Well hi I’m back from Disney World.
The trip was great, but also weird. It felt rushed. How does a week+ trip feel rushed? I’ve no idea.
Luna knew something was up and was saaaaad
Wednesday night I went and picked up Kevin. I got to do the surprise I’ve been planning for months.
“Hey Kevin are you ready to go?”
“Go where?”
“Well where do you want to go?”
“I dunno”
“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?”
“Disney World?”
“Ok, let’s go”
“… we’re going to Disney World?”
I don’t think he believed me til we were in the car.
Thursday morning I was able to get him signed up for DAS on the website which besides the long wait (waited about 2 hours to talk to a cast member), was great.
Chase and I both worked a half day Thursday and then loaded up the car and off we went.
We drove 9 hours Thursday night, which included 2 stops and 2 different Buc-ee’s.
The first Buc-ee’s had a fried chicken sandwich that was SO DANG GOOD. I was going to get another at the next stop but they didn’t have them! Bummer.
Kevin found a keyblade at the second Buc-ee’s.
We stayed in Valdosta overnight that night, then got up the next morning and got on the road to Florida.
When we got to Port Orleans our room wasn’t ready yet, but we wanted to see if they could possibly keep us in the same room (we had back to back reservations). So we went to the front desk and they’d already set it up that way! Yay! Front desk confirmed our room wasn’t ready yet, so we decided to just get some beignets and wait… and then as we walked away go the text our room was ready LOL
We were on the far right building – we’d never been on that side before so that was interesting.
We unpacked and THEN went back and got beignets.
Kevin had a good laugh with the gators
We spent a while at the pool, but the water was too cold for me so I ended up just napping while Kevin and Chase swam.
Then we got changed and walked to Riverside for dinner.
Wore my Ariel ears.
We ate at boatwright’s. It was really good. Not something I’ll go out of my way to go back to, but worth it if you’re near Port Orleans.
Also sorry for my blurry fingers being in any shots LOL My current popsocket sits a little higher up than my old one so my fingers are constantly in the way of the camera.
Kevin got the first of many birthday cupcakes.
Then we rode the boat over to Disney Springs…
(see, my finger in the way)
After the short walk from the boat dock into Disney Springs proper Kevin was already huffing and puffing, tired and wanting to sit down. I was like Kevin… you gotta get it together, this is just an appetizer for the whole week LOL
Chase had an old high school friend also at Disney that weekend and wanted to meet up with them, so Kevin and I took the bus back to POFQ while he did that.
SATURDAY! Epcot – Dapper Day
So when we surprised Kevin with the trip, I asked him if he wanted to know everything we had planned, or to keep it all a surprise. He (surprisingly) picked to not know and to let everything be a surprise. So he had no idea he had a Dapper Donald Duck outfit to wear Saturday LOL
The whole outfit is from amazon, except the shoes – he just wore his regular tennis shoes because I didn’t want his feet to be uncomfortable.
Epcot!
Donald x2
Our trio
We met Mary Poppins:
Took some photos of my Dale in the tea gardens:
We met Alice:
And then we had to walk down to Mexico so Kevin could meet Donald:
I would like to say I wore heels for the entire walk around World Showcase. I was very proud of myself until we GOT to mexico and and I realized that the heels had rubbed a pretty bad blister on the side of my foot.
Thanksfully I had bandaids, moleskin and a change of shoes in our bag.
We had a Remy return time so we headed back to France.
(Now in flats)
Remy was cute (and had nice AC) but I wouldn’t wait more than like 15 minutes for it.
We didn’t eat much this day – we had the goat cheese croissant at the F&G booth in France (amazing – but Chase bit into it and goat cheese spilled all down the front of his shirt LOL) Also had ice cream in France.
After that we were hot and uncomfortable so we headed back to the hotel for a little nap and a change of clothes before dinner, then back to Epcot.
We decided to uber over to the Riviera and take the skyliner since Kevin hadn’t done it yet.
Dinner was at Via Napoli. We usually eat at Tutto Italia, it’s Chase’s fav place, but for this trip we changed it up for Kevin.
Chase and I got a large pizza – Kevin got some of it too, but Kevin also got spaghetti:
The pizza was amazing the first slice, but as it cooled down it became pretty mediocre. Still good. Kevin loved it all and got another birthday cupcake.
Had no idea what we were going to be looking at in this magic shot, was pleasantly surprised at the end result!
Got to stop and see Berlin perform Take My Breath Away so that was cool.
On our way to Soarin we got this strawberry mousse and OMG
One of the best things of the trip.
