But wait, who's driving the boat?! An August 2017 Trip Report

Hi! Welcome to my second trip report! I have always loved reading reports from other people and I like to relive my trips so I wanted to create a trip report. It has taken me a while to get started but life has calmed down a bit and we are going back at the end of January so by then it will be time to write another one!

If you happened to read my other trip report, my inlaws went with us on our last trip the previous August. My father-in-law got very sick and was hospitalized halfway during the trip. As it turns out, because of something they saw at the hospital there, he went for further testing and got a diagnosis almost a year to the day that we went on our trip. So literally a week before we left for our trip, we found out my father-in-law had lung cancer. He is responding really well to the treatment, though, and we are grateful that the last Disney trip prompted further testing.

Now on to this trip:

Who: Me and DH - high school sweethearts, together 21 years. It feels weird to even write that...that's a long time!



And our daughters, V - 5 and S - 3. This is them at 4AM on the day that we left:



And this is them by lunchtime:



But I'm getting ahead of myself. I hope you will join me for ten days of heat, fun, MNSSHP, HEA dessert party, HEAT, rope drops and more HEAT.

 

Day 1 - Arrival:
We had a very early flight on Spirit out of Atlantic City. As much as I don't like Spirit, flying out of AC is super convenient so that's what we did. When I received our boarding passes on line, I noticed we were spread over two rows with someone in between us. I was so annoyed and was going to complain but waited until we boarded. As we got on, I did a double take because we actually were somehow upgraded to "first class." I put it in quotes, because it is still Spirit after all, but we had huge seats and leg room so it was an awesome start.

We landed at MCO without incident and between waiting in the ME line and stopping at AoA first, we arrived at Pop about 1.5 hours after landing. There was a really nice CM outside who offered to give us buttons because everything is worth celebrating! We dropped our carry-ons off and hopped on a bus to Disney Springs.

Since I had been stalking Disboards and stayed up all night when free dining dropped in April, we had the dining plan and we had to upgrade to hoppers. I decided it might be worth it to put the cost of 6 day passes with hoppers towards annual passes. I wanted to get that done as soon as possible because I had already paid for Memory Maker and I wanted to see if I could get that money back. The dining plan is also relevant because I really, really ATE this trip. But more on that soon.

I stopped by guest relations at DS to see if I could upgrade my tickets to annual passes and get the money I had spent on Memory Maker applied. It was not the easiest experience and took quite a while, but eventually they did it for me. I hope this info helps someone because when I had asked if I could get the money back from MM, I got several different answers.

By this point we were starving so we went to the first place I had been dying to try: D*Luxe. As you can see from the pic above, my daughters were wiped out by this point and had passed out in the stroller. So MH and I both got burgers (2 QS credits) and 2 servings of fries (2 snack credits). I got the blue cheese burger and MH got a plain burger.



MH loved his burger and thought it was the best on property. I thought mine was okay. The deal was not great for the meal plan and they forgot to give me my drink and fry dipping sauces. It took a while to get it straightened out. I would give them another try. At his point, we woke the girls up and they split a burger and a pizza from Blaze.

We went to the Lego store to build and race cars and to Goofy's to blow some snack credits on rice crispie treats and glaciers.

This was also the day of the solar eclipse. We had brought two pairs of glasses with us and we shared with some employees at the Rainforest Cafe so they could look too. They were nice enough to give us a stuffed animal and a lollipop for sharing with them. We explored the World of Disney and even though we were not hungry at all, we had to go to our ADR at Raglan Road.

I had heard great things about Raglan Road so even though there were a million places I wanted to try this trip, we fit it in. I figured we could just go for drinks and dessert so I made an ADR for 4 - the earlies time we could see entertainment and not be part of a big meal rush. There were maybe only three other parties in the whole restaurant but when we told our waiter we just wanted drinks and dessert, he immediately got an attitude. We were sort of miffed because we weren't taking a table from someone who would've been eating a full meal. There was barely anyone there. In any event, we started with this:



The strawberry lime cider was soooo good. Thanks to someone posting about it on Facebook, I recently saw they had a store locator and it is sold about 20 miles from me. I am definitely going to pick some up.

