Trip Report Kylo Ren is Scary, and so is every other character

Welcome everyone. We are back with yet another Trip Report.

We were in WDW at the end of January/early February this year. Normally I would post the trip report right away, but this year I had a rather intense insurance course I was studying for related to my job. It was not nearly as much fun as a Slinky Dog coaster. Thankfully, about 4 months later, I have passed, and now it's time to re-live old memories by typing away at this trip report.

A change in this trip from years past...We're passholders now!!!

My wife Sara did the math, and figured out that we could save some money by becoming passholders and going twice in a calendar year. So we were looking forward to all the perks that come from Passholder status .

This trip began as all our most recent ones have...leaving on a Thursday evening after Luke returns home from school and making the long drive from York, PA to Florida. Sara had gotten home from work, and we hastily packed the car to have it ready for when the bus dropped him off. We stopped at a Moe's for lunch in Leesburg, VA, then continued on our way to Southern, VA for an overnight stop. Luke is currently huge into football, soccer, and almost any other sport, so our soccer ball made the trip with us, even into the rest stations.

We made it to our hotel around 11pm, quickly loaded all our things into the room and fell asleep fast. When we woke up the next morning, Luke was excited to learn that his new shirt he had gotten the previous weekend had thumb holes!!!

You can just really sense the excitement in his face in this picture. After packing up the car and a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were back on 95 South. At a rest stop football became the game of choice this day.

We stopped for lunch at a pizza hut in South Carolina, and talked to the manager who grew up in PA, now lives in SC, and goes down to WDW every year. We traded stories for a bit, then were back on the road, where the kids (and Sara) promptly passed out.

We made it to Florida before the sun went down this year. By our standard, we made good time, but we still missed out on the free orange juice.

And a silly one...Makayla was a little bit lost

Often it seems that the drive from the Florida border to WDW can take the longest of the whole trip. This particular ride was no exception. The kids were happily watching their DVD player in the back (Luke probably watched the Captain Underpants movie at least 4 times on our trip down), but also peppered us with the classic, "are we almost there," every 5 minutes. Sure enough, we eventually arrived. Our first stop of the night was Disney Springs.

 

[Lyear]

As we woke up on Thursday, I could tell I was exhausted. Going all day long was starting to take its toll. We took it easy as we got ready, since we didn't have any reservations until after 11am. It was nice to move slowly. I'm not always the best at it.

The downside was that we got to the bus stop to head to Magic Kingdom right in the midst of the morning rush, and the line for the bus was very, very long. We ended up boarding the 3rd bus. As we were boarding, I took my normal spot, standing with the stroller near the rear door. Everyone was packed in around us. It happened that the guy beside me apparently was in a huge hurry. The bus driver was doing his job of trying to get everyone to keep moving back so we could get as many people on as possible. He started complaining pretty loudly that the driver wasn't just leaving and taking all this time to put more people on the bus. It was one of those awkward situations where he was trying to make eye contact with someone to agree with him, but no one was willing to do so. I did my best to act like I was looking at my phone.

Of course, the bus to MK from the All star resorts is a pretty long ride, and this guy was none too pleased. Eventually when we made it to the MK bus stop, he and his daughter were off in a flash towards the exit. Our family did our usual get the stroller opened up, get our bags situated, etc. When we finally got going several minutes later, we ended up in the bag check line right behind the guy . That would be our last run in with him. Hopefully he got where he was going on time.

As we were entering, Mary Poppins was coming out to say hello. Sara did her standard quick shot.

Today we made our way up Main Street and made a left towards adventureland. Our plan was to try to get into Jungle Cruise before the line was too long, but it was already a 40 minute wait. No thank you on that. We decided to try Pirates.

Luke enjoyed walking through the dungeon like queue. He kept trying to look in all the windows, even though there was nothing to see.

I'm not sure what caught my attention off to the left here.

We have not watched the Pirates movies with Luke and Makayla, but I guess Luke has friends who talk about Captain Jack Sparrow. He recognized the name as we were going through the ride, and that is how he learned who Jack Sparrow is.

