Trip Report Completed: How to Avoid a Rebel Invasion: a dual August trip report

Hello all! It's pre-trip report time, title explanation to follow!

Who:

That's all of us back in August of 2017 at Whispering Canyon Cafe.
From the left: SIL @NessNewt, myself with my younger niece E on my lap, mom C, bf P, my now middle child R, my oldest hiding his head T, with older niece L in front of him, and my brother Z. We're all going back and we're bringing this cutie:

It's baby E's first trip! Well, outside the womb that is. Lol
Where: Pop Century for Me (K), P, baby E, C, R, and T
Coronado Springs for @NessNewt (V), Z, L and E
When: August 10-16 for Myself, P, baby E, C,R and T
August 14-21 for @NessNewt (V), Z, L and E
We're getting out before Star Wars Land opens and the masses flood the parks, hence the first part of our trip title. And @NessNewt and I will both be reporting, so it's kind of like 2 trips in one!

 

[krisri18]

All caught up congratulations what a 1st day that was, and echoing everyone baby E is adorable.

Thank you

 

[krisri18]

Day 4 (Wednesday 8/14)
Our goal was rope dropping Epcot, but thanks to some slow moving teenagers, we were running behind. I was dreading the bag check area but it was pretty wide open. Which is because everyone was already through bag check.... And the tapstiles. The crowds were all huddled under Spaceship Earth just waiting for the moment when they could run to their first attraction.

We joined the masses. Overheard conversation while waiting: "Hey Jimmy, if that's a golf ball, how big do you think the club is?" "OMG Dad, you're not funny".

We formulated a plan to go to Test Track first, along with the 2,000 other people around us. Followed the crowd and found this

There's a line we don't want to be in!
Single rider for the win! (Which inevitably gets C singing "all the single riders!" to the tune of Single Ladies. Beyonce would be horrified).
I sat out with Baby E first while everyone else took their turn riding. Their photo never appeared but they all got to ride together since the regular crowds hadn't finished making their cars yet. P got back in line with me while C stayed with baby E. We got all the way to the front and Test Track went down. Then back up, then down again. 3 times. I was hesitant to get on since I did NOT want to be on it and have it break down when we were in the outdoor portion. Thankfully we survived!

The line was getting longer so off to the Land pavilion we went! We rider swapped/fastpassed Soarin and then hit the Farm ride.

There were people in the lab! Which I'm now realizing doesn't show in the photo. Lol
We made a plan to head for World Showcase next, but as we worked our way towards the exit, hordes of drenched tourists were entering. The rain was coming down ridiculously hard. And guess who left the stroller parked outside without a rain cover? That's right, this girl.

Sigh. Sunshine Seasons was packed but we grabbed a couple of snacks/quick service items to share. We had a big dinner planned for later and didn't want to overdo it. Baby E fell asleep on me so we hung out while we waited for the rain to pass.

 

[krisri18]

Day 4 cont
After the rain slowed, we followed the crowds out. We retrieved the stroller, which needed to be tipped over and drained since the basket was full of water. P needed caffeine so went off in search of a Joffreys or Starbucks, T went with him. C, R and I had gotten a Fastpass for Figgy so off we went! Baby E slept through the ride (no idea how) but woke up as we left the pavilion.

Most elaborate exit that I've ever seen for a character meet and greet.
Oh! I forgot that we did Spaceship Earth between Test Track and Soarin. When our time machine was passing through a garage somewhere in California... @NessNewt called, but I couldn't answer. They had arrived at their resort but their dining plan was all wonky. We took a break in the Spaceship Earth activity area so I could work on getting her what she needed for it to be fixed.

Stopped by Club Cool since who knows if it will return. Beverly was empty at a few of the machines.

P and T met back up with us. Then it was off to the World Showcase! We hadn't ridden R's favorite ride yet: Gran Fiesta Tour!

A very dark boat selfie.

