Hi Everyone!!!

I am sorry for being MIA lately. Instead of listing all the reasons why, I decided to do a little throw back trip report to try and inspire me to get back into the trip reporting way! I have to finish this trip report, I have a December trip AND a February Trip that I need to work on! So, I need some inspiration! And even just starting this throw back trip report has sparked that a little!

So, if you want to hear about our VERY first trip to Disney, come on over to 'A Throwback Trip Report - 7 years ago' and see how small Morgan and Gwen were and remember what Disney was like before Fast Pass Plus! In a simplier time...
 
Just caught up and joining in! It's wild to think August was when Galaxy's Edge previews and MNSSHP was happening was just about a year ago. That's too too wild. Love all these 'look-backs' you are giving us.
 


Hey Everyone!!!

I am back! Well, hopefully! I think I figured out why I let this one die down a bit. I have to admit, that the Halloween Party night waa a bit of a let down for me this trip. Granted it was HORRIBLE by any means, just not my most exciting day. And then it just had bad timing with everything else going on. SO, I am going to try and use this next post to power through with the evening. So, I appologize in advance if I kind of go through the rest of the night at a high level. BUT there is def still lots of good stuff to come! Promise!


Day Four: The Second half of Halloween Party

So, I think I left us off splitting up from Andy's sister's family to go ride Big Thunder Mountain and watch the parade. As we walked over, we saw lots of open space for the parade in Frontierland.

So we decided to grab a spot and get some desserts.

I went and ran to get Dole Whips while they sat and waited. I again tried to mobile order and was having issues with the app. It wouldn't let me check in as being there or something. But I figured out, that if I exited out and went back in, I could then say that I was here.

I had plenty of time to get out snacks and head back to the area we were sitting at. I have no pictures, but I ordered a Dole Whip for Morgan and a Dole Whip Float for Andy, me and Gwen to share. And I impluse ordered the Pirates Horizon drink. Which was basically pineapple juice a a red juice. It was ok...

Gwen wanted to use the bathroom. I told the CM as we crossed that we were just going to the bathroom. Which thank goodness. Because when we came back, they were trying tell everyone to go all the way down and around. But the CM remebered us and let us through!

We were able to see the headless horseman for the first time. And Gwen kept saying how are they doing that.

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I won't bore you with too many photos, as there are tons out there and videos. But I loved the gravediggers and the new floats!
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After the parade was over, we walked up stream and tried to get over to Big Thunder Mountain as fast as possible.

I told the girls this time that we weren't waiting for the back row, as we needed to still go find a spot for fireworks.
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We were on the ride by 9:25, and then had a bathroom break and then headed to find a spot for the fireworks.

Which, we managed to squeeze into an area. There was people lining the taped area but no one was in the middle. So, we just stepped into that area.

It wasn’t the best spot but not the worst. Especially for not really waiting. We probably waited 10 minutes before the fireworks started.

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Fireworks were also great. We struggle with the fireworks. I tend to be disapointed as I am almost always only seeing part of it with my height.

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But with the fireworks over, we walked over to where the dessert party was, and met up with Andy's sister and family as they were exiting.

a few folks wanted to ride Space Mountain again. So I suggested that the rest of us go ride Dumbo while they did that.

Which Andy's sister goes to Disney basically every August and she had never been on DUMBO!!!

So, we headed over that way slowly and went to ride.


Gwen rode with me.

And we got Andy's sister to ride with Morgan.
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And Andy became our paparizi and took our photos from the front elephant all by himself. (as the oldest son declined to ride Space Mountain AND Dumbo)

After the girls wanted to ride Barnstormer. So I took the girls to ride that while Andy and his sister went into Big Top to get some waters.

The first time Morgan got the front row to herself.
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Which when we got off, she declared that it was WAYYYYY more fun at night and by yourself. So, Gwen wanted to ride as well, so, of course we had to go again so Gwen could try...

