A Blast From The Past...A YOLO Staycation Updated 3/19

Epcot is Trash!

We finally found/met back up with Erin and made our way over to Italy. It was about that time when everyone was getting their spots for the fireworks. When it was Illuminations we would just keep on going however we all wanted to see the new show, they play Listen to the land in it its a must. So I got in line for an Italian margarita and we found great spots behind a special roped off party.

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Like always we managed to get our spot a good amount of time before the show. And just like every time another group thinks its ok to sneak in front of you right before the show starts. The lady was already in a bad mood because she was sitting on the stairs that were currently roped off for the special party and was told to move. So she was very short and snippy, and I’m sorry that I won’t give up my spot for you. They ended up leaving.

Shortly after there was an announcement saying that there was a delay in the show. Perfect, love that. We waited about 10-15 minutes before we decided to just give up and if we were walking around and it started then we would scramble to find a place to stand.

Then just our luck all the booths were closed for the night. So we wasted a good 30-45 minutes for a show that didn’t even start on time when we could have been eating and drinking more. We were all very unimpressed.

We ended up heading over to Mexico because Brittany wanted churros. So while she enjoyed her churros we sat lake side and if the fireworks happened we would have great seats. But more announcements were made about it being delayed and we just gave up on it. Our plan was to just leave and beat the crowds out.

As we headed out of the showcase we stopped by the odyssey and were happy to see that they were still open and doing the Epcot Experience.

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I was super excited for this and with it being at the end of the night there was probably 3 other groups in the room with us. It was all going good we watched all the knew things being added to the epcot expansion

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Remember that time people told me that Edna was taking over CoP and I cried. Well glad thats not a real thing

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Now while we enjoyed the experience, right away we knew this was not the experience we were suppose to be getting. The video itself was working but the projection for the middle model was not and about more than half way through the presentation they stopped it and we all had to leave the room.

Epcot was being a real Forky tonight…complete trash.
When we were kicked out we decided to walk around the newly renovated building.

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Kiss’s number one thing he is looking forward too….even with the date of opening changing literally every day

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We stumbled open photo pass photo ops and we couldn't pass it up.

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Before we left for the night we walked past the viewing room for the experience where they were resetting the show but because of this the room was roped off so we had to watch from a far.

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The next show was in twenty minutes so we decided that would be a no go. So we headed for the exit but somehow found ourselves in Mousegears getting merch that we probably didn’t need. And once we all bought new shirts we headed over to get our pass holder magnet.

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And we finally headed out of Epcot

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The bus ride back was the worst, we got stuck standing but to make it better we had to make a stop at WL first. When we got back to the cabin we had to go back out to the front to get our tragical express figured out for tomorrow. It was a quick process and I was handed our letter to get on the bus.

We headed back to the cabin, packed up the room and found ourselves trading our candy from the party. Everyone was trying to give away the hazelnut m&ms because no body liked them. Then it came to skittles and everyone wanted them. We somehow got on the topic of our favorite skittle color and erin goes “my favorite is the red package” Not the question, but good to know.

Around midnight we let Brittany sleep while the three of us went out for one more joy ride around the resort. It was a much needed vent session for everyone. While we were out we got pulled over…so we love that. The CM just wanted to let us know that our lights weren’t on and said that they were having troubles with some of the carts recently. We assured him that we knew because this was our second cart of the trip.

When Alish got off of work we swung by the cabin to pick her up and made another loop around the resort. By this time it was close to 2 and we were all ready to call it a night.

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Last Day Blues

It was our last morning walking up in Disney, and it is always sad. Today we slept in until 9. By that time Brittany had already packed up all her stuff and left for work. There were no goodbyes…mostly because we would be back in a solid 3 weeks. Even though we woke up at 9 we spent most of our morning packing up the cabin and laid around until 10:30ish.

We had to be out of the cabin at 11 and return the golf cart. So we took one last spin around the campground and found the loop with all the tents.
Then I found this sign and wanted to come down just for all the fun halloween activities.

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Bless all these people on a disney vacation and coming home to sleep on the ground and hope it doesn’t rain

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We headed back to the cabin one last time to drop Alish off at her car. And then we headed to the front to return the cart.

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From there we found Alish, grabbed all our luggage from her trunk checked that in and put our carry ons in storage. After the quick process we jumped into Alish’s car and headed over to WL for some lunch.

Geyser point has become our last day in disney lunch. Me being me always prefers to spend my last day at MK and with it being a point ride away its a better lunch option then the park. We all enjoy it so what a perfect option for our last QS credit.

It was a bit breezy today but the meal was still a 10 out of 10. Alish decided to save her meal for later at work. So instead she went to find a snack at roaring forks. When she came back, she got herself a huge arendelle macaroon…and her review of it was it tastes blue.

CM Marie was kind enough to remind us that it was our last day when she said we only had one more meal left.

