Trip Report The Many Adventures of the Figaro Family in Florida

We are back! It's going to take me a little bit of time to organize the photos and my thoughts but I thought I'd at least get this trip report started. For anyone who wants to get to know us, you can read my pre-trip report "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place (and I can't wait to get to mine!)"
Quick re-rundown of the family: Me (Jo), my husband James, daughter Maddie (13), son Xander (10).
This was the longest vacation our family of four has ever taken together. Ten nights total in three different hotel rooms. It was a lot of togetherness but I think we all handled it pretty well, aside from various late night awakenings from loud snoring(James and Xander) and my daughter Maddie's sleep talking. I'm sure she does this at home too, but we don't hear her in her room. Every night on every vacation we've been on she'll sit up suddenly and start angrily lecturing about something while wildly gesturing. She never remembers it the next day and I'm left curious what she was dreaming about. No one complained about anything I did, so I assume I slept like an angel that does not snore or talk in her sleep.
I'll begin with the very end of the trip while it is still fresh in my mind then go back to the beginning when I get the photos organized.
The trip ended last night with a bit of good news then bad news. Good news was our flight got us home to Portland a full hour early!!!! It was a combo of being able to take off 15 minutes ahead of schedule and winds of some kind that shaved of the other 45 minutes. We were supposed to get home at 7:30pm pacific time but got in closer to 6:30. We were really excited because that meant we had a chance at picking up our three pets from boarding before the place closed at 9pm. We had thought we'd have to wait until this morning.
The first inkling of bad news came when we got our car from the long term lot and tried to pay the parking fee. James swiped his credit card but it got rejected. He tried again, rejected again. We try mine (same account), it gets rejected. "That's not good..." we say to each other. He pays with the bank card and we race home so we can drop of the luggage and James and Maddie can go to pick up the pets. I say "don't you think we should call the credit card company?" he says "I don't wan't to waste time with that, let's just get the pets home". They get to the boarding place and James tries to pay, the credit card gets rejected again. So there he is in the pet hotel calling the credit card company to find out what's going on. Apparently multiple fraudulent charges started showing up on our account while we were in the air and our cards got shut down. We use Disney Chase Visa and I do have to applaud them for catching this so quickly. James was able to get them to let our charge for the pet boarding go through before they fully shut down the account and we were able to identify all the charges that we did not make and don't have to worry about them. It didn't make for a nice relaxing homecoming at all! I have a bad feeling that it happened at the airport just before we boarded the plane. I went to one of those airport stands that sell snacks and picked up a few things for us to eat on the plane. I swiped the card instead of using the chip without thinking and even had a moment of unease about it at the time. I think it was an ideal place for someone to install one of those card skimmers.
This was truly the most drama filled moment of the entire trip. thought there were a few smaller ones that felt big at the time! I'll start at the beginning on my next post.
...stay tuned for part one: An extremely early morning drive to the airport.

 

[riverside]

We were really on the fence about going this time but Maddie was so enthusiastic about our "tradition" that I couldn't say no. I would definitely go back for breakfast again, it was such a different experience!

Maybe I should try breakfast since I’ve never had that there before. The problem comes is I really like the breakfast at Tusker House. Decisions, decisions....not enough time to do it all!

 

[riverside]

After that bit of fun (I don't think it take too much to amuse us) we headed on to Flights of Wonder. A goal for this day was to see this show and the Lion King show since we hadn't had time for either one on our last trip. We skipped Nemo this time around because that was the one we did get to see. It was really fun to watch but we wanted to try new things. Maddie wanted to sit down at the front which we did. I remember that this was one of the hottest weather moments of the day. We'd been sprinkled on a bit earlier but now the sun was beating down. I would have been happier sitting further back in the shade. Xander was a bit antsy and fussy right then so I was worried that James would have to take him out of the show early but he was able to hang on. Luckily his water bottle was full since he was really thirsty so that kept him busy.
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We really liked this show! The clueless tour guide in the audience bit was pretty corny but the show as a whole was fun. I had the phone in video mode when the giant owl was released to fly over us and it went directly over my head! It's talons are inches away from my phone in the video.

