Trip Report It's a trap! (LIVE-ish) ***COMPLETED***

I wish I had seen this sooner

Part 1: In-laws are better than outlaws, right?

• 3 Nights at Cabana Bay
• 2 full park days at Universal and maybe partials on the either end.
• The Cast:
  • MIL
  • SIL
  • and I (BES)

Part 2: Has anyone in this family ever even seen a chicken?

• 1 night at AKL in a 1 bedroom villa.
• 6 nights at POP in 2 rooms.
• 7 days of park hopping
• The Cast:
  • my parents
  • my younger brother
  • my nephew (who will be 8)
  • and myself

 

[Nunu]

TR aside-

I am posting now from a car dealership. Was having tire pressure issues pretrip- turned out to be a nail.

There’s an annoying guy in the waiting room. Loud chewing, snot noises, watching videos on his phone without headphones. The icing on the gross cake is that he had a First Order decal on his car. Really? Ugh. I hope he doesn’t notice my SW phone case.

Is he also smacking his gum?! (I hate that!)
Eeeewwww!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Is he also smacking his gum?! (I hate that!)
Eeeewwww!

It was chips, which I know isn’t a super quiet food, but trust me he was eating them way louder than necessary.

Ugh. Just got to enjoy another loud snot swallow.

I really hope they are done with one of our cars next.

 

[Nunu]

It was chips, which I know isn’t a super quiet food, but trust me he was eating them way louder than necessary.

Ugh. Just got to enjoy another loud snot swallow.

I really hope they are done with one of our cars next.

Yeah! Chips are kinda noisy but I suspect the "delightful" guy might be chewing with his mouth open

Hope it's over soon!

 

[Darstarr]

It was chips, which I know isn’t a super quiet food, but trust me he was eating them way louder than necessary.

Ugh. Just got to enjoy another loud snot swallow.

I really hope they are done with one of our cars next.

Good thing I already had dinner. Thanks BES for the lovely imagery!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Good thing I already had dinner. Thanks BES for the lovely imagery!

Haha. Sorry. That was also the point in the story where DH stopped me to see if the story got any more gross.

The half hour wait with this guy was worse than all of my waiting last week in lines with smelly strangers in the heat.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Yeah! Chips are kinda noisy but I suspect the "delightful" guy might be chewing with his mouth open

Hope it's over soon!

My car was done before his. When they called my name I ran out of there like:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 7 morning continued:

By now we were more than ready to eat. (Nephew had breakfast at POP but the adults had been holding out for food at MK.)

We wanted something more than pastries which was harder to find than I would have guessed. Mom and I went to Sleepy Hollow. She had the breakfast waffle sandwich. I had the sweet and spicy chicken waffle sandwich. Super good.

Bro didn’t see anything he wanted but noticed that Pecos Bill’s would be opening soon. He ended up with tacos there.

The wait times were still pretty low for MK but instead of riding anything we spent a looooong while sitting in Pecos Bill’s. Finally mom and bro decided they wanted to shop.

Bro was looking for “cool” shirts. Mom was looking for these:

These became the white whale of Day 7.

Mom had considered ordering these ahead of time didn’t. Now on the second to last day of the trip she decided to look for them. For a picture in front of the purple wall.

I am unmoved by the purple wall or limited edition stuff. But I put on my poker face and joined the hunt.

No dice at the Emporium or Le Chapeau. A CM at Le Chapeau gave her some leads some remote possibilities in Epcot and HS.

He was nice but really tried to temper her expectations stating that usually when the inventory number were as low as they were for those stores they were really out or those ears were damaged etc.

How she partially interpreted this:

I mean she was realistic but also you could tell a little hopeful.

As we were heading out of MK bro decided he would like to go to Disney Springs to shop and would look for the ears there as well.

I didn’t really want to head to DS or back to POP yet. I said I wouldn’t mind taking the monorail to Epcot and continuing the hunt. Mom said she would join me.

(We checked in on nephew throughout the morning as well. He was feeling better- enough so to swim.)

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 7 Midday:

Mom and I hopped on the monorail. Decided to make a quick stop before the TTC.

