Our first annual Disney trip took place six years ago at the Yacht Club, and it was to the Yacht Club we returned for Dad's first L&G Disney experience. Last year marked a new tradition of bringing Deep Eddy vodka, so we settled into our beautiful joined rooms, had a toast, and headed off to Stormalong Bay. Foreshadowing the theme of the entire trip, the water park had been temporarily shut down. The rain welcomed us as we played in one of the leisure pools, so we dried off and made our way to the Boardwalk for our dinner reservation at Flying Fish. Mom ordered the wagyu filet mignon, and I'll probably be dreaming about that steak for the rest of my life. My favorite moment of the night, however, was sharing a dessert cheese plate with Drakeson's help on the readings. We caught the end of Coney Island Chris' performance at the Boardwalk, but next year, I'll probably check his schedule before we go so we can catch the whole thing. The rest of our evening was spent at Stormalong Bay, and by the end of the night, Milli was insisting on going down the big slide. We caught a few moments of Epcot's Illuminations from outside the park, and I couldn't wait until Sunday to show my dad what the real deal looks like. Illuminations, after all, is my favorite.
Dolphin Hotel Fountain
Pro & Rookie
Grandparents
Yacht & Beach Clubs
Boardwalk
Tuckered Out after Flying Fish
Wednesday, 24 Jul 19: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom
Disney World fans refer to strokes of good luck, random acts of kindness, or exceptional customer service as "pixie dust." We got a truckload of whatever the opposite of that is, and despite Disney's best efforts, Mother Nature shrugged her shoulders and casually squashed the illusion of magic that only money can buy.
We were at the Magic Kingdom 45 minutes before park opening, ready to rope drop Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to "experience the line" in the midst of droves of Disney overachievers, and it had been shut down. There were no weather issues at the time, and the fastpasses had been depleted 91 days out by 6 in the morning. Not wishing to cry over spilt milk, we experienced The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea, Enchanted Tales with Belle, The Barnstormer, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Country Bear Jamboree. We even had our very first Dole Whip. After Mom, Dad, and Drakeson fastpassed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, George and I used riderswitch to get to the very front of the line, where it closed down in our faces. At least there was still Splash Mountain. But there wasn't! Splash Mountain had shut down during our entire fastpass window, too. We had plans for all three of those big rides, and one by one, the opportunities disappeared. The afternoon ended with Peter Pan's Flight, The Muppets Present Paul Revere, and The Hall of Presidents, which of course featured Trump as the finale. Now the word for "opposite of pixie dust" is coming to me.
We went straight to the Animal Kingdom. One of my goals of this trip was to give the kids a little more time on the playground, The Boneyard, and they absolutely loved it. We had to rush off to see Finding Nemo - The Musical, It's Tough to Be a Bug!, and Festival of the Lion King, as well as make our dinner reservation at Tusker House. We had plenty of time before the new and improved Rivers of Light, so we wandered around getting rained on at Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and the Discovery Island Trails before returning to The Boneyard for the kids. We also managed to squeeze in the single rider line for Expedition Everest and took Milli on TriceraTop Spin three times. We were very, very wet. Exhausted after 20,000 TMK Fitbit steps, we waited at the bus stop, watching all the buses for the other resorts come and go. Our bus arrived eventually, and held us captive when we made it back to the resort. The details were never explained, but another bus filled with passengers had been blocking our exit; we're guessing that the incident was responsible for preventing the buses from picking us up in the first place. It takes a lot to make George angry, but that did it. As the old saying goes, "There are some things pixie dust can't fix. For everything else, there's vodka."
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Tomorrowland Speedway
Disney Gear
Cinderella's Castle
Boneyard Slide with Mama
Boneyard
Goofy Hugs
Mama & Me
(Donald refused to shake Dad's hand)
Somebody Loves Daisy
It's George
Hippo
Boneyard
TriceraTop Spin
Rivers of Light
Thursday, 26 Jul 19: Epcot, Magic Kingdom
We rope dropped Frozen Ever After without a problem. Pretty predictably, we spent a good part of the morning at The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Turtle Talk, and Sea Base, before Journey into Imagination With Figment, Imagination Pavilion, and Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival. Our fastpasses for Living with the Land and Soarin' seemed to go off without a hitch, but we ran into all kinds of trouble with Test Track. Not only was the ride closed down during our fastpass window, but Test Track had issued us multiple experience fastpasses that were deleted during our Soarin' riderswitch redemption. Mom and Dad were pretty disgusted with the glitch, and I was elated to not be the only one "needing to calm down." We rode Spaceship Earth, met a few characters at the Visa Character Spot, and returned to the resort for a short rest.
