Trip Report Cheerful Goodbye to 2020 and Optimistic Hello to 2021! Video Trip Report - Updated July 26th 2021

Songbird76 · Feb 22, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Chapter 10: Yak And Yeti With A Side of Safari

Even though we got up super early, we are still ready to tackle everything we can in Animal Kingdom before the crowds get way too outrageous. We head over to Dinosaur to check that off our list and scare the bajeebers out of Clint and Karen (it always scares Karen to no end and Clint has just never rode it so I assumed he would get scared lol). As always it was a loud, dark and fun ride! We hardly waited at all, maybe 20 minutes so it was not bad at all for us. We actually got on right before a cleaning as well so that was super lucky for us as well!

After Dinosaur, we decided to hit up the gift shops for a while. We all were wanting some souvenirs at this moment and the holiday stuff was on sale for 70% off, so naturally we wanted to look at any and all deals we could find! After shopping, we got in line for Its Tough To Be a Bug - the line looked super duper long, however we honestly only waited about 10 minutes. For reference, the line was almost to the entrance so we were nervous it was going to be the 30 minute posted time but alas it was not!

After our tough and exciting morning, we were so ready for food and time to just sit down without a mask on for a while. We had reservations at Yak and Yeti as Karen, Brenae and I fell in LOVE with this place in the summer of 2019 when we dined there for the first time. We were so excited to take everyone back and see/taste the delicious food we came to love at Yak and Yeti. It honestly was even better than we remembered - we splurged a bit as this was our only big meal as a whole family and we really wanted to just go all out because we are just extra like that .

After Yak and Yeti we waddled over to the safari because we didn't want to get on anything too extremely as we were all stuffed to the brim from the delicious food. This safari was absolutely AMAZING! So many animals were out and about just hanging out and it was just so exciting! I am not sure if it was the time of day/year that we went but I honestly loved it, best safari I can remember. The line for the safari started by the Festival of the Lion King show building however, it never ever stopped moving. The 20ish minute wait felt like 5 minutes because we really just kept moving and shaking.

After the safari - it was time to get SOAKED I love love love water rides so much and must ride all water rides when I can, even if others aren't excited to get wet. We headed over to Kali River Rapids and it honestly looked like no one was getting wet so everyone was okay with riding this ride. We did not wait long at all for this ride either - again about 20 minutes for this wait as well. I got my 360 degree camera out to get a cool video of the ride so I hope you all enjoy that as well. We all got pretty wet, more wet than what others seemed to be getting wet when we watched them walk off. Honestly we may have been being dramatic but thats just what you get with this family, we can't help it

Wow, your mom totally books it through the park, doesn't she?
Thank you so much for showing us the food at Yak and Yeti! I've been very curious about it, but I am a pretty picky eater and my son is the pickiest eater on the planet. He won't even eat the pizza or chicken nuggets at Disney, and he won't eat mac n' cheese, PB&J, Spaghetti, burgers....any of the normal stuff most kids will eat. I think the only things he ate on our last Disney trip were fries, Joffrey's giant donuts, and he picked some of the pepperoni off our pizza at via Napoli. So I haven't dared to make us a reservation for Yak and Yeti. We went to Tusker House in 2016 and left hungry because none of us found much that was appetizing. But your food looked amazing!!! My daughter and I usually pic the two things that look best and share them....I would have had a hard time choosing. The Tikka Masala looked so good...I've always wondered what it was! The lo mein looked amazing as well...was that a vegetarian option or was there meat in there? And I LOVE steak. And the appetizers!!! I really want to try those green beans! Was it like a tempura? I could have just made a meal out of that! And what was in the pot stickers? It all looked so good...I was surprised Jake got another burger. Was that the only veggie option on the menu? But anyway, thank you for showing it....I think I want to try it out next time I go to Disney. And they obviously have fries, so my son would be able to eat there, too.

That 3d camera is really cool! I hope those other random people didn't mind being filmed!

