Family of 6, 24 hours in the car, and the race to beat the blizzard - 12/18/16 trip

[BellaBaby]

That gingerbread carousel is amazing!!

Glad you enjoyed your breakfast at Cape May. We did that one last June for DH's bday and really enjoyed it too!!

Loving your report!! Thanks for sharing it!

 

[jvz82]

(I fell behind a bit, so just a few comments)

CBR is for sure a pretty resort and the pool looks really nice - nice they have the play area for the younger kids and glad the CM let your daughter stay.

Great picture of the kids by the fountain

Glad all the kids (that participated) enjoyed Soarin - it is a pretty cool ride and for kids the experience must be really exhilarating! (Adults to but I imagine kids think even less about it being a ride and what the technology behind it is and just think of it as more "real" .... or maybe it is just me overthinking it

Baymax is a tougher meet - though he is very squishy when you give him hugs and of course he can do the "la la la" fit bump

Joy and Sadness was one of our favorite meets from our trip - too bad you didn't get better pictures. I took some video and one of my favorite parts is my daughter literally "jumping with Joy"

We greatly enjoy Sunshine Seasons but do get what you are saying about how the different Bays can make it stressful with multiple kids who want different things or can't decide what they want, etc.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it before but I know I upload my pictures to Photobucket and then just link to them in my TR updates so then there is no limit to the number of pictures you can use per updates since they aren't stored on The DIS servers

Glad to see things worked out with the Anna and Elsa meet and greets - it is nice how well they play their roles and act differently since they clearly have different personalities in the movie

Too bad about the meltdowns - just being in a different environment, possible tired, and definitely hot can definitely impact kids I've found.

Garden Grill is so much fun - lots of character interactions. Dealing with Character meals is definitely a challenge though to balance the characters and actually eating. At GG I've found they often come around multiple times so we try not to stress if we don't get great pictures the first time

Living with the Land is one of our favorites - we tend to ride it a few times each trip. My oldest has gotten into spotting "hidden Mickeys" and that ride has a ton of them!

It's always nice when others mention something about the kids being well behaved - I find sometimes I stress out so much about my kids acting up but to others they aren't being that bad (that I notice things more than others do) so hearing nice things every now and then is a reminder of that

Glad you enjoyed FAE - for being just an overlay of an existing ride I think they did a really good job with it. I love your ride photo! I think every other one I have seen the people look rather bored (I mean, it's a nice ride, but not thrilling) so fun to see a picture like that!

Sorry that your daughter had a rough evening - but seems like you were a great mom to her and got her in a better frame of mind before bed

Wow, great job getting up that early - definitely easier to get up early at Disney compared to the real world

Sorry the bus didn't come early. Have transportation is great but it can be frustrating at times as well.

The silhouette shirts are really cool and I do like that picture of the kids with the Castle quite a bit

Glad you enjoyed the Jingle Cruise! We love the puns and the ride is an original and just one of my favorites!

Ah, the joys of no one wanting to pee at the same time!

I love the idea of the play area at Dumbo but we have had issues with it as well with some people wanting to play and some wanting to ride. Then we had the issue with our youngest asleep in a stroller and that they wouldn't let us bring the stroller into the play area so no one got to got and the bigger kids got upset about that.

That's cool you were on the carousel when they lit the castle!

Gotta love the "I was so worried that you were lost" but the response is that you didn't get the necklace so therefore you don't love her ... gotta love kids

... and then people wonder why we keep going back to Disney. Definitely hits you in the feels

Cape May breakfast is one we haven't done yet but looks really fun! I definitely watch too much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as I totally heard in my head a Minnie voice saying "Oh my!" after she saw the waffles and fruit mess

Great updates!

Thank you for all the nice comments! Yes, those moments are definitely what keeps me going back, despite the hard times.

I love the thought of Minnie saying "Oh my!" lol. I can totally hear that too!

A little late, but I'm joining in and OH MY GOODNESS, you have the sweetest family I have ever seen! I'm so enjoying this report so far!

Thank you so much!

That gingerbread carousel is amazing!!

Glad you enjoyed your breakfast at Cape May. We did that one last June for DH's bday and really enjoyed it too!!

Loving your report!! Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks for reading! We loved Cape May too, would totally go back!

