Trip Report The One Where She Starts the Fight: Labor Day 2025

Well… life has certainly been life-ing! I last left you all on a different thread sharing year 1 of my AP adventures in 2024. Maybe someday I’ll finish it.

Loooooooong story short, I made renewed my AP and made 4 trips in 2025. Maybe one of these days I’ll share all of those too, but for now, I’ll leave you with the most recent one: The One Where She Starts the Fight.

When: Labor Day Weekend 2025
Where: We booked VERY last minute and decided to make it a bucket-list trip due to the circumstances, so… Grand Floridian!
Who: Me, my sister S, and my niece, Baby B, who isn’t much of a baby anymore!

Why? I was diagnosed with breast cancer just two weeks before this trip. Caught early, I’m currently in the middle of chemotherapy, and it’s going to be okay, but it was important to me to squeeze a trip in to my favorite place before we got the show on the road.

More to come!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

Oh my goodness @ToInfinity, you are way too young to go through this. I’m sure there are so many other readers besides those who respond here who will be sending prayers and positive thoughts to you through this journey.

Do what makes you happy and Disney has been a solace to many people, myself included. Plan that next trip!

In the meantime know you have an army (wearing Mouse ears and other Disney paraphanelia) cheering you on!

 

[k8einwdw]

Sending all the prayers and positive thoughts your way! I hope your chemo is going as well as it can be, and that reliving the memories of this trip helps to keep your spirits high.

 

[riverside]

Know you’re in my thoughts & prayers!! I hope chemo is being as kind as it can to you. Wishing you all the best & looking forward to your report!!

 

[ToInfinity]

Once I received my diagnosis and we got a bit of a timeline for surgery and treatment, it became clear that both an early October trip at POFQ and a mid-November trip at Coronado we already had booked would not be doable. I (sadly) cancelled both of those but looked at the calendar and found a very small window of time without any appointments over Labor Day weekend! To Disney for 3 days we went!

We quickly looked and decided we wanted this one to be extra special, so we booked Grand Floridian on an AP discount. We have never stayed there so I was very excited!

B has a birthday in December, so she is just few months away from 3 years old on this trip. Because of the uncertain nature of everything, we decided not to tell her about it until we were getting in the car. Having been several times already, she LOVES all things Disney now and even asks to watch parades and rides on YouTube regularly. There were hints though…

S and I both worked Friday and met up after to head to the airport. B was so excited when we told her! Because of the time of day, we had some significant traffic on the way and were literally rushing through security. We made it to the gate *just* in time.

I had gotten our room ready text earlier in the day. We didn’t know much about the building layout at GF, but I felt like we had gotten a great location. I booked a resort view, but they actually upgraded us to a water view. We were looking out at the marina!

We landed in MCO and headed down to wait on Mears. I was very hopeful that since it was so late, we would not have a long wait, but that was a very incorrect assumption.

After the experience we had this time, I do not know that we will use the service again. To give you an idea, our flight landed around 8:50. We were not walking into the doors of the Grand Floridian until 11:45. The VERY last stop on the bus. With a very tired two-year-old. No thanks.

B dozed a little on the bus but since we were the last stop, every time the lights went on to let other people off it upset her.

Thankfully, we made it and S was still smiling!

Not very many people about at this time of night.

 

[ToInfinity]

Oh my goodness @ToInfinity, you are way too young to go through this. I’m sure there are so many other readers besides those who respond here who will be sending prayers and positive thoughts to you through this journey.

Do what makes you happy and Disney has been a solace to many people, myself included. Plan that next trip!

In the meantime know you have an army (wearing Mouse ears and other Disney paraphanelia) cheering you

Thank you so much!

Sending all the prayers and positive thoughts your way! I hope your chemo is going as well as it can be, and that reliving the memories of this trip helps to keep your spirits high!

It is, and with just a couple treatments left, I’m almost there! Thank you!

Know you’re in my thoughts & prayers!! I hope chemo is being as kind as it can to you. Wishing you all the best & looking forward to your report!!

Thank you so much. It’s been rough but after watching my mom do it for so many years I knew what I was getting myself into, unfortunately!

 

[ToInfinity]

We made our way through the quiet lobby and got a grocery order from bell services. They offered to load us up on a golf cart, drive us to our building, and help us get everything inside and we happily obliged. B thought the golf cart ride was neat!

Finally in the room right around midnight, B of course got a second wind.

These rooms are BEAUTIFUL. I love Mary Poppins, and there was just the right amount of little details throughout. It also was incredibly CLEAN. We have stayed at many Disney resorts over the years, and aside from (maybe) the brand-new room we had at POFQ when we were the actual first guests to stay in it after the renovation, this was definitely the cleanest and best-kept.

