Trip Report ***Completed** For the First Time in Forever! Aug 2016 WDW Trip Report

Hi guys! I'm so excited to start my very first trip report! My family and I have just gotten back from Disney World about a week ago and we had a fabulous vacation. It was our first trip to Disney since 2008, so there have been a lot of changes since then. This was our first trip since Fast Pass + and Magic Bands and the DDP, so it was a bit of uncharted territory for us. This was also the first trip where I was primarily in control for most of the planning. My Dad insisted on using a AAA travel agent to book the package even though I told him I could have done it. I planned all our meals, booked all our fast passes, and generally mapped out all of our park days. Overall I think it went really well considering I hadn't actually been to the parks in 8 years. Thank God for these forums and You Tube!

Anyway it was a very memorable trip with its highs and lows and I can't wait to share the craziness with all of you. So here is the outline of our vacation to start:

When: Friday Aug 19th- Mon Aug 29th 2016

Where: All Star Movies Resort

Who: Myself (Melissa), my Mom, my Dad, my younger brother Matt. My younger sister Stephanie and her bf Steve (now fiancee but we'll get to that!) arrived on Tues Aug 23rd.

Anyway I hope you enjoy my trip report!
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1- Friday Aug 19th- Travel Day

So our original plans were to leave on Sat Aug 20th and to catch the earliest flight we could into Orlando. Unfortunately, after much pestering from me, when my Dad finally got around to purchasing airline tickets he was shocked to find that he had procrastinated too long and now round trip airfare was near $500 a person. After some creative shuffling around, we discovered that it would be cheaper for us to leave on Friday night with a two hour layover in Baltimore. We had booked two rooms at All Star Movies (3 when my sister and her bf arrived) beginning Saturday night, but my Dad figured to save money the four of us would all squeeze into one room just for Friday night. That was interesting to say the least, but I'll get to that.

Our flight was scheduled for 1:40pm out of Islip MacArthur Airport, which is a very small airport based out of Long Island, which is luckily only about 15 minutes from our house. On our arrival day, I woke up around 9 and got dressed in my "going to Disney outfit" which consisted of black leggings and my Elsa tshirt. After I was dressed and ready, I threw a few last minute items in my carry on and then impatiently sat at my computer waiting for it to be time to leave. (Did I mention it had been 8 long years since I was last at Disney)? Around 10am my Mom went out to get us some bagels to eat for breakfast since we didn't plan on eating again until we landed in Baltimore at 2:50pm. After she came home and we ate our bagels it was about 10:50 and I was itching to get to the airport. Even though MacArthur is tiny and you literally whiz through security, I was eager for our journey to begin plus I'm pretty about that whole "arrive at least two hours before your flight" thing. (That and my family is notoriously late for everything!) I offered to start loading the suitcases in the car, but I was told it was too early, so I went up to my room to watch a few Disney Youtube videos to make the time pass.

Finally at around 11:15 my parents called me to tell me that we were finally ready to go to the airport. Apparently Matt had already loaded up the car (oops!). We said a quick good bye to the pets and to my sister who would be joining us later in the week since she had to work. Then we were on our way to the airport! This trip was finally actually happening!

We got to the airport pretty much at like 11:30ish. We dropped Matt and my Dad off with the suitcases near curb side check in while my Mom and I proceeded to the resident lot to park. Because we technically live in the same "town" as the airport, we could apply for resident parking for the year which was cheaper than doing long term parking for 10 days. We parked the car and then started to walk back to Matt and my Dad which wasn't too bad of a walk. We just had to walk to the other end of the terminal which was small. My Mom was already complaining about her knee and I started to worry. You see, my Mom has arthritis in her knee and had surgery last year on it. It helped for a little bit, but it still hurts her a lot especially when she does a lot of walking. We had suggested getting her a wheelchair or ECV for this trip, but my Mom is stubborn and insisted that she would brave through the pain. She even got a shot of cortisone in the knee the week before. This was not a good sign if she was already in pain after walking less than a quarter mile.

We checked our bags in curb side check in and then went on through security. As expected we flew through it. The whole process including bag check took maybe 10 minutes. Then we quickly found our gate and settled in for about an hour wait until we could board. My Mom amused herself with her Kindle while Matt played his video games. My Dad and I took the time to glance over my Disney planning guides that I had bought with me. We also took a few pre Florida pics because why not?

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Me



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My Dad

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My Mom

Matt was a little camera shy so he didn't want to.

Finally it was time for our flight to board! We were flying Southwest and if you don't know, Southwest has open seating which means you are assigned a boarding number when you check in and from there it's first come first serve. Generally speaking, people are still pretty good about moving so that families can sit together. Somehow when we did online check in the night before our boarding numbers wound up pretty spread out and I was on the other side of the B group to board. This resulted in a lot of teasing from my family about how they weren't going to save me a seat. My Dad said maybe I could find a seat attached to the wing and my Mom said I might have to use my broom to get to Orlando. (See how mean they are to me!) Anyway I'm sure we were very entertaining to the people around us. And of course my Dad saved me a seat with him.

