Trip Report And everything you do...celebrate you! *COMPLETED*

Oh what an adventure this year has been, and the journey only continued as we embarked on our 8th annual Walt Disney World trip together!

This trip report follows in the footsteps of the inspiration for my not-always-sunny pre-trip report: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/its-the-time-of-your-life.928664/

But we can skip that and get to the good stuff. A whirlwind of Disney, both the old and new, was just the thing we needed. A reminder that life is good, despite not always going to plan, and to never stop dreaming as we look to the future.

The cast: J - the husband. And myself. Goofy & Pluto Pook-a-looz babies.

Travel dates: September 2nd - September 10th...but Hurricane Irma changed that a bit. Returning home to All-Star Music.

Let the memories begin!

We arrived within the Disney bubble a little later than we were used to, and with an 11am - 12pm DINOSAUR fastpass that we were itching to get to, we barreled into Animal Kingdom around 11:45 desperate to make it. DINOSAUR is one of my favorite all time rides, and it was down for refurbishment last year, so it's safe to say I was going through a serious DINOdrought.
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We powerwalked through the lush Oasis, taking in the familiar sights and sounds, maybe beginning to register that we were finally here at Walt Disney World!
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Labor Day Saturday at Animal Kingdom probably wasn't the best idea. Especially when you see that both Na'vi River Journey and Flight of Passage were temporarily down on the My Disney Experience app, therefore inflating wait times at everything else. But we'd deal with that later. Must...get...to...DINOSAUR.
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As we turned right and rounded the corner to the Dino Institute, there were CMs lined up in front of the entrance. Not good! We stood there panting and clutching the stitches in our sides as they announced the ride is down with no ETA of coming back up yet.
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Ugh. Fine. We drowned our sorrows by splitting the Ribs, Chicken, and Pulled Pork Sampler at Flame Tree Barbecue. Food does solve a lot of problems.
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This baby was definitely large enough to satisfy two starving adults...but it was a messy experience. At one point, J said to me: Um...you have meat in your hair.
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The view didn't hurt either.
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We took the time to reset our plans, as DINOSAUR would turn into a recovery FP, and Na'vi was our next one, but apparently down. Ah well, at least we had company! Look who stopped by during lunch:
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Animal Kingdom is full of natural beauty.
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And wildlife everywhere you turn.
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As we cleaned up our colossal mess of a lunch and pulled up the app to see what we could do, J delivered the good news: Na'vi River Journey was back up. Whoopee! It's time to really get this party started.
 
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belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We only rode Frozen once before, and found ourselves somewhat entertained, but mostly underwhelmed. However, when life gives you lemonade, you drink it!
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The indoors-but-outdoors queue was worth a second gander.
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And as for the ride itself, I found myself grinning with the smile of a child as we journeyed into the sparkling winter forest, blinded by the flash at the Most Awkward Ride Photo Opportunity ever, and overall enjoying myself. Glad we got to do it all this year!
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We usually like to browse MouseGear on our way out of Epcot, but since we were already living pretty dangerously by staying for 10pm Illuminations knowing we had to catch DME at 3:05am just a few hours later, we decided to make the trip now.
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The OCD, overwhelming amounts of Disney stuff, packrat in me gets so much joy out of the displays as a whole.
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Not sure if this is just a decorative piece or some kind of bathroom accessory like a soap/toothbrush holder, but I like it.
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Good thing I have no more room for anything extra in my luggage...
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This store gives me life because it's always hoppin' with activity.
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I started to think about how starting tomorrow, every time I would walk into a store, there would be no Mickey Mouses and everything would be drab and boring. Nooo...must...stop...!
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But seriously, we had a good run. Shopping brings the both of us more joy than I ever could have initially imagined. And the fact that we can do it together, is just a wonderful feeling to have.
 

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
One more stop...at the can't-miss Art of Disney. I seriously went crazy over a lot of finds here.
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I will never stop loving this movie and everything that it stands for.
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Friends on Main Street...how adorable!
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This is like a legit Disney painting I need to have in my house at some point in my life. Preferably soon.
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The scrapbooker in me loves seeing cartoon renderings of all the World Showcase countries.
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Was very fond of this collection displaying the four seasons.
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And this just warmed my heart. Sharing is caring!
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Relatable...literally me waiting for J to come home from work every day.
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But my most favorite of all...'Our Happy Place'. It just really needs no words. It now hangs on our wall at home.
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As we exited the shop, we got a dose of that special Disney magic that always captivates the mind...no matter how old you are.
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And finally, it was time to head back to World Showcase for some nighttime fun. Ending the trip with a bang!
 

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My wish for Illuminations tonight was to sit on the ground with nothing and no one between me and the water and the fireworks. So we decided we would find a spot early, and close to the beginning of World Showcase for easier exit.
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But of course, passing by Mexico I had to go in one more time.
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We ended up sitting in front of Norway with about an hour to spare, plentiful room around us (seriously, it was a ghost town), and caught some glimpses of Star Wars fireworks!
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During that hour, I thought, maybe I should pop into Kringla and see if there's anything worth grabbing for breakfast/snack tomorrow. I ended up with the only thing unlikely to self-destruct within the next 12 hours...a Sweet Pretzel with Almonds.
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We waited, listened to the Pre-Illuminations music, watched the torches flicker, and the water practice its magic.
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And finally, that voice. That drum. And it began. (Thanks to J for taking these pictures on his phone...the last time I would rag on him this entire trip for phone cameras being better than our potato camera.)
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Illuminations will always be the most spectacular nighttime spectacular. It tells a story with music, with water, with fire, and with diamonds in the sky. It was to end to our adventure that we needed.
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We sang our hearts out to Promise as we walked towards, past, and under the Big Ball. All was well.
 

