We’re Still Awake! An August MNSSHP Trip Report (Complete 4/10/21)

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am here!!! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!

 

[amazingact21]

I am here and excited to hear about your latest trip!

 

[cinderaimee]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[Newsies]

I am so HERE!!! Can't wait to hear your take on this week!!!

 

[DisneyDarlingness]

Yay!!! Super excited to hear about the bonus MNSSHP trip!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Wow, I'm first!

I'm so excited to read about BOTH of your trips!

Welcome! I'm excited to share them.

I’m joining in, our trips coincided some, It was a hot one!

Glad you're here. Yeah, it was definitely everything that Orlando-in-August promises to be

I'm here. I can't wait to hear all about the trip.

Welcome! I can't wait to tell you about it.

Joining in too!
I read your post on EEMH and it looks like it was an amazing day... can’t wait to hear about the rest of your trip!
I understand the part about planning an earlier than expected trip... you feel like you are doing this once-in-a-lifetime thing at first, but then you are HOOKED and need to plan another trip ASAP!

Thanks for joining in! I don't think my bank account can handle any more trips for a while, but this bonus visit was a real treat.

Here!!! Can’t wait to hear how it all went!

Yay! Good to have you on board.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Following, I really enjoyed your recent report and I look forward to reading this report. You girls are so cute! My daughter and I are doing a girls trip in September to go to MNSSHP and can't wait to read about your party night..

Welcome aboard! Glad to hear you appreciate my crazy ramblings

Glad to see that you survived. I saw how at the end of August, Walt Disney World could feel like you are on the sun. I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip

Thanks for joining in. Yup, the weather couldn't be described as comfortable, but we still had a great time.

I'm late to the party, but can't wait to hear all about it!

Not late at all! Glad to have you along.

Joining in! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks for joining in. Can't wait to share all about it!

I really enjoyed your last TR, so glad to have another to read! We are very familiar with the about-face from “not going back for 5 years” to “lets go in a few months!”

Thanks for joining in. I don't think we can afford that kind of about face again any time soon, but this one was truly lovely.

Joining in! We were there at the same time!

Thanks for reading along. I hope you had a great trip, too!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Joining in! Looking forward to reading about it!

Thanks for joining in!

Yeah ! Looking forward to reading more about your adventures!

I just added a day to my Nov Universal trip to go to MVMCP so get it .

Thanks for reading along. I definitely understand adding time to make it to a party

Can't wait to read your report! Really excited to hear your thoughts on this year's MNSSHP

Welcome aboard! I can't wait to share it with you.

Following!

Welcome!

Joining in! I enjoyed reading your first TR, and am looking forward to reading this one

Thanks for joining in. I look forward to sharing.

Joining in! Super excited to read about your trip!!

Welcome! Super excited to write all about it.

Joining in! Looking forward to the crazy long weekend trip!

Welcome! Crazy long weekend trip is first on the docket.

Joining in!!

Welcome aboard!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I am here!!! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!

Thanks for joining in! I can't wait to share.

I am here and excited to hear about your latest trip!

Welcome aboard!

Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in.

I am so HERE!!! Can't wait to hear your take on this week!!!

Thanks for joining in. I can't wait to share.

Yay!!! Super excited to hear about the bonus MNSSHP trip!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Adults Only Trip

The first portion of our Disney summer came as a result of Hubby being sent to Orlando to speak at a senior leadership conference. We could have stretched the trip out a bit if not for my lack of vacation time. Between February/March Disney, August Disney, and Christmas break, I was maxed out. However, because I only work part-time, I was able to shift my days to work Weds-Fri, thus allowing me a Mon-Tues trip. Once you mix in awesome parents willing to take their grandkids for a few days, you have the makings of one heck of a date night!

The fun actually started on Sunday after my mom picked up the girls. I went for a run, I think Hubby went for a nap, and we both got to enjoy not being responsible for anyone else’s wellbeing. We woke up on Monday with our normal alarm, as we didn’t have to be out of the house until 8am. Even that was early, but we wanted a buffer because we’d be driving through rush hour, using discount parking, and using a parking shuttle to get to the terminal.

Travel mugs filled, we enjoyed a quick ride to parking, grabbed an excellent front row spot, and had a shuttle already waiting to take us to the terminal. Hubby had precheck and I did not, so we split up on the way to security. Philly doesn’t have precheck in every terminal, so he had to walk over to C while I was using regular security in our intended terminal B. I was through in all of eight minutes and ended up being the one waiting for him to make it back over to me. We met back up at 9:15am with nothing to do and a flight that wouldn’t depart until 11:05am.

