Trip Report For The LAST Time In Forever - September 2021 TR

Welcome! Hopefully you followed along with my PTR here, but if not - I will go into the full introductions!

Pop Tv GIF by Schitt's Creek


Who: Me (of course)! Annie. Mainer and mom to be, along with my husband Ian (the dad to be)!

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When: September 24th - October 2nd, 2021

Where: Pop Century Resort (first time! also, Ian's first time not at a deluxe...)

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Why: WHY NOT? But actually.. for our babymoon 😍

I am going to jump right into Day 1, because I have 20 minutes of work left to kill time so.. LET'S GO!!



Day 1: September 24th

The start of this trip was a bit... rough. Our pup, Gus, was sick the entire week before we left. I mean, mess of the house and carpet every time we had to leave him to go to work kind of sick. Poor Gus and poor us. I had him at the vet up until the day before we left where he finally started showing improvement. The guy has a delicate stomach, what can I say?! I also felt better knowing my parents were the ones caring for him while we were gone.

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We woke up at 3 AM on Friday the 24th (yuck) to get picked up by my mom to head to the airport in Boston. We always put our Magic Bands on first thing in the morning to start the trip off on a good note!

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We live in Maine, but typically find much better and cheaper flights out of Boston (which is only about an hour and a half away). Before long my mom had her car loaded up with our suitcases and we were on our way!

We had an uneventful ride to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to board at 7 AM and we pulled up at 530..............

Only to then receive a text that our flight was completely cancelled, we couldn't rebook online or on the JetBlue app, and to see an agent at the airport. UM. OKAY? My mom and Ian were both telling me not to panic (read: don't cry) but I was struggling.

My mom dropped us off with promises that she would come back for us if need be, and off we went inside... To the longest line I've seen at Logan Airport in YEARS. There was no option but to stand in the customer service line and wait to be assisted. Apparently there was a physical plane issue. As we were standing in line, Ian and I discovered that there was only one JetBlue flight to MCO remaining for the day and there were only a handful of seats. We couldn't find anything on United, Delta, American or even Spirit. I was freaking out. We had Boo Bash tickets for that evening that we were SO looking forward to. How were we going to make it?!

Well.. as I stood there hyperventilating in my mask and trying to stay calm for this growing baby in my belly, Ian had found ONE flight on Frontier for 10 AM that would get us to MCO in time. It was PRICEY. There was no telling what refund we would get from JetBlue. But he wanted us to make it and have the best babymoon and vacation together. So he bit the bullet. I wanted to cry. I love this guy so much. If this is how he spoils me, our daughter is a goner!!!!

Naturally, I have no photos of this time period. After an hour or so we made it to the desk, they told us we had been rebooked for the earliest next flight on JetBlue... 4 PM the next day. NO THANKS. We requested a refund and they told us it would only be given in airline credit. Whatever. My brother is getting married next October, I'm sure we will use it.

Time to navigate to the complete opposite side of the airport to Frontier..

And by that I mean the international terminal because Frontier doesn't actually have it's own area at Logan.

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A rough start, but thank goodness this guy keeps a cool head and focuses on what he can control (I could learn a thing or two)

Nearly everyone in our line waiting for the Frontier desk had switched from the cancelled JetBlue flight and had intentions of making it to Disney that day. We were all sharing our grievances and feeling grateful for this flight. We eventually made it through the baggage steps, security and found the gate. Only to find the plane was delayed an hour. AHHHHHHH.

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Just sitting there wondering if this babymoon would EVER happen.

Side note: a man traveling alone with his baby asked if I could watch his son for a second while he went to the bathroom. He was gone for probably 25 minutes. I told Ian that if he ever flies alone with baby girl I would LOSE MY MIND if he did this. I get that it is so difficult to travel alone with children, but there are family restrooms and handicap stalls in the airport I've seen them myself...

After what felt like eternity, we finally boarded around 11 AM. After being awake since 3 AM. Time to squeeze into the tiny folding chairs that make up Frontier flights.

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Tight squeeze for a fluffy guy and a pregnant gal, but we were just happy to be boarded and on our way. Besides feeling SO squished, we survived the flight. I made sure to get up and move a couple times over the course of the 3 hours as well.

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Just before 3 PM we made it to MCO! A quick fonorail ride and we started seeing signs that we were home

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To be continued...
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love the name, the hat, the reveal, all of it!! You two are just adorable :inlove:

What a great idea for a name reveal!! I love it!
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Super late but glad I'm here! Looks like the first day was the toughest - which is great!

Love the photos over the years in from of Dinosaur:D

Wishing you all the best with your pregnancy and love the name - and love your photos!

So beautiful! I love her name and the pictures! ❤️

Thank you so so much everyone!!


Pop Tv Reaction GIF by Schitt's Creek
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When I last left you, we were headed to Buzz for a rematch

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I was the sore loser this round!

