Sorry, but here's another trip report - December 2018

DaveF

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 4, 2018
We went to WDW back in June (6 months ago) with my parents, and that was the first time in 7 years.
I enjoyed doing a trip report for that one, so I wanted to do it again.
It’s a great way to re-live the memories in a little way.

It was great fun getting back “into Disney” back then to plan that trip. And even more fun planning this one.

I learned a ton during that process - spending lots of time on websites, forums like this one, Podcasts and YouTube.

While my knowledge of all things Disney is less than many experts here, I am confident that I hold superior Disney intelligence over normal civilians.

During that past trip, we upgraded our tickets to Annual Passes. We know we are going in Spring 2019 for our daughter’s HS band trip.
So, this trip would be practically free! Ha!

Details for this trip…

Thursday to Thursday 11/29-12/6

This time it’s only the 4 of us.
Me, my wife and 2 daughters (17 and 13).
I’ll probably reference our previous trip, maybe some comparisons.

This was a relatively short-notice trip.
We got a great deal on flights and booked them at 66 days out.
Original plan was to stay at value resorts to stay within a decent budget.
We got an AP discount on rooms at All Star Sports and Pop Century. Doing a split stay since value rooms were tough to get on this short notice.

Our girls have never been there during the holidays, so we figured this might be the last chance to do it all together before they start to go off to college and start to get all growned-up.

This may end up being a little long-winded, maybe I paid more attention this trip knowing that I might to a trip report again?
Bear with me, I’ll post a day at a time to keep it readable hopefully.
 
Thursday
Travel Day

Last trip we flew in to Sanford on Allegiant, which required a car rental.
This time we fly in to MCO on Frontier, and will use Magical Express for the first time.

Our flight wasn’t leaving Harrisburg until after 5, so it didn’t really feel like a “vacation day” yet.
The kids went to school and we both worked a half day.

Flight was fine, we land a little after 8pm. Didn’t want to wait up late for DME luggage delivery to our room, so we are getting ours. By the time we take the fancy people-mover (or a little sense of a monorail ride) and get to baggage claim, they are sitting there waiting for us.

We head to DME in the other terminal. I’m excited for this part for a couple reasons.

First, we’ve never done DME. I know it’s probably not that big a deal, but the girls thought it was cool that Disney was picking us up.

Second reason to be excited was that Dad (me) was surprising the wife and kids with a resort upgrade.
Instead of 2 nights at All Star and 5 at Pop, we are actually doing 4 nights at French Quarter and 3 at Yacht Club.
Remember that budget comment in the previous post? Well, not so much. But, I did get discounted rooms at both resorts, either from AP or a Holiday special.
Dad (me) is great at justifying the spending of the money. You only live once, right?

Wasn’t sure when the surprise would reveal itself. I was hoping not until we pulled in to POFQ and I say let’s get off here.

We approach the DME tap-in area and queues. It’s basically empty, no lines.
The CM taps my band, looks at his machine and says “4 for French Quarter?”, I whisper yes and start walking down the queue, hoping that my female crew behind me doesn’t notice.

Not so fast junior, the females are VERY attentive when they chose to be. I hear some chirpping behind me as I increase my pace. They catch up and confront me, I’m outnumbered. We have fun talking about the new plans.

So, now they think we are doing POFQ and then still Pop.
Next surprise for YC will wait for another day!

I think that I like giving surprises more than getting them. Maybe because I can’t be surprised, go ahead and try I dare you. It’s an ummarketable skill that I have, gets me nothing.






We board our bus and there are only a few people so far. We wait 30+ minutes for more people before leaving.
An hour and 20 minutes from boarding the bus to arrival at POFQ, multiple stops along the way.
No big deal, about what I expected.


I received our “room ready” message in MDE while on the bus. Building and room are not even close to what I requested via the Touring Plans request fax. No big deal again. Location ends up being great anyways.

I also received a call from the Amazon Prime delivery driver, our order was just dropped off at bell services.