NotZacHoward · Feb 24, 2021

Songbird76 said:
Wow, your mom totally books it through the park, doesn't she?
Thank you so much for showing us the food at Yak and Yeti! I've been very curious about it, but I am a pretty picky eater and my son is the pickiest eater on the planet. He won't even eat the pizza or chicken nuggets at Disney, and he won't eat mac n' cheese, PB&J, Spaghetti, burgers....any of the normal stuff most kids will eat. I think the only things he ate on our last Disney trip were fries, Joffrey's giant donuts, and he picked some of the pepperoni off our pizza at via Napoli. So I haven't dared to make us a reservation for Yak and Yeti. We went to Tusker House in 2016 and left hungry because none of us found much that was appetizing. But your food looked amazing!!! My daughter and I usually pic the two things that look best and share them....I would have had a hard time choosing. The Tikka Masala looked so good...I've always wondered what it was! The lo mein looked amazing as well...was that a vegetarian option or was there meat in there? And I LOVE steak. And the appetizers!!! I really want to try those green beans! Was it like a tempura? I could have just made a meal out of that! And what was in the pot stickers? It all looked so good...I was surprised Jake got another burger. Was that the only veggie option on the menu? But anyway, thank you for showing it....I think I want to try it out next time I go to Disney. And they obviously have fries, so my son would be able to eat there, too.

That 3d camera is really cool! I hope those other random people didn't mind being filmed!

Hahaha, she really does keep moving! However, you will notice her feet really start to hurt here in the coming days and we don't move quite as fast lol. She is just so exciting to get to place and do things, its so sweet! I completely understand the fear of Yak and Yeti as mom isn't the most adventurous eater but I just decided to try it out summer of 2019 since we were on the dining plan and figured we could find something and let me tell you it was AMAZING! They have specials every day as well that isn't on the menu (mom and Nae's steak and shrimp was one of the specials) so if you do definitely ask for the specials. Clint is a waaaaay more adventurous eater than I am so he always get the fun stuff and lets me try. It was super yummy! A really yummy spiced sauce with rice and chicken pretty much. Chris;s Lo Mean was a combination of the meat (I don't exactly remember which) however I know they have a vegetarian one because Jake was considering getting that instead of the burger. They were pork potstickers! Their fries were so good and their kids menu was pretty extensive so possibly something for your son. If you do go, definitely let me know your thoughts as well and I hope that you have just as an amazing meal as us!

I do enjoy my 3D camera a lot! We made sure they were okay with it before hand

Songbird76 · Feb 24, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Hahaha, she really does keep moving! However, you will notice her feet really start to hurt here in the coming days and we don't move quite as fast lol. She is just so exciting to get to place and do things, its so sweet! I completely understand the fear of Yak and Yeti as mom isn't the most adventurous eater but I just decided to try it out summer of 2019 since we were on the dining plan and figured we could find something and let me tell you it was AMAZING! They have specials every day as well that isn't on the menu (mom and Nae's steak and shrimp was one of the specials) so if you do definitely ask for the specials. Clint is a waaaaay more adventurous eater than I am so he always get the fun stuff and lets me try. It was super yummy! A really yummy spiced sauce with rice and chicken pretty much. Chris;s Lo Mean was a combination of the meat (I don't exactly remember which) however I know they have a vegetarian one because Jake was considering getting that instead of the burger. They were pork potstickers! Their fries were so good and their kids menu was pretty extensive so possibly something for your son. If you do go, definitely let me know your thoughts as well and I hope that you have just as an amazing meal as us!

I do enjoy my 3D camera a lot! We made sure they were okay with it before hand

It will probably be a while before we get to go. We are in the Netherlands, and we aren't even allowed in the US right now. We're actually not supposed to travel anywhere if it's not necessary. Can't even cross the German border 15 minutes from here. So I'm thinking it's going to be a few years before we get back to Disney, and then it might just be my daughter and I. My husband isn't a fan. (blasphemy, I know!) My son likes Disney fine, but he's autistic and gets really overwhelmed, so he spent a LOT of time in the resort room on our 2019 vacation and he only has a small handful of rides he likes to do. My daughter and I are the ones who love Disney, and we have such a great time together, so we might just do a mother/daughter trip, and then it won't matter where we make ADRs. The dining plan usually comes with the European package deals anyway, so it's a great opportunity to try new things! We are so lucky that we've gotten to try so many different restaurants, but I still love looking at pictures from other people's meals. It helps in the process of choosing where to make ADRs for future trips!!

