Trip Report 3rd year in a row to visit and mom's worst fear!

Hi Everyone!

This is my first TR and I didn't take notes while on my trip...so please bear with me.

Here's a little background on my trip. Our travel days were Sept 12 - 21, staying in POFQ. Travel party is Mom (that's me) the Disney fan since I was little, DH - who tolerates Disney for me, DD 8 is a thrill ride junkie, DD 6 would love to be thrill ride junkie but still a little short for some of the rides, DD 2 a huge Disney JR fan and loves anything Disney like her momma.


DD Samantha 8

DD Sydney 6

DD Jordan 2

Day 1 - Travel Day and Arrival

So the day started like every day in our house. We all got up, I went to work and the 2 older girls went to school. After working all day I came home and finished the last little bit of packing so hubby could pack up the car. We hit the road around 6pm from Northern VA....and what do we hit oh the lovely DC traffic on 495. After getting out of traffic not much to say other than we took turns driving thru VA, NC, SC, GA then FL. Of course we had to stop at every welcome center.

We finally saw this great view

and then this one

I had done the check in on line and asked for a bottom floor. so we went and checked in, they had a room ready but on the 3rd floor in building 7. I asked if we could possible get into a 1st floor and the lady checking us in went and checked. After a couple minutes she came back and score we got a bottom floor room in building 3 but the room wasn't ready. I said fine just text me when it's ready.
We showed the girls the pool and took a few pics by the gators

Then decided since we were hungry we would go look for a McDonalds and found one on Disney property. While we ate we got the text saying our room was ready and we were in room 3126. So we headed back to check out our room. (sorry I took no pictures of our room this year), while the hubby unpacked the car I arranged the room and unpacked our clothes.

Ok we are all settled in and ready to go, but first I wanted everyone to rest up and clean up for our first adventure......


Sorry to stop hear but since I have to get up for work tomorrow I should get to bed. I'll finish up day 1 tomorrow. Thanks for reading

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Day 1 (Cont...)

So I left of with us resting and getting cleaned up. Normally we would start our trip with going to Epcot, but with it being Friday the 13th we decided to head straight to Hollywood Studios. We really didn't want to deal with the crowds and buses with sleepy kids and a stroller so we choose to drive (not know how easy it would be or wouldn't be). We arrived at the park around 4pm and didn't really have anything planned. We of course went and checked to see the wait for TSMM and the line was over 60 min. We knew we'd be back so we skipped the ride. We just wondered around a little taking it all in that our vacation had finally started. My goal this trip was to meet some characters we haven't meet before and to watch some shows/parades we haven't seen. We got in a line to start the meet n greets of and the girls decided to hola hoop while we wait

And finally it was our turn to say hello to Phines and Ferb

from there we went and said hi to Mater and Lightning McQueen

By this time we were all hot and tired from driving all night and I wanted to get into the ac so we headed over to the Muppets. The little one managed to fall asleep some how and woke up towards the end of the show and wanted to see the Muppets so the girls and I went again. After that we walked towards the front to see what we could do, I think we checked out some of the shops and other things (this is where I wished I kept notes). We ended up on TGMR and the girls loved it. We had the Mobster scene which I believe is the one we always get.

From there we went and watched the Little Mermaid show and then went into Animators building to see if any characters were there. I believe only Mickey was in the building but the line was super long and the girls were defiantly upset cause we missed Wreck It Ralph but took photos in front of the set up area

By this time it was getting real close to the start of Villians Unleashed and the crowds were starting to really show up

I was starting to get really hungry and just wanted to sit down somewhere and get a bite to eat and drink some water. It was hotter than I expected. After walking around some bit and looked, we decided to eat at Pizza Planet. I told the hubby with it being so hot and not feeling the best I didn't want a whole meal would he mind sharing a meal with me. He was fine with that, and I knew with the 2 younger ones being tired and cranky they wouldn't eat so I only got the older one a meal and I'm glad I didn't get more than on meal, because while I was standing in the huge line they fell asleep

We ate our yummy pizza and shared the most awesome cupcake ever. Cherry Chocolate cupcake. we decided to head back towards the hub it was close to 8:30 by this time, but before we could get to the hub we made a quick stop for this photo

We made it to the hub and man it was packed, we saw where all the villians were meeting but the line was way to long to wait. We watched the show for a little bit and danced to the music. Around 10 pm I was really feeling sick to my stomach and told the hubby we needed to go so I could go rest and get ready for the next day. We took our time exiting and the hubby had fun taking lots of pictures

We finally exited and I wish I took a picture of the line of folks waiting to get into the park. It was crazy. We walked back to our car and head back to the hotel. We made it back by 11pm and headed to the food court to get our drinks and head off to bed. I wish we had stayed for at least the fireworks, but what can you do when you have 3 little ones who keep crying cause their tired and want to go to bed.