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Which Gwen also declared as true! We were able to ride that 2 times before Andy and his sister re-imerged from Big Top.

We decided to meet up with everyone in front of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, so we headed out. On the way, the girls asked if they could ride the tea cups.

So, I bravely voleentered to go with the girls.
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And, I don't typically get motion sickness but the tea cups do mess with me a little. This time I video the ride and looked at the screen the whole time. And it seemed to help. Plus I let the girls turn the tea cup themselves. And I don't think they were doing a very good job.

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The tea cups did have there "night club mode" going on for the party. So, it was fun enough.

While we were on the ride, The rest of our party caught up to us and we moved on to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

We got in line for 7DMT at 11:23. We were hoping to hit Haunted Mansion also before the party was over. We were cutting it close!

It was basically a walk on at this point in the night. I was kind of bummed that we couldn’t walk the full que but it wasn't that big of deal.

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Andy rode with Morgan.

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And Gwen rode with me. I have that we were on the ride by 11:37!

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I am glad we were able to ride this, we have not done this many times as night.

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I think Morgan was mad because she wanted to ride with Gwen and Gwen wanted to ride with me.

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Once we got off, we got off and tried to High Tail it over to Haunted Mansion for one last ride.

I gave Gwen a piggy back ride over to HM. As she was tired and really didn't want to even go on the ride. But we didn't have time to do rider swap. So, I basically had to convince her to ride.

As we were walking over, @Tracy161 passed us, as we were a slow moving train. But I said hello again and told her to go ahead of us. As she was doing the same thing and I didn't want to be the casue of her missing the ride!

But we did make it! (to Gwen's dismay) with 10 minutes to spare!

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This is how Gwen waited in line the whole time. In her defence it was very late as well.

Untitled by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

Gwen rode with me. That was one of her demands for going on the ride.
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Gwen rode with me and tried plugging her ears the whole time. She said the music was the worst part.

And Morgan went with Andy.
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Once we were off the ride, the party was offiically over. So we slowly walked out of the park together.

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I tried soaking in the last of the party but it ended up being a long day. And the negotiating with another family was way more exhausted than I had expected!

On the way out, we did stop for one last photo.

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At least this one came out!

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Oye, the oldest boy, again not following directions. He is almost "inside" the horse. Ha!

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We did get a photo all together again, which was nice....

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And this one.

We walked to the bus and waited for 2 busses to come and leave before we got to the front, but we were able to get seats on the 3rd bus that pulled up. So really that was fine!

Gwen sat on my lap and promptly feel asleep. (Which she almost never does) And we all crawled into bed VERY late!

But tomorrow was a rest day! And we were ready for it!
 
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Gwen wanted to use the bathroom. I told the CM as we crossed that we were just going to the bathroom. Which thank goodness. Because when we came back, they were trying tell everyone to go all the way down and around. But the CM remebered us and let us through!
That is good! I hate when they direct you way far away and you're like - I was sitting right there!
I tried soaking in the last of the party but it ended up being a long day. And the negotiating with another family was way more exhausted than I had expected!
yeah, going to Disney with other people can be tough!
 
I have to admit, that the Halloween Party night waa a bit of a let down for me this trip.
I absolutely agree. It was massively crowded which really just bummed me out. Still had a good time, and it was great to see you all again (even if it was a quick hi!), but I really wish they wouldn't pack those parties like they had.

Your pictures really came out great and I LOVED your outfit that night! Your hair bow was especially adorable :goodvibes Can you believe our August trips were nearly a year ago?! :sad:
 


I can only imagine what it would be like trying to do a Disney trip with my in-laws!!!! I bow to you for even giving it a try :)

Love your Haunted Mansion pics, LOL. Those will be fun to recreate as your kids get older!!! :)
 
You got a lot done during the party, especially with juggling another family. My youngest doesn't like HM either. She has gotten better over the years but we use to have to bribe her to ride. I agree if you go to the Halloween Party, HM is a must.
 