I love that show! You photos are amazing!!

 

[Figaro Family]

The timing of the show was perfect. We still had plenty of time left in our FP window to ride Dinosaur so we headed back that way.

Front row! None of us look very scared, more like "huh, that's interesting" The ride was fun but for some reason not as thrilling as I remembered. I was relieved that it didn't jostle my neck very much. Maddie and James decided that the similarities Indiana Jones at Disneyland made it come up short for them by comparison. I haven't been on that one myself since an ill advised decision to ride it back in 2012 gave me a bad muscle spasm.
Since we were so close to the Boneyard again we had to give Xander a second chance to play there. James stayed with him while Maddie and I went in search of refreshments and snacks. Maddie chose a root beer float at the Dinobite snack counter. I was holding out for something a little colder so we kept hunting and found frozen cokes at the Isle of Java. I called James and he said he wanted one too. Just as we were about to order I looked across the way and spotted the Discovery Trading company and remembered that it was one of the stores that carried the shirt I wanted. I decided to duck in there to check before my hands were full of drinks. They didn't have my size either but I ended up picking out a shirt just one size bigger since that was at least closer than the store from the night before. Maybe it will shrink! Then we went back and ordered the frozen cokes, we also got a lemonade for Xander and some cookies for everyone. When we got back to the playground Xander was ready to go so we all sat down for a bit to enjoy the treats.

A few more pictures of Xander having fun at his favorite place in Animal Kingdom.

 

[PirateTink]

I'm going to go on a short detour from the regularly scheduled trip report because I'm so happy that we are currently at the beach! Rockaway Beach at the Oregon coast to be specific. My parents bought two timeshare weeks at a little old place directly on the beach about 35 years ago so this is my home away from home. My sister and I were able to finish the legal process to split the weeks and become the legal owners of each recently. I'm so excited to share this place with James and the kids. We decided to do a quick weekend getaway and hit amazing weather for Fall at the northwest coast!
View attachment 232778 View attachment 232781 View attachment 232780 View attachment 232779 View attachment 232787 Fun in the sun and sand
View attachment 232785 View attachment 232784 Taking a walk with the cool "twin rocks" formation in the background.
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View attachment 232786 A shockingly fat squirrel we saw on our walk.
I'll be back to WDW trip reporting on Monday. Happy weekend everyone!

Love the fat squirrel and love the extra vacation/memory place!

 

[12in12]

Stroller squirrels are a common sight in London parks, I find them amusing as well.

 

[Figaro Family]

When we finished our snacks, we started walking toward Africa to catch a Lion King show. The closer we got to Pandora, the less Maddie could contain herself. If I didn't at least let her look in Pandora she was going to burst! I checked the time and we were good to take a quick 10 minute detour.

Yay... a planty thing that reminds me of "Little Shop of Horrors..."

Floaty mountains!
Maddie had many, many questions that we couldn't really answer. She was very excited and revved up for her ride on FoP later.

We moved on to line up for Lion King. I think we had about 20 minutes until the show would start. The sun had been beating down for quite awhile earlier but now the sky was getting darker with some suspicious clouds moving in. We covered the stroller just in case. When we got into the theater, we were seated in the Lion section! Maddie is still a huge Lion King fan and I was happy that she was excited to see the show. Xander was a bit antsy before it started but happily enjoyed the show as it got going.
About five minutes before the show was set to start an announcement was made for everyone to squeeze as far over in our rows as possible to fit in as many new people as they could. Apparently it had just started raining torrentially and they wanted to give people outside a way out of the rain. It was a good thing we'd covered the stroller. Our rain luck held for us once again! We'd made it into the building nice and dry and could enjoy the show while waiting out the rain.
I didn't take many pictures since I wanted to just enjoy the show but here are the few I did take.