 

[jvz82]

Wednesday Resort Day: Part II

Welcome back, friends! I'm so grateful people took time to read about our Disney trip!

Tonight I hope to finish up our Wednesday Resort Day. It wasn't a busy day, so there isn't as much to talk about. But still a great day!

After Cape May Cafe, we drove back to our resort. I was sending texts back and forth with my mom, because they were en route to Disney from Minnesota at that very moment! They had left Tuesday afternoon and hoped to be to the resort around dinner time. They were going to stay at CBR too, just for one night and hit Magic Kingdom with us the following day. I was super excited!

When we arrived back at CBR, it was freezing. I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and there was no way in hell I wanted to go swimming (which had been our plan for the day!). It was late morning and the kids were tired. We decided to let them watch some TV and veg out for a little while. While they were occupied, I walked over to the resort's souvenir shop and shopped sans children, which was wonderful! I didn't even buy anything but it was fun to look around and spend some time by myself.

By the time I got back, the kids had decided they wanted to go swimming. Ummmm it's 63 degrees, you crazy crazy children. But if they wanted to do it, more power to them!

Here's some sad news: We are checking out of CBR tomorrow morning!!!!! 4 nights was just not enough for me!

Since we were planning to be at MK before 7 am again Thursday morning, we had to be packed up and ready to check out before then. So I stayed in the room to pack up while the baby took a nap, and my husband and the older 3 went to the pool.

I'm soooo glad they went! They stayed for a really long time and had a BLAST! Here's some pictures my husband took.

My 7YO on the water slide


And my daughter


And my 4YO trying to get used to the temp of the hot tub


I made lots of progress packing while the kids were gone, but it was just sad. I wish I could whine like my kids "I DON'T WANNA LEEEEAVE!!! YOU CAN'T MAKE MEEEEE!"

When the baby woke up and the big kids returned, we did some baths and showers and got ready for dinner. We had a 4:55 pm reservation for Boma at AKL. I'd never been to AKL before so we wanted to go a little early and explore, maybe see some animals.

We got to AKL at around 4 or 4:15. At that point I had gotten a text from my mom that she and my dad were going to be staying in the room right next door to ours at CBR! Yay!!! They were going to be arriving around 5 pm but they weren't going to meet us for dinner because they wanted to check-in, explore the resort and shower.

So the AKL lobby was amazing!!! I was all set to take a bunch of pictures of the lobby because it was so beautiful, but almost immediately when we walked in one of the cast members came over and greeted us, so I got distracted. We explained we had a reservation at Boma but wanted to see the animals, so she said she would take us out to see them!

On the way, she stopped to see if we could find a hidden Mickey. Omg, I am apparently TERRIBLE at this! Both my husband and I could NOT find it until she told us pretty much the exact location, lol. Even then he couldn't find it, so I took a picture so I could point it out to him, lol. Can you see it?


We stopped and found another hidden Mickey and then we got to see some zebras!






We hung out a little bit, saw some giraffes.

When we made it back to the lodge, the CM asked if we more time before our reservation, and we did. She asked if we wanted to be part of a drum circle. Ummmm yes!

So we went to this little room where a man was teaching everyone how to play drums, and doing some drumming activities.

I wish I had gotten my phone out quicker to get a picture of my 4YO's face banging away on this drum. He was smiling sooooo big! After he saw me take a picture he got all serious, lol.




After they were done, they each got a little necklace strung with a drum bead. What an amazing souvenir!

Both my husband and I left thinking man, we really need to save up enough money to stay at AKL! Such a cool experience! My husband has said it was actually his favorite memory of Disney.

It was time for our dinner reservation! We were seated at our table, and started getting plates for the kids made. The kids mainly stuck with chicken strips and mac and cheese, but my husband and I tried more of the African food. Some of it was amazing, some of it was a new flavor I wasn't crazy about, but I was happy to get to try so many new things.

We all made several trips back and then had dessert. My silly 7YO came back with 3 cupcakes, and I asked him why he chose that dessert and he said he got 3 so that it made Mickey ears.


The kid is going to be seeing hidden Mickeys everywhere he looks now, lol.