Poor Gwen certainly was tired by the end of the night. The parties are fun but tough for the little ones staying up so late.
 
Hello Everyone!!!!

I am here to formally apoligize for falling off of the face of the earth. I know I tried to make a come back but my heart just wasn't in it. The thought of no idea when I could plan a trip was killing me! It is just that simple. I would start to read some folks trip reports, and it would just make me sad. I didn't want to comment on them, it just didn't feel right. You know?

BUT I think I am rounding the corner on that. We went to visit my parents yesterday (an hour drive south of us) and we had a good favorite things conversation in the car. Does anyone else do this? "What is your favorite ride" "What is your favorite snack?" That kind of thing? It's silly but it just felt good! And Andy and I had a little side conversation about when we felt ok going to Disney again. And we both agree probably not till December of 2021. BUT just saying it out loud made me feel so good! Something to look forward to, no matter how far away. You know?

Soooo, I am going to try and wrap up this trip report. I have 4 days left I think. And I do think they get more and more laid back. But I def want to complete this. PLUS, I still have our December trip to share and I think that will really help my mood and fun to do with the holiday season approaching!

So, without further adu, up next the start of our Day 5!
 
Day Five: Rest Day!

So, long long ago, my last update for this trip report was a a very crowded Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party. We didn't set alarm this morning. We knew we would be switching hotels and that we were def going to need to relax today.

Around 9:25, we were just starting to wake up. At 9:30 Gwen finally draged Morgan out of bed to see what Tink left them. Tinkerbell left them pool toys to use since we were switching hotels today! (No photos apparently of the items)

But the big news was that we were switching to our new favorite Yacht Club!

The girls relaxed while Andy and I packed us up. I had done some packing the day before, so it wasn’t too bad. I did much better this time than last time.

Andy decided that it would be better for us to just take an uber with our bags, since we were going to swim and relax. He was worried that we wouldn’t get our bags till after we were ready to head to EPCOT. And I wasn’t going to argue since we needed to uber oursevles over regardless.

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This was our "plan" for today... Pretty loose for folks here on the boards. I tried really hard to keep today open and hopefully relaxing.

We made it to the lobby of Coronado right at 11:00. And by using an uber we were in the lobby of the Yacht Club at 11:12! Seriously can’t beet that.

I went to check us in. Meanwhile Andy sat at the kiddy seat area with the girls.
Andy in Tiny Chair
Not sure why he is making this face but one of the girls took the photo, so who knows what they were doing...

The CM was very nice and was taking awhile to check us in. But I was in no rush. He said, just give me a minute to call someone. and I replied with no problem. He talked to the person for a minute and asked if he could ask.

He put the person on hold and said that they had a problem..... My inner head was thinking. OH NO!!!!!! But then...

..... He said they wanted to upgrade us to CL but our reservation was water view and they only had standard view for club level.

I promptly said NO PROBLEM!!!!!

He seemed super excitied to be upgrading us and I was obviously super excitied. I called Andy and the girls over. And the CM told them the news and he made a big stink about spoiling there guests. And Gwen just loved this!

All of our tiredness disappeared and we were all SOOOO excitied. A CM brought us up to Club Level and showed us our new room.

We were in room Room 5172, 5th Floor, Club Level. And believe it or not, we were in the new room by 11:26! Our room was right next to the main club level area. Which was fine for us but I am not sure i would want to be THAT close if I was actually paying for the room. But It was nice with the girls, I felt ok sending Morgan and Gwen down by themselves to get a drink or snacks.

The CM asked if Andy and I wanted champagne, we of course said YES!
Champagne just for chec
king in!


We jumped on the beds a little, Andy and I sipped our champagne. And they headed out to the main area to have them bring our suitcases up and we checked out the snacks in the lobby area.
Concerge Area

We are Fancy!

Coffee Area

We couldn’t take it all in yet. As we had a lunch reservation to get to! So, we walked down to Beaches and Cream!

