pepperderr
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2008
We are back from our 9-day trip to WDW so I thought I would share some of what happened and how it went. We drove from PA to FL. Our "kids" are 18 and 22 yo. We went to celebrate their graduations from high school and college. I planned and planned for months ahead of time. Then Genie+ threw a wrench into my plans. I was originally using Touring Plans. That was very useful, especially their videos but the plans for when to go on what ride were useless because of not being about to know our return times on rides. We had 8-day tickets with one day planned to go to Disney Springs. On our first park day, my oldest son woke me up saying are we supposed to be up yet. I asked what time it was and he said 6:30 am. Since I planned to rope drop, I of course said yes. We should have been up earlier. I was glad to still be up in time to make the 7am LL and LL+ reservations though. I don't even know what time we got to the parks but it was nice not being in the line waiting for rope drop. I already had pre-purchased Genie+ and I think on most days I did spend the money to pay for ILL rides. I also was able to use DAS. Because of how our day started I learned quickly that we would have to go with the flow as far as rides.
I hated how much I was on my phone! But it was nice to be able to see the wait times without having to go to the ride first. It was nice to make mobile orders for food and to use mobile checkout at some of the stores. I highly recommend using it for that. I also chatted a few times with cast members on the phone. It always took them more than 10 minutes to respond but most of the time they were helpful. We had trouble with our Magic Band+ for my youngest son but it seemed to be due to his phone needing an update because after that it worked fine. So make sure your bands and phones are up to date. The cast members at the blue umbrellas were very helpful.
We stayed at Art of Animation. We loved the room but hated the location when we first got there. It was on the first floor and right next to the slamming door. On top of that, the view was terrible. All we saw was their laundry carts and golf carts and grass. My husband called the front desk right away and asked for a better room with a better view. They moved us to room 5701 I think it was. It was a beautiful view of the pool with all the different characters. It was on floor three so there were no slamming doors and it was just feet away from the elevator. I couldn't have asked for much better for our family. We had more than enough pillows. The bed in the actual bedroom was very high for me but for others, it might be just fine. I was just not used to that. The bed is high enough to store your empty luggage under the bed. One son slept on the murphy bed and one son slept on the pull-out couch. They had no complaints about it being uncomfortable. The boys' bathroom had a tub and shower with a door separating the tub, shower, and toilet from the sink and then a sliding door to close in the sink area. The bathroom in our bedroom just had a shower, no tub. The food at AoA was good in my opinion. I got the pasta with meatballs twice because I like the spice in the meatballs. I asked for extra sauce each time because they don't add much sauce. My son and husband got the chicken and rice twice. I forget what it was called but they liked it. We had breakfast there once. It was okay.
On arrival day, we went to Disney Springs where my son found the graduation ears he was looking for. We didn't have too much time to look around but we knew we would be back.
On our first park day (HS) we got up later than I wanted because I never set an alarm. We still got there early but not for rope drop. I liked not being stuck in the huge crowds waiting for rope drop though! We walked onto Runaway Railway. We liked it. I made a LL for Slinky Dog and an ILL for Rise. I wouldn't have needed to use the ILL since we had the DAS and Genie+ though. We used LL and DAS to ride everything we wanted at Toy Story land before we went over to GE. We really liked Slinky Dog and rode it twice. I was told to hurry up to board the vehicle. I told the CM that I can't rush any more than I was or I would probably be falling. I don't think I take that long really but I have to be more careful because of my depth perception issues. I can't judge steps and how high up or down they are so I really have to hold on and not be super fast....more on that later! After riding all of the Toy Story rides, we headed over to GE to ride Rise and Smugglers Run. I liked Smugglers run way more than Rise but I must say that it was pretty awesome to see all of those Clone Troopers standing there when you enter the queue. I think Slinky Dog and Smugglers Run were my two favorite rides there. My kids wanted to do that bounty hunter game but were having many issues. I couldn't get logged into my account and we couldn't figure out how to even let them play the game since they didn't have their own accounts and I couldn't get signed into the Play app. We eventually went down to the blue umbrella near but outside of GE and they were helpful. They didn't get me signed in but got both of my kids their own accounts still linked to my account so they could play the game. We went to Muppet Vision 3D. We always like that show. and then we went back up to GE so they could get some more bounties before we left for the day. We ate a Ronto Wrap for lunch. We all liked them.