NotZacHoward · Feb 24, 2021

Chapter 11: Closing Out Animal Kingdom

After our Splashtastic time on Kali Rive Rapids, we stopped to get some of our favorite beverages at Animal Kingdom - frozen cokes with captain Morgan, yummmmmy! While we were drinking those yummy drinks, we saw quite a few different character calvacades!! This was our first ones we have seen and they were just so so exciting!! We were screaming and dancing and waving our hands off. We wanted to go ride the Navi River Journey since we haven't rode that ride yet however, it was a huuuuuge line and I know how slow that ride boards so the 80 minutes just didn't seem worth it like usual. We checked out the line for Flight of Passage and it seemed shorter than this morning shockingly so we decided why not - the ride is totally worth it! We waited around an hour again just like in the morning so it wasn't bad yet again. Then we got some more drinks and got the rum blossom drinks to really feel like we were in Pandora

After these drinks some of the crew was starting to feel the day on their feet and their legs so we were starting to drag quite a bit. We weren't quite done with Animal Kingdom but the time was creeping in on us. We could definitely tell the crowds were here and building, every ride seemed to have over an hour wait and we just weren't feeling waiting in the lines anymore. We tried to go back to Dinosaur for one last blast to the past; however, the line was wrapping all around dinoland - definitely not what we wanted to see or wait in. We decided to check out Everest just one more time to see how the line was and it was actually VERY short, even with the posted 50 minute wait. We decided to do this ride just one more time and then head out of Animal Kingdom to enjoy the evening at Disney Springs.

MickeyCB · Feb 24, 2021

Very very fun following along with your video/vlog. I really like the mix of the talking/walking and the sections with music playing. Thanks for posting them.

Songbird76 · Feb 25, 2021

Brenae is all about the food, isn't she? But I totally agree with her....food is such a huge part of the experience. You can be having a great time, but if you get a bad meal, it can put a damper on the whole day, where a great meal totally makes the day. I love that you are all very positive and just kind of roll with it....one line is long? Ok, we'll do something else! That's so great. My crew gets so discouraged when things don't go the way they want. My son refuses to set foot in AK anymore...or at least he did in 2019. My daughter got heat exhaustion and we sat in Pizzafari for 4 hours trying to get her hydrated and feeling better and ended up having to go to the first aid center with her. My son just wanted to go back to the resort, so my husband took him back, and then he refused to go back to AK on our other AK day and he stayed at the resort. They just don't bounce back from the disappointment.

NotZacHoward · Feb 25, 2021

MickeyCB said:
Very very fun following along with your video/vlog. I really like the mix of the talking/walking and the sections with music playing. Thanks for posting them.

Thank you so much for following along/watching and for your kind words! Super appreciative of them

Songbird76 said:
Brenae is all about the food, isn't she? But I totally agree with her....food is such a huge part of the experience. You can be having a great time, but if you get a bad meal, it can put a damper on the whole day, where a great meal totally makes the day. I love that you are all very positive and just kind of roll with it....one line is long? Ok, we'll do something else! That's so great. My crew gets so discouraged when things don't go the way they want. My son refuses to set foot in AK anymore...or at least he did in 2019. My daughter got heat exhaustion and we sat in Pizzafari for 4 hours trying to get her hydrated and feeling better and ended up having to go to the first aid center with her. My son just wanted to go back to the resort, so my husband took him back, and then he refused to go back to AK on our other AK day and he stayed at the resort. They just don't bounce back from the disappointment.

Haha she really is! We honestly all are, I just tend to catch her on film saying more about it than the rest of us

I completely agree! Meals and snacks make or break some trips, especially depending if people are really getting hangry lol. We really do try to just roll with the punches and just keep our heads up no matter what but I totally understand sometimes not being able to bounce back. I am so sorry to hear that about your daughter. That must have been so so so scary!! But hopefully your son will get over that experience and go back in AK as I LOVE that park and the rides

Once this is all over and you can make it back over this way!!

Songbird76 · Feb 26, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Thank you so much for following along/watching and for your kind words! Super appreciative of them

Haha she really is! We honestly all are, I just tend to catch her on film saying more about it than the rest of us I completely agree! Meals and snacks make or break some trips, especially depending if people are really getting hangry lol. We really do try to just roll with the punches and just keep our heads up no matter what but I totally understand sometimes not being able to bounce back. I am so sorry to hear that about your daughter. That must have been so so so scary!! But hopefully your son will get over that experience and go back in AK as I LOVE that park and the rides Once this is all over and you can make it back over this way!!

