Trip Report 5 Adults vs 1 ten month old. Guess who won?!

Hi All!
Back from another stay at WDW and it was different for sure!
We had a new traveler with us and definitely did Disney differently for that reason and a few others.

I would like to give you guys a heads up before you read any further.
If you have read my trip report from last year you may be aware that my husband (Gary) is being treated for cancer and there are some references in here to how he is doing, because that changed a lot of how we toured this year.
If you are uncomfortable following along because not everything is pixie dust in this report, I will not in any way be offended if you click away. (I much prefer a sexy vampire book myself to a story that has moments of sadness)!
Luckily there were some great family/baby/children moments that brought us joy and new memories were made!

So with warning given and to those who are going to hang around, let's begin!

Our group consisted of myself, Cindy, my husband Gary, my son Seth, my daughter Aleisha our son-in-law Julio and our now 10 month old granddaughter Una. (And PS, she is a crazy girl)!!
We stayed at Bay Lake Oct. 21-27th.

Cast and crew (and one of my favorite pics of the whole trip).

To arrive at Disney everyone was coming from different places at different times. Gary and I headed down from Pittsburgh with an afternoon flight. We left around 2:15 pm and got in close to 4:40 pm-ish.
Us headed to the air side on our version of the monorail.

We had time to eat at Friday's (I think it was). Gary had some potato skins that he liked and I had a kids mac and cheese and french fries that I thought tasted pretty good.

In the meantime my little sleepy head was headed to Orlando from Sacramento with her mom. They started out at 6 am-ish, west coast time.

She did seem to perk up to her usual nosy self once they were on board!

One thing you will notice this trip is a disproportionate amount of baby pictures!

Seth headed down from Georgia, deciding to drive.

As crazy as it sounds, our 2 flights landed within 6 minutes of each other and we were able to meet Una and Aleisha as they got off of the monorail thing!
So excited to see this Mickey 50th wrap on one of the cars.

And Grandpap and Una's airport meet up!!

Julio wouldn't be arriving till the wee hours of Saturday am so we don't have any travel day pics of him.
Next up, is grabbing 800lbs of luggage and off to the Magic Bus!

 

[donaldtoo]

All “ketchupped” @MickeyCB , and lovin’ it…!!!
The total, amazing, beautiful contrast you have to look forward to in only about 2 years…!!!!!

 

[MickeyCB]

All “ketchupped” @MickeyCB , and lovin’ it…!!!
The total, amazing, beautiful contrast you have to look forward to in only about 2 years…!!!!!

View attachment 600273View attachment 600274

So sweet!

 

[MickeyCB]

Day 3, Epcot day, continued-

When I left off we were getting ready to go through security screening at the Contemporary. We did the throw bags at the adults method, Una was allowed to stay in the stroller and we rode the elevator up to the platform and a train was just pulling in!
As you have to transfer from the resort monorail to the Epcot one, we got off, went down the ramp and up to the Epcot line.
We ended up waiting maybe 10 minutes for that to arrive. Julio had taken Una out of the stroller but she wasn't cooperating with being held. There was an oh so interesting bug on the ground! This should only count as a half point, but, there were 5 adults present who couldn't seem to keep her off of the nasty ground!
Score-5 adults 0, baby 3!

My time stamp for the above photo says 10:11. So we had a nice ride to Epcot and practically ran to rent a wheelchair for Gary, who once again was crabbing about using it. We threw him in it and headed off in the wrong direction! Seth said we should have swung to the right somewhere near SE and I think he was correct. The walls are a killer when you are in a rush.
Again, it's October, but I'm pretty sure a combination of the temperature of h**l and the humidity of the tropics. I was unpleasantly dripping by the time we got to the entrance of Ratatouille! I know, great visual, sorry.
My time stamp on this photo is 10:59am!

I think the ride was cute. Honestly it was a bit of a blur, and this trip any ride that whipped you around was really causing Gary discomfort. So I was paying more attention to him not having a good time than the ride details. The kids all liked it.
With a virtual queue spot it was 40 minutes total, including the line and ride.
This is outside the ride area. I thought it was neat.

After the rat ride we decided to walk over to the land where everyone except Aleisha and Una rode Soarin. We weren't thinking clearly and they waited outside in the heat when they could have come inside.

After that we walked over to Nemo and we were all able to ride. Una seemed to enjoy it. I have no pictures of that ride.

We used the DAS pass to get a spot for Frozen in about an hour so we were able to take our time getting over there.
Julio and Aleisha are big foodies and it was so disappointing because one of the ways I badgered talked them into coming along on the trip was the promise of being able to cruise the food and drink booths. It was so crazy crowded (a Saturday during Food and Wine), that they were only able to get one drink (at least 20 minutes for a beer), and sit for a few minutes outside of the Port of Entry stores. A nice family shared their picnic bench so we could all sit.