Up next lunch at Beaches and Cream
 
Day Five: Lunch at OG Beaches and Cream

We headed downstairs for lunch. At this point, Beaches and Cream was still the smaller version. We were actually able to make the reservation because Disney had pushed out the date when they closed it for the remodel. And when we checked in, it wasn't busy at all. So, it seemed like most people didn't realize that it was still open.

Beaches and Cream

We were seated right at noon. This was our first time in here, so the excitement was still super high for all of us. We decided what to order and started to talk about how our new upgraded status would effect the rest of our plans for the rest of the trip. We obviously wanted to maximize our Club Level Status!

But back to the food!

We ordered some of the fries to share.
Beaches and Cream Loaded Fries
Plastic cheese and bacon? Yes please!

Morgan and Gwen decided to split the Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
Beaches and Cream Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese
The waiter kindly divided in half for the girls.

Morgan did end up with all of the soup & Gwen will all of the grilled cheese But it worked out in the end.

Andy and I decided to split a burger and onion rings.
Beaches and Cream Half Sandwich
And again the waiter kindly plated it half and half for us. It's a small thing but it is so nice when places do this for you.

When we had sat down, the waiter asked if we were eating lunch and dessert, just lunch, just dessert. Which I thought was nice since sometimes Disney makes it seem like you HAVE to eat all of it. And I think is good to know that you can go there and just get dessert.

He also offered that they could divide anything up that we wanted to save room for dessert. Which we clearly took advantage of that!

We decided to cancel our dinner reservations for tonight since we were upgraded. I debated seeing if they could get us into Ohana to eat with Andy’s family but decided against it. We wanted to take advantage of the CL food!

Beaches and Cream

We did get to see someone order the Kitchen Sink. Which was all we needed. Gwen liked that the light came on.
Beaches and Cream Kitchen Sink
All of those things mixed together sounds so gross to me. But I love the idea of it.

We ordered the No Way Jose Ice Cream to split between the 4 of us.
Beaches and Cream No Way Jose
And it was MORE than enough for us. I think we even still left some ice cream!

No Way Jose Dessert

This was a BIG hit with Gwen and Morgan. They loved this place. And we will def be back! The food is nothing special but I think sometimes you just need regular food. And who doesn't love a good sundae?

We headed back to our room to put our baithing suits on and test out the pool!

On our way back to the room we cut through the pool area to just check it out and ran into MInnie and Daisy!
Minnie

Bye Minnie And Daisy!
They didn't hang around long but it was a fun quick little hello! And I loved seeing them in there beach wear!

Up next some swimming and some evening fun!
 
Yay - so glad you are back! I have been in a Disney slump too. DH isn't sharing my Disney love much anymore and wants to take the girls on other trips. I totally get it but Ellie is only 10 and still has lots of magic left in her. So I am trying to get him on board for a trip next October for our Fall Break and hopefully Tron will be open. I may be there in February again for the cheer competition if they hold it.
 
Yay - so glad you are back! I have been in a Disney slump too. DH isn't sharing my Disney love much anymore and wants to take the girls on other trips. I totally get it but Ellie is only 10 and still has lots of magic left in her. So I am trying to get him on board for a trip next October for our Fall Break and hopefully Tron will be open. I may be there in February again for the cheer competition if they hold it.
We are talking about going to Hawaii in 2022. Which seemed so far away, but with everything going on, really it isn't that far away in the world of trip planning. So, this is me squeezing Disney in before that!

We will never to done with Disney! But we were also talking about the fact that Morgan will be in high school and missing school will be MUCH harder. Sigh!

I know what you mean about the magic still being in her. Gwen is def still holding on to it. And really Morgan still LOVES to go.
 
I was so excited to see you back! I hope this helps you get out of the darn COVID blues! I have absolutely loved reading your updates! Also that sundae. Goodness it looks delicious!
 
