Keeping the Disney Dynasty Alive (or how did my babies grow up so fast?)-A New Year’s Trip Report (12/31/23-1/7/24) ****Updated May 18th!
- Thread starter Ellester
- Start date
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Thanks everyone! We are super excited. Last weekend we took a girls’ trip to Charlotte with my mom and got to go wedding dress shopping with Anabelle and then to a huge Bridal Expo. So fun! She hasn’t chosen a dress yet but has narrowed down what she wants.
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Monday, January 1st, Continued
At the Riviera, we stopped by Le Petit Cafe where Andrew, Anabelle, and Matt had the Shakenado(shaken espresso). They loved their drinks, Le Petit Cafe is definitely worth a detour if you are near the Rivera. I wasn’t up to an espresso at 8pm but was up for some dessert! A cute little Santa hat mousse puff! I’m so glad I got this as it was a holiday special and was not on the menu later in the week.
Properly fortified, we hopped the Skyliner to Epcot and decided to get in line for Remy even though the park was still open. We really only wanted to try for Remy, Test Track and possibly Frozen during extra hours. The wait was listed as 90 but I was hoping it was inflated for the end of the night. Thankfully it was and we were on in 35 minutes. In the line Andrew had an interesting conversation with a fellow super tall guy (also 6-6) about the trials and tribulations of being so tall and all the comments/questions they hear on a daily basis.
After Remy, we headed to Test Track (I wasn’t able to get in the VQ for Guardians, it filled instantly at 6pm). We had a 20 minute wait, it was listed as 40.
Afterwards we decided we just didn’t want to trek all the way to Norway for Frozen so we headed out of the park and once again got right on a bus and were back in the room by 11 and planning on rope drop at AK in the morning!
Daily Statistics:
G+ rides: 5
Steps/Miles: 23,328/10.19 miles
At the Riviera, we stopped by Le Petit Cafe where Andrew, Anabelle, and Matt had the Shakenado(shaken espresso). They loved their drinks, Le Petit Cafe is definitely worth a detour if you are near the Rivera. I wasn’t up to an espresso at 8pm but was up for some dessert! A cute little Santa hat mousse puff! I’m so glad I got this as it was a holiday special and was not on the menu later in the week.
Properly fortified, we hopped the Skyliner to Epcot and decided to get in line for Remy even though the park was still open. We really only wanted to try for Remy, Test Track and possibly Frozen during extra hours. The wait was listed as 90 but I was hoping it was inflated for the end of the night. Thankfully it was and we were on in 35 minutes. In the line Andrew had an interesting conversation with a fellow super tall guy (also 6-6) about the trials and tribulations of being so tall and all the comments/questions they hear on a daily basis.
After Remy, we headed to Test Track (I wasn’t able to get in the VQ for Guardians, it filled instantly at 6pm). We had a 20 minute wait, it was listed as 40.
Afterwards we decided we just didn’t want to trek all the way to Norway for Frozen so we headed out of the park and once again got right on a bus and were back in the room by 11 and planning on rope drop at AK in the morning!
Daily Statistics:
G+ rides: 5
Steps/Miles: 23,328/10.19 miles
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Tuesday, January 2nd
So today definitely did NOT go as planned. Today was our first AK day and we didn’t get Genie+ and weren’t planning on ILL’s for Flight of Passage so we were committed to rope drop to attempt to get everything done. We all made it out the door just after 6:30am, a minor miracle right there!
We were on the bus at 6:45 and to AK shortly there after. Both Michelle and Andrew were pulled aside to have their bags checked, really no idea why. Andrew only had a little fanny pack with his wallet and a water bottle. It took forever to get them through, once Andrew finally got to the table and put his bag down, they told him to step aside while they took someone with a huge backpack from further back in the line. So frustrating! They were already letting resort guests in so we were just getting further and further back.
But finally, they were both cleared and we walked with purpose to the FoP queue with the rest of the people entering. We got to the queue right at 7:30 which was official early entry time. We were off by 8:22, we had planned on heading right to Navi River but the line was already 60+ so we headed to the safari instead. We were on in less than 20 minutes and had probably the best Safari we have ever been one! The wildebeests were running around like crazy, all the hippos were up and either swimming or walking around. So, so many animals!