Arrive at French Quarter, of course it’s awesome and we’re excited. What’s better than finally arriving to your WDW vacation?

We take a quick look around, excited to be back home at Disney. Luggage and groceries to the room.




What better way to celebrate the official start of our vacation than Beignets at 11:15 pm.

 
Friday
First full day!

Got to bed around midnight last night. I’m up and out the door at 5:45am for my walk for coffee.
Who needs a full night’s sleep in Disney? I can sleep at home in PA.

I love walking around in the quiet early morning at any Disney resort.
And POFQ smells awesome just outside our room. It was coming from some plants in one of the nearby courtyards.




Get back to the room around 6:15 to get the crew ready. Head to the bus stop around 7:30.
Too long to get ready??? 3 women - 'nuff said

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Plan for today is a pretty full day at MK, then evening at Disney Springs. There is a MVMCP this night that we are not doing (remember that budget thing, right?).


We watch a bunch of Disney YouTube vloggers, and we always say it would be cool to run into one of them.
I have my new Tim Tracker shirt on for good luck. I was King of the Train Station when we get there.
We never see Tim, or any of the others that we watch.





We have all the necesary good FPs, so we’re not too worried about a rope-drop-run to any headliner.
Get some photos out of the way on Main Street and head to Tomorrowland then over to Adventureland. I won’t go through every attraction, but we hit most of the important ones before the 2:00 parade.





First time doing the Pirate scavenger hunt game, that was pretty fun. We got a bunch of paper Pirates FPs for completing it.
We ended up giving most of them away to people just entering the long stand-by line. That’s gotta get me some good karma right?





After the parade, it’s time for a Dole Whip!!
From previous experience, I know it will be crowded there. So, I mobile order on the way over and get in that much smaller line.
Then, we hear a loud exclamation/startled scream from a man nearby. Look over in that direction and what do we see?
A young boy maybe around 3 or so - standing there with his pants down to his ankles, in all his little glory - peeing right on the ground.
When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.
His dad is freaking out, his mom is giggling while she’s dealing with their other young kids. She finally gets him all “wrapped up” and they move out of the area while dad stands guard so nobody steps in the mess.

He looks over to us in line and is very apologetic. I say, don’t worry you just gave us a great story to tell.





We leave MK around 5:00 for the resort, and head to Disney Springs for the night.
Love the boat rides down the Sassagoula River, beats a bus anyday.





To do list tonight: It’s our only planned time here so we have to get them done.
Christmas Tree Trail - cool to see
Eat at Polite Pig - very crowded but the line moved quick, food was great, got a table outside
Star Wars VR at the Void

I considered blowing off the Void because they were way behind and we waited long after our reservation (it was a Friday night).
Good thing we stayed. It was FANTASTIC!
I’ll never do it justice with a description here. Just go do it! Now!
We are big Star Wars fans, so I’m sure that was part of it. But, the VR part of it was just as impressive.
Very entertaining and worth the $$






Side note…
For any of you that read my last trip report, there would be NO surprise lip-sync battle that Dad got hooked into this time. Lightning can’t strike twice.
 
Thursday
Travel Day

Second reason to be excited was that Dad (me) was surprising the wife and kids with a resort upgrade.
Instead of 2 nights at All Star and 5 at Pop, we are actually doing 4 nights at French Quarter and 3 at Yacht Club.
Remember that budget comment in the previous post? Well, not so much. But, I did get discounted rooms at both resorts, either from AP or a Holiday special.
Dad (me) is great at justifying the spending of the money. You only live once, right?

Wasn’t sure when the surprise would reveal itself. I was hoping not until we pulled in to POFQ and I say let’s get off here.

I think that I like giving surprises more than getting them. Maybe because I can’t be surprised, go ahead and try I dare you. It’s an ummarketable skill that I have, gets me nothing.

Surprising them with the resort upgrade is so cool! I love giving surprises more than getting them too. The problem is my kids now come to expect surprises. Which, how is that possible?

