"I've been waiting my whole life for this!" (says the 3 year old) - A September 2023 WDW Trip Report!

[MamaMouse0920]

Hello & welcome to my 3rd Trip Report!

We returned home yesterday from our most MAGICAL Disney vacation yet, and I am already deep in the throes of the Disney Blues. I seriously can't wait to get back! This trip had tons of highs, a fair share of lows, and everything in between. Before I get started, feel free to check out my Pre-Trip Report HERE. You can also check out my 2 previous Trip Reports (Feb 2023 can be found here & September 2022 can be found here).


For any newcomers, I'll start with introductions.

I'm Bethany, a 31 year old wife & mama living in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. I work for the Minneapolis VA facilitating the onboarding of residents & fellows entering the VA. Previously I worked in physical therapy but with where I am in life (AKA, wrangling two young kids) working the administrative side has offered tons of flexibility & advantages, and I'm very happy with where I am - even if it's not in the career I dreamt of (or spent oodles of $$$ in college ). I love coffee, carbs, the Minnesota Vikings, & of course all things Disney. I grew up going to Disney World at least 5x/year (my grandma worked for Northwest Airlines, now Delta, lived in Orlando, and had a part time job at the Disney store inside the airport so we had the "hook up"!). I am very, very fortunate to have been blessed with such a wonderful childhood.



Joining along (in life & this trip ) is my wonderful husband, Matt. He is 41 & also works at the Minneapolis VA- also on the administrative side. He's the best double-stroller-pusher, meltdown-tamer, and overall follower of my crazy, Type A planning!



Up next are the two kids: DD4 & DS3. They're 18 months apart and fight like Simba/Scar at the end of Lion King one minute, and then are the two best friends that anyone could have .00003 seconds later. I have 3 (younger) siblings myself, and even I can't understand it.
DD4 is a mega ruler follower & people-pleaser (like her mama) and DS3 is very much his way or the highway (......also like his mama ) and is NOT afraid to let you know it. He had his fair share of embarrassing tantrums this trip, and I swear if he didn't make up for his craziness in sweet smiles, gentle snuggles, & perfectly timed "I love you, mama" remarks, I don't think I'd have any hair left at all.



We purchased 5 park day tickets (non park hopper) for the 4 of us, and stayed offsite at Wyndham Bonnet Creek from Thursday 9/7/23 through Thursday 9/14/23. We had planned it to look like this:

Thurs 9/7: arrival - flight lands around 11:30am, check in to hotel, head to Disney Springs (ADR at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' for 2:15pm)
Fri 9/8: Magic Kingdom (MNSSHP day so out by 6); kids haircuts @ Harmony Barber Shop at 12:00pm
Sat 9/9: Animal Kingdom
Sun 9/10: rest day (swimming/checking out resort amenities)
Mon 9/11: Epcot; Theme Park Nanny scheduled from 5-9pm so mom & dad could enjoy the park solo for a few hours
Tues 9/12: Hollywood Studios; ADR at Mama Melrose's at 5:15pm as part of Fantasmic Dining Package
Wed 9/13: Magic Kingdom pt2; Fireworks Dessert Pre-Party
Thurs 9/14: check out, depart for Ft. Myers to visit Matt's parents
Fri 9/15: Ft Myers
Sat 9/16: Ft Myers
Sun 9/16: departure, arriving home around 3pm

Seemed like a solid plan, right? BUT you know what they say about the best-laid plans............................

I'll jump right into the nitty gritty in my next post

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Can't wait to read along!

I did read your report from last year when you traveled with your in laws. So happy to see if you are having a redo with just you 4.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I can't wait to hear about the trip! Following along.

 

[footballmouse]

 

[MamaMouse0920]

A few important details to point out (or reminders, if you read my pre-trip report) before I get started:

1. We are temporarily living with my parents (2 miles from our house) while our house is being renovated from a flooding incident that occurred in June. Thankfully, my kids are obsessed with their grandparents & Matt/I get along with them super well so it's not a terrible situation, but still less than ideal to not be at home with all of our belongings easily at our disposal.
2. This trip was a SURPRISE for the kids! They had no idea anything was coming, we kept them completely in the dark the entire year leading up to our trip (no easy feat, mind you!)
3. I have an awful vomit phobia and can easily spiral out of control at the mere potential of anyone in my family becoming sick.
4. DS3 plays ROUGH and has the battle scars to prove it- this trip he was sporting a healing scar across the bridge of his nose, and had also in the days prior banged his two lower front teeth to the point where they were loose. We kept waiting for them to fall out, but they never did (at least not yet anyway), and any time he hits his jaw in the slightest, he would bleed. This kid, I tell ya!

Okay- I think that's everything, back to the Trip Report!