In fact, we loved it so much that there just might be a summer trip already booked to stay again…

After we quickly settled in, we got into bed and thankfully everyone went right to sleep. Tomorrow? MK here we come!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Looking forward to seeing more of your trip. I hope your treatments go well and strength the to keep up the fight!

 

[onesandzeros]

Best wishes for a successful procedure and quick recovery!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

So sorry to hear this news and at such a young age. Pleased your treatment is going well and that you probably have an upcoming trip in the summer. You so deserve it. Already enjoying this report. We use Uber to & fro from the airport and is well worth it.

 

[ToInfinity]

Despite our late night, we were up and moving fairly early because B never sleeps late. It was hard to tell last night, but we had a beautiful view from our balcony! Would we even be able to see some fireworks? Stay tuned!

I got ready first and went down to pick up breakfast from Gasparilla's to bring back to the room. It took a surprisingly long time to get the order but eventually it was ready and I brought it back up to S and B.

B got mickey waffles and S and I both got the bacon, egg, and cheese croissant. Everyone enjoyed their food. I love Disney breakfast!

We headed towards the boat and were on our way to MK a little after 9:00. It was a beautiful morning. I expected it to be very hot at the end of August, but honestly it wasn't bad at all the entire trip.

We had LLMP and also a LL for SDMT because we thought B was tall enough to ride! She has always been tall for her age. Now at 3 years old, she is right at 40 inches. I am excited for all of the possibilities that unlocks at DIsney! Soon, we were here!

I purchased PhotoPass with my AP back in June because we knew it would be fun with B and because I felt like it was a great deal at just $89 for the year.

Our first ride of the day?

This was LL #1. B's most requested to watch on YouTube.

Our next LL was for Mansion so we went there next. I figured this one wouldn't be a hit with B, but it is a must-do for me! She spotted the carousel on the way over. We assured her we would be back to do it shortly.

 

[ToInfinity]

The WALLS. It fully ruins the ambience of the area. It will be a long couple years while they build Cars. RIP.

They had this big fan out in the queue at Mansion. I hadn't seen/noticed that before, so my guess is they did it to improve circulation since the walls are up on the river side?

I don't feel like we nailed anything in this photo. You can't tell, but B rode the entire way with her legs up, curled into a ball with her eyes closed.

We stopped for a quick bathroom break on the way back to do the promised carousel ride and ran into a friend!

She still talks about doing this, months later. I love that they have brought back some free-roaming characters. We also ran into these gentlemen (?) Don't be fooled by the little wave. Once we got on the carousel, B informed us that she was Captain Hook was "not her favorite".

We walked right on to the carousel. B liked it more before it started moving because she has a bit of a fear of heights, but she made it through.

 

[ToInfinity]

Little did B know, our next ride had even more heights. AND, she was tall enough! The death grip on S's arm tells you all you need to know. Although, just within the past few weeks, she has started asking to watch videos of coasters so I am hoping we can get her on Slinky when we go next!

We walked on to Small World next, wrapping up our time in Fantasyland for a bit.

Our next LL was for Tiana's which B was too short to ride, so I took her to see the Bears while S went first.

The last time S rode TBA, many of the effects were not working properly. She was not impressed, but this time was much better with the exception of just a couple AA's.

We switched out and she took B to do Tiki Room. RIP Rivers of America. again.

They had this live band outside of Tiana's. Live entertainment for the win!

 

[ToInfinity]

We met back up to head to Jungle Cruise because I had miraculously gotten a LL for right then. This is another one of B's favorites and I despise the standby queue so we were thrilled to get to do it. Side note, I did Keys to the Kingdom on a solo trip earlier in 2025. We learned some neat things about Jungle Cruise and I highly recommend the tour if you've ever considered it!

Up next was a late lunch at one of our new favorites! I didn't have an ADR, but we walked up and were seated immediately.

Liberty Tree Tavern: YUM. I don't have any other pictures because we devoured it.

It was right around 3:00 and B needed a nap, so we headed out to take a break in the room. In true S fashion, we were nearly at the front of the park when she remembered a Tigger plush that B really wanted in the gift shop outside of Pooh earlier in the morning. We quickly went back to get it so we could leave it in the room! After that, we headed out. I felt like the logo here was a new addition to the train station.

 

[MinnieM123]

@ToInfinity , I'd say that a trip to WDW was just what the doctor ordered for you! Wishing you the best with your medical treatments.