Also - I had to look at that last picture a few times to figure out which woman was your wife. And I had to go back to check it wasn't you and your three daughters on this trip. Can she share her skin products?
 


Also - I had to look at that last picture a few times to figure out which woman was your wife. And I had to go back to check it wasn't you and your three daughters on this trip. Can she share her skin products?
That's very nice of you, I'll be sure to pass along to my wife.
 
Saturday
Animal Kingdom

I’m out the door at 5:45 again for coffee.
Must be magic, as the females are ready in much less time this morning




Today, we’re splurging on a Minnie Van in order to get out to AK quickly.
As usual, our driver is great. We get dropped off at 7:15 and Boomer takes the obligatory selfie for us.




Grand plan for today…
We’re going to ride FOP 3 times, yes you heard me - 3 times.
How, you ask?

  1. Rope Drop
  2. FP already set later in the morning.
  3. Because of my extensive wisdom of rare WDW knowledge (credit to BSOM podcast actually), I know of a FP drop that happens at precisely 3:01 daily. It works, as I’ve been practicing before the trip and have succeeded multiple times.
For those that want to know actual times/process for the AK FOP rope drop, for a 9am opening with 8am EMH.
Here’s how ours went…
7:15 MV drop off
7:20 at the first tap (crowd not as bad as I expected, but it did fill up fast behind us with whom we labelled as “bus people”)
7:30 they open the flood gates and we’re in - we walk, dummies run
7:32 at the 2nd tap to make sure we’re ok for EMH - we walk again, dummies run again
7:37 get in line for FOP stand-by
7:44 going inside
7:56 ready to be de-contaminated
8:13 exiting the ride

Ride# 1 - Done!







Our oldest daughter sometimes has a bad reaction to motion rides, and this time it was a little bad. Not pass-out-fall-down-hit-her-head bad, but I kept a hold on her as we exited the ride and got her to a seat at Satu’li. She just needs to sit down and chill for awhile and it will pass.
Get her a snack/drink and the 3 of us head to the Navi River to get that done.

Group decision now is to scrap our plans for the 3x-FOP. Would’ve been nice to try it, but not worth it now.

We regroup and head to Africa, walking past the monstrous FOP stand-by line. We take pity on those late-comers, probably more “bus people”.

The girls have a nice meet/greet with Timon on the way. I stand off to the other side of the pathway while they wait to see him, and I love listening to others walk by and some of things they say…
“Hey, it’s Rafiki” (it was not)
“He’s going to eat, we’ll come back” (that dad had NO intention of coming back)




After riding the Safari, the girls want to track down some of the photogenic walls that are sooo popular on social media. They do so and take plenty of post-worthy photos. Very cute but also very “basic”.
And, “basic” became a running joke for most of the trip. Check urban dictionary.







We split up next, wife and oldest go to Lion King while youngest and I go to Everest. We regroup briefly at Dawa bar, and the girls want to go find one more semi-hidden basic wall in Africa that they’ve heard of.
GREAT IDEA, go have fun.




Mom and Dad make a B-line for Nomad Lounge (never been there before).
Get lucky with an open table on the patio and enjoy a couple drinks and apps.
Highly recommend it to get away from the crowd for awhile.







My cousin’s daughter meets us for the evening.
She’s currently a full-time Disney intern/employee in video communications. She was previously in the Disney college program as a Photopass photographer.
Her love of getting behind the scenes is huge.
Only thing bigger is my jealousy of her. I secretly hate her life. Kidding of course, proud of her.

Nemo show
Dinosaur
Up! meet/greet
Mickey/Minnie meet/greet
Up! bird stage show and later see the macaw flyover out at Discovery Island (got a cool slo-mo video, not sure if it will post here)




Sun is going down and it has cooled off considerably. Brilliant idea comes up (not by me) that we should do Kali River Rapids.
My smart wife quickly declares her opposition to the idea (may have included a swear word or two).
I couldn’t let these 3 young ladies ride alone, or could I?
I could, but I don’t. Wait, what?
I’m in for Kali.