We also ordered bread pudding and Dunbrody's Kiss.

I KNOW everyone loves this stuff. But we did not care for it at all.

The Dunbrody's kiss had a really weird texture. I reread the description and I still don't know what was causing the weird chunks.

The bread pudding was okay, but I didn't think it was anything special and since we were still really full, it did not seem worth it to finish it.

The one thing that was amazing though, was the dancers. It was really cool to watch! I could've stayed there all night but our waiter was pissy and we were all tired from a long day so we headed out and went to check into our room at Pop.



We had stayed at Pop the summer before and I liked it but MH hated how small it was, so we requsted a refurbished room to hopefully feel like we had a little more room. I requested a room on Touring Plans and wound up not getting what I asked for. We did get a "new" room but it was far - over by the computer pool. Somehow the pullout bed wound up injuring someone at least once a day. It stuck out in a weird way so that someone was always hitting the corner of it.



We unpacked most of our stuff and decided to walk over to AoA to play a little. We always like checking out the characters and the girls were able to run around a little.



Don't ask me how we possibly wanted to eat, but I wanted to try the make your own pasta and the pesto bread that I had heard so much about. The bread was just okay, not hot enough. The pasta was good except the shrimp was really fishy tasting.



We walked back over the bridge and it was really pretty.



We went to bed pretty early in preparation for Hollywood Studios RD the next day.

 

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

I am not a big ride person but I loooovvee Toy Story Midway Mania. Therefore I made everyone get up bright and early so we could make it to rope drop at Hollywood Studios. This was the crowd in front of us about 15 minutes prior to park opening.



I thought we were looking pretty good but once they dropped the ropes it was hard to navigate a stroller with the stairs and that doorway they smoosh everyone through. And then you have to ditch your stroller before getting in the Toy Story line. But we were in line by 9:06


After riding once, we then got back in line to use our Fast Pass. At this point, the standby line was almost an hour already. After riding, we went across the way to the Woody and Buzz meet and greet. There are some fun photo opps along the way.



At this point, we had to hop on a boat to make it to an ADR I was really looking forward to: The Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. We had never been to the boardwalk so we didn't know where we were going. We were also cutting it close so we hopped off the boat at one point and basically ran to the Boardwalk. Seeing as it was August, I shouldn't even have to mention this, but it was HOT. S was complaining constantly about being hot and everyone was starting to get cranky. We got to the breakfast and had to wait a bit but once we were seated we saw characters almost immediatel. Rapunzel was sweet and complimented the girls on the headbands I had made for them.



Flynn Rider is my absolute favorite and he was charming and a good sport.



It was here that we learned S did not want any pictures with "boys."

Ariel was nice but Prince Eric was a dud and didn't really play along when V told him Ariel said he would get her a new shell.

The pastries were good, but aside from that, I was disapppointed with the food. I had heard that it was really good. The kids "veggie omlette" was literally just some egg whites with spinach and tomato on the side.


I got the steak and eggs and the steak was almost raw (to me at least) and not appetizing at all.



I wish I had tried the Shipwreck instead. Maybe if we go again.

We decided to head back through Epcot and get some ice cream. I went to Le Halles and got fleur de sul and roasted peanut. I was not a fan of either. The fleur de sul was very very bitter.
But what I am so glad I tried was the macaron ice cream sandwich. Maybe the best snackI had all trip.



The complaining about the heat was off the charts at this point, so we sort of gave up and let this happen in the little splash pad:



Since attitudes were high and we were going to have a long night, we decided to go back to the hotel for a swim. S fell asleep so MH took V to the pool and to get a drink. I decided I didn't want to be left out, so I walked S in the stroller the ten thousand miles to the bar to get a drink. I was really looking forward to trying a pina colava and I was upset that everyone wasn't having a blast. I get to the pool bar and order my drink and the bartender asks for ID. Which is all the way back in the room, a million miles and (ten thousand degrees) away. I suppose I should've been flattered but I am 35! I wasn't giving up on my drink though so after sweating my butt off, I was finally on a beach chair next to the stroller with this in my hand:


I am out of picture space so this is a good spot to stop. Up next: Star Wars dessert party

 

Following along! Your girls are adorable!

