Trip Report Finally Back in Our Happy Place. A Three Week Trip With a Cruise Included

We’ve been back for just over a week from what was a wonderful three weeks. There were a few hiccups, but for the most part Disney World was just as we remembered it.

This trip was me and my two youngest daughters, Alice (18) and Lexi (15)

We stayed at Pop Century from July 7th-20th, then sailed on the Disney Magic from July 20th-25th, then French Quarter for the last three nights, July 25th-28th. For the Pop Century part of the trip we had the UK 14 day park tickets which included the waterparks.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

Pooh made a big fuss of Alice because of the colour of her clothes

He danced with Lexi

I got a from him for Piglet colours

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

The bad.

Because my allergy wasn’t covered in the allergy menu our server went to get a chef to walk the buffet with me so I would know what was safe to eat. The chef that came out just didn’t have fluent English, he was also wearing a mask (I know that is his choice to do that) but it made him even more difficult to understand. I took Alice to the buffet with us in the hope that we’d be able to figure things out between us. At the buffet he was pointing to a couple of things saying peas when it looked to me like it was chickpeas which I can eat. One thing I did get was that I shouldn’t eat any of the mixed salads because people tended to mix up the serving spoons and possibly causing cross contamination. I pretty much had to figure out for myself what I could eat so stuck to things where I could see the ingredients. I knew going in that I would be restricted at a buffet but not quite so restricted.

The food was just bad, there’s no other way to describe it. I had some of the prime rib which I know is a fatty cut but I struggled to get a mouthful of meat in between the fat. The salmon and chicken while the flavour was fine were very, very dry. The sides were just ok. The best part of the meal was the desserts except for that pink cupcake. I’m glad I only took a small bite, it was so cloyingly sweet that if I hadn’t been in a restaurant I would have spat it out.

On top of everything, the toddler at the table next to us screamed through most of the meal. She didn’t want to meet any of the characters. I overheard her parents saying she was overdue for a nap, why as parents you would arrange a meal when your child usually naps baffles me.

The whole meal ended up being a very expensive meet and greet. For the three of us the cost was $240 including the tip which I wasn’t going to leave off because our server didn’t do anything wrong.

I’m glad I got to meet Piglet, but I would never go to Crystal Palace again for lunch or dinner. Maybe breakfast because that’s harder to get wrong.

Rant over now

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

We wanted to watch Festival of Fantasy but still had a little while until it started, so stopped to see some birds first

I really like this show, it’s so cute

Then it was time to find a spot for the parade. I love parades, I miss the time when all the parks had them

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

Captain Hook was being a bit flirtatious with Lexi, pointing at himself then at her a few times. She was not impressed, he doesn’t match up to our favourite Captain Hook

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

I’d really enjoyed the parade, but the heat was getting to me and I wanted to go back to the resort for a while. The girls didn’t want a break so I left them to spend a few hours together in the park.

I got a bus almost straight away and just missed the afternoon rain which started on my journey back.

I’ve only got a few photos from the girls, I think they were having too much fun together to stop and take any

They were still playing with the statues

They’d never seen Space Mountain with the lights on before

I’m trying to figure out where this was taken from. Maybe Swiss Family Treehouse?

 

[MinnieM123]

During the parade, did the dragon spit out any fire (or is that just an effect for when it gets darker in the day)?

 

[cgersic]

Awww, I haven't hit the bad part yet, so let me just say the photos are just the cutest - the throwbacks as well as the new!! And holding hands with Piglet? Sooooo cute!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

During the parade, did the dragon spit out any fire (or is that just an effect for when it gets darker in the day)?

I don’t remember any fire this time, not where we were standing anyway, I’m sure I would have taken a photo. I have seen it in the past though at the same time of day

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

When I arrived back at MK I messaged the girls to see where they were. They were just about to ride the Magic Carpets, we agreed to meet over at Cosmic Ray’s for some dinner.

I’d seen online that Cosmic Rays had a Greek salad on the menu which sounded good but when we got there the only salad was a boring sounding ranch one. None of us wanted anything else on the menu so we decided to head over to Pinocchio’s so the girls could have flatbreads.

I ordered the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich which was fine. It took a while to order though, the list of ingredients I had to read was a page long, so many additives

Then, as we were close and there wasn’t much of a wait

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

We had a LLSP for Tron at around 9pm, I wanted our first ride on it to be at night, and we still had time for a few rides before then.

