I'm Not Really Harry Potter, But I AM the Rebel Spy! Oct 2016 TR *COMPLETE + New TR Link 8/6

khertz

khertz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
I'm Not Really Harry Potter, But I AM the Rebel Spy!

When the crypt doors creak, and the tombstones quake
Spooks come out for a swinging wake
Happy haunts materialize
And begin to vocalize
Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to socialize​

I can't tell you how happy I am to be writing this TR...because this trip almost didn't happen!! We had unfortunately chosen dates that Hurricane Matthew decided to interfere with. But before we get into that, let's have some introductions! Many of you have probably followed one (or more) of my previous trip reports, but for anyone new, here's our crew!


First up is myself & DH! We are both crazy about all things Disney, and are doing our best to bring up our kids as second generation Disney lovers. So far, it's working! To earn funds for our Disney trips, I work as a pediatric oncology nurse, and DH works with radiation in the oil field. We work pretty well together when it comes to working on these TRs since I supply the words while DH contributes about 90% of the photos you'll see here, with some Photopass and iPhone photos thrown in here and there. This was my 18th trip to WDW and DH's 17th.

DS is up next. He's 6 years old and works hard in kindergarten, learning to read and tie his shoes. He loves going to Disney World just as much as we do, and he is my countdown buddy! He loves Cars, Test Track, Mickey bars, and Fantasmic. This was his 9th trip to WDW.


And finally, there is DD! She's 18 months old now, but at the time of this trip she was 14 months old. She wasn't really showing much interest in anything Disney at the time, but she is now obsessed with Minnie Mouse. This was her 5th trip to WDW!

Our trip took place October 8-15. We were using our WDW and Universal Orlando APs one last time before they both expired. For accommodations, we stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek for our Disney portion of the trip, then spent our last two nights/days at Universal staying at the Portofino Bay Hotel.

I sure do hope you'll join in on our final AP adventure for this year!!
 
Chapter Links

Friday October 9th
Day 0: The Trip That Almost Wasn't!

Saturday October 8th
Day 1: A Sight For Sore Eyes

Sunday October 9th
Day 2 Part 1: A Wilderness Explorer is a Friend to All
Day 2 Part 2: Gorilla Falls
Day 2 Part 3: Dem Bones, Dem Bones
Day 2 Part 4: Mad & Magical
Day 2 Part 5: It's Laughter They're After

Monday October 10th
Day 3 Part 1: Toy Story Mania Bonus!
Day 3 Part 2: Back in 5 Minutes. Key is Under Mat
Day 3 Part 3: Don't Underestimate My Power. I Want That Spy!
Day 3 Part 4: World Showcase Wanderings I
Day 3 Part 5: World Showcase Wanderings II

Tuesday October 11th
Day 4 Part 1: Farewell to the Welcome Show
Day 4 Part 2: Off to Neverland!
Day 4 Part 3: To Infinity & Beyond
Day 4 Part 4: It's Time to Party!
Day 4 Part 5: 100 Acre Woods
Day 4 Part 6: Boo to You!
Day 4 Part 7: And You and You and You!
Day 4 Part 8: When the Crypt Doors Creak...

Wednesday October 12th
Day 5 Part 1: Rev Your Engines
Day 5 Part 2: Where Are You, Nemo?
Day 5 Part 3: A Trip Through Time

Thursday October 13th
Day 6 Part 1: Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!
Day 6 Part 2: Breakfast with Pooh and Friends
Day 6 Part 3: Take Us Back to the Day Belle & Beast Fell in Love!
Day 6 Part 4: Pete's Silly Sideshow
Day 6 Part 5: Up, Up, and Away
Day 6 Part 6: Fantasmic

Friday October 14th
Day 7 Part 1: Benvenuto a Portofino Bay!
Day 7 Part 2: Skull Island
Day 7 Part 3: Long Way Down
Day 7 Part 4: Halloween Horror Nights I
Day 7 Part 5: Halloween Horror Nights II

Saturday October 15th
Day 8 Part 1: The Wand Chooses the Wizard
Day 8 Part 2: A Real Horror Show
Day 8 Part 3: Last Bits of Fun
​
 
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Day 0: Friday October 7th

This is text heavy, but worth mentioning the drama that surrounded our departure day.