Oh well, time for a WDW first for Ian

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He enjoyed it, and could be found singing "it's a great big beautiful tomorrow" randomly the rest of the week 😆

We were due for a Peoplemover ride, so off we went

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Taking in the Tron progress

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After our spin around Tomorrowland, I told Ian to get in a ride on Space Mountain while the wait was relatively short. I took a seat in the shade and sent the name announcement pictures to our families and my friends. Everyone was so excited! Particularly my southern friends from college who have been ready to monogram all the things for baby girl

I received an alert that a Photopass picture was new to my account, so I knew Ian would be arriving soon

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3 stoic strangers lol

Where to next?

Let's make an uncomfortable mistake, shall we?

I told Ian - let's get in a ride on Barnstormer, it can be my way of getting in a rollercoaster ride without hurting baby! Sure.. the ride itself won't hurt the baby... but squishing two large human adults sure might

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Thank goodness this ride is 30 seconds long. My hips were SCREAMING. We should've been in separate rows. Or just skipped it? Listen.. sometimes we all make poor decisions at WDW!!

Let's do something a bit more comfortable

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I had Ian wave at the end on behalf of @Tuvalu and Woody!
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It was starting to get toasty and SUPER crowded. I knew I didn't have much left in me for our morning portion of the day, but just wasn't read to call it quits.

Ian suggested heading over to PhilharMagic to cool down for a bit

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A case of poor timing here, as a show had just filled up, but at least we were waiting away from the sun!

After this we starting walking out of the theater into a wall of people and heat and I might've had a big old pregnant hormonal lady internal breakdown. Ian saw it in my eyes and starting leading the way out of the park

But first, he knew I needed a little something..

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What number are we at now? I've lost count!

Statue photo collecting on the way out

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I really like the 50th statues, they definitely add something to the parks!

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(taking it all in/giving me space to cool my jets lol)

We eventually made it out of the park and to the bus to head back to Pop for a MUCH needed afternoon break!
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
When I last left you, we were headed to Buzz for a rematch

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I was the sore loser this round!

Oh well, time for a WDW first for Ian

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He enjoyed it, and could be found singing "it's a great big beautiful tomorrow" randomly the rest of the week 😆

We were due for a Peoplemover ride, so off we went

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Taking in the Tron progress

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After our spin around Tomorrowland, I told Ian to get in a ride on Space Mountain while the wait was relatively short. I took a seat in the shade and sent the name announcement pictures to our families and my friends. Everyone was so excited! Particularly my southern friends from college who have been ready to monogram all the things for baby girl

I received an alert that a Photopass picture was new to my account, so I knew Ian would be arriving soon

View attachment 596453

3 stoic strangers lol

Where to next?

Let's make an uncomfortable mistake, shall we?

I told Ian - let's get in a ride on Barnstormer, it can be my way of getting in a rollercoaster ride without hurting baby! Sure.. the ride itself won't hurt the baby... but squishing two large human adults sure might

View attachment 596454

Thank goodness this ride is 30 seconds long. My hips were SCREAMING. We should've been in separate rows. Or just skipped it? Listen.. sometimes we all make poor decisions at WDW!!

Let's do something a bit more comfortable

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I had Ian wave at the end on behalf of @Tuvalu and Woody!
I waved on behalf of Woody a little while ago. :inlove:
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I promise I will be diving back into an update ASAP - just been a crazy week!

In fact, my office threw me a surprise Disney themed baby shower today that I will share a couple pictures of quickly:

Castle diaper cake!

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They did a "guess the baby" game and had reached out to Ian for one of me... how perfect he chose my first meeting with Minnie 😆

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TR installment coming soon :)
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 continued...

When I last left you, we had made our way back to Pop to relax and escape the heat!

Ian took a nap, while I went for a swim

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(also took this picture, which I refer to as a "hot dogs or legs photo" which is one of my favorite internet-isms 😆 )

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After some sun and swim, I headed back to the room to wake Ian. We needed to eat get something to eat at Pop because we had no dinner plans for this evening and I did NOT want anyone to be hangry.

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Same simple pasta for the pregnant lady, and Ian enjoyed the alfredo chicken parm.

I couldn't resist a sweet treat though!

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It was very good and filling.

We had been keeping an eye on the bus times, and hopped outside to catch the MK bus just in time. Before long we were arriving and entering back into the park

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Ian has not been visiting WDW for his entire life like I have, so there are still quite a few things on his list of items to accomplish. We started out with one of those upon our return

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He got a kick out of it, and wondered aloud to me after how much longer Country Bears would survive in our PC world 😆

Off for another ride on Pirates!

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Always a favorite for us, never gets old.

Ian insisted that he has never done Tiki Room but I was positive he was wrong. Either way, let's go!

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annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
One more attraction to check off for Ian before HEA? Swiss Family Treehouse.

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As we climbed and climbed, my regrets were growing. This is not the move for a hot and tired pregnant lady.

At least the views at sunset were worthwhile!

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As we were climbing (or struggling for some of us), one of my sorority sisters from college was texting me. She lives in Orlando, only about 3 miles from MK, and was in the park for one of the last showings of HEA. We decided to make our way to the hub to say hi.