Afterwards, we were all ready for breakfast so we had coffee and food at Kisafari.
Stopped for a few PhotoPass pictures on our way from Africa to Asia.
So today definitely did NOT go as planned. Today was our first AK day and we didn’t get Genie+ and weren’t planning on ILL’s for Flight of Passage so we were committed to rope drop to attempt to get everything done. We all made it out the door just after 6:30am, a minor miracle right there!
We were on the bus at 6:45 and to AK shortly there after. Both Michelle and Andrew were pulled aside to have their bags checked, really no idea why. Andrew only had a little fanny pack with his wallet and a water bottle. It took forever to get them through, once Andrew finally got to the table and put his bag down, they told him to step aside while they took someone with a huge backpack from further back in the line. So frustrating! They were already letting resort guests in so we were just getting further and further back.
But finally, they were both cleared and we walked with purpose to the FoP queue with the rest of the people entering. We got to the queue right at 7:30 which was official early entry time. We were off by 8:22, we had planned on heading right to Navi River but the line was already 60+ so we headed to the safari instead. We were on in less than 20 minutes and had probably the best Safari we have ever been one! The wildebeests were running around like crazy, all the hippos were up and either swimming or walking around. So, so many animals!
Afterwards, we were all ready for breakfast so we had coffee and food at Kisafari.
Stopped for a few PhotoPass pictures on our way from Africa to Asia.
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Tuesday, January 2nd Continued
A few more of our PhotoPass pictures, they did such a good job! I love having pictures of all of us and I actually get to be in them too!
On to Expedition Everest at 10:13, on at 10:55.
I love Matt and Natalie in this one! They looked so scared and hanging on for dear life when everyone else is like “WOOOOOOO!”.
Lines were definitely getting super long. Decided to wait for Dinosaur which was posted at 50 minutes, that queue went way back in to places I have never seen! This is where the day went off the rails a bit. John started not feeling well, said he was super dizzy and was going to go back to the room. I left the line with him and as we were walking to the park entrance, I asked if he wanted to stop at first aid to lay down and he said he did, he felt like he might pass out. I stopped a passing CM to ask where the first aid station was and she immediately went into super-helpful mode. She called the paramedics for us and immediately a bunch of cast members showed up to ask him and me some questions and unobtrusively block off an area around where John was sitting. The Reedy Creek EMTs showed up soon after and did a EKG right there. His heart looked fine, BP was a bit high but not alarming. They thought it might be dehydration. They offered to take him to the ER, but everyone agreed that it wasn’t necessary. They sent us on our way with a bottle of water and told us to call them anytime. I can’t say enough about how great they all were.
Side note: two years ago, John was diagnosed with Essential Thrombocythemia, a rare chronic blood cancer. He is doing really well and his long term prognosis is fairly good. However, it does affect him in some different ways from time to time. We knew that he may not be able to handle our normal commando pace. He also started a different type of treatment a few months before our trip which has a wide range of possible side effects, flu like symptoms being one of the most common. Overall, he hasn’t dealt with severe side effects but I really think how he was doing this day had a lot to do with his disease. He tries not to let it affect daily life but sometimes it’s just too much.
We headed to the busstop and were back in the room just after 1pm. I cancelled our mobile order for Satulii Canteen and let the kids know that they would have to reorder. They ended up riding Dinosaur but then coming back to the room shortly after lunch since they were worried about John. I ran up to Artist Pallet and got me and John salads for lunch and we just relaxed in the room with John napping some.
Andrew and Matt went to the gym and after they got back and cleaned up we all headed over to Disney Springs, minus John who wasn’t feeling up to it. Andrew and Michelle went to the Lego store where Andrew spent some of his Christmas money on a Minecraft set and a Star Wars set. The girls, Matt and I waited in the Gideons line for about 25 minutes before we got inside to get some cookies, a slice of cake and some iced coffee.