We left Mexico and the winds were picking up. We thought we would try to brave another country or two since we had time before our early dinner reservation. We made it to China and then turned back since the sky was looking ominous.

We bailed on Epcot, sadly we didn't make it back for the rest of our trip . I love World Showcase and only got to explore Mexico. Always the next trip!
We speedwalked to the monorail, trying to beat the rain. Got a lovely view of all the construction under the platform area.

Lunch break I presume? That's a whole lotta dirt! We were off to meet @NessNewt , Z, L and E for dinner!

 

[krisri18]

Day 4 cont
Monorailed to the TTC and decided to walk to our destination. The Poly is such a tranquil looking resort.

I see you @Tuvalu !

We were early for our reservation, so why not rope drop the Tiki Terrace! I needed to have a Spikey Pineapple to compare it with the Froscato Mimosa from the day before.

So good! But the Froscato Mimosa is just the tiniest bit better.

Time to get changed up for dinner!

The gang's all here!
Time for dinner!

E is baby E's biggest fan and was very attentive at dinner.

We had a great time. Our server was attentive, no one was rushing us, the girls got to do the coconut race (I think Z has those photos), and the ukelele player played songs we liked.

 

[krisri18]

Day 4 (some more)

Another guest took this pic for us after watching me try to take a selfie of the whole table.

Z wearing one of the girls' Minnie ears.
We hung out in the lobby for a bit, the girls wanted to participate in some of the cultural activities that were going on, P wanted to check out the gift shop, and R and T were playing Pokemon Go.

P and I took the opportunity to call his parents and tell them we were engaged!

His dad wasn't home, but his mom was very chatty! Lol
We split up the group after this: @NessNewt and her crew went back to their resort to settle in, T and R went to Hollywood Studios to ride Star Tours, C was going to come with P, Baby E and I into MK but she changed her mind and went back to Pop to have an early night instead.
We tried to do some more attractions that we thought baby E would like!

And then Philharmagic (no photos) but baby E seemed to like it! Then a FP to ride P's nemesis...

He absolutely LOATHES Small World. But he suffered through the agony of it for baby E.

It was getting close to HEA time but I had forgotten baby E's headphones so we didn't want to be too close (plus the crowds were crazy). We found this little are by the Christmas Shoppe that was mostly empty.

Baby E and I staked our claim while P ran to Sunshine Tree Terrace to get the Redd's Revenge strawberry Dole Whip. Unfortunately STT was closed! So we "settled" for regular Dole Whip floats from Aloha Isle. He made it back a couple of minutes after HEA started. And Baby E got to try his first Dole Whip!

 

[krisri18]

Baby E's first Dole Whip!
We got to watch HEA together and even though we couldn't see all of the fireworks, it was still a perfect end to our night.

Off to the buses we went, we ended up having to wait for the 3rd bus since there were so many people but the buses just kept coming so made it back to Pop around 10:30,quick bath for E and crashed!

 

[NessNewt]

I'll jump in here!

Day 4/Day 1 for our crew

We woke up the girls around 3:30 AM to tell them we were going to Disney. They knew it was coming just not exactly when, so it was a fun little surprise.

Our flight down was fine minus some annoying passenger behavior nearby, and our magical express ride was lovely. I was on cloud nine! And the girls and Z were definitely feeling happy.

We got to Coronado Springs and I loved seeing the new tower and lobby!

Of course then I started to speak to a CM and we discovered they had the wrong dining plan for us and I went into panic mode. This was when I called @krisri18 because she's also our TA. We eventually got it worked out but I had about 30 minutes of feeling nervous! (FYI, the same thing happened to my step brother P2 when he checked in two days later - apparently Disney has some issues when upgrading dining plans on free dining).


While I was dealing with the issue Z took the girls to the Iguana Arcade which was a surprisingly great arcade!

After everything was taken care of with our dining plan and the girls got some arcade time we called for a Lyft to take us to the Boardwalk for our super late breakfast.

