Trip Report Long rainy weekend, first stay at a Disney resort

My family of five just returned from our trip, centered around the Expedition Everest Challenge on Saturday. My wife is a runner and we decided to make a long weekend out of the race.

This is our second Disney trip since we've had kids. Last year we stayed off-property but this year, we booked a family suite at Art of Animation.

Thursday - The fun and easy travel day
We took an early flight from Manchester, NH, connecting in Newark. On our second flight, we were split up so United upgraded us to Economy Plus to sit together. Once my daughter learned how much fun it is to walk on the floor, it was hard getting her to sit with me!

Violet (1), Tyler (6), and our free leg room

We arrived without incident, checked in, and very quickly checked out the sights at Art of Animation. It was very impressive! We stayed in the Cars themed section and the kids loved seeing Mater at our front door. Disney really did an amazing job with the amount of detail in every aspect of the design.

Shortly after checking in, we took the bus to MK and monorail to Contemporary Resort for dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's. The kids loved the attention from the characters and I really enjoyed the food.

Gavin (2) and Tyler

 

[BostonJP]

Friday - Rain, Minnie, and more rain
We woke up early and met up with a local friend at Hollywood Studios. Early in the day it was evident that Gavin, our very stubborn 2-year-old, was already overwhelmed and overtired. So after the first ride, I went on the Tower of Terror while the others brought him to see Minnie and Mickey to calm him down.

Upon exiting the Tower of Terror, it was raining. Not very hard, but hard enough for the kids to want to stay indoors. So while we waited in line for our photos with Sorcerer Mickey and the Incredibles, my wife took Gavin to see Minnie Mouse at least 4 times! He is a Minnie fanatic so this certainly helped him to overcome his earlier bad mood.

By the time we left it was downpouring. I took Tyler, my 6-year-old, onto Star Tours and then had to hunt down the others in the pouring rain. We bought ponchos, but not until after we finally located the rest of our party (who had the money).

Thankfully, nearly every ride at HS is indoors. We went to see Muppets 3-D, got food, and when the rain wasn’t letting up we decided to call it a day at around 2:00. We spent the afternoon and evening lounging around the resort with family and friends who live close to Orlando.

 

[BostonJP]

Saturday – Race Day
While the wife and 6-year-old started the early family run at ESPN Wide World of Sports, I had the insanely job of watching the two young kids. It was still pouring rain, so very difficult to keep the kids entertained. While waiting for the others, Gavin (the 2-year-old) started interacting with a Japanese family who was also staying out of the rain. Their kids were wearing Mickey and Minnie hats that they purchased in Tokyo Disney; they offered to give the hats to Violet and Gavin, since they had already bought lots of WDW souvenirs.

The others wrapped up their race, collected their medals, and took a bunch of pictures. The rain was starting to let up so we trekked back to the parking lot. The family race was not the big event of the day, though - WWOS was hosting a cheerleading competition that day. We worked our way back through a crowd of literally tens of thousands of tween and teen girls with eye makeup and sports bras. Teenage me would have loved it (but adult me could only think about my own daughter’s future in sports).

The rest of the day was all about great food – lunch at Wave of American Flavors and dinner at Kona Café, both of which were fantastic. After dinner, we went back to the resort and swam for a few minutes in the light rain while my wife did the Expedition Everest Challenge, and went to bed early. Sunday was expected to be the perfect weather, and we planned to make the most of it!

 

[BostonJP]

Sunday – How much can we do in one day?
We arrived at Magic Kingdom at 8:15 in preparation for park opening. We tried the FP+ system and had some luck, with 5 or 6 rides and lunch at Be Our Guest. By 4:00, the park was packed solid. Everything was a 60-90+ minute wait, and our next FP time was Peter Pan at 6:15. We went back to the resort so the kids could swim in the amazing weather for an hour before going back to the park. Violet, our 1-year-old daughter, was very apprehensive of the water for only a few minutes but quickly realized how much fun it was.

As we got closer to our FP time, we went back to the park for 3 more rides and dinner. I couldn’t leave the park without going on Pirates of the Caribbean. We left there and got to Main Street just in time for the 11:00 Electrical Parade. The south end of one of the gift shops had an open space perfect for seeing the parade. Mickey Mouse saw me holding a passed-out Gavin so he made the “Shhh” finger gesture and then the universal sleepy pose:

 

[BostonJP]

Monday – The travel nightmare
The day started off nicely. We had a nutritious breakfast and spent an hour taking photos around the resort with the good camera before boarding the Magical Express bus to the airport. In our frantic attempt to get all three kids and our bags/stroller through security, I accidentally left my wedding band in one of the bins. I shuttled back to security where they found the ring, still in the bin.

Crisis averted, and smooth sailing for the rest of the day, right? Not even close.

Our return flight sat on the tarmac for almost 2 hours waiting for clearance from Newark. We were concerned that we wouldn't make our connecting flight back to New Hampshire but United did eventually delay that flight by 2.5 hours. What a relief - no more stress, right?

Wrong again.

When we landed in Newark our flight home was canceled. Not delayed again, just flat out canceled. After standing in line for an hour, customer service told us they could get us out on Wednesday (yeah, two days later!). Instead they put us on a flight to Boston three hours later. My car was in New Hampshire, though, so we had to take a bus back up north. Ironically, it costs less to fly from Boston but we chose Manchester for the added convenience. Now I had to pay $45 that the airline wouldn't reimburse just to get me back to my own car.

But that would be too convenient! No, the Manchester bus terminal is across town from the airport. It's 10:45 PM, 30 degrees outside, and we have three exhausted children who would have been in bed for the last 3 hours if all went as planned.

Perhaps the only stroke of luck for the day, my wife has a close friend who works in Manchester until 11 PM. She met us at 11:15, and just before midnight I was back in my own car and finally on my way home.

So that's it. If there's any interest, I can upload some of the photos from my "good" camera after I can get them off the memory card and onto my studio computer.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

You have such cute children! Loved your report, and I'd love to see more pics!! Looked like you guys had a blast even in the rain... That's the way to do it

 

[mickeysshoes]

Glad to hear you all had a good trip rain and all. And it sounds like everything worked out getting to Chief Mickey in time for dinner on check in day. WOO HOO!!!! Love to see more pic when you have time.

 

[BostonJP]

I admit I was VERY concerned when I first saw the weather report, but I was pleased with the number of options for a rainy day. Other than the stressful return home, there's really no reason to complain!

 

[FlaggNL]

Great report, great kids, and guess you had a great stay