Trip Report New Years Wedding~Sister trip! *Completed*

I hope everyone has had a Disney-filled summer! It has been a while since I have posted on here but we have been pretty busy.
My kids were lucky enough to visit 5 amusement parks in the past 2 months! (I guess we could accomplish that in a few days in Orlando)
Here's what we have been up to:

Thomasland in Massachusetts

Sesame Place in Pennsylvania

Santa's Village in New Hampshire

Storyland in New Hampshire

Wonderland at the Jersey Shore
Between all of this we have been on countless trips to the beach, pool, splash park and at least 4 children's museums. Safe to say it's been a bit crazy for us.
Now that the kids are going back to school (and I am back at work :/), I am finally getting some time to plan my next Disney adventure. I will include the details so far in my next post and I look forward to everyone's input as I plan!

 

[ELeigh]

January 1 6:45am -Shades of Green
With the long travel day we had, a good nights sleep was much needed. I was worried we wouldn't feel up to the early plans I had made, but we had limited park time today and needed to make the most of it. Luckily we both woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go, and quickly got ready.
We took the short walk over to the Poly for breakfast. We had 7:30ADRs but we arrived a bit early. Kona Cafe was opening at 7:30 and there were other parties already lining up. As we waited we played around with Snapchat and remembered that it was now 2019!

I took some more pictures while we waited.

Once 7:30 hit, it was a bit of a mad dash to get to the hostess stand. There was a large family ahead of us who either didn't have an ADR or wanted to add people to their ADR which held up the process. Luckily being a party of 2 led to us being one of the first parties seated.

We checked out the menu however at this point we had already decided our exact order. Our "cousin" took longer to arrive than some of the tables surrounding us. When she did come to take drink orders I was quick to mention we were ready to order food as well.

It wasn't too long before we were met with this beautiful sight.
Mimosa Flight with Grapefruit, Pinneapple, and Liliko'i juices. All 3 were refreshing, the Liliko'i was the first to be finished.
Soon the main event arrived.

The tonga toast was perfectly done, a slight crunch of caramelized sugar with every bite and I enjoyed the contrast of flavors that strawberry compote offered. We devoured this quickly and then waited to settle our bill. And waited. And waited. Our "cousin" had disappeared. I looked around for the manager who had been making his rounds earlier but no luck. She finally reappeared but had two other tables waiting for service by the time she made our way back with our check she was at least ready to be quick. I had my card already out and she grabbed it right off the table. I would have been upset by the rudeness but I was just ready to go. I gave her the benefit of a doubt and still left a good tip because I sensed she was having a rough start to the new year.
We took a peak at Pluto on our way out.

We quickly made our way out in search of the path to the TTC. We ended up taking the long way down by the water trying to follow the map on MDE and somehow came through a CM area where there was a group gathered to start their shift. We were met with a decent sized crowd trying to board the monorails and I think H was impressed with my planning skills when they all peeled off to the Magic Kingdom line and we were one of a handful of groups in the Epcot queue. We discussed our plan of attack for park opening on our ride. This was my first time taking the monorail to Epcot and I enjoyed the loop around the park so that I could point out to H the attractions we were trying to hit.

We made our way through the entrance and found a spot in the leave a legacy area. The Jammitors went on shortly after, we were too far back to see them but we agreed we were happy with this spot showing up only a bit ahead of park opening.

 

[Megbutnotmegan]

I was at Kona that morning too!! Our reservation was a little bit later. Perfect breakfast to start 2019

 

[ELeigh]

I was at Kona that morning too!! Our reservation was a little bit later. Perfect breakfast to start 2019

Yes! It was our first time for breakfast there but I would definitely go back

 

[ELeigh]

January 1 9:00am-Epcot
I chose Epcot for this park day for two reasons 1) World showcase snacks and drinks, and 2) I had not previously experienced many of the "big" attractions. This post will be me wordy as I jot down our reactions to these new to us experiences.