I totally get the crankiness from the heat... my kids are so good at it! Haha!

That pina colava looks SO good!

 

Can’t wait to read more...we are going in June, staying at Pop and planning on the Star Wars dessert party as well!

 

I am following along! I hear you on the heat! We were in Disney in September and it was HOT!!!!

That sounds terrible. I hope your father-in-law is doing ok.

They are too cute!

Too funny!

Ohhh, Where are you? We are in the greater Philly area (Voorhees). We have always flown out of Philly, I just never seem to find a good deal for AC.

So good! You should also try the macaroon from the Patiserty with raspberries and lime filling. Really good!

That is the worst! You take advantage of the fact that you don't need your wallet at Disney and forget to bring your ID.

 

Thank you! And OMG the complaining! Thankfully this was the worst day for complaining but it nearly broke me!

It was really good!

 

Awesome! We love Pop. And the dessert party was cool!

 

Thank you!

Thanks!

We are at the Jersey Shore - Ocean County. There are literally NO frills in AC. But it is nice to park right by the terminal.

Ooh that sounds amazing!

Right?! I learned my lesson!

 

We are all home today because this is the view outside my window:


We are having a blizzard and school is already closed tomorrow as well. I would love some of that Florida heat right now, although it's pretty cold there now, too. We are flying down on 1/31 so I hope the weather here allows us to leave and the weather there is nice!

Anyway, we left off as we were about to head to the Star Wars Dessert Party. I was all set with my button.



We headed over to HS and decided to do the Frozen Sing A Long because I think it is enjoyable and S had really started to get into Frozen songs. I always get a little emotional when the snow comes down at the end. We also did Toy Story Midway Mania again because I love it so much. Then we went to the Star Wars area. I would say that the desserts were better than most buffet type desserts. I was most excited to try the freeze dried nutella so I got one of each topping



I tried all of the alcoholic drinks and wasn't super crazy about any but that didn't stop me from bringing one over to the line to meet Chewbacca. My daughters have zero interest in Star Wars but I really wanted a picture with their "wookie hair don't care" shirts so I made them do it anyway!

Showing off her shirt:




The storm troopers then led us out to where the fireworks would be. On the way out, we were handed 4 tie fighter popcorn buckets. These things were HUGE. We would up giving two away at the park and then giving one to my brother-in-law when we got home. But they took up a lot of luggage space.

We were not at the fireworks for 5 minutes when S started whining. And WHINING. And then V started complaining. I had really only done the Star Wars dessert party to surprise my husband so I decided to take the girls back to the hotel.

We have now done 2 trips of over a week and I think I may just be destined to have at least one break down per trip. Because on the way back to busses I lost it and wondered why I even planned this trip and wondered if I had made a mistake and felt like no one appreciated me. Maybe it is temporary Disney insanity? But I do feel like it was at least a LITTLE justified! Everyone passed out and maybe it was the thoughts of that giant sticky bun thing, but spirits were definitely better in the morning.

 

I always check and never have much luck. But it is also 20 minute drive to the Philly airport for us from Voorhees and prob a good hour to get to AC. So, it never seems to work out.

I have to remember to bring it with me to EPCOT, they tend to ask there alot as well.

We are all home today as well. Although the view out of our window isn't quite as bad. Hopefully the girls will have school tomorrow.

We leave on the 31st ALSO!!!! Too funny. We will be in Disney Wednesday to Wednesday. Maybe we will run into each other somewhere along the way.

Ohhhh they are giving popcorn buckets now? We did the dessert party a couple years ago and we got 4 Chewbacca mugs. Not nearly as big as a tie fighter bucket, for sure! But they did still take up alot of suitcase real estate.