More popular than the Pirates ride, which to be fair both our kids enjoyed, is the gift shop at the end. "Mama, I want this." "I want that."
"Can I have some of these?" Its the parent rite of passage at WDW. We did our best to explain that had toys just like this at home, but they did take some time to play a bit. Trying to sword fight while staying out of other peoples' way is not easy.

When we finally corralled our grumpy, empty-handed children out of the gift shop, we made our way to the Treehouse. The treehouse has a special place in our hearts, since Luke loved it so much the first time he was on it. He kept wanting to do it over and over. We still enjoy it, though it's not his favorite anymore.

Luke was very interested this time in seeing where the water went once it was loaded up into the tree. It became a game of trying to follow where the water was going.

As we were exiting the Treehouse, I received a notification that Splash Mountain, our first fastpass, was down, and we were given another open fastpass to use. While we were mulling what to do, we decided to catch a bird show . Luke was a little bit upset that we were watching a show (a boring show) instead of doing another ride, but the rest of us enjoyed it.

 

[Lyear]

When we had finished Tiki Room, Sara and I decided we would use our free fastpass to ride Jungle Cruise, since the line had been so long earlier. It was now up to a 60 minute wait. Even the fastpass line was pretty long.

After a short wait, we were loaded into a boat and were off on our journey.

We were fortunate to have a great skipper with a very dry sense of humor (which is just what you want, IMO). Luke was old enough that he got the backside of water joke, a very important milestone. Poor Makayla was pretty scared to go into the temple ruins, but we all made it out ok.

There was a very long backlog at the exit, and our poor skipper was running out of things to say as we sat and waited for what seemed like at least 15 minutes. We couldn't quite see what was happening at the dock, but eventually the boats started flowing again and we made it to shore.

Sara looked on her phone and saw that they had just re-opened Splash Mountain and there was a 5 minute wait, so that became our next stop. It was a walk on. Yay!!

Luke was having a great time while Sara braced herself to get wet (it wasn't that bad). Makayla was nervous as we were going down the hill, but once we were down she declared that Splash Mountain too was the "best ride ever."

We exited and went straight over to Big Thunder Mountain for our next fastpass. No pictures on this one, but once again, Makayla declared it another "best ride ever." She was definitely getting the hang of the more thrilling rides.

We decided it was a good time for lunch, and made our way to Pecos Bill's, one of our favorite quick service spots in MK. The restaurant was very crowded, and Sara and Makayla went off to find a table while Luke and I ordered the food. Luke was an excellent helper in carrying food to the table. Sara picked the veggie rice bowl while I got a vegan burger. Luke and Makayla each chose the mac and cheese. My burger was pretty good, and Luke loved the mac and cheese. We grabbed some churros for dessert as well.

Once we had filled our bellies and enjoyed a little rest, we were off once again towards the front of the park. One of the fun things we had planned for this day was for Makayla to get a haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop. She had gotten a haircut here before when she was one, and her hair had grown just a bit since then .

We checked in, and Makayla was called right away. Sara and our barber discussed details of what we wanted, while I was told to take photos

A little glitter to finish it off, definitely her favorite part.

All Done

You wouldn't know it from how long her hair was after, but they actually did cut a LOT off. Our day at MK was off to a great start, but next was something Luke and Makayla had never experienced.

 

[PacNWTigger]

Sorry about the "like" overload, but I'm finally caught up. I'm glad that Makayla seems to be warming up to the characters instead of hiding under the tables...it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Lyear]

Sorry about the "like" overload, but I'm finally caught up. I'm glad that Makayla seems to be warming up to the characters instead of hiding under the tables...it's a step in the right direction.

Like overloads are always welcome. Makayla tends to do ok if she can see a character's face, but she doesn't like the ones with masks, etc.

 

[Lyear]

Tom Sawyer Island is one of those places that seems to always be on our wish list, but we never get to go. Ever since we have gone with the kids, I find myself saying to Sara, "we should really go over to Tom Sawyer Island." But we don't. Schedules get filled up, fastpasses take the priority, and we find ourselves skipping it year after year. But no more!

Tom Sawyer Island was on our list, and we specifically laid aside time to get there. Overall, I think we made the right call.