It was a little traumatic, yes, but I have to admit....I am a complete AK jinx. I don't know what it is, but we just have not had a good experience at AK. The first time we went there in 2016, it was soooooo hot, so we went on Kali (my favorite in AK) and my son got a few drops of water on him and freaked out (sensory issues) and we tried to stay cool by going to the FotLK show in air conditioning and then it started to storm so all the outdoor stuff was closed. We had already done most of the indoor stuff already. We decided to see if we could check in early to our Tusker House ADR, but they wouldn't let us, so we had to stand outside in the rain for half an hour until our check in window. We had ponchos, but were still a bit wet so the AC blasting was FREEZING and none of us found anything on the buffet that looked good, so we left hungry, freezing, and just over it. Then in 2019, we headed straight to FotLK because that was the one thing my son wanted to do, and my daughter got so overheated in the line that she was about to pass out. People around us in the line were using their fans to try to cool her down. After the show, we headed for pizzafari and just sat there with drinks, but she felt dizzy and nauseated. Then she said she was freezing and wanted her sweater....when it was like 100 degrees outside! So a really awesome CM left his position at the restaurant to take us to the first aid center there and we got her some tylenol to bring her fever down and we rested for a bit longer. But I asked a CM how to cancel my husband's and son's FPs for FoP because they decided to leave the park, but the CM accidentally deleted mine and my daughter's instead, so we had to get that back....then during our window, it was down and that night was an extra ticket event, so they were closing soon and we wouldn't be able to use the FP anyway. Every time I set foot in AK, bad things happen. I made a FP for FOP for my daughter and husband later in the trip and they had a great time. I helped my brother plan a date night with his husband for his husband's birthday and I took their daughter with us...he and his husband went to AK and had a great time. And they spent the day touring AK while we were sitting in Pizzafari...we were supposed to meet up that afternoon...they had a great time....until they met up with me. It's me. I'm a jinx. Only in AK, though. I can go to every park and things go smoothly, except AK.

NotZacHoward · Feb 28, 2021

Songbird76 said:
It was a little traumatic, yes, but I have to admit....I am a complete AK jinx. I don't know what it is, but we just have not had a good experience at AK. The first time we went there in 2016, it was soooooo hot, so we went on Kali (my favorite in AK) and my son got a few drops of water on him and freaked out (sensory issues) and we tried to stay cool by going to the FotLK show in air conditioning and then it started to storm so all the outdoor stuff was closed. We had already done most of the indoor stuff already. We decided to see if we could check in early to our Tusker House ADR, but they wouldn't let us, so we had to stand outside in the rain for half an hour until our check in window. We had ponchos, but were still a bit wet so the AC blasting was FREEZING and none of us found anything on the buffet that looked good, so we left hungry, freezing, and just over it. Then in 2019, we headed straight to FotLK because that was the one thing my son wanted to do, and my daughter got so overheated in the line that she was about to pass out. People around us in the line were using their fans to try to cool her down. After the show, we headed for pizzafari and just sat there with drinks, but she felt dizzy and nauseated. Then she said she was freezing and wanted her sweater....when it was like 100 degrees outside! So a really awesome CM left his position at the restaurant to take us to the first aid center there and we got her some tylenol to bring her fever down and we rested for a bit longer. But I asked a CM how to cancel my husband's and son's FPs for FoP because they decided to leave the park, but the CM accidentally deleted mine and my daughter's instead, so we had to get that back....then during our window, it was down and that night was an extra ticket event, so they were closing soon and we wouldn't be able to use the FP anyway. Every time I set foot in AK, bad things happen. I made a FP for FOP for my daughter and husband later in the trip and they had a great time. I helped my brother plan a date night with his husband for his husband's birthday and I took their daughter with us...he and his husband went to AK and had a great time. And they spent the day touring AK while we were sitting in Pizzafari...we were supposed to meet up that afternoon...they had a great time....until they met up with me. It's me. I'm a jinx. Only in AK, though. I can go to every park and things go smoothly, except AK.