We grabbed some Starbucks and window shopped because why not? Not once did I have to remind him to look where he was going or ask him not to drag his bag on the ground. It was glorious.

Despite boarding on time, our flight ended up delayed on the runway for 40 minutes. Since this trip was so short, every minute we sat felt like a personal afront. We were able to make up the delay in the air, though, and got to the gate on time.

We were moving with purpose, because we managed to get from the gate to baggage claim to our rental car in thirty minutes. We were staying at the airport Hyatt Place because it includes a breakfast buffet and airport shuttle, both of which I would be taking advantage of in the morning. We continued our speed run, getting to the hotel at 2:42, dropping our bags, and hitting the road at 2:50.

Another thirty minutes later, we were on property and looking for our first glimpse of Disney Springs.

We were both ravenous, so our first stop would be some quick service to hold us over until our early dinner ADR. Thanks to @StarWarsMomofGirls! we were headed to Morimoto Street Food to try their much-lauded ribs. The short walk over felt like we were walking on the surface of the sun, which made us simultaneously grateful that we did our big family trip in winter and worried about how the kids would hold up in August. We didn’t worry about them for too long, though, because there was tasty food to be had.

A QS order is supposed to come with three ribs but the CM gave us four, “so you won’t fight over them.” Thank goodness she did because these were absolutely phenomenal! If we didn’t have an ADR in an hour, we absolutely would have gotten a second order. They were sweet, spicy, and fall-off-the-bone tender. Hubby isn’t normally a big fan of ribs and he didn’t think these looked all that appetizing, but he was sold after the first bite.

Having eaten enough to tide us over, we wandered a bit. Neither of us are big shoppers, but we did want to scope out possible options for small souvenirs to get the girls. Daddy always brings something back when he’s traveling for business, and this trip would be no exception. He was going to hit the outlet later in the week, though, so we were just looking for ideas in case nothing there spoke to him. After checking out the World of Disney, the Lego Store, and the pin store, we were getting hungry again. On the way to our ADR, we passed a little photo op promoting a new Toy Story phone game.

Hubby didn’t hear the CM tell us to look scared, which landed us this gem as well.

We checked into our 4:30 Homecomin’ ADR at 4:18 and were seated right away. Despite there being several open seats, the hostess originally lead us to two-top that was tucked into a corner, uncomfortably close to the family next to it. We asked to be somewhere more open and she obliged with a table that had sufficient elbow room. We browsed the menu, although there wasn’t much need since we knew what we were getting.

I ordered the Watermelon Mash, which was right up my alley. It was sweet and tart at first but definitely came with a kick. Hubby sometimes gets motion sickness, so he decided water was the prudent choice give the number of rides we were hoping to pack in just a few hours later.

We started with the Thigh High Chicken Biscuits and they were just as delicious as everyone says. They aren’t a light treat, though, and both of us were already starting to feel full after just one. We ended up taking most of the third to go with plans to eat it on the ride back from AK which was *spoiler alert* an excellent decision. They’re just as good at 1:00am as they are at 5:00pm.

For our main course, we split the Braised Short Ribs, which our server was kind enough to bring out on separate plates for us. The portion was so big that Hubby thought they had accidentally doubled our order, but our server confirmed it really was truthfully one serving because, “we don’t do anything small here.” This was another excellent choice, tender and flavorful. It was also way too much food and, unlike the biscuits, we did not try to bring the mashed potatoes along as a late night car snack.

While we were eating, the typical afternoon storm was brewing. Somewhere between deciding how long we wanted to hang at the restaurant versus venture out in the weather, Hubby realized he hadn’t packed his dress shoes for the trip. He would be presenting in front of his company’s senior leadership the next morning and had his choice of beach sandals or sneakers. Early evening plans officially dashed, we realized we needed to head out immediately to find a serviceable shoe at Walmart.

At 5:16 we hit the restrooms and prepared to make our exit. The rain was still heavy, so we switched out our sneakers for sandals and threw on the ponchos. We hightailed it to the parking garage, found our rental, and mapped ourselves to the closest Walmart. Actually, we mapped to one that looked like it was closer to Animal Kingdom, rather than one that was near Springs but would have us driving a bit in the wrong direction.