Based on some other trip reports, I gather that you don't always get tumble monkeys in the show but I was happy to find that we got to see four in this one. The show was great! I was kind of expecting a mini version of the broadway show which we've been lucky enough to see twice when it's come through Portland. This was so completely its own thing that I found it refreshing and fun. The kids really liked it too and we got Xander to roar with the lion section.
Then the show ended and our last major potty emergency occurred. We'd really been trying to keep up on bathroom breaks for Xander but he'd been drinking crazy amounts of water from being so much more thirsty than usual in the heat. The second the show ended he announced "Do you need to go to the potty!!?" in his familiar emergency tone. We were trapped in our row as the large crowd of people who had been seated shortly before the show bottle necked at the exits and moved excruciatingly slowly. Xander started doing his best River dance imitation as he desperately tried to hold on. We finally started climbing down over the rows, cringing as a cast member voice came over the PA system and said "please don't climb over the rows!". I absolutely hate being a rule breaker but this was going to be a full on disaster if we couldn't get Xander out of there. James managed to squeeze between people with Xander, rudely cutting in line to get outside. He managed to get Xander to the nearest bathrooms just in time once again. We were three for three in the averted bathroom crisis incidents on this vacation! (we haven't been so lucky on other trips.)
The downpour had slowed to a mild drip by the time the show was done. I was really getting confident by this time with our magical ability to avoid getting soaked!
It was now time to go back to Pandora for our FoP FP. We were on the fence right up to the point of getting in line whether or not to have Xander ride it. I was worried about him getting upset about having his legs stuck in one place when he was on the ride vehicle. We were both also worried about getting motion sickness but this was our one opportunity to try out the new, most buzzed about ride so we agreed to go for it.

That guy was odd, why is he so nervous?
It was only 20 minutes from the time we got into the FP line until we were able to get on our ride/bike things. Xander cracked us up as he tried to figure out how to get on. He tried turning around with his back to the screen and scooching on like it was a chair. We finally got him situated the right way and managed to coach him on how to hold his legs in the right position while they were tightened in. He did not get upset! He was really intrigued by the whole thing and maybe enjoying the deep pressure too. Once the ride got going he even put on his glasses!
I have to admit this was a really great ride. I had no problems with motion sickness like I had on the castle ride in Harry Potter world. I think that has something to do with the banshee always moving "forward" and wind blowing in your face. It was the rocking side to side that got me in Hogwarts. James liked it too, Maddie was ecstatic, and Xander grinned the entire time so it was a big hit with the entire family. I had to grudgingly admit that Pandora wasn't so bad.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

I have to admit this was a really great ride. I had no problems with motion sickness like I had on the castle ride in Harry Potter world. I think that has something to do with the banshee always moving "forward" and wind blowing in your face. It was the rocking side to side that got me in Hogwarts. James liked it too, Maddie was ecstatic, and Xander grinned the entire time so it was a big hit with the entire family. I had to grudgingly admit that Pandora wasn't so bad.

My motion sickness really got the better of me on this ride. Toward the end all I could think was that I was going to vomit and they were going to have to close part of the ride down because of me. I do want to give it one more try in the future, though.

 

[fractal]

Looks like a great day in AK! So glad you avoided water from the sky and Xander toughing it out!

 

[Figaro Family]

My motion sickness really got the better of me on this ride. Toward the end all I could think was that I was going to vomit and they were going to have to close part of the ride down because of me. I do want to give it one more try in the future, though.

It's so hard to know what's going to hit you until you try it and then unfortunately it can ruin your day. I was so nervous about FoP then it went great for me, but I can hardly stand spinning in the teacups anymore. I'm fine on Star Tours too but that Harry Potter ride just about did me in!