In an effort to catch the Dapper Dans, we accidentally made it back to the Magic Kingdom in time to see the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade. I normally don't plan to watch the parades because of the crowds, but I've never seen Maleficent the Dragon up close before this year, and she was everything I had hoped she'd be. It took three years for me to successfully book a dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant, and the moment we arrived, my period started. I scrambled around in search of change for ten bucks, and while the managers thought about it, I bled into my sweaty pants. Nonetheless, it was as elegant as a dinner can be under those circumstances. There was enough time during the rest of the evening for the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Carousel of Progress, Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, Tomorrowland PeopleMover, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Haunted Mansion, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant. We could only ride Haunted Mansion by skipping the nighttime spectacular, Happily Ever After, and we took the opportunity. I don't know why. We had passed 20,000 TMK steps, and we were unstoppable. I blame some combination of George's love for the ride and my love for Thurl Ravenscroft.
Norway
Bruce
Sea Base
Disney Visa Character Spot
Festival of Fantasy Parade
Ariel
Maleficent
Mickey & Minnie
Roy
Dapper Dans
Riding Horsies
Be Our Guest
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Tomorrowland PeopleMover
Pretty BÃ
Dumbo
Long story short, we got rained out again. Water park day is always my favorite, so this one was probably the most disappointing. We had time to do about half of what we intended - the Chairlift, Teamboat Springs, Cross Country Creek, and Ski Patrol Training Camp. Everything closed as we were in line for Toboggan Racers & Snow Stormers, and we totally missed a chance at Runoff Rapids and Melt-Away Bay. 20,000 TMK steps? Forget about it. More time for laundry, I guess. Dinner was at Cape May Cafe, where I put away plate after plate of seafood. Needless to say, I couldn't stay too disappointed for long.
Same Height
My parents don't look ready to swim.
Blizzard Beach
Teamboat Springs
Ice Gator
Cross Country Creek
Ông's Hat
Me Too
Saturday, 28 Jul 19: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios
We arrived early to start our day with Na'vi River Journey twice, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, and UP! A Great Bird Adventure. A Great Bird Adventure is an updated version of the show Flights of Wonder, which closed at the end of 2017, and Mom and I did not care for the difference. Russell and Dug seriously need to take their business elsewhere. We went to Dinoland to ride DINOSAUR and TriceraTop Spin, as well as visit Launchpad McQuack, Goofy, and Daisy. Our fastpasses for Primeval Whirl were cancelled last week by Disney and automatically traded for something totally unusable. Eye roll. Primeval Whirl isn't all that great anyway. We ended with some highlights: Avatar Flight of Passage, Na'vi River Journey, Harambe Village Acrobats, and Kali River Rapids.
Hollywood presented us an evening of shows: Beauty and the Beast, Muppet Vision 3D, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!, For the First Time in Forever, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and of course, Fantasmic! The crowds were down, and we somehow managed to sneak in Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple in addition to our dinner reservation at 50's Prime Time Cafe. Our server was adorable, and we didn't get picked on too much. In fact, Mom was tanked up on a thimbleful of booze, and that was enough for her to give him a run for his money.
Sunday, 29 Jul 19: Hollywood Studios, Epcot
It was our last day at the parks. It started off like any other day, but as we went to scan in, we realized that Dad's magic band had gone missing. Fortunately, he was able to retrieve it at the resort, but in the meantime, he missed Toy Story Mania! Dad managed to join us for our second ride on Alien Swirling Saucers, and then we darted around the rest of the park to catch Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy, Walt Disney Presents, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Star Tours twice, and Slinky Dog Dash.
George had gotten some extra fastpasses (but no answers) in response to his bus inquiry from Wednesday, so we booked it straight to Epcot to redeem a few. Our TMK step count was in good shape! We took turns watching Milli at Club Cool & Mousegear and riding Test Track & Mission: SPACE. My master plan to take a whirlwind tour of the World Showcase started off smoothly. We saw Voices of Liberty, enjoyed our beloved Biergarten Restaurant, and made it on time to see Sergio, British Revolution, and The American Adventure. Up next were my favorites: The Jeweled Dragon Acrobats, Gran Fiesta Tour, and Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. But wouldn't you know it - when we got out of The American Adventure, an enormous storm had overtaken Orlando. We waited for it to clear as Illuminations got delayed. We missed the last showing of The Jeweled Dragon Acrobats. Braving it in very dramatic lightning, I headed us over to Mexico where we dominated the Gran Fiesta Tour scene. While everyone was huddled up in ponchos, we watched Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles three times without ever stepping off the boat. Illuminations was still delayed, and it is due to close permanently on September 30. This was my last chance to see my favorite show, and Dad's only chance, and the lightning wasn't letting up any time soon. I was a little heartbroken. Everyone was exhausted and soaked, so we threw in the towel and took a bus to Fort Wilderness. It had been nearly 30,000 TMK steps, and not one of them had included a moment of Illuminations - the grand finale of all the park days.
