And we are off…
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Trip Report A Very Merry Sweet 16!!
- Thread starter Figment Forever
- Start date
Tuvalu
Premium Member
Say hi to Rabbit for me.
Sadly, Rabbit was no where to be found… we were stuck in a corner…
but I was able to say hi to a service station for you… 
Dinner was lackluster… but the show was SPECTACULAR!!!
A late breakfast…
Tuvalu
Premium Member
Looks yummy!
Heading home.:..
But not before we met up with Hope’s FAVORITE blogger! Thanks to Mr. Morrow for stopping to take a pic and chat with with Hope.
A wonderful birthday trip for my sweet 16 girl!!
Going to try to get a full TR up soon!
But not before we met up with Hope’s FAVORITE blogger! Thanks to Mr. Morrow for stopping to take a pic and chat with with Hope.
A wonderful birthday trip for my sweet 16 girl!!
Going to try to get a full TR up soon!
ajrwdwgirl
Premium Member
I love Mr. Morrow. He seems like an authentic guy, I ran into him briefly once and he was really nice. Hope looks super happy to see him!
Day 1 December 9, 2024
We were all very excited for this trip! We were all super excited to see the Christmas decorations, but even more… I was super happy to have Julia with us.
It was a work day for Ross – I helped out so we could get done in time. We were hoping to catch an earlier flight, but it was way too early for us to make it.
I don’t think we ever arrived at an airport with this much time. It was nice – no rushing like crazy people. After we got settled at our gate, Julia and I went and got some snacks and drinks.
As we waited for our flight, I was amazed at how many wheelchairs lined up at the gate. It was like a parade!! There had to been about 20 wheelchairs lined up, waiting to go on the flight. I had never seen such a thing.
As we were waiting for our flight, I got a message that my dad‘s headstone had been installed at the cemetery. I lost my breath for a minute. It is still just so raw and so surreal to me that my dad isn't with me anymore. I stepped away to the quietest place at Newark airport that I could find and called my sister-in-law to speak with my mom. I texted my sister-in-law, a pic of the headstone, which was beautiful, and I talked to my mom for a few minutes. She was very happy it was there.
Soon enough, we boarded our flight.
They announced there would be no hot drinks served because it was going to be a turbulent flight. But that was OK because I had something else in mind….
It was a good flight, even with the turbulence. I wish I could have slept, but I have never been able to sleep more than a few minutes on a flight.
Soon we were landing in Orlando terminal C. Ross made the first purchase of the trip, a fresh squeezed OJ from Art Smith's Diner Shine.
We collected our bags and called a Lift to take us to Pop.
We were all very excited for this trip! We were all super excited to see the Christmas decorations, but even more… I was super happy to have Julia with us.
It was a work day for Ross – I helped out so we could get done in time. We were hoping to catch an earlier flight, but it was way too early for us to make it.
I don’t think we ever arrived at an airport with this much time. It was nice – no rushing like crazy people. After we got settled at our gate, Julia and I went and got some snacks and drinks.
As we waited for our flight, I was amazed at how many wheelchairs lined up at the gate. It was like a parade!! There had to been about 20 wheelchairs lined up, waiting to go on the flight. I had never seen such a thing.
As we were waiting for our flight, I got a message that my dad‘s headstone had been installed at the cemetery. I lost my breath for a minute. It is still just so raw and so surreal to me that my dad isn't with me anymore. I stepped away to the quietest place at Newark airport that I could find and called my sister-in-law to speak with my mom. I texted my sister-in-law, a pic of the headstone, which was beautiful, and I talked to my mom for a few minutes. She was very happy it was there.
Soon enough, we boarded our flight.
They announced there would be no hot drinks served because it was going to be a turbulent flight. But that was OK because I had something else in mind….
It was a good flight, even with the turbulence. I wish I could have slept, but I have never been able to sleep more than a few minutes on a flight.
Soon we were landing in Orlando terminal C. Ross made the first purchase of the trip, a fresh squeezed OJ from Art Smith's Diner Shine.
We collected our bags and called a Lift to take us to Pop.