Wednesday 9/6/23 - Pre-Travel

Leading up to any trip (but especially Disney trips!), Matt & I try to "quarantine" as much as possible in the days before we leave... hoping to avoid any pre-vacation illnesses. Fortunately daycare was closed on Friday 9/1 and with Monday 9/4 being Labor Day, that made the decision quite easy for us to pull the kids from daycare Tuesday 9/5 & Wednesday 9/6 and have both of us work from home so we can tag team working/keeping the kids entertained/try to get last minute things ready. Now, with this trip being a surprise it made things difficult for us to prepare- so we had to be super sneaky in the days leading up to the trip. One parent would occupy their attention while the other snuck the suitcases to a secret hiding spot, gathered our Disney outfits, prepped the kids' airplane iPads with downloads, that sort of thing. It also made it hard to justify the little Disney touches I like to do/have (i.e. Mickey decals on DD4's nails) without blowing the surprise. Suffice it to say, I don't think we'll attempt another surprise trip for MANY years, ha! Matt LOVES surprises... me, not so much.

Somehow, these little Mickey decals (that I didn't even end up using) ended up all over my parents house, and so at some point on Wednesday as I was trying to get some work done DS3 came up to me and said "Look what I found, mama! Mickey!" and placed it on my work computer, where I happily left it as a nice reminder of what was to come.



After signing off work for the next 10+ days, Matt & I made ourselves a celebratory pre-vacation margarita, which we excitedly sipped as we sat outside watching the kids play. I purposefully made mine in one of our old Disney glasses to be extra festive. You know you're old when you have cups from the 25th celebration!



Matt's was less cool, in a Shrek glass but still tasty.



Post-Work/Pre-Vacay margaritas finished, I raced off to sneak in a manicure (I guess I didn't take a single picture! They were rose colored, with each ring finger having a touch of sparkles) and when I came home I gave DD4 a matching mani/pedi with as close to the same colors as I could manage. They turned out cute, but I guess I didn't take a picture of hers either. Whoops!

After dinner we gave the kids a bath & put them in new Mickey jammies, which we planned to have them sleep in & wear to the airport the following morning. We also had them pose with this sign:

I'm not sure why it's looking so blurry in that picture (it isn't in real life), but here's the sign:



Which I had designed via Canva. When DD4 said "what's this?" I told her it was a sign that said "welcome home, Jessica!", who is their daycare provider. To justify those extra days at home with us, we had told them that Jessica was on vacation and was therefore closed, but would be back open the next day (Thursday). DD4 said "but why are there Mickey balloons on it?" I froze. Darn that girl & her keen sense of observation! "Oh. Well, because... Jessica was at Disney World" which she thankfully accepted without further questioning

After sending that picture in our family's group chat, we all went off to bed around 8:30pm- alarms set for 4:30am! Of course those excited, pre-trip jitters were setting in and I didn't fall asleep until after 10:00. So excited!!!!

Up next: Travel/Arrival day!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Thursday 9/7/23 - Travel/Arrival Day!

Of course I didn't get too much sleep that night, tossing & turning and waking up at 2:30am (despite my 4:30am alarm being set). Eventually, around 3:30 I gave up trying to fall back asleep and instead quietly got up & ready for the day. Around 4:30 I woke the kids up- DS3 waking easier than DD4. He crawled into her bed in an attempt to help wake her, but I don't think she was too happy about that



Eventually we were able to get them both out of bed, hair & teeth brushed, and upstairs for a light breakfast (yogurt). Breakfast finished, we all got in my mom's (t)rusty old van which Matt had installed the kids' car seats + our luggage in the night before. The kids of course were asking why we were in Grandma's van???? To which we replied that mom & dad's cars were broken & that grandma was going to drop us off at daycare/work, but first we needed to stop and grab something from Grandma's work.

As we're backing out of the garage, we discovered that the Amazon package we had ordered last night, containing last minute fidget toys for the plane, was sitting on the front step so we quickly ran and grabbed it. After doing so, however, we discovered one of them needed batteries. Doh! So Matt had to run back in and grab some quick, installing them quickly on the brief, 11 minute drive from the suburb we live in to MSP Airport. We were now running a few minutes behind, but not too terrible. As we approach the departure/ticketing area of the airport, DD4 started asking questions.

"Are we at the airport?"
"No"
"This looks like the airport"
"This is where Grandma works"
"Grandma works at the airport?"
"This isn't the airport, this is grandma's work! She sells... drain pipes" (don't ask me why I picked drain pipes, an episode of Bluey??)

Finally we park the van in the busy departures side of the airport drop off area, and start unbuckling the kids. Now they're properly confused, didn't grandma just need to grab something???

So we get them out and stand them side by side and I start surreptitiously filming on my phone - of course I can't figure out how to upload videos to the Dis but basically we said "Okay guys, should we go to Jessica's? Or would you rather go to Disney World?" which they obviously responded "Disney World!" and Matt & I said "okay, let's go! We're at the airport!"

**cue looks of confusion**

"Seriously, guys, we're going to Disney World! Like right now! We're going to get on an airplane right now and fly to Disney World!"