Next stop is Baltimore so stay tuned! Thanks for reading!
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The flight from Long Island to Baltimore wasn't very long at all. It was only about 45 minutes. In fact, it felt like no sooner did I get my drink we were preparing to land. Our flight had wifi and some limited live television for free, so my Dad and I caught some of the Olympics on my phone. We saw some of the men's volleyball game against Italy and some water polo. Our flight was very pleasant and we were surrounded by some really nice people. I was talking to a woman across the aisle from me who was admiring my Vera Bradley duffel bag and purse. I also was helping another woman diagonally from me figure out the live stream on her iPad, so she could also watch the Olympics. Towards the end of it, I started to regret not picking up a candy bar or something before we boarded because I was getting a bit of the rumblies in my tumblies as our good friend Winnie the Pooh would say. They passed out peanuts during the flight, but I don't like them so I had to settle with just a soda.

We landed in Baltimore around 2:30 with almost a full two hours to kill before our connecting flight to Orlando. After we did bathrooms we explored the terminal a bit to see what our food options were for lunch. We also wanted to check out what there was there because we had a four hour layover on our return flight. We found a small food court with four or five places to eat and we all decided to go with Subway for lunch. I was so hungry that I opted for an entire steak and cheese foot long when I was really full by the time I only ate half. I saved the other half for the plane, but I wound up just throwing it out on the next flight. I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach.

By the time lunch was finished and my parents went to grab some Starbucks, we had eaten up a pretty good chunk of time. We headed to our connecting gate for Orlando and wound up in a conversation with a very nice woman who lived locally in Orlando. She wished us well on our trip even though she didn't go much to the theme parks anymore. Soon enough it was our time to board.

For this flight our boarding numbers were closer together, but we still opted to sit two and two. I got the coveted window seat with my Dad and was starting to feel a little sleepy. There was no wifi on this flight, so I decided to try and rest my eyes and listened to some music for most of the flight. Not without snapping a few obligatory wing shots.

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Finally after what felt like forever we had landed on Florida ground! Unfortunately, we had hit a few storms so we didn't land early, but we didn't land late either so that was a plus. It was now about 7:10pm and we still had to pick up our rental car, make a Wal-Mart run, and check into our resort for the night.

Next up weird orange lighting, our vacation car, pickle potato chips, and cramming 4 adults in one very small room!
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm getting to the Disney stuff I promise!

So, we had finally landed at MCO and of course my Mom and Matt were literally the last two people off the plane. They had chosen to sit in the back because apparently on the first flight my Mom had the unfortunate luck to be sitting behind a child who kept screaming and kicking her seat the entire time. We finally got ourselves together and headed to baggage claim to retrieve our luggage. We also saw the signs for the Magical Express which my sister and her bf would be taking when they arrived om Tuesday. I made sure to text her to let her know where they were located. Then it was on to find the shuttle for our rental car location.

For this trip we had booked our rental car through a company called Sixt and it was actually accidental. We needed a mini van since that's what my Mom drives anyway and the fact that when Steph and Steve came down we would be 6 people. My Dad had this crazy idea in his head that since he had used the Priceline Negotiator tool to snag a $20 a day rental (for a small car) when he and my Mom had previously gone to visit me while I was living in NC, he could do the same to get a mini van in Orlando in the summer. He was shocked to find that he couldn't find much under $100 a day from any of the larger rental car companies. The lowest quote he got from Priceline was I think $77 a day. So stupid me clicks on the deal because it didn't show which company the deal was for. Well, apparently by clicking the deal I had somehow accidentally booked the reservation. (Oops!) So now we had a reservation with this company called Sixt that I had never heard of before. After doing some research I found out that they were located about 5 minutes from MCO, but had some mixed reviews. The positive reviews were very positive, so we decided to be adventurous and take the chance.

Apparently Sixt is a fairly new rental car company and we were pretty well pleased with their service. We found the shuttle fairly easily and even though the shuttle was only a 18 passenger van versus a bus, my family was the only ones being picked up at the time so we had plenty of room. The driver was pleasant and made small talk with us about the weather during the short drive. We even came to find out that he had lived on Long Island earlier in his life, but more out East than us. The ride was short and before long we had arrived at our first destination.

My Mom and I went to the front desk to check in while Matt and my Dad stayed with our bags. The girl who helped us was very friendly and courteous. They even had free bottled water which my Mom and I took advantage of. My only complaint is the place was very dimly lit with from weird orange back lighting that reminded me of Halloween. I guess it was supposed to make the place seem trendy, but it was really strange. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but I didn't think of it at the time.

Pretty soon they brought out our new car for the next few days. My Mom was delighted to have a Town and Country. She drives the Dodge Caravan which is apparently very similar to the Town and Country (it's the upscale model of the Caravan) and we had rented one on our last Florida trip. This Town and Country was also fully loaded which was nice. It had satellite radio, a DVD player in the back, a back up cam, and black leather seats.... Not the nicest luxury in the hot Florida sun. I was already picturing how badly the backs of my legs were going to be burnt after a long, hot, afternoon in the parks! Again I probably should have snapped a picture for you guys, but I was just too excited to just get to Disney already!

But first we needed to take a detour to Wal-Mart. We wanted to pick up a case of bottled water for the room and parks and my sister had asked us to pick her up some body wash, so she wouldn't have to pack it. So I punched in the directions to Wal-Mart in Kissimmee and we were on our way.