To say the days leading up to this trip were stressful would be an understatement. With Hurricane Matthew bearing down on Florida just before we were scheduled to arrive, I was really reconsidering even taking this trip. Our flight out was Saturday morning, but the storm was supposed to hit near central Florida on Thursday night into Friday morning. The airport was actually shut down! So we kept a close eye on flights and hoped for the best.

Unfortunately, Southwest made the decision to cancel our flight for Saturday. DH and I were in a scramble to figure out what to do. DH spent lots of time on the phone with Southwest to figure out what we could do, and did a lot of online research. Our options were slim as far as flying out. The soonest they could guarantee getting us in was Monday. That wasn’t really an ideal option for us as it would mean losing a lot of park time. So we decided we’d have to drive. But we didn’t want to drive both ways, so DH looked into the price of a one way rental from New Orleans and keeping it for the week and canceling the rental we had booked originally from the Orlando airport. Then we could keep our flight home and return the rental in Orlando. I’ll mention that due to the circumstances, we could have canceled both flights for full refunds even though we had done the Wanna Get Away fares which usually cannot be canceled.

Thursday night, we decided it would be best if we could get part of the way there Friday night so we wouldn’t have a 13 hour drive on Saturday. Somehow, someway, we managed to snag what seemed to be the very last available hotel room at a Days Inn in Mobile, AL. They were hard to come by because of people evacuating from the coast. That night, I had terrible thoughts about this trip that made it hard for me to even sleep. I started regretting trying to make this trip happen. I had visions of us being stuck in traffic for hours and hours on Saturday as people flooded back into Florida after being evacuated, or being unable to even get there because of damage on the roads. Or what if the resort and surrounding area had severe damage or no power? I really thought about just canceling altogether or trying to reschedule the trip for the following week. We could still make it work with our AP expiration dates (we had chosen the week we did because it was the last full week we could squeeze in before both our Disney World and Universal APs expired). Our reservation at Bonnet Creek would be okay because we could cancel without penalty due to the storm and rebook for the following week because there were a couple of units left. And I could easily re-book my time off of work for the following week. We discussed it a lot, but ultimately decided to keep our plans as we had them at that time, and to just keep moving forward until we couldn’t any more.

Friday, I took the day off of work to run errands and finish packing. DH was able to get off early in the afternoon, so he stayed home to load the luggage into the car while I picked up DD from daycare and took her with me to get DS from school as soon as he was let out. When we got home, I gave DS a quick bath (he always comes home filthy from school!) and took down the last couple of Mickey heads from our countdown.


IMG_1601 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_1602 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
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Then we loaded up into the car by about 3 to head to my mom’s house. We picked her up, then drove to the airport to pick up our rental car.

After moving all of our stuff from our car to the rental, it was about 7 pm when we finally left the New Orleans airport. We wanted to grab something quickly before getting onto the Interstate, so we stopped at the first place we saw, which happened to be McDonald’s. Not ideal in the least, as the only thing DD could really eat was chicken nuggets. As I was commenting how terrible I felt feeding her these nuggets because they were actually gross looking, we passed a Chick Fil A. Really?! But she was happy to eat them along with a pouch of fruit, so we kept going.

We made it to the Days Inn around 9:15 pm, which was earlier than I thought we would arrive, so that was nice. We were hoping to get a decent amount of sleep because we were planning to hit the road extremely early in the morning in hopes of avoiding any major traffic from evacuees heading home. The place was a total dump, but we made the best of it considering we were lucky to have even found anything. The beds were really tiny, so we decided DH and DS would share one bed and I would share the other with DD. I didn’t think I’d want to use any kind of cribs they might have available there.

Unfortunately, DD was wide awake by the time we arrived and it took forever to get her to go to sleep. It was over an hour before she finally settled down to sleep, and it was a fitful night. She woke up several times, which woke me up several times. Not ideal, but at least we got a little bit of sleep.

Continued in next post...
 
Day 1: Saturday October 8th

After a restless night of not much sleep, we were up stupid early to get on the road. Our alarms were set for 3:45 am! Our one and only reason for getting moving so early was sheer panic at the thought of spending all day sitting in bumper to bumper traffic as people who had evacuated from the hurricane started flooding back into Florida. I remember horror stories after Katrina of people spending all day and night creeping along on the interstate and making little to no progress. So we thought we’d better get a jump as much as we could.

