They Came With Ma & Pa to Escape Mardi Gras! A February 2020 TR * 7/1 Aulani TR Started & Link Posted

What a perfect morning in Magic Kingdom. We've never done any of the EMM events because they always seem so expensive but it definitely seems like you guys got your money out of it!

I love how you guys ran around to get all the Wilderness Explorer badges finished!
 
Looks like a fun morning! A lot of smiles. Jungle Cruise :oops: Yikes. The Dole Whip souvenir dish would be a nice keepsake. We moved our March reservation to Sept. then again to March. As long as they're open, we're going this time!

It was a lot of fun, and despite the frustration of some of the rides being down, I think not sinking on a JC boat is a win!! :rotfl:

We are still waiting to see what's going to happen with our Disney cruise. Although it sounds like there might be a good chance of it sailing, but we are not sure it's going to be worth our money with the restrictions, so we are still up in the air and looking at other options.

What a productive day you had! Getting so much done at two parks had to be a great feeling.

I'm always kicking around the Early Morning Magic, but have never done it. I think you've convinced me that it is worth the price.

Despite the crowds, I feel like we really did get a lot accomplished on this trip! I was so worried about that, but we had good luck navigating the crowds and getting to do what we wanted to do.

DH and I were a bit worried about it not being worth the price because it's just so expensive. We had a fantastic time that morning, and were very happy that we decided to go ahead with booking it and cutting back in other ways to make it happen.

What a perfect morning in Magic Kingdom. We've never done any of the EMM events because they always seem so expensive but it definitely seems like you guys got your money out of it!

I love how you guys ran around to get all the Wilderness Explorer badges finished!

It was definitely worth cutting back on expenses in other ways to splurge a bit on the EMM event. It was great getting to hit all of those Fantasyland attractions that can build up long waits with hardly any wait at all, especially with small kids who still really love those attractions!

It was chaotic, but fun to accomplish that WE badge book! DS was so excited especially because he had been working on it over so many trips and come close to finishing but could never quite pull it off.

I’m all caught up! Loving your trip report!

Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying!
 
Lovely early morning in Fantasyland. Getting a big meal does help justify the cost.

I was feeling your stress as the kids tried to get all their badges. This reminded me of the first time we did the Passport in Epcot back in 1999. The area to meet the correct person wasn't as well marked as they are now. I believe we got the last one as we were waiting for Illumination to start.

Great accomplishment for the kids!

Yes, it really does! Especially since for DH & I, it definitely counted as breakfast AND lunch with how much we ate!

I think this ends up stressing out the parents more than the kids who just want to finish, but it puts the pressure on us to help them get it done. :rotfl: We have never done the passports, but we have gone around to some of the Kidcot stops and some of them are a lot trickier to find than others. The kids were very proud of getting it finished, and DH and I were relieved we were able to help them get it finished!


Omg it really does sound like you were on the Amazing Race! Gotta get those badges! :rotfl2:

But yay I'm glad the mission was a success!

And I don't doubt you needed a rest after that!

I felt like a team who is walking around in circles and the camera crew keeps zeroing in on the red & yellow flags the team is just oblivious to. :rotfl: I learned through this experience that I would NOT be cut out for the stress of the actual Amazing Race!! It was well worth it though to help the kids reach their goal, and if they want to attempt it again next trip, we will definitely need to allocate more time during our trip to Animal Kingdom!
 


Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 27th

After dinner, we headed over to the standby entrance for RoL and had no issues getting in and getting a decent seat.


Once the sun had really come out that morning, it had been very comfortable weather all day, but now that the sun had gone down, it was a long cold wait for the show to start, even with all of our layers on!


DD absolutely loved this show. She clapped like crazy and gushed how much she loved it when it ended! DS really enjoyed it too, but not as enthusiastically as DD. DH and I both enjoyed it, but both thought it was a one-and-done for us, which is just as well considering since they just announced that it won’t be coming back. It was a pretty show, but I felt like it went on a touch too long and didn’t have a coherent enough story.