Once we got to Wal-Mart we first stopped in the personal care aisle to get Steph her body wash. Then we stopped by the grocery section to get the water. While I was there I decided to take a look down the chip aisle and I was so excited I think I almost started dancing right in the middle of Wal-Mart. They carried Lays Dill Pickle Chips! To those who don't understand my obsession, a friend of mine turned me onto them and for a while you could buy them in NY. You may still be able to get them upstate, but for some reason they stopped carrying them near us. When I moved to NC I was very happy to see they sold them down there and used to buy them all the time. Now that I'm back in NY though I can't seem to find pickle flavored potato chips. So needless to say they went in the cart.

We were just about to check out when we decided to browse the Disney section. There is a whole entire section of the store dedicated to Disney merchandise which can be a great place to stock up on some Disney gear at a much lower price. In previous years we had always bought the spray bottle fans when we went in August since it's so hot, but they had gotten lost throughout the years. My Mom had thought about getting replacements, but couldn't find any with a shoulder strap, so she didn't bother. Well lo and behold they had the spray bottles with shoulder straps for $12.95 when they retail over $20 in the park so we got two.

By the time we checked out I was getting pretty hungry (and a little tired). It was near 9pm and we STILL had not reached Disney property! We loaded up the car and finally headed to our final destination which was Disney's All Star Movies Resort. As we got closer to the Disney gates we received our first bit of Disney magic. We could see the Star Wars fireworks (or what I assume were the Star Wars fireworks) being shot off in the distance. It was definitely cool to arrive to and got us super excited. I should have snapped a picture, but I was using my phone to navigate.

I also missed the first shot of us entering the Disney gates. (Oops!) I was pretty useless with taking pics by this time of night. After what seemed like forever, we finally pulled into All Star Movies and headed into Cinema Hall to check in. I didn't get a picture of our first look into the lobby, but I did make Matt take this picture of me on the red carpet. Ignore the messy look. I'd been traveling all day...

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While my parents checked in for the night, Matt and I did what any mature adults of our age do. We ran to the gift shop to check out what kind of merchandise we could blow our money on. I'm a bit of an avid pin collector (although I only collect on my trips) so I was anxious to check out the new pins. (Spoiler alert: I actually only bought two pins this whole trip vs the 15 or so I purchased on my last trip in 2008. Well, okay two pins and one mystery pack containing two pins. I traded a few of my older ones that I felt I could part with for newer pins.) I didn't wind up buying any pins, but I did wind up picking up some cubic zirconia stud earrings shaped like Mickey ears to wear in the parks each day.

By the time I was done in the gift shop, my parents were done checking in. They said the CM they dealt with was extremely nice and helpful. We had requested adjourning rooms on the ground level for our stay. We were prepared for the possibility of having to move rooms the next morning, but the CM said it wasn't necessary. The room we were staying in would also be ours for the rest of our stay and tomorrow we would have the adjourning room next door. He even unofficially promised us (he literally said I'm not supposed to tell you this is a guarantee) that when Steph and Steve arrived their room would be right next to ours. So we were very happy with our rooms. We were placed in the Mighty Ducks building 3 which was a bit far away from the main building, but right near the Duck Pond pool. The walk wasn't too bad really.

By now we were starving, so we headed to the food court to have a late dinner. Since our vacation package didn't officially start until the next day our dining plan was not in effect yet, so we just paid out of pocket for the meal.My Mom and I had the Bacon cheeseburger with fries (sorry no pics), Matt had the chicken nuggets and fries, and my Dad had the chili dog and fries. I was so hungry I devoured my burger. It really hit the spot!

Then we headed back to our car and drove towards Mighty Ducks building 3. We found our rooms very easily and here is where the fun begins. I had forgotten just how small the All Star rooms really were. On our last visit we stayed at Pop Century and I don't know if the rooms were slightly bigger there or it just really has been so long that I've forgotten. Normally it doesn't bother me because we usually get at least 2 rooms, but the idea of cramming 4 full size adults in there was going to be a little tight. Thankfully it was only for one night!

We started to settle in and get ready for bed. Our plans were to be up at 6 so we could go and check in to our other room as early as possible and get our meal plan and tickets activated, so we could get going as soon as possible. You would think with all the traveling we had done that day we would be exhausted and we were, but fate had other plans.

So let me back up and explain that my Dad snores. And I don't just mean snore. I mean like a freight train going through. I often joke with my Mom that the only reason she probably hasn't divorced him over his snoring is the fact he works overnights so he's not home much to share a room with her. He has sleep apnea and has one of those masks that make him sound like Darth Vader (but cut out his snoring) only he decided for some reason not to bring it because he didn't want the hassle of having to carry it. So picture this: In one bed we have Matt (who is already a big guy) and my Dad, and in the other its my Mom and me. We finally shut the lights out and after only maybe ten minutes the snoring starts. We try to ignore it at first, but then it gets out of control. We have no choice to wake him to tell him to cut it out. He says okay and then drifts back to sleep... Five minutes later the cycle starts up again.

