To give you my perspective of Disney you need to know my history. I made my first trip to MK back on September 10th 1979 on my honeymoon. We have visited 19 more times over the last 42 years. The planning for this trip started back in 2018. We had an annual pass and had set up trip for September 2019. With the AP we gave as a Christmas present an April school vacation trip to the boy who we call our grandchild but is just best friends son. This was the 4th trip with him. On 2/26/2019 my younger son passed away suddenly. He was only 33. Losing a child changes your outlook on life. We still did the 2 trips we had planned for 2019 but there was always the memory of our loss hanging over us. When the one year anniversary came up in 2020 I was pretty deep into depression. You can only deal with seeing his empty bedroom and thinking he is on the road again and will be home soon for so long. By one year I had to face that he was gone forever. Then came Covid and the isolation and quarantines. I was out of work for 6 weeks just sitting at home alone dwelling on it. So to get out of my depression I decided to plan a trip to my happy place Disney World. Wife and I have been many times with just the 2 of us but we have found that being with someone who is seeing Disney for the first time is so much better. So I invited my nephew J and his wife K their 2 kids E who is 5 and JJ who is 3 to come along. At first I had just planned to rent 2 rooms at FQ our favorite resort. When I saw the pricing I started looking into renting DVC points. Ended up going with DVC Rental store and getting a standard 2 bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs for 8 days 7 night. Villa sleeps 8 so I asked niece C to come along. 20 years ago my younger brother, their father past away. I took more of a role in raising them and was a father figure to them for a few years. So we are closer than an average uncle - nephew and niece. C asked to bring along her boyfriend B so that made 8. So I have had more than a year to plan this trip. Decisions that I had to make. How many days worth of tickets to buy. With travel in on first day and travel out on last day do I buy tickets for those days? Decided on 7 days, No ticket for last day. Next was you have to plan what park you are going to on what day when you buy ticket. MK first day and 2 days at HS to increase odds I got on RoR. Then fill in the rest. Went with park hopper so we could go to different park after 2 if needed. Then Boo Bash tickets and finally Memory Maker. Then it was just cross days off calendar till 9/21.
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Trip Report Disney trip 9/21 to 9/28.
- Thread starter Tom 55
- Start date
Lily5170
Member
Hi Tom, so sad to hear about the loss of your son and brother. I'm really looking forward to your TR. I hope the trip to your Happy Place was amazing.
Disney has always been my happy place as well. During my last Disney trip to DLP just before Covid hit hard in January 2020, I got a horrible phone call from my mum : my dad had passed away unexpectedly. So for a while happy place and Disney in the same sentence didn't seem right anymore. But time has helped to heal (somewhat) and now that it seems we will be able to travel to WDW from Europe again, I am busy planning our second trip to WDW.
Disney has always been my happy place as well. During my last Disney trip to DLP just before Covid hit hard in January 2020, I got a horrible phone call from my mum : my dad had passed away unexpectedly. So for a while happy place and Disney in the same sentence didn't seem right anymore. But time has helped to heal (somewhat) and now that it seems we will be able to travel to WDW from Europe again, I am busy planning our second trip to WDW.
cgersic
Well-Known Member
Your photo is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to read your story! Truly sorry about the loss of your son and brother, and I love hearing about your closeness with your niece and nephew. I have such great relationships with all of mine and just did a mini family reunion with some of them. Following along!
Finally the big day has arrived. We had set up a flight with Southwestern direct non stop from Manchester, NH to Orlando months ago. When we went to set up Magical express and checked our flight we found that it was now leave Manchester an hour earlier, fly to Baltimore, change planes and wait 2+ hour before heading to Orlando. J and family live in NJ. They flew down on 9/20 and rented car and off site hotel for a night. C and B live in Utah and flew out a few days earlier to spend time at Universal. When I tuned my phone on after flight touched down in Orlando I got room ready message. It was timed 10.47am. Texted that information to others. They had already left luggage at bell service and were at MK. Got our luggage and went to ME. Was shocked at how empty ME was. I was used to seeing large crowds here. We were the only couple going to SS. There was a couple going to Boardwalk. So they put the 2 of us on a bus and we were off. When we got to SS bell service asked if we wanted ride to room. I had ordered food from Garden Grocer and food was here waiting. So we loaded luggage and food and us and on our way. I had asked to be by Paddock pool and that's exactly what I got. It was a prefect location. Only 1/2 building walk to pool. Bus stop was at pool. Short walk to Artist Pallet restaurant Room was impressive.. Second story with a view of a pond with a fountain. Unloaded everything, put food in refrigerator and off to MK to meet up with rest of family. Found them at Gaston's. We planned this trip around what the little kids could ride on. We first went to Dumbo then over to Buzz Lightyear then some of us went on SM. We then decided to head back to villa to get settled in and then pool time. So after a little shopping on main street and drive by by Tinkerbell back to SS. We left C + B at MK. J ordered food to be delivered so we waited for that. Then off to the pool. Stayed for about an hour. While we were there C +B showed up. It was only 7 pm but we had been up since 4am. So called it a night. Watched a little tv then off to sleep.