So we finished up and left Boma, and headed back to CBR! The kids were so thrilled to see their grandparents so we went straight to their room. You'd think it had been months since they last saw them, and not just days lol. A very happy reunion! My parents had gone over to Old Porte Royale for dinner and said it was really good. They got their magic bands, because their trip had been a last minute thing, and were ready for tomorrow. We talked over our morning plans of being at the bus stop by 6 am.

My 4YO begged my mom to please let him spend the night in her room. She said yes, which maybe wasn't the best decision because then the other kids got upset. But I'm glad he got some time with them and he doesn't get as much special time with them.

So we wrapped up the last of our packing and hauled a bunch of suitcases out to the car. We planned to stay parked at CBR and still use the bus so we didn't have to worry about parking. We packed up some lunches because some of our group planned to have a picnic on Tom Sawyer island for lunch the next day.

And, very sadly, we ended our last night in our resort. Even writing this, I am so "homesick" (if that's the right word!) for our resort! I wish we could go back right now! But clearly I enjoyed the experience if I feel this way, so it's a good thing too.

Join me next time as I start in on our very last Disney day at Magic Kingdom. There will be smiles, there will be tears, and there will be princesses.

 

[MamaJessie]

View attachment 213286
Well, it's getting late and I'm going to wrap it up today but I will be back to tomorrow to finish up Garden Grill and hopefully finish up our day at Epcot!

I was going to catch up on the whole report before commenting but this cracked me up. One of my favorite pictures of my oldest is her throwing a grump fit like that at AK.

We are also a large family that drives down And our last trip and this trip we start off site to save some $$ while we are just sleep deprived anyway. We liked using that first off site day to shop at the Disney discount store.
Did you like the quality inn? The place we stayed last year was fine - not sure if we are going to stay there or try somewhere else this time but that pool looked nice.

We are going to our first CBR stay in May and requested the same building - fingers crossed we luck out too

Offr to go finish reading!

 

[jvz82]

I was going to catch up on the whole report before commenting but this cracked me up. One of my favorite pictures of my oldest is her throwing a grump fit like that at AK.

We are also a large family that drives down And our last trip and this trip we start off site to save some $$ while we are just sleep deprived anyway. We liked using that first off site day to shop at the Disney discount store.
Did you like the quality inn? The place we stayed last year was fine - not sure if we are going to stay there or try somewhere else this time but that pool looked nice.

We are going to our first CBR stay in May and requested the same building - fingers crossed we luck out too

Offr to go finish reading!

Hey! I'm trying to remember the hotel name, I think it was quality suites and I know it was on turkey road or something about turkeys lol. I actually really liked it! We picked it because we got a suite with two Queen beds and a pull out couch for a similar price as other hotels with smaller rooms. Also it had an enormous continental breakfast with giant Mickey waffles and every other breakfast food you can imagine. So I would definitely stay there again. The pool area was very pretty, although it was cold. I think the hotel was more in the universal area but that didn't matter to us.

How many kids do you guys have? How far do you have to drive? Definitely expensive to fly with a big family! Thanks for reading!

 

[dlavender]

Yep, just leaving the house is a chore for us most days as well, lol. I'm glad you liked CBR too! What's been your favorite resort?

Thanks for reading!

So far, we've stayed at Yacht Club, All Stars, POR, CSR, and CBR.

And I'll cop out and say, it depends....lol

The Yacht Club resort is the best, but the room is not much nicer than CBR/POR/CSR, and it was about double in price.

For the money, I'll take CBR everytime.

CSR was similar, but I just didn't like the "feel" (1000% un measurable, I know )

POR was nice, but the pool is not as great, and it was more $. Boat to DS was fun, and convenient, though.

All Stars were great for what they were, a cheap room. Not having a pool slide or a hot tub is a big draw back on those, along with the double beds. Impossible to get us all on two of those!

So, I set my alarm for 5 am but I really had trouble sleeping because I was too excited! I love MK. Plus I was worried about oversleeping so I just kept waking up and checking the time. Ugh!

Who needs sleep at Disney??! MK is the best, hands down.

On the way down main street, my son said "This was the best day of my life".

Makes it all worth it.