Got off at the Contemporary to look for the purple ears and a purple cupcake. No luck.

Mom ended up buying a purple sequin baseball cap though. She had been eyeing it all week and figured it was a good runner up if we couldn’t find the ears.

This shirt in the gift shop cracked us up:

Back on the monorail to the TTC. Transferred to the Epcot. Smooth bag check at Epcot- a pleasant rarity. Then we continued the hunt for the ears. And snack hunting.

Also around this time we got word from my dad that he fixed the Tragical Express stuff.

(Earlier that morning I received a letter with no pickup time and he didn’t get a letter at all.

I had a feeling this was going to be an issue because we got a letter on day 2 of our trip with the incorrect flight time/day. That day dad had assured me that he had done everything correctly and not to worry because Disney would “figure it out.” )

Mom and I hit Mousegear first. Nothing.

Went to the Odyssey and checked out the festival stuff. I ended up getting my mom an AP mug that she really liked.

Mom got another lobster tail and more frozen violet lemonade.

“BES, aren’t you going to get anything? Perhaps another drink?”

You don’t have to ask me twice.

Picked up a festival gin and tonic near Mexico. It was good but not great. It was made with smoked gin which had those weird “Rome burning” aftertaste. Glad I tried it though.

About this time bro text to stay no dice on the ears in Disney Springs but a CM told him the last place she knew had them was in HS.

Decisions... decisions...

 

[Darstarr]

Part Two Day 7 Midday:

Mom and I hopped on the monorail. Decided to make a quick stop before the TTC.

Got off at the Contemporary to look for the purple ears and a purple cupcake. No luck.

Mom ended up buying a purple sequin baseball cap though. She had been eyeing it all week and figured it was a good runner up if we couldn’t find the ears.

This shirt in the gift shop cracked us up:

View attachment 375676

Back on the monorail to the TTC. Transferred to the Epcot. Smooth bag check at Epcot- a pleasant rarity. Then we continued the hunt for the ears. And snack hunting.

Also around this time we got word from my dad that he fixed the Tragical Express stuff.

(Earlier that morning I received a letter with no pickup time and he didn’t get a letter at all.

I had a feeling this was going to be an issue because we got a letter on day 2 of our trip with the incorrect flight time/day. That day dad had assured me that he had done everything correctly and not to worry because Disney would “figure it out.” )

Mom and I hit Mousegear first. Nothing.

View attachment 375677

Went to the Odyssey and checked out the festival stuff. I ended up getting my mom an AP mug that she really liked.

Mom got another lobster tail and more frozen violet lemonade.

“BES, aren’t you going to get anything? Perhaps another drink?”

You don’t have to ask me twice.

Picked up a festival gin and tonic near Mexico. It was good but not great. It was made with smoked gin which had those weird “Rome burning” aftertaste. Glad I tried it though.

About this time bro text to stay no dice on the ears in Disney Springs but a CM told him the last place she knew had them was in HS.

Decisions... decisions...

Gin and tonic in Mexico!!!
What, pray tell, were you thinking!!!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Gin and tonic in Mexico!!!
What, pray tell, were you thinking!!!

Not a tequila fan but I do love me some gin. Especially in the warmer months.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 7 Midday continued:
We had some decisions to make. Do we continue our wild goose chase to HS? And if so which way?

Mom: “Fun it. We might as well try.”*

BES: “Do you want to... walk there?”

Mom: “Heck yeah. Let’s do it.”

(*paraphrased for Disney eyes/ears *)

At this point we were firmly in WS. So walking to HS wouldn’t be too much longer than walking to the bus etc.

Stopped in China to see if the fancy cotton candy looked sturdy enough to make it all the way back to nephew. Nope. We took a picture for him at least.

(Sorry strangers but your cotton candy is too cool not to share)

Stopped in Germany and got some caramel corn for dad. And a dark chocolate salted caramel thing for us to eat on our journey.

And then we walked to the IG and took at break to eat our caramel before it melted. Very good. Glad we split it though because it was really rich.