We had a LOVELY Lyft driver who is an AP holder and I could tell he was restraining his Disney knowledge while trying to gauge our interest in conversing. We happily talked about the gondolas and Galaxy's Edge for our short ride. The girls really seemed to like him because they asked if he would pick us up after breakfast .

Up Next: My 6 year old is in love with all Disney princes.

 

[Rista1313]

Glad Kristi was able to get the dining plan all straightened out for you. Nice having your TA right there! I booked my free dining for my upcoming trip in January... and I upgraded to the middle plan.... let's hope all mine is correct... it LOOKS right in the system.

 

[NessNewt]

Day 4 continued

I'm going to change the color of my text to maybe help keep track.

We arrived a little early for our Bon Voyage breakfast and L dived right into purchasing souvenirs with birthday money.

We were seated and the characters began to appear. Flynn Rider came out first, followed by Rapunzel. When Rapunzel came out we were instructed to shout out our dreams to her. L and E didn't have anything to say but Rapunzel looked right at E and said, "I think your dream is to find someone as handsome as Flynn!" This was hysterical because E is prone to crushes and is very concerned with who she will marry someday.

Watch out, Blondie.

There was some swooning over Eric as well.

The food was all excellent. We started off with some pastries which were delicious. The girls both got pancakes which they enjoyed. Z got an omelette with tomatoes and mozzarella, which he enjoyed. I got the steak which was really, really good.

There was a processional which the girls always enjoy.

It was super cute to see the couples and the interactions were fun, especially Rapunzel and Flynn. I think it was a great start to our trip.

After breakfast we walked over to HS to catch a bus back to the resort. It was a really nice walk even if it was hot. And we had #SHIRLEYstatus on the ride back.

Once we got back I regretted not packing our dinner outfits and our swimsuits in the carry-ons. We were pushing it for time and eventually ended up sitting in the lobby when I got the room ready text. We got our carry on bags and stroller rental from bell services, arranged for our Amazon prime now order to be delivered to the room and happily walked over to our cabanas room!

We were in 8A Cabanas which is, in my mind, the PERFECT location. We were close to our bus stop, close to the main pool and not too far from the lobby.

We were getting close to having to leave when our luggage showed up! We changed into our dinner outfits and used a Lyft to get over to the Poly for our O'hana dinner with our o'hana.

 

[NessNewt]

Glad Kristi was able to get the dining plan all straightened out for you. Nice having your TA right there! I booked my free dining for my upcoming trip in January... and I upgraded to the middle plan.... let's hope all mine is correct... it LOOKS right in the system.

I didn't think to check it in MDE but it was incorrect there. Or maybe I thought it wouldn't show the upgrade? In any case, my fingers are crossed for you but if it looks right there hopefully you are all set!

I'm lucky to have her for a SIL and TA! She even got us free dining three days after baby E was born! The day she got back from the hospital! And also that snafu with dining interrupted her own Disney trip but she didn't even hesitate to fix it for us. I was most panicked because the CM was talking about cancelling and rebooking the reservation and I was scared K would lose "credit" for our trip after her hard work, but it all worked out.

 

[NessNewt]

Day 4 Cont.

O'hana was delicious as usual. I asked our server for alternative options for our picky eaters and he brought out Mac n cheese, chicken fingers and French fries. The girls were happy with that and I felt very grateful!

E truly is Baby E's biggest fan.

L and E did the coconut race.

We did have fun hanging out at the Poly after dinner. Z and I both sampled the Spikey Pineapple and the Frosty Pineapple.

We headed back to the room to unpack and rest up to kick things off at Magic Kingdom the next day!

 

[DisneyGigi]

Day 4 continued

I'm going to change the color of my text to maybe help keep track.

We arrived a little early for our Bon Voyage breakfast and L dived right into purchasing souvenirs with birthday money.