After going through this about 15 times, we all start to give up. Poor Matt decides he'd be better off on the floor and tries to get some sleep down there. I literally have two pillows pressed tightly over my ears and I can STILL hear him. At this point, I'm thinking of taking my pillows and a blanket and sleeping in the bathtub just to get some peace and quiet. I manage to doze off for maybe an hour, but again I'm woken up by his snoring. I toss and turn and try to tell him to stop snoring a few times, but he always starts back up again. Finally around 4am, I get my phone and ear buds and try putting Pandora on to help me sleep, but I can't get comfortable with the ear buds in my ear. I don't know if it's the excitement or the snoring, but I give up on sleep and start thinking about Mickey waffles....

That's it for tonight! Hopefully I'll find time tomorrow to start our first day in the parks and tell you all about how my poor parents drove me crazy that first morning! I'm warning you now... We definitely put the "fun" in dysfunctional!
 

Scoppin

Well-Known Member
I'm getting to the Disney stuff I promise!

So, we had finally landed at MCO and of course my Mom and Matt were literally the last two people off the plane. They had chosen to sit in the back because apparently on the first flight my Mom had the unfortunate luck to be sitting behind a child who kept screaming and kicking her seat the entire time. We finally got ourselves together and headed to baggage claim to retrieve our luggage. We also saw the signs for the Magical Express which my sister and her bf would be taking when they arrived om Tuesday. I made sure to text her to let her know where they were located. Then it was on to find the shuttle for our rental car location.

For this trip we had booked our rental car through a company called Sixt and it was actually accidental. We needed a mini van since that's what my Mom drives anyway and the fact that when Steph and Steve came down we would be 6 people. My Dad had this crazy idea in his head that since he had used the Priceline Negotiator tool to snag a $20 a day rental (for a small car) when he and my Mom had previously gone to visit me while I was living in NC, he could do the same to get a mini van in Orlando in the summer. He was shocked to find that he couldn't find much under $100 a day from any of the larger rental car companies. The lowest quote he got from Priceline was I think $77 a day. So stupid me clicks on the deal because it didn't show which company the deal was for. Well, apparently by clicking the deal I had somehow accidentally booked the reservation. (Oops!) So now we had a reservation with this company called Sixt that I had never heard of before. After doing some research I found out that they were located about 5 minutes from MCO, but had some mixed reviews. The positive reviews were very positive, so we decided to be adventurous and take the chance.

Apparently Sixt is a fairly new rental car company and we were pretty well pleased with their service. We found the shuttle fairly easily and even though the shuttle was only a 18 passenger van versus a bus, my family was the only ones being picked up at the time so we had plenty of room. The driver was pleasant and made small talk with us about the weather during the short drive. We even came to find out that he had lived on Long Island earlier in his life, but more out East than us. The ride was short and before long we had arrived at our first destination.

My Mom and I went to the front desk to check in while Matt and my Dad stayed with our bags. The girl who helped us was very friendly and courteous. They even had free bottled water which my Mom and I took advantage of. My only complaint is the place was very dimly lit with from weird orange back lighting that reminded me of Halloween. I guess it was supposed to make the place seem trendy, but it was really strange. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but I didn't think of it at the time.

Pretty soon they brought out our new car for the next few days. My Mom was delighted to have a Town and Country. She drives the Dodge Caravan which is apparently very similar to the Town and Country (it's the upscale model of the Caravan) and we had rented one on our last Florida trip. This Town and Country was also fully loaded which was nice. It had satellite radio, a DVD player in the back, a back up cam, and black leather seats.... Not the nicest luxury in the hot Florida sun. I was already picturing how badly the backs of my legs were going to be burnt after a long, hot, afternoon in the parks! Again I probably should have snapped a picture for you guys, but I was just too excited to just get to Disney already!

But first we needed to take a detour to Wal-Mart. We wanted to pick up a case of bottled water for the room and parks and my sister had asked us to pick her up some body wash, so she wouldn't have to pack it. So I punched in the directions to Wal-Mart in Kissimmee and we were on our way.

Once we got to Wal-Mart we first stopped in the personal care aisle to get Steph her body wash. Then we stopped by the grocery section to get the water. While I was there I decided to take a look down the chip aisle and I was so excited I think I almost started dancing right in the middle of Wal-Mart. They carried Lays Dill Pickle Chips! To those who don't understand my obsession, a friend of mine turned me onto them and for a while you could buy them in NY. You may still be able to get them upstate, but for some reason they stopped carrying them near us. When I moved to NC I was very happy to see they sold them down there and used to buy them all the time. Now that I'm back in NY though I can't seem to find pickle flavored potato chips. So needless to say they went in the cart.

We were just about to check out when we decided to browse the Disney section. There is a whole entire section of the store dedicated to Disney merchandise which can be a great place to stock up on some Disney gear at a much lower price. In previous years we had always bought the spray bottle fans when we went in August since it's so hot, but they had gotten lost throughout the years. My Mom had thought about getting replacements, but couldn't find any with a shoulder strap, so she didn't bother. Well lo and behold they had the spray bottles with shoulder straps for $12.95 when they retail over $20 in the park so we got two.

