UP, UP, and Away A September 2018, 10th Anniversary TR *Completed 7/22*

[ashw100]

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Hello Humans!​

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Welcome to another one of my trip reports. This will be my 7th WDW TR here on the boards, links in my signature. I also have a DLR one floating out there that I forgot to finish. I have actually been MIA from the DIS for what feels like forever. I discovered this haven for Disney fans right before our first family trip in 2014 and was hooked from there. However, I stepped away for a time because I was getting Disney fatigue. I know that’s a thing right??

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While preparing for our trip in September we decided to try our hand at Youtube. I am also a Disney TA, so it’s kinda Disney 24/7 around here. I wasn’t even planning on writing a TR about this vacation, because we videoed the entire trip instead. As the months passed since our trip, I have begun to miss the DIS and my religious documenting of our travels. Turns out, we don’t want a camera on us 24/7 on vacation, so we didn’t get to document all the little details of our trip that I would normally put in a TR. Trip reporting has been essential in preserving our Disney memories, and quiet frankly I miss it. So here I am, 6 months later, and I’m gonna try to do this. Since unlike my previous trips, I had no intention of writing up a TR, I didn’t take as many photos or keep my notes, so bear with me as this thing might go off the rails a bit. But I hope you stick around for this trip down memory lane as this was an amazing trip. We went bigger than ever, staying at Caribbean Beach Resort for 9 nights, September 14-23. We had a ton of new experiences and one very magical anniversary.

Make sure you hold on to the handrails and please stand clear of the doors, as we get this trip report underway.

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[ashw100]

Introductions
September 14-Travel Day
September 15-Epcot
September 15-Hollywood Studios
September 15-Hollywood Studios Part 2
September 16- Magic Kingdom
September 17- Hollywood Studios & Hoop Dee Doo
September 18- Toy Story Land Passholder Play Time
September 18- Disney Springs
September 18- MNSSHP
September 19- Pirates League
September 19- Festival of Fantasy
September 19- Animal Kingdom
September 20- Magic Kingdom
September 20- Anniversary Date Night
September 21-Epcot/Hollywood Studios
September 22- Animal Kingdom
September 22- Animal Kingdom Part 2
September 22-Magic Kingdom
September 23-Chef Mickey's and Travel Home

 

[ashw100]

Introductions

Ashley

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I am the wrangler of children, Disney trip planner extraordinaire, Disneyoholic, and narrator of this here trip report. I have loved Disney all my life. I was lucky enough to live in California until I was 8 and visited Disneyland a few times. My family took our one and only Disney World trip in 2001. Once I entered high school I became too cool for Disney and didn’t really pick up the obsession again until my second baby was born and I decided we had to go to WDW. Planning that trip, I of course got bitten with the bug, and I have been obsessed ever since. Even turning my hobby into a career.

Joe

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Joe, hence forth known as DH, was not a Disney nut at any point in his life, until now that is. He is however, a Marvel and Star Wars geek. I will never forget the moment on our first trip when we were walking through the hub, and he turns to me and says, “I get why you love this so much”. He has slowly become just as obsessed with me, I have even caught him researching. It’s always funny when he comes across something and needs to tell me about. I think he forgets what I do sometimes. By day, he supports our Disney habit as a rental manager at a trucking company and by night he is a full-time college student (graduates this year) and part-time soccer coach.

Connor

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C is our oldest child. If any of kids will be obsessed for life, it’s this one. C is almost 9, an avid reader, and spectacular artist. He took his first trip at almost 4, and he was a thrill junkie, even conquering tower of terror. Now he is much more reserved, and opts out of many of the thrills, but he loves the classics. He fancies himself a mini Disney historian who loves learning about Walt and the parks. He desperately wants to do a tour like Backstage Magic, for now though he spends his time hunting hidden mickeys in the park.

James

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J is 6 years old, and just warming up to Disney. He of course enjoys Disney shows and movies, but the parks hasn't really been his thing until recently. He finally got this thrill legs (it’s like sea legs, but for thrill rides). He went into this trip refusing to ride any coaster and came out with his favorites being Slinky Dog Dash and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I was really able to see him come out of his shell a lot and it is one of the best, lasting memories I have from this trip.