 

[Figaro Family]

It was somewhere around 4:30 when we were done with FoP. Maddie desperately wanted to take a look at the Banshees in the gift shop. She'd been spotting them on shoulders throughout our trip and now that we had experienced the ultimate ride she just had to see them up close. I agreed that we could take a look but that didn't necessarily mean she was getting one.
Xander was worn out and starting to ask to go back to "hotel" so I knew that the only way to keep him at AK for much longer was to promise dinner. It was a little early for it but we were all hungry. I'd left this evening open with no ADR because I wasn't sure where we would end up being at dinner time. Maddie was already disappointed that we wouldn't be staying until after dark so she'd be missing out on Pandora all lit up at night. I came up with a compromise that was mostly satisfactory to everyone. We would eat an early dinner at the Satu'li Canteen! This way Maddie could at least see a little more of Pandora and have some extra time there and we'd have dinner out of the way. I remembered that they had mobile ordering available on the app so I started figuring that out while Maddie and I got in line to see the Banshees that were up for "adoption". The line was surprisingly short, I thought I'd have more time to work on our order while we were waiting so I ended up being distracted ordering dinner when it was Maddie's turn and didn't think to take any pictures. Of course Maddie really really wanted a banshee now. I asked the price and was like. "You've already picked out several things on this trip, I don't know..." I hedged. I decided to call James, who was hanging around outside the store with Xander, to let him have the deciding vote. I told him about the banshee and what the price was. "What do you think?" I asked, fully prepared to go with his decision "That's not very much" he says "Go ahead." This must have been easy going vacation James I was talking to. OK then, I told Maddie the good news and cautioned her that some of her future allowance would be going towards this. She was very excited!

So we went out of the store to meet up with James and Xander. James sees the bag in Maddie's hand, "What did you get?" he says "Uhhh, the banshee I just called you about?" I say.
"ooohh... I thought you were asking about buying the dinner, like you were worried it was too expensive." clearly we just had one of those "yes dear" moments where he is only half listening to me. "This is one of the least expensive meals of our whole trip, why would I be worried about it!" I said. "That's what I was trying to figure out!" he said. Arrggh. We actually shook it off quickly. It was pretty funny in the end, not at all worth arguing over. James and I were happy to see Maddie so excited over her Banshee since she is not very into toys these days.
The outdoor seating area for the canteen was pretty full so I was worried that the inside would be crowded and we'd have a hard time finding a table. That turned out not to be the case at all. The place was almost empty! We got our pre ordered food quickly and sat down in a large rounded booth. The food was really good.

The third one is mine, I enjoyed it way more than I'd expected to. The sauce I picked was so tasty but I can't remember what it is. I ordered cheese quesadillas for Xander and he launched into the expected routine of "Cheesecake Factory quesadilla!" Maddie could barely concentrate on her food she was so busy checking out her banshee.

That's some pure happiness.

and a little more happiness!

I have to say that Pandora exceeded my admittedly low expectations. I'm still not a giant fan but everything was done well there. It makes me very excited about Star Wars Land!

It was now time for us to leave AK. Maddie was still sad that we would miss out on the night time experience but Xander was very anxious for a break and AK is the hardest park to make a return trip to in the evening. It just wasn't in the cards for us this time, but I'll have to make a plan for it on our next trip to WDW. We headed to the front of the park, James requested a Minnie Van on his Lyft app and we were soon on our way back to Beach Club.

 

[Figaro Family]

By the time our Minnie Van brought us back to the Beach Club it was downpour raining. Since it was only sprinkling when we left AK and we were now indoors nice and dry I counted this another win in our crazy streak of weather luck. We went to our room to decompress and try to figure out what we were going to do the rest of the evening.

Uh-oh, Xander's Minion hopped beds while we were gone. The second after I took this picture Xander put him back where he belonged and chattered at him a little (I assume giving him a scolding).
We had say no to Xander's request to go swimming. The rain was now coming down in torrents and we could hear thunder rumbling. I was sure that this was finally the moment our luck had run out. The original plan was to walk over to HS to watch the Star Wars fireworks show (this was to make it up to Maddie somewhat for missing out on nighttime at AK). I was sure the show was going to be cancelled, we comforted ourselves that at least we'd done our walk around the World Showcase the night before because that would not have been pleasant on this evening. Xander settled in with his vacation toys, Maddie checked out her banshee some more and played on her 3DS. James and I started organizing the luggage because GASP we only had one more full day left before going home day!! We kept an eye on the windows while debating about whether we should just stay in the room the rest of the night or chance a walk to HS. After awhile it did seem like the rain was letting up. James visited the front desk in the lobby to see if they knew anything about shows being cancelled. They said each park usually waited until the last minute to make decisions on that and it was usually only for lightning. The show would go on if it was just raining. James and I decided we would go ahead and chance it. I looked on the app to see if there were any FP's left and got one for RnR! With how late it was now, we would only have time for the one ride and then the fireworks if they weren't cancelled. So we got ready and set out. As we neared the boat dock we saw that one was approaching. "Let's go on the boat and save our feet." I said