We had to stop at the front desk to get our room number. They were able to put us in the 50’s section, but not the ground floor – oh well. We also had to tell them to connect out reservations – we had added an extra night to our original reservation a few weeks before, but were told they would have to “connect” them at the resort. They did it without any issues (at the time) and soon we were walking into our room. Once we got settled in, it was almost 9 PM, but we were all starving and were craving a Blaze pizza. So off we went…
I’m happy to report that Blaze was as delicious as usual.
I’m happy to report that Blaze was as delicious as usual.
We were all tired, but Hope really wanted to get the map for the Christmas tree stroll. And there was no stopping her from hitting up the Lego store!
We walked around a little bit, admiring all the beautiful Christmas trees.
I have to say the storefronts were such a nice addition! At least I think they’re an addition, I don’t remember them from last year. lol
Then we made our way back to the bus and back to Pop for some well needed sleep.
We walked around a little bit, admiring all the beautiful Christmas trees.
I have to say the storefronts were such a nice addition! At least I think they’re an addition, I don’t remember them from last year. lol
Then we made our way back to the bus and back to Pop for some well needed sleep.
Last edited:
Go.Nijntje
Well-Known Member
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report. I can't believe Hope is 16 already. And I want to know where you got those massive pancakes.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report. I can't believe Hope is 16 already. And I want to know where you got those massive pancakes.
Thank you!! My girls are getting so big! I can't take it!
Day 2 - December 10
My alarm was set to go off at 6:30. And then again at 6:45, at 6:50, at 6:55, and 6:59. I was happy that Ross was up as well and willing to give me a gentle reminder of what time it was. He was happy to offer his assistance to secure the greatest prize of the day. At 6:59 AM and 59 seconds our teamwork paid off and we secured boarding group 44 for GoG.
I had placed an Instacart order the night before and had it set to deliver to the resort at 9 AM. As I was getting ready to hop in the shower, I got an alert from my phone from Instacart. I checked on my order and I was shocked when at 7:30 AM my shopper had already started shopping! I jumped in the shower and by the time I was done, I got a message that he had checked out and was on his way. I called out to Ross and we headed on down to the lobby to meet him. Getting a cart was a bit challenging, Ross asked for one, signed it out, and then the CM disappeared. Ross has to ask another girl to retrieve one. Soon, we had our groceries and were heading back to the room.
My girls were up, which was sort of shocking because my girls are usually late sleepers.
Ross and I headed back to take the cart to bell services. I walked into the gift shop and the food court to get some coffee. I was sad and a little surprised that there was still construction going on in the gift shop area. Half of it was curtained up and closed.
The food court itself looked really nice. I think they did a fantastic job. I honestly didn’t think Pop Century really needed any kind of refurb, I thought it looked retro and cute. But it is really awesome now. After I acquired my coffee, I rejoined Ross who had wandered over to the arcade.
My hubby became his 15-year-old self again and walked around the arcade, searching for games that had credits already on them! And believe it or not, he found a couple!
OMG - I used to LOVE Joust!! I hadn't seen it in YEARS!!
After Ross got a little Donkey Kong and Pac-Man in , we returned to the room. We all took our time and got ready. And then headed out to Epcot.
I also have to give a shout out for so many of our neighbors who were so creative with their windows! I always say I want to do something like this, but I never seem to have the time or creativity to plan it out. Besides, I don’t think I’d ever get mine to be as impressive of some of these were!
My alarm was set to go off at 6:30. And then again at 6:45, at 6:50, at 6:55, and 6:59. I was happy that Ross was up as well and willing to give me a gentle reminder of what time it was. He was happy to offer his assistance to secure the greatest prize of the day. At 6:59 AM and 59 seconds our teamwork paid off and we secured boarding group 44 for GoG.
I had placed an Instacart order the night before and had it set to deliver to the resort at 9 AM. As I was getting ready to hop in the shower, I got an alert from my phone from Instacart. I checked on my order and I was shocked when at 7:30 AM my shopper had already started shopping! I jumped in the shower and by the time I was done, I got a message that he had checked out and was on his way. I called out to Ross and we headed on down to the lobby to meet him. Getting a cart was a bit challenging, Ross asked for one, signed it out, and then the CM disappeared. Ross has to ask another girl to retrieve one. Soon, we had our groceries and were heading back to the room.
My girls were up, which was sort of shocking because my girls are usually late sleepers.