Then it was about time to check in for our Boathouse reservation. Another hiccup here as they asked if we wanted inside, outside or first available and I said first available but only if there were heaters outside. They assured me there were, so we browsed the shop and stood around a bit before they led us to a table outside. Which was under a heater that wasn’t turned on. We asked about it and they said it was broken. It was just about 50 degrees and dropping at this point, way too chilly to eat outside in the breeze. I asked to be moved and a manager came out a few minutes later. The table next to us, who were seated after us had already asked to move and been taken inside. The manager was very nice and said he had a high top inside if that was OK. We followed him in and were left beside a high top that had not been bussed yet, it was super tight and we had nowhere really to go so just had to stand there by the dirty table for 10 more minutes before it was cleaned and we were seated. Despite all that (and being VERY cozy with 7 of us at a table that would fit 5 comfortably), we had a great meal. A few glasses of Pinot Gris and their amazing rolls went a long way to making it OK.
After dinner, the girls shopped in Zara for a few minutes and then we headed on back to get a good night’s sleep before another rope drop.
Daily Statistics:
No G+
Steps/Miles: 17,233/7.5 miles
A few more of our PhotoPass pictures, they did such a good job! I love having pictures of all of us and I actually get to be in them too!
On to Expedition Everest at 10:13, on at 10:55.
I love Matt and Natalie in this one! They looked so scared and hanging on for dear life when everyone else is like “WOOOOOOO!”.
Lines were definitely getting super long. Decided to wait for Dinosaur which was posted at 50 minutes, that queue went way back in to places I have never seen! This is where the day went off the rails a bit. John started not feeling well, said he was super dizzy and was going to go back to the room. I left the line with him and as we were walking to the park entrance, I asked if he wanted to stop at first aid to lay down and he said he did, he felt like he might pass out. I stopped a passing CM to ask where the first aid station was and she immediately went into super-helpful mode. She called the paramedics for us and immediately a bunch of cast members showed up to ask him and me some questions and unobtrusively block off an area around where John was sitting. The Reedy Creek EMTs showed up soon after and did a EKG right there. His heart looked fine, BP was a bit high but not alarming. They thought it might be dehydration. They offered to take him to the ER, but everyone agreed that it wasn’t necessary. They sent us on our way with a bottle of water and told us to call them anytime. I can’t say enough about how great they all were.
Side note: two years ago, John was diagnosed with Essential Thrombocythemia, a rare chronic blood cancer. He is doing really well and his long term prognosis is fairly good. However, it does affect him in some different ways from time to time. We knew that he may not be able to handle our normal commando pace. He also started a different type of treatment a few months before our trip which has a wide range of possible side effects, flu like symptoms being one of the most common. Overall, he hasn’t dealt with severe side effects but I really think how he was doing this day had a lot to do with his disease. He tries not to let it affect daily life but sometimes it’s just too much.
We headed to the busstop and were back in the room just after 1pm. I cancelled our mobile order for Satulii Canteen and let the kids know that they would have to reorder. They ended up riding Dinosaur but then coming back to the room shortly after lunch since they were worried about John. I ran up to Artist Pallet and got me and John salads for lunch and we just relaxed in the room with John napping some.
Andrew and Matt went to the gym and after they got back and cleaned up we all headed over to Disney Springs, minus John who wasn’t feeling up to it. Andrew and Michelle went to the Lego store where Andrew spent some of his Christmas money on a Minecraft set and a Star Wars set. The girls, Matt and I waited in the Gideons line for about 25 minutes before we got inside to get some cookies, a slice of cake and some iced coffee.
