Trip Report COMPLETED! Two Graduations and an Engagement! WDW June 19, 2022-June 25, 2022

Hey there, Hi there!

Welcome to my trip report which is somewhat live.

If you would like to see where this trip began, you can head on over to my “pre-trip” report:
Thread 'Two graduations and an engagement?'​

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/two-graduations-and-an-engagement.976034/

Without further ado…let’s begin!

June 19, 2022

We were set to take a 5:30 am flight out of Philly this morning. We woke at 1:15 to leave the house by 2 am but I had received a text stating that our flight has been delayed for 6.5 hours!! Now it was set to leave at 12 noon. We ended up going back to bed and getting up later.

We left the house at about 8 am and had to pick up the two Alex’s before hitting the road. We live about an hour outside Philly. The drive in was good, no traffic and we got through TSA fairly quickly.

We were loaded at about 12 noon and ended up sitting on the plane until about 1:00 before we hit the runway to take off.

We landed at 3:33pm and I was getting a little anxious about our 6 PM reservation for Splitzville. We waited for our luggage…and waited….and waited.

This was a photo of baggage claim. At this point, there were 4 flights waiting for their bags. We finally received ours a little after 5 PM and then off to Pop Century we went. I had phoned Splitzville already and pushed back our reservation to 7:30.

Up next….Splitzville for Father’s Day!

 

[heatherhy01]

Love your outfits (again!) That picture of the skyliner with the reflection in the water is so peaceful. Such a bummer that Remy makes so many people nauseous. It was so long ago when I rode it, but I don't remember feeling sick. Maybe it was the novelty of it - they hadn't built MMRR or Rise in WDW or DL yet, so maybe I was just so impressed by the ride system?
Loving the report!

It was very peaceful in the morning walking around the resort. Remy was a very cute ride but I honestly wouldn't wait long for it. I really loved MMRR so much more! I liked Rise too but feel like I need to go it a couple more times, there was so much to take in.

 

[heatherhy01]

6/22/22
Hollywood Studios

I was up bright and early again today. (Do you see a pattern here?) We purchased an ILL for Rise since we had never been on before and it was the one ride that hubby REALLY wanted. I also got an LL for TSM. We were meeting up with BIL, SIL and my nephew again today. They ventured to Universal the day before.

Fit check:

The first thing we did was hit up Woody’s Lunchbox. We really wanted to try the Lunch Box Tarts. We ended up getting 2 and sharing them. The chocolate hazelnut & the raspberry. These are massive and we had zero problem sharing them with each other. Both were good but my favorite was the raspberry. They remind you of a regular pop tart but just dryer, if that makes sense. I would definitely get one again. We also had the grown ups lemonade which was really good and I think we had totcho’s too! I do not have the pics, I think my daughter took all of those.

Our first ride of the day was Star Tours. This is another fun one for us. DD’s fiancé was excited for this. He was most excited to see Galaxy’s Edge today!

DD’s fiancé insisted that he take this picture of me since I was wearing my Wookiee ears and that was the Wookiee house.

Next up was our favorite cast of characters…the muppets! Hubby and I can NEVER get enough of the muppets. I think it takes us back to our youth and watching them on TV but this is always a must-do for us and it did not disappoint. But first, I needed to catch some balloons!

We headed back over to TSL and hit up another favorite. TSM! I was with my nephew and of course, not to brag but I won! Lol He tried so hard too.

 

[heatherhy01]

6/22/22 cont’d
Hollywood Studios

Next up was ROTR. This would be our first time and we were so very excited! I watched videos on the ride and thought that I knew what to expect but in person, I was in awe! I feel like I will need to ride a few more times before I will be able to take in everything.

We wandered around Galaxy’s Edge for a while just taking everything in. I promised DD’s fiancé that he would have plenty of time to explore. We stopped for a quick snack of Cold Brew Black Coffee (cocoa puff milk) and popcorn.

We wandered out of GE, we had a dinner reservation at 4:00, but first, we headed towards the Frozen Sing Along!

While we were in the area, we went to One Man’s Dream. The kids actually really loved this little spot. They liked reading about the history.

 

[heatherhy01]

6/22/22 cont’d
Hollywood Studios

It was time for our dinner reservation and we really tried for Sci Fi but no dice..our next favorite is Prime Time which we thoroughly enjoyed. Our waiter was fun but not over the top..so the experience was enjoyable all around.

