Trip Report "You're mean!" & "I'm scared!!" - The Theme of our 2018 Trip.

Well, we're back. Another Disney trip is in the books.
We just got back from Disney at 2am, and i'm getting this thing rolling now while it's all fresh in my mind.

Without further delay....

Thursday 9/6 - Departure Day
I had worked all day and left work promptly at 5pm. My mom had picked Harper up from Daycare, so all I needed to do was head home. The van was already packed and ready to go. Surprisingly after only 10- 15 minutes, we were buckling ourselves into the van and heading on our way right before 6pm!

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The drive was pretty uneventful. I had noticed pretty soon into the trip I was getting a pretty bad headache but I tried to ignore it. About 7:45-8pm, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner. Harper was having a blast walking around looking at all the stuff in the lobby. When they called "Lucabaugh, Party of 4!" Harper piped up and said "Where's the party at??" I had to laugh. I looked at her and said "We ARE the party!"

Service was SLOWWWWW tonight. I ended up just getting breakfast and some pumpkin coffee that they had on the menu. It was a pretty long stop, but Harper was pretty good while we were there. She wanted a few things in the gift shop but we assured her she'd get much cooler stuff in Disney. Thus started the "You're MEAN!!!" comments that continued pretty much hourly after that for the remainder of the trip. Ah, 4 year olds!

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We got back on the road and were headed to our hotel in Hillsville, VA. It was only moments after being in the car after dinner that I started to feel pretty bad. My stomach wasn't feeling awesome and I was instantly transformed into a nervous wreck. I have a bit of a phobia of being sick. Being sick on a very very long car ride towards vacation would be even worse. Quickly I had worked myself into a full panic. We had to stop before we even got on the interstate, and then again about 10 minutes later where things were REALLY bad. It was so odd. I don't get car sick, but it was like the minute we got on the road in the dark, I started to feel extremely sick. After the second pit stop, I asked if I could drive the rest of the way. After some tums, ginger ale, and driving, I started to come around a bit.

We ended up stopping at the Hampton somewhat late and got in the room around 1 am, I believe. I was still very iffy stomach wise, and just a mess. I didn't sleep a wink that first night because the coffee had kicked in and coupled with my anxiety, I just couldn't get my brain to turn off. Not helping was that Harper and I had to share a bed. Eventually at some point I drifted off and got a few hours of sleep.

Up next: Will I feel any better tomorrow for the 2nd leg of our trip??
 

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
9/9- Magic Kingdom – Cont’d
We were barely out of the castle and Harper was already talking about going to the carousel, so we headed there. It was only a few steps away. I really don’t like the scrim they put over it, but it wasn’t too much of an eyesore. Harper had a great time and I was happy about the slight breeze I was getting. It was HOT!


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Next up was our FP for Peter Pan. While in line I hear Harper say “I’m scared!!” What is she scared of now? Tick Tock the Alligator. How she remembers him is beyond me, but she does! “Harper, it’s okay! He won’t get you!” We had a nice flight, but she put her arm in mine when we came across tick tock.

After Peter Pan was Little Mermaid. Harper was sacred of Ursula! I mean, I get it, but I just had to explain to her that it was just a ride, and she wasn’t real!

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We got out of Little Mermaid and I really wanted to try to do something I’ve been trying to do the past few years! Meet Gaston!!! The wait was only another ten minutes or so, so I jumped in line. Harper of course wanted to meet him too, so we stood in the beating sun sweating until he sauntered over. I will say that Harper stole the show on this one. Gaston talked to Harper (more like insulted her playfully) for several minutes, and I got like 30 seconds. Oh well.

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He asked Harper why she was wearing an Elsa dress and “if she lost a bet?” and then went on to tell her that next time she should dress like Belle “because she’s actually pretty!” It was too funny and Harper just ate it all up. I actually ended up feeling super awkward talking to him and I look like a little kid in my photos. So glad that we got to do it. We laughed about it for the rest of the day.

