Why Not Make It Three??? Or maybe FOUR?!?!? Or just MAYBE FIVE!!!!!

[tyandskyesmom]

REAL LIFE UPDATE : Wow, it's been busy around here!

Tyler has finally, after over 4 years, moved on from being an assistant manager at Little Caesars. He got hired on at a Ross and started on Labor Day with orientation. He has been working as a cashier so far. He has liked not smelling like pizza at the end of the day. Then yesterday he got hired on as a Key Holder at Game Stop...which for him is an ideal job! He would like to work both of them (Ross is "part time" but he's not really sure how many hours that means and Game Stop is part time which is 20-33 hours) at least for a while but we'll see how that works out...Ty is not really good at organization and to work two jobs with changing schedules and go to school for three classes Monday though Thursday might not be something he can organize.

Skyler starts Dance on Saturday (10am - 5:30pm) and also has class Monday night for 45 minutes. SHe is intending to be a helper on Wednesdays too. She was voted one of two co-captains of the Varsity Poms team (the other is a senior), she was voted to be the Poms nominee for Homecoming Court (voting starts on Monday), and has been given one of three coaching spots for the "Dude Squad" for Homecoming week (the boys are the Poms team and the girls are the football players for one game) with two seniors. She also just had her first rehearsal for The Nutcracker. She found out on the 4th that she was cast as a Snowflake (a pointe role), a Flower in the Waltz (a pointe role), and Trepek (the Russian dance scene that only three girls are in and the other two are the seniors for this year. It is a flat foot role and they actually dance with three semi-professional (?) men...it is one of the funnest, most energetic dances in the show and the one that if she had to pick one she wanted, this would be it!). She also auditioned for Harlequin (one of the dolls at the party) but she is not thinking she will get it because they did have a gymnast show up that was about her size. Harlequin tumbles. She thinks it will come down to tumbling ability (Skye tumbles but not as a "gymnast" so obviously the gymnast is going to be better at the actual tumbling) but she thought she was better at the jumps and the acting and some of the other tricks Harlequin does. She's ok with not getting it though because it was just an after thought when we found out the person who has done it for the past few years was not coming back. She is also a co-founder of the first ever Orchesis club at her school! Their first meeting is today after school. And so far, 3 weeks intot he school year she still has high As in all her honors classes! Her room is a mess but i guess ya gotta take what you can get!

And today is 100 days until we are back on the road to The World!!! Nutcracker helps get us to that point so it’s a great distraction! The shows are December 5-9 and then we have time to pack and gather everything we need and before we know it it is time to leave!

SO EXCITED!!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So where were we? Oh ya, we arrived at Pop and decided that me and Skye were going to get the car and drive it around to the 70s parking lot while Tyler went to grab a luggage cart and meet us over there. Well, he couldn't find the lot...figures! Actually though, it was an odd place because the 70s building is in the middle of the resort and there is no lot near it. So if having a parking spot with easy access to your car is important to you, do not stay in a 70s building. Well, while we were waiting he called and we were trying to tell him where we were at (we were parked right in the front near the sidewalk with the tailgate up so if they were even in the correct area they would have seen us. I had to use the restroom so I took a couple of bags and headed to the room while Skye waited for him. The problem was she was on MY phone with him and I did not realize I did not have it until it was too late and then I started getting worried!

So i walked along the water path towards our room. I had a vague idea where it was but was still following signs. I got to the center courtyard and was a little bit sad and a little bit happy. I really wanted a room that overlooks the water and I knew we did not have that kind of room. So I followed the signs and headed to the elevator in the center of the building. Up to the fourth floor. And WAIT? The signs don't make sense anymore...and I need a bathroom! So we went to the right and aaahhhh, there's the sign that makes sense...so the right took me into a roomless short hallway and I can see the courtyard!!! And a left and about four rooms down I saw this...

And I was pretty pleased with the location considering it was not exactly what i had hoped for!

I went in, used the restroom, and then took the opportunity before anyone else showed up to take pictures. This was our first time in a renovated room. I am not sure about it. I mean, it feels clean. It has a coll look to it. But, there is not a ton of Disney there. There is not much in the way of fun details in there. Well, take a look...