Day 2 was Animal Kingdom. This was our only day to be there so we did all of our rides and shopping in one day. We skipped rope drop again but still got there during early entry. We walked onto Everest. We all liked that one. We then headed over to Dinosaur which was also a walk-on. The first time my youngest son was there he was really into dinosaurs but was too small to ride it. The next time he was 8 yo and rode it but hid from the dinosaur in the ride picture we have so he was looking forward to riding it again. We got there and my husband noticed that the ride operator seemed annoyed about something that happened during the ride before us. Another CM there was complaining because someone on the previous ride left something in the seat. They kept telling us while we waited in line that we better secure anything that we hold dear. She looked right at me and said if I didn't want to lose my ears I better take them off. She just kept saying it over and over. Of course, I took my ears off. We got into our vehicle and my oldest son was trying to get his ears into the basket to secure them. He broke a pin off of his backpack trying to secure everything. I told him it was ok, Don't worry
about it and he just barely sat down before the ride took off. At that point, I heard a lady behind me say they never checked our seatbelts. My life almost flashed before my eyes! None of my family was buckled in! I thought the bar to hold onto was going to come down as a lap bar, plus, we didn't have time to buckle before it took off. I didn't know how rough the ride would be. I put my arm up and screamed that we didn't have seatbelts on. Luckily the guy stopped the ride right before we headed through the door. My husband said that the CM that was complaining about something being left on the ride before us never checked the seatbelts and the CM on the other side was trying to do seatbelt checks but never had a chance before the ride took off. All I could think of was my son falling out of the ride and getting run over by the vehicle! We never got and I'm sorry or anything. We were obviously quite rushed again since the ride took off before we could be belted in and before the belts were ever checked. We had LL for another ride that we had to get to so DH asked the CM what the ride operator's name was and we went on about our day. We went on the Safari, we did the conservation station and the animation station because my sons are artists so we had to compare their art from the last time to this time. Mine was sooo pathetic you couldn't tell what it was but they drew Thumper. Using LL and DAS we ended up going on FOP 4 times! We went on it once and when we came out, my son said I wish we could go on it again but I know we can't because this is our only day at Animal Kingdom. I think it was a ILL I paid for but also made a DAS for it so he was thrilled to be able to ride it again. That is by far our favorite ride in all of Disney World. We didn't get to ride Kali rapids because of rain but that was not a big deal to us. As we waited for some hard rain to pass, we sat at a restaurant right outside of FoP and I chatted with a CM on the phone about what happened on the Dinosaur ride. She just said to contact guest services and gave me an email for them. No phone number was available. That was it. My sons found the golden statues using their Magic Band +. None of them registered for my youngest son though. We had reservations for Tusker House at 7:50 pm and the park closed at 8 pm. We liked that whole thing! It was awesome coming out after the park was closed and getting pictures and seeing the park lit up and almost empty. Buses stopped at 9:30 and when we sat on the bus it said 9:29. Oh, we had lunch at Horambe Market. The corn on the cob with spices was AMAZING. I have to try making it at home. That was my favorite food there for sure. We all really liked it.
Day 3 was EPCOT. I did get a VQ for Cosmic Rewind. I started refreshing right around 6:59 am and a few seconds and eventually, it turned into a join button and I got in. The first song was something about Burning. I don't know if it was Burning Love or what. I forget. I also got a LL for it. We basically rode it back to back around noon. The second song was September. I know that is the song that everyone seems to talk about. After that, I had no desire to ride it again. My youngest son and I used the anti-nausea bands and we all used some liquid that you put behind your ears for motion sickness. We probably would have been fine without it. I don't really remember the ride at all except for the songs. I know very, very little about Guardians of the Galaxy though. Using the LL we skipped everything in the queue but when we rode the VQ we saw everything and got pictures. My husband and sons rode Test Track twice I rode it once. It was hard for me to get in and out of the vehicle or I might have ridden it a second time with them. We rode Sorin twice in a row using LL or DAS. We rode Nemo, saw the aquarium, and Living with the Land. We skipped Figment which I really like but the rain was coming down and I had blisters from my feet swelling up from the ride down so we left. We used the bus because someone said the skyliner was down. If we waited a few more minutes it probably would have stopped raining and the skyliner would be back up but I was ready to leave knowing we had 2 more days there.