I enjoyed the kid’s meal of beef barbecue, Mac and cheese and a cupcake. I ended up giving the cupcake to my nephew. He said it was really good!

By this point, hubby and my youngest were getting tired. I knew it was only a matter of time before they folded. We stood in line to meet Goofy, stopped at the Chase Card photo spot and did some shopping. We also stopped for some PP pics which I will put it the next post.
My oldest and her Fiancé wanted to stay. We had an Oga’s reservation for 8:30 and they were super excited for it. We met back up with the in laws and did a few rides together. M&MRR, TSM (I won again), Frozen sing along and RNRC.

TOT was down and we never got on it. But isn’t she pretty? We bid farewell to the in laws and headed toward GE. Oga’s is a fun place. Our server was fantastic! He was full of jokes and very personable. I just wished hubby would have been there to see it. I know he would have loved it too!

We only had one drink each and headed out. We just wanted the experience. The best part was coming out of Oga’s into a dark GE. This area is awesome at night!

We waited in line for the skyliner, got back to the hotel and hit the hay. This was another very long day!​

 

[heatherhy01]

PP from 6/22/22 Hollywood Studios
(Ijust realized that I have been calling them Photo Pass and not Memory Maker....)

 

[cgersic]

Just loving all of the PP (or MM) photos!!! You all look like you are having sooo much fun!

 

[heatherhy01]

6/23/22
Animal Kingdom

I let the kids sleep in a little later today. I woke up around 6:45 to grab an FOP ILL and a LL for the safari for all of us. The in laws were suppose to meet back up with us at noon at the entrance to the safari.

Fit check:

I forgot to take my morning pic in the room today, so this was the best I could do. I was able to get an ILL for FOP for 7:20. My goal was to try to be off the ride as late as possible to see if the sun would be down enough that this area would be glowing. (can I tell you a secret? This did not happen)

We ate breakfast at the hotel and we were loaded on the bus by 10:15. Today was going to be a slow paced day and I didn’t want to rush anything.

As we entered the park, I found the trail that leads you around the base of the tree and we explored this area for a while. I love the tree and it is my favorite park icon!

I could have explored this area forever but the fam was getting hot and we needed to find some AC. We hopped in line for It’s Tough to be a Bug! We haven’t done this attraction in a while and it is still really cute! It was about this time that my BIL called to tell me that my SIL wasn’t feeling well and they were headed back to their rental house. So we were on our own for the day!

We headed towards the safari. I would like to say that we had a good experience but it was hot and they stuffed all five of us in one row! We are not little people by any means and I can tell you that we were STUFFED in there. We couldn’t wait to actually get off.

From there, we headed to EE next. I love this ride! The fiancé got super scared when it went backwards but we all survived the yeti!

Next we went to Dinosaur! This is absolutely one of our favorites! The fiancé stayed back, he is diabetic and he needed to just sit and get hydrated. The rest of us loved it!

The only other attraction we were interested in was Finding Nemo. I had never seen the original and had heard so many good things that I had to see the new one. We made our way over to the theater and I must apologize here if any of you were there on this day and heading into the last show…WE DID NOT REALIZE THERE WAS A LINE

We had followed the crowd into the theater when I heard my oldest DD getting yelled at by a woman about a line. Apparently, there was a line but I have to tell you that I had no clue where it was because we just followed the people in front of us that we had followed the entire way from Dino land. This area is very congested and I feel like Disney needs to do something. Even after getting out of the show, the CM’s were trying to help the scooters move out onto the path and people were running into each other. I heard two men behind me fighting because one guy stopped in front of the other one and they ran into each other. We high tailed it out of there quickly!
And….I wasn’t impressed by the show. We all agreed that next time, we were headed back to TLK

By this point, it was time to head to our dinner reservation.

Where did we dine? Yak & Yeti​

 

[heatherhy01]

6/23/22 cont’d
Animal Kingdom

Our Y&Y reservation was at 4:00. We arrived, checked in and got seated quickly. This is one of hubby’s favorite restaurants. My oldest DD and the fiancé eh..they thought it was okay. But they are not very adventurous. Our youngest loves it there too!

I did not order from the children’s menu here, I think this was some kind of garlic noodles? Honestly, I cannot remember but it was delicious! The app was fried green beans. The fiancé’s mom commented on our photo stating that this was probably the only way that he would ever eat a vegetable! He really liked them!