Fridge, coffee maker, counter and shelving unit...why do hotels give such little garbage cans? And why do I always forget to pack large garbage bags knowing they will have little garbage cans? This little area gave us room for all our snacks and we put the cooler with the extra drinks that would not fit in the fridge in front of the window so that all worked out well. I did like the old fridges that would freeze your drinks on the top shelves. The movable shelf in there was a bit flimsy and i was afraid we'd wake in the night to a crash and all of it falling or return after a day out to find out drinks all over the floor but that never happened.

I think if the was two people sharing the one bed, the room would feel so much larger than before but since there were four of us sharing two beds, and we kept the murphy bed down all the time, the room felt smaller than before somehow. We did miss the table a but and we had to put the chairs over in front of the connecting room door but it all worked out and we were not really in our room that much anyway. The dresser was where we had to now keep all of our things so this made us be a little more organized.

It was nice that each side of the beds had a small table and outlets or charging ports available to it. We all tend to keep our phones charging all night and close to us, just in case. And we all tend to keep a bottle of water or something on the table next to us too. Plus I need someplace to put my glasses at night.

The sink area was a nice set up and had an actual cabinet to put things in. We had a lot of storage that was not just sitting on the counter top like we used to have to do in a value hotel. The shelves in the "closet" were useful for shoes and such. And it had a slider to close off the area if someone was getting changed...which was useful in the mornings.

Now this is one thing i DO NOT like...the glass shower doors. Basically when we get up we want to be out as soon as possible. With a curtain that is not see through, we were comfortable with people coming in to use the bathroom while someone else was in the shower...not anymore! I did bring a shower curtain to rig up over it but that did not pan out. And the doors seemed to be in the way for me when getting in and drying off and getting out...maybe just my quirk.

After I was done taking pictures inside i went outside to take in our view.

Towards the main building...

Across from us...

Towards Hourglass Lake...

Down in the courtyard...

Finally they came around and I saw them heading into the elevator...

And soon the chaos began! We pulled down the murphy bed, which took a little reading but otherwise was easy to do. And we set out the "guys" that had been in a bag all this time!

Skyler had made window decorations so we put them up too.

It had been a long day so after we were unpacked for the day Tyler headed up to Everything Pop for our mugs. We were very pleased that there was two different styles (Mickey one and Pixar) and each had different colors. It was 10:18pm when he checked out and then he headed back to the room. Tyler then headed out to Pokemon and the rest of us went to sleep!

 

[TNGirlwCamera]

The rooms do need some color. Love your window decorations!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

June 30, 2019 Tuesday

In the morning Tyler told us he had been over to Art of Animation (nine of the rest of us would get there) and was coming back to the room and saw a rather large alligator laying out near the water by the path near our room! He said he QUICKLY walked away and left him right where he was...and that was his deciding factor on calling it a night!

We all got up, showered and ready to head out. I made the beds everyday and we did call for extra towels (which was provided quickly and as a whole pre-stacked package of different sizes and wash cloths) and they told us to leave any garbage or towels outside the door if we wanted them removed. I was not keen on leaving our dirty laundry around outside so we never did that but we had brought clippy hangars to hang our beach towels, ponchos, and bath towels on each day so they'd dry out throughout the day. We set the "guys" out so they would "watch" tv all day.

They kids always loved when they would come back at night to their "guys" all set up but $30.00 is $30.00 so we just have to do it ourselves. I am debating this on our next two trips that are much longer...I am thinking $100.00 or more is totally worth re-using towels and taking out our own garbage!

We headed out nice and early and headed to the bus.

It was cold in our room and super humid outside..and this is what I got.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom quickly with little wait for a bus and headed towards the gate.

Today was a 9am opening but there was a morning magic thingy going on but we had an 8:05am ADR for breakfast to get to so we headed to the left where the dining line was and we were let through.

It's always nice to see a nearly empty Main Street...however, I do not like how they let people in early to hang out on Main Street prior to the actual opening time.

We were a bit early so of course Skyler had to take pic in front of her castle!

And we finally arrived at our destination...

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We headed over to check in at Crystal Palace. Our ADR was at 8:05am and they had not started seating anyone yet and it looked like there was a lot of people there waiting before us so we expected to wait a bit.

But at 8am the wait staff came out and greeted us all and they began calling names...we were the second ones called! Crystal Palace first thing in the morning it awesome! We were brought in and were seated next to the window along the porch.