 

[MamaJessie]

Hey! I'm trying to remember the hotel name, I think it was quality suites and I know it was on turkey road or something about turkeys lol. I actually really liked it! We picked it because we got a suite with two Queen beds and a pull out couch for a similar price as other hotels with smaller rooms. Also it had an enormous continental breakfast with giant Mickey waffles and every other breakfast food you can imagine. So I would definitely stay there again. The pool area was very pretty, although it was cold. I think the hotel was more in the universal area but that didn't matter to us.

How many kids do you guys have? How far do you have to drive? Definitely expensive to fly with a big family! Thanks for reading!

We drive from CT. I should take us something like 19 hours but depending on the ages of the kids when we go it has taken anywhere from 20-24.

We have a 17 yo, 14 yo, 9 yo, 7 yo and 1 yo. The 17 won't be joining us this trip (she is going with her school a couple weeks before) so as sad as that is on the plus side we get to try a room for 5 which we haven't got to do in awhile

 

[Britbrie]

Omg, I am so happy that you commented on my TR so that I could discover yours!! I love it!!!! You have such a cute family!!
I love all of the pictures, and I cannot wait to read the rest of your report.

 

[jvz82]

So far, we've stayed at Yacht Club, All Stars, POR, CSR, and CBR.

And I'll cop out and say, it depends....lol

The Yacht Club resort is the best, but the room is not much nicer than CBR/POR/CSR, and it was about double in price.

For the money, I'll take CBR everytime.

CSR was similar, but I just didn't like the "feel" (1000% un measurable, I know )

POR was nice, but the pool is not as great, and it was more $. Boat to DS was fun, and convenient, though.

All Stars were great for what they were, a cheap room. Not having a pool slide or a hot tub is a big draw back on those, along with the double beds. Impossible to get us all on two of those!



Who needs sleep at Disney??! MK is the best, hands down.



Makes it all worth it.

That's good feedback on the resorts! I've only stayed at All Sports, CBR, and then when I was a kid/teenager we often stayed at Fort Wilderness in those cabins. I would LOVE to stay in the cabins with my family but they are so expensive now. That may be our next goal though!

We drive from CT. I should take us something like 19 hours but depending on the ages of the kids when we go it has taken anywhere from 20-24.

We have a 17 yo, 14 yo, 9 yo, 7 yo and 1 yo. The 17 won't be joining us this trip (she is going with her school a couple weeks before) so as sad as that is on the plus side we get to try a room for 5 which we haven't got to do in awhile

You have so many more options with a family of 5! Plus your 1yo can sleep in a pack and play so then you really only need 2 beds. Will this be your first trip without the 17 year old? That will be so hard!

Omg, I am so happy that you commented on my TR so that I could discover yours!! I love it!!!! You have such a cute family!!
I love all of the pictures, and I cannot wait to read the rest of your report.

Thank you for reading!!

 

[balty74]

love your trip report!
Your photos are amazing

 

[jvz82]

Good evening, all! Welcome to our last day of Disney! It's very but at the same time, also because we still have one more day to enjoy!

Magic Kingdom day 2: Part I

Our alarms went off at 5 am on Thursday morning! It was going to be a long day for all of us, because we planned to make it to MK for the 7 am EMH but we were checking out of our resort so we wouldn't have a place to go back to for naps. It would make for a long afternoon. But in the evening was MVMCP so we would have to leave by 7, so at least it'd be an early night.

I let the kids sleep as long as possible while I ran around the room getting dressed and packing up random odds and ends. Around 5:30 my parents knocked on our door to make sure we were up and my 4YO came bouncing in the room, apparently unaware that it was 5:30 in the morning. The big kids got dressed and we emptied out our room. We said good-bye to CBR.

We arrived at the bus stop at 6 am as planned. There were already people waiting but the sign said the bus wouldn't arrive until 6:20 again.

It actually ended up coming a bit later than that and it was almost 7 by the time we made it to MK. The welcome show was going on as we went through security and checked in.

My parents had been told when they checked-in the night before that everything was all set on their magic bands. However, when they tried to scan them to go in it wasn't working. So unfortunately they had to go over to the office and check in there so it set us back a few minutes. While we were waiting for them, of COURSE my 4YO decided he had to go to the bathroom! Never fails!

So I brought him to the bathroom. He was VERY excited because he knew our first stop was going to be Space Mountain. Since he had had so much fun on Thunder Mountain, he was practically jumping up and down with excitement to try Space Mountain.