This is the pretty view from the dock.
We were all able to fit on the boat even with the folded up stroller. As the boat was heading toward HS the skies opened again and we could hear rain pounding on the roof of the boat! Another check in the good luck category, We would have been soaked walking toward HS if we hadn't caught this boat! Of course by the time we got off the boat, it was still raining (but not as badly) The kids and I threw on our ponchos and we waded through some puddles to get into HS.
The second we got into the park, Xander started begging for "Disney Jr." I checked but the last show of the day had been a few hours earlier. He kept begging and was sad about it the rest of the night. I was so surprised that the show made such a big impression on him this time. He's never asked for a second viewing any of the other times he's seen it. Unfortunately Disneyland has scrapped the puppet show format. I have no idea how he'll react to the new show there next summer.
When we had to keep saying no to the Disney Jr. show, he started asking for "Gear (deer?)" like he had the day before. He got extra sad when we had to say no to that too. Luckily the promise of a roller coaster perked him up a bit.

Ignore my terrified face, I was actually really happy. Kinda like what Maddie's face looks like. This time Xanders arms are correctly on the outside of the restraint. We got stuck for a few minutes at the end of the ride so by the time we got off, our picture wasn't up on the monitors anymore. Luckily it showed up in our account later on.
When we got done with RnR there was about 15 minutes left until fireworks start time. We headed to Hollywood blvd. I was worried we'd waited to long to get a decent view but when we got there we found a pretty good spot. The cast members were making sure there was an open walkway so we were able to grab a place just behind the line where the walkway was supposed to be.

We could see most of the front of the theater and weren't packed behind other people.

View behind us, I was trying to get a picture of the neon Pluto.

I took these selfies while we were waiting for the show to start. James was being a pain and made his pretend "I'm having fun!" face. Jokes on him though. Now I'm sharing it with all of you. I just noticed the girl behind James' shoulder with her tongue sticking out. It makes me wonder how many photos I'm in the background of on other peoples vacations. "Look at that giant red head making the ridiculous face!" is what I imagine would be said.
by the time the show started there was no rain at all! Luck holds again.

My photos didn't turn out great so I'll just put in these two. Was it the best Disney fire works show? Definitely not, but it was way more fun than just hanging out in the hotel room. It suffers from the poor sight lines even in a good spot like we had. If they want to use the theater for projections they should consider getting rid of the palm trees that obscure most of the building. Maddie enjoyed it and in the end we would have been drenched if we'd stayed at AK so it was a win overall.

 

[Figaro Family]

When the show was over people started crowding towards the exit. James was like "well I guess we'd better go." I convinced him that it would be OK if we hung back for awhile and reminded him that even though the park was officially closed, the stores stayed open for a bit so we might as well not get caught up in the crowd of people. We decided that everyone should have a treat to finish off the day so we went to the candy store. We were offered some free things they were trying to clear out including blue slushes. I turned that down because of the staining factor but I did accept a free mickey cake pop!

James wanted this candy covered apple, and ate the whole thing.
Xander got a giant cookie and to my surprise Maddie got a chocolate covered pineapple wedge. Not something this picky eater would have chosen. Maddie and I also got the other kind of slush they served there. I think it was apple, I do remember that it was really good.