Nicholas

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N is 4 years old and as a nice way to put, he is spirited. I was pregnant with him on our first trip in 2014, but he has certainly made an interesting addition to our vacations. We went to Disneyland Feb 2018, so 8 months before this trip and he was just tall enough to ride the 40” rides, and he LOVED them all. Somewhere in those 8 months, he lost his ride legs, meaning he didn’t really like any ride. Our trip wasn’t a total bust for him, as he was character obsessed. Trying to juggle all the kid’s different needs this trip was quite the challenge.

So that is our cast of characters for this trip.

Next UP, travel day, everyone’s favorite.​

 

[missangelalexis]

Hello! Glad to see you back on here! Joining in and looking forward to hearing about your trip

 

[lilmape]

Following along! My DH had never gone until we went on our honeymoon. We went one more time pre kids and took our DD at 3 years old. We both swore we wouldn’t go again for a while after that trip... . We went this past December with our DD (6) and DS (2). Now my DH is hooked! He adored watching our kids experience Disney and though he hates admitting it loves the “magic”. In fact we are headed back this September!

I can’t wait to read more about your trip.

 

[kclark9830]

Joining in!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

 

[rdkeim]

Following!

 

[ashw100]

Hello! Glad to see you back on here! Joining in and looking forward to hearing about your trip

Hi I have been meaning to get over to your TR and hear all about your trip. Congrats on the engagement, and glad to have you here.

Following along! My DH had never gone until we went on our honeymoon. We went one more time pre kids and took our DD at 3 years old. We both swore we wouldn’t go again for a while after that trip... . We went this past December with our DD (6) and DS (2). Now my DH is hooked! He adored watching our kids experience Disney and though he hates admitting it loves the “magic”. In fact we are headed back this September!

I can’t wait to read more about your trip.

Yay! So happy you hooked your husband, it really is the best feeling. after this trip you might catch your DH researching and wanting to plan too.

Joining in!

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

Following!

 

[ashw100]

Friday, September 14: Travel Day

Before we jump into this day, I wanted to explain my madness to you. Every trip I have tried to make longer than the last. Case in point, 2014 trip 6 nights, 2015 trip 7 nights, 2017 trip 8 nights, 2018 NINE nights. Now I had to do this creatively to keep it to just 5 missed days of school and work. The only way we could add was to fly out Friday after school/work. My thought was normally we’d fly in on Saturday early and go to the parks, but be tired because of travel. Flying out Friday meant we could wake up in Disney on Saturday, sleep in a little to get rest and get more park time and not be exhausted. Now that you now the background on this, let’s get into it and see how my plan worked out.

It was a normal day for DH, C, and J.

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N and I spent the day cleaning and last-minute packing. I’m sure you can image how helpful a four-year-old was in this process.

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Around lunch I grabbed McDonalds to go, yay for no dishes, and headed to my brother and SIL’s house to drop off our cat.

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It had been torrentially downpouring all day and what should have been an hour round trip, took almost three hours. I just barely made it in time to pick the boys up from school. I had to run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to finish up the last few things before we left for the airport.

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Let me backtrack a second here because I forgot to show you my awesome nails. If you can’t tell from the TR this trip was UP themed. I don’t know you can’t really theme a trip, but you’ll see what I mean as we go on. The day before N and I went to the nail salon.

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And I got this awesome manicure

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Anyways, back to travel day, we left around 4 to pick up Joe at his work. He works closer to the airport, so it didn’t make sense for him to drive all the way home just to turn back around. We left his car there, which was fine because it’s a gated lot. This was actually the first time we all visited him at his work, he hadn’t even been there a year, plus it’s far. Picture to document the occasion.

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The rain had finally subsided, and I was less worried about there being a delay. We got to the airport about two hours before takeoff, I think our departure was just after 8. Took a picture to remember where we parked.

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Isn’t this what you came here fore, glamourous airport parking garage pictures.