We arrived at 5:30pm to a parking lot that could rival our local mall in the week before Christmas. I don’t know if this place is always a mad house, but we were fully in drive-slowly-behind-someone-leaving-so-you-can-nab-their-spot territory. The antics didn’t end in the parking lot, either. I witnessed a near brawl between patrons attempting to enter and exit through the same door. Exiter pushed his cart through the middle of the doorway, not leaving any room for enterer. When enterer indignantly spit out an, “Excuse me!” exiter escalated with, “Uh, yeah, excuse you!” and we hustled through another door before we could be held as material witnesses to whatever nonsense was about to ensue. In the store, we seemed to be the only people who knew why we were there or where we were going. Everyone else was looking one way while walking the other, stopping dead without warning or apparent purpose. I almost got hit by a cart coming out of a grocery aisle because the shopper was pushing her cart ahead into the main aisle while looking completely behind her, talking to her kids. When we did manage to make it to the shoes, it appeared there had been a run on men’s size 9 black dress shoes. Row after row, we were finding other colors and sizes but only managed to dig out one black size 9. They weren’t the design we would have picked, but they would be good enough for Hubby to make it through the meeting without drawing attention to his inadequate footwear. Getting out of the parking lot wasn’t any easier than getting in, as all of the traffic in both directions had to go through one very busy intersection. We eventually managed to escape and, at 6:19pm, were excited to get our Disney date back on track.

 

[amazingact21]

Those chicken biscuits look really good! I had heard the portions at Homecomin' were massive, but that entree was nuts. It's really mindblowing to think that was only a half portion.

Uh oh, what a bummer about DH's shoes! Good thing he remembered the night before and you had time to make a store run.
I think I've been to that Walmart before and agree that the parking lot is insanity.

Really looking forward to hearing how your kid-free night at DAK went!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a fun time at Disney Springs! A great way to start your epic date!

Oh no that stinks about DH's shoes! But even worse that Walmart was such a mad house! Glad you made it out of there with a suitable pair!

 

[caylene44]

I'm here, so excited for this!

Not once did I have to remind him to look where he was going or ask him not to drag his bag on the ground.

Daddy always brings something back when he’s traveling for business, and this trip would be no exception.

Awww, that's a super sweet tradition!

 

[TNGirlwCamera]

Not once did I have to remind him to look where he was going or ask him not to drag his bag on the ground. It was glorious.

This made me laugh. I understand.

Sounds like a great date night to be had! I don't blame you for joining your husband. I mean, he can't go to Disney without you!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Following along for another great read!

 

[Mickey.MAC]

Welcome, Internet, to my second trip report! Those of you who followed along with my first know that this is coming about 3 years and 6 months sooner than I had ever expected. I planned our first family trip HERE and documented it HERE with the expectation that we wouldn’t be returning for four more years.

The Cliff Note’s version of how this extra trip came to be is as follows:

- Hubby’s boss asks him about attending a conference at Swolphin in late October; we both get hyped and start planning a mini trip to take the kids the MNSSHP. Budgets are made, park dates are considered, and horses are placed well before carts.

- Hubby’s boss realizes he spoke too soon and it is very unlikely he’ll get to attend this conference; we both get super bummed.

- I start fiddling with the budget we built for late October to see if we could spend that same amount to go for just MNSSHP in August, which happens to coincide with a long trip our good friends are taking. With creative use of BJs discounted gift cards, airlines points, and credit card deals, we decide to book the trip.

- EEMH is announced for the day after our scheduled departure. We blow the budget out of the water by adding a 2-day convention ticket and a night at the Contemporary to experience walking into MK for a 7am EMH.

- Hubby actually gets sent to a senior leadership conference in Orlando in July, so I (of course) fly down for just 24 hours to do an adults only After Hours at Animal Kingdom

If you’d like to experience the full extent of my crazy about-face, you can jump to the addendum portion of my PTR here, aptly titled RIDICULOUS UPDATE. Otherwise, I invite you to join along on our thoroughly exhausting, whirlwind trip.

ToC
Adults Only Trip

omg

Your excitement and enthusiasm are contagious. I have a work trip to disney but the family cannot join, so I feel weird going by myself. It is great you could coordinate your trips with friends. I want to go to Homecoming to eat!

 

[suse66]

A little late to the party but joining in for the fun!

Travel mugs filled, we enjoyed a quick ride to parking, grabbed an excellent front row spot, and had a shuttle already waiting to take us to the terminal. Hubby had precheck and I did not, so we split up on the way to security. Philly doesn’t have precheck in every terminal, so he had to walk over to C while I was using regular security in our intended terminal B. I was through in all of eight minutes and ended up being the one waiting for him to make it back over to me. We met back up at 9:15am with nothing to do and a flight that wouldn’t depart until 11:05am.

Perfect!