**still, looks of confusion**

And of course, the minute I stop recording is when they finally comprehend what I'm saying and emit squeals & excited giggles. Finally, the secret was out!! I can breathe again. Have I mentioned I hate surprises?

After hugs & goodbyes to Grandma, Matt, myself & the kids begin the long trek to drop off our bags. This trip, we had 2 checked suitcases (big ones), 1 carry on suitcase, my giant backpack, and the kids two car seats. Ooooof. And of course because it's 5am, the SkyCap wasn't open yet so we had to haul alllll of that luggage inside the airport where we quickly discovered it was PACKED! I'm not sure why a random Thursday in early September would be so hectic, but it was. I was actually worried about getting separated from the kids since neither Matt nor I had a hand to spare to hold on to them. It didn't help that there weren't any baggage handler agents for Delta (the space in front of the counter was completely blocked off) and instead a Delta worker was telling everyone they had to get in a looong line to "self tag" their bags. I've written in previous reports how stupid I find this, since it 1) saves you ZERO time 2) 90% of people end up messing up their sticky bag tags & 3) you STILL have to get in ANOTHER long line to drop off said poorly-tagged-bag (which the worker ends up needing to correct) with a baggage handler! Sorry- rant over Bag properly adequately 'self-tagged', we found ourselves in the giant line with all 3 suitcases, 2 car seats, and 2 preschoolers. Once it was our turn to have our bags be weighed & sent off to the belly of the plane, the Delta worker informed us our gate had been changed and was now on the total opposite end of the airport. Sigh. So we turned around and made our way toward that security area instead. As we made the walk to the other side of the airport, I started pulling up all of our boarding passes on the Delta app. We approached the TSA agent at the beginning of the TSA Pre-Check line (which we have), and I showed him the boarding pass QR code. He said "I need you to show me all of them", which I did. Mine was first, then Matt's, and then the two kids. As I scrolled from mine to Matt's, we noticed Matt's didn't have the little "TSA Pre-Check" on the bottom of his. The TSA agent says "I'm guessing that's one of the kids?" And because I'm dumb I said, "no, that's his", referring to Matt. So the TSA agent said he couldn't go through the line with us. Frazzled and not wanting to cause a huge build up in an already busy airport, Matt took the 2 car seats, I took the 2 kids & my backpack + the carry on suitcase and we parted ways- him in the peasant line regular passenger line, us in the TSA Pre-Check line. We made it through in no time, and soon were seated on the other side of security, waiting for Matt. This took a while, maybe 15-20 minutes? So I snapped a few pictures of the kids as we waited.



Eventually I decided I could be better using this standing around time, so the kids and I made our way through the airport toward our (new) gate, in search of a water bottle filling station to fill up all of our reusable water bottles. After filling them up, we saw Matt approaching us. Reunited, he left the car seats with me & the kids, and got in a lengthy line for Caribou. Caffeine was needed! By this time it was about 6am, and our flight was scheduled to depart at 7. I snapped this pic of the kids while we waited for dad, the kids looking cute in their Mickey pajamas.



Coffee in hand, we made our way toward our gate where we found a few seats and waited to board. Our kids only get tablets/electronics when flying so they were excited to use them & we let them play while waiting at the gate.



Checking our seat assignments, I realized 1) this flight was not even close to being full, and 2) our seats were together but 3 on one side of the aisle + 1 on the other. I approached the gate agent and kindly asked if it would be possible to seat us 2 + 2, so Matt could take a kid & I could take a kid. They were able to accommodate the request, and neither of us were seated by anyone else, which is always nice. We didn't have long to wait until it was time to board, and after a quick pre-flight trip to the potty we were walking on the plane!

As we got on the airplane, a nice flight attendant asked the kids if they wanted to check out the cockpit. Um, yes please!!!!!



So the kids got to come inside, meet the two pilots & see alllll the flashing lights & what the buttons do. The pilot even let them flip switches/push buttons! It was very cool. There was only one "No don't touch that one!!!!" incident

We usually try to wait until the last possible minute to get on the plane, so it was already getting really close to takeoff & I didn't want to risk delaying our departure- so I thanked the pilots immensely for giving the kids this super cool experience, and quickly ushered my family to their seats. Matt took DS3 on one side of the aisle & I got DD4.




It was a smooth, uneventful flight which is always a good thing- but it is an AMAZING thing when you are traveling with littles! Both kids slept for the last 1.5 hours of the usually-3-hour-flight. I watched Harry Potter & then switched halfway to the new live-action Little Mermaid (missed the last 40 mins or so of the movie though- still need to finish it!).





Towards the descent, the kids' ears started bothering them but neither of them were really crying, just kind of whining. We're still working on teaching them how to yawn, and the typical suckers/fruit snacks/taking sips of water don't seem to work much for them either. I'll take any tips/advice you have, since we usually fly 2-3 times a year!