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Then came the hardest part of any travel day, lugging all the bags through the airport, while wrangling three rambunctious boys.

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Relieved of our baggage, we breezed through security.

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Haha did you believe that?? We do have pre-check which makes things easier, but boys excited to go to Disney do not follow TSA direction that well. Finally through the hardest part, we were in need of a break. We decided to eat at Chili’s. This is a family favorite and there's bottomless chips, should keep the boys busy until their food arrives.

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They were still a little tireless, so I pulled out a distraction earlier then I wanted, but it worked.

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Playing Go Fish kept everyone occupied and happy until our dinners arrived. I don’t remember what we got, but it’s Chili’s so probably some Tex-Mex. By 7, we found a spot across from our gate and passed the time talking about what we were excited for.

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Joe had to finish up some homework. Right before boarding we walked over to our gate.

Joe needed me to take a picture of this sign, I don’t know why, but here you go.

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Notice only a few minutes before boarding and it says we on time. Well boarding time comes and goes and we’re still waiting to get on our plane. Finally, they announce we’re delayed.

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Apparently one of our flight attendants was still en route on another aircraft and we were waiting on her. And then they would still need to do all the checks.

The boys liked checking out the plane

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We boarded at our originally takeoff time, 8:15, so not too delayed…yet.

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Then we waited some more.

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I think we had to wait on the runway another 20 minutes, so in total 50 minutes delayed. Not really that bad, I have certainly had worse, but we were already pushing it in regard to getting enough sleep for Saturday and this wasn’t helping. The flight was pretty uneventful.

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At some point J fell asleep

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Sadly, we didn’t make up any time in the air, but once safely in Orlando, it didn’t really matter. We took the fake-o-rail to baggage claim and got our bags fairly quickly. We had rented a car from Dollar this time. We always go Alamo, but their prices have been getting outrageous. It’s more than double what we paid in 2014. We had signed up for their club and input our driver info so we could walk right out the car, Alamo does the same thing. Only when we got out there, apparently this didn’t matter because Joe still had to go to the desk. I stayed with the boys in the AC’d part of the rental car lot.

Three tired boys

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At almost one in the morning(we lost an hour coming from Dallas), we were finally on the last leg of our journey. Pretty soon we were finally home.

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I don’t have room pictures, but we requested Jamaica 41 near the parking lot. We got the first two parts, but it was a little walk to get to our car. It was similar to our room from 2015, so here are pictures from that.

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Just picture it without all the fun stuff like towel Mickey’s and extra decor for the beds. We also had a pulldown this time, which I did snag a picture of on our last day, but I’ll insert it here.

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Right away, we found two centipedes in our rooms. I hate bugs, so this skeeved me out, but it is Florida, in September and we have a ground floor exterior door. I was hoping that would be it. I also noticed the room was not the Disney standard clean I was used too. It wasn’t horrible or anything, but I noticed crumbs under and behind things, like they didn’t do a thorough job. Our shower soap dispenser was already broken and the room felt rundown despite being redone in 2015. Too tired to care right then, we crashed for the night. We didn’t go to bed until 2 am, original plan would have had us in bed just after midnight, so not the best.

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[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry that your flight was delayed and that the room wasn't the cleanest. But you made it!!

 

[kclark9830]

Flying late in the afternoon is a bummer for delays. But as you said, at least you made it and you were at Disney!

We stayed in CBR in 2016, and I loved it. I'd be interested to know how you liked it as your trip went on.

 

[ashw100]

I'm sorry that your flight was delayed and that the room wasn't the cleanest. But you made it!!

We did! This was a rough travel day for sure, but once in the bubble it doesn't even matter.

Flying late in the afternoon is a bummer for delays. But as you said, at least you made it and you were at Disney!

We stayed in CBR in 2016, and I loved it. I'd be interested to know how you liked it as your trip went on.

I really like CBR, we've stayed there three times. Other than the expected construction, bugs, and cleanliness issue we did enjoy it and would stay there again.