By the time we checked out I was getting pretty hungry (and a little tired). It was near 9pm and we STILL had not reached Disney property! We loaded up the car and finally headed to our final destination which was Disney's All Star Movies Resort. As we got closer to the Disney gates we received our first bit of Disney magic. We could see the Star Wars fireworks (or what I assume were the Star Wars fireworks) being shot off in the distance. It was definitely cool to arrive to and got us super excited. I should have snapped a picture, but I was using my phone to navigate.

I also missed the first shot of us entering the Disney gates. (Oops!) I was pretty useless with taking pics by this time of night. After what seemed like forever, we finally pulled into All Star Movies and headed into Cinema Hall to check in. I didn't get a picture of our first look into the lobby, but I did make Matt take this picture of me on the red carpet. Ignore the messy look. I'd been traveling all day...

View attachment 159681

While my parents checked in for the night, Matt and I did what any mature adults of our age do. We ran to the gift shop to check out what kind of merchandise we could blow our money on. I'm a bit of an avid pin collector (although I only collect on my trips) so I was anxious to check out the new pins. (Spoiler alert: I actually only bought two pins this whole trip vs the 15 or so I purchased on my last trip in 2008. Well, okay two pins and one mystery pack containing two pins. I traded a few of my older ones that I felt I could part with for newer pins.) I didn't wind up buying any pins, but I did wind up picking up some cubic zirconia stud earrings shaped like Mickey ears to wear in the parks each day.

By the time I was done in the gift shop, my parents were done checking in. They said the CM they dealt with was extremely nice and helpful. We had requested adjourning rooms on the ground level for our stay. We were prepared for the possibility of having to move rooms the next morning, but the CM said it wasn't necessary. The room we were staying in would also be ours for the rest of our stay and tomorrow we would have the adjourning room next door. He even unofficially promised us (he literally said I'm not supposed to tell you this is a guarantee) that when Steph and Steve arrived their room would be right next to ours. So we were very happy with our rooms. We were placed in the Mighty Ducks building 3 which was a bit far away from the main building, but right near the Duck Pond pool. The walk wasn't too bad really.

By now we were starving, so we headed to the food court to have a late dinner. Since our vacation package didn't officially start until the next day our dining plan was not in effect yet, so we just paid out of pocket for the meal.My Mom and I had the Bacon cheeseburger with fries (sorry no pics), Matt had the chicken nuggets and fries, and my Dad had the chili dog and fries. I was so hungry I devoured my burger. It really hit the spot!

Then we headed back to our car and drove towards Mighty Ducks building 3. We found our rooms very easily and here is where the fun begins. I had forgotten just how small the All Star rooms really were. On our last visit we stayed at Pop Century and I don't know if the rooms were slightly bigger there or it just really has been so long that I've forgotten. Normally it doesn't bother me because we usually get at least 2 rooms, but the idea of cramming 4 full size adults in there was going to be a little tight. Thankfully it was only for one night!

We started to settle in and get ready for bed. Our plans were to be up at 6 so we could go and check in to our other room as early as possible and get our meal plan and tickets activated, so we could get going as soon as possible. You would think with all the traveling we had done that day we would be exhausted and we were, but fate had other plans.

So let me back up and explain that my Dad snores. And I don't just mean snore. I mean like a freight train going through. I often joke with my Mom that the only reason she probably hasn't divorced him over his snoring is the fact he works overnights so he's not home much to share a room with her. He has sleep apnea and has one of those masks that make him sound like Darth Vader (but cut out his snoring) only he decided for some reason not to bring it because he didn't want the hassle of having to carry it. So picture this: In one bed we have Matt (who is already a big guy) and my Dad, and in the other its my Mom and me. We finally shut the lights out and after only maybe ten minutes the snoring starts. We try to ignore it at first, but then it gets out of control. We have no choice to wake him to tell him to cut it out. He says okay and then drifts back to sleep... Five minutes later the cycle starts up again.

After going through this about 15 times, we all start to give up. Poor Matt decides he'd be better off on the floor and tries to get some sleep down there. I literally have two pillows pressed tightly over my ears and I can STILL hear him. At this point, I'm thinking of taking my pillows and a blanket and sleeping in the bathtub just to get some peace and quiet. I manage to doze off for maybe an hour, but again I'm woken up by his snoring. I toss and turn and try to tell him to stop snoring a few times, but he always starts back up again. Finally around 4am, I get my phone and ear buds and try putting Pandora on to help me sleep, but I can't get comfortable with the ear buds in my ear. I don't know if it's the excitement or the snoring, but I give up on sleep and start thinking about Mickey waffles....