Kevin was wearing flipflops this night which he’s not really used to. When we got on Soarin, I told him to just take his flipflops off and leave them on the floor. He was soooo worried about doing that LOL Then he had a lot of fun waving his barefeet around over all the soarin scenes LOL.
The new points of light on spaceship earth are beautiful!
We were going to stay and watch harmonious this night, but we decided we were too tired and would do it on our second Epcot day instead.
We rode Spaceship Earth before heading out…
SUNDAY – HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS DAPPER DAY!
Another surprise for Kevin – a dapper Luke look! For this one I just dyed one of his plain white t-shirts, used shorts he had, the suspenders from Donald, and bought him the hat, shoes and Yoda backpack.
I decided to try heels again – with just like 4 bandaids and moleskin over the blister from the day before. (funnily enough, the white shoes I got at the secondhand store for this are the same brand as the red shoes I use for Dale that I got on amazon. They are both super comfy and have good grip – but it also meant that the side edge hit in the exact same spot on both pairs of the shoes LOL)
We got pics with a Dapper Stormtrooper!
And a real stormtrooper.
I love these pics.
It was another hot day but we got by with the cooling towel and keeping kevin’s water bottle full. And the little fan.
Got to chat with Rey
(Don’t mind the big chunk of red hair. The only extensions I could find to match my new hair colour were gradients…)
Kevin and I did Rise by ourselves – Chase doesn’t like the drop LOL. Kevin LOVED it.
Probably the longest line we waited in all week – meeting Minnie and Mickey.
But worth it, it was a wait in the shade and the interactions were a lot of fun.
Did I take photopass photos without the boys? Yes, yes I did.
At that point we took a mid-day break to go take a nap and possibly change. After a nap and cooling off… we all got back in our Dapper outfits because we’d had so much fun wearing them earlier. I left the petticoat off Leia this time just to have less fabric around my waist.
Also switched to my flats.
First up we had our Oga’s reservation…
I got the Bespin Fizz, Chase got the Jedi Mindtrick, and Kevin got the Rodian Rations.
Much different experienc from 2021 – when they were still spacing people out and they had chairs at the bar. This time we were at a standing table with strangers and Kevin was VERY uncomfortable having to stand. I ended up taking him back outside as soon as we were done while Chase paid the bill because needed to sit so bad. So lesson learned there, if we take him back we’ll have to request a table seating for him. This is a huge part of the reason he gets DAS. He wanted to try to just sit on the floor where he would’ve been in the way and trying to keep him standing was difficult.
That being said his Rodian Rations? SO GOOD. It was a giant jello shot and I kept stealing bites.
After that we rode Siinky Dog Dash, then it started getting pretty dark. When we’d checked the weather before coming back after our nap, there was no rain chances left in the day. Well guess what, that was WRONG. We hadn’t packed any umbrellas or ponchos because the forecast had said no rain.
We had a Runaway Railway return but as we got to it, it was down. It started to sprinkle. We decided to head to ABC Commissary to take cover, but they weren’t letting anyone in? We ended up under an umbrella at an outside table and boy did it start raining after that.
At first it was ok, we were pretty protected, but after a half hour, I was starting to get pretty damp and we needed to head to our dinner reservation at the brown derby soon. It was POURING so we waited a little while longer to see if it would break. It slowed down a tiny bit so Chase decided to make a break for the store by Runaway Railway to see if that had ponchos. After he left… it pretty much stopped, so kevin and i went to catch up to him. Too late – he’d already spent $40 on ponchos we then didn’t need, ugh.
Made our way to Brown Derby where we had to stand, still damp and cold and uncomfortable, under the awning until we could check in. Then space cleared up in the lobby so we were able to go inside.
We’ve had Brown Derby booked several times, but everytime I’ve canceled it because we look at the menu and just think “meh” – there are other signatures that look more exciting. But since it was dapper day we wanted to stick to it and I’m glad we did.
I had the short rib
It was SOOOOO good.
Chase had the filet (with Walt’s hash), and Kevin had the chicken. We all cleaned our plates. It was so good!
Then we headed back into Batuu for Kevin’s lightsaber build.
This was another surprise for him. It was his Christmas and birthday present from everybody else!
I thought he’d be a little indecisive picking out pieces but he wasn’t. Just needed a little help with assembly.