It was fun to stop and chat with her and her husband, especially because we are both pregnant and due in December!

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After we chatted a bit, we said our goodbyes and Ian and I went to find our own tiny spot to enjoy our final HEA. I was feeling pretty emotional about it because it's so special to us and we love it so much.

It was packed everywhere, as many people ALSO wanted their shot at seeing HEA one more time.

I did not take many photos, as I just wanted to enjoy with Ian.

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I cried as usual, and even Ian had a stoic single man tear trickle down his face.

As we made our way out of the park, Ian suggested we take the boat over to the Poly to cheer up (and also allow for some of the bus crowds to disperse a bit)

You don't have to ask me twice!!

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We enjoyed our front row seats to the electrical water pageant.

Once we had arrived at the Poly, I had one singular mission

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YUM. Exactly what I needed.

We took our time enjoying our treats before taking the monorail back to MK

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I think we only waited 15 minutes or so for our Bus to Pop, which was much better than previous attempts.

Once we made it back, we decided we needed snacks. I got a random assortment

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Tired from another great day, we hit the hay hay hard! Where to the next day!?
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, September 28th

Our first Epcot visit of the trip, and also first visit since 2019! On our family trip in 2020, it was decided that Epcot would be skipped with the little kids in mind. We knew that wall-cot was hitting strong still, but needed our fix.

We were grateful to sleep in a bit with opening not happening until 11 AM. We may have enjoyed it a bit too much, as we ended up skipping breakfast. whoops!

We headed to the Skyliner just after 930 AM.

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Another beautiful (and hot) day was promised.
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We made it to the International Gateway in no time at all, and were soon entering the park and lined up with a couple hundred of our closest friends for Early Entry to start at 10:30. There was no shade where we ended up and I was already SWEATING profusely.

We were in high spirits though, as we were both going to accomplish a WDW this morning. Priority #1: Frozen Ever After. Yes, in all my years of trips I have never done this so naturally neither had Ian.

Once the corral was set loose on the park, we were on our way to Norway. I tried not to slow us down with my picture taking, but I couldn't resist taking a couple, especially of the 50th statues!

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The crowd was moving quickly toward FEA, so we had to keep up the pace

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We were pretty hot and a frazzled by the time we made it, but happy to see only a 10 minute wait.

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It was a brisk walk through the line and soon we were on the ride.

I did not take many photos, as this was a first time experience!

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We were both pleasantly surprised with our first Frozen Ever After experience! We left with big smiles on our face, and gave a wave to an old friend on our way out

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annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Where to next?

We still had 10-15 minutes of Early Entry left, so I offered to hang out while Ian rode Test Track. He is a big fan of the ride, but really was not interested in doing things without me. He enjoyed what he had been able to do so far solo, but said it just was not as fun without me.

So, we decided to just slowly make our way around and see what interested us.

How about a visit to Mexico?

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This won't surprise you, but we were the only ones in line or on the ride for Three Caballeros.

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When Ian asked what I wanted to do next, my request was for a nice photo of us with Spaceship Earth. Would that come to fruition?

Let's try!

On our way..

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I was excited to find a Photopass Photographer here. How did the photos turn out?

Terrible. So terrible that I will only share one barely acceptable photo. SO CLOSE UP. Why? I have pictures of US, I want pictures of US in a cool place!!!! ahhhh

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Yikes.

Moving on.

Time to really enjoy the beautiful walls of Epcot..

Hot and frustrated by the results of my little photoshoot, I suggested the newly revamped Club Cool.

Ian didn't remember trying Beverly, so I played it cool while he took a sip

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Not a fan! haha

I wanted something frozen SO BAD and saw the frozen cokes on the other end of the store. We walked up to the counter and ordered two to cleanse our Beverly pallet. The CM told us they did not have frozen coke. I said.. well.. I will take whatever it IS that you have frozen in those two machines. And she just repeated "we don't have it" ... Mind you, no language barrier here. I repeated "I understand. I will just have two of whatever frozen beverage you have in the icee machine" AGAIN... "we dont have it"

At this point Ian pulled on my arm and said PLEASE give up

I JUST WANTED A FROZEN DRINK 😭 but yes.. I did give up on this impossible interaction and walked away

Let's go for a Spaceship Earth adventure instead

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amjt660

Well-Known Member
I re-read your frozen drink request conversation and I still cant figure out what was going on
Unless the machine were broken?

Normally with slushy type machines you can see the product mixing
Could you see the machine was operational?

Very confusing interaction

I hope you got some relief shortly after!

Max
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I re-read your frozen drink request conversation and I still cant figure out what was going on
Unless the machine were broken?

Normally with slushy type machines you can see the product mixing
Could you see the machine was operational?

Very confusing interaction

I hope you got some relief shortly after!

Max
SO confusing! And yes, both machines were churning, looking frozen and delicious.

I made up for it later in the day!!
 

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