Trip Report November split stay AoA/AKL

I’ll have to work on a more creative title at some point! But for now, here’s the background (mostly copied from my last report)…

We decided to make another trip around my husband’s conference this year and invited my parents to join us. Some of you may remember me from last year as the crazy lady who flew with 3 kids, but this time our family of 5 could fly together both ways and my parents met us there.

Our first choice of hotel was 2 connecting “preferred pool” rooms at Pop Century, but they were already unavailable when I booked in April. Since they couldn’t guarantee the connecting rooms anyway, and we weren’t sure which section of Pop we’d end up in, we pivoted a bit. We landed on a Lion King suite at AoA, so we knew we’d all be together and not terribly far from transportation. Being in connecting rooms was our priority because my husband and I were also planning to have a day at universal with just the 2 of us. But we learned there was an Orlando Informer meetup while we were there, so we did that instead of a one-day 2-park ticket! It actually didn’t cost much more and included food & drinks, so seemed like a no-brainer for us.

But 3 or 4 days after we booked AoA, my husband said, “We’re planning our 3rd year in a row at Disney. Should we consider DVC?”

After much research and discussion, we are officially members with Riviera as our home resort! We changed our last 3 nights at AoA to a 2-bedroom savanna view at Kidani Village. We also realized annual passes would be more cost effective if we were already planning two trips within a year, so we did that as well. This also saved us several hundred dollars on the AoA room!

In the planning stages, I did have a bit of a weird interaction around Memory Maker. I had paid for it when I first booked in April, but once we decided to buy into DVC and the Sorcerer passes, it’s significantly cheaper to add Memory Maker to that. It was fairly painless to remove the $185 charge from the AoA reservation. The difficulty came when I tried to add it to my Sorcerer pass. I first had to be transferred from photo pass reps to ticketing. The second person I talked to said he could help and gave me a total cost of nearly $200.

I thought the price was $99, so I wondered if he was trying to add it to both me and my husband. But no, it was the difference in the price of the AP from when I had bought it. I had made a point to buy the APs before the prices increased, so there was no way I was going to pay the difference now, just because I was trying to add Memory Maker. I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that it was just a glitch in how their system works. Because it honestly makes zero sense.

Anyway, it had to be escalated to another CM and he was able to work it out at the correct price for me.

Okay, I think that’s is for pre-trip info…I’ll get into the fun next time!

 

[meggo819]

Saturday, Nov. 9
With daylight saving ending the Sunday before, my kids had been waking up early all week. 7yo and 4yo knocked on our door at 4:30 this morning, asking “Did we wake up early enough?” We had packed up the car the night before, so we headed off to the airport pretty early and security wasn’t bad. We were sitting at our gate around 7:30am. Our flight was scheduled to board around 9, so we had plenty of time to get some breakfast and coffee and for everyone to make trips to the restroom. I also let 2yo out of her stroller to walk around with me a bit, hoping to burn off energy before the flight!

This was the first time our youngest was flying since turning 2 and I was nervous about getting her to stay in her own seat with the seatbelt buckled. She did whine a little at first, asking to sit on my lap, but I distracted her with some goldfish crackers and got her buckled. She insisted on holding my hand the whole flight, which I found adorable. She got a bit freaked out by some turbulence, but didn’t make too much of a fuss and eventually fell asleep leaning against my shoulder (still holding my hand).

7yo and 4yo sat behind us with Dad and watched movies on his iPad. They’re pretty good flyers and were quiet. Especially compared to the many, many other kids on the flight!

IIRC, our flight got delayed a bit and we landed at 12:30. Taking the Mears bus took a while too. So it was already 2:45p when we passed by here.

Thankfully, Art of Animation was the first stop! We gathered everything and went to the lobby to check on our room and to request a pack & play for 2yo. We don’t normally go to a park on our arrival day, but because we have APs for the first time, we weren’t too bothered that a room wasn’t ready! We dropped all our stuff with bell services and headed to the Skyliner.