 

[ashw100]

September 15-Part 1 Epcot

Morning came way too soon for me. I was up around 7:30, but I let everyone else sleep. Thankfully I have very heavy sleepers, so I was able to unpack pretty much everything before they woke up. Around 9 everyone started stirring, so we got ready for the day. Seven hours sleep is about three hours less than the boys normally get, and I wish I could have gotten them to sleep longer, but…

I had placed an order with Amazon Prime Now, but we had some time before it was to be delivered. We had to do one last thing to make our room home for the next week, decorate the window. I have never done this before, so I was excited to finally personalize our window. This was a great way for the boys to recognize our room each day as well.

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After everyone was dressed we went off in search of some food. Since, this was still during the CBR construction, they had grab and go items in the island market places, which were just converted hotel rooms. We realized quickly that the selection was pretty abysmal. We went with some assortment of cinnamon rolls and danishes. The pastries were prepackaged and dry. I don’t think any of us finished them. We also picked up our refillable mugs, since we were on the dining plan this year. I grabbed the Halloween one, everyone else got various colors in the standard. One thing I did not mind about the construction were the Coke Freestyle machines sprinkled around the resort. Ours was around the corner from the island market, which was just one building over from ours. Refillable mugs loaded up, we sat at a table in the outdoor eating area outside building 43. After our unsatisfying breakfast we went back to the room to wait for our Amazon order before heading to the parks. Very shortly after, I got an email that our order had been denied. Joe went in search of the delivery guy to see if he could intercept before it was brought back, while I jumped online to try and figure it out. Neither of us were successful, and Amazon did promptly refund me, but I am not really sure what the problem was. Throughout the morning we had killed about 6 more centipedes and we were all pretty grossed out. I had to head to Port of Entry anyway, so C and I drove over. The CM at the front desk was not very helpful. He basically said there was nothing they could do about the bugs, we had to call pest management. Another unsuccessful mission down, we had our last errand before we could head out. I had to pick up our double stroller from Magic Stroller. I always use Kingdom Strollers, but my agency works with Magic so I wanted to test them out. It was similar pricing, exact same stroller, and it was clean. I would recommend either company to be honest, never had a problem with either one. Stroller in our possession, we drove back to the room. We called pest management and they were there super quick. The CM was very nice and quickly spotted two more centipedes and also commented that he noticed the room was not as clean as it should be (glad to know I wasn't just being picky). He said he would have someone from mousekeeping pest management come out while we were in the parks and everything should be good to go when we got back that night.

We then and left I was able to get some pictures of the skyliner construction.

Our room was right next to this, so I would either avoid or request building 41 depending on if you want to be that close to the Skyliner or not.

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I also forgot to mention we were given information about the Skyliner coming to WDW, as well as a pin set for staying their during construction.

We had one more stop before heading to the parks for the day, the Speedway by the Boardwalk. I picked up two cases of water, they were around $6 each, and totally worth the stop. We parked in the DHS lot and were immediately greeted with the mess that is the current parking lot. Trying to navigate in and out of DHS was very stressful each and every time we were there, I can’t wait for this park to be done. Our first park was not DHS, but we did stop for our first FP picture of the trip.

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We walked right past the Hollywood that never was and always will be and onto a Friendship boat.

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We had given each of the boys mister fans and it was quickly becoming an issue. N was the only one who wouldn’t stop spraying, so I had to take it away and cue meltdown #1 for the day. What should have been a peaceful trip down the waterway was anything but. Was this an omen for the day?

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We were headed to Epcot of course and in need of some lunch after our mediocre breakfast. We entered through the International Gateway and headed straight towards America. We figured Liberty Inn was the easiest choice for the boys, although I would have to loved to eat somewhere more adventurous, this was the perfect stop for us. We ordered two adult orders of the chicken nuggets, a salad for me, and the mac and cheese hot dog for Joe, along with a Coke and three cherry icees. This used up 4 quick service credits and was the perfect meal to get us all back in good spirits.

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With bellies full, we decided to head into the American Adventure. The boys haven’t every really done any of the pavilions, we usually just walk around. I felt that C and J were certainly ready and N would just have to come along for the ride. First we checked out the exhibit in the side room. The main reason to come in here was for Voices of Liberty, but the show was about to start, so we decided to watch that first.