The last thing we wanted to do before leaving was see Pandora at night, and along the way we got to see some of the Tree of Life Awakening. It was very crowded over there though, so we didn’t try to take any photos, just enjoyed as we moved through. Once again, we ran into S and her family! I seemed to be the only one to ever spot them, and this time was no exception!


After spending a few minutes talking to her parents, and letting the kids play around together, we parted ways so we could go check out the rest of Pandora. It definitely is impressive at night!


By the time we finished up in Pandora and got to the bus stop, then onto a bus, it was a little after 8 pm. The bus was packed, so I ended up with both kids on my lap and DH was standing with the stroller, but we didn’t want to wait for the next one, we were just ready to get back to the room. It had been a LONG day!!

When we arrived back at Copper Creek, DD and I went straight up to the room to start taking baths and getting ready for bed, while DH and DD made a pit stop at the gift shop to pick up some more souvenirs. DS wanted a baby Pluto pin he’d had his eye on, and wanted another Wishable, plus they grabbed the Princess stationary kit DD had been asking for. Then we got everyone to bed, because we were super exhausted and we only had one day left so we wanted to make the most of it!

UP NEXT: One More Disney Day!
 
Sounds like a good night!! I'm glad the kids enjoyed RoL! I agree it was a one and done for me and not too disappointed that it's been cut!
 
I wasn't super impressed with RoL, but that's so sweet that your daughter gushed over it. She sounds like the kind of kid that makes Disney worth every penny!

As usual, the pictures turned out really beautiful!
 


We liked ROL but it definitely wasn't our favorite either but it was a very pretty show and your pictures came out awesome. Glad DD liked it though!
 
Whew, I was a little stressed reading about your Wilderness Explorer trek! What a relief the last station was open and both kids finished the entire booklet! I'm sure you guys were extremely tired by the end of the day, what with walking around AK that evening and participating in EMM at the start of the day.
 
Sounds like a good night!! I'm glad the kids enjoyed RoL! I agree it was a one and done for me and not too disappointed that it's been cut!

I was glad the kids liked it so much and made it worth the wait in the cold, but definitely not sad to see it go. I hope with the fact that they built an entire viewing area for it though, that eventually they are able to put something better there!

I wasn't super impressed with RoL, but that's so sweet that your daughter gushed over it. She sounds like the kind of kid that makes Disney worth every penny!

As usual, the pictures turned out really beautiful!

It was definitely cute & worth it seeing how much she enjoyed it, even though DH & I didn't love it nearly as much as she did. Her energy throughout the trip was so amazing to see! She was so enthusiastic & happy about everything!! She really did make it worth every penny. DS too of course, but he's a little more "used to it" than DD is since she doesn't remember any of her earlier trips.

We liked ROL but it definitely wasn't our favorite either but it was a very pretty show and your pictures came out awesome. Glad DD liked it though!

It was really pretty, just went on too long. It was more entertaining to watch her enjoy it so much, more so than watching the show.

Whew, I was a little stressed reading about your Wilderness Explorer trek! What a relief the last station was open and both kids finished the entire booklet! I'm sure you guys were extremely tired by the end of the day, what with walking around AK that evening and participating in EMM at the start of the day.

Haha RIGHT?! It was so stressful!! And it should have been fun! Well, it was fun for the kids, and DH and I did our best not to let our stress leech out onto the kids, so they had a great time. There was one lady who was in Rafiki's Planet Watch who was SUPER chatty and DS was having a great time talking to her about her WE station, and DH and I were just internally like "HURRY UP AND GIVE HIM THE DANG STICKER!!!" :rotfl:

I am thoroughly enjoying your report! I also love your Fleurty Girl Mardi Gras tee :)

Thanks!! I have a few of their shirts, and I love their designs!!! They are so cute. I have a hard time deciding which one to wear on Mardi Gras day. :love:
 
Day 7: Friday February 28th

Today was our LAST DISNEY DAY, so of course we couldn’t waste a moment of it sleeping in! We were up at 7 and got ready quickly. Magic Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours that morning, so we got dressed and took breakfast to go. Today, we had better bus luck for the morning, so we got right on a bus to MK, and not only that, we were the only family on it!