I forgot to post the Cinderella Pictures so before I get too much further, I want to post them:

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ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
9/9 - MK Cont'd

I may have gotten this mixed up, but we got on Small World and I caught my name at the end!
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From Small World we went to Mickey's Philharmagic! I wasn't sure how Harper would do with this but she LOVED it! She would jump so high when the 3D images came towards her. While I have expected a "I'm scared!" right in the middle of the show she said "We gotta do that again!"

My step dad and I had a FP for Space and Harper wanted to get on the Peoplemover with my mom, so we headed through that way. I focused a lot on this trip on getting photos of the beautiful details.
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In line for Space I asked a CM If I could get the front row on Space and she let me have it! yay! Apparently, I still do not know where the cameras are...
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After space, we took another spin on the Peoplemover.

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Up Next: Will Harper actually ride 7DMT???
 

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
9/9 MK Cont’d

Before making our way over to 7DMT, the ride I was so anxious to see if Harper would ride, I stopped at a Joffrey’s stand for an iced pumpkin coffee while the rest of the party when to Auntie Gravities for some ice cream. The pumpkin coffee was not that good. While at Aunite’s, Harper managed to drop TWO cups of ice cream on the ground and I could see the sleepiness taking over but no! We still need to get to 7DMT! We had watched countless online POV videos of 7DMT so that Harper would be prepared, but everyone was pretty sure that she wouldn’t do it.

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We made our way through the line, and as it got darker inside, the “I’m scared!” started. I desperately wanted her to get on this with me, so I just kept telling her that she was fine, and it wasn’t scary. I was prepared to bail if absolutely necessary. We were next and one more “I’m scared!” came out, but she got in and we buckled in without a problem. Luckily the train took off very quickly and there wasn’t much time to sit and fret. She held my hand the entire ride, and never made a peep.
What do you think? What she scared?
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The ride ended and she was very quiet and then piped up with "That wasn't scary!!!!" :)

She really wanted to go to Dumbo after that and we ended up walking on 3 times in a row.

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After the 2nd time, I was done, so she convinced her Pappy to get on with her!

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From there, I told her we could check out the store in the big circus tent and she could get a toy for being so brave and riding mine train. However, after 20 minutes of being in there and still being empty handed, I told her it was time to go and to pick a toy. "YOU'RE MEAN!!!!" she yelled at me walking out of the store ahead of me. She didn't even try to pick anything else. haha.

From here we decided that we were done for the day. Being all the way at the back of the park, we decided to take the train to the front of the park. Harper and I enjoyed some left over muffins from breakfast while we waited for the train.

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Next: A relaxing afternoon/evening at SSR.
 
Travel Day 3 - Daytona Beach, FL - DISNEY!

As soon as Harper's eyes were open the next day, she wanted to go out on the balcony and see the beach. Admittedly, I was just as excited, so we quietly sneaked out. The view we were greeted with was stunning!
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We sat out there for a while and just watched the sun rise ! Harper really wanted to go down to the beach.

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Before we could go to the beach, we needed to eat. Today, I was hungry! I took advantage of the free meals in the Hampton and Harper also had a good variety of stuff to eat. I also think I drank like 3 cups of coffee this morning!
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After she ate, we got into bathing suits and headed down to the beach/splash pad area. We weren't in any rush to check out since we couldn't check in at SSR until 3 or 4 pm. Harper ran all around the splash pad just having a blast. It was warm, sunny, and I had that nice, calm peace washing over me that you can only get at the beginning of a long vacation! Nothing but fun ahead, and I was so happy!
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Harper and I swam in the pool there for about an hour before it was time to get changed and get on our way. We were stopped at a little diner on the way out that Mom had read had gluten free foods. I wasn't super hungry, but was pretty excited about some pancakes.
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I put on my new shirt that I was super excited to find at Target right before we left!
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The diner was right down the street, and it was little early so we went into one of those beachy Wings style stores to kill some time and then went over to the diner. We sat down and I started looking over the menu. There was nothing listed as gluten free on this menu, and the waitress smartly told us that they DO NOT sell anything gluten free. I opted out of a meal at that point and just got another cup of coffee while everyone ate.

