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
Wait FoP is on the pregnant lady no ride list?
Well that is the silliest thing I ever heard. It is like riding a bike, only you can not fall off. And you don't have to pedal.

The photos of you and Ian on the beach are beautiful!

Probably because of the squishing when the restraints lock into place. I’m sure it’d probably be fine, but Disney wouldn’t want to be liable if something did happen, so they are extra cautious with what they do/don’t recommend for pregnant people.

I think that one is less JIC (just in case) and a lot more of CYA (cover you a$$)


Max

My cardiologist told me that simulators are completely safe for heart patients because you don't really go anywhere, that it's the g-forces of rides like some rollercoasters that can be a real problem. She mentioned it was the same for pregnant ladies.
Of course, I'm no doctor so don't trust me on it. Consult with your own physician before riding, of course.

This is a spoiler alert for later in the trip and a leveling with y'all ... Ian felt the same way and really felt I was fine so THIS pregnant lady did ride FoP later in the week 😆
 

Gurt

Well-Known Member
The flight issue would have had me in a panic I am glad you got it sorted. Great TR I love your boo bash shirts and your beach maternity beach pictures are beautiful.
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Back to AK!

After our safari, we needed breakfast and our first Mickey pretzel of the trip. Willing to take bets on how many of these you all think we consumed over the course of this trip lol

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We just love them and plastic cheese.

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Time for Ian to conquer the Yeti, so we headed that way

I walked around the area and took pictures in the entire 8 minutes he was gone! No ride photo, common theme for us on this trip.

We leisurely made our way around to Dinosaur to take a picture we snag every visit.

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I don't remember how this became a thing?

A few other examples:

2019:

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2020:

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Isn't that kind of the fun of vacations though? The silly things you keep coming back to that make you laugh?

One of Ian's favorite AK memories is watching Winged Encounters on his first visit before rope drop. We hadn't managed to make it there early, but found our way back to catch it before Lion King!

Some statues while we waited

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This Winged Encounters drew a small crowd, but was awesome as usual!

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Ian said nothing could top that first experience, but he was still happy we caught it!

We decided to catch It's Tough To Be a Bug quickly before heading back to Africa

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Bet you can't guess why I always take this picture 😆
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Continued...

We took one of those panoramic 360 photos after ITTBAB
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We didn't know exactly what to do with our hands!

Time to head back to Africa for one of our all time AK faves: Festival of the Lion King.

Great sighting on the way to start the excitement!

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We made it to the theater with just about 5 minutes to spare, score!


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We missed the tumble monkeys, but still so happy it has made its return.

We mobile ordered from Flame Tree BBQ on our way out and headed that way.

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We think about this meal often at home randomly, so our bellies were HAPPY.

After lunch, we decided it was time to head back to Pop for some rest.

Of course.. we had to deal with the terrible Pop buses first and wait about 35 minutes for one to show up

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Once we FINALLY made it back to Pop, we went for a swim

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Ian got a kick out of my belly floating above the water 😆🤷‍♀️

I love this part of our Disney trips. We get to talk about our highlights of the morning, relax, swim and enjoy the sunshine without feeling like we are melting.

We discussed wanting a real sit down dinner, and wanted to park hop to HS, so I managed to snag a last minute reservation for Mama Melrose - our first time!

Ian went back to the room for a power nap while I read my book a bit longer before heading back to shower up for our evening fun.

Before long we made our way out the door and headed to the Skyliner

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annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We headed into HS feeling refreshed and ready to just meander around, doing what we could until supper

First, we spotted Donald and Pluto!

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After waving hello, we came upon Goofy as well

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I have to say, I LOVED just randomly coming upon characters throughout the parks. As someone who enjoys characters but doesn't really know what to say to them, I liked this so much more. I can completely understand how it might be disappointing for families with young children though. I'm sure I will want baby girl to be able to hug Mickey in the future. I did see on Twitter this morning that character attendants have started getting called back, so we will see!

More statue hunting

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And a poor quality photopass picture to prove we were here too!

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Wait times were pretty low across the board for things I could do, so we headed to Toy Story Land. We love to compete on Toy Story Mania, so off we went into a 10 minute queue.

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Not great scores for either, but I was the winner!

Where to next?

Time for a spin on A.S.S. - only a 5 minute wait
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annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Where to next?

We had not previously explored Galaxy's Edge much past doing RoR, so we headed that way

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Neither of us had experienced Smuggler's Run, and motion simulators aren't a problem for me either pregnant or not, so we said - let's do it!

We walked right through the line and onto the ride in 5 minutes.