We had a FP for Soarin' so our rope drop plan was to head for Test Track. H has no idea what Tesk Track was but she wanted to ride it. When we rounded the corner and the enterance came into view CM were blocking the path. One gentleman told us "Test Track will have a delayed opening today, we are not forming a line at this time, you can go check out Mission Space right next door". Not wanting to waste and park time we took him up on that offer.

As we walked over I explained to H that there were different colors for how rough it would be (the only thing I knew about the ride at this point) and said that I wanted to start with green to see how it was but that she could try the other side if she wanted to. She chose to stick with me and we walked right in. After we were given our mission instructions and paired with a father and his young daughter we boarded our "spacecraft". Overall we both thought it was a nice ride. I think it could use some freshening up as the "vehicle" itself comes across as very outdated but that doesn't take away from the fun. The simulation reminded me of the flight simulator that I tried when my father in law was teaching Navy pilots just a non-interactive version.

After Mission Space we tried Test Track again. They had formed a line which looked promising but the line was long. The single rider line had only a handful of people so we jumped on line to assess the situation. An announcement was made that they were not sure when the ride would open and they encouraged everyone to go enjoy the rest of the park. We decided to stay in line for 20 minutes to see if there would be any progress. The same message was relayed every five minutes or so but the line was growing rapidly. We decided to go in the opposite direction of the crowds and admit that we would probably not be riding Test Track.

Instead we made our way across the park so that I could figure out who Figment is. We walked right on to the ride and noted some of the details on the side as nostalgic for us. It was clear that this was not a popular destination compared to the crowds we just left at TT. The ride itself was something else, I would definitely describe it as Trippy. I think Figment is adorable and the message is cute and my kids would probably enjoy the ride.

We were focusing on rides we had not done before, but at this point we had some time so we visited Nemo. On H's first spin on this ride in May, a woman riding solo just ahead of her and my son was talking loudly on her Bluetooth in a foreign language and snapping pictures with flash the entire ride. H was really upset and tried to say something about how she was ruining the ride for the kids but the woman either didn't understand English or chose to ignore her.

This time around H was able to experience the ride as it was meant to be and it was much more enjoyable. Afterwards we still had time until our first FP was up so we took a stroll around to visit some friends.

We entered the Land pavilion to find the crowds again. Luckily we had fast passes for both attractions here. First up was Soarin'. The family behind us in line was on a guided tour and I heard their tour guide mention they might need to wait an extra few minutes for ideal seating but tried to be discreet about it. As we were not on a special tour were directed to the first section. I have read about Soarin' in plenty of TR and other WDW blogs and I knew what to expect but the moment we flew down and could smell the dirt that the elephants were kicking up Heather and I gave eachother a look of awe. The Eiffel Tower was bent from my view so that scene was less impressive but everything else was just awesome. I can't wait to take O on during our next trip.

We finished up the rides for the morning with a fast pass for another repeat from last trip. This was one of the kids favorites so I took plenty of pictures for them.

 

[DisSplash]

Following along on your report! I have to agree with your sister - you have some mad trip planning skills, as evidenced by how much you’ve been able to accomplish on 2 crazy busy and crowded Disney days!

I have never tried the Poly’s Tonga toast - that is definitely on my list for next time, as is Homecomin’, which I missed going to last August ... I swear that will be the first ADR I book next time!

We stay at SoG a lot - what did you think? They were in the process of replacing all of their lobby furniture when we were there in August. I thought it looked really nice!

 

[ELeigh]

Following along on your report! I have to agree with your sister - you have some mad trip planning skills, as evidenced by how much you’ve been able to accomplish on 2 crazy busy and crowded Disney days!

I have never tried the Poly’s Tonga toast - that is definitely on my list for next time, as is Homecomin’, which I missed going to last August ... I swear that will be the first ADR I book next time!

We stay at SoG a lot - what did you think? They were in the process of replacing all of their lobby furniture when we were there in August. I thought it looked really nice!