But first, on the way back towards Frontierland, we saw that the Tiki's were shooting water. Luke, Makayla, and I all were playing in the water, along with some other people. We were having a great time, and once we were done I had a photopass photographer come up to me and tell me he took some photos of use. Ok...a little bit stalkerish, but we appreciated it . It was cool to get some candid photopass shots.

Finally, we were able to corral ourselves away from the tikis and over to the boat launch. It was fun being able to take Luke and Makayla somewhere new. They were filled with expectations as the boat skipper was telling everyone about caves and playgrounds.

 

[Lyear]

The kids decided they wanted to do the playground first. "Let's go to the Playground!" we heard over and over as the boat was being tied up. Great idea! The only problem was we had no idea where the playground was. We did our best to follow the limited signposts. We ended up trekking up a pretty steep hill (for WDW) and then hoila - the, er, playground . It wasn't the greatest playground we had ever seen . They didn't have any slides, swings, etc, just a small treehouse type fort and a ship wheel. Luke was pretty disappointed...

We made the best of it for a while.

Makayla and Sara checked out the windmill, and Sara got what I think is an awesome photo of the Liberty Belle and Big Thunder Mountain.

By this point, Luke was itching to try the caves. It took a little while before we could find them. I don't think this is the way.

Eventually we found the entrance, and Luke was in 7 year old boy heaven

We had a great time as we navigated our way through the caves, with Luke, for the most part, leading the way. The cave stretched on pretty long. Long enough that I was wondering at one point whether we had made our way down a wrong turn. Eventually though we came to some sunlight and found the exit.

Right at the exit, was the absolute favorite part of the island, the barrel bridge!

We went back and forth on this several times, and it took me longer than I'm proud of to realize that the bridge is supposed to be a one way trip. Oops.

The island gave you a good feel for being free to roam about, especially when compared to the long line for Haunted Mansion across the waterway.

And eventually, the Liberty Belle came around on the opposite side.

 

[Lyear]

We went over to the fort at the back of the island, where Luke and Makayla both ran to try the escape tunnel.

This led down into another cave, which seemed to be much darker than the first one we entered. Thankfully, it was also much shorter. We made our way out in no time.

We spent a good bit of time exploring the different rooms. Makayla especially liked the horses.

What kid hasn't pretended to fire upon Big Thunder Mountain Railroad???

Like I said...she likes the horses, we kept coming back again and again.

Eventually, we found this guy sleeping, and Makayla kept wanting to go back to him as well

 

[Lyear]

We tried to line up and get a photo on the bridge that connects the islands.

Unfortunately when Sara tried to zoom in, Makayla decided she was done posing . Interesting face at least

When we made it back to the front island, Luke really wanted to do the cave again.

Across the way, the parade had started.

On our way to the exit we checked out the water wheel and the mill inside.

We had so much fun on Tom Sawyer Island. When I think back on our trip, this is one of the first memories that springs to my mind. It's so funny how the advertisements for WDW always showcase the big, thrilling attractions, but for me it seems that what I remember is doing the more obscure, out of the way things. Definitely hoping to get back to Tom Sawyer Island soon.

As we loaded on our return boat, we were told we had to wait to let Liberty Belle pass through.

Eventually we were cleared for our return trip. So long Island!

 

[FlaggNL]

had not much time lately to check this forum out, but I caught up now! Thanks for all the great updates!!

 

[krisri18]

Tom Sawyer Island is one of those places that seems to always be on our wish list, but we never get to go. Ever since we have gone with the kids, I find myself saying to Sara, "we should really go over to Tom Sawyer Island." But we don't. Schedules get filled up, fastpasses take the priority, and we find ourselves skipping it year after year. But no more!

Tom Sawyer Island was on our list, and we specifically laid aside time to get there. Overall, I think we made the right call.

But first, on the way back towards Frontierland, we saw that the Tiki's were shooting water. Luke, Makayla, and I all were playing in the water, along with some other people. We were having a great time, and once we were done I had a photopass photographer come up to me and tell me he took some photos of use. Ok...a little bit stalkerish, but we appreciated it . It was cool to get some candid photopass shots.

