Trip Report Met my #GOALS, but I need do-over trip report!!

gobstoper27 · May 2, 2021

Quick Segue
4/30/21
My city had the honor of hosting this years NFL draft. We took a trip downtown on the 2nd day of the draft to see what the NFL Experience had to offer.
It was a cold one, and as the stadium is right on the lake it was really windy. It was 80 degrees literally 2 day prior, typical Cleveland weather.

Not so fun fact.
My hubby scored tickets to attend the 2nd and 3rd rounds that night, in one of the "pods" inside the draft theatre. Unfortunately for him, all attendees had to be completely vaccinated, and he had a couple more days to go until he hit that 2 week mark. So this was the next best thing. It was "fun" but the lines were horrible. I remember thinking if the lines were like this at Disney, I wouldn't ride anything; I mean they didn't even crawl. We stood in line for about an hour for a kids on the field experience. All families had to register and there were only 2 people registering a line of hundreds of people. This was the only aspect we found to be rather unorganized. Once it was our turn we found out that Easton couldn't do it as he was too young. He was devastated and we were aggravated because each NFL experience session was 4 hours and we wasted an hour.

After that epic fail, we ended up in short but super slow moving line to see the super bowl rings from every super bowl. The line moved really slow because people were taking pics of every single ring. We zipped through because
1. they're rings
2. Our team has never won a super bowl so.......LOL
I will say that it was really interesting to see how much the ring design has evolved. Back in the day they looked like high school rings and now they look like gaudy key fobs.
We really wanted to check out the locker room experience but unfortunately the line was really long and slow. The highlight for us was the giant helmets representing each team.

He really took a liking to the Eagles helmet, I'm not sure why..He knows we bleed brown and orange, but I guess it's OK for one day, LOL

Does anyone spot their team?

LA Rams was by far my favorite, that blue just popped.

He seriously asked me if he could "take a picture with the black one", I shouted NO!!! But I managed to get his heading in the frame Lol

The home team!!
I was surprised that they had workers who would take your picture with your phone (due to covid), but I'm happy that we were able to get a group shot. Oh, and the gaudy chain was little dudes consolation prize for not being able to go onto the field. Definitely not my call, but dad secretly wanted it for himself so that was his excuse to buy it

There were forms of each teams uniform that you could climb into. I'm surprised that we didn't see more people falling and busting their butts because these things were kind of sketchy, hence the hubby in the background holding Easton, lol.
Well thats all from downtown Cleveland, I hope everyone is happy with (or gotten over) their teams decisions during the 2021 NFL draft

Back to Disney!!

gobstoper27 · May 2, 2021

MickeyCB said:
This.
I said the same thing in my October trip report except it referenced kids at the Riviera who were running through the landscaping with no parental interest.

Sadly, this wasn't the only time we encountered that during this trip

MickeyCB · May 2, 2021

gobstoper27 said:
He knows we bleed brown and orange

, Just kidding, you guys are looking very good! Making me a little nervous for this year for sure!!

gobstoper27 said:
He seriously asked me if he could "take a picture with the black one", I shouted NO!!! But I managed to get his heading in the frame Lol

Awww come on, black and gold all the way!!!!! He knows a good thing when he sees it!

littleroo · May 3, 2021

Steelers!!!! Your ring will come, one of these centuries!! Just kidding!!!

Thank you for sharing this! It was really interesting! I wish you had better weather and more luck in line! I wonder if it had been warmer, would it have been busier?

Your son is too cute!! He is going to have great memories of that when he gets older!!

gobstoper27 · May 7, 2021

MickeyCB said:
, Just kidding, you guys are looking very good! Making me a little nervous for this year for sure!!

Awww come on, black and gold all the way!!!!! He knows a good thing when he sees it!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :hilarious:

Its OK, we let that slip of the tongue slide, the little ones are allowed to be confused sometimes, lol. Not too often that we make you all nervous, so I'll take it

gobstoper27 · May 7, 2021

littleroo said:
Steelers!!!! Your ring will come, one of these centuries!! Just kidding!!!