Oh my gosh! I am so sorry to hear the extent of all your AK experiences. Hopefully that AK jinx has worn off and next time you are there it will be an absolutely amazing time for you to make up for all those bad times. At least it is only AK though and not the other parks so you still have 3 amazing parks to visit and explore there

Songbird76 · Mar 1, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Oh my gosh! I am so sorry to hear the extent of all your AK experiences. Hopefully that AK jinx has worn off and next time you are there it will be an absolutely amazing time for you to make up for all those bad times. At least it is only AK though and not the other parks so you still have 3 amazing parks to visit and explore there

Amen to that! I want to love AK, I really do! I do love Kali River rapids, and the Nemo show is adorable. But FoP made me dizzy when I finally got to go on it on our 2nd AK day. I had to close my eyes a couple of times, and I felt so bad for my brother, because he didn't fit in the ride vehicle and had to be removed. We did get anytime FPs to make up for it, but he was more than a little grumpy...that was the one thing he had been really looking forward too. They just couldn't close the thing around him. It must have been very embarrassing to be led off and everyone looking at him. But I think he liked the safari, and I know his husband did. It cracked me up because his daughter was just 6 and he said she is so excited for all the animals, she LOVES animals (they have a ranch of sorts and she raises goats and chickens) and then she got on the safari and promptly fell asleep and missed the whole thing. Tuckered. Out!

But like you said, I've got 3 other parks to explore if AK is a bust. Epcot is my favorite...I can't wait to see all the new stuff they are building. I'm sad the SSE reno was put on hold though. I LOVE that ride, but it really does need an update.

Which park is your favorite?

NotZacHoward · Mar 2, 2021

Chapter 12: Disney Springs!

So after a fun filled day at Animal Kingdom, we decided to take the Saratoga Springs bus to be able to walk over to Disney Springs since they don't have the buses to Disney Springs from the parks and we knew about the walk over there from Saratoga Springs. We had so people on the bus who definitely enjoyed their adult beverages at Animal Kingdom and were quite interesting on the bus lol! I wish I was on their level!

Once we got to Disney Springs the first thing we all noticed was how busy it was and how it seemed like lines were everywhere. We obviously wanted to hit up World of Disney to shop around and look around so we headed over that way. The line was really far backed up and they told us it would be quicker to just get in the Virtual Queue so we could walk around and not have to just stand in line. There were 46 parties ahead of us so we didn't think it would take too long and it didn't - only about 10 minutes! The one thing I noticed about this trip is the souvenirs didn't seem to be as robust as usual, probably due to the pandemic which is totally understandable, just something I noticed.

For dinner, we split up just a little bit. Brenae and Chris headed to Polite Pig while the other 4 of us headed to Blaze Pizza so Jake could have the choices to make his own pizza and have something different than burgers. All of our food was absolutely delicious and we really loved it all! Blaze is always delicious but it had been so long since I had eaten it so it was even better than I remember.

After food, we decided to just walk around a little bit longer. The place was super crowded and some people in my party was crashing really hard - understandable since we had to wake up before the sun rose and were on the go go go all day. We got some yummy desserts and then headed back to the hotel. I wanted some drinks from the Boardwalk Bakery since we had the cups, I thought might as well. WELL when I got back, I put it in the fridge to keep it cold and something terrible happened - it spilt EVERYWHERE. I am honestly not sure what happened but we spent so long cleaning it up and definitely wasn't the best way to end the night but hey, I would rather clean up tea at Disney than at my own house

ferbtones · Mar 4, 2021

All caught up.
I have to say reading other trip reports you have been super lucky with your food choices.
You have all obviously enjoyed what you got, whereas others have complained about the quality on offer.
I love Yak and Yeti, but have never tried Blaze or Polite Pig as they weren’t open last time I Disneyed.
Totally making me hungry watching your video.
My daughter loves the Mickey apple with M&Ms, so I think she ate that in her head.

Great videos, loving your family, keep them coming.