Leaving Daytona beach we saw the Daytona Speedway. I had no idea it was so big!

Lots of rain and traffic once we were on I-4, just like always.

Once we started getting close, it was time to bust out the magic bands, but mine was HUGE and I had to make it child size to fit my wrist. In all this confusion, I didn't get any pictures of it in the car. Before we knew it, we were coming into Disney world THE BACK WAY and missed the giant sign, which I was oddly bummed about.

Next: Arriving at SSR, and LOTS of rain...
Love the picture of Harper sitting on the balcony enjoying the sunrise :inlove: Just joined in.. Enjoying it thus far
 

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
9/9 Evening..
I snapped this picture of Harper before leaving the park. She was still going. No nap yet. I wasn’t even sure how that was possible!
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Driving back on the bus was uneventful, except for the fact that there was a lady in her ECV that looked like she was about to vomit the entire bus ride. As I mentioned, I have a pretty bad vomit phobia and this lady was looking GREEN. She kept holding her breath, slowly breathing in and out, and was squeezing her boys hand. The longer we were on the bus, the worse she looked. It got to the point that I had to just turn my head and stare up at the front of the bus as to avoid what looked like was bound to happen. She got off at the first stop back at SSR, and I could relax a little bit.

We went up to the room and changed into bathing suits. I was ready to hit the pool! I can't remember, but I think Harper swam for a bit and then went back up to the room with Pap to take a nap. I got some swimming and relaxing done until it looked like rain and it was time for dinner. Before heading up I had a Banana Cabana and sat and talked to my mom for awhile. It was quite yummy.
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We decided to drive over to the carriage house for some dinner. I think it was storming again!

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After dinner, we went back and all relaxed in the room for a little bit. Harper was STILL awake but I could tell she was so tired. Tomorrow was a rest day for us, so that meant NO ALARM!
I sat on the balcony for a bit

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Mom and Harper cuddling up:
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and a selfie before bed:

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Next : Monday 9/10 A day of nothing!
 

ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
9/10 Rest Day!
Initially, this day was a day off from the parks, but we were going to go see the Mermaids in Weechie Wachi springs (spelling?). However, on the way down we got a message that they were closed due to some kind of issue. Luckily, we never told Harper about it so that in any event we didn’t go, she wouldn’t be heart broken. She’s obsessed with mermaids.

Admittedly, I was a little relieved. We were just in the car for 2.5 days, and I didn’t feel like another 4 hour round trip. I was looking forward to using this time to just relax and check out the pool and have a very low stress day with having nowhere to be!

We woke up on Monday after finally getting some sleep and I was feeling revived. Harper and I decided to eat breakfast and drink coffee out on the balcony. It was already a hot sunny day outside!

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After eating, we got all ready for the pool and headed down. It was several hours of kiddie splash pad, and big pool. With harpers puddle jumper on (like a life jacket), I was surprised how well she was able to swim and get around. The pool was a zero entry pool, which I loved! You could just walk right in.

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After a few hours, we all went back up to the room in hopes of getting Harper to lay down for a nap so we could go over to Magic Kingdom later in the evening. She fought it a bit, but succumbed! I escaped back down to the pool by myself for nearly 3 hours. This was such a great time to recharge. Swim, lay out on the chair, people watch, and have some drinks. It was super relaxing.

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About 4:45, after already being at the pool for over 3 hours, I decided to head back up to the room and get ready so that when Harper woke up, we were ready to go. Just after I was finished getting ready, Harper woke up and was ready to get back to the park!

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ScarletBegonias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
9/10 Rest Day – Evening in Magic Kingdom!

We got to the bus stop at around 5:30 and waited for it to arrive. I don’t remember anything that stands out about the trip over to MK. We got through security easily enough, and got a few photos in front of the castle.
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We turned through Adventureland and Harper really wanted to do the swiss family treehouse. I didn’t really have any idea, but yeah, it’s ALL STAIRS! Getting her to slow down and allow us older folk to catch up with her was hard, but I actually enjoyed being able to see this. I haven’t done it since I was about 7, so I did not really remember it at all. She wanted to do it again, but I had to tell her it was just too hot, and we’d do it again “later.”