We were moving with purpose, because we managed to get from the gate to baggage claim to our rental car in thirty minutes. We were staying at the airport Hyatt Place because it includes a breakfast buffet and airport shuttle, both of which I would be taking advantage of in the morning. We continued our speed run, getting to the hotel at 2:42, dropping our bags, and hitting the road at 2:50.

I love it.......sounds like a great choice of hotel.

A QS order is supposed to come with three ribs but the CM gave us four, “so you won’t fight over them.” Thank goodness she did because these were absolutely phenomenal! If we didn’t have an ADR in an hour, we absolutely would have gotten a second order. They were sweet, spicy, and fall-off-the-bone tender. Hubby isn’t normally a big fan of ribs and he didn’t think these looked all that appetizing, but he was sold after the first bite.

Oh my gosh, those look amazing!!! You are giving me ideas for my Christmas weekend trip!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I also get frustrated when my flights are not cooperating... you're cutting into my Disney time! I'm glad they made up time in the air.

Mmmm… the more I read about Homecomin' the more I want to figure out a way to work it in on our trip next year. Everyone seems to say such wonderful things about eating there! Also, thanks for the tip about the Morimoto Asia ribs. I had no idea they were available outside of eating at the restaurant!

I'm glad you were able to find some passable shoes, but my goodness, what an adventure to acquire them!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Yum to both the ribs and chicken biscuits. I have had both and would do so again!

Walmart sounds like a crazy busy place, yuck! I hate going to Walmart and avoid it as much as I can!

Yay to AK DAH, excited to hear all about it!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Even that was early, but we wanted a buffer because we’d be driving through rush hour, using discount parking, and using a parking shuttle to get to the terminal.

Which discount parking to you use? This last trip the long term parking was full!!!

The fun actually started on Sunday after my mom picked up the girls. I went for a run, I think Hubby went for a nap, and we both got to enjoy not being responsible for anyone else’s wellbeing.

I always feel so weird the first night that the girls are gone. Like I should enjoy it more but oddly don't.

I was through in all of eight minutes and ended up being the one waiting for him to make it back over to me. We met back up at 9:15am with nothing to do and a flight that wouldn’t depart until 11:05am.

It's it just great though, once you have cleared security? It's like vacation has really started literally once I am walking away from that part of the airport...

Another thirty minutes later, we were on property and looking for our first glimpse of Disney Springs.

YEAH!!!!

. Thanks to @StarWarsMomofGirls! we were headed to Morimoto Street Food to try their much-lauded ribs.

Woo Hoo!!! I think we might need to remember this! I am thinking of doing an adult crawl on our adults only trip. Ribs and drink from Morimoto, drinks from Homecomin'...

A QS order is supposed to come with three ribs but the CM gave us four, “so you won’t fight over them.”

YUM!!!!!!

I ordered the Watermelon Mash, which was right up my alley.

This never disappoints!

We started with the Thigh High Chicken Biscuits and they were just as delicious as everyone says. They aren’t a light treat, though, and both of us were already starting to feel full after just one

We had these this last trip. SOOOOO Good. I filled up fast on these as well.

We arrived at 5:30pm to a parking lot that could rival our local mall in the week before Christmas. I don’t know if this place is always a mad house, but we were fully in drive-slowly-behind-someone-leaving-so-you-can-nab-their-spot territory. The antics didn’t end in the parking lot, either. I witnessed a near brawl between patrons attempting to enter and exit through the same door. Exiter pushed his cart through the middle of the doorway, not leaving any room for enterer. When enterer indignantly spit out an, “Excuse me!” exiter escalated with, “Uh, yeah, excuse you!” and we hustled through another door before we could be held as material witnesses to whatever nonsense was about to ensue. In the store, we seemed to be the only people who knew why we were there or where we were going. Everyone else was looking one way while walking the other, stopping dead without warning or apparent purpose. I almost got hit by a cart coming out of a grocery aisle because the shopper was pushing her cart ahead into the main aisle while looking completely behind her, talking to her kids. When we did manage to make it to the shoes, it appeared there had been a run on men’s size 9 black dress shoes. Row after row, we were finding other colors and sizes but only managed to dig out one black size 9. They weren’t the design we would have picked, but they would be good enough for Hubby to make it through the meeting without drawing attention to his inadequate footwear. Getting out of the parking lot wasn’t any easier than getting in, as all of the traffic in both directions had to go through one very busy intersection. We eventually managed to escape and, at 6:19pm, were excited to get our Disney date back on track.

Soooo, a not so magical trip to Walmart... Yikes!