Then it was about time to check in for our Boathouse reservation. Another hiccup here as they asked if we wanted inside, outside or first available and I said first available but only if there were heaters outside. They assured me there were, so we browsed the shop and stood around a bit before they led us to a table outside. Which was under a heater that wasn’t turned on. We asked about it and they said it was broken. It was just about 50 degrees and dropping at this point, way too chilly to eat outside in the breeze. I asked to be moved and a manager came out a few minutes later. The table next to us, who were seated after us had already asked to move and been taken inside. The manager was very nice and said he had a high top inside if that was OK. We followed him in and were left beside a high top that had not been bussed yet, it was super tight and we had nowhere really to go so just had to stand there by the dirty table for 10 more minutes before it was cleaned and we were seated. Despite all that (and being VERY cozy with 7 of us at a table that would fit 5 comfortably), we had a great meal. A few glasses of Pinot Gris and their amazing rolls went a long way to making it OK.
After dinner, the girls shopped in Zara for a few minutes and then we headed on back to get a good night’s sleep before another rope drop.
Daily Statistics:
No G+
Steps/Miles: 17,233/7.5 miles
Last edited:
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Wednesday January 3rd
Today was going to be a marathon day! John said he was feeling better and didn’t want to stay back in the room. We saw this little guy on the way to the busstop! Thumper, is that you?
We did even better getting out of the door this day, we were on the bus to Hollywood Studios at 6:44am and third in line at the tapstiles at 7:00am. The sunrise today was simply breathtaking. It would have been worth the predawn wake up time just to see it! Amazing!
Great positioning at the tapstiles this morning! Yay us!
While waiting, I was able to get us a Slinky G+ for 11:35am! Day was looking very promising! At exactly 7:30, they started letting resort guests in for the 8:00am early entry time and we walked with purpose to Rise of the Resistance.
I am having inserting pictures so I will cut this installment short and try to finish this day later! Thanks for following along!
Today was going to be a marathon day! John said he was feeling better and didn’t want to stay back in the room. We saw this little guy on the way to the busstop! Thumper, is that you?
We did even better getting out of the door this day, we were on the bus to Hollywood Studios at 6:44am and third in line at the tapstiles at 7:00am. The sunrise today was simply breathtaking. It would have been worth the predawn wake up time just to see it! Amazing!
Great positioning at the tapstiles this morning! Yay us!
While waiting, I was able to get us a Slinky G+ for 11:35am! Day was looking very promising! At exactly 7:30, they started letting resort guests in for the 8:00am early entry time and we walked with purpose to Rise of the Resistance.
I am having inserting pictures so I will cut this installment short and try to finish this day later! Thanks for following along!
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Wednesday January 3rd Continued
Walking with purpose, we were in the queue for RotR by 7:37 and off by 8:04! It was fun seeing Matt’s reactions as he is such a big Star Wars fan!
We went ahead and hopped on Smugglers Run and were on and off in 20 minutes!
John said he was feeling a bit off again, so the kids and Michelle high tailed it to Tower of Terror in hopes of getting on it and Rock-n-Rollercoaster before the park officially opened. RnRC was down so they just rode ToT twice in a row! I sat with John while he had a muffin and I had Jack’s Nom Nom cookie and a coffee.
He still wasn’t feeling great, so he headed back to the room. He walked right on a bus and was back to SSR by 9:30am. Everyone wanted a snack after ToT, so we got some breakfast totchos at Woody’s Lunchbox. We all enjoyed a little snack and lots of tots since somehow they gave us extra sides of tots for our totchos.
We decided to catch the 10:45 Indy show. It had been a while since we had seen it, enjoyable as always even though they don’t have the “volunteers” from the audience any more! By this time, lines were super long so we checked out One Man’s Dream. At 10:30, I picked up G+ for TSMM. John texted that he was feeling much better and would be heading back to ride Slinky with us, so that was exciting! We waited about 10 minutes to get on Slinky with our G+, much better than the 100 minute standby queue!
Time to head to Oga’s! We had been on our last trip and while it was fun, didn’t really feel the need to do it again but since Matt is a big Star Wars fan and of course, Michelle hadn’t seen it either so we put it on the list this trip too. One advantage to a big group has been that both time we have gotten a booth. This time we did share it with a couple who were seated about 10 minutes after us but it was fine. We enjoyed our drinks and snacks and were back out easily in our 45 minute window. I had the Bloody Rancor since I didn’t really want a sweet drink. It was a decent riff on the Bloody Mary. The “bone” on top was like a crunchy meringue. It’s listed as spicy but only had a little heat.