We landed early (9:49, instead of the 10:30 planned landing) buuuuuut got stuck at the gate for about 15-20 minutes. Being toward the back of the plane, we eventually walked off the plane at 10:20am (really 11:20am, since we had switched over to FL time)- so still ahead of schedule! We made our way toward the Fake-O-Rail, and I hustled & bustled to get the kids a front row seat in the first car. If you remember from our Sept 2022 trip, a couple of MCO workers raced in front of us to take the bench while Matt, myself, & the two kids struggled to hold on to our luggage & the bars... and I wasn't about to let that happen this time! I wanted my kids to get to experience that feeling of "flying" at one of my favorite airports. I have serious nostalgia with this airport! And I'm happy that they were able to experience a little bit of it too.



Around 11:40 EDT we had collected our luggage & made our way toward the Avis counter to pick up our rental car. They had offered us an "upgrade" for only $90 for the entire 10 day reservation to upgrade to a Ford Explorer but we declined. In hindsight, we would live to regret that decision but oh well.

We had a hefty walk from the Avis counter to the Avis garage, and actually had to take an elevator up to the 3rd floor, across a large food court area, to another set of elevators and go back down to the 1st floor. Then we had to leave the airport & head into the garage, into ANOTHER elevator to the 2nd floor to the rows of cars- until we got to the section of cars labeled "Avis", and then down the rows of cars until we found the parking space our car was in. People talk about how much more convenient it is to rent a car from one of the bigger companies (such as Avis) since "it's onsite, right at the airport!" but after going through all that- and having rented from Fox Rent a Car when we were in FL back in April which is "offsite"... I think I'd rather just take the 3 minute shuttle instead of needing to schlep all of our crap 2 miles through the airport grounds. PLUS if we had booked through Fox we would have saved about $150. You live & learn! We found our car, which was a Toyota Corolla Cross SUV- which I've never heard of, but we had reserved an "intermediate SUV" so I figured we'd be fine. Oh my goodness, we were not!!! I'm not exaggerating when I say my knees were soooo close to touching the dash, and poor Matt looked like a scrunched up old granny with how close he had to be to the steering wheel. As I mentioned, we were in FL in April & used Fox to rent an "intermediate SUV", and they gave us a Hyundai Santa Fe and it was 100% fine so I quickly made a mental note that between rental car agencies the term "intermediate" does NOT mean the same thing. All in all, the smaller car made for some really uncomfortable drives, but thankfully we were never in a car accident and most of our drives around the Disney Bubble were short thanks to Bonnet Creek's prime location.

Anyway, I'm out of picture space so I'll pause here before we make the 30 minute drive to Wyndham Bonnet Creek!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Following!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Following along. We just got back on 9/10/23!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!
Your kids are adorable
Can’t wait to read more!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Can't wait to read along!

I did read your report from last year when you traveled with your in laws. So happy to see if you are having a redo with just you 4.

Thank you!!! It was definitely less stressful!

I can't wait to hear about the trip! Following along.

Welcome!!!

Thanks for joining in!!

Following!

Happy to have you!!

Following along. We just got back on 9/10/23!

Oh wow, if you were at MK on 9/8 or AK on 9/9 then we were there at the same time! Small world!

Following!
Your kids are adorable
Can’t wait to read more!

Thank you!!!!!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Thursday 9/7/23 - Travel/Arrival Day! (continued)

Cue massive squeals of delight as we were entering the Disney bubble!!!



As we approached Wyndham Bonnet Creek (about a 30 min drive from MCO, maybe a bit longer since we wanted to avoid tolls), the resort must have been unusually busy because the person at the gate instructed us to go to Tower 6 (which is incidentally the tower we stayed in during our Sept 2022 visit, so we were familiar with it!) instead of the main lobby. We did as we were told, and Matt stayed in the car with the kids while I ran inside to check in. The man who checked me in was very nice, but verrrryyyyyy slow & thorough. I guess kudos to you, sir, for taking your job very seriously, but I've got an ADR I'd like to get to!

While he was checking me in, he asked if we had any preferences on tower location - I told him whichever one had a room available this early (check in wasn't until 4), we'd be happy to take it. He said that he had a room that was ready in Tower 5 on the 13th floor, with an Epcot view. I'll take it!!! As he (slowly) finished entering in all of my information, he eventually sent me on my way to the secondary desk to receive my wristbands which act as room keys. Since this isn't my first time visiting this resort/timeshare, I knew already that this secondary desk is where they try to rope you in to attend the "brief" (HA) informational session to become an owner. I nipped that in the bud quickly, which made this guy become a little terse with me but I honestly did not care in the slightest. He gave me my wristbands and I was happily on my way back to the car- the plan was to make a quick trip to our room, drop off our luggage, and then race to Disney Springs for our 2:15 ADR at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin'.

Our room was 1386, and was a 1BR Deluxe. It ended up being identical to our room from last year, just one bedroom & one bathroom fewer (which is obviously fine, since we were sans in-laws this visit). You walk in the room and to your left is the dining area with a giant 6 person table, which is adjacent to the kitchen and has a doorway to the laundry area/bathroom.



