This poor girl! Last year, on her 17th birthday, we were packing up the house all around her. She also was in the midst of a month where she couldn’t taste anything!
This year – it’s her 18th birthday – and we are up to our ears in VBS and other craziness!
Daddy took her to Silver Bay Seafood for a lovely dinner.
We will celebrate as a family on the weekend.
We were up around 5:30AM and got ready and loaded the car. Our room was only about 6 down from the end and super close to the parking lot.
We were in the parking lot 7:08AM
We were about 12 people deep for the tapstiles, but we were just planning to head for Minnie and Mickey’s Runaway Railroad and didn’t expect to need to run.
They let us in at 7:36AM when the early entry isn’t supposed to be until 8:00AM!
We went directly to MMRR and waited there and we ended up in one of the first ride vehicles out for the day.
Headed over to TOT for a ride.
Said 15 minutes, but took 25.
8:13AM
We got this treat. It was delicious – a mix of pineapple, coconut, and butterscotch.
We headed to Slinky Dog Dash – one of my favorite rides in WDW.
And got another ride on Toy Story Movie Mania.
We did Muppets and did some shopping.
We had an early lunch. I managed to grab this meal while we were waiting in line one of the other days. Yay!
Lunch was delicious – a seafood burger. Marie got a big milk shake!
We saw a cavalcade.
We had our last ride – Rock and Roller Coaster.
As we were preparing to leave, we met up with another friend from the message board, this is Melissa.
And we headed out to the car for the long ride home.
About nine hours later, the adventure was over. But what a trip!
I think I normally start out any post about Epcot pointing out it isn’t my favorite park. BUT – I was very excited about visiting this year because they have a new Guardians of the Galaxy Ride AND a new Remy ride.
We were up around 6:00AM and got ready quickly. At 7:00AM on the nose we got our Boarding Group for Guardians and our LL for Remy. I also bought an Individual Lightning Lane for Guardians because we knew we’d wanted to ride it twice and our Fairy Godmother sent us money to do that. ♥
7:23AM.
They let us in and held us at the rope on the side with Guardians, Mission Space and Test Track. We rope dropped to Test Track. We fondly remembered the time we were allowed in the upstairs lounge when John was a GM employee.
We made our car by 8:02AM.
We got off. Found a bathroom, and then went for our first ride on Guardians.
It absolutely blew our minds. WOW. WOW. WOW!!
Then we did Mission Space: Orange, which almost made me lose my breakfast.
Then we did Soarin’ standby, and had a 50th Anniversary snack.
We saw Winnie the Pooh, “in the wild.”
Did Figment.
Saw Pooh once more.
Grabbed an LL for Frozen Ever After later, and went to ride Nemo and visit the aquariums which is something I’ve never done!
Grabbed some photos.
10:58AM
And took our second ride on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
We did some photos afterward.
Tried some Coke products from around the world at Club Cool, which was closed on our last visit.
We headed over to World Showcase.
12:00PM
Rode Gran Fiesta in Mexico.
And waited LONG time to meet Caballero Donald.
12:44PM
Got some treats in Norway.
12:55PM
And we visited in and out of all the countries. This fish reminded us of Tabitha bc she draws beautiful fish.
1:20PM
1:51PM
Beauty and the Beast Sing Along was NOT on our plans, but it was cute. And had AC and seats. My feet were really starting to get tired.
Then we went to see American Experience.
And then continued our trek around the countries.
We got to Remy’s early and the wait said it was only 25 minutes, so we decided to ride it before our LL time, because we figured we’d want to ride it twice.
So..
We did ride it twice… but we would have been satisfied with once. It was precious, but not amazing.
4:06PM
We were kind of very hungry. We really hadn’t eaten much all day.
We went to the Patisserie in France and got bread bowls. There wasn’t much seating, but we got a table for our food. But when Marie went back to get our desserts and I got up to refill our ice waters, someone took our spot. Just then, it started to pour and pour and pour. We had to eat our desserts on a ledge.
All day we had hoped to see Mickey Mouse with our VISA card. This would mean we got to meet Mickey at all the parks.
We waited a silly-long amount of time in a weird little building and lo and behold, we were NOT in line for Mickey.
We bolted to his building (another weird building next door not at all marked for his Meet and Greet) and, he was done for the day.
Ugh. Marie wanted another ride on Figment.
We walked all the way back to use our LL for Frozen.
Took another spin on Gran Fiesta.
Then did another ride on Test Track; I’d picked up a LL during the day.
I had to cry uncle…
I had sore, wet feet. I wanted to watch Harmonious. But I wanted dry feet more.
First – let me mention we slept 9 hours!
This was the only day we planned to use Disney transportation. Magic Kingdom is the only park where it makes sense NOT to take your own car.
We were at the bus stop at 7AM and were the first in line.
We were at the tapstiles by 7:40AM and once they let us in, we scurried past this pokey bridal party.
Marie: “ you lead the way, I don’t know the way to seven dwarfs.