There’s always a chance that half the boat doesn’t get soaked. Well, that half wasn’t my half. Drenched.







I consider buying a new dry shirt, but wisely choose to spend that money on something better.
Rum Dole Whip Time!
Ice cream for kids.

We catch the Tree Awakening on the way out around 7:00 and head back to POFQ for a little pool/hot tub time.




Back at the resort, I find someone’s lost credit card lying in the middle of one the the “streets”.
I take it to the front desk. Someone got lucky.
I was going to book a bounce-back offer with it, but decided not to chance getting arrested.
 
Sunday

Plan for today is for almost a full day at the Studios, leaving in time to go somewhere to watch the holiday Wishes fireworks from outside MK (either the TTC or the Poly).

But, we got some rope-dropping to do first.
Last time we were here it was just before Toy Story land opened, and TS Mania was even closed for that transition.
We have a FP for Slinky Dog already.




For those that want to know actual times/process for this rope drop, for a 9am opening with 8am EMH.
Here’s how ours went…
7:27 in line at bag check, it’s busy and our guy is slooow (wait, I mean thorough)
7:40 thru the tapstiles and IN
7:45 entering TSL
7:47 get in TS Mania stand-by line, enjoying the queue as we quickly walk thru
8:01 exiting the ride
Dad (me) got high score!

Toy Story Mania was a BIG hit for all of us, mini competition included.
So much so, that we head right back to get in line again. Woody and Jesse are there now, so photos ensue. (one of them will make the family xmas card this year)










Done with 2nd TSM ride at 8:40, not bad at all.
High score you ask? this guy again, duh!

We have an hour to kill before Slinky, so we roam around soaking in all the sights.
Green army men, sneak a selfie with Buzz.




Slinky Dog was a great ride also. It gives a great view over the wall to Galaxy’s Edge also.
TSL is well-themed, we really enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing it at night (our next day’s plan).

We head to Launch Bay next for some meet/greets. Last time we had some great interactions with the Star Wars characters, so we look forward to that again.
The stormtroopers are great again, ducking their heads and covering their faces when we try to get selfies with them.









Catch march of the First Order after that. When they are done and march down the street to exit, we get right in behind them and follow. Pretty cool.




Off to Sunset Blvd for Tower and RR.




Worked up a thirst on those rides, so it’s time for a stop at the Margarita stand!
It’s almost noon, don’t judge!




My cousin’s daughter arrives again to hang out for the day.
Our oldest daughter asked her take some nice photos while we were here, to be part of her senior photo collection.
Our own personal Photopass photographer.

We all catch the Beauty and the Beast show, before the 3 girls head off to take care of the photo shoot.

The wife and I take off for the Tune In Lounge. Stopped and watch the “glee club” street performers on the way, fun to watch.




The Lounge was crowded with people waiting for 50’s prime time.
Ordered drinks and start to hover for a seat at the bar. A couple stools open up and I semi-aggressively stake our claim on them. Nothing violent, just got there first.

Had a nice time relaxing there with a few drinks. The bartenders were very friendly and attentive, despite being very busy.
Got a little pixie dust magic when we got our tab. We had 4-5 drinks between us, but only charged for 2. Don’t know if it was on purpose or just missed in the busy-ness of the bar?
Left a hefty tip for them either way.

The girls are done with photos and we are all hungry, so we head to Backlot Express. Not because it’s regarded as that good, but it would be quick and easy. And, it was exactly all of that.
Here’s a sample from the photo shoot…




We decide that it’s worth the wait to ride TSM again, all 5 of us this time.
Longest wait for any ride during this trip at around 40 minutes. Guess who is still the score champ? this guy again




Catch the end of the Star Wars stage show and I am taking some video/photos of the characters leaving backstage. Nice up-close view. One of the stormtroopers sees me with my phone up as he’s getting close, and reaches out his elbow as he passes and gives me a whack on my arm in mock protest of my filming.
That’s gotta be a fun job.