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You thought it was over, didn't you? We did too. Thought we would head back to Intermission Food Court and grab that pizza and try to get a realistic 2.5 hours of sleep (again!) but that did not happen! We arrived home at All Star Music fairly quickly, but were greeted by an insanely packed and chaotic food court. The lines were so long but I couldn't even see what people were trying to buy, for most of the bays were closed, the fridges were practically empty, and I even saw a lady stuffing a bag with a lot of Goofy's Candy Co. bags like the ones we had. And the pizza window? Forget it! I made J stand in line while I went to scour. I even went back to Maestro Mickey's to see what was on the shelves there, but came back empty handed. I ended up grabbing a carton of blueberries and raspberries, and we burned our pizza credit for 3 more bags of candy. And we stood in line forever. All that time, we both could not stop thinking, wow...we're glad to be getting out of here.

I ended up washing the fruit back at the room and storing in a refillable mug. It came in handy 3 hours later as I sat on the one of the L's at the big ALL STAR MUSIC letters waiting for DME to pick us up...which by the way was about 20 minutes late and gave us 20 minutes of anxiety as there was no one really around to help us out with an ETA. But sure enough, we made it to MCO with plenty of time to spare, and we were home in time for lunch with my dad.

We spent the entire day and the next following all the going-ons via Twitter and Snapchat, finding it hard to believe that places we were just at had taken such a 180. Parks empty, people stuck in Beach Club lobby or All Star rooms, Yachtsman serving hurricane menus...it was all so surreal.

We were so happy to be home, happy with all the new things we got to see, happy with the experience we shared, and happy that we 'Celebrated Us' with all that had gone on this year. And Mrs. Potts and Chip fit very nicely with the family.
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And the magic only continued when we learned that our dreams are coming true. A little Mouseketeer is on its way...and thus, our Disney World will change forever. And only for the better.

Thanks so much for following along on our journey - I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoy reliving our crazy adventures!
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Congratulations! I'm so happy for you that I'm crying! Being a mommy is truly the best feeling in the world and your new little one to come is so lucky to have you and J as mommy and daddy! Oh June babies are the best!
 

belledream

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Congratulations! I'm so happy for you that I'm crying! Being a mommy is truly the best feeling in the world and your new little one to come is so lucky to have you and J as mommy and daddy! Oh June babies are the best!
That is so sweet, thank you for those kind words! :inlove: We're so excited and feel so lucky. Cannot wait!
 

joshsprincess921

Well-Known Member
You thought it was over, didn't you? We did too. Thought we would head back to Intermission Food Court and grab that pizza and try to get a realistic 2.5 hours of sleep (again!) but that did not happen! We arrived home at All Star Music fairly quickly, but were greeted by an insanely packed and chaotic food court. The lines were so long but I couldn't even see what people were trying to buy, for most of the bays were closed, the fridges were practically empty, and I even saw a lady stuffing a bag with a lot of Goofy's Candy Co. bags like the ones we had. And the pizza window? Forget it! I made J stand in line while I went to scour. I even went back to Maestro Mickey's to see what was on the shelves there, but came back empty handed. I ended up grabbing a carton of blueberries and raspberries, and we burned our pizza credit for 3 more bags of candy. And we stood in line forever. All that time, we both could not stop thinking, wow...we're glad to be getting out of here.

I ended up washing the fruit back at the room and storing in a refillable mug. It came in handy 3 hours later as I sat on the one of the L's at the big ALL STAR MUSIC letters waiting for DME to pick us up...which by the way was about 20 minutes late and gave us 20 minutes of anxiety as there was no one really around to help us out with an ETA. But sure enough, we made it to MCO with plenty of time to spare, and we were home in time for lunch with my dad.

We spent the entire day and the next following all the going-ons via Twitter and Snapchat, finding it hard to believe that places we were just at had taken such a 180. Parks empty, people stuck in Beach Club lobby or All Star rooms, Yachtsman serving hurricane menus...it was all so surreal.

We were so happy to be home, happy with all the new things we got to see, happy with the experience we shared, and happy that we 'Celebrated Us' with all that had gone on this year. And Mrs. Potts and Chip fit very nicely with the family.
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And the magic only continued when we learned that our dreams are coming true. A little Mouseketeer is on its way...and thus, our Disney World will change forever. And only for the better.

Thanks so much for following along on our journey - I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoy reliving our crazy adventures!


CONGRATS!!!!!!!!
So glad you had a great trip and as usual, I enjoyed following along! Thanks for sharing!
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
Sorry to read that you had to cut your trip short, but seems it was a blessing in disguise! Excellent trip report - loved all of your pictures and your story telling along with them.

But more importantly - congratulations on the BIG news!!! :happy:
 

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