It was a little before 5 am when we actually left. The front office of the hotel was locked when we went to check out, and the girl working at the desk was asleep on the couch. A little strange, but okay. DH was able to reach through the window to leave our room keys and we left. We stopped for gas, and I took DS inside to grab a couple of bottles of water for the journey, and then we really hit the road.

We’ve made a few road trips to Disney World with this AP, and this was by far the most absolutely MISERABLE one. The lack of sleep from the night before had everyone pretty on edge, and DD was pretty much either asleep or crying. There was absolutely nothing I could do to keep her happy while she was awake. Toys, snacks, not even the iPad, was helping. I spent most of the day crammed in the middle seat in the back to try and keep her happy.

We did stop for lunch at the Chick Fil A in Lake City, which has been our go-to lunch stop every time. Again, we planned on eating our food and letting the kids play and burn off some energy and take their food to go in the car. DS did just that, but after playing for a little while, DD wanted to eat so DH fed her while I stayed in the play area with DS.


IMG_1607 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_1608 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_1609 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

There was another little girl in the play area playing who was a little too touchy feely for me. Every time I hugged one of the kids, she came up to give me a hug, which was fine. But then when DD was trying to get DS to give her a kiss (she LOVES kissing her big brother!), the little girl came up to me and said she wanted to give me a kiss too. I was like, uhhhhh not a good idea!!!

The last hour of the drive was the worse. We hit our first (and thankfully only) bout of traffic on the turnpike, and I’d had enough of DD’s fussing. Nothing was making her happy! So I gave up and climbed into the front seat. I figured if she was just going to scream anyway, I might as well be more comfortable while listening to it than staying crammed in the backseat!

Finally, after what felt like forever, we saw this beautiful sight!


IMG_1612 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We made it to Wyndham Bonnet Creek a little after 2 pm, and the resort gods were on our side, because our room was actually ready! Small miracles do happen. The kids each got a balloon at check in, and DS’s popped as soon as we got in the car to move it closer to our building, so of course the lack of sleep and long day of driving resulted in a meltdown over this balloon. Of course he didn’t just want DD’s, who was totally over the balloon by now and wouldn’t have noticed if DS took possession. It took awhile to get him calmed down, but eventually he did.

Our 2 bedroom unit was on the 2nd floor of Tower 5. We went up to the room and unpacked, and decided we should hang out at the resort and check out the pool for a low key evening and hit the parks hard the next day. Unfortunately, even after arguing the point to DH that we should take bathing suits just in case (he thought we wouldn’t have enough time to swim and didn’t want to waste suitcase space), I had remembered to pack suits for both kids and not myself! We even went down to the small gift shop at the check in building when we went to pick up our rental stroller to make sure they didn’t have any for sale that I could get in a pinch, but no go. So I was pretty upset by that. But DH and DS ended up going down to the pool because it was right next to our building. The one with the lazy river that I have been looking forward to trying for YEARS! I was so pissed at myself for forgetting that damn bathing suit!!! They were down there for about an hour, while DD and I stayed up in the room. While she played with some toys we had packed, I reorganized everything into our park bags for the next day.

I settled DD down at the table with some veggies and a fruit pouch and DH and DS came up with some food from the pool bar. He got a burger, a hot dog, and some chicken strips, and brought them all back up to the room and we all pretty much shared everything. Even DD shared some.

DH made a run to the store for a few cold items that we couldn’t pack with us. One of the worries I’d had about going to Florida right after a hurricane was that the stores would be wiped out of everything, so the one good thing about driving down was that we’d been able to purchase most of the stuff we needed to bring down with us instead of waiting to purchase once we got there like we usually do.

DD went right to bed because she was so exhausted, poor thing. DS and I had some time to cuddle up in his bed and read some Harry Potter before he went to bed.

UP NEXT: A Wilderness Explorer is a Friend to All
 


Joining in, sounds like a stressful journey down, hopefully Disney makes it all better lol. We actually had a very similar trip and dates as you all. We flew in on Sunday 10/9 and stayed until 10/18. We also did our last two days at Universal as well. We stayed at RPH there. The weather was so awesome wasn't it, the hurricane blew in some great weather for sure. Excited to hear more about your trip.
 
I'm here! Man, your time leading up to Disney trips is always so stressful. How do you manage?
I am glad to see you kept your trip, though, and that you made it to the resort.
What a bummer about the swimsuit! The only positive to it was that you ended up with some one on one time with each kid.
 