I forgot to mention earlier that I had booked a VQ for Guardians of the Galaxy this morning. I hadn’t been sure we’d get to the park before it was called, but thought we’d try our luck arriving late. As it turned out, the ride had some down time at some point, so our group was called while we were on our way.

It was 4yo’s first time and she insisted on going first even though we warned her it would take longer than using the baby swap. I went with her and Dad took 7yo and 2yo to Spaceship Earth.

We got to about this point when 4yo informed me she needed the potty.

I wasn’t even sure how we’d get back out of line But when I told her, “If we get out of line, we can’t come back in”, she decided she could wait. And she did just fine! She did not, however, like the ride. In hindsight, I think it was just the “bad guy” that was scaring her, because she ended up loving Space Mountain later in the week.

While Dad and 7yo took their turn, I took the other two to the playground.

We didn’t last very long there, as the kids were getting hungry. I mobile ordered some chicken tenders & pizza kids meals and we all met at Connections Eatery.

Meanwhile, my parents had also arrived at AoA and had asked about the room, since they did not have park tickets for today. It still wasn’t ready and the CM offered them a food voucher for 6 meals and 6 drinks at any quick service restaurant. But it was good for 7 days, so my parents ended up dropping their luggage off too and eating by themselves.

It was after 5pm when I got the room text and I headed back with 2yo to meet my parents at the room. Dad and the other two kids stayed to ride Soarin.

We called down to have our luggage brought up and to ask again for the pack & play. It was actually a metal crib that they ended up bringing. It was fine, except when 2yo discovered it was on wheels and she could shimmy it across the floor lol

I also had a Kroger order being delivered later (it was only $3 for delivery after a certain time!) My dad and I went down to pick up the groceries and they already had it on a luggage cart for us, so it was pretty quick. My husband and the kids got back shortly after that, so he took the luggage cart back down while he got some dinner for me & him. We were pretty pleased with our sesame chicken and tandoori chicken meals!

We got settled into our Lion King suite - my parents took the master bedroom, my husband and I were on the Murphy bed, and the older two kids in the sofa bed. We were all in bed early, ready for an early morning!

 

[Seagull59]

Sounds like a good start!

 

[Dave B]

I am excited to hear all about this trip

 

[meggo819]

Sun, Nov. 10

We were all up around 6:15am, which was earlier than necessary since I’d been planning to leave the room by 7:30. The bus stop was pretty crowded but we made it on the second bus that came. It was one of those double long ones and my husband and father both ended up standing in the middle twisty section, which made for an interesting ride!

Security was fairly quick for everyone but me. I was the only one who got flagged for a bag check and unfortunately I also had the stroller with 2yo. I ended up having time to put sunscreen on myself and 2yo while waiting

But we still got into the park before 8:30 early entry. 7yo was extremely excited that she’s now tall enough to ride everything at WDW and definitely wanted to ride Tron. None of the adults really cared about it, so we decided to split up. My husband took 7yo to rope drop Tron. They were held outside Tomorrowland until 8:30, and even though quite a line formed for Tron, CMs were telling everyone it wasn’t open and there was time to ride something else. They stuck with it and a few minutes before 9, the line started moving and they were done by 9:30. Not bad!

Meanwhile, the rest of us headed to 7 Dwarfs since 4yo loved it last year. But by the time we got there, the line was wrapped back around toward Storybook Circus and Little Mermaid. I was too intimidated by that, so we headed to Pooh instead.

It was still before 9 when we finished and we headed to Peter Pan next. That took about a half hour and we met up with the other 2 to ride it’s a small world.

Next up were our pre booked LLMPs, Haunted Mansion, Jingle Cruise, and Pirates. The timing worked out such that we did all 3 in about an hour’s time. I don’t remember the order I booked additional LLs, but I definitely got Thunder & Space Mountains.

 

[meggo819]

Sun, Nov. 10 cont.
We were getting hungry, but nothing in the area appealed to us. Since we had our next LL at Space Mountain, we mobile ordered from Cosmic Ray’s. It was crazy busy in there, and I know it gets some hate, but we enjoyed the Triple-B burgers.