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Finally, we were able to corral ourselves away from the tikis and over to the boat launch. It was fun being able to take Luke and Makayla somewhere new. They were filled with expectations as the boat skipper was telling everyone about caves and playgrounds.

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I had a PP photographer do the same thing outside the Plaza Restaurant. I took baby E outside while everyone finished up because his fussing was getting loud. We were dancing to the Move It Shake It music and a PP photographer was by the check-in desk talking to the hostess and taking pics of us lol. I guess I just always assumed they only took pics in their assigned spots. Lol

 

[Lyear]

had not much time lately to check this forum out, but I caught up now! Thanks for all the great updates!!

Thanks for checking it out!

I had a PP photographer do the same thing outside the Plaza Restaurant. I took baby E outside while everyone finished up because his fussing was getting loud. We were dancing to the Move It Shake It music and a PP photographer was by the check-in desk talking to the hostess and taking pics of us lol. I guess I just always assumed they only took pics in their assigned spots. Lol

You get some great candid shots that way. That can be fun when so many times its hard to get the kids to smile. It was just a little odd to have someone walk up to us like, "hey, I was photographing you just now." Great pic by the way.

 

[Lyear]

When we had safely exited our boat, it was time to head over to 7DMT for our fastpass. No hesitation from Makayla to get on this one. I think Luke's face in the first photo looks like one you would find on a visit Disney advertisement.

Makayla wanted to do the carousel once we were done with 7DMT, so we all boarded.

Both Luke and Makayla wanted to go on the Liberty Belle, so we went there next. Sara was interested in finding a seat, so her and Makayla found a spot and stayed put. Luke was really interested in exploring. I went with him and we explored every inch on all three levels. It's billed as a nice relaxing ride, but it was anything but that for us.

Sara took this photo below as we were boarding. I had no idea this little room even existed. It quickly became filled by a family that I'm pretty sure napped during the ride.

Once we were back on land, once again, we saw the Muppet show taking place in Liberty Square. We didn't get a great spot, we were near the tree, but we were able to see what was going on. As I'm writing this, I can't remember specifics about the show, but it did a good job of keeping our kids' attention, which is a pretty tough thing to do. It was filled with the expected goofy muppet capers.

One thing we had yet to do at MK was the Country Bears, and this was quickly remedied.

A show had just ended as we were exiting, and the characters were on their way out of the crowd.

Finally, we decided to take one last plunge on Splash Mountain. This time the sprayers were fully working, and we did get soaked.

Luke gave it a thumbs up

 

[Lyear]

Splash was our last ride at MK this year. Sadly, it was time to head towards the exit, as we had dinner reservations at Boma that night. Sara was diligent about taking photos on the way out.

We went out through Liberty Square.

Then Sara took a few (dozen) photos of the castle at dusk.

On the way out, with MK lit up for a magical evening ahead, that would not include us.

With that our MK time on this trip had come to an end. Two full days, but I'm thankful when I look back at all we got accomplished. Our goal is to convince Luke to try Space Mountain next time .

 

[Lyear]

We took a bus back to All Star Movies, then quickly walked over to our room, then our car to drive to Animal Kingdom. We have been to Boma so many times, and I've written so many words about it in prior trip reports. This visit was memorable not so much because of what we ate, but because of Makayla.

She was with it while we ordered drinks, then sort of picked at her food. She quickly became spacey...

and next...

Yep, she was OUT. Sara, Luke and I continued our meal, the food was great as always, continuously one of our favorites. Soon enough, our meal came to an end.

Makayla and I decided to find a couch.

Meanwhile, Luke and Sara went exploring around the resort. I wasn't there, so I can't say exactly what took place, but Sara was sure to document their adventures in photo form.

Getting up on this bridge was a goal of theirs, and Luke was so happy when he made it. It took a while, but they were able to get my attention down below.

Can you spot me???

After a while, they finished their exploring and came to find me. We said goodbye to the AKL, and went back to our car. I don't remember too much more about the night, which probably means we went straight to our room and all fell asleep.

 

[fractal]

Love;

more "best ride ever" 's!

that you did Tom Sawyer's Island!

the photos!

 

[Lyear]

Love;

more "best ride ever" 's!

that you did Tom Sawyer's Island!

the photos!

