, they had a guy singing and playing guitar. Andi had a spicy margarita and I had a Diet Coke. We tried the beignet dessert. It was fair, more like a powdered donut, not a beignet. The POFQ beignet’s are way better.


We finished up and headed back to the YC via Lyft.

It was time to take a little nap before heading to MK for the new nighttime parade!

I had been making FP$$ after our morning in AK. I had made WtP, HM, and PPF. We arrived around 7pm, the park was very busy because it was a nonparty night. We did our FP rides.


We planned on watching the parade but it was really busy and Andi did not want to try and find a spot in the large crowds. We decided to head out. We did literally walk up and down the whole parade route and other then trying to squish in between people it was full. Andi is not one for squishing in so this plan was a fail. Oh well we looked in the Emporium, filled the popcorn bucket and headed out before the parade started.

Andi wasn’t to upset about the parade and I knew I would have a chance to watch it in October. Overall this was a great day with several new experiences.

Stay tuned for DHS day and a fireworks party with no lines, no squishing, and unlimited food and drinks! We are spoiled now!

Step count today 24442

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I didn’t realize YC had a room refurbishment since my last stay in April 2024.

I didn't either! I love the wallpaper! And now I want to stay there next time!

I highly recommend trying the Sangria Hour at Jaleo,

One day we will get to Jaleo.

We planned on watching the parade but it was really busy and Andi did not want to try and find a spot in the large crowds. We decided to head out. We did literally walk up and down the whole parade route and other then trying to squish in between people it was full. Andi is not one for squishing in so this plan was a fail. Oh well we looked in the Emporium, filled the

I hope by the time we go the parade won't be as fresh and just a tiny bit easier to get a spot for. We are not big fans of the chaos of fireworks.

 

[buzzrelly]

We rode 3x and I have to show all 3 pictures, love this ride and some of the people on the ride are hilarious to look at, haha

All of those pics are so funny!

I highly recommend trying the Sangria Hour at Jaleo, definitely 2 thumbs up.

Oooooooo...this looks good and I love Sangria!

 

[pkondz]

I like using the trip planner and putting my trips in so I like it for that and the line app is really helpful when we are at the parks. It gives really accurate wait times in my opinion

I used to... but haven't in my last few trips.

Today was AK in the am, DS in the afternoon, and MK in the evening!

What... no four park challenge?
Soooooo disappointed with you.

We had another good night of sleep.

No sleep like a Disney sleep.

We did have some coffee, muffins, and a banana before heading out.

and a beer

We rode 3x and I have to show all 3 pictures, love this ride and some of the people on the ride are hilarious to look at, haha

Those pics are great!

Dude in the back is like: "Meh. I'm old enough I lived with these critters."

Lady in the back row.

The whole car! But especially the couple in the back row.

We got a few more pictures with the Dinosaur sign before moving on.

Get 'em while ya can...

We walked the Gorilla trail today and said hi to the hidden Hippo

The what?

I heard Gino died recently at AK, I’m sure we saw him many times! He was over 40 years old!

I heard that too. Then again, I would think 40 would be a pretty good span for a gorilla.

we rode NRJ and FoP. I really love both of these rides.

And yet completely opposite.

It was so stinking hot out again!

You should write ads for deodorant commercials.

We walked over to Jaleo for the Sangria hour. We were seated at the bar. This is such a good deal! It occurs daily from 11:30am-5pm. The only catch is you need to eat at the bar.

Noted and... I don't mind eating at the bar at all. I've had some great convos with the bartenders.

Toasted slices of crispy bread brushed with fresh tomato $6

yummmm...

Patatas bravas*
A Jaleo favorite: fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and alioli5

also yummmm...

Our server was definitely Spanish and I had a hard time understanding him, thank goodness for Spanish speaking Andi.

Did she understand the accent or was he speaking Spanish as well?

We pulled ourselves away from the bar and tried to get into another bar haha

We shared all 3 and munched on these for several days and liked all of these. The pink one had the best thick pink frosting, it was my favorite.

How did they compare with Gideons?

We tried the beignet dessert. It was fair, more like a powdered donut, not a beignet.

Yeah... not okay.

We planned on watching the parade but it was really busy and Andi did not want to try and find a spot in the large crowds.

I get that.

Andi wasn’t to upset about the parade and I knew I would have a chance to watch it in October.

So a delayed win/win.