NotZacHoward · Mar 4, 2021

Songbird76 said:
Amen to that! I want to love AK, I really do! I do love Kali River rapids, and the Nemo show is adorable. But FoP made me dizzy when I finally got to go on it on our 2nd AK day. I had to close my eyes a couple of times, and I felt so bad for my brother, because he didn't fit in the ride vehicle and had to be removed. We did get anytime FPs to make up for it, but he was more than a little grumpy...that was the one thing he had been really looking forward too. They just couldn't close the thing around him. It must have been very embarrassing to be led off and everyone looking at him. But I think he liked the safari, and I know his husband did. It cracked me up because his daughter was just 6 and he said she is so excited for all the animals, she LOVES animals (they have a ranch of sorts and she raises goats and chickens) and then she got on the safari and promptly fell asleep and missed the whole thing. Tuckered. Out!

But like you said, I've got 3 other parks to explore if AK is a bust. Epcot is my favorite...I can't wait to see all the new stuff they are building. I'm sad the SSE reno was put on hold though. I LOVE that ride, but it really does need an update.

Which park is your favorite?

Oh my gosh! Well hopefully as they add more and more to AK it will have even more for everyone to do

My sister gets motion sickness on rides too, she will sometimes wear the seabands that she wears on cruises and they will help her really well on rides like that so maybe that will help you if you wanna give that a shot

. That totally makes sense being grumpy on that, I am so sorry to hear he had to go through that :/ but at least the Safari helped his spirits a little bit. I LOVE Magic Kingdom lol, it will forever hold a special place in my heart and always be my favorite - even though thats kinda a basic answer

ferbtones said:
All caught up.
I have to say reading other trip reports you have been super lucky with your food choices.
You have all obviously enjoyed what you got, whereas others have complained about the quality on offer.
I love Yak and Yeti, but have never tried Blaze or Polite Pig as they weren’t open last time I Disneyed.
Totally making me hungry watching your video.
My daughter loves the Mickey apple with M&Ms, so I think she ate that in her head.

Great videos, loving your family, keep them coming.

Thank you so much for watching/reading all the posts. We are a pretty easy going family, especially when it comes to food so it doesn't take much to make us happy food wise

. But I will say I really thought most the food we had all week was delicious and really tasty. I LOVE the krispies with M&Ms but the apple with M&Ms is super yummy as well!

Songbird76 · Mar 5, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Oh my gosh! Well hopefully as they add more and more to AK it will have even more for everyone to do My sister gets motion sickness on rides too, she will sometimes wear the seabands that she wears on cruises and they will help her really well on rides like that so maybe that will help you if you wanna give that a shot . That totally makes sense being grumpy on that, I am so sorry to hear he had to go through that :/ but at least the Safari helped his spirits a little bit. I LOVE Magic Kingdom lol, it will forever hold a special place in my heart and always be my favorite - even though thats kinda a basic answer

Thank you so much for watching/reading all the posts. We are a pretty easy going family, especially when it comes to food so it doesn't take much to make us happy food wise . But I will say I really thought most the food we had all week was delicious and really tasty. I LOVE the krispies with M&Ms but the apple with M&Ms is super yummy as well!

I never thought about seabands...I'll have to look into that! I also had issues with several rides at Universal and had to keep my eyes closed. I do love the Safari...there's hope for AK. And I really liked the food at Satuli Canteen, though my daughter didn't like....the dressing? The noodles? There was something she wasn't crazy about, but I know she ate all her meat and picked some of the meat out of mine...she liked that, but not the noodles, or something. Funny story, though....we went there with just my brother's family and my daughter and me, because my son refused to set foot in AK and my husband either stayed with him or went his own way. But we got our food and went to sit down. My brother and his husband both ordered beer to drink, my brother is carrying the tray, makes it all the way to the table, then spills the beer all over everything about a foot from the table. It went all over my 6 year old niece, and my brother-in-law says "Now you smell like daddy in college!" and she looks at him and says "Why? Did you get a lot of beer spilled on you in college?" And he just kind of laughed and said "Something like that." :hilarious:

The CMs were awesome though. One of the managers had been standing right there when it happened and another had been bringing cupcakes because it was my BIL's birthday, so they got everything cleaned up and got them new beer in just minutes. They were so fast and really they shouldn't have had to do that...it was us who made the mess! (and it's me who is the AK jinx) But they were great!