We all rode the People Mover after lunch and got the kids some ice cream bars at some point. When our LL was up, my parents took 2yo to Carousel of Progress while the rest of us headed to Space. I was surprised that 4yo liked it, but maybe it was partly because her big sister was hyping her up.

We took the back pathway over to Barnstormer, where we had booked another LL. It was still just 4 of us riding, as my parents were now trying to get 2yo to nap in the stroller. We rode Dumbo too, without a LL.

I haven’t mentioned yet that this was one of days the Christmas parade/taping was happening at 2pm. I had thought about trying to watch it, but wasn’t keen on trying to find a spot in the crowds or having to stake out a spot early. After Dumbo, it was about 2:30, so we knew the parade was making its way around. But our next LL was Thunder Mountain. My parents, 4yo, and I decided to take the train from Storybook Circus to Frontierland. Rather than messing with the stroller on the train, my husband offered to walk and 7yo decided to go with him & 2yo. They definitely ran into some crowds, but also caught a glimpse of the parade. On the train, at the Main St station, I also saw Vanellope in the parade…not too exciting.

My parents were both up for Thunder Mountain, so we sent them first with 7yo and 4yo and set up a baby swap for me & my husband. We strolled around, still trying to get 2yo to nap. We also tried the candied bacon at Westward Ho, but weren’t terribly impressed. My husband makes better!

This was also when we saw the only rain of our trip. It was so bizarre - sun was shining and it sprinkled for like 5 min and then stopped.

After our turn on Thunder, it was almost 4pm and we felt like we’d done everything we’d wanted to for the day. Except for getting Dole Whip! My husband got in line while I took 7yo and 4yo on Magic Carpets. I think we had booked another LL for this. The kids were excited to ride together since there were 3 of us and I had to sit behind them.

We ordered our dole whip with the cake this time. It was fine, but not a must-do.

We headed back up Main Street and stopped in the Confectionery for the peanut butter cookie pie. I’d seen some trip reporters recommend this and it has become a must-do every trip!

Back at the hotel, we all got our swim suits on and headed to the Finding Nemo pool. But it was much cooler out there than I expected and I chickened out lol. All 3 kids played in the splash pad for a while and then my husband took the older 2 into the pool while Grandpa kept an eye on 2yo. I think we ordered some pizza to share and got to bed at a reasonable time again. It would be another early morning for Animal Kingdom!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

Thanks for deciding to do a trip report and congratulations on DVC!

 

[meggo819]

A few things I forgot from Nov 10:
- we also watched the new Country Bears show when we had some time to kill before our Thunder LL. I thought it was so fun! And I don’t know if it was my imagination or not, but I felt like the whole audience was more engaged and singing along, than with the old version.
- I think we ended up using 7 lightning lanes, for some of us anyway. But we all agreed it was worth the price for the rides we were able to use it on. Definitely saved a lot of time and allowed some of us to do as many as 13 rides by 4pm (plus Country Bears).

 

[meggo819]

Mon, Nov. 11

We didn’t get as early a start as planned and didn’t arrive at Animal Kingdom until 7:50ish (early entry had been 7:30).

We thought we’d all gotten through security smoothly this time. But as we headed left and had just passed the area of the lockers, we were approached by 2 security guards. They asked me to step aside, apparently consulted a picture they had of me at the security checkpoint, and informed me, “There was a miscommunication. We need to check this bag and this bag.” They were very nice about it and took responsibility for whatever whatever reason I hadn’t been stopped at security. They were relatively quick, so it didn’t slow us down too much.

We headed to Pandora, which my parents had never seen before, to join the Flight of Passage standby line. It wound through the area a bit, but it didn’t take too long before we reached the CMs with iPads to set up our baby swap. I decided that I would wait with my mom and 2yo, so that we could go on NRJ. I didn’t want to make my mom handle 2yo by herself and she wasn’t sure about FoP anyway, so this way my dad could try it out first.