Monday, 30 Jul 19: Fort Wilderness
Ông took the kids, bouncy as ever, to the pool by the cabins while the rest of us enjoyed a very lazy morning. It was the end of a fantastic trip - one that reminds us that even when everything goes wrong, nothing truly harmed the memories. You can never do everything in Disney World anyway, we have some things to look forward to next time, and there's no question that we spent some quality time as a family. I don't even think of my parents as "grandparents" in the context of a trip like this. "Grandparents" simply don't have the stamina, and my parents do.
Fort Wilderness is a cheery resort, and everything about the decor puts me a great mood. We did laundry, rented a golf cart, and explored the grounds before our final dinner together at Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. With loads of wet clothing and over 100,000 TMK steps behind us, we ate our hearts out. The day had flown by, and before long, we were happy and stuffed, situated at the bus stop, saying goodbye, and gazing at a big, fat rainbow. A year from now, I expect to see the same crew, in the same hats, with the same cooling towels, ready to take on another week of adventures and make the most of what curveballs may come.
Black Rhino
Baobab
Pink Flamingos & African Elephant
Lions
Launchpad McQuack
TriceraTop Spin
Goofy
Daisy in Dinoland
Dadas & BÃ Too
Pandora
Gotta Rest When You Can
Jedi
Sunday, 29 Jul 19: Hollywood Studios, Epcot
It was our last day at the parks. It started off like any other day, but as we went to scan in, we realized that Dad's magic band had gone missing. Fortunately, he was able to retrieve it at the resort, but in the meantime, he missed Toy Story Mania! Dad managed to join us for our second ride on Alien Swirling Saucers, and then we darted around the rest of the park to catch Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy, Walt Disney Presents, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Star Tours twice, and Slinky Dog Dash.
George had gotten some extra fastpasses (but no answers) in response to his bus inquiry from Wednesday, so we booked it straight to Epcot to redeem a few. Our TMK step count was in good shape! We took turns watching Milli at Club Cool & Mousegear and riding Test Track & Mission: SPACE. My master plan to take a whirlwind tour of the World Showcase started off smoothly. We saw Voices of Liberty, enjoyed our beloved Biergarten Restaurant, and made it on time to see Sergio, British Revolution, and The American Adventure. Up next were my favorites: The Jeweled Dragon Acrobats, Gran Fiesta Tour, and Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. But wouldn't you know it - when we got out of The American Adventure, an enormous storm had overtaken Orlando. We waited for it to clear as Illuminations got delayed. We missed the last showing of The Jeweled Dragon Acrobats. Braving it in very dramatic lightning, I headed us over to Mexico where we dominated the Gran Fiesta Tour scene. While everyone was huddled up in ponchos, we watched Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles three times without ever stepping off the boat. Illuminations was still delayed, and it is due to close permanently on September 30. This was my last chance to see my favorite show, and Dad's only chance, and the lightning wasn't letting up any time soon. I was a little heartbroken. Everyone was exhausted and soaked, so we threw in the towel and took a bus to Fort Wilderness. It had been nearly 30,000 TMK steps, and not one of them had included a moment of Illuminations - the grand finale of all the park days.
Cruz Ramirez
DJ
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Slinky Dog Dash
Test Track
Mission: SPACE
The American Adventure
Monday, 30 Jul 19: Fort Wilderness
Ông took the kids, bouncy as ever, to the pool by the cabins while the rest of us enjoyed a very lazy morning. It was the end of a fantastic trip - one that reminds us that even when everything goes wrong, nothing truly harmed the memories. You can never do everything in Disney World anyway, we have some things to look forward to next time, and there's no question that we spent some quality time as a family. I don't even think of my parents as "grandparents" in the context of a trip like this. "Grandparents" simply don't have the stamina, and my parents do.
Fort Wilderness is a cheery resort, and everything about the decor puts me a great mood. We did laundry, rented a golf cart, and explored the grounds before our final dinner together at Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. With loads of wet clothing and over 100,000 TMK steps behind us, we ate our hearts out. The day had flown by, and before long, we were happy and stuffed, situated at the bus stop, saying goodbye, and gazing at a big, fat rainbow. A year from now, I expect to see the same crew, in the same hats, with the same cooling towels, ready to take on another week of adventures and make the most of what curveballs may come.
Trading Post Checkers
Tri-Circle-D Ranch
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue
Until Next Year
Mother Nature Always Wins
Mickye Mouse
Disney 2019