Karen W was our waitress. On the way in we recognized Vincent who has been our waiter before and was awesome...Karen was ok. She came and took our drink orders...OJ for me and Tyler, apple juice for Skye...and she told us we had a little bit of time to grab food before characters started coming around. So we did.

This was my first plate...banana, oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins (I love Disney oatmeal!), bacon, steak fajita skillet, plain scrambles egg, puffed french toast, sausage, hash-brown casserole, breakfast pizza, potatoes, Italian sausage with onions and peppers. It was all really good, and obviously fresh!

The first plate Tyler grabbed...

A large helping of scrambled eggs, Mickey Waffles, bacon and looks like a croissant (?).

Skyler's first plate...

Mickey Waffles (of course), bacon, croissant, and a carrot cake muffin.

Soon, Piglet came around!

Piglet loved his page and they "talked" about it a while. He was really in no rush to move on even though we are all basically "adultish"...Tyler felt a little left out though since Piglet mostly "talked" to Skyler....LOL!

Here’s another plate...

Mandarin Oranges, Strawberry sauce, hash-brown casserole, biscuit, bacon, scrambled eggs, potatoes.

Then came the long awaited Eeyore. We usually have to wait forever for him to bring up the last of them when we eat here bit we were happy to see him arrive second! He also loved his page...I imaging Eeyore doesn't get a lot of love!

We all had more plates of more food and mostly the things we liked from our first plates but the only other plate I took a picture of was mine...

Cheese Danish, french toast bread pudding, fruit, chocolate croissant, and a fruit salad. It was all good and fresh...exactly what you want breakfast to be. There are a lot to choose from. There are two sides to this restaurant so there are two identical sides on the buffet line...with dessert type things in the center. When we arrived it was easy moving through the buffet but it was a bit busier by the time we were leaving.

Pooh was next (you can see it was still pretty empty in there)...

After Pooh we were waiting for one more guy to come along...he was a little behind the group!

You can see it is now filling up. Karen kept our drinks filled and our plates cleared but that's about it. She was not very talkative or involved...but that's ok with us!

Finally Tigger came around.

Overall, we love breakfast at Crystal Palace. The food is always plenty and fresh. There is a lot that we all can enjoy! The characters were very fun and "talkative" this time around and were not in a hurry to leave. The wait staff seems really good at recognizing the kind of service you want and provide it. It is busy in there once they get going but it seems they always have plenty out of everything. As early as we were there we did see multiple trays being exchanged out even if not empty. We always have early ADRs here so I am not sure if they are always so quick to seat, I mean, there is only so much they can control about that, especially at a buffet, but we have never had a long wait to be seated here.

Like I said before though, we are coming to the realization that as four adults we just don't eat enough to justify a Disney buffet out of pocket too often. I even wondered at some point it using the dining plan on them was a good use of our credits with all the other great table service venues around these days. I'm not saying we won;t be back but we will probably be more selective about pay one price meals in the future.

Our total here was $161.88...and we walked out full and happy with our Hundred Acre Woods experience!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We walked out into...HOT! And him...

I grew up with parrots and Skye's favorite animal is a CHICKEN so birds always thrill us! We decided to head towards Tomorrowland since that was where our first fast pass was. We were a bit early in the window for it so we jumped in about a 5 minute like for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

Every once in a while I am able to get a good picture of Buzz...not this time!

We had a fun ride and Tyler won but did not become a Galactic Hero this time! We headed out and we wanted to go on AstroOrbiter but it was closed. In all the times we have come in the past 6 years we have not been on that ride. SO we went to Carousel of Progress.

And then we headed into Space Mountain to use our fast passes...we were near the end of the window by this time. It still freaks Skye out. We walked up to the loading zone without stopping and then Skye and I got pulled to fill two spots in a train before Tyler...but he was right behind us.

It was a fun ride but I do have to say, it is freaky not being able to see what's coming up! We hopped onto the People Mover for a trip around Tomorrowland before heading across Fantasyland towards our next fast pass.

Everything in Fantasyland was already pretty crowded so we just walked through. And jumped in line here...

The wait was listed as 20 minutes. It wasn't that long. We pretty much walked right into the stretching room.