At some point today while shopping, I find someone’s lost cell phone in a case with credit cards sitting at a checkout area.
I hand it in to the CM.
Another person got lucky. Starting to wonder if this is a sign?
The next credit card I find is gonna take a beating - Aulani here we come!!!
Not really, relax.

Our plans for the night are to go to the TTC/Poly for the MVMCP fireworks.
We stop back at our resort for a quick dip in the pool and then head that way.

Got to the Poly early enough to walk around a bit, and then we grab a table right at the rail of Trader Sam’s deck. Adults order drinks and food there, and the kids get food at Capt Cook’s and bring it out.




Live ukelele player there was singing tropical christmas songs. Could’ve sat there for hours.
Our waiter is nice as usual, joking around here and there.
As always, I ask about an AP discount. He kind of smirks and says sorry no discounts here, we are VERY popular at the Poly.

We could’ve watched the fireworks from the patio, but we send the girls down to the beach to check how the crowd is. Turns out it was not crowded at all.
We sit in the sand and watch the fireworks. It’s a great view over the water. Never seen them from here, so the plan worked out nicely.







Tired after a long fun day, but we get to sleep-in the next morning.
Tomorrow is resort-switch day, and my crew still does not know of the next resort upgrade surprise.
 


Great report. I love surprising people too. If I didn’t have such a large group (11) goi g this summer, I would work on a surprise . Looking forward to reading more
 
Monday

Today is our less-busy mid-trip slow day.
Plan is - Lunch at Sanaa (never been there before), roam around AKL, check-in at new resort, go to Studios for the night.

We are changing resorts from POFQ to Yacht Club. The wife and kids think we are going to Pop, so I’m looking forward to their surprise.







By 10:15, we are all packed up. It’s a little pain to pack, but not near as bad as packing for home.
The family heads to the lobby for one more look around the gift shop.
I wait at the room for Bell services alone, so no chance to ruin the surprise about our luggage destination.
Get that done, then one more selfie in the lobby.




Lunch at Sanaa! Bread Service!
We get a good table by the window, nice view of the little savannah. Until the rain at least.







The bread service and butter chicken live up to the hype, very delicious.



We were going to walk to Jambo House to take a look around, but it is still raining so we take the shuttle.
The AKL lobby is impressive as always, more so with the big tree.




We stayed here twice before, but it was 13 and 15 years ago when we only had the first daughter so far.

Everything is as I remember, great ambience, great view of the animals.
Really just killing time until we get close to check-in time over at Yacht.







The girls are always taking a look at CM pins to trade, so we stop in at the gift shop to see their pin board/book.
One of the CMs named Wayne tells us of a special pin-trading opportunity that is happening today in the lobby. A notorious pin trader allows guests to approach him on his royal red carpet to look at his impressive pin collection.
They call him the “King Pin” and he is there on certain weekday afternoons. Good timing for us.

We figure why not wait for this, sounds pretty cool. We go take a break on rocking chairs on the overlook patio to wait until the time.




I head back in the lobby a little early expecting to find a massive crowd gathered around this “king pin”. No signs of him yet. Maybe he’s not coming in today?
I even stop in the gift shop again to see if I can ask Wayne if he knows. He’s not around at the momment.

We wait a little longer and come back in and see some people in the corner of the lobby by the main entrance. It’s the King Pin and he is interacting with a couple guests. As we get closer and can see his face, we know we’ve been HAD!

It’s Wayne - all dressed up in an African outfit with a bunch of pins everywhere. Wayne is the King Pin.
He’s great interacting with the girls, trading pins and giving them each some special ones. They had a great time.
Just one of those special Disney moments that we will all remember. Freakin’ Wayne!



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Monday part 2??

All done at AKL and we catch a Lyft to our next resort.
Reminder… the family thinks we are going to POP, but we are going to Yacht Club as a surprise.

The drivers don’t always do this, but this one mentions our destination of Yacht Club.
It was very quick and said with his thick accent from another land.
I give him a quick nod in his mirror to confirm.
The females don’t notice.

