Trip Report What kid cries when they're stuck in Disney for an extra day? Oh wait... Mine.

Good Morning Everyone!

We're only about 3.5 months post trip, but I'm finally having a little time to myself to type this out. This is my first actual trip report, so bare with me!

Who?

This picture is from our trip in May 2018 for my daughter's 7th Birthday! This trip however we ditched the baby (Liam) with daddy and took a mommy (Kim)/daughter (Allyson) trip!

(Side note: My daughter struggled HORRIBLY after my son was born. She was an only child for 6.5 years and had a really hard time adjusting to baby brother getting so much of her attention - think having "accidents" constantly, acting out in school and at home, and starting to flat out ignore Liam. We actually had a meeting with her guidance counselor at school to try to get some help with these issues and after we talked to her she started to improve drastically. So at Christmas I surprised her with a big box full of Mickey Mouse balloons and told her we were taking this trip just us and I don't think I'd seen her so happy in MONTHS.)

When?
January 27 - February 2nd 3rd (Anyone that was in Orlando then will understand why there was a change)

Where?
Disney's Pop Century Resort!

Now onto the fun parts!

Sunday, January 27th:

Our flight out of PHL was leaving around 6:30pm so we left around 3pm to go to my ex's house so Allyson could spend time with daddy before we left and to, of course, leave Liam with him for the week. We left shortly after as it's about an hour ride to the airport.

Let me tell you, I've NEVER seen security at PHL as dead as it was. It's normally pretty fast, but there's always a line when I fly anywhere. Not the case this time. There was NO ONE. We literally just walked straight through the line and I think the entire process took MAYBE 5 minutes. We were off to a great start!

We stopped at Chickie's and Pete's for some crab fries and chicken strips and then found an empty area for Allyson to run around and climb on chairs without bothering anyone while we were waiting for our flight.

I somehow forgot to check in for our flight until we got to the airport, so we were among the last people to board, and by the time we did there were NO seats left together. Allyson INSTANTLY burst into tears.
Luckily the flight attendants on our SouthWest flight were quick to make an announcement asking if someone would be willing to switch seats and several people volunteered.

And we're off!

After an uneventful flight we landed in Orlando around 9:45pm. By the time we landed all of the gift shops were closed, much to Allyson's disappointment, so we headed straight for a bathroom and then the Magical Express!

We arrived to Pop a little after 10:30pm and headed straight for our room (we couldn't have been farther from the lobby if we'd tried, UGH) to get ready for tomorrow - Hollywood Studios!

 

[kimberlymautz]

Can't come to Epcot without visiting our favorite fish and shark friends! We also did Turtle Talk with Crush TWICE and Allyson got to ask him questions the second time and loved it.

After Spaceship Earth we headed for the gates! Temps dropped FAST and it was COLD.

 

[Rista1313]

Oh my gosh what a cutie she is... those dimples!

 

[DryerLintFan]

Monday, January 28th - Hollywood Studios!

Let me start off with a short backstory - this trip was Allyson's 3rd trip to WDW and yet she had NEVER been to Hollywood Studios! I made the mistake on her first trip of planning it for Wednesday however by then she and my niece were both exhausted so we ended up skipping it for a pool day. On our trip in May 2018 it was planned as our last park day however it rained the ENTIRE week and on our last day we had horrible rain and thunderstorms the entire time.

Therefore this trip I planned it as our first park so that I knew for a fact that we'd make it.

Onto the fun stuff!

We got to Hollywood Studios around 9am and it was COLD. You'll see that Allyson is wearing a long sleeve shirt and that I have on a cardigan - neither were enough. You'll see that we get smarter on Tuesday, but unfortunately we weren't on day 1.

View attachment 374351

We stopped for some photos and to check out some new ears (but didn't end up buying any this trip)
View attachment 374352
View attachment 374353
View attachment 374354
View attachment 374355
At this point Allyson was certain that she was getting new ears this trip, but later when I'd ask she'd say she liked the ones she already had and just wanted to wear those.