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After a great lunch we headed to my favorite place. As we were leaving WL we noticed that the stairs to the parking lot were freshly painted, we noticed because coming in they were looking awful! So good job on that efficiency Disney!
We all piled back into Alish’s car and this time we headed over to the contemp. Here we just used the CM parking lot so we could walk over to MK. Is it allowed….not really but we do it anyways.

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It was a crowded park today and it looked like it was going to pour at any moment.
So before that could happen Alish wanted to get a picture of her cool jacket before she had to leave for work.

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Then surprise surprise we headed over to tomorrowland to go on Space.
And lucky for us we walked on right behind two girls who were very obnoxious and made sure to let everyone know how cool they were that they got to go on without their parents. Somehow we managed to spilt away from them and for that I am very grateful.

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After space mountain we headed over to cosmic rays, Alish was going to grab something to eat now before heading to work. But the menu didn’t have anything she wanted. So she decided to head off to work early. We made the goodbye quick, she was leaving for hong kong in a few short days but we already knew I would somehow find a way to come visit….JOKES ON ME! Thanks corona and canceling my trip.

The three of us just stood there in cosmic rays once alish left. We had no plan, we had Fps for splash but it was on the chillier side today so we weren’t really feeling it. We checked the app and the crowds were just making everything not worth it. We threw the idea around that we could go to epcot quickly, just because I wanted to get the AP coasters but you needed to make at least 3 trips.

We decided to pass on the Epcot trip and CoP was the winner. That was until me out of all people suggested Tom Sawyers Island. Yes I LOVE CoP, thats not a surprise. But when they both agreed to go to the island I had to jump on it.

So we were off on a new adventure. Off to frontier land!!!​
 
I only spent a couple hours there but I loved it too! Toledo is also great food and atmosphere - next time you go up there, make sure to go into the restroom! There are huge windows in there to see the view - a bit weird at first!

I loved the view from Gran Destino, actually moreso than the view from Topolino!

I went there last Christmas.. AKA 2019 my shower door shattered on my dad and brother... free hotel room for the remaining stay was really nice though..
 
I went there last Christmas.. AKA 2019 my shower door shattered on my dad and brother... free hotel room for the remaining stay was really nice though..

WHAT?! I mean the free room is always nice but the shattered door doesn't seem fun at all
 


Let's Go Play on Tom Sawyers Island

It has been quite some time since I have been to the island, the last time I went was when Kiss and I did every attraction in the MK for the last 24 hour event back in 2015. And during this last visit Kiss hid his Dr facilier cane in one of the caves.

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Surprisingly there were a lot of people wanting to head to the island so we were squished on the raft over.

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When we got over to the island we headed right for the fun part, the part of the island that takes me back to my childhood…the caves

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The dark, narrow, tilted pathways through the dark is still something I don’t trust. The one thing that I will always remember from my trips when I was younger is my father running ahead, hiding and popping out and scaring us. All in fun of course. But too this day I am always waiting for someone or something to jump out at me.

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From the caves we decided to take the barrel bridge path for a good laugh

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Then we crossed the actual sturdy bridge to the fort

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But my favorite spot on all the island is the rocking chairs looking over the river of america and big thunder. I could sit on that rocker all day long.

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After running around Tom Sawyers for a good amount of time, Erin asked if we could go watch the parade. With that being said we rushed back to the dock to jump back on the next raft back to frontierland. Our time on the island was nice, I would say go to the island not during summer when its hot and theres no AC to be found. This dreary October day was a perfect time to visit.

We ended up making it back and off the raft at 2:54, that gave us a total of six minutes to find a spot of the parade.

Obviously I had no hope in getting a spot, it was practically about to start and people start lining up early. We managed to find a spot on the open planter in front of the gift shops…how that happened? Who knows, we just managed to get super lucky.

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Right before it ended we decided to make a bee line closer to splash mountain, that way we wouldn’t be having to fight threw the crowds as much and just cut across. We had thunder Fps to end our day and we followed the rest of the parade crowd over in that direction.

Our last ride of this trip was suppose to be a thrilling ride through the wilderness, however we got stuck in the front row and we all know how not thrilling that experience is. Not even the goat effect can save you in the front cart. I try not to be a pain to CMs, we could have asked to wait for the back, but we just decided to take what we were given and make fun of the lack of thrill we were having.

With no more Fps we decided to call it a day at the park. And since we decided to hoard all our snacks for F&W and the booths closing on us we all were in need of using our snack credits. So we headed to main street. Erin was on the hunt for a cart to get her mickey ice cream. While she went in search of that and to get her picture with the castle I took the time to get my picture with the pumpkins one last time.

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When you try to get a good pumpkin castle picture…

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but your true self comes out

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We managed to find Erin and before the rain could start we found a photo pass photographer on Main Street to take a photo for us.

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And just like that the rain came out to play and we ran for cover in starbucks. There we stood in line for forever just to use our snack credits.​
 
See You In 3 Mondays!