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We were both engineers, which Ian got a chuckle out of because he IS an engineer, which wasn't the very best experience of all the positions but we still had fun seeing it for the first time.

We had an hour and 15 minutes until our Mama Melrose reservation. Rise was at a 45 minute wait. Ian looked at me and said "last weekend we went on a 300 mile ATV ride that your doctor said was fine, if you want - let's do RoR!"

You don't have to ask me twice!

Photo from said ATV trip:

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(I am NOW past the point of being able to safely do this while pregnant, which is a real bummer because the leaves on the trails are amazing!)

We made it through the line and onto RoR in about 35 minutes!

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We love Rise so much, such a fun ride and experience all the way through!

Time to head over to check in for supper

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We will see you later in the week Muppets.

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We slowly made our way over, enjoying the quiet corner of the park.

Before long we were sitting down to eat.

Once again, it was witching hour with my nausea so I kept it simple with spaghetti and meatballs, but I MADE Ian go for the strip steak

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YUM! This ended up being one of Ian's favorite meals of the trip.

During dinner we discussed how happy we were with our evening. We came to HS basically just to have this last minute dinner reservation, but stumbled upon character meets, rode a bunch of rides INCLUDING RoR... we were just in heaven with how "go with the flow" this trip was proving to be.
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Some photos headed out of the park.

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We had a pretty uneventful and quiet skyliner ride back to Pop and were soon off to bed.

It was on this day that we finally gave in and pulled down the murphy bed. Me + pregnancy = wild sleeping. plus.. getting sick/heartburn most nights. Ian needed some space lol

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This ended up working well for us, especially as we share a bed every other night of our lives. A whole bed to ourselves was luxurious lol

Another great day! To be continued...
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday, September 27th

We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed because.. today was our first full MK day! And we were starting it off at our FAVORITE place in WDW - the Poly for breakfast!

We were up and out the door by 7 AM and quickly catching our Uber after that. We arrived around 715, and with a 7:35 reservation that left us time to explore.

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The sun was starting to rise as we made out way out to the Poly beach

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We were just taking it all in and enjoying our morning. The last time we stayed at the Poly was in 2019 for our engagement trip. We know we will be back some day!

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Our matching shirts for the day: Happiest Mom On Earth and Happiest Dad On Earth 😍

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Had to document the bump's first Poly visit!

We were soon checking in online and before long it was time to eat, and we were HUNGRY!

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We do really love the character aspect usually for breakfast here, but we were content to just be back in our happy place.

We were one of the first 5-6 tables seated and it was pretty quiet in the restaurant.

Poor quality photo, high quality view/dude

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We tried to take it slow with bread, juice and fruit but it was so yummy and as I mentioned.. we were hungry lol

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annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Next it was on to our shared platters!

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The waffles were the big win for us this morning, but everything was delicious as usual.

Our server was great and attentive, always appearing right when we were ready for a refill of one thing or another. The manager stopped by at one point and asked about our shirts. I told him that the child in question was in my belly! He said congratulations, and soon our server came by with some celebratory macaroons! I thought this was such a sweet gesture, and thanked them both profusely.

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What a great start to the day already!

Having had our fill our waffles and sweet treats, it was time to head to the monorail to MK to enjoy the last 15 minutes or so of early entry.

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Documenting the first monorail ride of the trip, naturally

Soon we were met with this beautiful sight!

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We're home!

I was emotional as we walked in. I know we were just here a few days prior for Boo Bash, but it's something different walking in first thing in the morning!

Where would we head first? Peter Pan? The castle?

Nope. We had a very specific plan. One formulated by my sweet husband just a couple days before. You see.. we had not told any of our loved ones what we planned to name our daughter. We thought for awhile that we might wait until she was born in case we had a change of heart. But.. her name just stuck. Ian had the idea of embroidering an ear hat with her name to announce to everyone in a fun way!

We went right in upon entry, chose our hat, and they told us it would only be 10-15 minutes. Great! Ian decided to sit and people watch, while I walked up and down Main St to take some photos

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As I was rounding my way by to Ian, Mickey and the gang made an appearance!

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This put huge smiles on our faces, as we weren't sure when we would see Mickey at all! Once again, I just knew that if we were rushing around trying to accomplish too much we would not have had these fun opportunities.

After this, we picked up the ear hat and headed to the hub to take some announcement photos.

Formally introducing the future.. Nora Bea!

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I started crying after we completed our little photo session and walked away from the hub. Saying her name out loud and sending the pictures to our family and friends suddenly made it seem so much more REAL. And to be able to incorporate our favorite place into this milestone.. I was feeling all the feelings!

Ian said we needed to kick off our day in the park right - by him trying to beat me at Buzz, let's do this!

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