We had a great ride through the mansion and headed over through Frontierland to the opposite side.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We noticed Splash Mountain was down...that was our third fast pass scheduled for 12:10pm so we were hoping that it would be open by then! But in the meantime we were well into our fast pass time of 10:25am - 11:25am for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! This is the WORST queue that they have I think! But we headed in and there was a little boy hanging back in the line with his dad. He was probably 7 or 8 and he was scared to ride. The dad was telling him he would like it, and the boy was agreeing with him but was just too scared to ride. Dad told him he had to ride or they were going home. And he did not want to go home. We passed them by while he was crying. They ended up in front of Skye...the boy cried getting into the car...he cried sitting there waiting to start moving...he cried for the beginning of the ride...and then nothing.

This "The Fast Train" was Tyler's first favorite roller coaster!

When the train stopped Skye reached up and patted the boy on the shoulder and told him "good job"...Dad said he was not admitting to liking it and said he was not going to go again but he did see him smile a little on the ride...and Skye's encouragement made him smile.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Splash was still down so we headed up through to Adventureland.

We saw that a Tiki show was going in soon so we headed over there. Tyler had a tape that we used to play at night when he went to bed when he was little (in a crib still) that had the Tiki Room songs on it so we know all the words and actually miss the original version.

And then they made us all disappear!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Splash was still closed and it was really HOT out. We wanted to swim so we headed back up towards the front of the park to a bus.

We seemed to have very little Magic Kingdom time this time around. It was the park that always felt the most crowded to us and the wait times for EVERYTHING were crazy and with the temperature and humidity that made it not so fun. We definitely felt jipped of Magic Kingdom time this time around!

We did not wait long after arriving at the bus stop.

We stopped to look around at the gift shop and I bought a new camera strap. Then we headed to the room to get changed.

This is one of those places that has changed for the worse. This used to be a splash pad! It was so cool to be walking along and have a little something different come up out of no where. I am sure it either cost too much to upkeep or some kid got hurt running around without proper parental supervision and rather than have to pay for that kind of thing, it was easier for Disney to remove it...no price drop for one less "fun spot" available or replacement with something else...just remove it. It's still cute but knowing what it was before and how much fun it was for those kids who played there, it is disappointing.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We continued on to our room...

We had stopped on the gift shop on the way in and I really liked this ...

...so I bought it! I love it!

We changed into suits and swam away the rest of the afternoon...obviously there are no pictures as we were in the water so you will have to take my word for it.

We got out with plenty of time to get ready and head to dinner. We grabbed a bus to Epcot and then a Monorail to the ticket and transportation center...

And then realized Skyler led is to the express monorail not the hotel one!!! UGH!!! So ya, we were running late again!

We arrived at The Contemporary and the elevator from the monorail platform is broken so we are directed to use the outside stairway at the end go the building to go down to the next floor. SO now we;re running behind and we sweaty (well, I was!). We grab the escalator down and arrive at the check in desk at 5:04pm...four minutes late.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We were checked in and were told no problem. We were told to head around to the elevator and she'd be down in a second. We walked up and the doors opened. We headed up and were handed a pager and told it would only be a few minutes...it buzzed immediately.

We love California Grill, it is Tyler's reigning favorite, but we have always had dinner during fireworks so at night when it is dark. This 5pm ADR was new for us.

We were walked to our table and of course I am thinking we are going to get a not as desirable table since we were late. But we were lead to one of the best!

How's that for an awesome view? And very different from the view at night...although night time is super cool too!

Our waitress, Joanna, came by and explained what the Deluxe Dining plan included (basically the whole menu!) and took our drink orders...the kids ordered a Coke and a water...they offer you your choice of three different types of water (we chose Evian at the cost of $28.00 if we had not been on the dining plan...and she did not mention the cost when we asked for water so I would have been surprised at the cost since we would have been fine with tap water) and serve from the iced bottle (think champagne style) and Skyler loves that! I also got water with my drink. I ordered the

Blackberry Sour
Ketel One Citroen Vodka, House-made Lemonade, Fresh Blackberries

And there was a
San Francisco Mai Tai
Captain Morgan, Almond Orgeat Syrup, Fresh Juices, Gosling’s Black Seal Floater

It took a little longer for the drinks to be brought out so we already had our other drinks and bread, oils and sun dried tomatoes, and salted butter.