Omg what a stressful start to the trip. I don't blame you for feeling so uneasy about moving forward!

I'm sorry the second day of driving was so rough, but glad you made it!!

What a bummer forgetting your bathing suit! I am sure you were just glad to be at the hotel though and finally being on vacation!
 


wow, sounds like a stressful journey - and even just stressful deciding to go or not. I definitely get the idea of just going as you had the plans set and at least you would be moving torward something rather than just hanging back and wondering what might/might not happen

Always the worst when the child is upset and you just can't get them calmed down and nothing is right ... so yeah, totally get the idea of just dealing with the screaming and trying to be comfortable.

Obviously glad you made it safe! Such a bummer about the bathing suit though!

If it makes you feel better I only found the lazy river to be ok there - at least when we went there were a lot of teenagers taking the "lazy" out of "lazy river" and then other people just floating around drinking beers. I mean, it was still fun but not something super amazing.
 
Well, that's certainly a lot to consider before the trip started. It definitely would be hard to want to go ahead with the trip after considering all the downsides, but I'm glad you were able to persevere. Hopefully the trip improves from the stressful drive. We've had the uncontrollable screaming futs happen before and it is never fun.
 
First, I'm sorry that you had to deal with all that stress!! Glad you made the decision to just go. Nice that Southwest decided to cancel with enough notice at least, that you could figure out your plans!

khertz said:
It was a little before 5 am when we actually left. The front office of the hotel was locked when we went to check out, and the girl working at the desk was asleep on the couch. A little strange, but okay. DH was able to reach through the window to leave our room keys and we left. We stopped for gas, and I took DS inside to grab a couple of bottles of water for the journey, and then we really hit the road.
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Wow, that sounds really ghetto lol!

khertz said:
We’ve made a few road trips to Disney World with this AP, and this was by far the most absolutely MISERABLE one. The lack of sleep from the night before had everyone pretty on edge, and DD was pretty much either asleep or crying. There was absolutely nothing I could do to keep her happy while she was awake. Toys, snacks, not even the iPad, was helping. I spent most of the day crammed in the middle seat in the back to try and keep her happy.
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Oh my goodness. Been there! It's the worst.

khertz said:
The last hour of the drive was the worse. We hit our first (and thankfully only) bout of traffic on the turnpike, and I’d had enough of DD’s fussing. Nothing was making her happy! So I gave up and climbed into the front seat. I figured if she was just going to scream anyway, I might as well be more comfortable while listening to it than staying crammed in the backseat!
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I'm sorry, I can totally feel your pain. I am going to admit to turning Maya around about a month ago despite all the car seat recommendiations (and laws in some states, not ours though). Every.single.car.ride was screaming from her. We couldn't even do an hour to the Cape to visit the IL's without a constant screaming. In DH's car there isn't space for me to sit next to them.

khertz said:
Of course he didn’t just want DD’s, who was totally over the balloon by now and wouldn’t have noticed if DS took possession. It took awhile to get him calmed down, but eventually he did.
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Aw poor Paxton! definitely just overtired. We seem to be at a new age of random meltdowns with Aria, over things you wouldn't expect someone to cry over? IDK. Glad the room was ready. Too bad about the swimsuit -- I am assuming you had no other time in the trip that would make a quick visit to Target worthwhile?
 
Woohoo go Harry Potter!! This makes me nervous to be planning a trip in hurricane season, but I'm so glad everything ended up working out and you guys made it safely!
 
I'm so sorry you had such a rough start to the trip. Things can only go up from here.

We are staying at the Bonnet Creek for Mardi Gras. I just love it there. It's so spacious.

I can't believe how much your daughter has grown. In your last trip report she was still such a little thing. So precious!
 