Day 4 was Magic Kingdom. I got a LL for Seven Dwarfs and then we rode it again later using LL or DAS. We liked it. We rode Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, the Little Mermaid, the carousel, Small World, and watched PhilharMagic. We rode Pirates twice because I had a DAS for it and after we rode it, it never registered it so we could not use DAS again unless we rode Pirates again, which we did. We visited the Hall of Presidents and rode Big Thunder. If I recall correctly we ate at Pinocchio Village Haus while we waited out more rain. I think that was the day we also rode Spaceship Earth.
Day 5 was EPCOT where we mostly did the World Showcase. My youngest did the Find Remy game and my oldest did the Cheese thing where he had to buy 5 different items with cheese in them. They did not complete them in one day but we went back another day. My sons and DH also rode Guardians of the Galaxy again because I got a VQ for it again. We also rode Remy twice back to back because of having a LL and DAS. It was a nice ride but I don't see what any hype was about.
Day 6 was a pool day and shopping at Disney Springs. No parks that day.
Day 7 was Hollywood Studios again. We rode Smugglers Run and Rise again. I liked being the pilot on Smugglers. I enjoyed the ride much more from the front seat. The boys spent most of the day getting bounties at GE in between the raindrops. They made a droid and Lightsaber also. They has 6pm reservations but they took them at around 5:30 pm which was nice. I went with my oldest son to make the Droid. It was cool. He got the bag and a chip of some sort to go in it. I forget what it was called. I guess it gives the droid a character of some sort. It escapes me at the moment. The bag and chip cost extra. I think it totaled around $140. DH went with my youngest son to make the lightsaber. He then bought the crystals to change the color. They both really liked the droid and saber and the whole experience. We ate ronto wraps again and also tried the blue and green milk. It was not worth buying but not horrible. we got the mix of pop corn and the regular pop corn. The mix was much better. The Clone Troopers interacted with my youngest son several times which he got on video so that was cool. We surprised the boys by having reservations at the Cantina right before closing. We got pictures with lightsabers before going in. Only my son had a light saber by the lady gave use each one to use in the pictures. It was cool. My oldest son really liked Cantina. I enjoyed it because we were able to get a seat (they asked us if we wanted one). They got the souvenir mugs. I think what I got was a fuzzy ton ton. My youngest got some kind of bubbling drink with boboa ball or whatever they are called. I don't remember what my DH and oldest son ordered. We got the meat and cheese board. It was okay but not really worth it. I am very glad we got to experience it. I almost canceled it. The best part for me was seeing and talking to Paging Mr. Marrow there as we were walking out. It was also nice again walking out of the park when it was already closed and not crowded.
Day 8 was EPCOT WS again. We ate, watched the China movie, rode the 3 Cabilario ride, finished up the cheese thing, and the find Remy thing to get the prizes. The prize for Remy was a cup. We paid for 4 maps so we got four cups. The cheese thing we completed twice so we got two Strawberry Dole Whips in two Food and Wine 2022 cups with little pieces of cheesecake on top. It was really good. We then had reservations for Harmonious dinner at Rose and Crown. It was all good. I loved the fireworks and being able to be seated to watch them. The CM's were great there.
Day 9 was our last park day. It was Magic Kingdom. We got up late, got in the pool, and then went to the park around 2 pm. It was a surprise for my sons that it was for the MNSSHP. Closer to time we dressed up in Hawaiian shirts with lays. and I had one of those flower things on my head and wrists. The boys also wore Pirate hats that they bought after the pirate ride earlier. We rode the Carousel of Progress. and Buzz before the party started. We got our bags and did some trick or treating but we barely got any candy. Our bags were less than half full. The first time anyone put something in it was only one piece of chocolate and 2 starbursts. I don't like starbursts. I did eventually get more chocolate though. It was not nearly as much as I expected. The boys rode Haunted Mansion again. They said it was just okay. They did keep talking about the ghosts though and my oldest got lots of ornaments from that ride. The best part was the fireworks. We paid for the dessert party. That was NOT worth the money at all. I didn't really like anything we got because stuff that should be cold, like the drinks, was warm and the chocolate-covered strawberries were not cold either. The food was just not good. I did really, really like the fireworks and the spot we had for the fireworks. We stood in the fireworks spot to watch the parade too. We saw it good enough because I didn't want to fight the crowd. After the fireworks, we had a good spot for the show at the castle. We all really enjoyed that night. It was a great ending to our trip. After a lot of searching. by closing at 2 am my sons finally found the last golden statue so that was also nice that they didn't have to leave only needing to find one more.