The girls chose the carousel because they hadn’t been on it yet, and it’s prettier at night. This is a ride I can’t do anymore without feeling a bit queasy. I can ride back to back Guardians and Mission:SPACE, but not a gentle spin round on a carousel .

It wasn’t quite as exciting for Lexi as the first time she rode it

We had time to visit our favourite characters

You’re never too old to play in the queue

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

We were all quite excited for our first ride on Tron and I do think the approach to the ride is impressive, particularly at night.

I think Alice was the only one who really enjoyed the ride, Lexi said she felt like she was going to fall off the whole time and I found the ride position to be uncomfortable. I would probably try it again at some point but I’m not sure I’d want to pay for a LLSP again.

I does look very pretty at night though

So does Space Mountain

 

[MinnieM123]

The girls chose the carousel because they hadn’t been on it yet, and it’s prettier at night. This is a ride I can’t do anymore without feeling a bit queasy.

The carousel photos you shared were fun. What stood out to me (aside of the attraction all lit up at night), was the variety of ages of those guests, all enjoying the ride. I know that the carousel is far from the thrill rides in the parks; but the nostalgia of it, and the fact that (most) guests can be accommodated on this attraction, makes it one of my favorites!

 

[Tuvalu]

A first ride on TRON is always uncomfortable since you’re not exactly sure of the position to be in before you are locked in. I have learned that it is not necessary to ride nearly prone. The upper half of your body can be more upright (about halfway between prone and sitting.) Much more comfortable!

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

A first ride on TRON is always uncomfortable since you’re not exactly sure of the position to be in before you are locked in. I have learned that it is not necessary to ride nearly prone. The upper half of your body can be more upright (about halfway between prone and sitting.) Much more comfortable!

View attachment 885681

I didn’t realise you could ride like that. Definitely something to try next time I ride (next month)

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

The carousel photos you shared were fun. What stood out to me (aside of the attraction all lit up at night), was the variety of ages of those guests, all enjoying the ride. I know that the carousel is far from the thrill rides in the parks; but the nostalgia of it, and the fact that (most) guests can be accommodated on this attraction, makes it one of my favorites!

Sometimes you really don’t need the thrill rides. I always loved riding it with the girls when they were little, and it was fun to watch my cool teenagers being little kids

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Monday 14th July (cont)

By the time we’d finished riding Tron it was close to 10pm and we needed to find somewhere to watch Happily Ever After. We didn’t have time to get in front of the castle and wouldn’t have wanted to deal with the crowds there anyway so found a spot near the teacups. It turned out to be a really good place to watch from, not too many people walking by at that time.

Obviously we enjoyed the fireworks as much as usual, but I think I spent almost as much time watching Lexi watching the fireworks. She was singing, dancing and spinning around, it was a joy to watch her.

Magic Kingdom was open until 11pm that night but we were tired so decided to head out

The castle was looking pretty

Trying to get through the hub was very chaotic. With the park still open lots of people were going in the opposite direction to us, looking back we should have exited through Tomorrowland rather than going past the castle. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long for a bus when we finally got out of the park.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 15th July

After a busy few days a lie in and later start was needed. Our plan for the day was Epcot without LLMP so mostly just see what we felt like doing when we got there. I did get a LLSP for Guardians though. There were severe weather warnings with heavy rain predicted a lot of the day and the possibility of flooding. So Epcot was a good destination with so many indoor attractions.

We were hungry when we got there so went straight to Sunshine Seasons for an early lunch

Salmon for Alice

A shrimp stir fry for Lexi

Chicken and grapefruit beer for me. I’m not much of a beer drinker, but this is more like barely alcoholic grapefruit juice.

We had some time before our Guardians LL, and waited about 20 minutes for a nice relaxing boat ride

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 15th July (cont)

It was time for our Guardians LL so braved going outside into the torrential downpour drizzle. We didn’t even need our ponchos.

We got One Way or Another for our song again, I love this

As we unloaded from our ride vehicle, Lexi just took off. When I caught up with her she said she’d seen someone hunched over and possibly in the other unloading room.

Epcot was busy, I think lots of people had chosen to go there because of the predicted bad weather, and wait times for all the rides were quite high. We queued for about 20 minutes for the orange side of Mission:SPACE next, it did give me time to take some photos while waiting

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Tuesday 15th July (cont)

We hadn’t been in the new Club Cool yet

Lexi trying Beverly for the first time