We finished on NRJ about 8:30 and the others were off FoP about 9:15. The 3 of us just relaxed in the area, and browsed the shop while waiting for the others.

My mom decided not to ride FoP, so we gave her magic band to my husband so I’d still have someone to ride with. But first we pointed my parents and all the kids in the right direction to go see Festival of the Lion King. I figured I’d rather they get into the first show, even if my husband and I didn’t make it after riding FoP.

My mom texted about 9:50 that they were still letting people into the show, but we were still exiting the ride and didn’t think we’d make it. So we grabbed one of the new breakfast items at Satuli. We enjoyed the pork potato hash, but don’t know that we’d need to get it again.

We somehow found my parents and kids in the crowds exiting FotLK. I think we probably stopped in the restroom before we got in a very long line for Kilimanjaro Safari. It wound back through all the secluded queues where we lost track of where we’d already been lol. I still appreciate that you can keep your stroller through most of the line…it makes it so much easier for the kids!

Finally made it and had an average safari. The highlight was probably the baby elephant.

 

[meggo819]

Mon, Nov. 11 cont.

It was right about noon when we got off, so we headed toward Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch. We had saved our food voucher for this because we knew we all wanted to eat there, so it was one time we were guaranteed we would all be eating together. I think the total was over $100, so we felt more than compensated for the room being ready late!

We enjoyed our lunch near the water and once done, we hoped 2yo would take a nap in her stroller. So we left her with my parents and took 7yo and 4yo to ride Everest.

I don’t recall what the posted wait time was, but the line was longer than I’d ever seen. It was so bad, there were some roped off areas out front because the queue was spilling outside the entrance to the ride. We got in line and then had the thought that it would be a good time to get the ice cream the kids had been asking for. Thankfully my husband spotted an ice cream stand right next to us with no line, so I just ducked under the rope to get them and got right back in line with them.

Of course, it was warm enough that the Mickey bars were pretty messy and we had left our wipes with the stroller. A very kind young couple behind us noticed our dilemma and quietly held out some wipes toward us. I said, “You’re amazing!” and accepted 2 wipes to clean up our messy kids!

Anyway, I think we waited about 45 min. There were parts of the queue I’m pretty sure I’d never seen before! But 4yo enjoyed her first time on Everest, as did the rest of us.

Meanwhile, my parents had headed toward Dinoland. My dad took 2yo on Triceratop Spin and then he went solo on Dinosaur.

Around 2:00, we were heading to Dinoland as well to meet up. It was also time for my husband to head off to his work conference. We said our goodbyes and “see you in 2 days!” He went back to AoA, cleaned up, and ubered to the hotel/conference center.

The rest of us went to the 2:30 Finding Nemo show. It’s the first time I’ve seen it since the changes, but we still enjoyed it!

 

[Tuvalu]

Did security find the item in your bag that was flagged? Or was it a case of “Huh….we don’t know what set the sensor off”?

Because I had the “Huh” experience last trip. And if they had followed me into the park with that reaction, I would have been especially annoyed.

 

[meggo819]

Did security find the item in your bag that was flagged? Or was it a case of “Huh….we don’t know what set the sensor off”?

Because I had the “Huh” experience last trip. And if they had followed me into the park with that reaction, I would have been especially annoyed.

Good question! I think it was my glasses case. In any case, I held it in front of me the rest of the week and was never checked again.

 

[meggo819]

Mon, Nov. 11 cont.

We wandered back to Dinoland and took some pictures of the Christmas decorations.

I took 7yo and 4yo on Dinosaur. Again, we went through parts of the queue I’d never seen, namely the outdoor sections.

Once we made it to the pre show, my girls were talking with a couple of ladies behind us and one of them gave them each a stuffed animal from the carnival games.

(Not my picture, but it was these 2) We talked about how this might be our last time riding Dinosaur.

While we were waiting and riding, my parents took 2yo to meet Goofy and then Pluto. I think this was between Dinosaur and Chester and Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures.

I took all 3 kids for one last time on Triceratop Spin and then we headed toward the park exit.