Thank you for sharing this! It was really interesting! I wish you had better weather and more luck in line! I wonder if it had been warmer, would it have been busier?

Your son is too cute!! He is going to have great memories of that when he gets older!!

Thank you!! I think it helped that it was earlier in the day on a Friday and a lot of people were still working. I heard that it was a zoo on Saturday, plus the weather was a bit nicer to. So even though it was COLD, I'm glad we tried it

gobstoper27 · May 7, 2021

Day 2 cont.
As previously mentioned, he had such a ball watching the Disney Jr. cavalcade. Looking back at his non-stop wave, it cracks me up everytime.
(Sorry about the music, I didn't want to chance using the actual soundtrack from the parade.)

After the boys finished their snacks we decided to walk around a little bit more since it was almost time to finish up in Hollywood studios for the day. 1st we headed back to Galaxy's Edge for one more walk through the shops. The droids in the Droid Depot are so tempting, but it would be such an impulse buy and I'm trying to stay away from those.

Unfortunately, this was as close as we got to checking in at the Tower Hotel. This is hands down my favorite ride and it was such a bummer missing out. Originally, the plan was to have my nephew sit out with Easton and wait for me and the hubby to get off. This would only be an option if the wait time was 20 mins or less. It hovered at 70 minutes the whole time we were there, so that wasn't happening. It was thrown out that I should just ride by myself; ermmmm no, hard pass.
Maybe next time :cry:

We then made a pitstop into Mickey's of Hollywood.
Ick, these are so creepy, could you imagine finding one of these under your blanket? LOL

We live with a huge little Haunted Mansion fan. A few hitchhiking ghosts caught someones eye. Lucky for me that explaining that you don't need a wallet because you don't have any money went over well, lol. (and no, your Hamm piggy bank coins don't count)

After Mickeys of Hollywood we decided it was best to head out. We accomplished all we could and we needed to pick up the car and head over to our next hotel for the rest of the stay. Before we picked up the car, I had my eye on a yummy looking treat from Petite Cafe.

OMGoodness.
This lemon cheesecake was everything. It was so light, refreshing and not overly lemony in flavor. If you love lemon treats, I highly recommend!!

One last look at this beauty. It is by far my favorite mosaic on WDW property. The dimension in the lanterns make them look as if they're really lit. I really enjoy slowing down to appreciate the artwork and craftsmanship on pieces like this.

After we (sadly) said goodbye to Rivera, we made the short drive over to Pop Century.
I was hoping that the room would be ready so we could have a little rest. My dreams were quickly dashed; it was a little before 3 and the room wasn't ready. We decided to head over to Everything PoP for lunch. It was approaching 3 and we hadn't had an actual meal yet.
When I went to pick up the mobile order, I noticed that one of our side of fries was missing. They were super nice and brought them out right away.
For dessert, I had the above lemon cheesecake

I wanted to indulge in it later, but we didn't have a fridge because were still homeless and I didn't want to carry it around anymore.
We putzed around for a bit after we ate, hoping that we'd get the room ready text. Unfortunately we didn't so we decided to just hop on the skyliner and make our way over to Epcot.

I was really excited about Epcot because I hadn't been to the Flower and Garden Festival in over 10 years. We typically visit WDW in the fall so the festival is never an option for me. Most of the topiaries and displays are new to us since we hadn't been in so long.
This was my first time entering the park via Int'l Gateway. I'm so used to being welcomed by Spaceship Earth, but I actually prefer this entrance more especially because the front of the park was a hot mess of construction.

Why hello there!

First we made our way over to the France Pavillion because I wanted to check out the new Ratatouille area.
Its just so new and pretty, I can't wait to come back when the creperie and Ratatouille ride opens up.

It was really sunny so the lens flare was out in full effect!

How cool is this water fountain, it was giving me Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast vibes.
The boys took a bathroom break and I'm still kicking myself for not checking out the new bathrooms.