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As you can see, we were bundled up for another very cold morning! There was still some time to wait before they let us in, because we arrived around 7:20 am and EMH wasn’t until 8. We ate our breakfasts and took some Photopass photos while waiting.


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We didn’t want to follow the masses to 7DMT since had gotten a few chances to ride the day before. One thing we did want to do was try again to meet Cinderella and Elena, so we went over to Princess Fairytale Hall first where we had no wait!


And a few from Photopass…



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Then it was time to go meet Elena! I swear, DD probably knows the least about her, but will say this was her favorite princess meet when asked who she enjoyed meeting the most on our trip.


Here are the Photopass ones.


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Our plan for the rest of the EMH hour was to hit things that were likely not most people’s priorities during that time, but had posted long waits throughout the day, and we certainly didn’t want to wait a long time for any of them. So first up, we went over to the Tomorrowland Speedway.


My little chauffer around the track!


Continued in next post...
 
Day 7 Continued: Friday February 28th

Next on our list of “get it done before it gets busy” was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and we had just enough time to get on that before regular park opening.


DD actually beat my score!


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Since the park was fully open, we decided to head over to Jungle Cruise before it got too busy. I should mention the reason we were doing all this in this kind of order was because all of our FPs were scheduled for the afternoon at DHS, so we only had standby available for the morning at MK. Plus, it was our last chance to get on anything there that we hadn’t made it onto yet.


DH found it hilarious that their sign outside says “We have yet to lose a boat!” considering what had happened the day before.


We had Skipper Griffin for our jungle adventure, and I thought we got a winner! Some Skippers can be kind of dull, but he cracked me up. His running joke was every time he saw an elephant to say, “Fun fact about elephants, they have a great memory. I wish I had a great memory, it would be really helpful for my job!” By the third time he said this, I think I had a stitch in my side from laughing so hard. It was so ridiculous, I just couldn’t help myself. But the final joke was the best when he said, “If you enjoyed this, I’m Skipper Griffin and this has been the World Famous Jungle Cruise. If you didn’t, I’m Chris from Orlando and I’m EVERYWHERE!” Just in case you don’t know, “Chris from Orlando” is the generic badge CMs have to wear if they forgot their real badge at home because they can’t go on stage without a badge. I was rolling laughing at that as we exited the boat and the kids probably thought I was crazy because of course, they didn’t get the joke at all.

Pirates of the Caribbean had been down earlier, and we saw that it was back up so we went over there to see about riding, but the line was too long. There was a Photopass photographer over by the tiki statues, so we stopped for some photos, but I’m not sure at what point of our time in Adventureland we did that.


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After a few family photos, the photographer said “I have a great idea for a photo if you’re up for it?”


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We had time for one more attraction before we had to head to the Harmony Barber Shop for DD’s First Haircut! Since I had been so jealous of missing out on Carousel of Progress the day before, and since we had gotten on everything else on our must do list so far, we decided that would be it.


UP NEXT: Harmony Barber Shop
 
Cool getting a bus to yourselves!

Sounds like a great EMH and a successful morning all around! Your JC skipper sounded hilarious!
 
A bus to yourselves is a positive start to a Disney day! Can't beat those photos in front of MK with no one in the background either!

Jungle Cruise is my family's traditional first ride at MK. It's always better with a good skipper and sounds like you had a great one. I didn't know that about the Chris from Orlando nametag. There probably weren't many people who got that joke like you did.

Great photos and I really like the photopass photographer's idea. Very unique.
 