Day 10 we had lunch at the hotel, took more pictures, did more shopping, and left.
So, on most of the rides, I felt very, very rushed to get in and out of my seat very quickly but the rides that had moving walkways could all be stopped for me so that was nice. I hated that it had to interfere with others already on the ride but having the walkway stopped was the only way I could get on and off of it safely. I tried getting on the Skyliner with it moving the first day. It was horrible. I was so dizzy and almost fell getting on and off. My eyes just can't work correctly when the walkway is moving. Also, when we went to the Epic Stunt Spactuliar, they had lots of steps and barely any handrails. I told the CM that there was no way I could do that many steps with no railing and she let me use the wheelchair transfer seat so only had to go down one step. I loved using the Skyliner when I was able to use the stopped cars to get on and off. Of course, they kept suggesting that I use the regular moving ones but I knew that would not end well after the first try. Once I told them my problem they were okay with me using the stopped cars. I hated how much I was constantly on my phone. I liked being able to see the wait times and get LL and DAS using my phone and I liked using mobile food orders and mobile store check-out also. The people at the blue umbrellas were very, very helpful and friendly. It rained most days but we tried not to let it interfere too much with our plans. We learned to go with the flow for sure. Genie + was so helpful. if you don't qualify for DAS. I had both because I pre-paid for the Genie + before signing up for DAS. I didn't notice crowds until it was time to leave the parks. I hated that time when we had to leave with the crowds. It was nice having the late reservations to leave when the park was closed and it was nice using the skyliner. Did I mention that the skyliner was much better than the buses? Oh we did use the Minnie Bus once to go to the front of EPCOT. We enjoyed that too. We stopped one time at the blue umbrellas to ask if there was a phone number to call about what happened on the dinosaur ride. She basically said that the ride was stopped and no one was hurt so it didn't matter and no, there is no phone number to call. I feel like it is just no big deal to them and it was to me! They are just worried about getting as many people on the rides ASAP and not too worried about safety like they probably used to be. I told her that if it is not reported they won't know it happened and it can happen again. she said there are cameras everywhere so they will see what happened. I guess that is good! I liked our other visits when the kids were smaller but they barely remember any of them. We all really liked this trip and I will remember it for sure. I think we will never forget Flight of Passage!!!
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I hated how much I was on my phone! But it was nice to be able to see the wait times without having to go to the ride first. It was nice to make mobile orders for food and to use mobile checkout at some of the stores. I highly recommend using it for that. I also chatted a few times with cast members on the phone. It always took them more than 10 minutes to respond but most of the time they were helpful. We had trouble with our Magic Band+ for my youngest son but it seemed to be due to his phone needing an update because after that it worked fine. So make sure your bands and phones are up to date. The cast members at the blue umbrellas were very helpful.
We stayed at Art of Animation. We loved the room but hated the location when we first got there. It was on the first floor and right next to the slamming door. On top of that, the view was terrible. All we saw was their laundry carts and golf carts and grass. My husband called the front desk right away and asked for a better room with a better view. They moved us to room 5701 I think it was. It was a beautiful view of the pool with all the different characters. It was on floor three so there were no slamming doors and it was just feet away from the elevator. I couldn't have asked for much better for our family. We had more than enough pillows. The bed in the actual bedroom was very high for me but for others, it might be just fine. I was just not used to that. The bed is high enough to store your empty luggage under the bed. One son slept on the murphy bed and one son slept on the pull-out couch. They had no complaints about it being uncomfortable. The boys' bathroom had a tub and shower with a door separating the tub, shower, and toilet from the sink and then a sliding door to close in the sink area. The bathroom in our bedroom just had a shower, no tub. The food at AoA was good in my opinion. I got the pasta with meatballs twice because I like the spice in the meatballs. I asked for extra sauce each time because they don't add much sauce. My son and husband got the chicken and rice twice. I forget what it was called but they liked it. We had breakfast there once. It was okay.