Unfortunately at the end, his lightsaber didn’t activate with everyone else’s. The CM rushed in and disassembled it and got it fixed ASAP, in time for him to activate it with everyone the second time. In that short time period he went from “huh?? why didn’t mine light up” to “I must be the latecomer. I arrive exactly when I am needed” so he’d already made up a whole story about it and wasn’t bothered by it. The CM asked if we wanted to speak to a coordinator about it, but since he wasn’t bothered I said it wasn’t a problem. They ended up giving us extra kyber crystals for him so that was nice!
Then because the park was closed we got some awesome photos.
It was a LONG day but good.
MONDAY – Magic Kingdom!
We started the day at Whispering Canyon Cafe for breakfast.
Kevin and I had waffles and Chase had a omelet. He of course had to ask for ketchup. Our server was hilarious and fantastic and it was a lot of fun.
Then a ferry ride later we were finally at Magic Kingdom!
We met Captain Jack
We shared a dole whip, rode some other stuff, I can’t even remember…
Tried to ride the peoplemover but it went down.
Even though we were in normal clothes this day it seemed hotter. This was also the day the handheld fan died and we realized none of the chargers we brought worked with it.
So another mid-day break was definitely in order. This time we headed to the pool and this time it was NOT too cold to get in the water LOL
After a nice swim we got changed and back to the Magic Kingdom – we had a return time for Haunted Mansion we thought we could make and rushing to it really wore it Kevin. Poor kid. But we made it!
Then we went and met Mickey…
Then we jumped on the monorail and headed to the Contemporary for dinner!
We ate at Steakhouse 71 and it was so good! And our server was fantastic again. Kevin got the burger and Chase and I both got steaks.
But the best part was this flight of steak sauces. OMG! They were so good. Even when we were done eating, we sat there with the tiny spoons eating the sauces by themselves. The Wild Mushroom in particular… it should be a soup.
Kevin got ANOTHER birthday cupcake and we all shared this giant chocolate cake.
Then *I* spilled Kevin’s to-go sprite, boo.
Tiny nitpick, the security area to go to the monorails at the contemporary is so ugly and airport-ish. Why.
We monorailed back to MK so Kevin could ride Peter Pan and we could ride the peoplemover since we were denied earlier. But it was fireworks time when we got there and we got trapped in the crowd… so we watched the fireworks.
Also disney does great at getting people into position to watch fireworks. But not so much after they are done. It is so chaotic and scary. Remind me to never get stuck on main street during fireworks again.
We got stopped several times on the peoplemover and once the lights came on.
TUESDAY – Epcot!
I wore my Marvel outfit today finally!
Tried to stand in front of Guardians looking real sad but nobody offered me a preview ride LOL
I do regret wearing the ears with it, they hid my cute hair, and I regret the sunglasses – I’ve never used them for anything except the Leia poncho costume and thought they’d be fun, but they ended up being little heaters and made my face SO HOT.
Breakfast was these 3 things – a potato hash, cinna-bites, and avocado toast. The cinna-bites were AMAZING, the potato hash was good, and I did not like the avocado toast.
We started in Mexico today (opposite for us) and Kevin got a big birthday song from the mariachi band!
We met Anna and Elsa…
(why are there no photopass photographers here??)
Stopped in Norway for a snack… some kind of apple thing and some kind of chocolate thing, I can’t remember!
Got this pretzel bread pudding in Germany, OMG this was good.
After that it was time for our mid-day break.
After a nap and a change of clothes, back to Epcot…
We’ve had these shirts since 2015 and only just now wore them together LOL.
Dinner was at the creperie.
(I told him to “look french.”)
The creperie was good, but the entree crepes needed something to break it up in my opinion. Either the soup or salad, or the 3 of us should’ve cut our crepes into 3 and shared them so you could have different tastes. I had the goat cheese crepe, which was amazing for the first quarter of it but then it became a little one note and I really just wanted to break up the taste with a side or something. Chase had the savoyarde and Kevin had the classique.
We shared the pear crepe for dessert with ice cream, and it was yummy.
Rode Test Track:
Kevin’s car came in 10th overall that day!
Annnnd we were going to stay and watch Harmonious but again decided we were too tired and skipped it. Next time.
WEDNESDAY – DHS again for May the 4th
So for May the 4th we decided to get up really early and be there before early resort guest entry, because we had no idea what the May the 4th offerings were going to be but wanted to be there to get in the virtual queue for it.
Once in we got breakfast and just hung out.
We ended up being group #12 for the merch store virtual queue. We headed in and were… very disappointed. Didn’t buy anything.