Turning in to Yacht Club by the sign and the girls say “what are we doing here?” - I say we’re here to check out the xmas decorations at these resorts.
Pull up to the guard shack, the CM asks “checking in?” - I try to downplay it but say yes and give our name when asked. They notice a bit.



We roam around and check out the train set, then over to the gingerbread carousel at Beach Club,







I wanted to time it so that our room would be ready and I could somehow get them down that hall and unlock the door, but I hadn’t received the notification yet. It was after 3:00 so I sneak off to the front desk, and all of a sudden when I inquire - wow our room is ready.

In an effort to make this long story short (too late I know) - I tell my wife first, then we tell the kids that this is home for the last 3 nights. They immediately react that they knew something was up and that they knew.
As I said before, they can be perceptive when they chose to be.

Our room view is fantastic from our balcony, right out over the water!
I used the Touring Plans room finder to figure out where to request a room, and it worked out just fine.
Side note - Touring Plans sent me a message asking for pics from our room for their database. I sent a few in later and they are now shown on their site for room 3055, pretty cool.

Stormalong Bay pool is impressive. The girls quickly change and go down for a swim while we hang out on the balcony and wait for bell services to bring our stuff up.
Rain rolls in for a little bit.




We eventually take a boat ride over to the Studios for the night. Plan is to do TSL again at night, eat at Woody’s lunchbox, then some of the fireworks or maybe Fantasmic.







At the Studios now and walking towards TSL, we see a sad sad sight on the ground.
A lonely, slightly broken but nearly intact Mickey ice cream bar. I assume it was an accidental drop by it’s owner, but then left there to die a slow melting death.
Depressing.
We stopped and had a brief moment of silence.




First part of our plan goes smooth. Slinky then Mania then mobile order at Woody’s (love the mobile ordering to cut the lines).



Just as we get our food, a crazy downpour starts. Got lucky with a table with an umbrella for a bit of cover, but we are still getting blasted by rain. People are running around for cover, it’s chaos for awhile.
We do manage to sit and eat (all poncho’d up) and have a good time with it.

The rain dies down enough that we can start to walk out of TSL, but it does scrap our fireworks plan.




We head out the front gates, along with a half million other people.
The line at the boat dock is at least 3-4 boat-fulls worth of people, so I say we’re walking.
That decision was not agreed upon with the females for some reason, maybe the squishy shoes?

But, I lead our way through the masses towards our walkway to the resorts.
It’s a bit of a cluster getting past all the bus lines that are overflowing with those “bus people”.

Get back to our room, change to dry clothes and have a seat on our balcony to relax.
Another surprise for all of us. Illuminations starts and we have a awesome vantage point!
I knew we’d have some type of view, but it was much better than I expected. Directly over the lighthouse at the end of the pier with all the reflections off the water and wet boardwalk - awesome sight!






Love having a balcony!!!

 
Tuesday

Finally - ALL Epcot ALL day! Been looking forward to this.

Early morning coffee walk for me again. It was very misty and foggy out at dawn, made for some nice photos.













Felt like royalty walking up to the Intl Gateway entrance - it’s park open time 9:00 and ZERO people in line!
That alone helps justify some of the extra $$$ for YC.







We take a casual walk around and do Test Track, Crush, Spaceship Earth, then catch the Muppet scientist mini-show.
I sat beside an elderly man during Crush and he was way into it. Answering Crush and following along with the jokes more so than half the kids there. He was having a great time, good for him!







Time for World Showcase finally!!
I’ve heard that the guacamole is good at the stand outside Mexico, so we head that way (oh, the Margarita was excellent too).

On the way - we see Daisy Duck attempting to steal a bin of cookies from the Joffrey’s kiosk, while her handler was trying to tell her that it was not OK.
Daisy wasn’t happy.




We enjoy our Guac and 'Rita and then explore Mexico for a bit.







Heading our way around the world, we get to see the Illuminations globe come through the drawbridge.