Straight ahead when you enter the door is the living area:



Which obviously has a patio/balcony as well as opens to the bedroom:



To the left of the bed is the "getting ready" portion of the bathroom, with a sink/mirror(s) & a GIANT bathtub.



And then through that doorway above is the toilet/shower portion of the bathroom, as well as the little laundry closet I mentioned earlier as well.



We had an AMAZING view from our bedroom/balcony!! To your right you could see Disney Springs (the kids loved pointing out the giant hot air baloon), Typhoon Lagoon was in the middle, and to the left we could see Epcot. Let me tell you how nice it was watching 1. the light shows on Spaceship Earth every night and 2. the fireworks!! It was breathtaking. The picture of course makes it look further away than it was, but you get the gist.



We put just a few things away but saved the bulk of the unpacking for later as we raced out the door for Disney Springs- the kids changing from their Mickey jammies to their 'backup' park outfits, which thankfully we didn't end up needing at all throughout the trip!

We didn't make it to Disney Springs on either of my last visits (Sept 22 or Feb 23) so I was excited to get back here- I hadn't visited since it was Downtown Disney and I know it's basically 100% different nowadays. We parked in the Orange lot & made our way through security instantly- no stroller & no bags! Our rental stroller was being dropped off in the next 2 hours back at the resort, so the kids had to hoof it. It was a LOT more walking than I thought, especially since we got lost trying to find Homecomin' and the kids were super whiny about their legs being tired. We also quickly realized that we had no sunscreen on the kids so made an attempt to stay out of the sunny bits of the shopping area.

Eventually we made it to Homecomin' and checked in with the hostess outside- she instructed us to have a seat and that they would be out for us pretty quickly. When we checked in, we had requested an outdoor (but covered) table, and they were 95% empty so I wasn't sure why we couldn't just seat ourselves, but alas. We waited.



And waited. About 15 minutes later (which was about a minute shy of a meltdown, the kids were hot, tired, and HANGRY), our waiter brought us to one of the outdoor tables and we found our seats. I had brought a little bag of goodies (fidget toys, snap bracelets, coloring stuff etc.) for the kids which they happily played with as we waited for our order to be taken.





I'm once again out of space, so I'll continue in next post.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Thursday 9/7/23 - Travel/Arrival Day! (continued)

Our waiter was just okay. Nothing spectacular, but not terrible either. Very matter of fact & just there to get the job done, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just remember a very "meh" feeling with all our interactions and got the vibe that he just wanted us in & out so he could get to the next group of customers. Matt & I each ordered a beer (me the Orange Blossom City Beautiful & Matt a Florida Ave IPA) which were both good & hit the spot on this WARM day.






The kids sticking with waters







When it was time to order our food, I just ordered a "smorgasbord" (is that a MN thing? Do other people use that word too?) of items off the menu that I'd been eyeing for the last several years.
- Thigh High Chicken Biscuits ($19)
- Momma's Mac & Cheese ($9)
- Cheddar Cheese Drop Biscuits ($8)
- Church Lady Deviled Eggs ($14)



DD4 is our more adventurous eater and tried everything, but really favored the mac & cheese. DS3 I don't think ate anything other than a few bites of a biscuit. He has become increasingly picky over the last 6 months or so, unfortunately.

I think it was a combination of being SO hungry (nothing but airplane snacks since dinner the night before) resulting in some quicker-than-normal eating + the heat, but I started feeling pretty nauseous toward the end of the meal. I chewed on a piece of gum & waited for it to pass, which it did thankfully after a few minutes. We had a TON of leftovers, and the food was good but nothing 'out of this world' which is kind of what I was expecting based on the rave reviews. The mac was tasty but cold & the deviled eggs tasted like a more dried out version of what my mom/grandma makes (which I love, so I'm not saying they were bad- just a little dry). The biscuits were good, as were the chicken thighs but mine was a little tendon-y, so still less than perfect. Ultimately I don't know if we'd come back here. All said & done it was a relatively inexpensive meal (by Disney standards), $86 after tip. It was weird though, the waiter wouldn't accept my Disney gift card. I thought that you could, but he said since they were 3rd party it wouldn't work. Not a huge deal, but I would have preferred to use the gift card since I had saved 5-10% when I bought them. Oh well!

