Trip Report *COMPLETE* How to Break a Disney Curse in Three Easy Steps: 1) Two Chipmunks 2) The Dapper Dans 3) The Best Mom Ever

Well, it finally happened.

I went to Walt Disney World, the place where, for the last three years and last three trips, I:

• Found out my company was closing, and thus I wouldn’t have a job in a month;
• Tore my ACL in Hollywood Studios, ended up at the ER, and had to be on crutches and use a scooter for the first time, all while racking up a massive hospital bill I’m still paying off;
• Got tonsillitis, my dad got the flu, and my mom got a bad cold, so we had to leave four days early on what was supposed to be our “do-over” trip.

(If you want the details about any of these trips, check out my pre-trip report here, where I wrote mini trip reports about these nightmares.)

Would this trip be different? Would my mom and I have fun on our first mother-daughter only trip? Would turning 30 slowly drive me insane? Most importantly, would I finally break my Disney curse??

Stay tuned to find out! *Dun dun dun*

Dun…

Dun…

Ha, just kidding. I really considered leaving you all in suspense about how my trip went, but I’m going to be upfront instead: this trip was probably one of my favorites that I’ve ever taken! Definitely top 3, if not tied for first place! My mom and I had an absolutely incredible time, and I can’t wait to go back with her! And I think she had a lot of fun, too, since this was supposed to be a “once-in-a-lifetime” thing, but since we’ve been home, she’s even said we need to do another trip, just the two of us, again! (Sorry, Dad!)

Here’s a quick refresher for everyone who didn’t read my pre-trip report:

WHO: My mom (Ele) and me (Carrie)

WHEN: April 7-April 13

WHERE: Beach Club Villas

WHY: My 30th Birthday!

My dad and I are the obsessive Disney lovers in our family. My mom adores the movies, but while she also loves the parks, they’re not the be-all, end-all for her like they are for me and my dad. So I was surprised when she not only didn’t immediately say no when I jokingly asked to go to Disney for my 30th birthday, but instead started asking questions about what the crowds were like and where I’d want to stay. Fast forward through months of waiting and anticipation (and that final trip where we all got sick, which was just this past Dec-Jan), and the day had finally arrived—we were leaving on our first mother-daughter Disney trip!!

 

[carriehpotter]

Thanks for the Easter Egg pictures . I am always in awe of people’s artistic abilities (having none myself!) and those are truly amazing

Same here! It blows my mind what the pastry chefs can do!

 

[carriehpotter]

APRIL 13, SATURDAY: Magic Kingdom and Heading Home

Our last day dawned bright and early. We'd never eaten our dessert from the Fantasmic! dessert party, so we decided to eat that for breakfast.

It was all only OK. But it had sat in our fridge for over three days, so that probably didn't help.

We got ready to go and gathered everything and called bell services. They came super fast (both when they dropped our bags off and when picking them up!) and soon we were saying goodbye to our lovely BCV room one last time and making our way to the lobby to check out.

I grabbed a picture of the only egg I realized I hadn't given it's full due the night before:

We had a FP for HM coming up, so we hurried out to the buses. A MK bus came pretty quickly, if I remember correctly, and we were soon on our way to our last park of the trip . (Why am I getting so emotional about the end of this trip when I leave for the next one in two and a half days!?)

That day, they were having some sort of Haunted Mansion celebration, insomuch as they had some special PP opportunities. We of course took advantage.

This was the first day that one of the parks was truly crowded. We'd been super lucky all week with relatively low crowds, even at MK on my birthday. But today it was pretty darn crowded! Of course, it was a Saturday.

We tapped in for our HM FP, but nothing happened. A lot of people were tapping and then not pausing when nothing happened, but we stopped and asked the CM if we were OK to go through. She seemed so relieved that somebody was paying attention! She said the scanner was down and she needed to scan people's bands with her tablet, but it was also acting up. The FP line was out of control, so she asked if we'd take a multi-experience FP and come back later. Sure! I don't know how her tablet worked to give us new FPs, but whatever.

We wandered over to where they were doing a special magic shot with the Hatbox Ghost. I can't help but find it silly that they have so much Hatbox Ghost crossover in WDW when we don't have one. But whatever. I guess it's for HM fans who can't get to CA.

They also had us scream, but those pictures were scarier than the HM itself, so I'll spare you all!

Our next FP was in Fantasyland, so we decided to cut up next to the Castle through Liberty Square. Well, on the way who did we see but "Ms. Poppins," as my mom always calls her. She didn't have a PP photographer (she never seems to, even at the parties. what is up with that?), but the CM handlers did a great job with my phone (all vertical shots though)!