 

[meggo819]

Mon, Nov. 11 cont.

I loved this tree.

At the bus stop, there were only a few people waiting, so we figured we may have just missed a bus. After a few minutes, at about 4:30, the CM working there came over and said “There’s a SpaceX launch in 17 seconds! To the east!” It obviously took longer than that for us to see it, but sure enough!

Most interesting bus wait ever!

Back at AoA, I think I fed my kids leftovers and/or Easy Macs that we’d gotten with our grocery order. After they were settled into bed early, I got myself the Grilled Chicken Sandwich (Marinated Grilled Chicken topped with Fresh Mozzarella, Basil Aïoli, Balsamic Glaze, Arugula, and Tomato on a Toasted Brioche Bun served with French Fries) It was tasty, although the aioli and/or glaze made it pretty messy.

 

[meggo819]

Tue, Nov. 12

Since my husband would be at his conference all day, today would be a no-park “rest” day. We had a relaxing morning and went to Landscapes of Flavor for our first hot breakfast of the week. I got a loaded totcho bowl, my parents shared a bounty platter, and I was able to order pancakes for my kids with a side of eggs instead of the meat sides. We enjoyed it all!

We took a stroll around the resort a bit and let the kids play on the playground. Then we decided to do something we’ve never done before - actually use the mini-golf vouchers that were included in our hotel stay!

I had some issues with the MDE app glitching on the tickets and passes screen, but I managed to screenshot the golf vouchers before jumping on a bus to Animal Kingdom. Once there, we just had to walk across to the opposite bus going to Blizzard Beach.

We checked in to play the winter side about 10:30 and had a short wait. We got our supplies for 4 people and I told 7yo and 4yo they could take turns. It was very cute and fun, but I was getting hot out there! 4yo only took a couple of her turns before joining 2yo in the double stroller.

Today was the first day for Merry Menagerie, and I had thought about taking my kids into AK to see that, since we had to take the bus back there anyway (and we have APs). But it was just too hot and we were ready for the pool!

All 6 of us went to the Finding Nemo pool. We played for maybe 15-20 min, when they cleared the pool. I suspect a kid had an accident, because we saw some CMs proudly taking pictures with a pool net, which then went into a plastic trash bag . Someone eventually came around telling us when the pool would reopen, but it was getting to be naptime for 2yo, so I took all 3 kids back to the room, while my parents waited and went back in the pool again.

We had a restful afternoon and then we started discussing dinner. It had worked out that we’d eaten at AoA for the last 3 nights, so I asked if we could go to Riviera for dinner. As new DVC members, it’s our home resort, but we’d never been there! So I thought it would be fun to explore and show my parents. My other motive was for my parents to try out the Skyliner for the first time. I thought it would be wise to do it at that time of day, rather than their first time being trying to rope drop Epcot tomorrow!

We ended up spending all our time outside, except when we went into Primo Piatto. The kids checked out the lawn games, but didn’t actually play. And I totally forgot I had wanted to look in the gift shop Next time!

My kids had standard chicken tenders and pizza. I don’t recall what my parents tried, but I had a croque monsieur. My expectations were maybe too high going in. It was fine, but nothing special. I might give the breakfast version a chance when we stay there in June.

We wandered down by the water on our way back to the Skyliner station. Our stroller is a double umbrella one that has to be folded to get on the gondolas. At the transfer station I always keep it folded and just roll it over to the next line. But when we got off at AoA around 7:30, we couldn’t get it to open again! Thankfully it wasn’t too far a walk since we were in the lion king building closer to the lake. We were also on the ground floor wing that points toward the lake. So we were able to go in that end door instead of going around, when coming from the Skyliner.

Once back in the room, we were able to check it out more closely and solve the issue. We have a changing pad where we keep diapers and wipes and it has a strap which we hang on the stroller. Well apparently, it had slid down too far while the stroller was folded and was strong enough to keep it from unfolding again I was glad to find nothing was broken and we could keep using the stroller all week!