I will say that my subject posed really well for our session

Next up, more Epcot and we enter the I need a do-over territory.

gobstoper27 · May 7, 2021

Day 2, Epcot con't.

I really wanted to grab this shot because Beauty and the Beast holds a special place in my heart. When he was little, we'd jam out to Be our Guest in my car. Particularly the part when the spoons dive into the soup. If I forget to bust out my inner opera singer, he screams at me; "Mommy, you didn't do it", lol.
We made our way over to Les Vins de France. If I could only get one thing in Epcot, the Grey goose Citron slush would be it. It's so good that I make a copycat version at home from time to time.
I hadn't made one in ages so I was due one. I made the mistake of not getting a straw so it was a little hard to drink but it was still refreshing as the sun was blazing.

and happiness in a glass!!

I liked how they incorporated spices in Moroccan topiary. Unfortunately there was no time to try and identify all the spices, we had so much more to cram into our day.
We made our way into Japan; this was finally my chance to try Frushi. I love maki rolls so I hoped that these would live up to my expectations.

Well..it was different. Not bad and not fantastic. My husband and nephew loved them, I think I need to give them another shot. I can't quite put my fingers on what it is. Easton didn't want a bite, so we just pulled out the fruit and he ate that with the whipped cream.

The photo pass line for this was booming! It really is a nice photo op I must say.

During our lap around the world I noticed my nephew was acting kind of blah. I let him know that if you see something that catches your eye let us know and we'd stop and get it. He's really quiet and doesn't like to speak up when he wants or needs something. It's funny because I used to be the exact same way when I was younger.
I offered him everything that I saw, slushies, giant head sized donuts but he said he was good. I'm sure that he was probably just bored, Epcot will do that for you if you're a certain age.

I could go for some via Napoli's right now but with no ADR,
a picture in front of some pretty flowers will have to do.

Tramp looks absolutely adorable but what in the world is going on with Lady?!? I can't get over her hair

. I went back to reference a picture of what she should look like and I'm sorry, I just don't see it.

We continued our trek around the world stopping by China as it is one of my favorite pavilions. My Chinese Zodiac sign is the Tiger so I had to sneak the little guy in below. There were a ton of people lined over by the koi pond and we couldn't figure out what they were in line for but soon we would.

After walking through China, we decided to head over to Frozen ever After since we'd never ridden it before.
Either the wait time was always ridiculously high or we were always pressed for time and couldn't fit it in.
Since the wait was about 40 minutes we figured now was the time. We asked the cast member where the line ended and she pointed us in the direction of China.
I finally realized what the long line we noticed earlier was for.
The line moved pretty quickly and after a while Easton uttered those dreaded words, Daddy, I have to poop

Ughhhhhh. Sorry dad, this is all you.
Mike took the boys to find a bathroom while I continued to wait. He had no idea where the restrooms were so I asked a castmember. She told me where they were so I called him to direct him.
Me:"It's has a brown roof"
Hub: "But they're all brown"
Me: "It's not like a regular brown, its a dark brown"
After a few minutes, he ended up finding the brown roofed building that I was trying to describe. Whew!!!
While I waited, I watched a group of 3 kids climbing on the rocks, just being little stinkers. The dad offered up the best line that I heard all trip.
" This isn't a playground, this is Disney!!" You tell tell em pops..(still didn't stop them though)

I was getting anxious because I was approaching the building entrance and the boys still weren't back yet. Literally right before I was going to let the party behind me get in front they showed up.

Up next, more Epcot

Darstarr · May 7, 2021

gobstoper27 said:
If I could only get one thing in Epcot, the Grey goose Citron slush would be it. It's so good that I make a copycat version at home from time to time.