 

[DisSplash]

Cute kids! They looks so happy and excited! Did you really drive through the night? That's a tough drive, but kudos to you as it saves you a day. I love the Gator photos!

Looking forward to hearing more ....

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Cute kids! They looks so happy and excited! Did you really drive through the night? That's a tough drive, but kudos to you as it saves you a day. I love the Gator photos!

Looking forward to hearing more ....

Thank you, they are the apple of my eye and can defiantly drive me nuts too. Yes we decided this year to drive straight thru and thought driving thru the night would be best. Needless to say we will not do that again.

 

[DisSplash]

I can relate! Years ago my DH and I drove through the day and night from Pensacola, FL to NJ (22 hours). We thought we were going to drive off the road at some point as we were both so loopy tired by the time we hit the DC area (at that point we were switching off driving duties every 45 minutes I think) ... while it was a bit of a time-saver, we both decided it was not worth the risk and decided that we would never do it again. Hence our drives to WDW are only through the day and we stop at my sisters house 2 1/2 hours outside of Orlando. It's much better (and safer for everyone) that way!

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Day 2

So we slept in a little and I think we all loved that. We decided to start our day at Epcot and then end it in Magic Kingdom. So after everyone got up and ready we headed out. This time we decided to take the bus since the girls wanted to ride the Monorail. The wait for the bus wasn't bad and we got to Epcot by 10am, everything was going great till Jordan ran into me and fell down and scraped her knee. It was a huge meltdown, thankfully I bought a first aide kit before our trip and had it packed in our backpack. We fixed her up and then headed into the park.

So we enter the park and man it looked like it was going to be very busy, there was a huge line for SSE. We decided to skip the ride and head to TT but I saw Goofy and got distracted. Know I knew Sydney (the 6 yr old) wouldn't go to the characters cause she is deathly afraid, but I wasn't sure how Jordan (the 2 yr old) would do. So we got in line. We got to see him before it was time for him to go check on Max so yeah for us! I have to say I was very happy when the little one went right up to Goofy and handed over her autograph book. Now the 6 yr old agreed to be in the picture as long as I promised non of them would touch her (we had a few melt downs later).

Here's a pic with Goofy

So that was done we headed to TT now, the wait wasn't too bad and the hubby decided he'd go ride now with the girls while I went in and waited. We also go fast passes to use later.

Here they are waiting

The little one and I went into the building to see what was new. We waited what seemed like forever and debated going to The Land to ride Living With The Land, but I didn't want to head over by myself. While we waited I did the free measurement for Jordan and she got a free etchasketch which helped keep her entertained for awhile. Hubby texted me and told me to go ahead and head over to the land but I said no we would wait for them. They finally came out of the ride and the girls had a blast. We wasted some more time in the building. Finally it was time to head over to the land, but then we looked and it was time for the fast passes to be used.

I decided then that I was tired of waiting and would head to the Land with Jordan. I also took all the tickets so I could get fast passes for the girls and daddy for Soarin. Well while I was getting the passes hubby texts me and tells me TT was down and they couldn't use the FP and asked where we were. I told him by the FP machine. We all meet up and I was starving so we decided to try food court in The Land. This was a first for us, and hubby and I got the Sweet n Sour Chicken, while the girls got the pizza panani, and for dessert I got Strawberry Shortcake, hubby got cheesecake and the girls got grapes and cookies. Everyone loved it, now with full stomachs we went on Living with The Land. It wasn't time for Soarin yet so we decided to go visit our little friend in the Seas.

We all love Finding Nemo and after we found him and visited the big blue world, we decided to go say hi to Crush

With time to kill we decided to go see Figment (boy I miss the old version), but I insist we have to ride at least once when visiting the Mouse.