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So day 2. This is a day for HS. I set my watch for 6.30 am to try for RoR boarding group. I upgraded my phone to 5G just to see if it would improve the odds. Sat with my finger poised over the button waiting for 7am. As soon as time changed to 7 on tv I hit the button. Got message that all the 7am boarding groups are already gone. They had to have gone within seconds. Today was the last day they were going to have boarding groups. Tomorrow it was going to be wait in line. First up was RR. I had not been on this before. Wait was 40+ minutes. Everyone loved it. Next we went down to RR. I took the kids to Lightning Mcqueen while wife J, C, and B went on RnR. I still had time after first show to go again. Kids love LM. We then all went over to Beauty and the Beast stage show. Not very crowded. Sat like 4 rows back center stage. After that K met up with us. K and I took the kids again to LM while the others went to TT. When we went over to meet them at TT. Goofy was on the balcony above. So we had a chance to wave to him. I ordered food from the Commissary. While we were eating it was getting close to the 1pm boarding groups for RoR. So this time we had multiple phones trying and started before 1pm. 2 of us were able to get boarding groups but one was for only 2 of us and the other for 6. We went to Toy Story Mania. Then over to AS. Wife and I walked over to RoR to see about getting both boarding groups merged into 1. The 2 person group was for around 3.30 while the other was for 7.30. Was told we could not move the 6 forward in time but could move the 2 back in time. Went over to Star wars land and visited all the Photopass photographers in the area. We had decided that the kids would not be awake for the 7.30 boarding groups and there parents would have taken them home by then. So we switched magic bands so J and K could go on RoR. After that I went back to SS with J+K and kids E+JJ. I took a shower, changed cloths. Had pizza at Artist Pallets and then bus back to HS. It was less than 30 minutes to boarding group when I got to HS. Walked over to RoR entrance. My wife D and niece C +boyfriend B had stayed and gone on RnR twice. The did not get ride photo because they were not all wearing masks. So second trip with mask. Then they went to TT. When I got in contact with them the had just gotten on Star Tours. It was a walk on. I must have just been in front of them when I walked by on my way to Ror. Met them at end of ride just as our boarding groups could start boarding. It worked out that we were the last boarding group on the last day that they were having boarding groups. We walked steadily for about half the waiting line then stop for 10 minutes. then walk for a little bit before 5 more minutes wait. Finally loaded. Everything was rush rush rush. Get on shuttle, get off shuttle. More interested in getting us lined up for ride than interrogation. Ride was amazing. Over all the years that I have been going to Disney I have watched how ride technology has changed. There were just so many things that you had to say how did they do that? We had enough time to walk on RR and then pick a spot to watch light show and fire works. Waited quite a while for bus back to SS. Were were the last group to be loaded. The rest of the bus terminal was empty.
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Been tied up with all the items I had to deal with at work. Now back to Trip Report. Day 3 Animal Kingdom. All 8 of us went onto the Kilimanjaro Safari. The animals were out. Had Giraffes walk right by us. Lions were laying in the sun. Only 1 Elephant not the whole herd. Not as many animals as usual. When it came time to unload, truck in front of us pulls up to unload as we pull up to the left of them to wait. 1 man had fallen asleep during the ride and was still asleep after everyone else had gotten off. Driver did not know what to do. CM there did not know what to do. So the people in our truck yell " good morning" that woke him up. Once he was off that truck moved up to load so we could unload. We split up so J and K could go to Flight of Passage. For J and K this was the first time they had done FoP. Were impressed with how real it made you feel like you were flying. We took their kids E and JJ to Rafiki to pet the animals. We all met back up and did Festival of the Lion King. Show was just a small part of what it was before Covid. Just some singing and dancing. No acrobats or tumble monkeys. By this time the kids wanted to go back for pool time. We had plans to go over to MK and watch fireworks later. So C and B and wife and I had some lunch at Flame Tree. Made our way over to Kali River. Wife did not want to get wet so she went up to bridge to control water sprayers. C and B and I just walked on to raft. Was loaded with a family that had never done this ride before. Water that is shooting up at top of first ramp was not running. No chain saw noise. It was just a water ride not an environmental statement as it was intended. Usually the gate at the top of final drop is closed so you come to a stop before starting down. This time it was open so we went down the drop with all the velocity we had from rapids. I was on the top side and when we hit a wall of water shoot all the way across the raft and hit me. I was soaked. I had been of this ride a number of times this was the wettest I had ever been. When we got to unload there was only a few people waiting to load. So I told others on raft that they can ask to go again without having to get out of raft. The 3 of them went onto Expedition Everest. I have been on this a number of times before, mostly to keep wife company. When I can I skip it. After this we went back to SS. To get ready to go to MK for fireworks. Kids were already sleeping so we just watched Thursday night football.