Then it was time to leave HS. Surprisingly this is one of the moments James has brought up the most as a top favorite memory of our trip. Staying late while the park emptied out and getting our treats! It really is the simple things that make the biggest impression.
We ended up walking back because there was still a huge crowd waiting at the boat dock. We didn't get rained on! It was late by the time we got back to our room so getting Xander ready for bed was a top priority.

This was Maddie's top priority.
She is still perching her banshee on her shoulder to watch her Pokemon battles here at home!
We had been alternating who got the last shower each night and this night was my turn. This is what I found when I came out to go to bed.

awww...

That's it for Monday August 28, vacation day 9!
Only one more full day left and then going home day.

 

[Figaro Family]

Tuesday August 29, MNSSHP day!

We had used up our four day park hoppers and now the only way into MK was our MNSSHP tickets which meant we had to wait until 4 to enter the park. The original plan for the early part of the day was to go to Disney Springs. We had an ADR at T Rex for lunch. As we got closer to our last full day of vacation I started to rethink this plan. I remembered our last experience with the Halloween party. We'd gone ahead and used a park day to enter MK at 8am and stayed through to party start time with no break. We had a good time but Xander ended up begging to leave before the fireworks started so James left with him and the rest of us were exhausted and dragging.
This time around I wanted to make the party better for us by not getting worn out earlier in the day. I asked James and Maddie what they thought and they agreed that they didn't need to visit Disney Springs for their vacation to be complete. So a couple days earlier I canceled our ADR. I would have liked to visit DS but it turns out sometimes you just can't squeeze everything into even an 11 day vacation!
Instead we all blissfully slept in that morning until 9:30. When we finally got up and going, we took a leisurely walk to the Boardwalk Bakery for some breakfast treats.

I'm wearing my new shirt! And oh boy did I ever need that extra sleep. My eyes were so extra puffy that morning, I could barely make it look like they were open in these pictures

.Maddie brought along her Banshee.
A major bonus of staying at the hotel for the day is that we had lots of time now to hang out at the pool! We got ready and had our second family pool time of the vacation.

Maddie, James, and Xander went down the pool slide.

Then James and Xander went off to swim while Maddie and I discovered the joy of the lazy river.

I think we floated around that river for at least an hour. Very very lazy. The most fun part of the pool afternoon ended up being when we got ahold of a beach ball and played some family water volleyball over the string. Xander kept turning it into a game of keep away every time he got ahold of the ball. We ended up being really glad we stuck around Beach Club!

 

[Figaro Family]

After wrapping up our family swimming pool time we went back to the room to clean up. We were under some pressure now to finish organizing and re packing the luggage for our flight home the next day since we'd be out really late on this night and didn't want to leave it all for the morning. James and I got started while the kids hung out and relaxed.
I had James take one more picture of me in my new shirt while we were packing since I thought I looked more awake now.

Details of packing are very boring so I will skip to the point when...
It was time to get ready for the Halloween Party! We did that and then headed to the lobby to wait for our Minnie Van.

We took some pictures of each other all dressed up in our Star Wars family theme while we waited. I had used my rollers for just the second time on this trip and dressed as Darth Vader. Not because I particularly like Darth Vader but because it was a sundress style that I wouldn't sweat to death in. Maddie let me braid the sides of her hair (she hardly ever lets me fix it fancy these days). She chose an R2D2 dress because she loves the cute little droid. Xander's hair dried really weird after the pool and I didn't notice until we were in the lobby and it was too late to wet it down. So our little X wing pilot Luke Skywalker had crazy hair for the night. James was Chewbacca for (obvious?) reasons. He does do a pretty good Chewbacca impression.

Our Minnie Van arrived by 3:30 and we were waiting in line by 3:45 to get in for the party!

