Trip Report The Redemption Tour

Good morning, everyone! It’s time for me to share another trip report

I was in Disney from 11/16-11/23 and had the best time!

A quick little refresher, my name is Jillian, I am married and have two girls, Sage is almost 15 and Aria is 10. My husband has tolerated many family Disney trips throughout the years but after our last family trip in March 2023, he decided he didn’t need to go anymore

Disney is my one true love so this was not an option for me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to take my kids alone, they have much different interests and just don’t get along that well. So I decided to take them separately.

Sage and I went last August. Overall the trip was good but Sage did not handle the heat & humidity well at all. She was overall very grouchy and whiny. We did attend the Halloween party while we were there and some of you may remember it was an absolute disaster. It down poured, thundered & lightning the entire night. So much was closed and cancelled and we were so disappointed. That was Sage’s first party experience and only my second.

My plan for 2025 was to take Aria in November so we could do the Christmas party. Unfortunately about a week before we were set to leave, we had to make a drastic decision. Aria has been having some very extreme behavior and mental health struggles lately. She’s been to many doctors, she’s been tested, she has a diagnosis but despite all our efforts, things have just been really really difficult. I did apply for DAS for her but was denied. So at the last minute, we just decided it was not a good time for her and I to travel alone together. I promised her I would take her at some point in the future when our situation had improved. My husband suggested I go alone (which I would have loved) but I ultimately decided to take Sage with me. First of all, I knew it would be easier on my husband to not be a personal Uber driver to two kids on his own. But also, I truly felt like Sage deserved another trip. She has grown up and matured quite a bit in the last year, she has a small part time job and she’s doing really well in school. I wanted her to know her actions were seen and being rewarded. And I also wanted Aria to realize that special things are a privilege and not a right.

So long story short, it was time for mom and Sage- The Redemption Tour

Here’s a picture of us from our last trip in August 2024

 

[Zipadeelady]

Yay! So glad you both got to have a redemption trip, and I hope it was as wonderful as you imagined. Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Day 1- 11/16

Our flight departed at 5:30am. I am a huge fan of early flights. I love having the whole day ahead of me. Everything at the airport was smooth, the flight was great, no delays or issues at all. I purposely took the following photos for time stamp purposes.

8:15 am- landed

8:53 am- arrived at Mears Connect

9:24 am- driving under the best sign ever

9:27 am- arrived at Art of Animation

10:16 am- officially HOME

 

[BigDis]

Count me in! Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Our plan for day 1 was just to enjoy Main Street and maybe do a few things standby. We started with some castle pics and the Dapper Dans.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We had some time before the next stage show so we went over to Tomorrowland.
We were able to knock out Carousel of Progress, The People Mover, Astro Orbiter and Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor all within about an hour and a half. Chip and Dale were roaming the land and we were able to take a quick pic with Chip

 

[cgersic]

Oh my goodness!! You are off to a massive start! I'm sorry to hear that Aria is struggling so hard, and will keep her in my thoughts that she finds some relief. But truly happy to hear that you are getting a do-over with Sage as it's always tough to have a "bad" Disney experience when you have so many good memories to compare it to. Bring on the redemption!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Next we watched Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire and just happen to walk past Mary & Bert on Main Street

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We then made our way down to Tony’s for lunch. As I get older, I am a big fan of finding ways to avoid the crowding that happens during parades and nighttime shows. So the only reason I booked lunch at Tony’s was to hopefully sit outside as the parade was going by. Our reservation was at 1:35, the parade was at 2, and sadly when we arrived, all the outdoor tables were already full. They instead sat us inside, right at the window. The view was just ok and we really couldn’t hear the music well. But thankfully, the food was great! We got the fried mozzarella, garlic bread, Cesear salad and spaghetti with impossible meatballs. It was all honestly excellent. A little bummed about our view but very very happy with the food.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Also I demand Festival of Fantasy to bring back the Merida float

 

[mpaulam]

Looks like you had a great start! Looking forward to more.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

After the parade, we stopped in The Confectionary to get some treats to go. Then we made our way back to Art of Animation to unpack and get settled.
Overall I really loved Art of Animation. Our room was great, I liked it much better than our room last year at Caribbean Beach. The resort is beautifully themed and maintained. My only small complaint is that the Little Mermaid rooms are a fairly long walk to the main building and transportation.

 

[Wicked Sisters]

After the parade, we stopped in The Confectionary to get some treats to go. Then we made our way back to Art of Animation to unpack and get settled.
Overall I really loved Art of Animation. Our room was great, I liked it much better than our room last year at Caribbean Beach. The resort is beautifully themed and maintained. My only small complaint is that the Little Mermaid rooms are a fairly long walk to the main building and transportation.
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I love the t. shirt you’re wearing. I didn’t see that this year or I would have bought one. Being a big cat fan I also like your daughter’s t shirt. Great start to your adventures.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Day 2- 11/17

This was Epcot day one of two! I did purchase LL for this day so we were planning to focus as much we could on rides and getting the most use out of our (my) purchase.