NotZacHoward · Mar 8, 2021

Songbird76 said:
I never thought about seabands...I'll have to look into that! I also had issues with several rides at Universal and had to keep my eyes closed. I do love the Safari...there's hope for AK. And I really liked the food at Satuli Canteen, though my daughter didn't like....the dressing? The noodles? There was something she wasn't crazy about, but I know she ate all her meat and picked some of the meat out of mine...she liked that, but not the noodles, or something. Funny story, though....we went there with just my brother's family and my daughter and me, because my son refused to set foot in AK and my husband either stayed with him or went his own way. But we got our food and went to sit down. My brother and his husband both ordered beer to drink, my brother is carrying the tray, makes it all the way to the table, then spills the beer all over everything about a foot from the table. It went all over my 6 year old niece, and my brother-in-law says "Now you smell like daddy in college!" and she looks at him and says "Why? Did you get a lot of beer spilled on you in college?" And he just kind of laughed and said "Something like that."
The CMs were awesome though. One of the managers had been standing right there when it happened and another had been bringing cupcakes because it was my BIL's birthday, so they got everything cleaned up and got them new beer in just minutes. They were so fast and really they shouldn't have had to do that...it was us who made the mess! (and it's me who is the AK jinx) But they were great!

Yes! It may not work for everyone, but for Nae it really does. Omg there really is just something with you all and AK, lets hope next time you go there the tides will turn and it will just be amazing for everyone involved. CM's really are great there! That is such a sweet thing for them to do for you. I love hearing of all the magical moments that are made around the parks, best part of being a cast member is making those magical moments!

Songbird76 · Mar 8, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Yes! It may not work for everyone, but for Nae it really does. Omg there really is just something with you all and AK, lets hope next time you go there the tides will turn and it will just be amazing for everyone involved. CM's really are great there! That is such a sweet thing for them to do for you. I love hearing of all the magical moments that are made around the parks, best part of being a cast member is making those magical moments!

Oh it's not all of us at AK, just me. The rest of my family can go and be fine as long as I'm not with them. But to be honest, the beer thing just cracked me up. And my BIL's comment about his daughter smelling like him in college, and her completely innocent reply was so cute. It was just so sweet. And the nicest thing about the magical moment...we had gone through the line separately, my brother with his three, and my daughter and I in a separate line, because we were in 2 separate rooms, all on the dining plan, so we had to split up for QS restaurants. So they saw my BIL's birthday button and gave them 3 cupcakes, one for each of them, which the CM was bringing to their table. When she saw my daughter and I joining them, she went and got 2 more cupcakes. How awesome was that!? The manager cleaned all the beer up and got new ones and the other CM brought more cupcakes. I love Disney for things like that!!

NotZacHoward · Mar 11, 2021

Chapter 13: Magic Kingdom, Hooray!!

The day is finally HERE! We are going to my favorite place in the whole world, the place where I feel the most happy - Magic Kingdom! It was really weird to me this trip to not go to Magic Kingdom first as that has been a personal tradition I have done every trip ever; however, I am just so glad we finally are going and that it is open pretty late, compared to the other parks. We tried to get up as early as possible but due to the previous two early mornings, most of us were a little sluggish and tired. Have no fear though! We still were on the bus ready to roll and ready to take on our day of magic.

We got to the park before park opening but people had been allowed to enter for quite a while now. We were going to head over to Seven Dwarves as we figured it couldn't be that long right?? WRONG! It was all the way wrapped around the mountain and almost back towards the entrance, so we decided to knock out some family favorites.

We headed over to Tomorrowland to start the day off with a little Space Mountain (a family favorite) and boy did it wake all of us up! We had Clint sit in the front since he has never rode before and wouldn't know what to expect at all. He LOVED it! He isn't a very "emotional" person but he did express great love for the ride. We also walked all the way on pretty much, no line that was memorable at least

.

We then decided to get some competition out of the way with Buzz Lightyear. Needless to say I won by a large margin - one of my hidden talents is being great at that ride LOL. Another ride with barely a line and another ride that was loved by all, even the sore losers.

By this point we had been up for a while and people were already starting to crash a bit since energy was running on fumes. We made a quick stop at the Outpost across from Pecos Bills to get people some coffee to wake them up and lift spirits as high as we could. This definitely helped as many people's energy skyrocketed and were finally ready for the full day!

And now, the moment I have been waiting for since we stepped foot inside the Magic Kingdom, Splash Mountain time!! This is my all time favorite ride and I LOVE the hill that is in the complete dark, it seriously makes me so happy and I could ride it just for that hill alone. We did get pretty wet which was another lovely burst of energy for the crowd.