Ross and I headed back to take the cart to bell services. I walked into the gift shop and the food court to get some coffee. I was sad and a little surprised that there was still construction going on in the gift shop area. Half of it was curtained up and closed.
The food court itself looked really nice. I think they did a fantastic job. I honestly didn’t think Pop Century really needed any kind of refurb, I thought it looked retro and cute. But it is really awesome now. After I acquired my coffee, I rejoined Ross who had wandered over to the arcade.
My hubby became his 15-year-old self again and walked around the arcade, searching for games that had credits already on them! And believe it or not, he found a couple!
OMG - I used to LOVE Joust!! I hadn't seen it in YEARS!!
After Ross got a little Donkey Kong and Pac-Man in , we returned to the room. We all took our time and got ready. And then headed out to Epcot.
I also have to give a shout out for so many of our neighbors who were so creative with their windows! I always say I want to do something like this, but I never seem to have the time or creativity to plan it out. Besides, I don’t think I’d ever get mine to be as impressive of some of these were!
They were doing some maintenance...
We hopped on the Skyliner and headed to Epcot. I have to say, I could’ve spent an entire week in Epcot. Festivals of the Holidays has really become one of my favorites!
Once there, we had to activate our passes. It was a little crazy what we did, our renewal was up in September, and while we renewed Hope’s pass, Ross and I let ours expire. It’s a long story…. so while Hope’s pass was good to go, Ross, Julia and I had to activate ours. I thought it activated as we entered the park, but as soon as we saw Mickey turn blue, we realized we were wrong. The cast member directed us to go out to guest services where they activated them. It was no problem until we went to get back into the park.
Hope made some kind of a commotion because when she scanned in again, it showed that she already scanned in. I think the cast member, who, for some reason didn’t remember us from 10 minutes before, thought it was someone trying to use someone else’s pass. We explained what just happened, and she still didn’t seem to remember us from 10 minutes ago. Another cast member came over and we explained and it was apparent by then that Hope was special-needs and wasn’t understanding 100%, and finally they allowed us in. It made me sad that this cast member was far less than magical or understanding, But nonetheless, we were in!
We made our way to France to have some healthy breakfast…
The crêpes here have become a favorite of Hope and Ross. They each got one of the red berry crêpes with Hope adding some vanilla ice cream to hers. Because what’s breakfast without a little vanilla ice cream on top? Julia wanted to try the hazelnut crêpe but wanted to add bananas. I asked the CM if it was possible and she said yes. We ended up waiting a lot longer than we usually do, but I think it’s because Julia’s was a special order. In the end, it was all delicious.
As we were walking over to Remy, I realize that Julia was not on our DAS pass. Luckily, they did not seem to have an issue that Julia was not on the DAS and just instructed us to go ahead.
I noticed that Remy had a new single rider line. I had heard something about it on one of the vlogs, and I wasn’t too thrilled about it. It seems that it would be a little tight and uncomfortable to have an extra person ride in the amount of space you have. Luckily, it was just the four of us in our Mouse Mobile.
After that, we made our way to the front of the park to resolve the DAS issue. Once we got to guest services, there was no problem. They were able to put Julia on within a couple of minutes and we were good to go. They even canceled the return time that I had for Soarin and remade it for us without losing any time.
The crêpes here have become a favorite of Hope and Ross. They each got one of the red berry crêpes with Hope adding some vanilla ice cream to hers. Because what’s breakfast without a little vanilla ice cream on top? Julia wanted to try the hazelnut crêpe but wanted to add bananas. I asked the CM if it was possible and she said yes. We ended up waiting a lot longer than we usually do, but I think it’s because Julia’s was a special order. In the end, it was all delicious.
As we were walking over to Remy, I realize that Julia was not on our DAS pass. Luckily, they did not seem to have an issue that Julia was not on the DAS and just instructed us to go ahead.
I noticed that Remy had a new single rider line. I had heard something about it on one of the vlogs, and I wasn’t too thrilled about it. It seems that it would be a little tight and uncomfortable to have an extra person ride in the amount of space you have. Luckily, it was just the four of us in our Mouse Mobile.