Also Marie:
They let us over to the rope drop area for Fantasyland.
7:57AM.
I am wearing the shirt my friend made me. Marie brought hers to put on later.
We were on and off Seven Dwarfs Mine Train by 8:35AM and the line to Peter Pan was still short enough, so we hopped in it. This is the first time I’ve seen the new queue and it was especially wonderful to me as I had JUST listened to the original J. M. Barrie story on the car ride down.
8:52AM
From there we went on Winnie the Pooh.
9:08AM
We went to Haunted Mansion (I don’t like that at all. I went on once in, like, 2000, and have avoided it ever since. I will never go back on.)
We went and used our first LL for Jungle Cruise.
Tapped into our Pirates of the Caribbean early so I could nab a LL for Splash.
As we waited for Pirates to load, the ride went down. They converted my LL for Pirates to an “Anytime LL” for all but the four “big” rides and meet and greets. This is called the Golden Ticket. It means anything I grab a LL for the rest of the day will be available to use immediately, NOT just in the window it is slotted for. The anytime LL doesn’t go away until you use it for the intended ride, OR if you accidently use it for a ride you don’t have an LL for.
We did Splash.
We just started rapidly doing rides in no specific order.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
It’s a Small World
Philharmagic
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
We got nachos to split at Peco’s Bills. They were really good.
Took photos.
Rode Space Mountain.
Did a bunch of shopping.
Met 50th Anniversary Mickey
Rode Pooh again, and Peter Pan with a LL, and Pirates of the Caribbean. With that ride, we lost our Golden Ticket, but could still use regular LL, of course!
Got a Dole Whip.
And Marie got a Hi-Ho Sundae.
Our treats may have been poorly timed.
5:10PM
Rode Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.
And went for dinner at Skipper’s Canteen. The only sit down meal of the trip.
We got the cheese bread.
(We did not NEED cheese bread.)
Marie had shrimp and rice.
I had candied pork.
We could not finish our meals!
We went to ride Dumbo. I was sad Storybook Circus is still not open.
We did more shopping.
Lined up to do Splash one more time, as it is her favorite, but the line was creeping along. It stopped more than once. We finally had to bail to get to see the fireworks.
We went back for another ride on Splash.
10:21PM
We got the last two seats on the bus and it took about 30 minutes to get back.
We went right to bed.
Doesn’t everyone get up at 5:00AM on vacation and iron?
In retrospect, we probably could have slept another 30-45 minutes. But our alarms were set and Marie jumped into the shower. I’d seen last night how her skirt was wrinkled, so I decided to iron the skirt she’d made herself last fall.
I also discovered our coffee drawer! It was really nice for a budget level hotel!
We had packed our own toaster and some breakfast foods. Marie fashioned her own “hidden Mickey” for breakfast.
We had some time, so we meandered around the property before leaving for the park.
6:29AM
We were parked and in line for entrance by 6:45AM. Sadly, we were not as close to the front as we had anticipated we’d be.
Eventually, we were allowed in and were able to queue near the pathway to Avatarland. There weren’t a lot of photos for the next bit of time. We were absolutely HERDED to the Flights of Passage ride once the park opened and our steadily moving line had us on in about 31 minutes.
We headed then to Navi River, and then to Kilimanjaro Safaris where the animals were very active, but the ride did take a lot of time.
It was very, very hot and humid. I can usually stomach this really well, but I think the sleep deprivation was aggravating me, as well.
We were able to meet Safari Mickey and Minnie.
We refreshed our sunscreen and then headed to Dinosaur! I grabbed another Lightning Lane while we waited.
The ride always scares me so much!
We stopped for a LOT of Photo Pass photos. I am only going to post one.
While waiting in line for Expedition Everest, John texted me that Roe vs. Wade was overturned. We both stopped, praised, prayed for peace, and plunged on.
We realized there really wasn’t a lot left we wanted to do at Animal Kingdom. But it was only 11:04 AM!
We decided to ride out to Conservation Station and do the Animation Experience.
11:27AM
We drew Pua from Moana.
We wandered around looking for special treats, and we found a candy shoppe. We also shopped in and out of stores and stopped for more photos. We thought about hanging around until 2PM to see the Finding Nemo show, but we were really just ready to leave. So weird.
We had 8PM reservations for MiniGolf, so we figured we’d head out and chill for a while.
We did some more exploring at our hotel, and went for a swim, and rested.
We got cleaned up and went to the main reception/store/food court.
And I had some surprisingly good braised roast beef. Marie got smoked salmon.
And the deluge began!
It rained, and rained and rained.
We shopped, rested, waited out the rain, AND I waited on hold for over 40 minutes to cancel our golf reservation. The last thing I wanted to do was drive all the way over there and find out they were closed. I also didn’t want to get charged as a no show.
We decided to get dessert and take it back to our room. They make ice cream cookie sandwiches at this, and other “Value” resorts. You select your two cookies, and three scoops of ice cream.