 

[Figaro Family]

Our entrance to the MNSSHP was a little more stressful than I would have liked. We had arrived at a really good time and there wasn't a very large crowd of people waiting in front of us so we got to one of the cast members handing out party wristbands quickly. Unfortunately we got an older gentleman who got really flustered when we explained that Xander wouldn't wear it because of sensory issues and could James wear it for him. We explained that we'd been allowed to do this at the last party we went to and every other place that requires wrist bands has been fine with it. The man tried to put it on Xander himself even after we told him Xander wouldn't go for it. Xander started yelling "NO!" and freaking out. Then the guy tries to put it on his ankle. Which Xander really was not going to let happen. Then he says "Maybe I can just attach it to the stroller handle." I stopped him and pointed out that we'd be leaving the stroller parked multiple times during the party and then wouldn't have a way to prove Xander could be there. If he'd just let Xander's dad wear the band for him, since he would be with Xander at all times there shouldn't be a problem. Instead of saying yes and letting us go, the guy made us stand to the side and claimed he was going to consult with someone about what to do. We stood to the side, kind of stunned, and watched him proceed to hand out bands to other families and not go find someone to consult with.

A lady with an angry look on her face walked up to us then and I was really worried she was going to chew us out for holding up the line. Instead she said "I don't know what that guy's problem is, but if your son has special needs, they need to be accommodated! I'd just forget about him and ask one of the other cast members!"
The very nice lady had a good point. I took her advice and went over to another cast member's line that was short and started to explain our situation. The nice lady actually followed me ready to give back up if needed! It wasn't necessary, the cast member glanced briefly at Xander, said "no problem", and handed me a wristband that James could put on for him. I thanked her and the nice lady profusely and we went on our way in.
The next difficult moment came when we found out that party goers were being directed around the side instead of down Main Street. At our last party we'd already been in the park at start time and just had to check in by Philharmagic to get our bands so I wasn't aware of this different entrance policy. It makes total sense and I'm not sure if knowing ahead of time would have helped anyway. Xander was already very worked up and upset over the guy trying to put the wristband on him so when we started going into the park the wrong way, he totally lost it. We decided that getting all the way in as quickly as possible then distracting him was our only option so we forged ahead.

Maddie was happy that we each got a bag of candy right away when we entered.

This is a first view of the castle that you don't normally get! Xander was still crying but James and I were pleased with where the entry path took us because it ended up being a shortcut to our late lunch/early dinner at this place!

Before we checked in we decided to all take bathroom breaks at the restroom nearby.
This is where the third and thankfully last difficult moment of the evening occurred. I was going to wash my hands and noticed that the floor was very slippery. Maddie came out of a stall and started toward the sinks, just as I began to warn her about the water on the floor she slipped and fell. It seemed like it happened in slow motion and I was reaching toward her to try to catch her and missing going "nooooo". She didn't just fall, she actually slid under the sinks. Like for a second she seemed to disappear! Time started at regular speed again as I found her under the sinks and started to help her up thinking her arm or leg was going to be broken and we'd be spending the rest of the night in an ER or something. Luckily she just had a bruise, but as she stood up she let out an unladylike curse word right in front of a group of other concerned women who had gathered around. We had to get this night back on track and soon!
Maddie was really embarrassed about the whole thing and I felt bad for her so I didn't harp too much on the bad language but warned her she needed to watch it. She perked up quickly (thank goodness) and the night continued as we checked in for our ADR with Xander still fussing a little about going into the park the wrong way.

 

[12in12]

Your family's outfits for the Halloween party were super cute! I am sorry the party was of to a rough start but glad you seem to take it in stride and continue to enjoy the magic.

 

[Figaro Family]

Your family's outfits for the Halloween party were super cute! I am sorry the party was of to a rough start but glad you seem to take it in stride and continue to enjoy the magic.

The rest of the evening was much more magical, thank goodness!

 

[Figaro Family]

The day that had been so fun and relaxing up until we got to MK had taken on a bit of an ominous tone with three not so great incidents in a row. I'm happy to report that our meal at the Plaza Inn turned out to be just what we needed to turn things around.
Xander had calmed down but was still making it known that we'd entered the park the "wrong way" and Maddie was still a little depressed about falling down in the bathroom. We realized that everyone was starving because we'd put off eating a bit too long so I gave Maddie the go ahead to order a mint oreo shake which perked her up. James and I ordered shakes too and the usual chocolate milk for Xander which is always the magical key to improving his mood. Just to ensure Xander's flip to a good mood, James broke out a quick game of tickle bug.

