Trip Report August 2024- Now With Half The Whining!

Hello everyone! My daughter Sage and I were in Disney from August 17th-24th so I thought I should finally get going on this trip report!

I have done several trip reports here over the years so I apologize if this is repeat information but, just to give you a quick refresh, I am married and have two girls, they are 13 and almost 9. We have been to Disney many times as a family. Unfortunately my kids are very high maintenance and both tend to have behavior issues. They also fight constantly. Yes, even in Disney. Our last family trip was in March of 2023. After that trip, my husband decided he wanted to take a break from Disney. This was absolutely out of the question for me; Disney is my one true love (and also my job) and I could never give it up. I knew there was no way I could handle both my kids on my own so I decided to take them separately. Hence why this trip report only has half the whining

Sage and I planned our trip first for two main reasons. One, she is starting to like bigger rides whereas Aria does not. And two, she could hang out briefly by herself if there was a ride I wanted to do but she didn’t, and Aria definitely isn’t old enough for that yet. We decided on August because she doesn’t like to miss school. I also thought it would be fun to do the Halloween Party. I am planning to take Aria in November 2025 and we are planning to do the Christmas party.

For this trip, I really wanted to focus on things I haven’t done before. And that started with our resort. I have stayed in almost every value resort (some multiple times) and a few deluxe resorts. But, I had never stayed in a moderate. I had also never used the Skyliner so of course, we decided to stay at Caribbean Beach.

Before I dive in with day one, here is a picture from our last family trip in March 2023.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

After tapping into Big Thunder, I want to say I booked Winnie the Pooh.

I tried to take a few pictures on the ride and was not very successful

Next was our Haunted Mansion lightning lane which was our 3rd of the pre-booked. I had booked it for 11:10 and we tapped in right around 11:45. So again, my schedule was right on track

After tapping in here, I booked Small World.

OBSESSED with the new (ish) hat box ghost

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Next up was Hall Of Presidents.

Quick side note- does anyone watch Allears on YouTube? They have this running joke about the creepy doll in the window in Liberty Square. They named her Cynthia and say she’s haunted and moves around. They always go over and say hi to her when they are in Liberty Square. Well, while Sage and I were sitting in the lobby area waiting for the show to start, we were sitting on a bench and there was a window behind us. Sage peeked under the curtain to look outside and she says, AH MOM IT’S CYNTHIA! Sure enough, there she was

Anyways, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this show and Sage never has. She very much enjoyed it.

We then went outside and found Cynthia and gave her a proper hello so she wouldn’t haunt our dreams.

It had started to rain a bit while we were in the show. I should note that here it was Tuesday afternoon, and it was just raining for the first time since we arrived on Saturday. Unfortunately it did rain daily from this point on

SO MANY BIRDS

 

[Tuvalu]

I was literally in Critter Co Op when you and Sage passed by on your way to Tiana’s LL entrance.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Next we used our LL for Small World and I’m pretty sure I booked Little Mermaid next.

Over the years I have grown very fond of this sassy winking hippo

After Small World, we did do a bit of back tracking but it was really the only time it happened all day. It was getting pretty close to parade time and the parade was a must do for both of us. We didn’t want to try and squeeze in any more rides before the parade so we walked back to Adventureland to get some Dole Whips and then back to Liberty Square to wait for the parade.

Unfortunately while we were waiting for the parade, it started pouring. They ended up cancelling and instead doing the Rainy Day Cavalcade. It was cute but the characters were moving very quickly and not looking our way a lot of the time. Obviously we would have much preferred to see the parade

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

I was literally in Critter Co Op when you and Sage passed by on your way to Tiana’s LL entrance.

Ahhh so close!!!

 

[Minnie1986]

Day 4- Tuesday 8/20

This was our Magic Kingdom day!
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It was a party day so park hours were 7:30am-6pm. This was another one of my carefully planned early nights. So of course that means Sage changed the plan Because she wanted to take a mid day break the day before, we didn’t finish everything we wanted to at Epcot. She said, that’s ok mom, we can just go back after we leave Magic Kingdom. Sure kid why not

For this day, I pre purchased both multi pass and single pass for Tron. My plan was to do everything in each land before moving on to the next and I’m proud to say that for the most part, my plan worked. Timing for my initial 3 multi pass picks ended up being perfect and even the return times we got for our other LLs were good. I did very little fiddle faddling.

For early entry, we started in Tomorrowland.
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At rope drop, we went to Space Mountain.

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Then we used standby for Astro Orbiter. Sage likes this ride and I wanted to get it done early in the day since there is no LL. She has always done this one with Nick and I’ve actually never been on. And I can now say with confidence that it’s a pretty big waste of time The load and unload situation with the elevators is pretty ridiculous.
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I did very little fiddle faddling.

Do you watch the Mammoth Club youtube channel?

 

[meggo819]

You got some really excellent photos on the rides!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Do you watch the Mammoth Club youtube channel?

Oh yes! It’s our favorite with Allears a close 2nd

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

You got some really excellent photos on the rides!

Thank you! Sage was yelling at me on Big Thunder to put my phone away We were whipping all around and she was convinced I was going to drop it.