Looking forward to hearing about this trip. Wow you can see such a difference in Delilah! I'll be back to comment but just letting you know I'm here.
 
disneyAndi14 said:
Joining in, sounds like a stressful journey down, hopefully Disney makes it all better lol. We actually had a very similar trip and dates as you all. We flew in on Sunday 10/9 and stayed until 10/18. We also did our last two days at Universal as well. We stayed at RPH there. The weather was so awesome wasn't it, the hurricane blew in some great weather for sure. Excited to hear more about your trip.
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Welcome! Definitely stressful, but being in Disney World always makes things seem better. When we were debating changing the dates, I told DH, "I just worry about canceling and changing because what if we end up missing out on an awesome trip with beautiful weather?" Those first few days of our trip were perfect!!! It got hot and humid by the end of the week, but it was worth having those nice couple of days after sweating on our trips in July & May.

amazingact21 said:
I'm here! Man, your time leading up to Disney trips is always so stressful. How do you manage?
I am glad to see you kept your trip, though, and that you made it to the resort.
What a bummer about the swimsuit! The only positive to it was that you ended up with some one on one time with each kid.
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I honestly don't know!!!! lol Flooded houses, hurricanes, rampant sickness through the house... It's a wonder we keep planning to go back.

We were just so beyond happy to make it there, and the rest of the week ended up being great.

I was so upset with myself for forgetting that! Especially the one time we were right outside of the lazy river pool, because we have always wanted to check it out and never done it. Our next trip to Disney World will be different because we won't be spending time at Universal, so we can be a little more relaxed and hopefully add in some pool time. I'll have to make sure to pack my bathing suit that time!!

missangelalexis said:
Omg what a stressful start to the trip. I don't blame you for feeling so uneasy about moving forward!

I'm sorry the second day of driving was so rough, but glad you made it!!

What a bummer forgetting your bathing suit! I am sure you were just glad to be at the hotel though and finally being on vacation!
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I was really really worried about all of the possibilities of what could go wrong, but aside from that long and miserable car ride, it was totally worth going as it ended up being a great trip with some really nice post-hurricane weather. Thank goodness now for things like Facebook and Twitter, so we knew just what the status of Disney World was prior to leaving instead of having to find out when we got there!

It was absolutely a relief to make it to the resort, but a nice turn in that lazy river would have been the perfect way to end such a long day. lol Oh well, I'll have to make sure I remember for next time!

TheMaxRebo said:
wow, sounds like a stressful journey - and even just stressful deciding to go or not. I definitely get the idea of just going as you had the plans set and at least you would be moving torward something rather than just hanging back and wondering what might/might not happen

Always the worst when the child is upset and you just can't get them calmed down and nothing is right ... so yeah, totally get the idea of just dealing with the screaming and trying to be comfortable.

Obviously glad you made it safe! Such a bummer about the bathing suit though!

If it makes you feel better I only found the lazy river to be ok there - at least when we went there were a lot of teenagers taking the "lazy" out of "lazy river" and then other people just floating around drinking beers. I mean, it was still fun but not something super amazing.
Click to expand...

I was a complete nervous wreck for about a week and a half leading up to the departure day. And of course, everyone who knew we were going was asking daily, "What are you going to do about your trip!?" I'm so very thankful that going anyway ended up being a great decision, even if the drive down was miserable.

After 7 or 8 hours of crying without consolation, what's one more, right?! lol It sucked, but we made it and were just SO SO happy we weren't going to have to drive home!!!

Well, it's good to know I wasn't missing out on something amazing, and it did look pretty crowded by the time we got there. Maybe next trip we can plan a morning of swimming and lazy-river-ing before the Halloween party or something, before it gets too crowded.

afwdwfan said:
Well, that's certainly a lot to consider before the trip started. It definitely would be hard to want to go ahead with the trip after considering all the downsides, but I'm glad you were able to persevere. Hopefully the trip improves from the stressful drive. We've had the uncontrollable screaming futs happen before and it is never fun.
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It was a week of being a nervous wreck and jumping from idea to idea of what to do! It ended up being good that we went ahead anyway, and at least we weren't stuck there during the storm like some guests were!
 
Imagineer5 said:
First, I'm sorry that you had to deal with all that stress!! Glad you made the decision to just go. Nice that Southwest decided to cancel with enough notice at least, that you could figure out your plans!
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Southwest was fantastic to work with, and offered us many different options, but unfortunately most of them would cut too much time out of our vacation.

Imagineer5 said:
Wow, that sounds really ghetto lol!
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It totally was!! I walked into that room and honestly was really skeeved out about the idea of even sleeping in the beds, but the pickings were slim for hotel rooms so we sucked it up and did what we had to do. lol I saw the girl sleeping on the sofa through the glass but didn't realize it was the person that was supposed to be on duty until DH got back in the car.

Imagineer5 said:
Oh my goodness. Been there! It's the worst.