Now we headed to our first FastPass of our trip - Alien Swirling Saucers in Toy Story Land!
(But not before stopping for a bunch of pictures)
View attachment 374350
View attachment 374356
View attachment 374357

Allyson LOVED this ride, so much so that we ride it again later without a FastPass (but only a 20m wait). We were however bummed we didn't get to ride Slinky Dog Dash - but there was no way I was waiting 3+ hours.

Next we wandered Toy Story Land a bit, but it was getting SUPER crowded, so we decided to head out and go meet some of our favorite monsters, Sully and Mike!

While we made friends in line and were able to pass the time, we waited AT LEAST an hour. The only posted time is right outside the door and everyone was already lined up well into the museum, they don't even have anything listed in the MDE App. If they had we would have waited until later to meet them.

View attachment 374358
View attachment 374359

More to come after work, I'm being yelled at that I've got too many photos attached to continue!

I added this to a couple different areas of my touring plans on touringplans and they were all an hour or longer waits. Seems to be a really popular meet and greet.

 

[kimberlymautz]

I added this to a couple different areas of my touring plans on touringplans and they were all an hour or longer waits. Seems to be a really popular meet and greet.

UGH! I wish I'd known. We'd have still stopped to see them, but would have gotten there earlier or would have waited until later.

 

[kimberlymautz]

Day 4: Animal Kingdom!

So Animal Kingdom is Allyson's favorite park, with the exception of Everest, she won't go on it anymore. She went on it once in 2015 and is terrified to go back on it. I told her when we go September next year I won't give her a choice. Haha.

On the way into the park Allyson fell, so we were on a search for a band aid, but had to walk through some animals to get to the first aid station

She was so impressed with "the nurse's office" at Disney.

Then we were off for some face paint because last year while in Animal Kingdom she got her face painted so that meant this time she had to also.

And now we have to ruin our beautifully done lips with a delicious Mickey pretzel.

 

[kimberlymautz]

We're off to our safari!

UGH. Look at that cute little baby!!!

Then we, of course, had to go visit our favorites!

Then we grabbed some slushies and found a quiet place to sit. We looked up Disney jokes on my phone and Allyson was laughing hysterically! Be careful though if you ever Google "Disney Jokes" because not all of them are kid friendly.

Then we were off to explore some more!

 

[kimberlymautz]

We're going to see the new Lion King this weekend! Have you seen it yet?! If not, are you excited?!

Then we went to our Flights of Passage Fastpass (thank goodness we had it - wait time - In JANUARY - was OVER 4 HOURS!!!).
Allyson has decided that this is her FAVORITE ride in all of Animal Kingdom and was MAD that I wouldn't wait in line to be able to go on again. She's been reminding me every few weeks that I need to make sure we get a fastpass for it for our next trip... in September 2020.

After FoP we wandered around Pandora for a little. We did SOME exploring last year, but this year we didn't have my son to worry about and could look around more.

Then we walked back to the Tree of Life just in time to learn about some beautiful Parrots!!

 

[kimberlymautz]

Next we headed over to DinoLand USA because there were two friends that we were DYING to see...

And then we stopped to play a few games!
Allyson won two prizes!

After we were done playing some games we decided to head toward our dinner reservation at Tusker House!

(I'm still bummed we didn't see Doug and Russel this trip!)

I must have took pictures with the others on my phone because they aren't on my computer! Wahhh.

Anyway! I thought the food was good. There was a huge variety of food I'd never had before and some familiar favorites so I was rather happy, however Allyson wasn't a big fan. She basically ate chicken fingers and a couple rolls. It was definitely worth the try, but I doubt we'll be back until Allyson is older and will try more of the "weird" foods.

A quick picture in front of the Tree of Life and then back to the resort to get some of her homework done and get an early night sleep!

 

[kimberlymautz]

Day 5: Magic Kingdom (again!)

Our last park day is always the saddest, but we wanted to make the most of it.

The princess has arrived!

Breakfast with a view.
(We had "Brunch" reservations for later!)

First thing on our list...

A quick ride on the Carousel before brunch!

Then we went to brunch at Chef Mickey's!