 

[Minnie1986]

And now it was time for Tiana’s Our LL was for 9:50 and I took this photo at 9:51 so we were right on track.
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I am not a fan of water rides at all so I pulled off to the side to put my poncho on. Sage had one too but she was whining about wearing it because “no one else was”. I was like girl, I’m not getting soaked but you do you. She put it on but made it quite clear how embarrassed she was

So the short version is, I loved this ride! I think the sets and animatronics are beautiful and really well done. I will admit though, the storyline is not my fav. I wish it just told the actual plot instead of this fictitious new story

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I have a lot of photos so I’ll have add more in the next post.

I agree with the plotline being a bit lacking; especially since Dr. Facilier was such a big part of the movie, and is a hit at the MNSSHP.

 

[Minnie1986]

Oh yes! It’s our favorite with Allears a close 2nd

I love Molly and Allan. Allears is also a great one; I love Sage and Emma's content; as well as the creator the call Fry Bucket.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

I love Molly and Allan. Allears is also a great one; I love Sage and Emma's content; as well as the creator the call Fry Bucket.

I like Quincy on Allears and I especially like when they do their resort tours. I feel like I am a little old for the channel now and definitely not the target audience Some of the games they do are a little much.

 

[Minnie1986]

I like Quincy on Allears and I especially like when they do their resort tours. I feel like I am a little old for the channel now and definitely not the target audience Some of the games they do are a little much.

Culdn't agree more about the games, but I do love their park advice

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Sage really wanted to meet Mirabel so we went there next. I am not an Encanto fan but I do love Luisa so I made sure to point out everything Luisa related while Sage rolled her eyes at me. I also asked Mirabel to say hi to Luisa for me and she said to look for donkeys because if I found donkeys, I would find Luisa

We had some extra time until our next LLs because of the parade cancellation so we decided to take a much needed break in Cosmic Rays. It was about 2:15 so there were plenty of open tables. It really is true that you should try to eat at off peak times

The only food we had in the park all day was the beignets and the dole whips so we definitely needed some “real food”. Sage got mac & cheese and I got the Greek salad.

We took our time eating and enjoyed a soothing serenade from Mr Sonny Eclipse.

It was then time for our Little Mermaid lightning lane. I actually really love this ride. When I was a kid, I used to watch my Little Mermaid VHS all the time. So that movie and the characters will always be a favorite.

 

[cgersic]

Your photos are soooo good!! Just loving following along for all of this!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

So at this point, there really weren’t any lightning lanes left to book so we started booking for Epcot. Before we arrived, I booked Soarin’, Living with the Land and Spaceship Earth.

We then used our Peter Pan LL that we had booked earlier.

Then saw Philharmagic which is a big favorite of ours.

Quick stop at the Rapunzel bathrooms

We still had some time to kill until our final LL (Winnie the Pooh) so we did standby on both Mad Tea Party and the Carrousel.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

And finally time for our last LL of the day, Winnie the Pooh.

Love this little outdoor area and Sage loved going inside the tree

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Your photos are soooo good!! Just loving following along for all of this!

Thanks so much!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We still had some time before park closing so we did a full loop on the train.

And finally, we ended the night at Mine Train. I did not purchase single pass for this and instead, our plan was just to get in line before closing. It was about 5:20 when we got in line and the wait said 60 minutes. However we only waited 35

A final quick wrap up. In total from 7:30am-6pm we did: 21 attractions, saw 2 cavalcades and met 1 character. And while the day may have been a little slower due to the party, I was still overall super happy with our use of the LL system. While we did not have another full day planned for MK, we were planning on entering at 4pm on our party day. Our plan was to prioritize anything we missed from 4-7pm. And really, the only things we didn’t do that we wanted to were Tiki Room and Carousel of Progress. We also skipped Dumbo and Barnstormer but surprisingly for the first time ever, Sage didn’t have those on her must do list.

Off to Epcot!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

We got to Epcot a little before 7. Sage first wanted to find the bubblegum wall.

Then it was time for our Soarin’ and Living with the Land LLs.

Then over to The Seas to ride Nemo and explore the aquarium.

It was then time for our Spaceship Earth LL but it was currently down which gave us some time to grab a quick dinner.

Spaceship Earth looking so pretty

For our very late dinner, we just went to Connections Eatery. I had the plant based black bean burger and despite the not so great picture, it was quite good.

Right before 9pm, Spaceship Earth reopened so we quickly dashed over for our last ride of the night.

I had originally told Sage it was imperative we make it over to the Skyliner before Luminous ended so we didn’t get stuck in the massive crowd. However with Spaceship Earth going down earlier it messed with our plans and of course Sage refused to skip it. So we were literally IN the massive crowd as we made our way to Skyliner. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty upset

We get to the Skyliner station and the line winds through the switchback we waited in the night before, stretches over the bridge and ends right around the first building of the Beach Club Considering we waited 20 minutes the previous night, it had to be at least an hour long. Instead of waiting, we walked through the Beach Club and out to the bus stop. A MK bus was actually there waiting so we hopped on and bussed it to MK. When we arrived, lo and behold, a CBR bus was waiting. So we jumped on and bussed it back to CBR. I honestly have no idea if this was any quicker But at least we were sitting on an air conditioned bus most of the time. I was so beyond exhausted and a little salty about it all considering this was supposed to be one of my pre-planned early nights