Feel free to share that recipe....
Please
Thank you

gobstoper27 · May 25, 2021

Darstarr said:
Feel free to share that recipe....
Please
Thank you

Please excuse my tardiness.
2 parts Grey Goose Citron. (you can use any other Citrus vodka but I stick to the original)
1 part simple syrup
2 parts sweet and sour
Ice
Blend until smooth.
I'm telling you, it tastes EXACTLY the same!!

gobstoper27 · May 25, 2021

Sorry it's been so long guys, I've been struggling getting motivated. Big props to you dedicated trip reporters, who report much more than I could ever imagine doing. I appreciate your reports even more

Darstarr · May 25, 2021

gobstoper27 said:
Please excuse my tardiness.
2 parts Grey Goose Citron. (you can use any other Citrus vodka but I stick to the original)
1 part simple syrup
2 parts sweet and sour
Ice
Blend until smooth.
I'm telling you, it tastes EXACTLY the same!!

I will have to try this!
Thanks!!

gobstoper27 · May 25, 2021

Day 2 cont.
So after our first ever ride on Frozen Ever After, I'd say it was cute and I'm glad that I checked it off my list. I don't think I would wait longer than the 35-ish minutes we did to ride it though. We continued to make our way around the world. It was around this time my nephew let me know that his feet hurt. I dismissed it and told him "Boy, everyones feet hurt, we've done a lot of walking". (I know, that was a bit harsh, but he can be dramatic.)
We proceeded to walk and ending up taking a detour to Future World and check out the topiaries on this side.

Such a beautiful late afternoon

Goofy's bent nails is such a spot on detail.

Next destination...

There are a few classic attractions at Epcot that I've yet to experience (Living with the Land, Grand Fiesta Tour, Figment..).
Spaceship Earth is not one of them. I love this ride so much and who knows if/when the refurb will happen so I'm happy to get to experience this oldie yet goodie once again.
Once we got on board we didn't get very far into our journey when the ride broke down. We made it to the early communication scene and it just stopped. We sat there for about 20 minutes and I will say that it was kind of relaxing just sitting there in the air conditioned darkness.
I just knew that the little one would freak out because of how dark it was, but to my surprise he was perfectly fine. He asked a "hundred million" questions (his favorite number to say) and we just chit-chatted. The husband took a cat nap and all was well.
I could not believe that Easton was so interested in this ride. He is a very inquisitive child and has always been into learning about new subjects, so he wanted to know about every person, what are they doing, whats a printing press, etc.

Looks like my groovy chick is now his groovy chick, lol.
This is one of my favorite scenes. I have always had a weird fascination with the 70's and she just resonates with me. #JIVETURKEY

After SSE we decided to head over to Mouse Gear. The boys took a snack break and my nephew got a chance to rest his feet a bit more as he was still complaining that his feet hurt.
I can't wait until the construction is done. I have the worst sense of direction when there are construction walls everywhere and the fading sunlight didn't help. Eventually we made our way inside the temporary Mouse Gear and even though they had capacity limits I felt like people were still on top of each other. They have so many racks and jammed inside that it's a bit hard to maneuver around.
After we did our damage( socks, more snap bracelets and a super fly Orange Bird bucket hat) we made our way over to the world showcase.

It was at this point where the sketchiness commenced. Bryan's feet were killing him and I noticed he started walking with a slight limp. I wanted to check out the other half of the world showcase that we missed since we detoured to Future World but this kid couldn't walk any longer. I was sooo bummed, there was still so much I wanted to see but we decided to make our way back over to the skyliner and head over to POP.
I think the park closed at 8 this day so it's not like we had that much time anyway. We waited in about a 20 minute line and I will say that the riding on the longest Skyliner route was a much needed break.

I know its a blurry shot but he was really digging his Orange Bird bucket cap. I was surprised when he said he wanted to buy it. It's so different from what he normally wears. I'm still kicking myself for not getting one to.