Hung around a bit more. Wednesday and Thursday seemed way hotter than the days before, it was just miserable. Even with the cooling towel and keeping the water bottle refreshed. Probably wasn’t helped by our little handheld fan dying.
Did Smuggler’s Run – which I didn’t think Kevin would like so I avoided it the first day.
But he absolutely loved it. And we liked it better this time, too.
Finally tried the blue milk. It was pretty good.
We decided to escape heat and went to the Riviera for lunch.
After eating at the quick service location there, we then caught a bus to Animal Kingdom.
Kevin got to meet Kevin and even got a hug.
All we did here was ride Navi River Journey and I had a night blossom drink. The return times for Flight of Passage were too long.
Also by that afternoon, I was permanently under an umbrella.
It was so hot, and I’d developed heat rash EVERYWHERE by this point. I was struggling! The umbrella helped a little.
Then we were going to bus back to any resort that had skyliner access to go back to DHS. Had a weird experience. We were just going to go back to Riviera, since it was at the front of the bus line and had nobody waiting for it, so were guaranteed a seat, just needed to wait. A bus pulled up with no hotel on the front sign, but he pulled up in front of us, the driver waved to us, then changed his sign to Riviera. Great! He then let everyone off the bus… then closed the doors and drove away without letting us on. It was the strangest thing.
So Chase walked down to see what the other bus lines looked like and told us to come down and get on the Beach/Yacht Club/Boardwalk bus. But the line was really long. I told him Kevin could not stand on the bus, he doesn’t have the coordination for that. But he wanted to try it. Thankfully we were able to get Kevin on the very last seat while we stood but I wish we’d just waited on another Riviera bus.
So anyway we sky-linered back to DHS for the rest of the night.
Had another ride on Slinky and another Smuggler’s Run – first time we had a full crew of adults and landed the ship successfully.
The lightsaber gathering was insane!
Wish we’d brought Kevin’s back with us!
We had a late dinner at Mama Melrose’s which was fine, exactly as expected.
We had no break today – we’d been at the parks since 7 AM and finally left around 10.
We were EXHAUSTED!
THURSDAY – MAGIC KINGDOM!
Today was mostly doing things we missed the previous MK day. More Pirates, seeing Festival of Fantasy, Under the Sea, Dumbo…
Met Belle
Saw Pooh and crew on the way out and Kevin and Tigger bounced together.
After resting and changing clothes we headed to Disney Springs. But I was still so hot I couldn’t wear my Wanda spirit jersey except for photos.
Got into the lego store and stood under a vent for about 10 minutes trying to cool off. Then to Raglan Road for dinner.
Raglan Road was super yummy and we ended up being right in front the stage which was cool.
I had the Worth the Wait beef sandwich, Kevin had bangers and mash and Chase had fish and chips. It was all good.
Then to AMC for Dr Strange 2!
Sadly they’d already sold out of the popcorn bucket. My only chance to ever get one of those AMC exclusives. Our local theater chain has a monopoly here and doesn’t do anything like that.
LOVED Dr Strange 2. Exactly what I wanted.
Next morning we packed up and were on the road at sunrise.
We’d originally had a Cape May Cafe breakfast for that morning, but decided we wanted to get on the road and canceled it.
Got to Atlanta that afternoon and headed straight to Gail K so I could fabric shop, but didn’t find anything on my list.
We stayed at the Hilton that night!
And to our surprise, Furry Weekend Atlanta was happening over at the marriott. Had no idea.
Kevin enjoyed seeing all the costumes. It was pretty cool.
Met up with Jess for dinner then back to the hotel for an early night, we were tired.
“See ya real soon!”
Next morning we stopped at Fine Fabrics for another shopping attempt but again didn’t find anything on my list. Major bummer.
Another major bummer – neither Buc-ee’s we stopped at on the way home had that chicken sandwich! But Kevin got to meet Buc-ee.
Got into town, dropped kevin off, went home and cuddled Luna.
Seeing what Disney World smells like
Overall it was a great trip. I’m exhausted. Still recovering from the heat rash and now a cold (tested negative for the Big C) and work’s been nuts. (But I did come back to news I FINALLY got the raise I’ve been chasing for a year)
Overall happy but also like I said the trip felt rushed. I keep remembering things I meant to do and forgot, things I meant to buy and forgot, it didn’t feel leisurely like last year did. That’s a bit of a bummer. It’s not like the disney itch didn’t get scratched, but it’s like… it seemed like a quick scratch that didn’t satisfy the itch. I dunno how else to put it.
But now onto dragoncon. After a few more days recovering from vacation anyway.