I was so excited to see you back! I hope this helps you get out of the darn COVID blues! I have absolutely loved reading your updates! Also that sundae. Goodness it looks delicious!
Thanks!!! It is good to know I was missed. Which is strange to say but still so true!

The sundae was amazing, I realize I didn't say anything about it. But really, it's ice cream. If that makes sense...
 
Day Five: Swimming and our first Club Level Treats!

We headed back up to the room and chilled a little. We went down to the main Club Level area and got the official "tour" of the area since we didn't have time when we checked in.

And of course, we got some snacks, cause they were "free"
Concerige Snacks

I know we JUST ate but... hey, we were on vacation!

Morgan grabbed a Danish and Gwen took a cookie and some gummy bears. Andy "taste tested" the hummus and pitas. I must have taken something but not sure what as I don't have photographic evedience. Perhaps it was of the adult variety!

Concerge Gwen Drinks

Gwen did discover her love the mickey shaped sugar cubes! She loved them!

We chilled in the room for a bit, digested our food. And finally made it down to the pool around 2.

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I LOVE this pool! There is just something about it. I know it gets lots of hype and not everyone would agree. But we love that we can shift in the pool and it is a whole different feel to it.

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We always start in the same spot. This area to the right of Morgan is kind of like a whirlpool. And Morgan will swim in a circle over and over and over and over. Like a little fish. The circle area is suprisingly deep, just so you know.

Andy and Gwen
The good news is, it was August in Florida and it was HOT out. So, all of us had no problem getting in!

I stayed out long enough to get a couple more photos of the girls going down the slide. And then I hopped in as well.
Stormalong Bay Slide_Morgan

Gwen started “filling” in a hole in the rocks with the sand from the bottom of the pool. And was completly entertaining herself with it.

We had a nice dip in the pool, but man the sun was beating down on us!!! So, by 4:30 we were ready to head back to the room.

Concerge Agenda
When we got back to our room, we found this, a print out of our daily itinerary for tomorrow. I know it's silly but it is a nice touch! Especially if you aren't a crazy planner like us folks.

We relaxed in the room, showered and I probably unpacked us a little bit. I think we also talked about what we wanted to do that night. Originally we were going to go to EPCOT and have dinner at Spice Road, but we cancelled the reservation in lue of Club Level "dinner". So we decided to go to Hollywood Studios instead.

I grabbed a fast pass for us in Hollywood Studios. I think all I could get was the Tower of Terror.

Once the evening selection was put out and we were all clean, we headed down to the club area to see what they day. And I don't know how other Club Levels are like, but man! people came flooding in! I was a little suprised. But nothing terrible just something I was suprised by.

The main food they had was mac n cheese with toppings and some pulled pork and mini rolls. I was impressed. I know I have heard that you can't make a meal out of the food here, but we totally did. A light dinner, but that was fine for us!

Gwen was happy with the little apple slices and carmel they had.
Concerge Apples and Carmel

Morgan went with a bowl of mac n cheese with crushed goldfish crackers on top.
Concerge Mac n Cheese W/ Goldfish Crackers
And probably some apples as well.

I went with some mac n chese with pulled pork and crushed goldfish crackers.
Concergie Mac and Cheese with BBQ pork
And a cheese ball or two...

And Andy went with a couple pulled pork sliders. Andy and I both had some wine that they were serving as well. We grabbed a table in the main area and ate our goodies. It wasn't hard to find a place to sit. Our light dinner was nice, nothing amazing but just enough for us tonight.

After we had eaten enough. We got ready and headed out for the night.

Up next a few hours in Hollywood Studios!
 
I'm so glad you're back writing. This whole year has been hard. I'm happy you have some plans for next year. I think a lot of people are thinking next year Christmas time too.

How thrilling to be upgraded! I would pass up water view for CL in a heartbeat!

We just tried Beaches and Cream for the first time on Saturday. We really liked it.
 

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