We also went outside to roast some marshmallows right before they were wrapping up. With that, we got the kids to bed at a relatively normal time. Tomorrow we’d be rope dropping Epcot and my husband would meet us once done with his conference.

 

[meggo819]

Wed, Nov. 13

I was awake by 7AM to secure our VQ for Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn’t expect to get such a low number!

My husband might have to use his late, as he wouldn’t be joining us until afternoon when his conference ended.

We headed over to the Skyliner in plenty of time to make 8:30 early entry. I am so glad they now form 2 queues coming from AoA and Pop. Now that we’re DVC, we’re not likely to stay at one of these resorts any time soon, but this is so much better than making AoA guests walk halfway around the lake!

Security at the International Gateway was quick and we were inside well before 8:30. I had decided we’d skip Remy this time and rope drop Frozen Ever After. But I apparently didn’t do my research, as I was surprised we were held right before Canada until 8:30. We were near the front of the pack and decided to take a seat on the benches there (where the entertainment happens in Canada). It saved us from standing around and gave us time to get sunscreen on everyone!

When they dropped the rope, we took a pretty casual pace to FEA and made it there around 8:45. Wait time was posted as 30 min and we waited a little less than that.

We went to Mexico for Gran Fiesta (walk on) and then stopped at the baby care center for a diaper change and restroom break.

None of us were interested in Mission Space, and with Test Track closed, GotG was the next logical place to go. The timing worked out great that our boarding group was called right around that time!

I wasn’t sure 4yo would want to go again, but she gave it another chance. We set up a baby swap for my mom, but we actually figured my husband could use it with 7yo later (so he didn’t ride alone with his VQ) because my mom doesn’t like rides that go backwards. So my dad and I headed in with 7yo and 4yo. It was around 10am and we walked almost all the way to pre show room. I think 4yo got more excited just because of how short the line was compared to the other day! But in the end she still thought it was scary. The rest of us had a blast.

We all enjoyed Spaceship Earth next. I let 7yo and 4yo ride together and I was behind them with 2yo. I let her push random buttons on the screen as the ride started and she selected our language as French. For some reason I thought it meant the text on screen would be in French. Did not occur to me that our entire audio narration would be French lol. Made for a unique ride anyway.

Next we were heading to The Land for an early lunch. There were just a few more things I was hoping to do and then planned to take a break back at the room. Next up was Soarin - this time we set up a baby swap for me because I was trying to encourage my parents riding with my kids whenever possible! I took 2yo on Living with the Land, which actually had a fairly long wait considering it was around noon and the Christmas overlay wasn’t even done yet. The other 4 were actually done with Soarin before the 2 of us got off the boat!

4yo got the extra ride on Soarin with me and I’m so glad she did! She made friends with another little girl in line and they ended up sitting next to each other on the ride. She was laughing, reacting to the scene changes like things were going to hit her, and even clapping at times.

It was around 1pm when we were exiting the Land. My husband had finished at his conference and was in an Uber back to AoA. While we waited for him, we went on the Seas with Nemo and went to see Turtle Talk. My kids had never seen the show and were a bit disappointed they didn’t get to talk to Crush. Guess we’ll have to go back to try again!

My husband arrived in the park just before 2 (good thing we had that park reservation lol). He grabbed the cheesesteak mac from Macatizers and met us outside of the Seas.

We headed over to ride Imagination and then went to the Visa meet & greet. My girls were very excited that one of the characters was Minnie. I made a point to go say hello to Pluto too, since he wasn’t getting as much love lol

We then went back in the exit of Imagination to make our first ever visit to the DVC lounge! I have to admit I experienced some imposter syndrome here, feeling like we didn’t really belong up there. I had to remind myself that we really did pay the price to be members lol. We all enjoyed some free drinks and snacks. I think my parents especially were impressed.

 

[meggo819]

Wed, Nov. 13 cont.

With that, we split up again. I went with my parents, 4yo, and 2yo to head back to the hotel. 7yo stayed with Dad to ride GotG again. On our way out, I did stop to try the pumpkin marscapone ravioli. It was good, but not warm at all.