We also had the two snacks available, the Batuu Bits and the Happabore Sampler. The last time we were at Oga’s was with my mom, and since she has a pepper allergy, I had to review all the ingredients to see what she could and couldn’t eat so the exoticness of the food wasn’t a surprise since I already knew what everything was!
About to my photo limit, so I will pick up in the next post.
Walking with purpose, we were in the queue for RotR by 7:37 and off by 8:04! It was fun seeing Matt’s reactions as he is such a big Star Wars fan!
We went ahead and hopped on Smugglers Run and were on and off in 20 minutes!
John said he was feeling a bit off again, so the kids and Michelle high tailed it to Tower of Terror in hopes of getting on it and Rock-n-Rollercoaster before the park officially opened. RnRC was down so they just rode ToT twice in a row! I sat with John while he had a muffin and I had Jack’s Nom Nom cookie and a coffee.
He still wasn’t feeling great, so he headed back to the room. He walked right on a bus and was back to SSR by 9:30am. Everyone wanted a snack after ToT, so we got some breakfast totchos at Woody’s Lunchbox. We all enjoyed a little snack and lots of tots since somehow they gave us extra sides of tots for our totchos.
We decided to catch the 10:45 Indy show. It had been a while since we had seen it, enjoyable as always even though they don’t have the “volunteers” from the audience any more! By this time, lines were super long so we checked out One Man’s Dream. At 10:30, I picked up G+ for TSMM. John texted that he was feeling much better and would be heading back to ride Slinky with us, so that was exciting! We waited about 10 minutes to get on Slinky with our G+, much better than the 100 minute standby queue!Time to head to Oga’s! We had been on our last trip and while it was fun, didn’t really feel the need to do it again but since Matt is a big Star Wars fan and of course, Michelle hadn’t seen it either so we put it on the list this trip too. One advantage to a big group has been that both time we have gotten a booth. This time we did share it with a couple who were seated about 10 minutes after us but it was fine. We enjoyed our drinks and snacks and were back out easily in our 45 minute window. I had the Bloody Rancor since I didn’t really want a sweet drink. It was a decent riff on the Bloody Mary. The “bone” on top was like a crunchy meringue. It’s listed as spicy but only had a little heat.
We also had the two snacks available, the Batuu Bits and the Happabore Sampler. The last time we were at Oga’s was with my mom, and since she has a pepper allergy, I had to review all the ingredients to see what she could and couldn’t eat so the exoticness of the food wasn’t a surprise since I already knew what everything was!
About to my photo limit, so I will pick up in the next post.
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Wednesday, January 3rd continues……
While waiting for Oga’s we hit up the PhotoPass folks in GE.
On to TSMM at 1:35, I grabbed a G+ for StarTours as soon as we scanned in and got a time just 40 minutes out. We were on StarTours at 2:20pm and after seeing that RnRC had a huge wait now that it was finally back up, we decided to head out of HS for the day.
We decided to ride the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach Resort and eat there since it looked like they had some good vegetarian options for Anabelle and we had never checked that resort out. Well, the walk from the skyliner to the restaurant was longer than we had anticipated, but we eventually got there. Most of the food was really good, Natalie and I split the Cuban sandwich which was amazing. Andrew had a chicken bowl which he said was OK, and Rebecca had the fish tacos. The tacos were a huge portion, she ate one and gave one to Natalie and one to Andrew! Anabelle got the veggie burger, which was super cold. The cheese wasn’t even a little melted on it. Andrew offered to heat it up in the microwave but Anabelle decided to eat it cold (insert ominous foreshadowing music here).