Thank you for following along. Have to give credit to Sara for the photos since she took 97% of them.

 

[Lyear]

So we have finally made it to Friday, which houses the story that the title of this trip report is named after. This would be the day that Makayla met Kylo Ren. But that meeting wouldn't happen until this afternoon. In the morning, we had a breakfast reservation to make it to. Sara took a few photos around the AS Movies resort as we made our way to the bus stop.

Today Makayla was wearing her new Rapunzel dress, which was fitting since our breakfast was with Rapunzel. Sneaky Luke hanging out behind her.

We made it to HS and had a nice bubbly walk to the main entrance area.

Instead of going in, we made the sharp right turn to get over to the Friendship boat dock. Our destination was the Boardwalk.

We ended up making it there with plenty of time before our reservation, so a little exploring of the Boardwalk resort was done. "For your safety, please do not climb on the bikes."

A big open space to run around??? Yes please!

We went inside as well, plenty to see. Very beautiful resort.

 

[Lyear]

After a bit, it was time for our check in. We made our way down to Trattoria al Forno, checked in, and after a very short wait were led to our table. We were on the far side of the restaurant, near the kitchen. We were quickly met by a plate full of pastries...yum. Makayla grabbed one before I could take a photo .

So I mentioned before that Sara had a sore throat. She had some medication along for the trip that at this point had cleared up the soar throat, but unfortunately had led to her having trouble opening her jaw to eat. Being the loving husband that I am, did I, A) be sympathetic during this difficult time, or B) take lots of photos. I think you know the answer...

She decided to be very upscale and classy when eating her pastries this morning

Safe to say, the pastries didn't last long.

The kids each got a drink with a glowing straw clip, so their morning was made.

When it was time to order our food, Pancakes were the choice for Sara and the kids. Very nicely done with the designs on the pancakes.

I went with a veggie omelet.

We've eaten here before, and the food always tends to be very good, and there's plenty of it. This year was no exception as we had plenty of pancakes left when we had filled out bellies.

 

[Lyear]

The timing this morning actually worked out really well. As we were seated, the characters must have been in a morning break, so we were able to quietly and calmly order our food and were nearly done eating before the royal music began playing. Each of the characters were being introduced one by one, and they ended up being about 3-5 minutes apart. Once they were introduced, we were the 2nd table they visited, which worked out great for us.

Flynn was first to arrive, and Makayla was still a bit shy and wanted me to stand with her for the photo.

Rapunzel was the next to visit us, and Makayla felt she would be brave enough to get her photo without me. She was of course excited to show off her dress.

Eric was next to arrive.

And finally Ariel was introduced. Ariel definitely had the most fanfare and longest music played for her entrance.

We had good interaction with all of the characters. Last year it seemed the characters were rushing to get through it, but this year definitely felt they were all talkative and interactive with Luke and Makayla.

Shortly after we met Ariel, they did a procession through the restaurant, but neither of our kids wanted to join in. We had finished our meals and met all the characters, so we packed up our things and made our way out. We took a little more time to explore before heading back to HS.

Makayla suckered us into buying her a little Pasquale as we were leaving the restaurant.

And a little more time running around to burn off that big meal.

Soon enough we saw our boat coming and were off towards HS.

Sure enough, someone had to jump into this photo op .

 

[Lyear]

When we made it into HS, Luke and Makayla made sure that Pasquale was buckled in safely.

We found a photopass photographer who wasn't too busy and grabbed some family photos. Can never get enough of them.

The Star Wars Stage show was going on as we went by, and Luke wanted to watch it. In my opinion, there wasn't a lot to it. They would show some clips from the movies then a character would come out and do a little maneuver, and then the whole thing would repeat. My lasting impression is that it was really loud. Sara was sure to grab some photos.

When the show finished, we went over towards our first fastpass at Toy Story Midway Mania. It was our first time trying the new entrance.

Keep It Moving...we don't listen to instructions well...

Makayla sort of lost interest in the ride halfway though. She would try to use the gun contraption, but wasn't able to really make it work. Luke and Sara had a competitive ride in the car behind us. They both ended up with a higher score than me. Sara was the big winner of our family.