This is on the way to Frozen. It doesn't quite show how crowded it was.

Our Frozen photo. We had hit some kind of bump that jarred Gary's back and he bent over right as the photo was taken. Una was a little unsure how she felt about all of this! But, right hand was up!

After this we headed over to our much anticipated Space 220 Restaurant reservation.

There were 2 lines outside of the restaurant. The right hand one was for people who were trying to get into the lounge without a reservation and a left side for people with reservations. There was one other family in front of us.
They were taken in and then the CM at the check in desk had us go into a holding area before you go up 220 miles into space!

They gave this to me at check in, and it was taken by our escort when we got into the elevator.

Ok, this was pretty darn cool! The view as you ascend 220 miles above earth!

This is where we ended up being seated and it had great views. I had read that the second tier seating is a good choice because if you sit right at the windows you only see your window. And I have to agree. Throughout our meal we watched various things float by in space! As an example, check out the window above Seth's head!

This was Una singing the song of her people. I apologized to the other diners around us.

Next up some photos of our choices off of the prix fix menu.
(And a photo of the reason I bought that large purple drink you see above that tasted like an upscale Kool-Aid)!

 

[MickeyCB]

Epcot day, Space 220 dining continued...

As most of you know Space is currently a prix fixe menu. You start by choosing a "lift off", which is an appetizer.
Not sure I got a photo of everyone's choices, but here are a few.
All detailed descriptions are taken from the menu.

This was the Big Bang Burrata-mozzarella, grilled artichoke hearts, arugula and sunflower seed romesco. I ordered this because the artichoke hearts caught my eye, but there weren't a whole lot of them to SEE!

This was Gary's salad. A Space Greens salad.
Bibb lettuce, dried cranberries, roasted pears, spiced pecans and apple cider dressing. He has developed a pattern of initially refusing food, then when he gives it a minute he usually likes it. He said this was very good.

This is the Neptune Tartare that I think Julio and maybe Aleisha had.
Yellowfin tuna, ginger miso, soy, avocado, raddish, (2 d's) apple and sesame crackers. They said it was good.

Seth ordered a Caesar for himself and Starry Calamari for the table. I've not had calamari before and thought this was good.
The calamari came with Italian cherry peppers, marinara, and roasted pepper citrus aioli. I have no idea what these different things are, ask our resident chef @Darstarr. She'll know. It tasted fine is all I know.

I forget who all had what, but the main course is called the Star Course.
I had this chicken dish that was really tasty. It's their Roasted Range-Free Chicken. Chicken roulade, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, roasted thyme jus. Not nearly enough brussels sprouts in my opinion.

This blurry photo is Gary's meal which was the Terra-Bolognese. It has corn linguine, tempeh ragu, macadamia nut "ricotta", and zucchini and mushrooms. He felt it was way too spicy (but you can't take his word for it because many foods bother his mouth now).

This was the Seared Tuna. Spiced yellow tuna, avocado, marinated egg, brown rice, edamame, pineapple and radishes (one r). They said it was very good.

I honestly don't remember what everyone had for a drink. They of course were Disney fancy prices.
The purple drink in the post above that I got for one purpose was a lemonade of sorts. The reason I bought it and drank 2 sips was for these cards! I am a nut for Disney paper. I love love and collect vintage Disney paper, but will snag and hoard most any Disney paper new or old. (As poor @riverside knows). I frequently bug her to pick me up paper on her trips!

We all posed for a photo in front of the windows before heading out. And tell me girlfriend doesn't look like she is up to something in this picture!!

And speaking of paper. A little story as we were exiting the restaurant heading to the elevator.
We had asked for a paper menu for Gary as it is easier for him to read than on his phone. After using it I couldn't find anywhere on the table to put it. It was a long piece of paper. I finally sat it on the floor between our chairs. As we got ready to leave I picked it up, no one still seemed interested in it so I walked out with it. As we got to the elevators a CM comes hustling towards me and says "oh we don't remove any paper from the space station". Then proceeds to take it.
That's fine, if you want your paper back, but I felt like a thief even though no one up to that point appeared to give a fig.
And because she caught me off guard, I didn't think to tell her it was on the floor. So if they didn't throw it away, the next unsuspecting person will be handling a menu that was on the floor!