I think there is always a breakdown/super crabby day when you are at Disney. You just have to try your best to minimize it as best as possible.

 

Day 3 - Epcot

Since we had had a late night before, I made a late breakfast reservation at Garden Grill. I really, really enjoyed this meal. All of the food was good, but that sticky bun...wow. Character interactions were good as well.



We have not really repeated any meals on trips, but this is one I would like to do again next visit.

This is probably not the best touring plan, but the day before, V had told me she wanted to see Fantasmic. This is the problem with surprising your kids. They get no input to planning. We had seen F! on the last trip, and she said she really wanted to see it again. I don't love Epcot's FP system because of the tiers, so I decided to forget about any Epcot FP and just make one for F! that night. I probably could have done early Epcot FPs and still gotten a F! one for the evening, but I didn't want to risk it.

After breakfast, we went to see Baymax who was one of my favorite meets last time. I think he is super cute. Afterwards, we hopped over to see Joy and Sadness. I like both of those meets a lot.




We spent some time in the Nemo area and saw Turtle Talk.

I was on a mission this trip to try as many foods on my bucket list as possible, so I got the bright idea to go to the World Showcase to try The American Dream. MH and the girls went to the Disney Visa M&G and I walked allllll the way to the USA and back. Did I mention that it was a million degrees? I didn't really think this through at all because carrying three drinks was also impossible, especially since they were melting all over.



This is what they looked like right after I got them. I made it all the way back to Future World and both kids decided they didn't like them
To be honest, now that they were all melted together, they didn't taste too fabulous. It must've been like 2 o'clock or so and we had a 4:30 reservation for Via Napoli. But we were SO hot. So we traipsed alllll the way back to Italy and asked if it was possible to get in early. We waited maybe 10 minutes and were able to get a seat. Thank goodness!

I got the agua fresca and the prosciutto e melon. Everyone else had plain. I was so excited that I forgot to take pics until midway through.






We really enjoyed our meal. We paid cash since it didn't make sense to use the dining plan for this. We also tried the Coppa Brutti Ma Buoni (ugly but good) since V likes cherries. It was good but kinda pricey.



When we finished, we headed back to Pop to rest and do some pool time before going back out for the night.

 

Wow, too funny! We had actually already planned to go in August but I really wanted to get one more use out of our AP's. I found $50 round trip flights out of Philly so I couldn't resist! We are only going Wednesday to Saturday.

No school for anyone tomorrow. Is it bad by you?

 

Cute dresses!

You have to be a mind reader! This coming trip, Morgan, our oldest knows about the trip but Gwen the youngest wanted it to be a surprise. Morgan has been able to keep it a surprise so far. We will see how that goes as it gets closer!

Oh course! You should have found something a little stronger while you were kid less!

We are flying out in the late afternoon. Jealous that you guys have/had annual passes. Can't convince DH to do that. Probably because he knows I will want to go a bunch of times...

The girls are outside playing in the backyard now. We got maybe 4 or 5". So, not that bad. It just stopped snowing here. But they haven't really started plowing yet. So, i am sure the girls will have delayed opening. hopefully...

 

@StarWarsMomofGirls! How long are you keeping it a surprise from Gwen? I really liked telling them the day before, but this time telling them a month before has been sort of nice too.

 

One of my main goals thisetrip was to go to Ample Hills. So after relaxing at Pop, we headed over to the boardwalk so we could get some ice cream. The sky was looking ominious and I did not realize there was no place to really sit inside and eat. I ordered half ooey gooey butter cake and half baked/unbaked. The girls got cream and cookies and peppermint pattie.





I hate to say this, but this was the most disappointing food experience of my trip. It was just...meh. I really wanted to love it, but I think Ben and Jerry's tastes better. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't anything special that you couldn't get at any random ice cream shop.

After ice cream, we decided to mess around with the photo booths since we had Memory Maker. We couldn't stay in there too long because it was about five million degrees inside the booth.