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The natural progression from here is to one of my favorite rides! Pirates! I didn’t take long before Harper was declaring how scared she was just from walking through the queue! Again, we were assuring her it was not scary and it was a boat ride kind of like It’s a Small World. She maintained the entire walk that she was scared, but we didn’t have to bail. It took half of the attraction before we was laughing and looking around, and by the end I got another “That wasn’t scary!” and a smile.

She ended up getting a bag of gems as her booty, and then was a happy kid! I did have to take them from her in fear of them being lost, or spilled all over the stroller. “YOU’RE MEAN!” Yeah, yeah. I know…

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BTMRR was only a 15 minute wait, so my Step dad and I got in line for that while my mom and Harper went and watched the people on Splash Mountain. It was a relatively quick wait, and we had a fun ride! It didn’t seem to throw us around as much as I remembered!

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Harper really wanted to do Splash mountain but with no FP, there was no way! The park was only open until 9 pm tonight and we got there at 6, so we didn’t have a bunch of time. So we decided to do something that I’ve never done before, Country Bears Jamboree ! It was pretty cute, and Harper loved it but I was distracted by the clicking and clacking of the eyeballs of the animals on the wall. It was a cute show, but it seems kind of dated! Harper clapped along and stomped her feet though, and it was adorable!!!

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Now, it was dinner time and we decided on Pecos Bills. This place is always a disaster! The place they have you stand and wait for your food is NUTS and is always chaotic. I was not impressed with this meal at all. I got nachos but the entire fixins’ bar was EMPTY. Since it was just after 8 ,I guess they just decided to not refill anything. No lettuce, cheese, sour cream, nothing! So that was kind of annoying. If you are still taking orders, you should have all the stuff available. I guess I didn’t’ realize how hungry I was, because I scarfed down every single nacho. At this point it was almost 8:30 and I just wasn’t ready to leave, but we were running out of time. We made the choice from there to watch the fireworks because they are only done at night. Since we were coming back again, we weren’t worried about rides. We headed towards the Castle...
 

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
9/9- Magic Kingdom – Cont’d
We were barely out of the castle and Harper was already talking about going to the carousel, so we headed there. It was only a few steps away. I really don’t like the scrim they put over it, but it wasn’t too much of an eyesore. Harper had a great time and I was happy about the slight breeze I was getting. It was HOT!


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Next up was our FP for Peter Pan. While in line I hear Harper say “I’m scared!!” What is she scared of now? Tick Tock the Alligator. How she remembers him is beyond me, but she does! “Harper, it’s okay! He won’t get you!” We had a nice flight, but she put her arm in mine when we came across tick tock.

After Peter Pan was Little Mermaid. Harper was sacred of Ursula! I mean, I get it, but I just had to explain to her that it was just a ride, and she wasn’t real!

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We got out of Little Mermaid and I really wanted to try to do something I’ve been trying to do the past few years! Meet Gaston!!! The wait was only another ten minutes or so, so I jumped in line. Harper of course wanted to meet him too, so we stood in the beating sun sweating until he sauntered over. I will say that Harper stole the show on this one. Gaston talked to Harper (more like insulted her playfully) for several minutes, and I got like 30 seconds. Oh well.

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He asked Harper why she was wearing an Elsa dress and “if she lost a bet?” and then went on to tell her that next time she should dress like Belle “because she’s actually pretty!” It was too funny and Harper just ate it all up. I actually ended up feeling super awkward talking to him and I look like a little kid in my photos. So glad that we got to do it. We laughed about it for the rest of the day.

I forgot to post the Cinderella Pictures so before I get too much further, I want to post them:

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Following, the last picture has to be the sweetest thing I think I have ever seen. ❤️ You need to blow that up and frame it. So, so sweet!
 

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