We were seated and the characters began to appear. Flynn Rider came out first, followed by Rapunzel. When Rapunzel came out we were instructed to shout out our dreams to her. L and E didn't have anything to say but Rapunzel looked right at E and said, "I think your dream is to find someone as handsome as Flynn!" This was hysterical because E is prone to crushes and is very concerned with who she will marry someday.

View attachment 400643

Watch out, Blondie.

View attachment 400644

There was some swooning over Eric as well.

The food was all excellent. We started off with some pastries which were delicious. The girls both got pancakes which they enjoyed. Z got an omelette with tomatoes and mozzarella, which he enjoyed. I got the steak which was really, really good.

View attachment 400647

View attachment 400648

There was a processional which the girls always enjoy.

It was super cute to see the couples and the interactions were fun, especially Rapunzel and Flynn. I think it was a great start to our trip.

View attachment 400650

After breakfast we walked over to HS to catch a bus back to the resort. It was a really nice walk even if it was hot. And we had #SHIRLEYstatus on the ride back.

View attachment 400652

Once we got back I regretted not packing our dinner outfits and our swimsuits in the carry-ons. We were pushing it for time and eventually ended up sitting in the lobby when I got the room ready text. We got our carry on bags and stroller rental from bell services, arranged for our Amazon prime now order to be delivered to the room and happily walked over to our cabanas room!

We were in 8A Cabanas which is, in my mind, the PERFECT location. We were close to our bus stop, close to the main pool and not too far from the lobby.

We were getting close to having to leave when our luggage showed up! We changed into our dinner outfits and used a Lyft to get over to the Poly for our O'hana dinner with our o'hana.

I love the Cabanas! Can’t wait to get there Saturday. Rapunzel looks awesome and I can smell those wood grills from here just from the pictures of ‘Ohana.

 

[NessNewt]

I love the Cabanas! Can’t wait to get there Saturday. Rapunzel looks awesome and I can smell those wood grills from here just from the pictures of ‘Ohana.

Our girls referred to our room as our "cabana" throughout the trip, which I thought was so cute. We all really loved CSR!

 

[NessNewt]

Day 5 (our day 2)

We woke up fairly early because we had a pre-park breakfast to get to. We caught a bus without any issue and made our way to MK.

This is probably the happiest/coolest we look all week. The temperature was practically pleasant at 7:00 in the morning and we were all well rested.


We got checked in for breakfast reservations at the Magic Kingdom and were held out front. A photopass photographer was around so we took advantage.

We were meeting @krisri18 and crew so when we were let in we took our time walking in. Which worked out well because there was something special waiting...

I took the stroller down main Street so they could take a special ride down to the castle. Once I caught up we found our O'hana and got a big group picture.

We made our way to Be Our Guest and confused the CM's slightly with our three different reservations all under the same last name, lol.

Grabbed a table for all of us in the Rose Gallery and enjoyed our food. We made good time and squeezed in a ride on 7 Dwarves before the park opened!

I'll let @krisri18 fill you in on her part of the morning before going into the rest of our day, but there is a lot of fun and cute pictures to come.

 

[Swissmiss]

I really like the PP picture of the four while you were waiting . And my gosh - it looks like both your girls sprouted between your last trip and this one

 

[FlaggNL]

wow... Am I late or am I Off course count me in! Last year we were in the World at the same time I guess... no Disney for us in 2019, but everything is booked for 2020 Have a magical and wonderful time!

 

[NessNewt]

I really like the PP picture of the four while you were waiting . And my gosh - it looks like both your girls sprouted between your last trip and this one

I liked those pictures too! We had some good ones this trip. And yes, the girls have sprouted quite a bit!

 

[krisri18]

Day 5 for us:
Tired morning for us but we didn't want to be late for breakfast.

He did NOT want to get up!
Finally ready for our day, we caught a bus and met up with @NessNewt and the rest on Main Street for a group photo. Then off to BOG for breakfast! Stopped to try to get a pic of baby E in front of the castle but he didn't really want to comply.