Oh No! Not the SKUNK!!!

After riding the girls played around for a little and I vetoed staying any longer I believe we might have used the FP for Soarin before riding Figment, but not positive. I do know that after Figment we headed over to TT for them to use their FP for that ride. Now Jordan had fallen asleep in her stroller almost within 2 seconds of me putting her in it. Which was great because she really needed it.

The wait was a lot shorter this time and as soon as the ride was over, I said we needed to head out or we would be late for our ADR at Crystal Palace. So we hop on the Monorail and off we go.....

 

[Raven66]

Your daughters are super cute. And it looked like you had a really good time. Can't wait to read the rest and see more pictures.

 

[lbrad]

Your girls are adorable !!!
Can't wait to read more

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Very cute...nice start to the report! The kiddos are adorable Can't wait to read more!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Loving your TR so far!!!! Your girls are adorable!!!

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Your daughters are super cute. And it looked like you had a really good time. Can't wait to read the rest and see more pictures.

Thank you, I'm hoping to post more tonight

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Your girls are adorable !!!
Can't wait to read more

thank you

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Very cute...nice start to the report! The kiddos are adorable Can't wait to read more!

Thank you!

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Loving your TR so far!!!! Your girls are adorable!!!

Thank you

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

So where did I leave off..... Day 2 continued

So we made it to Magic Kingdom around 5pm. We had about an hour to kill before our ADR at Crystal Palace. Now I made this reservation because Jordan is a huge Pooh fan and I figured she'd love the characters I also noted we would be celebrating her 2nd Birthday! So we walk in and this is the first thing I see

I wanted a couple shots in front of the castle and once I get the photopass pictures i'll post a few. Now after that we heard the music for the afternoon parade and decided we'd go watch a little of it. The girls loved it

After the parade went past we followed everyone else to the center but didn't want to get stuck due to it getting closer to 6pm so we departed ways and headed to CP to check in

We only waited about 10 mins after we checked in till we were called to our table, and to my surprise we had mickey confetti on our table!

So our waiter came over and explained everything to us, he was wonderful and i'm sorry I forgot his name. We all started to go up and get our food. After a little wait we finally had some visitors.
First up TIGGER!!!

Then Eeyore

and Piglet!

We were getting close to being done but Pooh still hasn't come over yet. I let the waiter know we were ready for the birthday cupcake and Jordan loved it!

So after all the waiting Pooh finally showed and Jordan didn't want anything to do with him

Now you'll notice Sydney wasn't in any of the photos, she was very happy to sit on the other side away from the characters and just watch .

Now dinner was done and we had a few things we wanted to do before the park closed. So off we go, we walk towards Adventure land and see the line for Tink and friends was pretty short so in we go. Now while waiting Sydney decides she has to go to the bathroom, so her and I run out and back. Now I asked Samantha before I left did she have to go and she said no i'm good. So we're waiting and it's our turn to go the front and stand by the wall so we can shrink down to fairy size, all of a sudden Samantha is in tears cause she's got to go really bad. Now I had just asked her not even 5 mins and now it's to the point of peeing her pants. I asked the lady if we can exit and tell the hubby to take lots of photos since i'll be missing this MnG, the CM tells me just to come back in thru the exit and they'll get Sam in to see Terrance and Tinker Bell. So we go and try to return thru the exit and the door was shut and no way of opening it. So we go back around and I tried to explain to the guy CM that I was just in the room and had to exit for a bathroom emergency and he tells me that I need to get back in line. Thankfully one of the other CM's say me and said no she needs to return to her family and takes me right in. So off we go to meet Tinker Bell first, but first here is a pic of Sydney and Jordan meeting Terrence

and here's the girls with Tinker Bell

After they talked and meet with her, Samantha got to go back and meet Terrence and here she is and we asked for some Pixie Dust (he wasn't happy that we used all of ours up), he told Samantha she'll have to wait till it's time for her refill.