After Guardians, my husband and 7yo decided to spend some more time riding before heading back, since he’d missed the morning fun. He took her on the intense version of Mission Space for the first time and she did fine! I was starting to get impatient for them to come back, so that my husband and I could have a Food & Wine date night. But they had decided to get in line for Remy, which took just over an hour

In the meantime, I mobile ordered a pizza for my kids to eat and had my parents pick it up while they went to get themselves food at the resort.

My husband and 7yo finally came back around 6:30 and we left all the kids with my parents to finish eating and get into bed. It was quite a treat to be able to have an evening to ourselves back at Epcot. We had some pictures taken with SSE in the background. After a couple pics with our arms around each other, the photographer asked how we know each other. “We’re married”. To be fair, I had forgotten my engagement/wedding rings at home, so I hadn’t been wearing them all week. Anyway, it was a very tactful way for her to test the waters before she suggested some more poses like looking into each other’s eyes

We didn’t ride anything, just sampled some food and wine, then scoped out a spot for Luminous. Between us, we tried the donut cider at Milled & Mulled, the beef short ribs w/ polenta at Earth Eats, a fry flight, a beer and bratwurst in Germany, and finally the chocolate pudding cake in America. Nothing earth-shattering, but I’d definitely eat any of them again!

We ended up across from the Morocco restrooms for Luminous, next to the boat launch. We had spotted two seats on benches, next to each other but on different benches. My husband left to get a beer for himself and a caipirinha for me, and someone quickly stole his seat. I wasn’t brave enough to say anything, I just figured I’d give my husband my seat when he got back. I had to stand between the two benches for the show anyway, as I couldn’t see over the wall we were next to!

Our view was also obscured by the boat launch, but this was our first time seeing the show, so we didn’t really know/care what we were missing.

At least the location was pretty good for getting back to the Skyliner! I think we timed it and it took less than a half hour to walk over and get on. I’d rather be in that slow but steady line any day over standing in line for a bus (and then possibly standing *on* the bus).

Last night of sleeping on a Murphy bed! It wasn’t bad, just kind of small. It was roomier when my husband was gone for his conference

Next up are Hollywood Studios and moving resorts!

 

[meggo819]

Thursday, Nov. 14

My kids were up bright and early again, so we had plenty of time to pack everything up, drop our stuff at bell services to be transferred to AKL, and go catch the Skyliner to HS.

We were actually through security right at 8am, just in time to start going through the gates.

Our plan was to rope drop RotR, but “best laid plans…” We got there only to find CMs telling everyone the ride was down and trying to shoo away the people forming a line.

It turned out for the best, as a few of us needed a restroom break already. We debated our back-up plan while waiting. I think we also grabbed a breakfast Ronto wrap while we were waiting and deciding.

We had wasted quite a bit of time and suddenly my husband said the app was showing RotR as open! So we rushed over and got in line. It kind of surprised me that they didn’t let people into the line before if they were going to open so close to 8:30 anyway. My parents had never been on this and we weren’t sure my mom would like it.
So we set up a baby swap for my mom, with me planning to ride again with her, if my dad thought she could handle it.

The line move quickly and we soon saw why — they were skipping the preshows. We walked through Rey’s room, straight outside, but skipped the transport and went through a very unthemed hallway into the stormtrooper room.

This was shortly before 9am. My husband was very disappointed for our kids and my dad, who were all riding for the first time. Our kids know nothing about Star Wars and will have more chances to ride, but I was sad for my dad, since this might be a one and done for him.

Once done, we split up again. My mom, 2yo, and I went to Alien Swirling Saucers while the rest rode Smuggler’s Run. I think they were done before us and we were getting dangerously close to our first LLMP expiring.

We made it to Toy Story Mania in time to use our first Lightning Lane. I had 2yo on my lap for this and my husband beat me for the first time lol. 4yo was next to me and was pouting about her score compared to mine.