We finally made it to POP and I was stoked that we got our room request made via Touring Plans. I usually call Disney when I have room requests but I wanted to see if the TP room request feature would work.
Since we drove, I requested a room close to the 50's lot. Which was clutch; the hubby and I had tons of bags to lug up to the room and we made it in one trip (granted, I had to go back and grab a few things that fell throughout the grounds on the way up

.)
After we got settled, I made Bryan take off his shoes and O.M.G. This poor guy.
This was not typical foot soreness from too much walking. His right foot was swollen and didn't look too good. I did the only thing I could think of which was to soak in some cold water and we'd just see how he felt in the morning.
Apparently he is severely flat footed and the shoes that he wore down to FL were an after thought. I didn't pay attention that he was wearing Vans when I picked him up the day prior and my mom was rushing to get him packed literally before we left for the airport.

Fingers crossed that the morning had a better outcome!

gobstoper27 · Jun 3, 2021

Day 3
I woke up pretty anxious;I couldn't wait to see how my nephews feet were feeling. We had another busy day planned; MK, AK and Disney Springs for Dinner.
I watched him get out of bed and oh boy, they were still pretty tender. He did say that the right foot felt a way better so that was a plus. I asked if he could walk or did he think he needed a wheelchair and he assured me that he could walk and would be OK. We decided to try and find him a better pair of shoes to wear while we were at the park. I know we were limited to Crocs, but at this point those seemed a better option than the current lineup.
MK had a 9am opening so we were up and out to catch the bus around 7:30.
Holy smokes, the MK bus line was insane. I always learn something new on my Disney trips. While not necessarily a new lesson, it was reaffirmed that no matter how early you think you are it's not early enough. With the social distancing on buses, I knew that we'd probably be on the 8th or 9th bus.

It's hard to tell, as it wrapped in a couple places, but it was packed.

Bryan was kind of bummed that we had to stand so I told him to pop a squat since we had a while.

#MOOD

I will say, the bus dispatch was amazing. MK buses came every 2-3 minutes and sometimes 2 would come at the same time. I know the folks waiting for the AK buses were probably annoyed. Before you knew it we were boarding.

I don't know what the bus situation is like at other resorts, but the early morning bus departures at POP were clutch! We pulled up to MK around 8:05 and we headed down Main Street less than 10 minutes later.

I love the sight of light crowds in the morning.

Our first move of the day was to head over to Seven Dwarves Mine Train. I told the gang to just take their time heading over and that I'd power walk and grab a spot in line. I was kind of surprised where the end of the line was. I always get wary when I start to see the stuff for Storybook Circus and the queue kept going..when I finally entered the line it was a little before the Gaston fountain...YAY

My husband decided to hang out closer to the entrance so my nephew could sit until it was time to enter the "indoor" part of the queue; I love when he uses his thinking cap.

Resting those dogs...

Someone was really excited for his 2nd "real" coaster of the trip. He assured us that he wasn't scared and was ready to rock.
To my surprise and delight, the line moved so FAST. The social distancing really makes the line lengths so deceptive. According to my notes, I got in line at 8:20 and we were boarding our cart at 8:40!

And it was a HIT!!! All 15 seconds of it

After Mine train, Easton's do or die pick of the Haunted Mansion was next. It was one of the goals so I wanted to make sure we got on before we encountered a line. In September, when just the 2 of visited, the end of the line was wrapped around the wooden bridge by the riverboat, it was insane and we just didn't want to relive that.
Easton is a HM psycho, like obsessed. I'm not sure why he loves it so much, the 2 times his ridden prior he was under the age of 3. He's into spooky stuff and loves Halloween so I guess I can see why.

This was from our last family trip; it cracks me up because to this day when he gets spooked he still covers his ears.
I will say this time around, he was pretty scared. It's funny how when kids are younger they are oblivious to certain things and only a couple years later things change. He didn't cry or anything but he just held me a bit tighter and covered his ears a few times. Regardless of the few scary moments, he said he still loves it and wanted to ride again!

After a quick stop inside Momento Mori, we were on our way to Big Thunder.

10 after 9am and basically a ghost town.

