Trip Report Triskaidekaphobic Trip Report (live)

Hello All! Well, here it is our 13th trip report. I really have no actual fear of the number 13. In fact, I'm pretty certain that my 13th actual trip to the World was the first with my now 13 year old daughter, so 13 is sounding pretty good. And, we're hoping that this trip is pretty good as well.

For those who have not travelled along with us the past 12 times, we are a crew of 3 who all have a fairly unhealthy Disney obsession. Here we are on one of our few non-Disney related vacations:

My wife and I are both high school teachers (she teaches English and drama and I teach instrumental music), who happen to be at rival high schools in the same district and our daughter will be starting high school at another rival in the same district this fall. If you look through some of our past trip reports, you will find we have had quite a few amazing experiences at WDW and certainly more than a couple less than amazing experiences as well. This is also the first time in over a decade that we have been away from the World for over 12 months. It's been quite a long 16 months!

Once we get to Florida, I will try to put up a daily blog post with details of the day and some pictures. But that is still a week away. Up next...the Pre-Trip portion of the report which means (of course) far too much planning.

 

[brifraz]

I know, I know...this is as un-live as I can get at this point. It's been over a week since we left the world and a very busy week for me working at the music camp meant that when I got home each night, I just didn't have the energy to get the final notes posted. But, now it's Saturday and I got a full night's sleep and it's still about 20 minutes before I can start mowing the lawn (I feel really guilty about starting up the mower before 9am).

So, our last day started with getting packed up and the car loaded. Once the car was full and the room charges paid, we caught the boat to Magic Kingdom. Didn't make it for 9am rope drop, but pretty close to it. Once inside, we headed straight to Big Thunder Mountain which was listing a 5 minute wait. And the app didn't lie. We were on the wildest ride in the wilderness in just a few minutes and after the ride we still managed to catch the 9:20am Muppets history lesson. Sadly, this was our first time seeing the Muppet show in Liberty Square because IT WAS AWESOME. I'm a huge Muppet fan and find their irreverent sense of humor to be just about the perfect antidote for our far too serious culture. It was a great show and next visit will definitely be in the plans more than once.

Our FP+ for Haunted Mansion was for first thing in the morning so we headed there next and @MeffysMom enjoyed her last ride for this visit on her personal favorite! Now adorned with a couple hitchhiking ghosts, we headed to It's A Small World (did we want to ride again or was it just a way to get rid of those ghosts??). Heading across the path, it was time for our second FP+ for Peter Pan. Another family favorite. And we finished our tour of Western Fantasyland by watching Philharmagic. After the show, it was just about 11am which meant time for our third FP+ of the morning and Seven Dwarves Mine Train. Really enjoy this well done ride - and a roller coaster that is definitely my speed! Having completed our last FP+, we went online and scored another one for Pirates just a little later - still before noon. We grabbed a quick snack at Pinocchio's Haus and then made our way to Adventureland for the final ride of the visit. But...sadly, it was down with no sign of being up again. Sad not to ride it one last time with the wench auction scene, but glad to have a free FP+. So across the park we went for a last ride on Space Mountain. Unable to have the last ride be without me, I joined in for this time on Space. It was fun to do with the girls, but reminded me...I'm just not a big fan. At this point, it was time to say goodbye to Disneyworld so we caught the boat back to Wilderness Lodge and got in the car to drive off into the afternoon Florida sun.

Sadly, we made a mistake...we decided to head back to Universal for a couple last rides. Why not? How about Simpsons or Men in Black - they don't get too long of lines, right? Both over an hour. Single rider for Gringott's would be great, right? Oh. Single rider isn't running. Hogwarts Express it is! 20 minute wait and then over to Islands of Adventure. However, an hour later, when we actually got on the train our family discussion had turned to the lack of quality reporting of wait times (sign our front had also said 20 minutes) and the poor management of Express Pass. Since it isn't timed at all like FP+, you get situations like we were in. Rain outside had pushed many people into the main line and ALL the people with Express Pass chose to get inside also for the train ride (okay, maybe not all, but an exceptional number). But we did finally get on the train and by the time we got to Hogsmeade the rain was done and the girls did single rider for Hogwarts with only about a 15 minute wait.

We were very hot, tired, and hungry so we headed out of IOA and had our last supper at the Toothsome's again. It's just really good food! Since we were hitting the road, no chocolate beers or fancy cocktails this time, just a good and filling dinner. On the road at 5pm and fighting through Orlando traffic (not too bad). And finally back home in Maryland at about noon the next day.

All in all, a great trip to the World with LOTS of new experiences. It gets a bit tough after 20+ visits to find new things to try, but this trip was full of them and was great.