Being almost late to our first LL kind of worked out because now it was time for the next at Slinky Dog! We sent the older kids on with my parents first and then my husband and I went. It took maybe 15-20 minutes for everyone to have their turn.

My mom had decided against trying RotR, but we still had the baby swap. So she gave her band to my husband and we went to ride again. They were still skipping the preshows While we were doing that, 7yo and 4yo convinced my dad to take them on Alien Swirling Saucers.

We decided next to grab lunch at ABC Commissary. I enjoy the buffalo chicken grilled cheese there, but nothing was appealing to my husband. Once we got settled at a table, he actually went and got a hot dog at Dockside Diner and brought it back.

After we had used our first two lightning lanes, we had booked Rock n Roller Coaster and Runaway Railway as additional ones. Unfortunately MMRR wasn’t available until late afternoon, but our times for RNRC and Tower of Terror (one of 3 originals) were approaching. My mom wouldn’t be riding either of these, so no baby swaps necessary!

I helped my mom get settled at the 1:00 Beauty and the Beast show with 4yo and 2yo. We entered just before it started and then I was able to slip back out to join my dad, husband, and 7yo for the ride. 7yo was very excited to now be tall enough for all the rides at WDW. This is the one I was worried about for her, with how your head can get knocked around. But she enjoyed it so much she asked if she could go again! We then realized that we did have 2 unused LL, since my mom and 4yo didn’t ride. So we borrowed magic bands again and my husband took her on for round 2.

Around 2:30, we were using our LL at Tower of Terror. 4yo is tall enough for this one, so there were 5 of us this time. Both kids look terrified in the photo, but they rode it last year too and something tells me they’ll keep going on it in the future.

We were starting to lose steam, but since we were transferring to Kidani Village today, we didn’t see much point in leaving the park until we knew our room was ready.

We decided some ice cream would be a perfect energy boost. My kids are hooked on Mickey bars, but my husband and I went to Hollywood Scoops. I asked if I could get a sundae but with mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was delicious!

 

[meggo819]

Thur. Nov. 14 cont.

We headed to Star Tours next, but I don’t recall if I’d booked a LL or if we just did standby. My mom sat this one out with 2yo again. As we were exiting, my kids wanted to know who the rebel spy was. I was answering, “I don’t know. Someone we don’t know”, when I heard a couple near us talking about her being the spy. So I told my kids, “Oh here she is!” And they chatted with her on the way out lol

My mom had found a bench to sit on while waiting and we all joined her there. It was near the Olaf meet & greet, which the kids noticed. The wait wasn’t too bad so my husband took them while the rest of us continued to relax.

It was still before 4, so no surprise that we didn’t have a “room ready” text. We decided to head into Muppet Vision at 3:55 to kill some more time before it was time for MMRR.

After the show and the ride (we probably would have skipped both if our room had been ready early), there was really nothing left that we wanted to do. So we decided to go ahead back and ask at the desk if we still didn’t have a room.

I don’t know if this was coincidence or location tracking, but I got the text at 5:39, right as we got off the bus at AKL! Given my older parents and young kids, I had made a room request for near the lobby, and boy did they come through for us! It was room 7910 on the fifth floor and in the first section of building closest to the elevator.

Looking back at the elevator lobby:

 

[meggo819]

Thur. Nov. 14 cont.

This was a 2 bedroom savanna view. We decided to put our kids on the pullout in the living room so that my husband and I could claim the master suite this time!

That left an unused bed in my parents’ room, but my kids didn’t complain about it, so

We decided to order Chick-fil-a via Uber Eats, for a quick dinner that everyone would enjoy. We got the kids settled into bed at a reasonable time (we’d been pretty good about this all week!) and I was even getting sleepy early. But I had scheduled another Kroger delivery for around 9pm, so I had to stay awake a bit longer lol. So my husband and I walked down to explore the pool area a bit and then sat in the lobby until the delivery got there. Then to bed in our nice big king bed!

Tomorrow would be a resort day and the Orlando Informer Meetup for my husband and me!