That's it for tonight! Hopefully I'll find time tomorrow to start our first day in the parks and tell you all about how my poor parents drove me crazy that first morning! I'm warning you now... We definitely put the "fun" in dysfunctional!
You have arrived. Following along.
 

kimberlymautz

Well-Known Member
Following along!
I completely understand the snoring dad unfortunately. Last year we went to my PopPop's house down the shore (NJ) and somehow my dad ended up deciding to stay in my room as its the only one with two twin beds and my mom didn't come down. After being up until 2am he decides to crash and his snoring is SO. LOUD. I can't even try to get back to sleep. Like you I tried headphones, I tried pillows, I even tried putting cotton in my ears. Nothing worked. I finally packed my stuff up and decided to head out (now that it was almost 4am) because I was supposed to leave by 6am to get home (2+ hours away) for work. He finally woke up when I was walking out of the room and I told him that I had to leave to get my last two hours of sleep at home in my own bed bexcuse he sounded like a dying walrus and I couldn't take it anymore. :hilarious:
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Following along!
I completely understand the snoring dad unfortunately. Last year we went to my PopPop's house down the shore (NJ) and somehow my dad ended up deciding to stay in my room as its the only one with two twin beds and my mom didn't come down. After being up until 2am he decides to crash and his snoring is SO. LOUD. I can't even try to get back to sleep. Like you I tried headphones, I tried pillows, I even tried putting cotton in my ears. Nothing worked. I finally packed my stuff up and decided to head out (now that it was almost 4am) because I was supposed to leave by 6am to get home (2+ hours away) for work. He finally woke up when I was walking out of the room and I told him that I had to leave to get my last two hours of sleep at home in my own bed bexcuse he sounded like a dying walrus and I couldn't take it anymore. :hilarious:

If it weren't for the fact that we weren't checked in for our vacation package yet and our Magic Bands weren't activated yet, I probably would have just given up and headed for the food court for breakfast and then caught a bus to one the parks. Unfortunately that wasn't an option. Thankfully it was only one night. We stuck my Dad in with my brother (who has a habit of talking in HIS sleep) for the remainder of the trip and I slept like a rock in the other room with my Mom. I'm sure having a whole bed to myself definitely helped too.

Thanks for following along!
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2- Saturday August 20th- Animal Kingdom

Needless to say after the previous night, I was kind of relieved to hear my alarm go off at 6am. We were finally actually going to step foot inside a Disney Park! We all woke up pretty quickly which wasn't surprising considering 3/4 of us didn't really sleep much the night before, Do you believe my Dad actually had the audacity to ask us how we slept? When we explained to him that we really didn't sleep much because of SOMEONE'S snoring, he told us he slept like a log. Well, at least one of us was well rested.

It didn't matter because I was running on pixie dust. As I mentioned before I had developed a craving for Mickey waffles and was anxious to go to the food court to get some. For some reason and I don't remember why, my parents wanted to head right for Cinema Hall to check in for the rest of our stay, get breakfast, and then come back to the room to finish getting ready to head to our first park of the trip, Animal Kingdom. Maybe it was because they figured the earlier they did it they wouldn't have to wait in a line? So, I just threw on my Ariel tshirt and some gym shorts and threw my hair up. It was still early enough that even with stopping back at the room to get ready we could still probably make EMH.

But of course as it goes in my family, nothing ever goes according to plan... My parents decided to drive the van up to the main building while Matt and I decided to walk it. We THOUGHT we could trust them to make the trip themselves, but apparently we were wrong.

Matt and I arrived at Cinema Hall maybe 5 minutes after leaving our room, expecting to meet our parents in the lobby. We waited a few minutes figuring that maybe they were double checking that they had everything they needed in the car. After about 10 minutes we wondered if we somehow missed them so we checked the food court. No parents...

I suggested that maybe they forgot something and went back to the room. So, back we walk to our room... No parents. I walk out to the parking lot to see if the van is still there and no van. Maybe we missed them again? So again we trek back to Cinema Hall. All this time Matt is trying to call my Mom's cell phone and of course she's not picking up. Matt says that he bets ten to one that my Mom never took her phone off airplane mode after our last flight the night before and that sounds completely like her. And my Dad didn't bring his phone because he figured he could just use my Mom's.

For what its worth on the way back I snapped this picture of a Disney bunny.
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We get back to Cinema Hall and you guessed it! No parents! All of a sudden we both realize what probably happened... You see to get to Cinema Hall from where we parked you'd have to curve around to the right. If you turned left you'd find yourself right outside the All Star Music main building. We had a pretty good hunch that instead of meeting us in the All Star Movies lobby they went to the All Star Music one instead. :banghead:

We were just debating on whether or not we should walk over there to check our theory out when my Mom finally realized her phone was in airplane mode and called us back demanding to know where we were because her and my Dad were waiting nearly half an hour for us in the lobby. We explained that we were the one's waiting for THEM. This comedy of errors went on until my Mom finally realized that they were in fact at the wrong hotel. They had even checked in and everything without realizing it. (I never knew this, but apparently all the All Star resorts use the same computer system, so you could in theory check in to any of the All Stars from any of the three main buildings). So, they sheepishly apologized and said they would meet us back at Cinema Hall. Thanks to those shenanigans we had lost a good half hour already. :mad:

While we were waiting Matt and I snapped this early morning selfie.
14079608_10157401893035360_7602183615652649288_n.jpg


Finally my parents arrived and we headed to the food court for our first official dining plan meal. I told you how I was craving those Mickey waffles, so I got a plate of them with bacon. I also grabbed my refillable mug and an extra bottle of water for the park. My Dad and I think my Mom got the bounty platter which was a little of everything (Mickey Waffle, biscuit, eggs, potatoes, bacon, and sausage). I can't remember what Matt got.