We contemplated taking a bus from CBR to Disney Springs and then walk back to SSR but decided to take an Uber in the interest of time and reducing our walking time. We had to take 2 Ubers but they both came very quickly and even though we were picked up about 5 minutes after the first Uber, our group arrived back at the room a good 10 minutes quicker! Not sure what took the first guy so long to go the 3 miles between resorts? We spent about 2 hours resting and relaxing in the room before walking over to Disney Springs. We had scored a dinner reservation at Toppolino’s Terrace! Originally we had it for the following day but at 9:20pm which was much later than preferred but we were prepared to deal with he time for the experience. But, on Tuesday I was browsing availability and came upon a 6:50pm ADR for Wednesday! Score! After waiting over 15 minutes for a Riviera bus, we hopped on the bus to CBR. Another family did the same thing saying they had been doing that all trip long as the Riviera busses were much less frequent than the CBR busses! The first stop at CBR is an easy walk to the Riviera, honestly I don’t think it is any longer than the walk from the Riviera busstop!
We made it up to the 10th floor right on time for our ADR, I checked in on the way up in the elevator. After a short wait, we were seated near the kitchen. Easily one of the best meals we have had on property, maybe anywhere. I had the scallops and they were the largest I have ever been served, four huge scallops perfectly cooked. I also had a delicious cocktail.
We didn’t linger as we had extra hours at MK but we did check out the view from the terrace and were able to see some of the fireworks from MK in the distance.
Riviera is such a lovely resort, I wish it wasn’t so costly in points! We stopped for Matt, Anabelle and Andrew to get another Shakenado at Le Petit Cafe, this time it was made totally different from two days before. Anabelle was disappointed but didn’t want to have them remake it so just drank it anyway. We then hopped a bus to MK, arriving just before 9pm. We used our Genie+ at Pirates and got my favorite ride photo of the trip!
Then we hopped in to see the Tiki Birds! Another G+ at 10:10 for Haunted Mansion then on to BTMRR in the standby line at 10:35. Listed as 25 which was pretty much right on. We obviously do not know were the ride camera is here.
Continued in next post…..
While waiting for Oga’s we hit up the PhotoPass folks in GE.
On to TSMM at 1:35, I grabbed a G+ for StarTours as soon as we scanned in and got a time just 40 minutes out. We were on StarTours at 2:20pm and after seeing that RnRC had a huge wait now that it was finally back up, we decided to head out of HS for the day.
We decided to ride the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach Resort and eat there since it looked like they had some good vegetarian options for Anabelle and we had never checked that resort out. Well, the walk from the skyliner to the restaurant was longer than we had anticipated, but we eventually got there. Most of the food was really good, Natalie and I split the Cuban sandwich which was amazing. Andrew had a chicken bowl which he said was OK, and Rebecca had the fish tacos. The tacos were a huge portion, she ate one and gave one to Natalie and one to Andrew! Anabelle got the veggie burger, which was super cold. The cheese wasn’t even a little melted on it. Andrew offered to heat it up in the microwave but Anabelle decided to eat it cold (insert ominous foreshadowing music here).
We contemplated taking a bus from CBR to Disney Springs and then walk back to SSR but decided to take an Uber in the interest of time and reducing our walking time. We had to take 2 Ubers but they both came very quickly and even though we were picked up about 5 minutes after the first Uber, our group arrived back at the room a good 10 minutes quicker! Not sure what took the first guy so long to go the 3 miles between resorts? We spent about 2 hours resting and relaxing in the room before walking over to Disney Springs. We had scored a dinner reservation at Toppolino’s Terrace! Originally we had it for the following day but at 9:20pm which was much later than preferred but we were prepared to deal with he time for the experience. But, on Tuesday I was browsing availability and came upon a 6:50pm ADR for Wednesday! Score! After waiting over 15 minutes for a Riviera bus, we hopped on the bus to CBR. Another family did the same thing saying they had been doing that all trip long as the Riviera busses were much less frequent than the CBR busses! The first stop at CBR is an easy walk to the Riviera, honestly I don’t think it is any longer than the walk from the Riviera busstop!
We made it up to the 10th floor right on time for our ADR, I checked in on the way up in the elevator. After a short wait, we were seated near the kitchen. Easily one of the best meals we have had on property, maybe anywhere. I had the scallops and they were the largest I have ever been served, four huge scallops perfectly cooked. I also had a delicious cocktail.