The rain seemed to pass very quickly, or maybe not because we stood in the line for starbs for quite a while. But I would rather do that then be stuck out in the rain.

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We kept inching our way closer to the exit, but with Erin still needing to use her snack credits we jumped into the confectionary. As we waiting in the line Erin panic a bit because nothing in the case had a snack credit next to it. I come here all the time for snacks so if they aren’t a credit this would have been just recently changed. But all was ok when the CM said they were.

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She decided to go with a mickey cookie the size of her head and I got a cake pop to take home.
Just like every food we put into our mouth, we first must document it…while also taking pictures with the mickey pumpkins one last time.

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We were so close to the exit, so close, doesn’t mean we left. Instead we once again stalled as we got in line for another photo op.

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The unimpressed with you trying to make me leave look.

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And since the train was parked at the train station why not go hang out there for a bit.

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It was finally that time we were needed to start moving.
The only reason why it was ok too leave this time is because I would be back in 3 Mondays. That didn’t seem to bad, however the thought of running for that next trip would be the big worry the next 3 weeks.

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It was goodbye Magic kingdom. We caught a boat back to fort where we would wait for the tragical express to come get us.

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As we passed by pioneer hall they were just letting in the first seating for Hoop and I questioned if it would be ok if we decided to just stay one extra night? That wouldn’t be so bad right?
The real struggle is that no golf cart life, I love the fort but if you don’t rent a cart during your stay its going to be more annoying waiting for the internal busses if you want to get anywhere.
We waited for a bus to come and take us to the front, there we got our bags out of storage, changed and waited in the lobby for our bus.

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As we waited I just sat there listening to a couple ask to be moved because they didn’t like the loop they were in. It was an on going thing, they already rode around looking at loops and spots that were vacant and asked if they could move to any of those. The CM finally found a spot for them that they seemed to like and then goes…”still for 21 days?” And thats when I realized why they were being picky on the spot they were given. 21 days in Disney, can you imagine?!

At around 4:50 Brittany came walking into the lobby surprised to see us still here. Joe left a plastic bag of clothes from the day of the halloween party, so she came to retrieve it thinking I just gave it to the CMs. Nope still here waiting for a bus. We said our “see ya in 3 mondays!”

And then it was off to the bus stop because we didn’t want to miss our bus…or did we?

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The tragical express came pulling up and once I boarded I found two passports just laying on the floor. Those people are probably in panic mode at this current time. We quickly ran it to the bus driver and found a seat.

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The bus ride was long since we were the first stop and had many more people to pick up. I ended up falling asleep and woke up when we got to the airport.
Once arriving to the airport, we grabbed some dinner at moes and then headed through security. Just like coming to orlando Erin was once again stopped for her bag to be checked. This time it wasn’t for pizza but for her halloween candy from the party.

We got to the gate, then waited to board, and we were off.
I apparently made friends with our flight attendant as he handed me all his “props” for the safety spiel.

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On the flight home I also made Erin drink with me. I think she wanted to murder me because the drinks were basically just straight rum. But when you have free drink coupons you just can’t let those go to waste!

We made it home safely and this is where our trip ends.
As always this Halloween season was everything I needed, the trip might have had some bumps but I wouldn’t trade it for the world to be in my favorite place with some of my favorite people.

Now onto our WINE AND DINE 10K!!!!​
 
WHAT?! I mean the free room is always nice but the shattered door doesn't seem fun at all
It’s not when your mother is traumatized by it.. we had to waste an hour of our morning when we were supposed to go to MK to switch rooms across the room and get ready after that..
 



If our old one had drinks like this I would've been there ALL THE TIME.
First is was the plan for the week and the staycation. Brittany still had to manage work into the equation and brought up how her students chant “This school is trash”

As a middle school team member, I sympathize with this.

“I just watched that young police guy look you up and down 3 times. Your butt must be popping in those pants” Love that for me. Then add Erin’s comment of “Bad quality…you’re oblivious”

We all need friends like this!

Then crocodile rock came on and next thing I know Alish is spilling half her drink because it has become her new favorite song and she got a little too excited about it.

Yaaaas! A great song.

When I woke up Erin was already awake and tackling her homework like a good student. Prior to the trip she asked if we would have any down time so she could hang out on do her homework and that was basically what today was for.

I did this a few years ago when I was in grad school. I'd wake up and do my school work and my husband went and got me breakfast :lovestruc a real keeper.



These are AWESOME! You guys always have the best costumes.


This dress is adorable, where did you get it?


So cute! I bought my daughter a Minnie one for Hanukkah as a last minute gift from our Disney store in the mall, but online had a way better selection. I wish I hadn't waited so long to get one!

Geyser point has become our last day in disney lunch

Geyser Point has become one of our favorites. It's the best value for a credit!

Sorry you missed out on Hong Kong. This whole thing is awful! But thanks for the trip reports. It's really helping to keep my mind off what's going on. On to your next one!!
 

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