We both agreed that SOG was great for an adults trip. The amount of space room space compared to WDW properites and the proximity to the Poly were huge pluses. I will definitely be back (DH is a veteran so we can come in Sept or Jan as of now) when my kids are a bit older though. Right now they love the all stars/AoA so I am going to oblige them while I can .

 

[Spash007]

Yep, you sold me on having to get Tonga Toast. Crunchy caramelized sugar = When on bread,

 

[ELeigh]

January 1 11:05am Epcot World Showcase
After our visit to the Land pavilion, the world showcase was officially open and we took advantage straight away. We had worked off enough of our breakfast to try some food and drinks around the world.
We started in Canada so that we could stop at the refreshment port and grab some poutine (H took a picture but as a snap story that disappeared?). I am a huge poutine fan and have had the chance to try the "original" and some creative versions over a few trips to Montreal. We tried the traditional here and I found the cheese curds and gravy to be spot on. The fries were typical Disney shoestring fries and a bit thinner than poutine should be but overall it was tasty.

There were a couple of other families moving about the pavilion but we were able to enjoy "the falls" and finish up our snack.
In the U.K. a line was just forming at the Yorkshire Fish Shop. I hopped on while H grabbed us a spot. We were able to get the fish sans chips (since we had just had fries in the poutine) and it knocked 2 dollars off the price. At this point we also began asking for cups of ice water with our snacks as the price of water bottles in the parks and resorts was up to 3.50$!

H had selected a waterfront table. We enjoyed the fish with some malt vinegar and mayo it was crispy on the outside and the fish was nice and flakey inside. I would say it is probably the best fried fish I have ever had. I do like fish and chips but it's not something I crave so I probably wouldn't get this dish all of the time. H agreed.
We decided to explore the U.K. pavilion a bit and ran into Mary Poppins. I decided to get a picture to show the kids but when I did they didn't know who she was. I guess we need to add to our Disney DVD collection.

After the U.K. we found a fully erect Eiffel Tower in France and explored the Pavilion a bit. All of the pavilions were light on traffic and we got to see everything pretty quickly. I had wanted to try the brioche ice cream sandwich but wasn't quite in the mood for ice cream at the time. I did feel like a cold beverage though and we were disappointed to find that the kiosk that sells the wine slushees was not open until noon. It was not even 11:30 at this point and we had traveled 3 countries in less than 30 minutes.
In Morocco we were able to get a frozen drink that made up for the one we missed out on in France. We tried the Tangierine Daquari from the drink station in the Tangierine Cafe which was refreshing but nothing special.
We explored a bit in Morocco and took some pictures before heading on.

 

[ELeigh]

Yep, you sold me on having to get Tonga Toast. Crunchy caramelized sugar = When on bread,

Yes you have to try it at least once. I will be going back at some point I’m sure

 

[ELeigh]

January 1 11:50am-World Showcase
We continued our tour of the world in Japan. I was hoping to find a “squishy” toy (basically something you scrunch up and it gradually puffs out to its original form) for O. These are apparently popular in Japan and I saw a post on Instagram of someone who had bought some in the Japan pavilion at Epcot. We were unsuccessful in finding one but I did pick up a cute card that I used as a wedding card and then we caught a few minutes of the drum show before moving on.

We did a drive by of the American pavilion since H felt like it doesn’t count. We took one picture on our way through though.

In Italy we passed some people sipping on a drink that we immediately wanted to try. We found the kiosk selling it to learn that is was Prosecco with Limincello and berries. It was delicious and we watched this performer as we sipped ours. It was so relaxing to just enjoy the atmosphere. We lingered a bit and I contemplated some gelato but then thought of something better just ahead and kept moving.

In Germany we stopped to see the trains, something I haven’t done before. I will need to add this to our plans next time Z would love it. Then, with a few items from my must eat list abandoned behind me, I decided to fall back on an old favorite. Instead of my typical caramel popcorn I went for this lovely creation.

It doesn’t look like it in the picture but I did share. At this point we didn’t have much interest in China or Norway so we breezed through both, snapping a quick picture in each.