Best we could do!
Breakfast time! The line to check-in at BOG stretched past Enchanted Tales but at least it was moving. We pre-ordered but were told to pick either side instead of the usual "go to the left". Which means we could visit the suits of armor, never get to see them since we always pre-order.

We sat in the Rose Gallery since the West Wing was full and the Main Ballroom was just so loud and there wasn't room for 10 people together.

Gluten free croque madame anyone?

I love the music box in the middle
We finished up our breakfast and headed out to Fantasyland to get on line for 7 Dwarves before the opening crowds but they were letting breakfast guests on early! Love when they do this! Everyone else and I stayed behind with baby E. The super nice cast members at the Fastpass entrance asked if I wanted to be able to ride and I said yes, so they promised that even if the park had opened, I could still go through the fast pass line with another member of my party. Rider swap without having to scan our bands! I waited for everyone to finish up and then P and I rode again while C got baby E to fall asleep and took a snoozing baby to Arty Pooh.
After a trip through the mines, we met up by the strollers and headed through New Fantasyland together!

 

[krisri18]

Day 5 cont. Or 2 for @NessNewt
We worked our way into New Fantasyland (minus R who decided he wanted to ride Space a couple of times instead, he became a coaster junkie on our last trip. And T who was Pokemon hunting and would meet us over in Storybook Circus)

tried to convince P and Z to recreate the fountain statue but neither was willing to be Lefou. Lol
First stop: park the strollers. Lol Then off to Under the Sea! C and Z rode with a sleeping baby E, who unfortunately woke up when the cast member insisted that he had to be facing out on the ride. @NessNewt rode with L, I got to ride with E, and P rode alone. E wasn't thrilled about riding but we decided to count how many Sebastians we could find (and now of course I can't remember how many there were ).

that's a pic of Z taking this pic of C and Baby E for me!

clearly naptime was over!
Shellfie (to prove we rode @MegRuss626 !) of E and I

eyes closed in case there's something scary!
No worries @Tuvalu , somebody waved!

We made it out of the sea! Quick sunblock application to baby E and we were off to see if elephants can really fly!
C and @NessNewt rode with baby E, Z rode with L, I rode with E, and P rode alone (I'm seeing a trend here).

E declared that we were going to "totally go high up"! And we did!
Disembarked from our pachyderms and met up with T by Barnstormer so we could all ride. C volunteered to sit this one out with baby E since the Barnstormer seats have that lovely spinal realignment effect. 5 minute wait, which felt more like 20 in the heat and humidity. We peeked over at the Tron construction (somehow Z had no idea this ride was coming, does he not listen to us at ALL @NessNewt ???). We divided up: T with L, me with E, Z with @NessNewt,and P.... rode alone. At this point Z declared P to be the cheese.

 

[NessNewt]

Day 5 cont (Our Day 2)

On Barnstormer!

I told Z you don't slide around quite so much when you're sitting with another adult!

At this point we divided up. My crew had a FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle so we headed in that direction.

Z is 2 for 2 with being chosen to be a suit of armor.

E was chosen to play Maurice and L was chosen to play Mrs. Potts.

We've done this show a few times and normally I love it. But this time I felt like some of the other families were a bit clueless. They were treating it more like a meet and greet. Parents were jumping into their kids' pictures, trying to force unwilling children to take pictures with Belle, etc. It just made it last a little too long and I felt bad for the CM's.

After we left we had to do a quick wardrobe change for E!

We met up with @krisri18, P and baby E to meet some special friends.

This was absolutely adorable. Baby E obviously loved them and they adored his Tigger look.

Pooh was so excited about E's look that he accidentally knocked off her ears! I looked over and he was picking them up and dusting them off for her. And then insisted they get a picture just the two of them. It was cute.

After our meet up we went separate ways again.

I took my girls on the tea cups.

We caught a little bit of the celebration in the hub.