Well we were done being small with the fairies, and I was ready to be a pirate so off we went.
The wait I think was 10 minutes but we pretty much walked on to the ride. I tried my had at taking some pics,

I promise I didn't use the flash on the ride, funny part is we didn't realize that they had new boats and when we went down the hill we got a little more wet than expected, by the time we got off the ride my foot was completely soaked from the puddle at my feet. The girls loved it.
Sydney asked if we could ride Alladin so we headed over to that next

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

The last of Day 2-

when we got off we noticed the MSEP was going on so we headed over to watch it

After the parade we headed over to Haunted Mansion for a quick ride, again no line and we walked right on. What gets me is several times folks were told no flash photography and they still continued to use the flash. We got on and the ride stops, we sit for about 5 mins and finally start back up we make it all the way to the start of the cementary scene and stop again. Now the hubby had the camera on this ride and decided he'd try to get some shots, here's a few

We decided to head off to Fantasy Land and see what the waits are for some of the rides. First up Small World and again walk on, next was Peter Pan and OMG it had I think a 10 min wait and we actually walked on needless to say that was the only time it was that low of a wait time while we were there. When we got off PP it was almost 11pm so we walked to the carousel and the CM told us it would be the last ride of the night and we could still get in line, so we did. Poor Sydney wanted to sit on one of the big horses by herself and not next to us and the CM made her move towards me. She was crushed but I understand that with her as small as she is it's a safety reason.

And that was the end of the night for us. We slowly walked out of the park figured no reason to rush to stand in the lines for the busses. So the hubby took some photos as we were leaving

OOPS looking thru my pictures the 2nd MSEP was going on and we decided to leave while everyone was watching the parade and we beat the crowd to the busses. We got back to the hotel with enough time to run to the room and get our cups so we could get a drink and then head to bed. Next up Day 3 Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Day 3 -

We woke up and decided to let the girls swim for awhile in the pool, I wasn't in any rush to get to the parks. After swimming for a bit we got ready and headed to Epcot, we rode the bus and planned on taking the boat to HS because we had ADR's at Mama Melrose for Fantasmic Package. We got to Epcot and thru bag check. We walked in and I wanted a picture in front of the SSE but I wanted the back view with the fountain so we headed there. Now we got a family shot and then I asked to get a shot of just the girls. I went to take a picture with my camera and don't you know it I left the battery back at the hotel on the charger. Well shoot that means we have to go back to the room and needless to say the hubby wasn't to happy about that. Well our ADR wasn't till 6pm and I didn't want to leave Epcot without doing a few rides or something. So we headed towards World Showcase. I was getting hungry and wanted lunch so we stopped in Mexico and had a yummy lunch. Now the hubby and I had been talking about the bounce back offer and possible doing it and booking a room for his parents. But we needed to talk to them first. After we ate I called my in laws and gave the speech and finally got my FIL to agree to a Disney vacation with us (he later emailed and said he changed his mind, but I told him tuff we are booking and he can change his mind later. Always easier to cancel then to add them on later) After that was taken care of we went on the ride in Mexico. Jordan loved it and wouldn't stop dancing thru the ride. By this time it was starting to get a little late and we needed to start heading out since I goofed and left the battery back at the hotel. We did have time for one more ride and we did Universe of Energy. Hubby hated the ride and said he would have rather taken a nap, the girls all liked it but did get a little bored towards the end. I of course loved it.

Ok so we got back to the hotel and I ran to the room to get the battery, the rest of the group stayed at the bus stop. Next stop HS

Made it and the girls found some bubbles to play with

So we get in and I decide we need a family shot

Our photographer saw the girls had Monster Inc shirts on and told us we needed to go see Sully and Mike and since al Meet n Greets were ending soon we decided we should head straight there. We took the long way and got lost a little (I don't know what we were thinking), but we made it and hubby wasn't sure if we should wait since it was approaching our ADR time. I told him to relax we'd be fine and I wasn't sure if we'd be back to see the Monsters. Here we are waiting

Now Jordan was very excited to see them and happy the whole time we were waiting. When it became our turn she freaked out and started to yell no mommy no. I wanted to show her it was okay and that Sully was nice so I gave him a big hug

Didn't help she was still freaked out. Now I was impressed cause Sydney wanted to be in the picture and we didn't have to beg her, she just asked that daddy stand with her and not let the monsters touch her. No problem