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Day 4 is Epcot day and Boo Bash night. Epcot does not open till 11am. So I had time to explore things that I was not able to do in 2019. I had planned to go out by myself but bribed wife to join me with Mickey waffles and bacon breakfast. Took a bus over to MK and found walkway to Grand Floridian. They finished the bridge on this walkway recently. It was a nice walk over. Was able to see views that I had not seen before. Did a little shopping at GF. picked up little things for the kids. Took a bus over to HS to ride on the gondolas. In 2019 they were just letting cast members ride when we were there. Was a walk on. Took a ride to Pop Century and then over to Riviera. Then took it over to international entrance at Epcot. It was not yet 11 am but they were letting people in. Walked to front to wait for rest of family. Wife made the shirts we are wearing. Got custom made design for the fabric. Was getting complements from a lot of the people we pasted. Once we were all together we went to Frozen ride in Norway. Had to wait 40 minutes. After ride Anna and Elsa were out for meet and greets or what they are called now. Was able to take pictures of E in front of each of them. E had been carrying around her Anna doll. Wife went and bought a Elsa doll. Next over to lunch at Sunshine seasons. We split up K and E went on the Land ride while the rest of us went on Soaring. JJ was just tall enough to get on. After that we went to the Seas. The giant fish tank had a lot less fish in it since 2019. There were no turtles in the tank. Only 2 sharks, more smaller fish. All the bigger were gone. The section that usually had porpoises had none. The top viewing on the Manatees was closed off. Found that the bottom viewing for Manatees was open. Went in to Turtle talk with Crush. Show was just Crush answering the kids questions. No whale talk with Dory Did have turtle pile part. At Epcot there was nothing else for them to see so C and B stayed to do Test Track and Mission space while the rest of us went back to SS to get ready for Boo Bash. Wife and I were dressed as Carl and Ellie. J was Mister Incredible. K was Mrs Incredible. JJ was Spiderman and E was Jasmine. Got here at 8. Was able to see some of the fireworks. C and B did not dress up. We all met up. I went with K , E and JJ to Buzz while the rest went on Space mountain. Went on Peter Pan. It was a long wait. Had to decide if we were going trick or treating or going on rides. We decided to trick or treat. We had another day for the rides. K and I went on Magic Carpet before we headed out. JJ had fallen asleep in the stroller and missed most of Boo Bash.
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erstwo
Well-Known Member
I like your methods - I too can be bribed with Mickey waffles!
. Enjoying the trip report.
Day 5 brings us back to MK. E is 5 1/2 years old and wants to meet Princesses. I felt bad that Story Time with Belle was closed. No visit to Tinkerbell. No Mickey or Minnie face to face meeting. The 2 halls that you are able to meet 2 Princess was also closed. No meet and greet with Jasmine over near Magic carpet ride. That her first time at Disney was such a limited version. Crowd levels were listed as just 1 or 2 but with so many things still closed due to Covid it felt more like 5 to 6. First up was Buzz again. E loves this ride so we indulged her. Next over to Laugh Floor. The others have never seen this before. I don't think the kids got all the jokes. We laughed enough that there was enough energy to open the doors. J and B both wanted to go on Race Cars. Both had memories of them riding with their dads when they were little. Wanted to create that memory with the kids. J went with E and B took JJ. The girls K and C went together while I filmed them from the grandstand. Did Its a Small World and then Mickey's Philharmagic. I have plastic jewels that I bought from the chest at the end of Pirates that I pretend to snatch out of the air when Ariel dropped them and they flutter down in 3D. Fooled E with this trick. I have been doing this trick for years. I also give out jewels to other so they can amaze there families. If you can get wet when Donald gets a bucket of water thrown on him in the movie why not be able to grab jewels? Did a spin on the Paddle wheel steamer around Tom Sayers island and then over to Country Bear Jamboree. Time for lunch. Went to Pinocchio Village Haus. I have been here when empty tables are hard to find but not today. After lunch over to Pirates and then Tiki Hut. We got separated and J and JJ ended up in TH without us. We did not know were he was. When we finally figured it out just had him stay inside and we were the next group in. I went with E for a ride on Magic carpets and then over to Carousel. Wife and I took the kids E and JJ onto the Carousel. The kids were tired so we headed back to SS with the idea that we would come back for the fireworks later. Kids were so tired we never did come back. Found out you could watch recorded fireworks shows on TV.