 

[carriehpotter]

APRIL 13, SATURDAY: Magic Kingdom and Heading Home (continued)

We walked up the (not-yet-widened) side path next to the Castle on our way to our next FP, but decided to make a quick stop to make a wish with a Fairy Godmother!

She saw my ears and button, and asked if I wanted to make a special birthday wish with her that was sure to come true. Umm, yes!

(The wish was in my hand...)

(Then I had to hold it close to my heart and wish with all my might...)

It was such a long and lovely interaction. I've said it once and I'll say it again...I love when the characters give the same amount of attention and time to everyone. I know many think it's weird or silly for adults to wait in line to meet characters, but that's always been one of my favorite parts of Disney! This was a fantastic last character interaction on a trip filled to bursting with great M&Gs!!

We walked over to our next FP, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Tigger is one of my faves, probably tied with D.Duck for second after Hades). After bouncing and floating with our Hundred Acre Woods friends, we had a bit of time to kill before our next FP. There was one treat we hadn't yet gotten that's a must-do for us, so we made our way over into Adventureland for...

A Dole Whip Float!! We sat and enjoyed it for a little while, and then decided to do one last "must-do" before going to our last FP...

The Tiki Room!

After listening to birds singing words and flowers crooning, we walked across the hub to Tomorrowland for our SRS FP!

Then it was time for our lunch ADR at the Plaza Restaurant. We checked in and waited for about twenty minutes to be seated.

We got the loaded Plaza Fries to start. They weren't all that loaded, however.

My mom and I both got the bottomless milkshakes, starting with chocolate. But they came with paper straws. Yeah, that wasn't gonna work drinking a thick, creamy shake! Our waitress, who was a bit scattered and mostly ignored us, said they didn't have anything else. So I got up, marched to Starbucks, and came back with straws we could actually use!

Before:

After:

My second shake was Mint Chocolate Chip!

For some strange reason, especially since I'd been doing well remembering all week, I completely forgot to take pictures of our entrees! And for the life of me, I can't remember what we got! Weird. I think it was because the table next to us, which was meant for 4-6 people, squished about 10, including a little girl who was laying all over the booth seat and almost kicked my mom several times. Ugh. They were very loud (and we were in the little room off to the side, so that didn't help with the noise level) and rude to the waitress.

After our less-than-pleasant lunch, we decided to head to do our HM FP (really it was multi-use, but I wanted to ride HM!).

UP NEXT: The final post of this trip report!!??

 

[carriehpotter]

APRIL 13, SATURDAY: Magic Kingdom and Heading Home (continued)

It was time for our last ride in the World. We boarded our Doom Buggies and had one last swinging wake!

(Still unprepared for the new photo...)

After escaping from being the 1000th happy haunt, we took a few more of the "special" PP pics.

Not gonna lie, I was super excited for this one, as every time we've tried to get it before, whether during regular hours or at a party, the ghosts have never decided to hitchhike with us!

We slowly and mournfully made our way back to Main Street. It just happened to be time for the Flag Retreat, which is one of our favorite things, so we sat and watched that for a bit.

Then we heavy hearts, we left MK and took a Minnie Van back to Beach Club (our first and last of the trip, which was odd since we used them extensively over Christmas!). The driver was telling us all sorts of fun stuff, and eventually we were like, "we're leaving now, you're making us sad" and she stopped. Oops.

Our taxi was already scheduled, so we got our luggage from bell services, I ran into the Marketplace to fill up our mugs one last time and to grab sandwiches for the train (we'd grabbed pastries from France the day before for breakfast on the train), and we waited. Soon enough, we were saying "See Ya Real Soon!" to WDW and were on our way to the Winter Park train station. Our train was on time and we had the same "bedroom" as the trip down. The train trip was from approximately 7:45ish p.m. to about 6ish p.m. the next day. My dad picked us up in Newark and we went home. And it was back to work the very next day, Monday, for me!

And thus ends what ended up being one of the best trips I've ever had to Walt Disney World. After three trips fraught with disaster, this one had a lot to make up for, and it did so in spades! My mom was amazing, letting me lead the way as the birthday girl, and we already want to go together again!

Disney really was an absolutely magical place to be on one's birthday! I've never felt so special. I highly recommend it to anyone that can make it happen!

Thank you for going on this journey with me: my first actually finished trip report! Stay tuned, because I leave in a little under three days for a trip with my dad where we'll battle heat, potential SW:GE crowds, and not having my mom there to referee us! Here's the pre-trip report.

Thanks again for reading!!