On our walk to HS we did see a wedding about to begin. There was a family walking along the path in the opposite direction. Their two young girls were beyond thrilled with seeing the bride. It was adorable.

Took this pic to show dad:

(He was really curious about the Skyliner)

Took these for myself:

Now we we had arrived at HS. I think it was around this time we realized that since our plans were for AK that night that mom and I would be going to all 4 parks in one day.

To make long story short- no purple ears at HS either. We didn’t really do anything there besides look in the shops.

Even though we ended up empty-handed/un-eared I had a nice time with my mom.

Finally we made our way back to POP to have a late lunch and reunite with the rest of the fam.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 7: Evening

Made it to AK around 630pm.

Our first FP window started at 6 so we meandered to Pandora. (Due to a FP booking glitch I was able to easily get FoP FPs on two separate days.)

Dad chose to sit out with my mom. (I had anticipated that I would be sitting this one out and dad would be riding. Soarin’ is his favorite ride so I thought he would love FoP. He thought it was just ok.)

Bro and nephew enjoyed FoP again. I did a lot of eye closing but I liked the parts I saw. Probably won’t ride it again anytime soon though.

We checked out the lemurs for bro (his favorite animal). He took a tons of pics. I apparently just took a pic of this sweet plant.

Next we made our way to KS for an evening safari.
Our guide was Jake. He was awesome. Very professional, friendly and knowledgeable. I feel like I can accurately judge because we were on an extended safari with Jake. Why extended?

A giraffic jam!

There were giraffes in front of the truck ahead of us. Eventually a CM in a truck drove up and lured them away with snacks and the safari trucks started to move again.
Then as we approached the giraffes the same ones got back in the road. So we waited and enjoyed all of the super close giraffes.

I especially enjoyed the babies.

Eventually they were lured away with snacks too and we were on our way.

The rest of the safari was excellent too. Most of the animals were visible. I don’t like to take a lot of KS pics because I am paranoid about my phone being jostled out of my hands.
Near the end of KS, just as we were commenting about this being the best KS ride we’ve ever had we saw a cardinal.

Time for a belated dinner. We did Flame Tree because it was the first thing we found that was open. The ordering went smooth but the pick up was a hot mess.

Our final FP was for RoL. So took our food and ate as we waited for the show.

My family enjoyed RoL quite a bit. It was not as good as it was when I saw it in February. The water screens were all quite blurry and there was no fire.

After RoL we went to check out Pandora at night. Family was quite impressed by it.

Nephew was wearing some glow necklace thing that my mom had brought from home. I made a mental note that this was an excellent way to keep eyes on a squirmy kid in a dark and crowded place.

By the time we got to the buses we didn’t have to wait long to board. Back to POP for our final night.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 7 Wrap Up:

Hamburgers: 0
Drinks: 1
Steps: 34,756

Mom and I accomplished an unplanned challenge of all 4 parks in one day.

Loved this in one of the AK gift shops. (that also didn’t have the purple ears)

 

[durhay]

For reasons none of us can ever know my dad locked their luggage fully knowing he didn’t know the combination lock.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 8: final morning:

The Tragical Express was coming for us at 3pm. Our first flight was due to take off at 6pm. We had another layover in ATL and our final flight was due to land just after midnight.

It was some time the previous day that mom and bro realized all of this. It was pretty early on in this final morning that everyone fully grasped how much this would suck.

As fun as a few bonus park hours were, everyone was just plain ready to go home.

I’m pretty sure dad is now banned from future flight picking.

We got up. Got ready and packed up the stuff we wanted to check. Took that luggage to the airline check in and then had a final food court breakfast. I can’t remember what I had. My guess is kids Mickey waffles.

Back to the room for some final getting ready/ dawdling. Then brought our carry on stuff to store with luggage services.

Finally off to MK for an ever shortening number of hours. I don’t think we arrived until after 10:30am

Oh also, the overall theme of this day was BES being a and keeping everyone on schedule. You know- so buses or planes wouldn’t leave us behind. I’m so mean.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 8: late morning

Finally in MK and our first order of business was to split up.