On our way out of the bathroom, I saw my parents just heading in with the rest of the family. At the same time, who should walk right by them but Pluto and Stitch, ready to take their spots in front of the tree for their meet and greet! While they were walking by my family, Pluto basically just took my daughter's hand and the CM told them to come on up and be the first ones to meet Pluto that morning!





Loooooving these shots, with the tree and castle in the background. My daughter was soooo excited to be singled out!

The CM invited the rest of the family the come up too. My 4YO and I followed but he was confused and upset. He didn't want to meet Pluto. He was told he was going on Space Mountain, and that's where he was going to go. He started crying and throwing a big tantrum. I think he may have calmed down, but a huge line instantly formed for Pluto and so there were lots of people surrounding us and I think he got overwhelmed. I was perfectly okay with him not meeting Pluto so I tried to stand off to one side and just talk to him. The CM kept trying to talk to him and getting to join, and I know she was just trying to help but at this point he's just screaming at me and it was clear to me he was NOT going to be meeting Pluto. And that was fine.

Now I didn't get to pay much attention to the character interaction, but the pictures are amazing. It sounds like it was a really good one. Pluto loved my husband and his shirt.




For the record, this shirt is 100% accurate. We discovered 10 years ago after a particularly long wait for Space Mountain that my husband is, in fact, too tall to ride Space Mountain. It was very disappointing to him because he likes roller coasters! I made this for him and it's pretty perfect.

And one of my mom, husband and 3 of the kids. My dad was off camera trying to be supportive of me.


My 4YO didn't calm down until we left the Pluto area and my mom picked him up. I felt really bad that he had started the day out so upset. I don't really know why he got so triggered so quickly. I'm sure Pluto sees lots of crying children, but honestly I felt bad for the CM and Pluto that they started their day with a screaming child!! They don't work at Disney to make kids miserable!!

I pulled my 4YO aside as we walked down mainstream and I explained that we were on our way to Space Mountain, but it was soooo important to mommy that we got a big family picture in front of the castle. I promised as soon as we took the picture, we would go right to Space Mountain. Surprisingly, he was very agreeable to this. If I had done that before we went to see Pluto, maybe he wouldn't have gotten so upset. But I was unprepared for the tantrum!

So here's our main street shot! <3


And then finally FINALLY we made our way to Space Mountain! My big kids had already gone once, so they were pumped about going back. My husband took the baby on Astro Orbitor while the rest of us hit the mountain.

I rode with my dad and 4YO, and my mom rode with my big kids.

He's looking a little worried here, lol

But not these two!


So my 4YO was basically silent the entire ride. Then when it ended, I asked him how it was and he said "I was a little bit scared. I not want to do that again". Lol. It was too cute.

We met up with my husband and 2YO, who had had a blast on Astro Orbitor (get it? A blast?).

Our next stop was Buzz Lightyear! Always a favorite and my 4YO loves Toy Story so I was excited.

All of our Buzz Lightyear pictures turned out so weird, lol.




For the record, I absolutely suck at Buzz Lightyear. I can't shoot those damn aliens to save my life. But for some crazy reason, I actually WON this time! I literally went from having 7,000 points to like over 100,000 just at the end of the ride. So I obviously shot something that was worth crazy points and I surpassed everyone. My dad was disgruntled because he said nobody ever beats him, lol. The kids had lots of fun though!

Ok, I think that's it for tonight. I'm barely an hour into our morning at this point but it's already been a busy one! I'll be back soon to continue our Tomorrow land EMH!

 

[MamaJessie]

Whoa I never knew there was a height max. What is it? Great shirt

Yes this is our first trip without the oldest. It will definitely be hard but I am already planning the trip after that around college calendars so she can join us again

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your MK day!

 

[jvz82]

Whoa I never knew there was a height max. What is it? Great shirt

Yes this is our first trip without the oldest. It will definitely be hard but I am already planning the trip after that around college calendars so she can join us again

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your MK day!

I don't know if Disney would formally say they have a height max for Space Mountain, but my husband is 7 feet and did not fit. They tried him in the front and back but his legs were just too long!