A lot of people have said they don't like the brunch at Chef Mickey's, but we've enjoyed it both times we've gone! The food was good and the character interactions didn't feel rushed. I'm a huge fan of the salmon and Allyson loves the ice cream sundae station!

 

[kimberlymautz]

Then we were back at the Magic Kingdom to visit some of our favorite royals.

We also rode the Magic Carpets and took our first ride on Jungle Cruise! It was hysterical! I don't know how I've never been on it before, but it's definitely a new "must do!"

After a ride Under the Sea and visiting with the princess herself, we were off to dinner with our favorite Hundred Acre gang!

A few minutes after this, Tigger saw that I took my phone out to take a picture and ran over and pointed at my phone and then stood behind me and I got this...

HYSTERICAL!

I'm off to kickboxing class, but I'm kiddo free tonight so I'll be back tonight to FINISH UP. FINALLY! Haha.
Thanks for tagging along if you're still reading!

 

[kimberlymautz]

We took a quick spin on some tea cups,

then used one last FastPass to go on 7 Dwarfs (which I avoided until the very end of the trip because of my back. Luckily it didn't hurt anymore after the ride then it did before).

We even got to watch fireworks! Normally Allyson avoids them like the plague because she hates how loud they are, but she insisted on stopping to watch them since it was (supposed to be) our last night.

Okay, the second fireworks photo is a lot better then the first!

We quickly ran over to visit Cinderella before she turned into a pumpkin and then back to the resort we went.

Allyson obviously got a ton of her homework done...

 

[kimberlymautz]

Day 6: Time to go home.... or not.

We woke up Saturday prepared for a 6:00pm flight home. We packed our bags and brought them to the airline check in counter so that we didn't have to worry about them and then headed or our breakfast reservation at O'hana!

Allyson and I both LOVE O'hana! The character interactions are always great and so is the food.

Unfortunately our breakfast didn't turn out how we were hoping though.... (and it was NOT O'hana's fault)

About two minutes before Lilo came over I got a text stating that our flight home was canceled... Our server must have seen my face drop (I was already dying to get home to Liam and Allyson had been talking about how she wished he and her daddy had come with us almost all week) because he came right over and asked what was going on. I whispered what was going on and he got his manager. They were AMAZING. His manager came right over and called Pop to get us a room for another night at a crazy discounted rate and held it for us so that I could take time to call SouthWest and try to get us a new flight.
However Allyson overheard something about an extra night and immediately started crying because she wanted to go home, so I had to explain that our flight was canceled and as soon as breakfast was over we'd go outside and I'd call to have our flight rescheduled.

UGH. My heart breaks just looking at these photos again. She calmed down very briefly when Lilo came over, then got a little sad when Mickey came over, and by Stitch she was back in tears, which he was wiping away which made her feel a bit better.

After we left breakfast we went and sat behind the pool area so that I could call SouthWest. Allyson was back in tears asking why our flight was canceled which I found out while on the phone with SouthWest when I text my ex to tell him our flight was canceled (https://www.nbcnews.com/video/delay...officer-falls-from-balcony-dies-1436460611889). While on hold the most amazing cast member, Uma, came over and asked what was going on. I gave him a quick run down and he immediately offered to help. He brought Allyson and I over to their pool area so we could sit on their comfortable lounge chairs and hung out with her while I was on the phone. He brought her snacks and a soda while she told him about our breakfast. He asked if she liked Stitch and she said that she loved him and he said he'd be right back. About 5 minutes later he showed up with this:

After being able to secure a flight home for Sunday (which was almost impossible - we almost had to wait until Monday!), Uma asked Allyson what we were going to do now that we were there for one more day and offered to cover us to go to another park for the day with a "couple of special FastPasses", but Allyson turned him down because she wanted to swim.
DUDE!!! Bright side though, he asked if we'd be his "honored guests" and stay at the Poly for the day and swim in their pool which Allyson happily accepted. She loved swimming in their pool and going down the water slide. Not wanting to outstay our welcome, we hung out for about an hour and Allyson went to give Stitch back to Uma and he said that he was her gift to remember him by - his only request was that she come back and visit him with Stitch next time we're in Disney. Absolutely amazing!