Nephew really wanted to ride Splash Mountain. Dad and I went off to Splash with him. Mom and bro went to Tomorrowland.

As per usual dad raced ahead of nephew and I. Along the way we passed by Mary Poppins kind of by Sleepy Hollow. The location doesn’t make a lot of sense but oh well.

By the time we got to Splash the standby was 60min. Nephew said he still wanted to ride so we got in line. Dad was convinced the wait would be shorter but it was in fact 60 min.

The highlight of this wait was the group of 3 southern ladies behind me. They first caught my interest when I overhead them talking about breast augmentation surgery.

(Originally I used a more colloquial term that got starred out. )

Later on it transitioned to a conversation about odd places that they liked to, as Bob Eubanks phrased it, make whoopee.

I’m no prude but I feel like that’s not super appropriate with so many kids around. Luckily my nephew and dad seemed oblivious to all of this.

I eventually managed to sneak a peak at this trio without it being too obvious. Well- I think they should be asking for at least a partial refund on those ‘breast’ jobs.

Nephew loved Splash. He said it was his favorite ride (although he looks terrified in the ride picture)

 

[Songbird76]

Part Two Day 8: late morning

Finally in MK and our first order of business was to split up.

Nephew really wanted to ride Splash Mountain. Dad and I went off to Splash with him. Mom and bro went to Tomorrowland.

As per usual dad raced ahead of nephew and I. Along the way we passed by Mary Poppins kind of by Sleepy Hollow. The location doesn’t make a lot of sense but oh well.

View attachment 381117

By the time we got to Splash the standby was 60min. Nephew said he still wanted to ride so we got in line. Dad was convinced the wait would be shorter but it was in fact 60 min.

The highlight of this wait was the group of 3 southern ladies behind me. They first caught my interest when I overhead them talking about breast augmentation surgery.

(Originally I used a more colloquial term that got starred out. )

Later on it transitioned to a conversation about odd places that they liked to, as Bob Eubanks phrased it, make whoopee.

I’m no prude but I feel like that’s not super appropriate with so many kids around. Luckily my nephew and dad seemed oblivious to all of this.

I eventually managed to sneak a peak at this trio without it being too obvious. Well- I think they should be asking for at least a partial refund on those ‘breast’ jobs.

Nephew loved Splash. He said it was his favorite ride (although he looks terrified in the ride picture)

My goodness!! How old were these Southern ladies? I agree....not the appropriate place to have that conversation!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

My goodness!! How old were these Southern ladies? I agree....not the appropriate place to have that conversation!

I would guess in their 30’s. So definitely old enough to know better.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Part Two Day 8: late morning continued/afternoon:

Meanwhile... Mom and bro went to Buzz. On the way bro took purple wall pics of mom. She loved it.

After Buzz bro rode SDMR using a FP. We figured after the SM incident we didn’t want to chance it with nephew. And after the SDD incident there was no way in heck mom was trying it.

Eventually they made their way to Liberty Square and caught a bit of the Muppets show. After the rest of us were done with Splash we all met up and went to our final ride of the trip.

My mom was embarrassingly aggressive with queuing up after the stretching room. And annoyed with the rest of the family that we were trying to not separate families etc.

The surprise upside to this is that we all kind of got separated oddly and I ended up in my own doombuggy.

After HM everyone voiced all of the things they wanted to do (but apparently not enough to get there earlier.) I highly suggested that we head back to POP instead and they begrudgingly agreed.

Back at POP we picked our carry on bags and had lunch. I had chicken tenders with a delicious garlic ranch dipping sauce.
The fam chilled in the food court for a while. Then when we had like 15-20 min before the Tragical Express pick up time my mom decided now was when she wanted to start shopping for souvenirs in the gift shop.

Eventually I herded everyone to the bus pick up area just minutes before the pick up time.

 

[bee]

I am enjoying your report, both the Uni and Disney parts! Congrats on surviving TWO *ahem* challenging families!

OMG I NEED this cupcake!!!

Oh also, the overall theme of this day was BES being a and keeping everyone on schedule.

Somebody's gotta the !