 

[Swissmiss]

It’s so nice to know that the next TR is not far off

 

[Spash007]

APRIL 13, SATURDAY: Magic Kingdom and Heading Home (continued)

It was time for our last ride in the World. We boarded our Doom Buggies and had one last swinging wake!

View attachment 402545
(Still unprepared for the new photo...)

After escaping from being the 1000th happy haunt, we took a few more of the "special" PP pics.

View attachment 402547

View attachment 402548

Not gonna lie, I was super excited for this one, as every time we've tried to get it before, whether during regular hours or at a party, the ghosts have never decided to hitchhike with us!

View attachment 402546

We slowly and mournfully made our way back to Main Street. It just happened to be time for the Flag Retreat, which is one of our favorite things, so we sat and watched that for a bit.

View attachment 402550

Then we heavy hearts, we left MK and took a Minnie Van back to Beach Club (our first and last of the trip, which was odd since we used them extensively over Christmas!). The driver was telling us all sorts of fun stuff, and eventually we were like, "we're leaving now, you're making us sad" and she stopped. Oops.

Our taxi was already scheduled, so we got our luggage from bell services, I ran into the Marketplace to fill up our mugs one last time and to grab sandwiches for the train (we'd grabbed pastries from France the day before for breakfast on the train), and we waited. Soon enough, we were saying "See Ya Real Soon!" to WDW and were on our way to the Winter Park train station. Our train was on time and we had the same "bedroom" as the trip down. The train trip was from approximately 7:45ish p.m. to about 6ish p.m. the next day. My dad picked us up in Newark and we went home. And it was back to work the very next day, Monday, for me!

And thus ends what ended up being one of the best trips I've ever had to Walt Disney World. After three trips fraught with disaster, this one had a lot to make up for, and it did so in spades! My mom was amazing, letting me lead the way as the birthday girl, and we already want to go together again!

Disney really was an absolutely magical place to be on one's birthday! I've never felt so special. I highly recommend it to anyone that can make it happen!

Thank you for going on this journey with me: my first actually finished trip report! Stay tuned, because I leave in a little under three days for a trip with my dad where we'll battle heat, potential SW:GE crowds, and not having my mom there to referee us! Here's the pre-trip report.

Thanks again for reading!!

Glad that this one worked out well (and more!) for you after your last three trips! And here's to another good trip coming up!

 

[riverside]

Great TR!! Looking forward to your next one!! Have fun!!

 

[SandiSmiles]

I really enjoyed your trip report. You took some great pictures! Looking forward to your next trip with your Dad - I bet you will both have a great time!

 

[Laura Loves Tigger]

Really enjoyed your report! Can't wait to read the next one!

 

[carriehpotter]

It’s so nice to know that the next TR is not far off

Haha, indeed! I'm just impressed with myself that I actually finished this one before I left!

Glad that this one worked out well (and more!) for you after your last three trips! And here's to another good trip coming up!

Thanks! Me too! I just hope I didn't use up all my good trip vibes, haha.

Great TR!! Looking forward to your next one!! Have fun!!

Thank you!!

I really enjoyed your trip report. You took some great pictures! Looking forward to your next trip with your Dad - I bet you will both have a great time!

Thank you!! We're both so excited!

Really enjoyed your report! Can't wait to read the next one!

Thanks so much! I can't wait to write it!

 

[Rista1313]

Thanks for the TR... I enjoyed it!!! I especially liked seeing the train aspect of it... I've always wondered about those sleeper type cars.

 

[carriehpotter]

Thanks for the TR... I enjoyed it!!! I especially liked seeing the train aspect of it... I've always wondered about those sleeper type cars.

Thanks for reading!! The train is for sure an interesting mode of transportation. More comfortable than flying, but less comfortable than driving, in my opinion. My mom swears she'll never do it again, but if it's down to the train or flying, we'll definitely be on the train again!

 

[dizfan917]

we arrive in 17 days and my birthday is in 20 days!!

hee hee hee!!

 

[Rista1313]

We arrive in 17 days too.. but my birthd

we arrive in 17 days and my birthday is in 20 days!!

hee hee hee!!

We arrive in 17 days too.. but my birthday is after we come home on Sept 29th.

 

[krisri18]

So glad you had a wonderful trip! Hope the next one is too!

 

[carriehpotter]

we arrive in 17 days and my birthday is in 20 days!!

hee hee hee!!

Yay! Disney birthdays are the best! Have a ton of fun!!

So glad you had a wonderful trip! Hope the next one is too!

Thanks! Honestly, I was relieved to have a trip with no major upheaval Here's hoping the next is the same!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Great TR. So glad your trip curse has been broken.