It is much bigger than it looks. Neither of us could finish them.
They were very reasonably priced.
We headed back to our room with our snacks and snuggled in and watched commentary on today’s SCOTUS announcement. We did our bedtime prayers and were in bed early.
You may remember that Marie graduated last month. In lieu of a party, we cashed out all of our credit card bonus reward dollars to fund a Mommy-and-Marie graduation trip to Walt Disney World for four nights.
Our alarms went off at 4AM and we quickly dressed, packed our coffee, and got on the road. We left the house right at 4:30AM, give or take a few minutes.
Our travel was far less traumatic than our last trip (Praise the Lord!), and we stopped only for quick potty breaks and some McDonald’s coffee.
This was 7:19AM
We were in the Disney Hollywood Studios parking lot by 1PM, where we lotioned, hydrated, and got on our way into the park.
We had splurged for Disney’s ride reservation system, Genie+, and as we were driving we’d been able to book a few rides for the afternoon/evening.
Our very first stop was – shopping?
Actually – it was because I was waiting to grab another “Lightning Lane” as WDW calls them. I was eligible to grab one at 1:00PM, but an unannounced drop was expected at 1:18PM (I know things ). Sure enough, a drop popped up and I secured another ride for our afternoon.
We headed toward the Tower of Terror. I haven’t been on this but once ever. And I can’t even remember when that was. It’s not my favorite, but Marie loves it.
We saw Goofy!
1:37PM
The same dear friend who’d provided us with the precious shirts (and so much else) linked my account with hers so that we would be able to have the PhotoPass photos. 1:53PM
I was overly worried about getting dehydrated (I got over that concern quickly) and we stopped for some water. We managed to find some friends!
2:05PM
We scooted over to Toy Story Land and stopped for some photos.
2:12PM
We rode Alien Swirling Saucers 2:21PM
And then we decided we’d stop for an early dinner (we’d had sandwiches in the car for early lunch).
On the way we stopped for this (and many other) photos.
2:28PM
We split a pulled pork sandwich and each had a bag of baby carrots and some soda.
2:43PM
We headed back to Toy Story Land
3:08PM
And rode one of my favorite rides – Slinky Dog Dash
3:23PM
I met a friend, Karen, from my Disney message board.
3:33PM
And then we rode Toy Story Movie Mania. I won.
4:04PM
It was really hot. We were all but melting.
We headed back over toward Rock and Roller Coaster, and stopped for more Photo Pass pictures.
And then got to the party on time!
4:37PM
We had some time at this point, and went and rode Star Tours (no photos) and then waited in line to meet Sorcerer Mickey and Hollywood Minnie.
6:30PM
I was ready for a snack, so we headed to Starbucks for a Carrot Cake Cookie (more like a cake). We had perfect timing because the skies opened up and it started to POUR while we were in there. We stayed under the awning to enjoy our treat.
6:37PM
We had accomplished so so much – WAY more than I had dared to hope. And we’d picked up more Lightning Lanes along the way. We decided we’d bite the bullet and get in line for Star Wars: Ride of the Resistance. It is a ride that opened after our last visit in 2019. The stated wait time was about 90 minutes, but we knew we could handle that.
7:29 PM – this was shortly after we’d entered the queue. Maybe 10 minutes.
While neither of us are Huge Star Wars fans, we were blown away by the immersion.
We were off the ride by 8:30PM and then hurried over to Minnie and Mickey’s Runaway Railroad. I was nervous that we might miss the fireworks scheduled for 9PM. I almost bolted a few times, but online friends said they thought I’d be fine.
We waited and I am so glad! The ride was excellent!
And we were outside in a great spot for the nighttime show before it started.
A few days before we had left, Reservation Finder had found me an after-closing reservation for the two of us at Oga’s Cantina. It is a bar from one of the early Star Wars movies. It was something we’d never done before. It was fun.
She tried the Blue Milk,
and I had some other concoction that was refreshing.
We were able to grab a few shots as we left. We were tired! We’d been up a LONG time.
10:00PM
We found our car and made the quick drive to our hotel – Disney’s All Star Movies Resort. (The cheapest rooms on property.) It had a queen bed, and a queen Murphy bed.
10::50PM – What a satisfying day!
Not just any box.
I got a box full of joy.
I knew my friend was making me a shirt.
But she didn’t stop there.
A popcorn bucket.
Mom of the grad shirt was a surprise!
The one I had humbly requested.
The picture Katriel made me of all the Mickey heads Stephanie sent.
A sticker for Marie.
Some money for an additional ride on Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Rewind ride at EPCOT.
And a matching shirt for Marie.
This is getting real…
Sweet Marie.
Didn’t know a soul there.
Agreed to go through the ceremony for Mama.
None of the siblings went. It was long-ish.
We came home for gifts and cake.
Instead of a party Daddy and Mama arranged for Mama and Marie to have a quick trip to Disney World next month.
My friend made her this beautiful shirt.
Dayspring Disciples 