 

[ELeigh]

January 1 12:30pm-World Showcase Cont.
We had our eye on Mexico. We admired the Coco statues and made our way back for the most important ride of the trip. Z has asked us before we left to please take a video of the “Donald Duck Boat Ride” for him in case is changes to a Coco ride before he goes back (he watched a YouTube about this rumor and got worried). Our ride was fully captured by H, of course by the time I showed the videos to Z he had decided that the ride was closed because “Donald went to visit his kids” (I assume he means Huey Duey and Louie)

We completed our world tour with a margarita and some empanadas Choza de Margarita along with some “ice” water warm enough to boil tea. The empanadas here were crunchy and the filling was very rich and flavorful I would highly recommend them. We tried the margarita that was a mix of the three frozen flavors and it was very good but can’t hold a candle to the Flower and Garden Festival "RoseMargarita"(which better be back this year! Must have!).

As we wrapped up our snack we checked back on Test Track and it wasunfortunately closed again. It had appeared to be open from the app for a short window when we were in the land pavilion but with a 3 hour wait.

 

[Longers]

I’m late but following along.

I would love to go to Disney for NYE just for the fireworks as the crowds would put me off doing anything else.

But it looks like you did well and got loads done.
Loving the pictures

Looking forward to reading more.......

 

[ELeigh]

I’m late but following along.

I would love to go to Disney for NYE just for the fireworks as the crowds would put me off doing anything else.

But it looks like you did well and got loads done.
Loving the pictures

Looking forward to reading more.......

Thanks! NYE would not be my ideal time to go, but I think I learned from this trip though that even in the super crowded times Disney is still manageable if you know what you want to do and plan ahead.

 

[ELeigh]

January 1 12:55pm
Our day at Epcot was coming to a close as the wedding ceremony was scheduled for 4:00 and we needed time to get back to the hotel and freshen up.
We still had a few things to accomplish and we found ourselves rope-dropping the Epcot Visa Character Spot that was opening up at 1:00. We wanted to at least get one character photo done as we told the kids we would say hi from them and I wanted to make the most of photopass with my annual pass. We were the third group in the line outside the building and once they opened up we were meeting Minnie and Pluto in a matter of minutes.

On our way out I spied the popcorn cart with the gourmet flavors. I have been wanting to try this popcorn for the past 3 trips but it never seems to work out. I was too full to try it but I seriously considered buying some to eat after the wedding in our room but I was afraid it would go stale so we moved on.
We then decided to check out MouseGears, I had never been and everyone always talks about going in their trip reports. I wanted to bring home some small gifts for the kids (who already own over 100 Disney toys and I wish I was kidding). We came up with a Mickey Mouse head light up spinner and a Donald Duck bill that has a duck call sound effect. I will try to post a picture next time they emerge because I forgot to at the time.
Next on our drive by tour of Epcot was to get a PP picture with the ball in the background. We even got a magic shot with Chip and Dale who are my favorite Disney animal characters.

Next stop on our mission was Starbucks to try and fuel up for the wedding. Neither of us is a huge Starbucks fan but H ended up with a Starbucks gift card from her office Christmas party and brought it along for a caffeine fix. We drank our coffee quickly as we had one last fastpass to go through before ending our park day.

I will admit that on first Epcot trip I had no idea that there was a ride inside "the ball". Once I did start getting the idea that there was in my days of following WDW blogs I somehow thought Living with the Land was in there. Now that I have been on these boards I have read snippets about Spaceship Earth in other TR so I had an idea what to expectations just overall curious. The fastpass line was incredibly long and we were short on time so we set a limit on how long we could afford to wait we managed to make it onto the ride just short of that limit. Standby was 75 minutes and with the fastpass we still waited at least 15. Our expectations were pretty high. We got onto the ride and I was just plain confused. I really didn't think the story flowed very well and it seemed so disjointed a concept. Maybe it was just me because I know people do love it. It probably didn't help that I apparently didn't make it in the future (or maybe I changed races and genders somehow).