I'm sorry, I can totally feel your pain. I am going to admit to turning Maya around about a month ago despite all the car seat recommendiations (and laws in some states, not ours though). Every.single.car.ride was screaming from her. We couldn't even do an hour to the Cape to visit the IL's without a constant screaming. In DH's car there isn't space for me to sit next to them.
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Ugh, it really is!! I knew she was just overtired, so I kept trying to get her to sleep and hoping it would help, but she would wake up just as pissed off as before! Thankfully we had a rental that was slightly bigger in the back, because no way would I have made it nearly as far in the backseat of my Honda Civic!! I'm pretty sure the car seat laws in Louisiana recently changed to 2 years old to be forward facing, but I turned DS around at a year old for the same reason (before the law changed). Luckily, for now she is not in the car much because we have a very short commute to and from her daycare, and trips to my parents house are just long enough for a car nap, so she has done pretty well. And in DH's truck I can sit comfortably in the backseat if needed.

Imagineer5 said:
Aw poor Paxton! definitely just overtired. We seem to be at a new age of random meltdowns with Aria, over things you wouldn't expect someone to cry over? IDK. Glad the room was ready. Too bad about the swimsuit -- I am assuming you had no other time in the trip that would make a quick visit to Target worthwhile?
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Yeah, Paxton still does that too! He's a very emotional kid and will just burst into tears over what seems like nothing, but other things I think will set him off don't. When DH made his run for groceries, he did ask if I wanted him to look for a cheap one for me, but we hardly ever make time for the pools on vacation, so I figured there was no point. We didn't end up at the pool any other days either, so it was the right decision.

Sarahh1027 said:
Woohoo go Harry Potter!! This makes me nervous to be planning a trip in hurricane season, but I'm so glad everything ended up working out and you guys made it safely!
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lol DS is a total Potterhead now, so it will play a bit into this trip!!

Honestly, this was our 5th trip in October and the first time a hurricane has even come close to messing with our trip. It happens, of course, since hurricane season doesn't end until November, but usually by that late into the season the threat is mostly over.

gracer9977 said:
Joining in. What a stressful start to your trip. Hoping it gets better. :)
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Welcome!! It was definitely stressful, but we ended up having a great time!

Grumpy's Wife said:
I'm so sorry you had such a rough start to the trip. Things can only go up from here.

We are staying at the Bonnet Creek for Mardi Gras. I just love it there. It's so spacious.

I can't believe how much your daughter has grown. In your last trip report she was still such a little thing. So precious!
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That's what I was thinking and hoping for, and luckily it turned out to be true! We had a great time!

Ooh, your trip is coming up soon!! All of the pictures from our trip last Mardi Gras are coming up in my Facebook memories this week, and it's making me wish we had another WDW trip coming up soon. I know my Facebook feed will be full of people in Disney that week! And yay for Bonnet Creek! We love it there too!!

I know, she has gotten SO big. It's hard to realized seeing her every day because the change is so gradual to me, but looking back at pictures it is really amazing how much she has grown. And watching her grow in Disney was a really fun way to spend her first year!!

Princess Leia said:
Looking forward to hearing about this trip. Wow you can see such a difference in Delilah! I'll be back to comment but just letting you know I'm here.
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Welcome!! Happy to see some familiar names!! I know, she has definitely gotten so much bigger since that first trip last October. Bittersweet to watch her grow up so fast!
 
Before getting on to the next update, I wanted to mention a few of the exciting trips we have coming up! In just a few more months, we will be doing another Seattle/Disneyland combo like we did for my and DS's first Disneyland trip a few years ago. We decided to flip flop it this time and go to Washington first to spend a few days with DH's family that lives there, then spend a week in California. We are staying at a different Wyndham property this time that is closer to the parks, the Wyndham Anaheim, and we'll be doing another day at Legoland since DS enjoyed it so much last time. Depending on DS's school calendar for next year (which I should get sometime in March), we are hoping to work in a few days at Universal Orlando just me, DH, and DS with DD staying home with my parents. I'm wanting to time it with a teacher in-service day so that we can maybe have 4-5 days away, but DS only miss a day or two of school. We thought it would be fun for him to actually get to ride things with both of us now that he is a bit older and braver, and though I'll hate to leave DD behind, there really isn't much for her to do there. And I'm hoping that by having more time and not feeling like we need to cram everything in to 2 days, we can do more other things like maybe the miniature golf and eating at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium.