We didn’t linger as we had extra hours at MK but we did check out the view from the terrace and were able to see some of the fireworks from MK in the distance.
Riviera is such a lovely resort, I wish it wasn’t so costly in points! We stopped for Matt, Anabelle and Andrew to get another Shakenado at Le Petit Cafe, this time it was made totally different from two days before. Anabelle was disappointed but didn’t want to have them remake it so just drank it anyway. We then hopped a bus to MK, arriving just before 9pm. We used our Genie+ at Pirates and got my favorite ride photo of the trip!
Then we hopped in to see the Tiki Birds! Another G+ at 10:10 for Haunted Mansion then on to BTMRR in the standby line at 10:35. Listed as 25 which was pretty much right on. We obviously do not know were the ride camera is here.
Continued in next post…..
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Wedsnesday, January 3 continued yet again….
Now it was past regular park closing so things really emptied out. We decided to ride Barnstormer, each getting our own row and riding twice without getting off! We could have gone again but headed on to Dumbo with no wait. Space Mountain was showing it was down so we were keeping a close eye on that as the kids were all raring to ride it for the first time this trip!
After Dumbo, we rode the Teacups with no wait.
John and Michelle didn’t ride and after this John decided to head back to the room. We waited about 15 minutes for Tomorrowland Speedway, getting our dose of CO! They only had one track going, so it was a bit of a slow load. It had started sprinkling a bit, but very lightly.
As we got off TS, Rebecca saw that Space had come back online! We sprinted over and walked on! People started pouring into the queue as we were exiting so word had gotten out! We figured we had enough time to ride Peter Pan and still make it to SDMT before 1am. Peter was basically a walk on, although we did have to go through the extended queue which was fun to see! We were on Peter around 12:30am and then it really started to rain! We didn’t have ponchos but we only had one ride left and it wasn’t too cold so we were fine being soggy! We got in the SDMT queue around 12:40 and were off right as extra hours ended at 1am.
Busses were waiting and we were back home to SSR by 1:45 am. A 19 hour day in the books! Phew! Our step count went into the next day!
G+ rides: 5 (3 DHS, 2 MK)
Steps/Miles: 28,483/12.39 miles
Now it was past regular park closing so things really emptied out. We decided to ride Barnstormer, each getting our own row and riding twice without getting off! We could have gone again but headed on to Dumbo with no wait. Space Mountain was showing it was down so we were keeping a close eye on that as the kids were all raring to ride it for the first time this trip!
After Dumbo, we rode the Teacups with no wait.
John and Michelle didn’t ride and after this John decided to head back to the room. We waited about 15 minutes for Tomorrowland Speedway, getting our dose of CO! They only had one track going, so it was a bit of a slow load. It had started sprinkling a bit, but very lightly.
As we got off TS, Rebecca saw that Space had come back online! We sprinted over and walked on! People started pouring into the queue as we were exiting so word had gotten out! We figured we had enough time to ride Peter Pan and still make it to SDMT before 1am. Peter was basically a walk on, although we did have to go through the extended queue which was fun to see! We were on Peter around 12:30am and then it really started to rain! We didn’t have ponchos but we only had one ride left and it wasn’t too cold so we were fine being soggy! We got in the SDMT queue around 12:40 and were off right as extra hours ended at 1am.
Busses were waiting and we were back home to SSR by 1:45 am. A 19 hour day in the books! Phew! Our step count went into the next day!
G+ rides: 5 (3 DHS, 2 MK)
Steps/Miles: 28,483/12.39 miles
Nicnicnic.nic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2022
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Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Sorry for the long hiatus yet again!
Thursday, January 4th
After the late night, we decided this day would be a sleep-in day and we would head to Epcot once everyone was up and going. However, the morning did not go as planned. Anabelle’s undercooked veggie burger came home to roost. She started feeling queasy in the night and it progressed rather rapidly. Not positively food poisoning, but pretty sure that’s what it was. She stayed in bed most of the day and John stayed back to rest and keep an eye on her. He was still feeling a bit off. Matt offered to stay back as well but Anabelle was pretty insistent that he get to go to the parks.