And with that we ended our Epcot day. We made it back to SOG with a little over an hour to get ready. Our rooms were very close to the ceremony space so we didn't need to long to make it over there and we made it with time to spare.
As the wedding progressed we discussed coming back for TT for EMH after the wedding, but when we checked the MDE app at around 8pm it was still closed and we both agreed our feet were done for the day. H ended up leaving the reception early to go back to the room and rest, I stuck it out until the end and somehow managed to dance for a few minutes on my aching feet. After everything wrapped up I headed back to the room and began to pack up then tried to get as much sleep as possible before an early day the next day for AK EMH.

 

[ELeigh]

January 2 6:45am Shades of Green
Our Animal Kingdom day began bright and early with a 6:45am alarm. At this time I realized that my phone had not charged overnight. Also earlier in the trip I realized that my portable charger had bit the dust-most likely from being soaked in my bag in the monsoons during our May trip. This meant I was unable to take pictures for the whole day. H stepped in to take some but this post will be text heavy unfortunately.
We were ready to check out of SOG by 7:15. H sat with the bags while I handled the paperwork and then we were directed to the bell hop area to drop off our bags for the day. That process was a bit slow moving and put us behind by a little but it was worth it to not have to lug our bags with us.
We made the walk over to the Poly and promised ourselves coffee after EMH hours to motivate us to keep moving. We found the bus stop at the Poly after getting slightly lost and we were greeted with an AK bus in the process of loading. We hopped on without issue and we were on our way.
I used the last of my phone battery to check MDE and re-formulate our plan. We had a FP for Everest but I was originally thinking if we arrived before EMH we would rope drop Navi River Journey. Since we were coming in midway through the hour I decided on hitting up dinoland first and texted H my plan (she was on the other side of the bus).
Upon arriving we managed to scope out a shorted security line and then had to weave around the non-EMH guests to get past the ropes. We headed to Dinoland, stopping for a quick PP along the way.

Dinosaur was our first stop and we walked right on. I found it to be slightly terrifying but I do have an irrational fear of fake dinosaurs. H and I agreed that the kids would have enjoyed it. We skipped the Dino spinner ride but my kids would probably have enjoyed that as well.

Primeval whirl was up next and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We were paired with a single rider who was a 9 year old boy and he laughed the whole way while H and I hung on for dear life. I think it’s safe to say that one is a one and done for me.

 

[ELeigh]

January 2 8:50AM
After leaving Primeval Whirl we still had some time before our Everest FP so we decided to get some coffee and a snack. We went for a coffee spiked with liquor and a Mickey colossal cinnamon roll. The coffee was really off we thought it was burnt or something but the cinnamon roll was delicious.

We decided to take a stroll through Gorilla Falls. H didn't send me these pictures but at one point there were 4 gorillas all together which they said was special. She did send me pictures that we took of some fish though.

After that we headed to our first FP. We had never ridden on Everest before and we were both excited to try it. We both loved it and would have considered riding again but waits were already well over an hour. I just don't get the hair ties though, is this the work of the same people who eat tide pods? Here is the PP that came up from our ride, can you spot us? Me neither....

We decided to check out some animals but ended up finding Kali River Rappids with a 5 minute wait (it had a delayed opening and had just opened). It was comfortably warm and very foggy so we weren't sweating by any means. We were both apprehensive about getting soaked but decided to take the opportunity to check it out. We walked right to the front of the queue and during a brief pause decided to take off our socks just in case :/ (felt pretty gross but only had my shoes off for a split second each and did a flamingo pose as not to touch the ground with bare feet). We were both nervous about getting soaked so we were relieved when a couple of college age kids exiting offered us each their one time use ponchos. The ponchos were a little wet on the inside after being used but they kept up from getting too drenched.
On the ride we were seated with two different Australian groups who did not know each other. We had noticed a few other Australian families throughout the morning and thought it was strange but afterwards I remembered and mentioned to H that it's summer in Australia so maybe the kids are all out of school?
I felt less bad about taking off my socks in line when one of the gentleman riding with us took his shoes off and went barefoot the entire ride. We found the ride to be a lot of fun and I know Z will love it when he gets a chance to go on. It looks like it's closed for refurb now but should be open when we visit in May

After we exited the ride we saw that the safari wait was 120minutes and we did not have a FP so we decided to skip it for this trip. Instead we visited the Tigers and had some PP taken.