This was BY FAR the busiest day of our trip. The crowds, wait times and sheer volume of the amount of people in the physical queues was not what I was expecting at all. I was so nervous all day that the entire week would be like that. But I found out, literally at the very end of the night, that it was the last day of Eat to the Beat AND The Beach Boys were performing AND John Stamos was there. Hence the crazy crowds

Since we were entering through the International Gateway, we of course rope dropped Remy during early entry. I very much appreciate that most of the time you can now enter prior to early entry and line up at your desired first ride.

I think we waited 20/25 minutes. The ride is no longer 3D as I’m sure you know and I honestly don’t mind at all. I find 3D glasses and the screens themselves very distracting so I actually don’t mind the change.

After Remy, we started to make our way towards the front of the park but first I insisted on a small detour. I really wanted to meet Winnie the Pooh in Christopher Robin’s bedroom. The set up is just so cute!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Looking forward to reading more. I was there that week as well and thought all of the parks were very crowded.

Love the Winnie the Pooh photos. And love your Mickey waffle T-shirt

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

After meeting Pooh Bear, we made our way towards Imagination.

The ride was thankfully still a walk on and then we met Figment for the first time!

This is me asking Figment to please spray us with something other than the skunk smell

Thought these plushies were so cute

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We then went over to Spaceship Earth since the wait there was still reasonable.

We still had some time until our first lightning lane so we started walking towards The Seas. I didn’t check the wait time for Nemo because I’ve never seen anything other than 5 or 10 minutes.

Imagine my surprise when we get over there and the posted wait time is 40 minutes

I stood there in disbelief for a minute, stunned by what I was seeing.

As we were contemplating our next move, I got an in app notification that Living with Land (our first lightning lane) was down and we could book something else. I quickly booked Nemo and then we went into the pavilion to kill some time.

I wanted to do Turtle Talk with Crush but Sage did not. She hates interactive shows, Laugh Floor was torturous the day before, and she literally has never participated in Enchanted Tales with Belle. So she asked if she could explore the aquarium while I saw the show.

After the show, our lightning lane window was open for the Nemo ride. When we got outside, the lightning lane snaked so far outside the building. I was so confused as to what was actually happening and why the crowds were suddenly insane (I still didn’t know at this time it was all for Uncle Jesse)

We decided to get in the LL and when we made it to the tap in point, I asked the CM how long the line was and he said about 15 minutes. For Nemo. In the lightning lane

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

After tapping into Nemo, I checked for Frozen but it was already out for the day. I refreshed throughout the next several hours, at least 100 times and could never get it to pop up. I was able to book for Living with the Land, even though it was still down, so I just booked that.

We made our way to The Land. Soarin’ which was initially our second LL, was scheduled for noon time. It was about 11:30 and we were both pretty hungry so we decided to just eat in Sunshine Seasons. I haven’t been there in at least 15 years. Sage got the kids mac and cheese, I got the chicken stir fry and we spilt a Mickey macaron. Everything was surprisingly excellent. The stir fry was made fresh while I waited and was very tasty. And the macron was great as well. Overall not mad at Sunshine Seasons

Then it was finally time for Soarin’ and thankfully, Living with the Land was back up and running !

Love the fall decor but so sad we weren’t there for Glimmering Greenhouse.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We then had two more lightning lanes. Our third scheduled for that day was Test Track.

I have no idea why my hair is blowing forward while everyone else’s is blowing back

And I had a single pass for Guardians. Sage rode Guardians last time and hated it so I rode alone. I can’t remember what she did

We also rode Mission Space Green while we were over in that area. We did orange last time and you couldn’t pay me to do it again

So at this point, we actually had to head back for the hotel for a bit. Sage had a check in appointment with a doctor on zoom and wanted to do it in the privacy of our room.

We did two quick things on the way out.

First we met Asha. I have been wanting to meet her for so long!! I know I am in the minority but I actually LOVED the movie Wish.

And finally, we stopped by the Rose and Crown. Last August, Sage and I did the Spice Road Table fireworks dining package and we absolutely loved it. I really wanted to try the Rose and Crown package as well. I didn’t even consider doing it with Aria because she is 10 which means I would pay the adult price. Which I don’t mind but she barely eats like a child, never mind an adult. So I knew it wouldn’t be worth it for her.

But a week before the trip when I decided to take Sage instead, I was on a mission to book Rose and Crown for us. I checked in the app for a reservation constantly every day and signed up for dining alerts but never had any luck. I decided to stop by the restaurant that afternoon just to see if they had any last minute cancellations.

When I asked the cast member at the front, she said they have two tables that they set aside for day of reservations She said they are sometimes dependent on the day and staff available. She double checked for us and said that both tables were still available!!! I was SO excited.

So obviously I knew we’d be coming back that night

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Once we returned to Epcot, we had about an hour before we had to check in at Rose and Crown so we took some Photopass photos and explored the nearby pavilions.