Up next more Day 3

gobstoper27 · Jun 3, 2021

Day 3 cont.

I will say, we struggled to find the entrances to the queues many times. BTM was no exception. Once we finally found it, the wait time was about 20 minutes. Not too bad and the line moved really quickly. Once we got inside, Easton saw the tall rock formations and decided that he didn't think he should ride, it was probably too tall for him, lol. We tried to explain that the train didn't go that high and that he could ride. This went on and off for 10 about 10 minutes when we finally decided that since he was adamant that he didn't want to do it, he and dad would sit this one out and they got out of line. I was bummed but, I always said I would never make him ride something he didn't want to ride.

We made sure to check their pockets before they made their exit.

Formation that spooked the little dude.

As we were boarding, my husband texted me and said that Easton was like "Daddy, why are we getting out of line?"
Apparently, he changed his mind and did want to ride. Well by that point it was too late and they made their way back down. Of course he cried and was upset so daddy got him popcorn and all was well. (This mind-changing and later realizing that there aren't any take backs was a trend the latter half of the trip)

We enjoyed our wild ride in the wilderness!
As we rode, I imagined how Easton would have felt and sometimes little ones know best. For sure it would have been too much whipping around for him and I'm so glad that he didn't ride it.
We were making such good progress on our quest to ride everything on our list. Up next was Pirates.

The Pirates queue situation was an absolute cluster. The end of the line cast member was no where to be found and people couldn't figure out if they should be on the inside or outside of the rope. When the CM finally turned up and told people who stood on the outside of the rope that they actually weren't in line and had to go to the end I sensed a walking of the plank was in this kids future.
There was a family who had been next to us, but on the wrong side of the rope. Rather than let them go to the back we let them get ahead of us.

Public enemy No. 1

My favorite scene of the ride

.

After Pirates and a quick bathroom break we made our way over to Storybook Circus. Bryan's feet were hurting and he was due for a break. We were going to hit Dumbo and Barnstomer for the little guy so I knew Bryan wouldn't be sad to miss a ride on either of these. We found a spot for him to rest and made sure he was comfortable doing so.
Up first was Dumbo. We waited for about 15 minutes which is longer than I would normally wait for Dumbo but it was tolerable.

Selfie time with Dumbo!
I miss the days when the 3 of us fit it one elephant; I was a solo flyer this time around.

On our way to Barnstomer, I snuck in a peek on Bry to make sure he was OK.
I hated that he had to sit by himself but he was fine and it was only for a few more minutes.

After about a 10-15 minute wait, we were off.
Once again, I was a solo flyer.
It was about 11:30 and we had 6 rides in. I was pretty happy about our morning progress so we met back up with Bryan and decided to grab some lunch. We opted for Friar's Nook and on our way over we could tell that crowd definitely picked up.
The line at Friars nook wasn't too bad considering it was almost peak lunch time. We got a couple orders of the buffalo chicken tots and a PB& J crustable for Easton.
Holy moly. Why are we just not trying the buffalo chicken tots; they were so good.

Because I couIdn't get these off my mind, I recently recreated these at home. Ironically, I don't even really like tater tots.

Only tater tot reference I know..Any Napoleon Dynamite fans??
One of my all time favorite scenes from one of my all time favorite movies

Up next more day 3

gobstoper27 · Jun 10, 2021

More Day 3
After lunch we decided to make our way up to the front of the park. We could have hung out a bit longer, but Bryan's feet needed a break. But first, The Emporium to find some Crocs. We had 2 choices, the loafers or the Classic clogs. I couldn't picture him wearing either, but by this point we were desperate for anything.
We opted for the loafers as my brother-in-law swears by them. We caught the Royal Princess Processional and sadly made our way to the bus.
Once we got to the room, we made the difficult decision to leave Bryan there so he could rest. I was super nervous that we'd get put in Disney jail for having a minor in the room alone. He stated he was fine to stay and really didn't feel up to going to AK. I made sure that he had his snacks and strict instructions not to open the door. And with that, the 3 of us were off for a quick trip to Animal Kingdom.