I was able to get a LL for Navi which I had never been on before and was very much looking forward to it. I really liked it! I agree that I wouldn’t wait in a fairly long line but I would love to go on it again. It was very relaxing and whimsical.

We explored Pandora and let me tell you, I am in love and awe of this area! Our last visit, I didn’t take the time to really wonder around but we had so much time before our FOP ILL that this time, I was able to do so. I do not love AK, to me it is a half day park, but I will come just for the tree and Pandora!

The fiancé and I wondered around and took pictures of everything! We were the only two out of the group that had ever watched the movie and we were adoring this entire area!
We had wandered over to satu’li canteen and there was a particularly beautiful dessert that I wanted to try.
The blueberry cream cheese mousse! While we were there, we also ordered the cheeseburger steamed pods.

 

[heatherhy01]

6/23/22 cont’d
Animal Kingdom

Both were delicious and hubby and I agreed, next time, we will be trying some of the other offerings here!

After FOP, we browsed through the gift shop for a while before heading out of the park. Today was a pretty relaxing day.

We got the bus back to the resort and I think some of us may have gone in the pool? I cannot remember? Just that even though it was an easy relaxing day, the heat still took a lot out of us!

One more full day left! ​

 

[heatherhy01]

6/23/22
MM's from today

 

[heatherhy01]

6/24/22
EPCOT
Our last park day

We woke up bright and early this morning because we had to catch the bus to MK at 7 am. We had breakfast plans with the in laws at one of our favorite places!

Fit check:

We hopped a bus to MK and proceeded to take a boat to the Poly. We wanted the fiancé to experience as much as possible on his very first trip to the magic!

Where were we going? ‘O’Hana of course!! Honestly, I think the kids only wanted to come here for the Pog juice but we really do love this breakfast. It would have been better with Lilo and Stitch in attendance but unfortunately, characters were not back yet at this location.

After we had our fill, we headed downstairs and wondered around the gift shop a bit. I do not believe that anyone had made a purchase.

We trekked it to the monorail and hitched a ride to EPCOT. My only plan for today was to finish the rides that we had not done previously and tour around WS. There were not any dinner plans and we wanted to hit all the food booths for Flower & Garden.

I had not gotten any LL for today since we only had a few rides left. Once we hit the park, I snagged us a LL for Test Track and we hopped in line for SE.

The in laws headed for Guardians and we met back up for TT.

 

[heatherhy01]

6/24/22 cont’d
EPCOT

Next we headed to Nemo! I had not done this ride since the kids were very little. It was cute and had AC so it was a great win! The oldest DD wanted to see crush, so we headed into the theater.

Crush was cute but honestly, it’s the children that make it so funny. The questions they ask and the commentary is amusing.

Next we headed to The Land pavilion and wanted to knock out another ride. We also stopped to grab some lunch.

I must say that I have been really impressed with the quick service options. There seems to be a good variety and it is really good too!

Next up is my favorite little purple guy! I have been a fan of Figment since I came for Disney for the first time when I was 8.

 

[heatherhy01]

6/24/22 cont’d
EPCOT

This was where things started to get a little hairy.. it was about 2:00, the kids tell me that they are done and ready to go back
Umm, what? We didn’t even get to WS yet? So I tell them to go. My plan was to stay and tour around myself while grabbing a snack. Hubby decides to stay with me. Great! We grab our first drink, that was suppose to be a slushy but I do not think the machine was working because it was just liquid. It tasted good though!

We had just finished our drink when my phone starts ringing. My youngest was calling because her and her sister got into a spat. The skyliner was down because a storm was coming in and they weren’t sure where to go or what to do. *sigh* I guess exploring will have to wait for next time.
We walked through the International Gateway to meet them at the exit gift shop. My plan was to catch the bus at the Y&B club which was what I have heard from other’s that they have done. I asked the CM at the skyliner about the bus at Y&B, her response was that “eventually” a bus was would come but our best bet would be to go to the front of the park and catch one there. So we went back through security and hoofed it to the front of the park.
I must admit that by this point, I was pretty cranky. We had talked for months about wandering around WS. We had the booth menus on the fridge and read through them highlighting what we wanted to try at each booth. They all had made drinking around the world t-shirts and I even brought the sharpie to mark them off. I was frustrated.
We went back to the hotel as the storm rolled in to pack up. We were getting picked up at 3 am for the airport home.
Hubby noticed that I was upset, this was when we agreed to come back in 2024. No kids! Our daughter is getting married next year so it just is not in the budget but I will hold him to it for 2024. I adore my children but there were a few times throughout the week that they just seemed a bit ungrateful. Anyhoo…I am going to get back to the report! (Now that I got that off my chest)
We decided to hit the hotel food court for our last night and I decided to mobile order. This was a mistake. I placed my order and we walked over. I hit the “here now” button for them to start making the food. We waited…and waited…and waited.
I finally went over to the window just to make sure there wasn’t any type of glitch. That had happened to me before where they did not get my order. As I approached, I knew that they did but were just so very backed up. There were a lot of people standing around waiting. An hour and twenty minutes later, my app pinged that my food was ready.