 

[jvz82]

love your trip report!
Your photos are amazing

Thank you for reading!!

 

[jvz82]

Magic Kingdom day 2: Part II

We left off in Tomorrow land where we just finished battling Zurg!

After Buzz Lightyear, our next stop was the Speedway. For some reason, I thought my 2YO was too short to ride so I was going to volunteer to wait with him, but the CM heard us talking and told us he thought the 2YO would be tall enough so we measured him and it was no problem! My 7YO got measured and was told he was tall enough to drive a car all by himself so he was SOOO excited. The kids all got "drivers licenses" and thought they were the best things ever.

It was a 20 minute way but everyone waited very patiently.

I took this picture, I thought it was pretty cool with Space Mountain in the background and the sun coming up.


And it was finally our turn! Everyone watch out, crazy driver ahead!


And look what 4YO got to drive??!


I rode with my 2YO, my dad and daughter rode together, and husband rode by himself. We were laughing because my husband's car was behind mine, but for some reason my car just didn't go very fast so he was stuck behind me.

After Speedway, we walked over to Monster's Inc Laugh factory, but the show didn't open until 10 and neither did Stitch. We decided to leave Tomorrow Land and go to Fantasy land.

My 4YO really wanted to go on Dumbo, but my 7YO and daughter didn't want to so me and my husband took them on the Barnstormer ride while my parents took the little kids to Dumbo.

There was no wait for Barnstormer and it's such a fun one! When we got done, we walked around the Dumbo entrance and we didn't see my parents or boys anywhere. We saw the stroller was parked so figured they still must be on the ride. Then they came barreling out of the bathroom, apparently right after we left my 4YO had to pee (what's new, right??) so they hadn't even been on Dumbo yet. So we decided we would all just go on together!

Here's a Dumbo selfie.


Husband and 7YO on the top Dumbo, my dad and 4YO and bottom Dumbo.


After Dumbo we wanted to head over to Thunder Mountain because the kids loved it so much and my husband hadn't been on it yet, but on the way we stopped by It's a Small World. We may have gone on another ride too, I am having trouble remembering!!!

So I wish I could make it through one post without describing someone's massive tantrum, but alas this will not be that post! It was really all my mom's fault!

We finally made it to Thunder Mountain and it was a 30 minute wait. I wasn't crazy about waiting that long for the ride, only because most of us had already been on it, but we decided to just go for it.

On our way in, my mom (who wasn't riding because she was staying with the baby) handed out some Starburst candies to all the kids to keep them happy during the wait. Unfortunately, this created a fight between the kids about who got what color and my 4YO really wanted 2, but there weren't enough for him to have 2. When I told him no, he lost it and just started crying and screaming. So he walked along in the line and he just cried and screamed the whole way and finally I just couldn't take it anymore. There was an emergency exit in the middle of the line so I took him out. We went out the cast member's exit but then realized his shoe had fallen off on the stairs so we had to go back in to get his shoe. A cast member from a different ride didn't see us come out, but she saw us going back in to get his shoe and she yelled at us that the door was only for cast members (she really did yell at us! ). So she's yelling at us, my 4YO is screaming, and I'm trying to control the mommy rage.

I dragged him around the mountain and found my mom and 2YO. Of course he calmed down right away and of course she gave him more candy. I was super annoyed at my 4YO right at that moment but I let my mom take over and played with my 2YO to calm down.

I snapped some pictures of Thunder Mountain while we waited. Look at that beautiful blue sky! It's zero degrees right now in MN.


And here's the train that had my husband, dad, and kids on it!


After the crew got off the ride, both me and my 4yo were calm again but it was mid-morning and I figured people were probably hungry. We had seen a pretzel stand on the way over and I suggested we stop for a snack. But we had also gotten some rider swap tickets for Thunder Mountain, so my mom, my 7YO and I all decided to go on quick while my husband and dad took the other kids for pretzels.

Thunder Mountain was much less dramatic this time, lol. We all went on with no problems or tantrums and had a blast! Then we met the rest of the crew for pretzels and churros.

All right that's it for tonight! I am *almost positive* that the next post there won't be any tantrums from anyone, lol. I think that was actually the last big one of the whole trip! Woohoo!!