For next year, I'm so very excited to get back to Italy! Never thought it would happen again so soon, but Kevin & John on the DIS Unplugged were talking on their show a couple of weeks ago about a Viking Ocean Cruise around the coast of Italy that they were putting together group space for, and I kept waiting for the huge price tag to be dropped...but it wasn't! It's actually a little cheaper for DH and I to both go as it was for the price of one of us on the Italy ABD! And so far, there is a great group of DISers going along too, several of which we traveled with before on our ABD trip, so I'm really looking forward to that! If you're interested, there's a thread on the DIS Unplugged board with dates & pricing! I though taking a trip of this magnitude would mean missing out on Disney World (which had been our plan for 2018), but we should still be able to make it work. Staying at Wyndham won't cost us anything, and we already have some 5 day hoppers we bought years ago and have been holding on to, we will only have to buy a ticket for DD since she will be 3 by then. And no Universal on that trip, but with our weekend trip this year, that won't be as much of a hit. And finally, in 2019, we are hoping to go on our first Disney Cruise!! We decided to put it off a couple of years until DD will be older for the kids club, and so that we can save up for awhile. We want to go Mardi Gras week, so another important factor was waiting until the next slew of dates were released so we could get the best price since early 2018 has already been out for awhile and presumably gone up since the day booking opened.

Whew, I'm pretty excited about what we have coming up and eventually sharing it all with you!! But for now, back to October 2016...
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DAY 2: Sunday October 9th

The early night on our arrival day meant we got a good night’s sleep and woke up ready to go at 7 am the next day. We had breakfast at the resort and got the last minute things shoved into our park bags, then got down to the car. I have in my notes that we physically entered the car at 8:14 and had made the goal of leaving “before 8:15,” so we were still right on track!

The drive over to AK went quick enough, and we were able to park close enough that the tram wasn’t needed. And there was no line at bag check, which is always a plus, so we breezed through security and lined up at the tapstiles.

We realized when we got there that we had forgotten DS’s Wilderness Explorer book at home, so we knew we’d have to get a new one. I swear, he probably has every single badge but they are spread out through 3 different books because we always forget to bring them back!

We were let into the park a little early and were able to pick up another WE book, then joined everyone waiting down by the Tree and held by ropes.


Oct 2016 01-001 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-002 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-003 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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Oct 2016 01-005 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
DS taking the WE pledge​
We waited down by the ropes for maybe 10 minutes, then there was an announcement welcoming us to the park, and a bunch of birds flew out overhead and swooped around a couple of times. I don’t remember seeing this on recent trips, so I thought it was really cool. But maybe I’m just forgetting and we have actually seen it before.

When the rope dropped, we followed the masses over to the Kilimanjaro Safari. I really love that you can bring your stroller into the queue here and the CMs take it and park it for you!


Oct 2016 01-009 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
DD waiting in line


Untitled by disneymom1024, on Flickr
In line selfies


Oct 2016 01-010 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
That kid ended up hitting his head on one of the beams, either right before or after this pic was taken.


Oct 2016 01-011 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-012 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-013 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​
It was a little less than 10 minutes, and we were on our way for our two week safari! Man, it really flew by though…

I think this was the first time we have been since the addition of the African Wild Dogs, so that was pretty cool to see some new animals on the safari.

Continued in next post...
 
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Day 2 Continued: Sunday October 9th

It was a great safari! The animals were all really active, so DH got lots of good shots. We were in the mood for some more animals, and there was a bunch of badges available, so we decided to walk the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. I’m not sure when they changed the name from Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, but I guess it had been awhile since we had done this.


Oct 2016 01-045 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-046 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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Oct 2016 01-051 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Earning a badge. I love how all three kids are wearing funny hats in this pic.


Oct 2016 01-052 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-053 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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Oct 2016 01-056 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We had a FP next to meet Mickey & Minnie at the Adventurers Outpost, but DD had fallen asleep in the stroller while wandering the trail. I tried searching for a later time, but there was nothing available, so we ended up missing that one entirely.


Oct 2016 01-057 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
One of the more interesting Hidden Mickeys!


Oct 2016 01-058 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-059 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-060 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-061 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Oct 2016 01-062 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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Oct 2016 01-065 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​
UP NEXT: Dem' Bones, Dem' Bones
 
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