After our breakfast we headed back to our room to finish getting ready for our day in the park. Somehow we had gotten behind schedule and didn't leave the resort until a little after 9am, so needless to say we missed the EMH. Oh well... After what felt like ages we finally hopped in the van and made the drive to Animal Kingdom. It was about 9:20am when we pulled into the Animal Kingdom parking lot. Even though AK is not my favorite of the parks I was super excited to start actually experiencing attractions.

We were just on the tram circling towards the front gate when my Mom had her another one of her "senior moments." I was immersed in my phone, reviewing our FP's and ADR for the night and looking up reported wait times to try to determine what we should tackle first, when my Mom insisted that she saw a black van that looked like the one we rented in the area that we parked with it's passenger door wide open. She immediately asked me I was positive that I had shut the door when I got out of the car. I was 95% sure I had and in my defense who thinks about closing a car door. It's kind of something you do automatically. Still, my Mom at this point was sure that it was our car and she just had to ride the tram back to the parking lot just to double check.

At this point I was almost suspicious that she was doing this on purpose, but my Dad wanted us to humor her, so he asked me to ride the tram back with her while he and Matt waited at the front gate. So, back around the parking lot we went... PS: The door was closed the whole time. :rolleyes:

So there went another 20 minutes. But after that there was nothing standing in our way and we were ready to really begin our vacation!

14055036_10157401893325360_4220947419769191662_n.jpg
 

Scoppin

Well-Known Member
Day 2- Saturday August 20th- Animal Kingdom

Needless to say after the previous night, I was kind of relieved to hear my alarm go off at 6am. We were finally actually going to step foot inside a Disney Park! We all woke up pretty quickly which wasn't surprising considering 3/4 of us didn't really sleep much the night before, Do you believe my Dad actually had the audacity to ask us how we slept? When we explained to him that we really didn't sleep much because of SOMEONE'S snoring, he told us he slept like a log. Well, at least one of us was well rested.

It didn't matter because I was running on pixie dust. As I mentioned before I had developed a craving for Mickey waffles and was anxious to go to the food court to get some. For some reason and I don't remember why, my parents wanted to head right for Cinema Hall to check in for the rest of our stay, get breakfast, and then come back to the room to finish getting ready to head to our first park of the trip, Animal Kingdom. Maybe it was because they figured the earlier they did it they wouldn't have to wait in a line? So, I just threw on my Ariel tshirt and some gym shorts and threw my hair up. It was still early enough that even with stopping back at the room to get ready we could still probably make EMH.

But of course as it goes in my family, nothing ever goes according to plan... My parents decided to drive the van up to the main building while Matt and I decided to walk it. We THOUGHT we could trust them to make the trip themselves, but apparently we were wrong.

Matt and I arrived at Cinema Hall maybe 5 minutes after leaving our room, expecting to meet our parents in the lobby. We waited a few minutes figuring that maybe they were double checking that they had everything they needed in the car. After about 10 minutes we wondered if we somehow missed them so we checked the food court. No parents...

I suggested that maybe they forgot something and went back to the room. So, back we walk to our room... No parents. I walk out to the parking lot to see if the van is still there and no van. Maybe we missed them again? So again we trek back to Cinema Hall. All this time Matt is trying to call my Mom's cell phone and of course she's not picking up. Matt says that he bets ten to one that my Mom never took her phone off airplane mode after our last flight the night before and that sounds completely like her. And my Dad didn't bring his phone because he figured he could just use my Mom's.

For what its worth on the way back I snapped this picture of a Disney bunny.
View attachment 159785

We get back to Cinema Hall and you guessed it! No parents! All of a sudden we both realize what probably happened... You see to get to Cinema Hall from where we parked you'd have to curve around to the right. If you turned left you'd find yourself right outside the All Star Music main building. We had a pretty good hunch that instead of meeting us in the All Star Movies lobby they went to the All Star Music one instead. :banghead:

We were just debating on whether or not we should walk over there to check our theory out when my Mom finally realized her phone was in airplane mode and called us back demanding to know where we were because her and my Dad were waiting nearly half an hour for us in the lobby. We explained that we were the one's waiting for THEM. This comedy of errors went on until my Mom finally realized that they were in fact at the wrong hotel. They had even checked in and everything without realizing it. (I never knew this, but apparently all the All Star resorts use the same computer system, so you could in theory check in to any of the All Stars from any of the three main buildings). So, they sheepishly apologized and said they would meet us back at Cinema Hall. Thanks to those shenanigans we had lost a good half hour already. :mad:

While we were waiting Matt and I snapped this early morning selfie.View attachment 159786

Finally my parents arrived and we headed to the food court for our first official dining plan meal. I told you how I was craving those Mickey waffles, so I got a plate of them with bacon. I also grabbed my refillable mug and an extra bottle of water for the park. My Dad and I think my Mom got the bounty platter which was a little of everything (Mickey Waffle, biscuit, eggs, potatoes, bacon, and sausage). I can't remember what Matt got.

After our breakfast we headed back to our room to finish getting ready for our day in the park. Somehow we had gotten behind schedule and didn't leave the resort until a little after 9am, so needless to say we missed the EMH. Oh well... After what felt like ages we finally hopped in the van and made the drive to Animal Kingdom. It was about 9:20am when we pulled into the Animal Kingdom parking lot. Even though AK is not my favorite of the parks I was super excited to start actually experiencing attractions.