At this point, I was a little nervous that Fantasmic was going to get cancelled because of the weather. We took a boat over to Hollywood Studios. MH went on RnR and told me I should do it. I am not a big roller coaster person, but I decided to give it a go. I went into the single rider line and it was listed as 15 minutes vs. the 30+ minutes for standby. Twenty minutes passed and I had barely moved, while the standby line had zero wait. It made no sense. After thirty minutes in line, I decided to give up because I didn't want to be late for Fantasmic. The theater was pretty packed when we arrived. The girls got rather antsy while we waited for the show to start but we blew threw some snack credits on popcorn and drinks and they enjoyed doing the Wave for a while. When we saw F! last year, S was really scared but they both seemed to like it. They especially loved the part where all the characters are on the boat. I never really noticed this, but Mickey is steering the boat. Then seconds later, he appears at the top of the mountain. This is where the name of my report comes in because V looked panicked and said, "But wait, who's driving the boat?!" I couldn't stop laughing.

After the show we were herded out packed tight like sardines. After waiting for a bus, we made it back and put the kids to bed and I was able to cross another thing off of my bucked list: a moscato colada.



Next up: best day ever!

 

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom, BBB and HEA dessert party

I had not planned on a late night before since F! was not on my original plans, so I had a super busy day planned. We were out the door on the way to MK at 8:15. When we got into the park, we went straight to meet Tinkerbell. After a short wait, we were in.



Then we went out and right back in to get into Mickey's line. To be honest, I thought the interaction was not that great. But the kids liked it, so I was happy.



I was already feeling pretty accomplished as we made our way to Crystal Palace for our breakfast with Pooh and friends. This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.



We had a bit of a wait and then we were seated. We were told the characters could take 90 minutes to come see us and this made me a little nervous, as we had reservations to go to, but it didn't take the full 90. My favorite interactions were Tigger and Eeyore. When we were taking a pic, Tigger came really close to the camera.

We also liked taking a sad pic with Eeyore.



I thought the food was pretty good. My favorites were the puffed french toast, the breakfast lasagna and the cheesy hash browns.



After breakfast, the girls were very excited to have an appointment at BBB. V had already gone the year before, but S had never gone because she was too young. We showed up a little early and they told us to come back because they would never be able to get us in early. We went on the carousel a couple of times and then headed back in to wait. V's fairy godmother was great and she wound up coming out like this:



S, on the other hand...the whole time she was getting done up, I was telling MH I really didn't like the way it was turning out. I should've said something because I was really disappointed with it, but I didn't. I am not good with hair AT ALL but I think I could've thrown this together.



Oh well. She still had fun. We did pictures at Castle Couture and the photographer in training was super sweet. continued below

 

After the boutique, we had a FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle. We had never been before because we missed it last year. We were waiting in the FP line and saw an empty water bottle sitting right next to the trash can. We were talking about how ridiculous it was that someone could be that close to a garbage can and still leave their trash on the ground when a CM came over and said how it was okay because they probably just forgot. I am not sure I would be so positive after having to clean up the trash of lazy guests. V really, really wanted to be Chip so I was so excited that she was selected.



I convinced S to get the part of a plate.


This was a bad move because she became shy and I had to do the whole thing with her. She then refused to take a picture with Belle. The show was cute and a nice break from the heat. Afterwards we went on the Little Mermaid ride and went to meet Ariel herself. This was a great meet. V was wearing Ariel's dressy dress and Ariel noticed it right away. This is another one of my favorite pictures.



I know it seems like we just ate, but somehow it was 2:00 by then and it was time to go to our ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. I thought the atmosphere was cute and I like how they call families to their tables. The meal did not start out great, but the salad was really, really awful. I was not able to eat more than a few bites. But after that, we really loved the food. I got the Patriot's Platter and loved it. MH got a burger that he said was good and the girls enjoyed pasta with red sauce and string beans and mac and cheese with fries. And of course MH and I shared the infamous Ooey gooey toffee cake while the girls got a kids sundae.