On arrival day, we went to Disney Springs where my son found the graduation ears he was looking for. We didn't have too much time to look around but we knew we would be back.
On our first park day (HS) we got up later than I wanted because I never set an alarm. We still got there early but not for rope drop. I liked not being stuck in the huge crowds waiting for rope drop though! We walked onto Runaway Railway. We liked it. I made a LL for Slinky Dog and an ILL for Rise. I wouldn't have needed to use the ILL since we had the DAS and Genie+ though. We used LL and DAS to ride everything we wanted at Toy Story land before we went over to GE. We really liked Slinky Dog and rode it twice. I was told to hurry up to board the vehicle. I told the CM that I can't rush any more than I was or I would probably be falling. I don't think I take that long really but I have to be more careful because of my depth perception issues. I can't judge steps and how high up or down they are so I really have to hold on and not be super fast....more on that later! After riding all of the Toy Story rides, we headed over to GE to ride Rise and Smugglers Run. I liked Smugglers run way more than Rise but I must say that it was pretty awesome to see all of those Clone Troopers standing there when you enter the queue. I think Slinky Dog and Smugglers Run were my two favorite rides there. My kids wanted to do that bounty hunter game but were having many issues. I couldn't get logged into my account and we couldn't figure out how to even let them play the game since they didn't have their own accounts and I couldn't get signed into the Play app. We eventually went down to the blue umbrella near but outside of GE and they were helpful. They didn't get me signed in but got both of my kids their own accounts still linked to my account so they could play the game. We went to Muppet Vision 3D. We always like that show. and then we went back up to GE so they could get some more bounties before we left for the day. We ate a Ronto Wrap for lunch. We all liked them.
Day 2 was Animal Kingdom. This was our only day to be there so we did all of our rides and shopping in one day. We skipped rope drop again but still got there during early entry. We walked onto Everest. We all liked that one. We then headed over to Dinosaur which was also a walk-on. The first time my youngest son was there he was really into dinosaurs but was too small to ride it. The next time he was 8 yo and rode it but hid from the dinosaur in the ride picture we have so he was looking forward to riding it again. We got there and my husband noticed that the ride operator seemed annoyed about something that happened during the ride before us. Another CM there was complaining because someone on the previous ride left something in the seat. They kept telling us while we waited in line that we better secure anything that we hold dear. She looked right at me and said if I didn't want to lose my ears I better take them off. She just kept saying it over and over. Of course, I took my ears off. We got into our vehicle and my oldest son was trying to get his ears into the basket to secure them. He broke a pin off of his backpack trying to secure everything. I told him it was ok, Don't worry
about it and he just barely sat down before the ride took off. At that point, I heard a lady behind me say they never checked our seatbelts. My life almost flashed before my eyes! None of my family was buckled in! I thought the bar to hold onto was going to come down as a lap bar, plus, we didn't have time to buckle before it took off. I didn't know how rough the ride would be. I put my arm up and screamed that we didn't have seatbelts on. Luckily the guy stopped the ride right before we headed through the door. My husband said that the CM that was complaining about something being left on the ride before us never checked the seatbelts and the CM on the other side was trying to do seatbelt checks but never had a chance before the ride took off. All I could think of was my son falling out of the ride and getting run over by the vehicle! We never got and I'm sorry or anything. We were obviously quite rushed again since the ride took off before we could be belted in and before the belts were ever checked. We had LL for another ride that we had to get to so DH asked the CM what the ride operator's name was and we went on about our day. We went on the Safari, we did the conservation station and the animation station because my sons are artists so we had to compare their art from the last time to this time. Mine was sooo pathetic you couldn't tell what it was but they drew Thumper. Using LL and DAS we ended up going on FOP 4 times! We went on it once and when we came out, my son said I wish we could go on it again but I know we can't because this is our only day at Animal Kingdom. I think it was a ILL I paid for but also made a DAS for it so he was thrilled to be able to ride it again. That is by far our favorite ride in all of Disney World. We didn't get to ride Kali rapids because of rain but that was not a big deal to us. As we waited for some hard rain to pass, we sat at a restaurant right outside of FoP and I chatted with a CM on the phone about what happened on the Dinosaur ride. She just said to contact guest services and gave me an email for them. No phone number was available. That was it. My sons found the golden statues using their Magic Band +. None of them registered for my youngest son though. We had reservations for Tusker House at 7:50 pm and the park closed at 8 pm. We liked that whole thing! It was awesome coming out after the park was closed and getting pictures and seeing the park lit up and almost empty. Buses stopped at 9:30 and when we sat on the bus it said 9:29. Oh, we had lunch at Horambe Market. The corn on the cob with spices was AMAZING. I have to try making it at home. That was my favorite food there for sure. We all really liked it.