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

 

[sue_88]

I'm so glad it's the weekend!
We have freezing rain here , and I have a cold, so it's nice to just cuddle with my blanket and read your nice report.
Looking forward to more.

 

[jvz82]

Good evening! Back for a quick update.

Magic Kingdom day 2: Part III

After we ate our pretzels and churros, we checked on our fastpass times. We had a FP for Haunted Mansion at 10, but my parents' FP for Haunted Mansion was at 10:30 so we still had some time to kill before then. We didn't have any real agenda for the rest of the morning, so I checked the Disney app on my phone to see what wait times were like, and Pirates of the Caribbean looked like a short wait so we decided to head over there, since we were close.

At the gift shop for POTC after the ride, my mom saw my 7YO eyeing the POTC Battleship game. He's been obsessed with Battleship lately. My mom became secretive and asked us all the leave the store, so we waited outside for her. She ended up buying the game for our family for a Christmas present, but I didn't find that out for a few days of course.

I think it's possible we went on another ride after POTC, but to be honestly I can't remember! I remember all the rides we went on that day but not the order of events for some reason. We started heading over towards Haunted Mansion at some point, but by the time we got there it was still 10:20 so we ended up hanging out in the Haunted Mansion gift shop, which I have never been to before! It was actually a cool shop. My kids LOVED the portraits they do there where it's your picture, but when you walk by the picture turns into a ghost or something scary. It'd be a pretty cool souvenir idea!

I took a picture of my 4YO trying on the hats.


The CM working at the shop were super friendly and we chatted with them a lot. One of them was asking us Haunted Mansion trivia questions and my dad got one right so the CM handed out Haunted Mansion ghost stickers to all the kids! That was cool. I saved them for my scrapbook.

Finally it was time for Haunted Mansion!


Right when we walked into that first room, my 4YO was instantly scared. I was surprised that he was scared, because he isn't usually a scared kid BUT I do think he tends to get really overwhelmed in tight spaces with lots of people, and you definitely get crammed into that room and it's meant to make you feel trapped. By the time we were going to climb on the ride, I pretty much had to drag him on because he was scared so I felt bad. But he wasn't crying or screaming, just saying he didn't want to go. He seemed fine though during the ride and I tried to keep my tone really light and point out some of the funny things. We had watched the Haunted Mansion movie a few weeks before our trip, so I was pointing out some things from the movie too.

At the end when the hitchhiking ghost gets in your car, our ghost was holding a sign that said "Minnesota Here I come!" Ummm what? At first I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but I glanced back at the car my mom was in and it actually had her first name on the sign! So I'm assuming they use our magic bands somehow to get that info. (Does anyone know?) I know the last time I was on the ride 3 years ago, before magic bands, they definitely didn't have anything like that.

So my 4yo survived and seemed fine but said he didn't like it, everyone else seemed to have fun, but my 7yo was disappointed. He remembered this being his FAVORITE ride when we went to Disney 3 years ago (it really was his favorite then) and he was like "That wasn't even scary!!"

After Haunted Mansion, we took some kids to the bathroom and got ready for our lunch plans.

A few months before, I had randomly gotten a reservation for CRT, but was only able to get a reservation for 2 so I decided that my daughter and I could have a special mom & daughter princess lunch! Our reservation was for 11:40 so we figured we would head over to the castle. My parents, husband, and boys had packed coolers with their lunches and they were going to have a picnic on Tom Sawyer Island. Everyone was excited about the plans and I thought a laid back picnic was just what those boys needed.

A picture my husband sent me from Tom Sawyer Island:


So just a short update tonight, but next up is our CRT princess lunch so I'll do a separate post for that another day, since it'll be a little longer!

 

[jvz82]

I'm so glad it's the weekend!
We have freezing rain here , and I have a cold, so it's nice to just cuddle with my blanket and read your nice report.
Looking forward to more.

Ooh freezing rain, not good! I think cuddling at home sounds like a great plan, maybe with some hot cocoa or something too.

 

[BellaBaby]

Great updates! Sorry that CM yelled at you when you were also dealing with DS. I've had those moments when the kids were little too. Not fun! Looks like you came out of it and continued on with a fun day! Looking forward to the princess lunch!

 

[minnieprincess]

Really enjoying your trip report. Thanks for sharing it with us