We got in shortly after 2pm and the park had a 5pm close this day. Since we didn't have much time, this trip was a lot more chill than what we were used to. We first noticed the crowds, or lack there of. It was amazing; I cant remember ever seeing hardly anyone inside AK.

Our first stop was over to Africa to check out the Safari which is always a must do for us. Africa is by far my favorite section in AK. The details are just so rich and authentic; I notice new details every single time.

The Safari was a walk on which was great but we were less than thrilled with the not so pleasant party seated behind us.
They were so obnoxious (not really the word I wanted to use though.) They were loud, the kids were bad as hell, they kept getting told to pull their masks on and blared their trash box music from their phones. Plus, one of the smaller kids took a dump and the heat didn't help with the smell. Put other than that, the Safari was delightful (minus the plastic dividers which made me feel claustrophobic.)

This ostrich strutting away was everything for me

At one point the road was "closed" for about 10 minutes due to a rhino blocking the road; but we had the children of the corn behind us to keep us "entertained" lol.

After we made our exit, we wandered around Africa a little bit more.

Our next stop was Pandora, we were on a mission for our favorite treat for a warm day :hungry:

On our walk over to Pandora, we had our own private boat parade. There was nobody around so Easton got all of Rafikis' and Timons' attention.

Up next more AK..

MickeyCB · Jun 10, 2021

gobstoper27 said:
They were so obnoxious (not really the word I wanted to use though.) They were loud, the kids were bad as hell, they kept getting told to pull their masks on and blared their trash box music from their phones. Plus, one of the smaller kids took a dump and the heat didn't help with the smell.

and

gobstoper27 · Jun 10, 2021

On a sunny day, the wait out outside Pongu Pongu is the worst..the sun has no mercy. Thankfully the end reward is worth it.
We bought 2 Night Blossoms and decided to try a Pongu Lumpia. My grandma is Filipino so I grew up eating Lumpia rolls all the time as a kid and was excited to try it.
We found a shady spot to chill with our treats.

Leave it to my mother to call while I was trying to indulge. She called to talk about the foot situation and felt horrible and was super apologetic. She was like "I ruined your trip, you guys spent so much money"... I couldn't believe that she was teary about it, she's not usually that person. After I assured her that it was OK and that we still were having a good time, she seemed to feel a little better. She had spoken with my nephew and they talked most of the time we were there which was good.
BACK TO THE SNACKS
Per usual, the night blossom hit the spot and Easton had so much fun with the boba balls; little kids are so easily entertained.
The Lumpia roll though, was a hard pass to the left. I was so disappointed because I wanted to love it so much. The consistency of the filling just didn't sit right with me.
After our snacks, we decided to head out of Pandora. It was so hard to pass up on a ride on FOP though. The wait time was around 30 minutes. We didn't have time for rider swap but to be honest neither of us really wanted to ride it alone.

Next up, Asia.

So I can pass up a ride on FoP but Everest not so much! With a 5 minute wait, no doubt I was riding. While in line I got a bit of comic relief watching this woman trying to cut in line. She kept trying to imply that she didn't speak English so when everyone kept telling her no, you need to go to the end, she would move onto cutting another family. Eventually one family let her and her daughter get in front and then the other 6 family members came out of nowhere and hopped in line with her. It was bizarre to say the least.

It was after Everest that we decided to head out. I was so bummed but we were gone about 2 hours and I wanted to get back to Bryan.
We checked in to see how he was and was fine and enjoying the rest.
While we were waiting for the bus, we spotted this sweet WandaVision wrapped bus. I think the last episode was airing that week so I was excited to see one.