Day 3 was EPCOT. I did get a VQ for Cosmic Rewind. I started refreshing right around 6:59 am and a few seconds and eventually, it turned into a join button and I got in. The first song was something about Burning. I don't know if it was Burning Love or what. I forget. I also got a LL for it. We basically rode it back to back around noon. The second song was September. I know that is the song that everyone seems to talk about. After that, I had no desire to ride it again. My youngest son and I used the anti-nausea bands and we all used some liquid that you put behind your ears for motion sickness. We probably would have been fine without it. I don't really remember the ride at all except for the songs. I know very, very little about Guardians of the Galaxy though. Using the LL we skipped everything in the queue but when we rode the VQ we saw everything and got pictures. My husband and sons rode Test Track twice I rode it once. It was hard for me to get in and out of the vehicle or I might have ridden it a second time with them. We rode Sorin twice in a row using LL or DAS. We rode Nemo, saw the aquarium, and Living with the Land. We skipped Figment which I really like but the rain was coming down and I had blisters from my feet swelling up from the ride down so we left. We used the bus because someone said the skyliner was down. If we waited a few more minutes it probably would have stopped raining and the skyliner would be back up but I was ready to leave knowing we had 2 more days there.
Day 4 was Magic Kingdom. I got a LL for Seven Dwarfs and then we rode it again later using LL or DAS. We liked it. We rode Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, the Little Mermaid, the carousel, Small World, and watched PhilharMagic. We rode Pirates twice because I had a DAS for it and after we rode it, it never registered it so we could not use DAS again unless we rode Pirates again, which we did. We visited the Hall of Presidents and rode Big Thunder. If I recall correctly we ate at Pinocchio Village Haus while we waited out more rain. I think that was the day we also rode Spaceship Earth.
Day 5 was EPCOT where we mostly did the World Showcase. My youngest did the Find Remy game and my oldest did the Cheese thing where he had to buy 5 different items with cheese in them. They did not complete them in one day but we went back another day. My sons and DH also rode Guardians of the Galaxy again because I got a VQ for it again. We also rode Remy twice back to back because of having a LL and DAS. It was a nice ride but I don't see what any hype was about.
Day 6 was a pool day and shopping at Disney Springs. No parks that day.
Day 7 was Hollywood Studios again. We rode Smugglers Run and Rise again. I liked being the pilot on Smugglers. I enjoyed the ride much more from the front seat. The boys spent most of the day getting bounties at GE in between the raindrops. They made a droid and Lightsaber also. They has 6pm reservations but they took them at around 5:30 pm which was nice. I went with my oldest son to make the Droid. It was cool. He got the bag and a chip of some sort to go in it. I forget what it was called. I guess it gives the droid a character of some sort. It escapes me at the moment. The bag and chip cost extra. I think it totaled around $140. DH went with my youngest son to make the lightsaber. He then bought the crystals to change the color. They both really liked the droid and saber and the whole experience. We ate ronto wraps again and also tried the blue and green milk. It was not worth buying but not horrible. we got the mix of pop corn and the regular pop corn. The mix was much better. The Clone Troopers interacted with my youngest son several times which he got on video so that was cool. We surprised the boys by having reservations at the Cantina right before closing. We got pictures with lightsabers before going in. Only my son had a light saber by the lady gave use each one to use in the pictures. It was cool. My oldest son really liked Cantina. I enjoyed it because we were able to get a seat (they asked us if we wanted one). They got the souvenir mugs. I think what I got was a fuzzy ton ton. My youngest got some kind of bubbling drink with boboa ball or whatever they are called. I don't remember what my DH and oldest son ordered. We got the meat and cheese board. It was okay but not really worth it. I am very glad we got to experience it. I almost canceled it. The best part for me was seeing and talking to Paging Mr. Marrow there as we were walking out. It was also nice again walking out of the park when it was already closed and not crowded.