Songbird76 · Mar 12, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Chapter 13: Magic Kingdom, Hooray!!

The day is finally HERE! We are going to my favorite place in the whole world, the place where I feel the most happy - Magic Kingdom! It was really weird to me this trip to not go to Magic Kingdom first as that has been a personal tradition I have done every trip ever; however, I am just so glad we finally are going and that it is open pretty late, compared to the other parks. We tried to get up as early as possible but due to the previous two early mornings, most of us were a little sluggish and tired. Have no fear though! We still were on the bus ready to roll and ready to take on our day of magic.

We got to the park before park opening but people had been allowed to enter for quite a while now. We were going to head over to Seven Dwarves as we figured it couldn't be that long right?? WRONG! It was all the way wrapped around the mountain and almost back towards the entrance, so we decided to knock out some family favorites.

We headed over to Tomorrowland to start the day off with a little Space Mountain (a family favorite) and boy did it wake all of us up! We had Clint sit in the front since he has never rode before and wouldn't know what to expect at all. He LOVED it! He isn't a very "emotional" person but he did express great love for the ride. We also walked all the way on pretty much, no line that was memorable at least .

We then decided to get some competition out of the way with Buzz Lightyear. Needless to say I won by a large margin - one of my hidden talents is being great at that ride LOL. Another ride with barely a line and another ride that was loved by all, even the sore losers.

By this point we had been up for a while and people were already starting to crash a bit since energy was running on fumes. We made a quick stop at the Outpost across from Pecos Bills to get people some coffee to wake them up and lift spirits as high as we could. This definitely helped as many people's energy skyrocketed and were finally ready for the full day!

And now, the moment I have been waiting for since we stepped foot inside the Magic Kingdom, Splash Mountain time!! This is my all time favorite ride and I LOVE the hill that is in the complete dark, it seriously makes me so happy and I could ride it just for that hill alone. We did get pretty wet which was another lovely burst of energy for the crowd.

So who won the wait time guess?

You all seem so close and you're really nice to each other....so I'm wondering have you always been this way or was there a lot of sibling rivalry when you were growing up? You all seem pretty close in age, and I know my brother and I fought like cats and dogs when we were little and we still rib each other a lot, and we're only a year apart. So I was just curious if you've always gotten along so well.

NotZacHoward · Mar 15, 2021

Songbird76 said:
So who won the wait time guess?

You all seem so close and you're really nice to each other....so I'm wondering have you always been this way or was there a lot of sibling rivalry when you were growing up? You all seem pretty close in age, and I know my brother and I fought like cats and dogs when we were little and we still rib each other a lot, and we're only a year apart. So I was just curious if you've always gotten along so well.

Honestly, we never were really sure hahah. We always forgot what we said and I could never find the clip that told us what every one said lol! So we just usually guessed who one and went from there.

We have always been a super close family, obviously have those days as siblings where we were just furious with each other (and still do). My brother and I are the furthest apart at 5 years, Brenae and I are only 2 years apart

. We have definitely gotten closer as we have grown older which I am super thankful for, especially since we all started to go our own ways with college and moving to different parts of the United States.

Songbird76 · Mar 16, 2021

NotZacHoward said:
Honestly, we never were really sure hahah. We always forgot what we said and I could never find the clip that told us what every one said lol! So we just usually guessed who one and went from there.

We have always been a super close family, obviously have those days as siblings where we were just furious with each other (and still do). My brother and I are the furthest apart at 5 years, Brenae and I are only 2 years apart . We have definitely gotten closer as we have grown older which I am super thankful for, especially since we all started to go our own ways with college and moving to different parts of the United States.

That's hard, when you grow up and everyone goes off in their own directions. My brother is a year older than me, and I was so lonely when he went to college. We fought like cats and dogs in elementary school, but by high school, we started having more in common...both involved in student council, speech and debate, drama, etc....so we became really close by the time he graduated and I really missed him. Then I ended up at the same University as him, and we hung out together all the time. But now I live on a different continent and we barely have contact. It's so nice that you guys are so close. I love that you all go together and have so much fun. I know it takes soooooo much planning, but it's so worth it!