As we were heading back to PoP, we were put in such an uncomfortable situation. The family in front of us had 2 younger girls. The oldest was about 3 and the baby was about a year tops. Of course when they took the sleeping baby out of the stroller she was upset so with that comes crying..to be expected. Well I guess the mother probably being hot, tired and emabarresed started spanking her pretty bad. I mean if you want to spank your kids go for it, but it was really uncomfortable because she was a baby and it wasn't her fault. They were seated directly across from us so of course Easton was staring HARD, lol...I just couldn't wait to get off that bus.

Once we got back to the room, Bryan was alive and well and we weren't put in jail for child endangerment

We only had a short break because we had 8pm dinner reservations at The Boathouse and I wanted to get there a little early. I've heard about the capacity horror stories that occur on Friday and Saturday nights and wanted to avoid that at all costs. We ended up driving because it was quicker and to be honest we just prefer to drive to the springs. Once we got inside, the first mission was to get a wheelchair because it was MUCH needed.
The woman at the Sundries was such a character, she was a talker who cracked me up.
The party in front of me was a group of teenage boys and one was on crutches. She was all in his business as to how he got hurt, I remember laughing to myself. I did appreciate how she looked out for them though. Apparently you need your receipt to get the deposit refunded. She must have told them 3 times, don't lose the receipt, and she recommended that they at least take a picture of it. Good to know.
When it was my turn she asked me where I was from and told me that I spoke very proper, lol. I mean, how am I supposed to speak??
I will say that this isn't the first or second time that I've heard this coming from other black women and it always makes me pause for a second.

OMG, I had no idea that the deposit was $100!!! I mean it makes sense but SHEESH

The chair rental was only 12 bucks so you better believe that I took 3 good pictures of that receipt.

Riding along in style with that bucket hat

Up next, end of day 3

gobstoper27 · Jun 10, 2021

MickeyCB said:
and

Lol!! You have no idea. I feel like you're not at Disney if you don't encounter at least 1 bunch of rotten apples.

Zipadeelady · Jun 11, 2021

gobstoper27 said:
More Day 3
After lunch we decided to make our way up to the front of the park. We could have hung out a bit longer, but Bryan's feet needed a break. But first, The Emporium to find some Crocs. We had 2 choices, the loafers or the Classic clogs. I couldn't picture him wearing either, but by this point we were desperate for anything.
We opted for the loafers as my brother-in-law swears by them. We caught the Royal Princess Processional and sadly made our way to the bus.
Once we got to the room, we made the difficult decision to leave Bryan there so he could rest. I was super nervous that we'd get put in Disney jail for having a minor in the room alone. He stated he was fine to stay and really didn't feel up to going to AK. I made sure that he had his snacks and strict instructions not to open the door. And with that, the 3 of us were off for a quick trip to Animal Kingdom.
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We got in shortly after 2pm and the park had a 5pm close this day. Since we didn't have much time, this trip was a lot more chill than what we were used to. We first noticed the crowds, or lack there of. It was amazing; I cant remember ever seeing hardly anyone inside AK.
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Our first stop was over to Africa to check out the Safari which is always a must do for us. Africa is by far my favorite section in AK. The details are just so rich and authentic; I notice new details every single time.
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The Safari was a walk on which was great but we were less than thrilled with the not so pleasant party seated behind us.
They were so obnoxious (not really the word I wanted to use though.) They were loud, the kids were bad as hell, they kept getting told to pull their masks on and blared their trash box music from their phones. Plus, one of the smaller kids took a dump and the heat didn't help with the smell. Put other than that, the Safari was delightful (minus the plastic dividers which made me feel claustrophobic.)
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This ostrich strutting away was everything for me
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At one point the road was "closed" for about 10 minutes due to a rhino blocking the road; but we had the children of the corn behind us to keep us "entertained" lol.

After we made our exit, we wandered around Africa a little bit more.
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Our next stop was Pandora, we were on a mission for our favorite treat for a warm day
On our walk over to Pandora, we had our own private boat parade. There was nobody around so Easton got all of Rafikis' and Timons' attention.
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Up next more AK..

Children of the Corn :hilarious:

Trip Report Met my #GOALS, but I need do-over trip report!!

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