Leftovers in hand (thank goodness for our full kitchen at Bonnet Creek!), we decided to check out Gideon's to see if we could join the VQ and then maybe do some shopping while we waited. We quickly learned however that there was no VQ and instead had a real-life line that was wrapped around the corner! With leftovers baking in the sun & whiny tired kids we decided to nix it, hoping we could come back another day throughout the trip to get our hands on that PB cold brew and some giant cookies! Sadly (I made the mistake of mentioning the word 'cookies' to the kids), we made the brief (8 min) drive back to WBC & picked up our rental stroller which was waiting for us at the main building. We rented from Strollerfy this go around, which I was a teensy bit nervous about since there are basically ZERO reviews or testimonials that I could find- not on the DIS, not in the big WDW Tips & Tricks Facebook group, nothing. The stroller itself was a little beat up, but honestly that's fine by me! I have the same thought process for rental cars- I don't care how many dents & dings it has, because that means the company is less likely to try to nickel & dime you for anything when you return it! We had saved about $75 going through this company instead of the bigger rental companies, and I have no true complaints so I'd consider it a win & would go through them again. Once we returned to the room, Matt took the kids to the playground on the resort property while I unpacked everything/got situated for the upcoming park days. Unfortunately our room had hardly any hangers so I couldn't hang all of our park day outfits, only the next park day's. There is a dryer in unit so I knew I could throw the clothes in the dryer if need be to fluff them a bit to get out any wrinkles.

When Matt & the kids returned (the kids were sweaty & exhausted!), I put on a movie so I could continue unpacking while Matt left around 5 to go pick up our Walmart grocery order. When he returned we unloaded the groceries and began prepping some of the snacks for the next day- slicing apples/oranges/cucumbers, divvying up bags of cheerios+craisins/pretzels, etc. For park days I like to have a little pouch of room temp snacks (pouches of applesauce, aforementioned pretzels/cheerios/craisins, crackers, etc.) as well as a small lunchbox with the cold snacks (fruits/veggies, yogurt pouches, etc.). I take a few plastic water bottles & put them in the freezer, using those as ice packs all day in the parks. It works out pretty well for our family!

I had added in a frozen pizza to my Walmart order as a "just in case" and wouldn't you know it, we ended up making it that very first night since we were all hungry around 6:30! With everything ready for the next day, we had an early bedtime (8pm) and I slept AMAZING. I don't think I woke up once until my alarm went off at 6:30am. It was glorious!!

All in all it was a pretty good travel day, with no real hiccups or disasters by any stretch of the imagination. Smooth flight, smooth rental car pick up (albeit a far walk with all our luggage!), smooth drive to the hotel, smooth check in, perfect room, a good lunch/dinner, and I got everything gathered & prepped without needing to stay up 'til midnight. No complaints from me!

TOTAL STEPS: 13,433

Up next: Friday 9/8/23 - Park Day 1: Magic Kingdom!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Friday 9/8/23 - Park Day 1: Magic Kingdom!

Today's the daaaaaay! We were returning "home"!!! I woke up bright eyed & bushy tailed from my amazing TEN hours of sleep & ready to take on the day! I cheerfully made a pot of coffee for Matt & I to sip on while getting ready. Today our coordinating outfit theme was Moana, and so I got dressed & ready while Matt did the same - I had laid out all of our outfits on the couch the night before. Each night I prepped our outfits for the next day I thought to myself "that looks really cute, all the outfits lined up from oldest to youngest-- I should take a picture" and I never did, not once. Ooops!

Once we were both good to go, we woke up the kids (much easier to wake them today than the previous day!) and they were so excited to be going back to Disney World. At 7am between getting kids ready/breakfast made/everything packed, I made my 1st LL selection for Peter Pan, with a return time of 9:10am. We left the hotel room a little later than I intended (I had hoped to leave the hotel by 7:30am each morning). Before we left, I snapped a few pictures of the kids in their outfits - and I'm glad I did because they were the only pictures I got with their Shoulder Buddies I DIY'd back home!!!


DD4 obviously as Moana, with her pal Hei Hei


DS3 with his palm leaf Mickey shirt, ears, & his Pua shoulder buddy

We made sure to stop in the lobby before leaving and fill all of our reusable water bottles to the brim with ice & then top off with water- that worked well for us each day. Then we just refilled as needed at QS throughout the day.


In the car & ready to go!! This was a MNSSHP day, so we were anxious to see if we would have the same luck with crowds as we did last year when attending on a party day (we didn't have party tickets, so knew we had to be out by 6pm).

A perk of arriving to the parks as early as I like to, we were able to procure PRIME parking spots, just behind preferred. Score! Even though we were running behind, we made our way to the TTC a little before 8am (park opens at 9).



A little tidbit of info on stroller organization, in case anyone reading this is traveling with two littles. We obviously like to try to bring as little as we can to the parks, but that can be easier said than done when it comes to kids. What works for us is this: in the double stroller, we attach the kids two water bottles via sippy cup straps. This way, I don't have to worry about the kids dropping theirs 100x throughout the day. That first day, we had the kids stroller fans attached to the stroller upon entry however about halfway through the day we took them off and they never got put back on except for when a kid was napping to increase the airflow while they were reclined. Then, we used 2 stroller hooks which would hold our water bottles & lunch bag/snack pouch. In our little stroller caddy/parent console, we had the bag of sunscreen (at the bottom so out of the sun), a rolled up muslin blanket, the kids sunglasses, & a package of baby wipes. In the bottom of the stroller we had two reusable grocery bags: one was the "rain bag" which contained the stroller cover, the kids' rain jackets, our 2 adult ponchos, a hand towel from the resort (in a ziplock baggie), and mine/Matt's sandals. That way, whenever it looked like rain we just grabbed the rain bag, made the footwear switch, donned the stroller cover & were good to go. In the second reusable grocery bag contained the electronics - Bubble wands, spinning toys, the stroller fans (eventually) etc.