We both really enjoyed our drinks...the Mai Tai was good. Both felt like they had a decent pour of alcohol but were not overpowering...I don't like the alcohol-y taste so I appreciate the kind of drink that you don't notice until you need to function....LOL! The bread was a crunchy outside with a warm soft center and the kids attacked! We liked that we could have the "fancy" tomato spread AND the plain old butter (for those boring people in my family) and I thought the tomato/oil spread was super good. It was easy to spread over the bread and made for a different bread service than we usually get.

Skye found a not so hidden Mickey below...

We always only order three meals here because Skyler's FAVORITE food is here on the kid's menu. So for appetizers I ordered what is on my receipt as "pizza corn". It is not on the online menu anymore and I keep saying I am going to either take a picture of the menu for the items we order or write down the description...but I didn't.

So here's the picture...and let me just say that the description did not prepare me for what this was...but I enjoyed it!

Other than being a bit well done on parts of the crust, this was really good! I liked that there were not so many sprouts that is was overtaken by them. The peppers had a little kick but not too crazy with all the other flavors...just enough. And I really can't tell you what else was on it besides, obviously, corn. I really enjoyed it, no one else would try it.

We also ordered what is on the receipt as "New Moon Roll" but is also not on the menu any more. It was a lobster roll and was super good and fresh!

There was avocado over the outside of the roll and the sauce was slightly spicy but not hot. We both loved this sushi but the kids wont touch it. Skyler wants to like sushi and she's gotten close to trying it but still hasn't yet.

Tyler and Skyler shared the
Pepperoni
House-made Bison Pepperoni, Tomato Conserva, Fontina, Asiago, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Basil-Oregano Pistou

And he was kind of surprised when it arrived. He knew it was different than the regular pepperoni flatbread he has made for himself here but he did not realize it was a green pesto type basil thing. And the pepperoni did not look like pepperoni. At first he was put off...because hes a freak! But he decided to be adventurous and tried it...and he really liked it and did not even try to scrape the green stuff off! LOL! We all tasted it and it was really good...and different than your usual pepperoni pizza. I think he'd order it again.

For entrees I got something else not on the menu anymore...the Surf & Turf as it is listed on the receipt.

And apparently we were all having reading issues because I did not notice that there was a sauce on the lobster (which I would have asked for on the side because Skye was planning on sharing it with me. But I was able to get it off mostly and she was able to get some from the bottom side of it. It was cooked really well. I liked the sauce but I like Lobster better with just it's regular flavor. The sauce on the lobster was different than the one that the filet sat on...it had more spice to it. The files was awesome...and I loved the green sauce...unfortunately I cannot tell you what it was because it's not on the menu anymore. I did not get to eat a lot of it though...you'll see why in a bit.

Tyler got the Kansas City Strip with Aged Gouda Macaroni and Cheese ( that is also not on the menu anymore!) and he was not happy with it.

It looks pretty doesn't it? Well he got through about half of the steak and was going to give up. It was very sinewy and hard to even cut. The parts he could get off he liked and it was cooked medium rare as he likes it but he was not a fan. The mac and cheese was a "grown up" version and he ate some of it and Skye ate some of it. She liked hers better though. I, being the wonderful mother I am, gave Tyler about half of my steak which he thought was loads better even with the sauces. I ate the rest of his, what I could get off of it. It had good flavor but it was a difficult cut. I am not sure if that is what that cut of meat is normally or if he just got a bad piece. It had the potential to be so good! I also liked the mac & cheese better than either of them.

Skyler got the
House-made Macaroni & Cheese
Served with choice of two (2) Selections and choice of Small Lowfat Milk, Small Dasani® Water, or Small Minute Maid® Apple Juice

And I always fail to realize at the time that they NEVER offer her her two sides! Yet, we pay full price for it. Anyway, she says this is THE best mac & cheese anywhere. It is pretty good. She also shared here and there with everyone else.

And there was also
Oak-fired Filet of Beef
Aged Gouda Macaroni and Cheese, Grilled Sweet Onions, Sautéed Ice Spinach, Steak Sauce

Except, as you can see, it came with a mashed potato and asparagus. This was the clear winner. It was a simple, typical dish but it was simply the best of our options...not that I regret my choice, but Tyler definitely did! He gets his medium well and Skye ate his asparagus. He was happy with is meal, for sure.

At one point they came around and closed the blinds half way because the sun was at a wrong angle for dining at that time of the day.