I would definitely eat here again.

After this we went back to Pop for a while to get the girls to nap. This was stupid because of course they didn't nap and they didn't want to swim and mess up their hair, so it was a waste of time. We went back to MK when it was time to go to the Happily Ever After Dessert party. It was a little annoying because you could see the entrance from one side of Tomorrowland Terrace but you had to walk allll the way around to get in. We tried to get in early but it was already busy. The desserts were your standard buffet type, plus some decorate your own cookies and a little chocoate fondue pot.



I wanted to get down to the fireworks area as soon as possible so as soon as they started letting people out, we headed down to get a spot. We were able to go right to the front of the railing in the roped off area. It was an amazing spot. Everyone else was getting crammed together on Main Street and the girls were literally laying down, spread out on the grass.




I highly recommend doing the garden terrace dessert party for this reason. There was only one bad part. People were SO rude to the CM that had to keep the area directly in front of us clear. When he told them they couldn't walk through, they would blatantly ignore him and do it anyway. Right when the fireworks started, a lady jumped over the railing when he wasn't looking. She took her two kids and husband with her. So while we paid for our spot, she got to sit right behind us for free. I was FUMING. What a lesson to teach your kids, too. Anyway, MH and I loved the show so much. We both got a little emotional during it. We were just so happy to be able to be here with our girls. Said girls of course began to complain after a while, but we enjoyed it anyway.



(continued below)

 

Once the fireworks were done, we decided we were having too much fun and didn't want to leave yet. S fell asleep basically the second she hit the stroller but V was still kicking. We asked her if she wanted to stay or go back and she said she would stay. It was 9:30 and the park closed at 10 so we ran over to Dumbo. Riding Dumbo with my girl right before the park closed when everything was all lit up will remain one of my favorite memories.



We were also able to jump on the Peoplemover to see the park all lit up. At this point it was after 10 and the park was officially closed. We had never really had a proper dinner, just dessert, so we decided to stop at Casey's. It was packed and took a while to get food. The food was terrible. Everything was soggy and tasteless. We didn't finish everything and you could tell exhaustion was setting in.



We had had a late night the day before and a super busy day, so it was time to go to bed. While we were waiting, someone was nice enough to give us three anytime fast passes for MK. We those in our hands, we started to head out of the park, but not before doing some, "we survived park open to close" pics, minus one member.





Both kids slept through the bus ride home and we put them straight to bed with all the grime and tons of hairspray from the day.

 

We are letting Morgan "decide" when to tell Gwen. I wish Gwen knew at this point. It would make things easier but Morgan wants to wait till that day! We need to leave for the airport around noon, I think. So we will have to get the girls out of school early. And Morgan wants to tell Gwen that we are dropping DH off at the airport for another work trip. And then just want to see how long it takes her to figure it out. We will see if that works!

SO your girls know already? Lucky! Are they excited?

I had kind of thought, it was probably just ice cream. It looks like good ice cream but maybe not a special trip just for it. I kind of think the same thing of Beaches and Cream...

Ha! Gwen said something to the same effect. She just kept saying that Mickey could NOT be in all those places at that quickly! It was very funny. They would get along, I think!

How was the Moscato?

Talking Mickey is on my must do this trip. We haven't done it yet.

Love the ears! Are they the interchangeable ones?

I agree, it looks a little messy...

She looks so happy! We are doing BBB this trip for the first time ever. I need to find them dresses. Morgan doesn't want to wear an actual Princess dress, so my goal today is to find dresses that are fancy enough! Suggestions on where to go?!?! I am kind of at a lost.

I def think I want to do this on one time. Probably not this trip, as we are trying to keep this trip on the "cheap".

That is always what I think, it's teaching the kids such bad manners... Sigh.

Our trip in Sept, we had a moment similar to this. So fun!

Casey is the worst! You think it will be good and somehow it take forever to get your food and then it's just ok.

Awesome Pic! Great way to end the day!

This one is awesome too!