We made it through security relatively quickly- we know off the bat that I'm going to end up in the bag check line since I have that bag full of electronics - but soon enough we had scanned in and were ready to walk down Main Street!





The kids were once again enamored by the fall decor, pointing out all the Mickey pumpkins. I think I should probably get one to add to our home fall decorations, since they love them so much! Anyone have any leads?!



There she is!!!



We stopped briefly for a Photopass picture on Main Street - I wanted to capture our outfits before we got all sweaty & greasy! Though looking at the kids' faces I'm thinking we may have already donned their sunscreen at that point (probably while on the ferry- I hate that wasted standing around time!).

****For some reason it's not letting me add the photopass pictures, saying the uploaded image is too big? I will try resizing/posting in a separate post*****

We made our way to Adventureland, since we are offsite guests & not entitled to Early Entry in the other half of the park, with the plan to Rope Drop Jungle Cruise. We made it over there by 8:30, so about 30 minutes of waiting til we would be let in.





The CM at the rope informed us that as soon as the fireworks went off, he would remove the rope and we could all WALK to our destinations. He also used the time to remind guests about a few ground rules (no running at any time, no vaping/smoking, stay hydrated, be respectful, etc.) which I was appreciative of, and I wish all CM did that before rope drop. It's a good use of standing around time, if you ask me!

In no time at all, the fireworks went off and we were on our way to Jungle Cruise. I'm out of picture space, so I'll pause here!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Friday 9/8/23 - Park Day 1: Magic Kingdom! (continued)

We were among the first few people to enter the queue for Jungle Cruise, and when that happens you can't exactly stop to take many pictures but I was able to snap this quick selfie (time stamp 9:01) as we weaved through the queue:



At some point shortly after 9am when the park opened, I bought an ILL for the 4 of us to ride 7DMT. I knew that this was likely a "one and done" for us, since without ILL the line is crazy long but I didn't want to pay $50 again for us to ride. So we figured it was a nice splurge to do once, since both kids were tall enough to ride. I booked the ILL for 10:25am. So to recap, we had:

- Peter Pan's Flight 9:10-10:10

- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 10:25-11:25

- Harmony Barber Shop 12:00

As we boarded our boat, we were introduced to our skipper (Skipper Grace) who was of course very funny! Truly they all are, I don't think I've had a dud yet.







We had an excellent trek through the jungle, suffering no casualties or loss of life/limb so Skipper Grace did her job successfully. After debarking our boat, we quickly picked up our stroller and made our way toward Frontierland- DD4 SUPER sad to pass her fav: Splash Mountain -- now Tiana's Bayou Adventure -- seeing it with all it's scaffolding & unable to ride. We bid a quick "see ya next year maybe?!" to Splash/Tiana's, and made our way toward Big Thunder Mountain. We knew it was going to be suuuuper close on whether or not DS3 would be tall enough to ride, so we did our best to manage his expectations as we approached the measuring stick. As fate would have it, he was just a tiny bit too short and we were turned away. He was sad, but took the news like a champ. The nice CM gave him a cute little certificate (I can't remember what all it said now, but it was cute) and set us up for a rider swap so I could ride first and then Matt would ride next with DD4. We rode standby, and it was a walk on (posted wait time I believe 5 mins).





This is one of her favorite rides, so she was ecstatic to get to ride 2x in a row!! When it was Matt's turn, he got to use the LL even though I'm sure it still would have been a walk on in the standby line as well.



While Matt was taking DD4 on her second Wildest Ride in the Wilderness, I decided to get DS3 a special treat since he handled the news of not being able to ride so well. We left the stroller in stroller parking and walked toward Westward Ho- with the hopes of picking up donuts for the kids & iced coffees for Matt & I. When it was our turn to order, DS3 was SO polite to the CM (Emma), and she was absolutely head over heels for him. She just thought he was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. She told him he was so sweet & so polite that Mickey told her that the donuts were no charge. What! I started tearing up, she was so sweet & really made my whole day. We continued to chat for a bit and she told us that she'd worked for the company for 40 years (!!!!) and that the night before they'd hosted a big party for her to celebrate. Disney sure sounds like a good place to work! We eventually parted ways, coffee & (free) donuts in tow.