Above is the only photo that I took, I was hungry! Lol! There was a lot of grumbling among the patrons but everyone was very nice to the CM’s. I think we all felt really bad for them. They were trying to work so fast, I think it was just a lot of orders at one time.
After that, we shopped the resort gift shop, I got another pair of ears and we hit the hay.
Our pick up and flight home were uneventful. We made it and the pups were so very happy to see us!

I will have some final thoughts in my last post.

 

[heatherhy01]

Final Thoughts

After being home for about a month, I cannot wait to go back!! We really did have a good time and this was a graduation celebration for all the kids. The fiancé and oldest DD had graduated college and the youngest DD, high school.

I do not think that I would go during the summer again though. Especially with the kids. They just cannot take the high heat and humidity. Hubby had a hard time with it too hence the reason that we had a few bumps when we all got crabby.

I would definitely stay at POP again or even try AOA next time. We love the skyliner! It was fast and efficient. It was a little annoying when it went down but not the end of the world.

The crowd levels were high and it was frustrating when trying to deal with a lot of people. I just wanted to yell..”it’s okay people! There is no sense in shoving and pushing..we will all get on the ride!”

What I found out this trip was that my youngest DD is not a Dis kid! I know! The horror! She was fine on this trip but basically told hubby that next time, she will just be fine staying at home with the dogs.

Here are a few of my purchases as well as my ear wall:

Thank you all for following along and reliving our latest adventure with me!
Until next time… Here we come 2024!

~Heather​

 

[rshell68]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! I am a total Figment fan as well and that dates back to the original ride from in the 80's with the DreamFinder. LOVE the Great Movie Ride sign in your last picture. Hubs and I have debated ordering that one as well. What is the Doom Buggy item??

 

[erstwo]

Thank you for sharing your trip! I really enjoyed following along. I can't take the heat and humidity any more either - I can survive if I need to - managed a 4th of July trip last year - but it wasn't pretty and I definitely had to take a lot of breaks!

 

[heatherhy01]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! I am a total Figment fan as well and that dates back to the original ride from in the 80's with the DreamFinder. LOVE the Great Movie Ride sign in your last picture. Hubs and I have debated ordering that one as well. What is the Doom Buggy item??

I miss the Great Movie Ride so very much! It was one of my favorites The Doom Buggy is actually a Christmas ornament but I decided to place it on my shelf instead!

 

[heatherhy01]

Thank you for sharing your trip! I really enjoyed following along. I can't take the heat and humidity any more either - I can survive if I need to - managed a 4th of July trip last year - but it wasn't pretty and I definitely had to take a lot of breaks!

Same here, I can survive..do I love it? no way but I know how to make the best of it if need be. The kids cannot handle the heat at all...especially my oldest. It makes her nauseous and gives her a headache. She did pretty well this trip I must say...although I was worried before we left about it.

 

[meggo819]

I must admit that by this point, I was pretty cranky. We had talked for months about wandering around WS. We had the booth menus on the fridge and read through them highlighting what we wanted to try at each booth. They all had made drinking around the world t-shirts and I even brought the sharpie to mark them off. I was frustrated

Oh man! Understandable that you’d be cranky. I would have told them, “you are adults and can figure out how to get back!”

 

[heatherhy01]

Oh man! Understandable that you’d be cranky. I would have told them, “you are adults and can figure out how to get back!”

Oh they knew that I was not happy. Hence one of the reasons for our "adult Only" trip coming up. When hubby and I go somewhere, it's relaxed and layed back...throw in the kids and the in laws and it becomes a little chaotic because everyone wants to do something different. I survived though...lol