Commentary on our experience. I think it is a cool restaurant and glad we got to experience it. Would I get up 2 weeks in a row at 5:45 again to try to get a reservation, no way! (The reason for the 2 week deal was we were only couple of weeks before our trip when they announced it would be opening, without giving a starting date for booking reservations).
So each day I got up and logged on in case they quietly opened reservations. As it turns out they did announce a booking date and my friend who is a Disney travel agent told me to log on at 5:30 and it was a good thing because that is when it opened and I got this reservation at approximately 5:32 am and the system crashed not long after that.
(I will admit to doing a happy dance in my jammies as I got the reservation).
It was pretty pricey. This was considered lunch at 3pm. And all in including tip, 5 adults with drinks, no desserts, with a DVC discount it was $397.31. Not completely out of line with some Disney dining prices, but still.

Up next, some chronologically out of order photos!

 

[riverside]

It’s all good & I’m happy to do it! That’s what friends are for!!
Wow—that is very pricey but the food & experience look amazing!! I really want to try it!!
Yesterday I booked our reservations for January. I told R & he was telling me that he was talking to a parent at his school & they raved about that restaurant. Naturally he wants to go there. I tried to get one & can’t. But ready for this, I also tried to get one for Coral Reef & couldn’t get that either-at 60 days out!!
Funny thing is, as soon as R sees the food pics he won’t want to go there. It’s not his type of food but I would like it!!
I’m showing him your post tonight. I’m anxious to see what he says!!

 

[MickeyCB]

Epcot day will continue, but first a small deviation for some photos that my kids finally sent me. I bugged them for 2 weeks to send me any photos they had and finally a day ago they sent some. Sorry for all of the baby pics!

I think I figured out what Una was up to in the photo above. She's fascinated with Gary's ears. This pic is from their visit home in August.

This was on the ME on the way to Bay Lake. "Grandpap, I love your ears"!
Couldn't decide between that and "Grandpap what big ears you have"!

Some more out of order photos.
This was from our first day at AK. No idea where she thinks she was going!

And this was the idea we swiped from @amjt660. I believe it was you with the traveling Donald? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Seth got one of these Mickey nuiMOs and an outfit or 2. This was the first of the photo shoot.
Mickey chillin on the monorail.

And then later on the way to ride Soarin. It was funny because I didn't even know he got all of these pics till later in our trip. I enjoyed looking at them seeing Mickey tagging along on our travels.

And we will resume our previous Epcot reporting momentarily....

 

[MickeyCB]

It’s all good & I’m happy to do it! That’s what friends are for!!
Wow—that is very pricey but the food & experience look amazing!! I really want to try it!!
Yesterday I booked our reservations for January. I told R & he was telling me that he was talking to a parent at his school & they raved about that restaurant. Naturally he wants to go there. I tried to get one & can’t. But ready for this, I also tried to get one for Coral Reef & couldn’t get that either-at 60 days out!!
Funny thing is, as soon as R sees the food pics he won’t want to go there. It’s not his type of food but I would like it!!
I’m showing him your post tonight. I’m anxious to see what he says!!

I really appreciate it, ty!
I commented on the Space reservation thread where someone else was having problems getting a reservation.
I think going to the lounge, having a drink and a snack is a great way to see it, but not have to deal with the whole menu. (If there isn't a crazy line to get in).
Is he more of a pierogi, pizza and Primanti kind of guy?!

 

[Swissmiss]

I don‘t know how I missed this earlier (and I still have 4 pages to catch up on) but I just have to say that I absolutely LOVE the photo of Gary and Una in the first post.

 

[MickeyCB]

I don‘t know how I missed this earlier (and I still have 4 pages to catch up on) but I just have to say that I absolutely LOVE the photo of Gary and Una in the first post.

Thank you very much!
And I'm so glad you're here! I was thinking about you and hoping you are doing well?

 

[amjt660]

And this was the idea we swiped from @amjt660. I believe it was you with the traveling Donald? Correct me if I'm wrong.

very close - our travel friend is Christmas Stitch - but someone on this board does the same thing with Donald

Max

 

[Darstarr]

It tasted fine is all I know.

As long as you like it who cares what it is called!!! It all looked good to me btw…

 

[fractal]

Finally here and eager to follow along the rest of the way!

 

[MickeyCB]

very close - our travel friend is Christmas Stitch - but someone on this board does the same thing with Donald

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Max

Oh yes! Thanks for the correction.
Your Christmas Stitch is so cute!!
And what a great shot that is with the Fun Wheel in the background!

 

[MickeyCB]

As long as you like it who cares what it is called!!! It all looked good to me btw…

It was good. I get annoyed with myself for not trying new things.
I need to develop a grown up, or at least a little more adventurous diet.

 

[MickeyCB]

Finally here and eager to follow along the rest of the way!

So glad you're here! How's Eastern Pa? (And as important, the WaWa stores)!
I really miss those.

 

[MickeyCB]

Epcot day continued....

After eating we exited Space 220 and there was a popcorn cart selling the Mickey 50th popcorn bucket that was one of the items on my Disney shopping list I made before we left home. Hint, it was the only item on my list I was able to find. The ebay pirates had been pillaging and plundering before we got there!