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Day 6 brings us back to HS. I had planned this day as a second chance day if I was not able to get boarding group for RoR on day 2. Now that Disney had ended boarding groups if we wanted to go on RoR again we would have to wait in line. The wait time was listed at 105 minutes. They had not been on the Gondolas so we went to POP and back just for the ride. Picture is Auntie C with boyfriend B and K and JJ in the gondola. The first thing we did was Frozen Sing Along. I love the snow at the end when Elsa sings " Let it go ". We next went to Muppets 3D. We could see a long line of people near the entrance to Muppets. I thought that they were in line for Muppets. Which was a crazy idea. After looking for a while realized they were in line for RoR. The line came out the entrance for Star Wars land snaked around near Muppets and then back into Star Wars land. When we came out of Muppets the line for RoR was no longer coming out of Star Wars land. The wait time was still listed at 105 minutes. We went on Star Tours next. E did not want to go so wife stayed with her and K while the rest of us went on. Again JJ was just tall enough to get to ride. Had lunch upstairs at PizzeRizzo. C's boyfriend is a vegan. All the restaurants have vegan meals. Some wanted to do RR again so K and I took the kids to Lighting Mcqueen again. Beauty and the Beast was a few minutes from starting so we went in. As the show started the couple in front of us opened up there lunch and started eating. It was some type of noodle dish but was heavily spiced. Was like setting off pepper spray in the theater. People started moving away while they obviously kept eating threw the whole show. After this went into Star Wars land. Had a number of photo taken by Photopass. Line for Smuggler Run was only 20 minutes. So all of us did that. There are 8 of us and only 6 per cockpit so wife and I ended up with a ship by ourselves. Was able to get 2 canisters. I thought that was pretty good. During the planning stage of this vacation I had told J that we would babysit if he wanted a date night with K at Disney Springs. They had not said anything so I offered again. They were thinking of going tonight but K had some online work contacts she needed to do that night so we planned for the next night. J though that while K was working he would take kids to MK to see MK at night and the fireworks show. So we made plans to meet them at MK later. Did another Runaway Railroad ride. Wife did some shopping and then we took bus to MK. We had supper at Cosmic Rays. When we got in touch with J he said kids were asleep and he was not bringing them to MK. He was thinking of coming alone but the time it would take to get here he would not be in time. So we went back to SS.
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erstwo
Well-Known Member
I have thought about this so many times - my children are teenagers now and don't mind the characters being 'socially distant' - but it would have been so difficult not to have the character interactions when they were little!
THIS IS THE COOLEST IDEA! I would have never in a million years thought of this - but if I get to travel with a little one again, I'm going to do this!
So it brings us to day 7. Last day. We went to AK. Saw the bird show first. I liked it better than Bawana Bob. The trainers ahd to ladies in front row put there hands to make a circle so the bird could fly threw. Right toward, his wing tip brushed my hair. Them Tough to be a bug. Kids liked that. Wife and I watched the kids while J and K went to ride a banshee. Took the to Festival of the lion king. Went over to Dino land. We had all planned to ride but once K and E saw the vehicle they changed there minds. Went over and played the midway games. In all the times I have been to AK I had never done this. Little JJ won 2 stuffed animals. He gave one to his sister. After that I was in charge of carrying Elsa and Anna. I put them in my back pack with there heads facing out so they could see were we had been. Went back to SS so they could get ready to go out on a date night while we watched the kids. It never worked out that way K was tired so J and I took the kids to the pool. JJ loved sliding down the big slide. His older sister would never even try it once. JJ would slide down climb out of pool then up the stairs to do it again and again. After pool had to start to pack. Both j and K and us had early morning flights.
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Years ago when Soaring had the scene were you flew over the mountains over a golf course. A golf ball would come flying by you in the ride. I brought a golf ball with me and gave it to CM and told her I caught it when we went over course. Could she give it to next ride to drop it back to golfer. She was speechless.