Ok so we were really cutting it close to check in time. I walked really fast to check us in while daddy took Jordan and got the stroller. WE made it just in time, I think we might have been 5 minutes late but not to bad. I believe it rained while we ate dinner and it helped to cool it down a little. Jordan was being really bad at dinner and I was done with it by the time we left that I was in a very bad mood. We weren't sure what to do after eating so we just walked around a little. Samantha wanted her photo taken in front of the Muppets fountain so we headed there

After that we decided to walk the streets and take some pics, Hubby checking into a fancy hotel

Then the girls

We decided to head over to TSMM to see how long the wait was. It must have been short cause we got in line to ride

Daddy rode with Jordan and Sydney and I didn't get there score, but of course daddy won
Here's Samantha's and mine and I won, woohoo

After we rode it was time to head over for Fantasmic, and I love the new seating area for the dinner package. We got some really good seats, middle and towards the front.

We all loved the show, but I thought it looked different from last year. Did they change the show?
After the show we took the long walk out of the park and to the buses to wait in the long lines. But first we stopped to take a few pictures

And that was it for Day 3, we made it back to the hotel and got our cups and headed to the drink machine to fill up. Up next is Day 4 at Animal Kingdom/Epcot and mom's worst fear.

 

[LizC]

Thanks for sharing. Your girls are adorable. I'm interested to hear what happens that is "Moms worst fear". As a Mom myself I have a few guesses.
Looking forward to more!

 

[myhappyplace]

So curious what "Mom's worst fear" is!! I have a couple guesses...

 

[TaraWdopeyfan]

Sorry for the delay had to save all my photos for the next few days.

Day 4 Animal Kingdom/Epcot

So today was Monday Sept 16 and Extra Magic Hour in AK, so we got up early and it took us all a little longer to get ready than we expected. With that being the case we decided to drive to AK and then drive to Epcot later in the day. We arrived in AK around 8:15 and walked up and in with no issues. I know a lot of folks don't see this park as an all day but it is one of our favorites and since our girls love animals we normally spend almost a whole day here. So we start off going towards Safari ride and on the way took some Photo shots (once I get my cd i'll post some pictures). Here are the girls looking for animals

I love this light

and this one

So we finally made it to the ride and because the park still hadn't opened we were able to walk right on

The girls loved it, we saw most of the animals and it was a very hot day but we had a nice breeze on the ride. When we got off it was 9am so the park was open to everyone. We decided to walk towards Everest to get FP's to use a little later but stopped to see the instruments at the outpost by the exit.

On our adventure we found the drums and the girls tried their hands at playing

So as you guys remembered I said my worst fear happened. Well after we all played the drums we started walking towards Asia to get that FP. Well while walking Jordan and Sydney were in the stroller and I decided I wanted a family photo with the Tree so we stopped to wait our turn. Well while we waited Jordan jumped out of the stroller to look over the bridge which was fine because I could see her and she wasn't that far from me. Well I had my camera hanging around my neck and didn't want it in the picture so I took it off and went to put it in the stroller....I only took my eye off Jordan for a second, and when I looked back up....SHE WAS GONE, I totally freaked. I started yelling for her name, looked at my hubby and asked where she went. He had no idea, I immediately went off towards Africa thinking she went back to the drums, and the whole time yelling her name. A nice family said they say a little one walking by herself going the other way. Needless to say I just started panicking even more and every bad thing went thru my head. I yelled at the hubby and kids and was in tears, so I took off towards Asia and still couldn't find her. I asked a few folks if they saw a little one go by and no one did. At this point I was so panicked I didn't know what to do. I finally saw an employee (poor guy I think I scared him) I ran up to him in tears and told him I lost my little girl. He did a really good job of trying to calm me down and asked me what she was wearing and to describe everything I could think to help. He also got on the headset to his supervisor to let them know about a lost kid.

Now the hubby went a different way while the CM and I went back towards Africa, and the whole time he spoke quietly and softly to me to keep me calm and rely info back to his supervisor. After what felt like an eternity I started texting my hubby to see if he found her. Apparently she had run past us and neither one of had seen her. She ended up in Asia and 2 ladies that work there found her, when they brought her back to my husband they told him, she was very brave and didn't cry was just walking around yelling "Daddy, where are you".

So there you have it "Mom's Worst Fear" and thankfully it ended very Happy!