N Loved this little side room upstairs

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N got pretty antsy about halfway through but everyone was able to enjoy it. In fact J, really loved it, which made me very happy. I actually don’t like this show at all, but it was more about that fact that we are getting to a place where things don’t have to be so kiddie focused all the time, they can enjoy other things as well. Sadly, we had missed VoL while in the show, which was sad as I love them so much. I mean to see them every trip and so far have only made it once. Our FPs were for DHS later, so there wasn’t much of a plan this day, just kind of walk around and see what we can do. The WS was pretty dead up until this point, but we could see the crowds headed in, so we decided to try and make our way around and out. We did get distracted along the way.

Poor J, this was common for him to get squished being the other two

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In Germany, we wanted to show the boys the trains.

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Spaceship Earth was looking so pretty that day and I had been in the park for hours with no pictures of it yet.

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N spotted Snow White and he asked if we could meet her. We haven’t been the kind of family that stops for meets that we see out and about, because they always seem so long and they’re always in the heat. But N was finally happy, and there was no harm in stopping. C and J did not want to meet her, which was sad but not surprising. I figured they would get to the age where meeting princesses was no longer their thing. However, as soon as I pulled out N’s autograph book, C and J quickly changed their minds. I had made personalized autograph books for them, and they wanted to fill them up, so I guess they weren’t too cool for princesses. I think we only waited about 15 minutes and the boys were meeting the first Disney princess of the trip.



They chatted about dwarfs and gooseberry pie. She even congratulated us on our happily ever after.

Here James is getting hidden again



Our next stop was in the Mexico pavilion. I have never seen it so packed in my life. The line for La Cava was all the way up the ramp and into the main area. It was wall to wall people everywhere you looked. I am not sure why we kept pushing on but we did and we got in line for the Three Cabarellos.



The entire queue was filled but it only took ten minutes to get through, so I think it was worth it.

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Ready to actually leave the WS, we walked to the opposite end of the park to check out and Festival Center aka Wonders of Life pavilion. It was super crowded in here as well, but we had one mission here, to get our AP magnets.

Borrrowed from DFB



While we were here, we stopped in to the Ghirardelli place to check out the chocolate sculptures.

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By this point my shoes were killing me, the top of my foot had a sharp pain in it and I needed relief. After some shoe issues from my last two trips, I always bring my Sanuk sandals as a backup. They’re not supportive, which is why I always try sneakers first, but the Sanuks just feel better to me in the end. Shoe exchange complete, we had one more stop to make before we left for the day.

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I’m going to really miss this version if they change it over, but I am ready for a refresh I think.

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After our trip through the history of communication, we were ready to go to DHS, the weather had other plans. It was torrentially pouring and we didn’t have ponchos. We decided to stay in Project Tomorrow and do some of the activities.



Once the rain had subsided, DH and C went to collect the stroller, which we had thankfully covered and the rest of us ran into Mouse Gears. I have bought probably three sets of Disney ponchos and yet when I was packing for this trip I could only find one of them. So I went to Mouse Gear to buy five more, because of course the one I brought was still in the hotel. The rain had stopped, but I knew we would need these eventually. We made out way back through Epcot through the International Gateway. Just as we were about to leave, Tiana and Naveen walked out, so we had to stop and say hello.

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They talked all about dancing and making beignets. I especially loved how fun Naveen was, because I have never met him, but it was a great overall meet.



And since we lucked out, we only had to wait in front of two other people. Now it really was time to leave.

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[missangelalexis]

Sorry about all the issues you faced between the Amazon order and pest management! Sounds like you guys finally got into your groove once you arrived at Epcot! Love the pics of the character meets!

 

[chunkymonkey]

HI Ashley! I am here!
Looking forward to catching up on your TR! Your boys are getting so big! Happy 10 year anniversary! We also celebrated 10 years last year!

 

[ashw100]

Sorry about all the issues you faced between the Amazon order and pest management! Sounds like you guys finally got into your groove once you arrived at Epcot! Love the pics of the character meets!