Fun updates! It was worth it to get there for the early MK opening. Getting a good skipper for JC makes all the difference. I didn't know that about the Chris name tags - I'll be watching for them now :-) Love the CoP - it could use a refurb. I hope they do that one of these days and it doesn't get the ax. Great pictures as always - both PP and your DH's.
 
Cool getting a bus to yourselves!

Sounds like a great EMH and a successful morning all around! Your JC skipper sounded hilarious!

It was a surprise during such a busy week, for sure!

We hit the JC Skipper jackpot. Sometimes you get one that's just so drab, but this guy was hilarious and had a great delivery.

A bus to yourselves is a positive start to a Disney day! Can't beat those photos in front of MK with no one in the background either!

Jungle Cruise is my family's traditional first ride at MK. It's always better with a good skipper and sounds like you had a great one. I didn't know that about the Chris from Orlando nametag. There probably weren't many people who got that joke like you did.

Great photos and I really like the photopass photographer's idea. Very unique.

Yes, it was so great to have that opportunity without an expensive breakfast to make it happen!! lol

Sometimes the ride is just not as fun when you get a skipper just repeating the jokes without much enthusiasm. I love getting guys like this one who are so into it, and inject new jokes I haven't heard before. I think I read about the "Chris from Orlando" nametags in a DISBoards TR many many years ago! So I have the DIS to thank for understanding that joke, which made it even better. I'm sure a lot of people were confused!! Now that you know about it, I can guarantee you will notice it a bunch the next time you're in the parks. lol


Fun updates! It was worth it to get there for the early MK opening. Getting a good skipper for JC makes all the difference. I didn't know that about the Chris name tags - I'll be watching for them now :-) Love the CoP - it could use a refurb. I hope they do that one of these days and it doesn't get the ax. Great pictures as always - both PP and your DH's.

It's always a struggle to get up so early on vacation, but low crowds at MK definitely make it worth doing.

I bet you'll notice the nametag thing a lot more now that you know!! I sure started spotting them a lot more once I knew about it.

I totally agree with you on COP, it needs an update. I hope they don't decide to get rid of it instead. It's a family favorite!
 
Well, I made it in before a full month had gone by! :rotfl: It's been kind of a crazy month, with DD having to go on quarantine from school due to a COVID exposure, and our internet going out for 3 days while needing to do virtual learning for her. Then the entire school went on full virtual for a couple of days, all while we were trying to get ready for vacation last week! We spent a wonderful 5 days in the Smoky Mountains, and it was SO NICE to get away for a little while and do something different!! We really enjoyed our time away making memories with the kids since we really haven't had an opportunity to do so since our WDW vacation. So after a long hiatus, let's get back to that trip to try and get it finished up!

Day 7 Continued: Friday February 28th

When I left off, we had just finished Carousel of Progress and it was about time for DD's 1st Haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop.

On the way up to the barber shop after the show, we stopped to catch a little bit of Mickey’s Friendship Faire from a distance.


I was a bit hesitant about this, because I love love love DD’s long blonde hair, but we had always said her first haircut would be at WDW just like DS’s, and this seemed like the perfect year to get it done since we didn’t have another WDW trip on the books. Since we had scheduled a time, we had no wait before it was her turn.


She really only got a trim, but to me, it felt like a lot!! Her stylist put it up in a ponytail for her, and gave her some pixie dust.


Of course she got some Mickey stickers too.


I didn’t realize until about a week later when I was telling someone about the first haircut experience and everything you get with it that we weren’t given her 1st Haircut Mickey ears! I sent an email to WDW customer service, and a few days later, a pair came in the mail. I wish we’d had photos of her in them at the barber shop, but at least we got them as a keepsake in the end.



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We mobile ordered some Casey’s Corner for lunch and I managed to snag us a table while DH went inside to pick up the food.


After lunch, we said farewell to the MK, but no time for tears, we were heading to DHS and we had FPs for Slinky Dog Dash we were looking forward to using!!

UP NEXT: Toy Story MANIA!
 

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