We did not get good instructions as to what our emotions should be here.

We sat on a bench in Asia for a bit to rest our feet after this. We were hoping that Mr. Kamals would be opening soon because the sign for the seasoned fries there made us really want to try them (my phone was really low on battery so I couldn't check MDE but looking back H could have probably checked). Unfortunately when we made our way back it was closed :/. We walked towards our next FP keeping our eye out for any promising snack leads but came up empty.
We ended up sitting near the bar just outside of Tusker House. They had an ice water station set up and we took the opportunity to hydrate. I considered getting a Mickey Pretzel from a nearby stand by the lines were crazy. AK could really stand to open some of the other QS/snack locations earlier on days like this as there was obviously demand.
Our last stop of the morning was Festival of the Lion King. We had FP just in case and it was a full house with a lot of standbys turned away so we were glad to have them. Our AK plans were rained out in May so H hadn't gotten a chance to see the show and I knew she would enjoy it. I was disappointed in the two female singers they were not as strong as others I have watched and it wasn't as powerful a show without the strong vocals.
As we exited the show the park was swarming with people and the sun had come out, we were glad to be leaving the madness for a while. We did manage another selfie on the way out.

 

[ELeigh]

January 2, 11:30am-Animal Kingdom
The crowds were continuing to pour in to AK as we exited. It was a short walk to the Animal Kingdom Lodge stop and a bus was there to wisk us away in no time. We arrived and were both immediately in awe at the details at AKL.
We plenty of time to spare until our little much reservation but made our way down to Sanaa. We were able to request a window table but we were told it would probably be about 45 minutes. We were not in a rush and wanted the full experience so we waited. We were able to explore the resort while we waited. We helped ourselves to some cucumber water from the lobby and took it out to one of the viewing areas. As we sat in the large rocking chairs scoping out animals, we decided we would definitely be staying here on H’s next Disney trip. AKL has definitely trumped the Polynesian for the number one spot on my Disney Resort wish list and H wholeheartedly agreed. We took time to scope out all of the restaurants in Kidani Village as well as the outdoor viewing area before receiving a message that our table was ready.
When we sat down a wildebeast was wandering around and we were floored with the view. We were almost giddy with excitement when a giraffe came out to say hello.
Our sever promptly took our order, for drinks H got the “Painted Lemur-
Amarula Fruit Cream Liqueur and Van der Hum Tangerine Liqueur from South Africa combined in a Chocolate-striped glass inspired by the distinctive striped tail of the Madagascar Lemur" and I got the “Kande Coconut Cooler-A refreshing combination of Starr African Rum, Coconut, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Orange Juice" and we also started with the bread service.

Both drinks were very good and even though the coconut cooler was on my must try list I actually enjoyed the painted lemur more. As for the bread service I enjoyed all of the breads and the spreads, although there were a few that were a little too spicy for me to have very much of. My favorite was the tomato date jam and H's was the Red Chile Sambal.
We could have made a meal of the bread service alone but we also ordered the Tandoori chicken. It was good but not great, the flavors were really nice but the chicken was a little fatty/chewy. All in all, I would highly recommend Sanaa. The drinks, bread service and the view of course were top notch! The animal view table was well worth the wait
We finished our meal with plenty of time to spare until our last FP, so we decided to take the bus over to Jambo house and check that out as well. Once we were satisfied that we had seen everything that we could at AKL we said see you later and caught a bus back to the park.