It wasn't too bad, they did get everything taken care of. I was much happier once we got to the parks.

HI Ashley! I am here!
Looking forward to catching up on your TR! Your boys are getting so big! Happy 10 year anniversary! We also celebrated 10 years last year!

I remember, congrats again! If I'm not mistaken we just missed you on this last trip. Thanks for coming along.

 

[ashw100]

Day 2: Part 2 Hollywood Studios

Our destination was DHS for the evening. This is Joe’s favorite park, so he was glad to be home.

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Our plan was to head straight to TSL, but as were walking down the street, the Citizens of Hollywood were driving down. We followed them down Sunset where they set up for a comedy show.

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I have seen videos and seen Betty Shambles in TRs, but have never gotten to see her myself and man was I glad we stopped. All the citizens were amazing, but she was my favorite. She never broke character, even when she was just in the background.

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We had stitches in our sides by the end of the set. We will definitely make it a point to search them out next time. Finally, we were making out way to the back of the park to see TSL for the first time.

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And I got zero pictures of the land. This was on purpose though, I wanted to just enjoy it first. Plus I would be back a few days later for the AP Play time and knew I could take all the pictures I wanted then. We had our first FP for TSM. I did want to take pictures here though.

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I love the new queue so much. It was so bright and colorful. I love that they kept some elements, but made it fresh as well.

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C was excited because he got to ride alone. He really enjoyed the independence of riding alone when he could.

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Mine and N’s score, we had a great time.

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This is on everyone’s top ride list, so I was glad I got a FP for it. There was a PP photographer in front of the checkers, so we stopped for a picture.

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Also stopped for a picture with the Pixar ball, and was so glad I did. Every time we walked past it again it was covered in strollers.

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It had been a while since lunch, and we were hungry. We had an ADR soon, but we stopped for a snack at Andy’s Lunchbox.

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The seating area was crowded, but we lucked out and grabbed a table. Our snack of choice was the totchos.

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We devoured this quickly, it was a great snack to share. We walked back across the park, for another family favorite, Star Tours.

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When we went to Disneyland, this was N’s first 40” ride, and he loved it. I remember him laughing and screeching the whole time. In fact, we had to have ridden that four times that weekend. So this was a no brainer for us. We made it through the queue and got assigned to our ship and N started freaking out. He did not want to ride, and it was like his fear came out of no where. We tried to remind him of how much he loved it before, but he was having none of it. A CM came over and tried to calm him down by giving him a rebel alliance sticker. It did not work, but eventually we got him calm. Everyone including CMs and the family next to us was trying to explain about the ride. I am sure we looked like one of THOSE parents, but we knew he liked it. Once inside, he was calm, but not happy. He decided to keep his eyes shut for the whole thing. Meanwhile, C was the rebel spy, which is his second time with the honor. BB8 was in our sequence and N couldn’t resist a peak. Once he actually saw what was going on he loved it, squealing with glee and laughing. Then right at the end, he closed his eyes again, and declared he hated it.

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We had time for one more thing before our dinner, and we chose Indiana Jones. The boys were hoping to get picked to open the show, but it wasn’t their day.

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The show was good as always, I was shocked to find DH falling asleep. I don’t understand how this man can fall asleep anywhere.

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At this point we were so exhausted, and I wasn’t sure we would make it much longer. We still had an ADR before we were able to leave though.

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[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a good time in TSL, cute PP pics!

Ah, I'm sorry N decided he no longer likes Star Tours!

 

[afwdwfan]

I'm so glad to see you're writing this TR! I think I can glean a lot from it to help us out... I mean N and our little guy seem to be cut from the same cloth in a sense. And we're making our first stay at Caribbean Beach. I'm a little concerned by your first night experience there, but at the same time I realize that things were different then and there's been a lot if work completed since so hopefully miusekeeping is more consistent now.

And I can relate to Joe. Not that I cam fall asleep just anywhere, but some of my best naps have been those times when I've run myself ragged at Disney and finally get a chance to sit down for 20 minutes or so at a show and get comfortable.