After that, we made our way to the front of the park to resolve the DAS issue. Once we got to guest services, there was no problem. They were able to put Julia on within a couple of minutes and we were good to go. They even canceled the return time that I had for Soarin and remade it for us without losing any time.
After that, we made our way to Soarin…. We were so excited to get the middle section row 1!
The new scene changes are interesting. But I swear, things still look bendy to me.
The new scene changes are interesting. But I swear, things still look bendy to me.
Then we did LWTL. Row 1 again!
I was excited to do LWTL later on at night with the glimmering greenhouses. Julia was equally excited for it. Ross did not share the excitement of the greenhouses glowing at night with all the beauty and ambience, lol. This is just not his favorite ride – glimmering or not.
But he was a sport. He took a nap!
I was excited to do LWTL later on at night with the glimmering greenhouses. Julia was equally excited for it. Ross did not share the excitement of the greenhouses glowing at night with all the beauty and ambience, lol. This is just not his favorite ride – glimmering or not.
But he was a sport. He took a nap!
We were all starting to get really hungry, but we decided to go and redeem our boarding group for guardians first. I really wanted to buy a lightning lane so that we could write it twice, but it would’ve cost almost $70 for just the three of us. There was no way Ross was gonna pay to ride at the second time. So I decided one ride would suffice. And sadly, we got the only song that I can’t stand! But it is still an awesome ride, no matter what!
Finally, it was time to start feasting on the festival treats!
We started in Mexico. Mexico is one of my favorite food booths, but somehow we always start on the other end and I’m too full when we get there. Not this time! We started with the empanada and I had a holiday margarita which was absolutely delicious! Worth $14? I’m not so sure, but it was wonderful.
We took a ride to visit Anna and Elsa. And what do you know? Row 1 again!
China was next. We got the spring rolls and the beef noodle Ramen bowl. The beef Ramen was pretty spicy but very yummy. And since I like spicy things I wasn’t complaining. The noodles were a little mushy from my liking. But the flavor was pretty good. The rice wasn’t worth it. It was dry and a really tiny portion for what the cost was. I should’ve listened to all the bloggers who said to pass it up.
Julia also picked up the Taro bubble tea. It was good. I had some with her. The flavor wasn’t her favorite, but she liked the fact that she got a cup to go home with for the bubble tea she makes.
Finally, it was time to start feasting on the festival treats!
We started in Mexico. Mexico is one of my favorite food booths, but somehow we always start on the other end and I’m too full when we get there. Not this time! We started with the empanada and I had a holiday margarita which was absolutely delicious! Worth $14? I’m not so sure, but it was wonderful.
We took a ride to visit Anna and Elsa. And what do you know? Row 1 again!
China was next. We got the spring rolls and the beef noodle Ramen bowl. The beef Ramen was pretty spicy but very yummy. And since I like spicy things I wasn’t complaining. The noodles were a little mushy from my liking. But the flavor was pretty good. The rice wasn’t worth it. It was dry and a really tiny portion for what the cost was. I should’ve listened to all the bloggers who said to pass it up.
Julia also picked up the Taro bubble tea. It was good. I had some with her. The flavor wasn’t her favorite, but she liked the fact that she got a cup to go home with for the bubble tea she makes.
Our photo from Frozen...
Ross and Hope picked up some Dole swirl.
I really wanted to see some of the storytellers and Julia did too. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to figure out what time they were performing. I couldn’t find any info on the app and in the countries, I had a hard fun time finding the info. So it was very hit or miss this trip and that made me sad.
We stopped in Italy, long enough to watch a little of Sergio’s act and Julia wanted to try one of the items from the Italy booth. This was another one that I think we should’ve listened to the Youtubers. We gave the refried thingies to try and they were dry and hard and not very yummy.
Ross and Hope picked up some Dole swirl.
I really wanted to see some of the storytellers and Julia did too. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to figure out what time they were performing. I couldn’t find any info on the app and in the countries, I had a hard fun time finding the info. So it was very hit or miss this trip and that made me sad.
We stopped in Italy, long enough to watch a little of Sergio’s act and Julia wanted to try one of the items from the Italy booth. This was another one that I think we should’ve listened to the Youtubers. We gave the refried thingies to try and they were dry and hard and not very yummy.
Hope was having a great time looking for Olaf.