For dessert I ordered the
Lavender Doughnuts
Blueberry Gin Jam, Pistachio Crumble, Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Suprise! It is still on the menu...and it was super good! Lavender is an odd flavor to me but it was so subtle that it worked in this. The doughnuts were a light sugar doughnut and the crumble underneath gave it all a crunchy texture....and the Blueberry Frozen Yogurt topped the whole thing off really well. We all liked this.

We also ordered the
Strawberry Crème Brûlée
Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée, Fresh Local Strawberries, Cornflake Crunch, Coconut Whip, Sponge Cake

And we really enjoyed it. I liked that it wasn't a typical creme brulee presentation. It all went together perfectly and the creme brulee was really creamy with a nice, crunchy layer of sugar on the top.

Tyler ordered the
Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Milk Chocolate-whipped Panna Cotta, Pretzel Crunch

It wasn't very lava-y though. There was a soft inside but it did not flow out like it is supposed to...but it all tasted good and the ice cream with all that chocolate was perfect. Skyler and Tyler ate most of this.

All in all, we love California Grill. I think it is Tyler's favorite...and a top for the rest of us. It is upscale but not stuffy. There are people in all sorts of dress and although I wish they would not wear their park clothes, it does not really affect our experience. There are young people, old people, kids, babies, all sorts of people eating there at all the same time. We have watched crazy families who were loud and obnoxious and have also seen people on a romantic date night.

We have been here many times and it is an expensive meal. Our total was $414.15. I am sure we will be back in the future.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So while the first "real" boyfriend is over for the first time and I am hiding out in my bedroom so they can sit in the living room watching TV with a bit of privacy I may as well continue in here,,,even though I'd love to be nosey!!!

So we headed downstairs and stopped to meet a pirate...

Then we ventured out back to look around. The Contemporary would probably be my first choice of the three hotels on the monorail to stay in if I had a choice...I know, not a popular choice but it would be.

After looking around a bit and taking pictures we headed back up and checked out the store...i love the feel of this one, right in the middle of everything.

And then headed through bag check and up to the monorail platform.

And this one came along...we were thrilled!

Except for these guys...they were a little creepy...

We took the monorail through to Epcot.

The plan was to head back into the Magic Kingdom that evening but somehow Epcot was what we chose.

We had decided to see Illuminations for the last time since it was not raining and we figured get it in while the getting was good. We had not stopped to watch in a long time...

We stood near the back door of Disney Traders, pretty close to the water but not right at the rail, it was already full.

And then we headed out with the masses...

Which really weren't that back once we got past the bridge.

We played around for a while on the light up side walk that the kids have loved forever and we are afraid will be gone with the "new" Epcot and then headed to the bus. We had to wait for one about 15 minutes but we got a seat, so that was good.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We got back to the room around 11pm and the kids wanted to burn some snack credits so they went up to Everything Pop.

There wasn't much available at that hour (around 11:15pm) so they ended up with Shark Cupcake...

...that was butter cream frosting with yellow cake and pineapple pudding like stuff in the middle. It was pretty good but you could tell it had been sitting in cold all day.

They also got a
Tie-dye Cheesecake

Which I think Skye ate a bite of, put in the fridge, and finished in the morning. She liked t but she does not remember the way they used to be when she was little and they were new...so much better! Not that I'd turn down the new version but the old version was so much better!

Their total was $10.95 or 2 snack credits.

 

[bapcap]

We were at WDW back in April and reading through your report just brings back such fun memories. Love that your kids still enjoy going to WDW as they have gotten older. My granddaughter is 10 and I hope she never loses that Disney spirit. Taking her and the rest of our family (8 total) to Disneyland in December...

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We were at WDW back in April and reading through your report just brings back such fun memories. Love that your kids still enjoy going to WDW as they have gotten older. My granddaughter is 10 and I hope she never loses that Disney spirit. Taking her and the rest of our family (8 total) to Disneyland in December...

Yes, they love it. We joked around about Tyler (who will be 21 during our next trip) staying home because he has to work and he almost had a heart attack!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

63 more days!!! So in 3 days I have Fast Pass day and truthfully, I have not thought about it AT ALL!!! So I am going to have to use my weekend wisely!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Well, well...we're now at 58 days until we are in The World and 57 till we leave! We are so busy right now though, it seems like forever from now!