We were just on the tram circling towards the front gate when my Mom had her another one of her "senior moments." I was immersed in my phone, reviewing our FP's and ADR for the night and looking up reported wait times to try to determine what we should tackle first, when my Mom insisted that she saw a black van that looked like the one we rented in the area that we parked with it's passenger door wide open. She immediately asked me I was positive that I had shut the door when I got out of the car. I was 95% sure I had and in my defense who thinks about closing a car door. It's kind of something you do automatically. Still, my Mom at this point was sure that it was our car and she just had to ride the tram back to the parking lot just to double check.

At this point I was almost suspicious that she was doing this on purpose, but my Dad wanted us to humor her, so he asked me to ride the tram back with her while he and Matt waited at the front gate. So, back around the parking lot we went... PS: The door was closed the whole time. :rolleyes:

So there went another 20 minutes. But after that there was nothing standing in our way and we were ready to really begin our vacation!

View attachment 159787

Is it not the parents losing the children that usually happens not the other way around.

I am sure in a few years time you will all be laughing about the start of this trip. I am hoping the rest of your trip is not filled with these type of stories. Mind you, they are very entertaining. :p:hilarious:
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Is it not the parents losing the children that usually happens not the other way around.

I am sure in a few years time you will all be laughing about the start of this trip. I am hoping the rest of your trip is not filled with these type of stories. Mind you, they are very entertaining. :p:hilarious:

That's what we said! When we were riding in the tram and when they reminded everyone to hod on to small children, my brother and I went to grab our parents just kidding around.

We will definitely laugh looking back on all of this. This is probably the worst of it, but there are some more funny stories. I told you we put the "fun" in dysfunctional lol
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
They carried Lays Dill Pickle Chips! To those who don't understand my obsession, a friend of mine turned me onto them and for a while you could buy them in NY. You may still be able to get them upstate, but for some reason they stopped carrying them near us.

We definitely have them still here in Buffalo :) So good!
 

DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So after a very eventful morning we were finally ready to actually enter Animal Kingdom. We hopped on the bag check line and of course I was randomly selected to go through the metal detector. I was aware of the random security screenings from reading other trip reports, but I have to admit I was a little surprised that the metal detectors was still only a random thing. It would be less magical having to walk through a metal detector before going into a Disney park every time, but in this day and age it just seems to be a sad, fact of life. Anyway, I digress...

I have to admit it was a little exciting scanning my Magic Band the first time. Soon, we were all inside and it was about 10am now. We had our first fast pass for Everest at 10:55, so we decided to take our time walking towards Asia and maybe try to squeeze in one short attraction before our fast pass. We had went ahead and purchased Memory Maker for this trip which was new for us, so we stopped at the first Photopass photographer we saw to snap a family portrait in front of the Tree of Life.
AK_BRDGTOP_20160820_7778145698.jpeg


Tink decided to join us for one too.
AK_BRDGTOP_20160820_7778145694.jpeg


My Mom and I had been wanting to buy Minnie Ears to wear in the park, so we decided we might as well go buy them now, so we could wear them our entire trip. We stopped at the first souvenir shop that we passed and went in to make our purchases.

I opted for the classic black sequined ears with the red bow while my Mom went for a more princess inspired style.
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Then we headed on towards our way. We stopped closer to the Tree of Life and saw that It's Tough to Be a Bug had only about a 10 minute wait. Normally I could take or leave this attraction (I'm not too fond of the effect of the bugs crawling all over you) but since we were there and it wasn't a long wait we decided to do it. Of course I needed to take a "bug eyed selfie" while we waited in the preshow area.

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It's Tough to be a Bug was actually not as bad as I remembered and we did find it pretty entertaining. Still not a must do, but if you are there you may as well catch a showing of it. By then it was getting closer to our Fast Pass time, so we continued to walk on towards Asia. Along the way we stopped for a few minutes to watch the monkeys. They kind of reminded me of some of my students jk (I'm a pre-k teacher by the way.)

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Pretty soon we had arrived in Asia and we could see this mountain in the distance.
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I was super excited because Everest was one of my favorite rides on our last trip. We finally made it over to the Fast Pass entrance not too much later than our scheduled time. We parked my Mom on a wall across the path from the ride since Everest was a bit too thrilling for her and handed her all of our belongings. Then into the fast pass line Matt, my Dad, and I went. The only down side to Fast Pass on this ride is that I missed out on looking at all the cool artifacts while in line. Oh well...

AK_EXPEDITIONEVERESTRIDE_20160820_7778195144.jpeg


Everest was as good as I remembered it. When we got off we found my Mom and collected all of our things. Matt wanted to check out Dino Land even though Dinosaur was closed for refurb. He really likes dinosaurs, so we decided to head over. On the way we stopped to take a few more Photopass pics in front of Everest.

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MinnieM123

Premium Member
What a cute picture of you and your mom in your Minnie ears! :joyfull: Glad you liked Everest--one of my very favorite rides in all of WDW. Enjoying your TR--following along! :)
 

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