The Liberty singers in America were impressive. Our oldest daughter is a choir singer, so she really enjoyed it.




Thought about trying to linger around the area for the Candlelight Processional, but it is PACKED for Neil P Harris today. Even the dining package line was huge.

And, there was a biker gang rolling in…




We don’t have time for that mess, we have a resort we can walk to!
Just because we can, we leave out IG to Yacht for a quick swim. Even though it’s getting a bit chilly, we gotta do it. Might not ever stay at this resort again.

We’ve sorta been pretending to be richer than we are, since we think we are among those type of people at Yacht.

Some of the names that we’ve been calling each other…
Buffy
Penelope
Thurston

Mine is - Todd Winston III, Esq.

And while I don’t own a cardigan sweater that I could tie around an oxford dress shirt, I do own a bunch of hoodies and t-shirts.
Getting ready to head back out for the night, I sport my Coco t-shirt with my Kohl’s hoodie tied around my shoulders. Classy
My daughters think my outfit is funny, well until I actually wear it out into public with them.
Embarassed or not, we go the Boardwalk to get a quick dinner for them.




Wife and I would rather find something in Epcot, so we go back to over to our private entrance.
Do a quick Nemo ride with the girls, then we split up. They go ride/shop on their own and the adults head to World Showcase to eat/drink.




Wife wants fish and chips, so she goes towards the UK.
I say “meet me in France” - I’ve heard of this bacon-cheese-bread thing in France that sounds good.
Get there and the bakery is packed, not waiting for that.

Also heard of a good pastrami sandwich at one of the festival booths next door.
Get there and it is closed, the booths close earlier I guess.

I’m striking out on things I know that I wanted to try.
Then I see the Tangerine Cafe with no line. I’m hungry, let’s do this.
Text the wife and say “now meet me in Morocco”

Glad that worked out like that, because the meal there was very good. I’d go back.

Nothing like sitting in Epcot with your Love, having good food/drink and watching the world go by.

We thought that our alone time would soon be done, as the girls will be calling to regroup.
They do call, they’re done - We are not.
They want ice cream from B&C back at the resort - We do not.
We have drinks on our custom disney table, an Epcot trashcan.




The beauty of having older kids at Disney - go do what you want to do. Let us know when you get there.

More alone time - and Illuminations starts just as we get around to Italy.
We stop to watch. There are newlyweds on the arched stairway getting photos taken during the show.
They must’ve paid a few bucks to have that done. Maybe they are Buffy and Todd?




Another couple people caught my attention.
A man and his grown son, standing out in front of us. They are both enjoying the show very much. A controlled over-excitement - energetic but subdued enough since they were in public.
Especially the Dad. He was having a great time.
It made me happy to see them that happy.




The holiday tag and the big finale of Illuminations were pretty awesome, very grand.
I’m anxious to see the new nightime shows that will be replacing it.



Great night to finish off another great day!
 
Surprising them with the resort upgrade is so cool! I love giving surprises more than getting them too. The problem is my kids now come to expect surprises. Which, how is that possible?

Also - I had to look at that last picture a few times to figure out which woman was your wife. And I had to go back to check it wasn't you and your three daughters on this trip. Can she share her skin products?
SAME! I went back and forth a few times!
Also wondering if I could surprise my gang....hmmmmmm....
 
Love the trip report. You do disney just like I do. Live it up while you are there. Enjoy. Love the time with the family. Enjoy the little things. I am a few years older than you but I don't intend to quit seeing the world just as you do. You have me wanting to stay at YC. Have stayed BWI but not YC. Probably do that on our next trip with just Mrs. Ally and myself.
 
Love the trip report. You do disney just like I do. Live it up while you are there. Enjoy. Love the time with the family. Enjoy the little things. I am a few years older than you but I don't intend to quit seeing the world just as you do. You have me wanting to stay at YC. Have stayed BWI but not YC. Probably do that on our next trip with just Mrs. Ally and myself.
Thanks!
 