I almost forgot about Fast Pass day GUYS!!!

But thankfully at about 6:30am CST (I usually go to work between 6:30am and 7am) I remembered and got my butt over to the computer! And I was able to get everything I wanted on days I wanted and at mostly good times.

12-21-19
12:55pm Toy Story Mania!
2:00 pm Star Tours
3:30pm Beauty and the Beast Live

12-22-19
10:25am Peter Pan
11:40am Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
3:10pm Jungle Cruise

12-23-19
10:55am Na'vi River
12:20pm Safari
1:35pm Everst

12-24-19 Christmas Eve
9:50am Living with the Land
11:55am Soarin'
1:05pm Spaceship Earth

12-25-19 Christmas Day
1:30pm Slinky Dog Dash
2:50pm Star Tours
4:05pm Voyage of the Little Mermaid

12-26-19
10:45am Mission : SPACE
11:50am Test Track
12:50pm Journey into Imagination

12-27-19
10:15am Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
11:35am Space Mountain
2:00pm Haunted Mansion

12-28-19 Cary's 46th Birthday!
10:05am DInosaur
11:35am Flight of Passage
3:10pm Everest

12-29-19 Tyler's 21st Birthday!
10:20am Test Track
11:35am Spaceship Earth
12:35 pm The Seas with Nemo and Friends

12-30-19
10:15am Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
11:30am Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
12:45pm Pirated of the Caribbean

12-31-19 New Year's Eve
11:50am Soarin'
1:05pm Turtle Talk with Crush
2:05pm Pixar Shorts

1-1-20 New Year's Day
9:10am Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
10:20am Star Tours
11:30am Indiana Jones Stunt Show

So I purposely made these late morning or early afternoon so that if we decide to sleep in or swim or whatever we can. If we decide to hit rope drop, we can do that too and take advantage of the shorter lines at that time. In our experience the beginning of our trip should be way less crowded that the days from about Christmas Eve on so I am hoping we can get a lot done then and then the rest of the time we can just enjoy whatever we get to. Some of the fast passes I made we may not need depending on if we do rope drop or not but they are there if we need them. We felt like we missed a lot of Magic Kingdom last time we were there so I made sure we got fast passes for a lot of different rides not just the coasters. At Epcot, we are two days with Soarin' and two days with Test Track...we don't mind riding Test Track in the single rider line (at least two of us usually end up together) but sometimes that gets long at this time of the year too! And I am not liking the tiers at Hollywood Studios now! I could have gotten Slinky again on our last day bit I have heard it is just OK and we wanted to make sure we ride Rock 'n; Roller Coaster so we opted for that. And we would only get one Flight of Passage, at least on the days I was looking at being at Animal Kingdom. But if we make rope drop we should be able to ride again.

So overall I am happy with what we got and now I get to put it all together with dining and park times and see what else I need to tweek!

 

[MomtoLandK]

Following along! I remember your reports from when the kids were so little! They grow up so fast.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

6 DAYS FROM NOW WE WILL BE ON OUR WAY!!!

Ugh! And we have had Hell Week for real around here. Nutcracker is now over...it all went great and Skye even got to go in as Mouse (she was the understudy) one day because the girl who was that mouse in the other six shows was throwing up on the day of the last show...and guess who was throwing up the next day! Yep, Skyler.

But, Tyler is working until 10:30pm so that is bad. But not as bad as 3am the next morning. So the plan is we will pick him up at work at 10:30pm on the 19th and we will leave from there.

Bad part is that might get us to Atlanta around morning rush hour on a Friday and that is REAL bad!But we will be more than half way there at that point so I'm ok with it. Maybe overnight travel will get us a bit further with no traffic so we'll just have to wait and see.

Temperatures in Florida have been cooler than our last three other trips at this time of the year and I am a fan of that but as of today it is showing rain the first two days...I understand Florida rain and how fickle the weather is these days so I am gonna take that as it comes but I am really hoping for no rain!

We have done basically NO packing done. Skye has finals all week next week. Tyler is working. And I am working. So, here's to the next 6 days flying by!!!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Day 6 - Wednesday - July 31, 2019 started early again. We all got ready and headed out.

Yep...we were back at Epcot!

We had an 8:10am ADR at Akershus so we headed back. It seemed pretty uncrowded today so far.

We checked in and waited a few minutes before being called in.