We thanked him again and headed back to Pop to check back in and take a nap. We went to the pool at Pop for a little and then went to Disney Springs where I let Allyson get a small Lego set.

Sunday we finally got to board our bus to go home, we had a layover in Atlanta and didn't get home until about 1am, but it was worth it!

Overall we had an amazing trip, even though looking back I feel like we missed a lot. It was definitely busier then I thought it was going to be (and a few other people commented on that as well) but I know we did what Allyson wanted to do and that was exactly the purpose of this trip. Allyson knew without any doubt that she was my priority this week and everything (within reason) was about her. We've already made a list of "must dos" for our trip in September 2020 so that we don't miss out on certain things (we didn't get to go on the Na'vi River Journey or Slinky Dog and she was sad that we missed out on The Haunted Mansion).

Sorry that this took me WAY too long to finish! Thanks for following along! I can't wait to get back into everyone else's trip reports to live vicariously through everyone else until next year!

 

[DryerLintFan]

What a great trip

I'm going down in September just me and my daughter, so it was fun to read a mommy daughter trip report. Thank you for sharing!!

 

[NessNewt]

Those cast members really stepped up for you both - thank you for sharing that. I hope you get to visit Uma during your 2020 trip!

 

[Darstarr]

Thank you for this.
I love the Poly CM’s!!

 

[BuckyMom]

Great report. Your daughter is a doll (her hair!). CM's were awesome. So happy they helped make a tough situation better.
On a side note, I loved seeing leggings and tennis shoes on her under her lovely Princess Belle dress. I see way too many kids trying to walk the parks in the costume shoes (including one little girl this past trip in tears with open sores on her feet). The dresses are lovely, but wish more parents would think of proper (weather appropriate) clothing under and walking shoes.

 

[Swissmiss]

Great report. Your daughter is a doll (her hair!). CM's were awesome. So happy they helped make a tough situation better.
On a side note, I loved seeing leggings and tennis shoes on her under her lovely Princess Belle dress. I see way too many kids trying to walk the parks in the costume shoes (including one little girl this past trip in tears with open sores on her feet). The dresses are lovely, but wish more parents would think of proper (weather appropriate) clothing under and walking shoes.

My DD (who will be 14 in a month) made numerous comments like that today in DLP. It was warm (bearable, but warm) and she kept commenting on the young girls in their princess dresses and how they should be in cooler clothes for touring the parks.

 

[smile]

hope allyson remembers crying she couldn't leave next time she cries to go back lol; valuable lesson tho
regardless, stellar move, ma - looks like she had a ball... hope it helped a bit and she's doing just great!

awww... wwwesome trip!
- and bravo, uma!!


thanks for sharing

 

[BuckyMom]

My DD (who will be 14 in a month) made numerous comments like that today in DLP. It was warm (bearable, but warm) and she kept commenting on the young girls in their princess dresses and how they should be in cooler clothes for touring the parks.

Agree. I wanted to hug that kid and carry her to first aid. It brought tears to my eyes. I'm sure she wanted her pretty shoes on, but there's a point when the parent needs to be a parent.

 

[DryerLintFan]

My DD (who will be 14 in a month) made numerous comments like that today in DLP. It was warm (bearable, but warm) and she kept commenting on the young girls in their princess dresses and how they should be in cooler clothes for touring the parks.

Agree. I wanted to hug that kid and carry her to first aid. It brought tears to my eyes. I'm sure she wanted her pretty shoes on, but there's a point when the parent needs to be a parent.

They make a lot of dresses that are pretty okay in the heat now. Some of the ones you get off Amazon are even fancier than the Disney ones but just breathe better. But the shoes.... My daughter wears high heels a lot at home. Shell run in them and play soccer in them and she just really loves them. But at Disney we have rules. You can pick a pair of heels/princess shoes Mommy to carry that you can put in in line to meet princesses, but the rest of the day you're wearing real shoes.

Is amazing how little she cares about her shoes when her options are wear real shoes and meet princesses and go on rides eat popcorn, or wear high heels and stay at the hotel. I feel so bad for the little girls in those awful hard plastic shoes in the park.