We went past the new Club Cool but the line was really long outside with multiple switchbacks in the queue. We decided a hard pass on that and went on to the new Creations Shop.
Why do things constantly need to be messed with? I loved Mouse Gears. The new version does not feel any bigger and sure as heck didn't flow any better. I did like this display on the way in.

I don't think any of us bought anything here.
Gary loves the Japanese drummers and we checked and a show was going to start in a few minutes. It's funny what eating a good meal, hydrating and wanting to see a show will do for your energy. This is my guy demonstrating what would end up being his last big energy hurrah while we were at Disney, he crashed and burned after this. I could hardly keep up with him here.

This is a sample of the truly miserable crowds. Epcot, Saturday, during Food and Wine.
There were so many drunk people, and most of them were not super young adults. I've forgotten what a bad idea this is.

But, we got to Japan on time. And Gary found himself a front row seat. He enjoyed this so much. I just sat back on a bench a nice lady shared with me. The kids were coming from the other direction, stopping to get gelatos. But, what broke my heart was Gary thought he was recording the entire show and at the very end realized he hadn't pushed the record button. He was so sad, and as he was starting to have some mild cognitive issues, he thought they were coming back out and he could record again. I've found him some to see on
youtube, but it isn't the same thing, obviously.

After that we headed out of the park to catch the monorail back to the resort.
No one was cooperating by this time with my photos. This was as good as I could get being rushed by the entire uncooperative crew.

But, we got to finish the night off enjoying another fireworks display from the balcony.

This was a long one!

Stay tuned for tomorrows adventures.
Hollywood Studios followed by the Boo Bash! Will it be fun? Will it be a disaster?.....

 

[cgersic]

My heart broke for Gary and his missing the recording. That's a real bummer. Praying for his health!

 

[MickeyCB]

My heart broke for Gary and his missing the recording. That's a real bummer. Praying for his health!

Thank you very much. I did feel bad.
Oddly enough today he was going through his phone and found a recording of the drummers he made in 2019 that he enjoyed watching again.

 

[Swissmiss]

Thank you very much!
And I'm so glad you're here! I was thinking about you and hoping you are doing well?

Doing as well enough as a mom with teen drama can be doing . I just have to keep telling myself one day she will realize that the world is not out to get her and she might actually become again the sweet kid thst she once was.

And ditto to what was said above by @cgersic - my heart also broke for Gary’s filming mishap.

 

[Songbird76]

Hi All!
Back from another stay at WDW and it was different for sure!
We had a new traveler with us and definitely did Disney differently for that reason and a few others.

I would like to give you guys a heads up before you read any further.
If you have read my trip report from last year you may be aware that my husband (Gary) is being treated for cancer and there are some references in here to how he is doing, because that changed a lot of how we toured this year.
If you are uncomfortable following along because not everything is pixie dust in this report, I will not in any way be offended if you click away. (I much prefer a sexy vampire book myself to a story that has moments of sadness)!
Luckily there were some great family/baby/children moments that brought us joy and new memories were made!

So with warning given and to those who are going to hang around, let's begin!

Our group consisted of myself, Cindy, my husband Gary, my son Seth, my daughter Aleisha our son-in-law Julio and our now 10 month old granddaughter Una. (And PS, she is a crazy girl)!!
We stayed at Bay Lake Oct. 21-27th.

Cast and crew (and one of my favorite pics of the whole trip).
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To arrive at Disney everyone was coming from different places at different times. Gary and I headed down from Pittsburgh with an afternoon flight. We left around 2:15 pm and got in close to 4:40 pm-ish.
Us headed to the air side on our version of the monorail.
View attachment 598622

We had time to eat at Friday's (I think it was). Gary had some potato skins that he liked and I had a kids mac and cheese and french fries that I thought tasted pretty good.
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In the meantime my little sleepy head was headed to Orlando from Sacramento with her mom. They started out at 6 am-ish, west coast time.
View attachment 598624

She did seem to perk up to her usual nosy self once they were on board!
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One thing you will notice this trip is a disproportionate amount of baby pictures!
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Seth headed down from Georgia, deciding to drive.
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As crazy as it sounds, our 2 flights landed within 6 minutes of each other and we were able to meet Una and Aleisha as they got off of the monorail thing!
So excited to see this Mickey 50th wrap on one of the cars.
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And Grandpap and Una's airport meet up!!
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Julio wouldn't be arriving till the wee hours of Saturday am so we don't have any travel day pics of him.
Next up, is grabbing 800lbs of luggage and off to the Magic Bus!

I'm joining in fabulously late, but I'm curious about these sexy vampire books. Do tell about your favorites.