Day 8 was EPCOT WS again. We ate, watched the China movie, rode the 3 Cabilario ride, finished up the cheese thing, and the find Remy thing to get the prizes. The prize for Remy was a cup. We paid for 4 maps so we got four cups. The cheese thing we completed twice so we got two Strawberry Dole Whips in two Food and Wine 2022 cups with little pieces of cheesecake on top. It was really good. We then had reservations for Harmonious dinner at Rose and Crown. It was all good. I loved the fireworks and being able to be seated to watch them. The CM's were great there.
Day 9 was our last park day. It was Magic Kingdom. We got up late, got in the pool, and then went to the park around 2 pm. It was a surprise for my sons that it was for the MNSSHP. Closer to time we dressed up in Hawaiian shirts with lays. and I had one of those flower things on my head and wrists. The boys also wore Pirate hats that they bought after the pirate ride earlier. We rode the Carousel of Progress. and Buzz before the party started. We got our bags and did some trick or treating but we barely got any candy. Our bags were less than half full. The first time anyone put something in it was only one piece of chocolate and 2 starbursts. I don't like starbursts. I did eventually get more chocolate though. It was not nearly as much as I expected. The boys rode Haunted Mansion again. They said it was just okay. They did keep talking about the ghosts though and my oldest got lots of ornaments from that ride. The best part was the fireworks. We paid for the dessert party. That was NOT worth the money at all. I didn't really like anything we got because stuff that should be cold, like the drinks, was warm and the chocolate-covered strawberries were not cold either. The food was just not good. I did really, really like the fireworks and the spot we had for the fireworks. We stood in the fireworks spot to watch the parade too. We saw it good enough because I didn't want to fight the crowd. After the fireworks, we had a good spot for the show at the castle. We all really enjoyed that night. It was a great ending to our trip. After a lot of searching. by closing at 2 am my sons finally found the last golden statue so that was also nice that they didn't have to leave only needing to find one more.
Day 10 we had lunch at the hotel, took more pictures, did more shopping, and left.
So, on most of the rides, I felt very, very rushed to get in and out of my seat very quickly but the rides that had moving walkways could all be stopped for me so that was nice. I hated that it had to interfere with others already on the ride but having the walkway stopped was the only way I could get on and off of it safely. I tried getting on the Skyliner with it moving the first day. It was horrible. I was so dizzy and almost fell getting on and off. My eyes just can't work correctly when the walkway is moving. Also, when we went to the Epic Stunt Spactuliar, they had lots of steps and barely any handrails. I told the CM that there was no way I could do that many steps with no railing and she let me use the wheelchair transfer seat so only had to go down one step. I loved using the Skyliner when I was able to use the stopped cars to get on and off. Of course, they kept suggesting that I use the regular moving ones but I knew that would not end well after the first try. Once I told them my problem they were okay with me using the stopped cars. I hated how much I was constantly on my phone. I liked being able to see the wait times and get LL and DAS using my phone and I liked using mobile food orders and mobile store check-out also. The people at the blue umbrellas were very, very helpful and friendly. It rained most days but we tried not to let it interfere too much with our plans. We learned to go with the flow for sure. Genie + was so helpful. if you don't qualify for DAS. I had both because I pre-paid for the Genie + before signing up for DAS. I didn't notice crowds until it was time to leave the parks. I hated that time when we had to leave with the crowds. It was nice having the late reservations to leave when the park was closed and it was nice using the skyliner. Did I mention that the skyliner was much better than the buses? Oh we did use the Minnie Bus once to go to the front of EPCOT. We enjoyed that too. We stopped one time at the blue umbrellas to ask if there was a phone number to call about what happened on the dinosaur ride. She basically said that the ride was stopped and no one was hurt so it didn't matter and no, there is no phone number to call. I feel like it is just no big deal to them and it was to me! They are just worried about getting as many people on the rides ASAP and not too worried about safety like they probably used to be. I told her that if it is not reported they won't know it happened and it can happen again. she said there are cameras everywhere so they will see what happened. I guess that is good! I liked our other visits when the kids were smaller but they barely remember any of them. We all really liked this trip and I will remember it for sure. I think we will never forget Flight of Passage!!!
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