 

[ELeigh]

January 2 2:15PM-Animal Kingdom
We arrived back at AK with a little time to spare. We first hit up Island Mercentile and picked out some adorable hats for the kids that will be a surprise for our next trip. I adore the simba hat and wanted to get that for Z when I saw another child wearing it earlier in the day.

Once we made our purchases we headed to our final destination for the trip.
We stopped for a PP on the way to the FOP line.

The line moved quickly and we were soon in the holding room with that awful video. I don’t understand the ums in that script. I tried to just enjoy the rest of the atmosphere instead. Soon we were paired with avatars and synced in. Once the motion began I put on my “flight visor” only to realize I couldn’t make it sit properly so it kept slipping. I am not sure what happened but it caused some distortions at the top of the screen that made me incredibly motion sick. The imagery was amazing but I had to look down at the floor several times. Despite feeling sick I did enjoy the ride but it will be a glue before try it again (the kids aren’t the all enough yet anyways).
We had one last stop to make before ending our park day, a last minute snack was added to my list.

The pinapple lumpia from Pongu Pongu was definitely snack list worthy. Pure cheesy, crunchy goodness and I can never say no to pineapple. The night blossom was also very refreshing although I quickly got a brain freeze and surrendered it to H.
With that it was time to head out of the park and make our way to the busses one last time. We picked up our luggage at SOG without issue and called an Uber to take us to our airport hotel. I wished later that’s night that I had bought some Disney snacks for the hotel room, but the airport hotel did the job and we were able to get a bright and early shuttle to the airport and made it home without issue.

 

[ELeigh]

Overall thoughts:
Shades of Green-This resort was perfect for this trip. It was very roomy and the monorail access via the Polynesian was ideal. The price was difficult to beat as even the all stars were more expensive for the New Year holiday. I would stay her again in the right situation and as of right now we are able to in January and September as a veteran family.
Kid free Disney-I definitely appreciated and enjoyed this opportunity to experience WDW kid free. It was nice to be able to prioritize for myself vs worrying about what they would like. I would do it again but probably not for a while. Right now while my kids are young I really enjoy the parks with them. Their reactions are the real magic for me.
Epcot Rides-Test Track has moved to the top of my list of must dos for my next trip as it's now the only Epcot ride I have not experienced. Out of all the Epcot rides, Soarin is my new favorite and Living with the Land is a solid second. In the future I would skip space ship earth and Figment.
Animal Kingdom Rides-Everest is probably my new favorite here, FoP is definitely amazing the motion sickness I got just knocks it down a peg for me. I will be skipping it until the kids are tall enough so I guess I will have to check out Navi River Journey next time.
Snacks:

I made pretty good work of my list, but I wasn't able to complete it. All of the unchecked boxes are going on my list for next time. My favorites had to be the pork nachos from Capt. Cookes and the Sanaa bread service. I enjoyed everything that I tried from the list and would repeat any of them.
Restaurants:
Frontera Cocina continues to be at the top of my DS list but I am hoping to branch out a bit more on our next trip as I have now dined there on 3/4 trips. If I can sneak in for a quick margarita though I totally will.
Homecomin was a solid choice and I did enjoy it, it's just not the kind of food I would typically crave so I was glad to try it but I won't be repeating anytime soon.
Kona Cafe-Service here was disappointing but the food was amazing, we enjoyed breakfast here much more than dinner and I would definitely like to come back on a future trip.
Sanaa-This was our best meal and I definitely plan to go back when we stay at AKL (hoping for September 2020). If I can sneak over for just the bread service on our next trip I totally will.

What's next:
I will be returning to WDW to finish out my AP year with a 3rd trip in May. We are doing a split stay between POP and AoA and our countdown is down to under 100 days! Beyond that the following Disney trip will probably be back to DLR to check out Star Wars Land if we can swing it.

Thank you to everyone who followed along and I hope to have you along for the next adventure!

 

[Swissmiss]

I’ve been following without having commented. I really enjoyed your TR and was amazed at how much the two of you were able to do over NYE while also having wedding activities to attend!