Wednesday

Last full day, and it will be a long one.
Magic Kingdom is open 9am to Midnight!

I get up first and early as usual and it is beautiful out this morning, no mist/fog - just sun. It is much colder though, only in the upper 40s. This might be tough as we didn’t pack too many cold weather clothes.







MK opens at 9, but we head out early and grab a Lyft to the Poly, it’s Tonga Toast day!
It’s been years since I had TT one time at Ohana, and I remember loving it. It was still good now at Capt Cook’s, but I don’t know if it was sooo good that I’d make it a destination breakfast again. Plus, Cook’s was crowded and a bit chaotic.






Can you believe it’s our last full day, but first time on the monorail this trip? Me neither.
My youngest and I have been practicing and we have it down…
ì°Por favor mantÈngase alejado de las puertas!î
We love it. Funny how it’s the smaller things in life that can entertain you.




It is COLD COLD COLD as we wait around Main St. We didn’t bring coats, so we layered up as best we could. Somebody didn’t even pack long pants (this guy).






We rope drop Adventureland and go to Jingle Cruise, then work our way around the kingdom.







Witness another sad scene (similar to our Mickey Bar experience in the Studios the other night) as we start our ride on Small World.
It’s a set of princess type minnie ears floating in the water. We have another quick moment of silence for the victim.
We are able to move on with our lives after that tragedy, and stay awake barely on our sleepy ride thru the smallest of worlds.




After the parade, we are hungry. I wanted to go to Geyser Point and also check out Wilderness Lodge, so we make our way out of MK.




It’s a nice scenic boat ride over.




Wilderness Lodge is impressive, wouldn’t mind staying here sometime.







We also enjoyed Geyser Point. Food, drink and service was good. Little cold, but they had the wind screens down.
I’d like to go back next trip when it’s warmer.







What, huh?
Dad, I was LITERALLY not sleeping!




We catch another Lyft back home to Yacht to relax a bit, but mostly to add more layers in preparation for the cold late night at MK.

We want to see the decorations at Grand Floridian, so we stop there on the way back to MK.
Do the touristy thing (so BASIC) - pictures, selfies, gingerbread shingle (which was not as tasty as I had hoped).







We ì°Por favor mantÈngase alejado de las puertas!î again over to MK.

Stop in the hat shop to listen to the old-timey gossip on the antique phone on the wall.







We missed seeing Elsa light up the castle with ice while we were gone, but it’s lit now and looks awesome.
picture, picture, selfie, selfie, etc, etc







Roam around the kingdom a bit, then it’s soon time for HEA.
We are not a “stand in this spot for an hour to save a spot on main street” type of family, so about 10 minutes before showtime we head back towards the hub. It is PACKED!

They have that side walkway open that goes behind the Plaza and Bakery towards the front of the park.
I see where they have the tape on the ground indicating where you can’t stand, this one for CM use to the back door to the bakery.
We camp a spot right on the edge so nobody will stand directly in front of us (more to come on that later).
It’s an angled view, but great for a 10 minute wait.






As HEA starts, the crowds thicken and people start filling in that “no-stand zone” in front of us.
Not too big a deal, as we still can see just fine.
But, you have to respect the ground tape!!! It’s an unbreakable Disney rule!!

The show is going great as usual.
Until some tall-*** dude comes in and throws his kid on his shoulders, about 3 feet in front of my daughters and in the “no-stand zone”.
Oh, hell naw!

Nope, not gonna have it! I go over there and let him know of his uncoolness in this situation. Respect the tape he must!!!
He quickly complies and we have no further issue.



So, it’s our last night’s stroll thru MK and we’re trying to soak it all in as best we can. Last night’s do suck.







Not the best score…
But enough to outscore the females again.



It’s nearing midnight when we make that last walk down Main Street. Who likes walking in this direction? Nope, not us.



Bus ride back was not bad, not as crowded/chaotic as a typical closing time just after fireworks.
Last return to home at Yacht. BOOO!
 

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