I of course had to snap a few pictures of DS3 with his little bit of Pixie Dust we received. What a great start to our vacation!! We reunited with the other 2 and shared the news of Mickey buying donuts for DS3, making our way toward Fantasyland for our LL on Peter Pan. By the time we reached the stroller parking, the kids were a total mess with powdered sugar from the donuts EVERYWHERE. I was thankful for bringing that package of wipes as I quickly cleaned them up while Matt parked the stroller. After scanning our magic bands at the second set of tapstiles, I booked another LL for Jungle Cruise for 11:25am. Everything else was almost immediate return times, and the stand by wait times non-existent, so I didn't want to make the same mistake I made last trip - wasting LLs when we didn't have to. I've said it before and I'll say it again- I LOVE visiting Magic Kingdom on MNSSHP days!!!

After debarking Peter Pan, the kids wanted to ride Prince Charming's Carousel so that is where we headed. As we entered the queue, we noticed Cinderella's evil stepsisters (Drizella & Anastasia) boarding their respective horses on the carousel! The kids of course picked horses right next to theirs, and were star struck the whole time- barely able to look away. Drizella tried to engage DD4 a couple times but she was so shy she barely talked to her It sure made for cute video though!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Friday 9/8/23 - Park Day 1: Magic Kingdom! (continued)

After getting off the carousel the kids OBVIOUSLY had to try to pull the sword out of the stone. If you remember from my Sept 2022 TR, the kids facial expressions were hilarious then when trying to remove the sword and I think I can say with full confidence they're even better this year- at least DD4's are, for sure.

Y'all ready for this?!













And I of course made Matt give it a go



But no luck for any of them, darn! Still got a good chuckle from the facial expressions though! A for effort, Miss Muscles!

Sword remaining steadfast in that stone, we left the area and made a quick potty/rest/water stop in Cosmic Rays - killing some time before our ILL for 7DMT.

We got in line, where Matt snapped this poorly-lit picture of DD4 and I (oof, mama looking a little rough):



The one I took of Matt & DS3 not much better, but definitely an improvement:

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Friday 9/8/23 - Park Day 1: Magic Kingdom! (continued)


The ride photos are cute, but the selfie-facing videos I was capturing are even cuter- I just LOVE seeing the kids smiling/giggling faces as they whip around on a roller coaster. Matt & I agreed as we walked off the exit, it was a cute, very fun ride but DEFINITELY not worth $50 for our family of 4, nor worth more than a 30 minute wait. The kids had a blast though, so for that one time splurge it was worth it.
After 7DMT, we had about an hour to go til the kids' haircuts, so we decided to head over to Dumbo/Barnstormer and ride those while we waited since they're always walk-ons and we could knock a few out.

There was not much of a wait, as predicted, but enough time for me to snap these pictures:


Once it was our turn to ride, I was paired with DS3 & Matt with DD4.



After Dumbo, we hopped on Barnstormer which had zero wait at all.



His poor nose, lol!! It's funny how in some photos you can hardly notice it and others it's very obvious.

After Barnstormer (x2), we made our way toward Main Street- wanting to be early for the kids' haircuts. I took a TON of pictures, so thanks to that ol' 10 photo limit rule, I'll have to once again pause here

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Friday 9/8/23 - Park Day 1: Magic Kingdom! (continued)

On our way, we caught the tail end of the show which DD4 loved singing & dancing along to



But due to heavy crowds in the area, the 12:00 sun beating down on us, and our time crunch to get to the front of Main Street before the parade, we quickly left the area and wove our way through the crowds to get near the exit of the park to Harmony Barber Shop.

We brought the kids into the cool AC of the barber shop while we checked them in and waited for our names to be called. There are three barber shop chairs in there, 2 were occupied by babies (1 year or so) and the third was occupied by an older gentleman.

After one of the two children wrapped up their first haircuts, DD4 was called to the chair. Even though they're probably used more with babies, requested a toy since she remembered getting one last time.



DS3 patiently waiting his turn:



Soon enough, the remaining baby (who ended up being the son of the older gentleman getting his hair cut at the same time) finished & DS3 was called next.


I didn't get any pictures of the finished product for DD4 before the barber put her hair in two cute little pigtails, but she got a significant amount cut off! I'd guess 4-5 inches?! Her curls remain, so I'm happy about that



She got some pixie dust and was sent on her way!

 

[ambula603]

Following along!! Love the Disney jammies!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Friday 9/8/23 - Park Day 1: Magic Kingdom! (continued)




Not to be outdone, DS3 got his pixie dust too!



And then we were sent on our way to watch the rest of the parade just outside the barber shop - no fighting with crowds, in the shade (mostly) and the best part- it's literally RIGHT where the parade ends so the characters give the kids lots of interaction, or so it felt!




Sorry for the inundation of posts back to back - I take a lot of photos & this darn 10 photo limit is really putting a damper on things!


I have to hop off - it's mine & hubby's anniversary today & since our house is being renovated, ALL of my shoes are in storage so I have to run out and buy some shoes to wear to dinner tonight! I'll hopefully be able to wrap up our first park day tomorrow!