Then Xander was all "what bad mood?"

Xander's giggles were infectious and soon there were smiles all around.
Then the drinks arrived.

I can't remember what we all ate but I know we were stuffed by the end of the meal and were now ready to enjoy the rest of the night!

Before we left I couldn't resist a picture of my favorite light fixture in the park.

 

[Figaro Family]

The late afternoon parade was finishing up when we went outside so we stopped to watch then got some castle pictures in our costumes. Xander kept scrunching up his face so these are the best two we got.

 

[Figaro Family]

Wow, I've officially been working on this trip report for two months! Yesterday was the real Halloween and I'm in the middle of writing about our last night at the MNSSHP way back at the end of August. I have to say I've had this weird feeling of deja vu this past month, like didn't Halloween already happen?

Back to August 29,
I have to take a pause here to talk about the ultimate culmination of our good weather luck for the whole trip. The day I was most worried about weather wise was this day. Downpour rain or a big storm really could ruin the party and just over a week later parties were cancelled for Irma! I had been checking the weather forecast for this night obsessively during the previous ten days and starting out it did not look promising. It was supposed to be the absolute worst day of the entire trip. My expectations were lowered very far. I resigned myself to ponchos and ducking into buildings for shelter and maybe even not getting to see the fireworks. As the vacation went on and we had one mysterious bit of luck after another with the weather I started to wonder if the luck would hold for us one last time. Around Sunday the forecast for Tuesday started improving just a little and then got better and better but even on Monday there were some rain clouds in the hour by hour during the evening. By Tuesday morning however, those rain cloud predictions disappeared and there was nothing but sunshine ahead! And that is exactly how the day proceeded.

I had managed to get two FP's scheduled on this night before the official party start time of 7pm. The first was BTMR, we were already in our ride window after our family castle pictures so we went that way.

We saw that Splash was shut down as scheduled and counted ourselves lucky once again that we'd had a chance to ride it the previous Friday.
Our second FP was 7DMT. Our window for it would close at 6:35 and it was now a little after 5:30 so we decided to see if we could fit in some rides along our way to it. We hadn't had a chance to go to the Haunted Mansion yet so that was a priority. The wait time was really short and we got in quickly!

I caught Leota with her eyes open, very creepy!
Our next stop had to be Small World. There was no way Xander was going to let us pass by his favorite. So on we went for yet another voyage.

Maddie's absolute favorite story to tell from the vacation happened during this ride on Small World. She has told it multiple times and still can't believe that I missed it. I honestly didn't catch any of this, I must have been too wrapped up in enjoying how much Xander was loving the ride for the millionth time. Apparently there was a young boy sitting behind us with his mom who Maddie heard loudly proclaim as the boat started moving "OK, so, every time I guess a country right you have to give me a dollar!" the mom said "No, that's not happening." The kid just kept repeating "I get a dollar for every one!" The greatest amusement for Maddie was that the kid proceeded to guess every country wrong but with absolute confidence that he was earning himself dollar after dollar "That's Mexico! I get a dollar!" ( according to Maddie, this was when we were floating by Hawaii). She even started loudly whispering what the countries really were. "Here comes Japan..." she says that this was the only one he got right because just after she said it, he said "I know! that one is Japan! Another dollar!" Maddie also says that the mom kept saying in an exasperated voice "No, I never said I'd give you a dollar."
When we got off the ride, Maddie was almost doubled over giggling about the whole thing and I'm like "What's so funny?"
"You know, the kid behind us!" she says. I'm sorry I missed it, I think this incident has developed legendary status in Maddie's mind and she'll be telling it for years to come. I promised her I'd document it here in my report so promise kept.

After that we decided to go ahead and use our FP on the Mine Train.

Once again I look terribly pained, but I promise I was having fun.
I love Xander's expression in this picture though!