The rest of us slowly got up and moving and decided to head to Epcot as planned. I had gotten us all G+ for the day and gotten a 3pm G+ for Remy right at 7am as well as ILL’s for Guardians at 1:30pm. We left the room shortly before 12:30 and took the bus to DHS and hopped the Skyliner to Epcot, arriving at 1:09.
Headed to Guardians to use our ILL and got to see a cute service dog, no leash! Our song was “I Ran”. I was able to chat on the app and get Anabelle and John’s G+ and ILL refunded since they wouldn’t be using them! That was a pleasant surprise! We had some Photopass pictures taken and then got a snack at Sunshine Seasons.
I had picked up G+’s for Soaring and Living with the Land (totally not needed for LwtL) so we rode both of those and then hoofed it to France to catch the end of our Remy window. Rebecca hadn’t ridden it with us on Monday night so it was a first for her, she loved it! Hit the bathrooms and got some crepes.
Andrew and Rebecca were done so they headed out. Matt stopped for a croissant to bring back for Anabelle and picked up an eclair for himself. I stopped for a Grey Goose slushie and then we took a walk around WS. We made our way over to Mexico so we could ride the Rio. We thought about getting a margarita or a snack in Mexico but the lines were insane. I don’t really get why Disney closes the Festival of the Holidays on January 1. One of the busiest weeks of the year and no festival booths open at all. The line at both Choza de Margarita and La Cantina de San Angel were both so long that cast members were guiding guests so that the walkways weren’t totally blocked. We decided to just stop at Club Cool and pick up a pretzel and popcorn on our way out. Once we got back to the room just after 7pm, Anabelle was feeling much better. Rebecca and I walked over to Disney Springs and placed a to go order for everyone at Eet. Anabelle and John opted for some plain rice and everyone else got more substantial fare. Super convenient to SSR, it was about the same walking distance for us as it would have been to walk over to Artist’s Pallet!
G+ rides: 3
Steps/Miles 19,117/8.37 miles
Thursday, January 4th
After the late night, we decided this day would be a sleep-in day and we would head to Epcot once everyone was up and going. However, the morning did not go as planned. Anabelle’s undercooked veggie burger came home to roost. She started feeling queasy in the night and it progressed rather rapidly. Not positively food poisoning, but pretty sure that’s what it was. She stayed in bed most of the day and John stayed back to rest and keep an eye on her. He was still feeling a bit off. Matt offered to stay back as well but Anabelle was pretty insistent that he get to go to the parks.
The rest of us slowly got up and moving and decided to head to Epcot as planned. I had gotten us all G+ for the day and gotten a 3pm G+ for Remy right at 7am as well as ILL’s for Guardians at 1:30pm. We left the room shortly before 12:30 and took the bus to DHS and hopped the Skyliner to Epcot, arriving at 1:09.
Headed to Guardians to use our ILL and got to see a cute service dog, no leash! Our song was “I Ran”. I was able to chat on the app and get Anabelle and John’s G+ and ILL refunded since they wouldn’t be using them! That was a pleasant surprise! We had some Photopass pictures taken and then got a snack at Sunshine Seasons.
I had picked up G+’s for Soaring and Living with the Land (totally not needed for LwtL) so we rode both of those and then hoofed it to France to catch the end of our Remy window. Rebecca hadn’t ridden it with us on Monday night so it was a first for her, she loved it! Hit the bathrooms and got some crepes.
Andrew and Rebecca were done so they headed out. Matt stopped for a croissant to bring back for Anabelle and picked up an eclair for himself. I stopped for a Grey Goose slushie and then we took a walk around WS. We made our way over to Mexico so we could ride the Rio. We thought about getting a margarita or a snack in Mexico but the lines were insane. I don’t really get why Disney closes the Festival of the Holidays on January 1. One of the busiest weeks of the year and no festival booths open at all. The line at both Choza de Margarita and La Cantina de San Angel were both so long that cast members were guiding guests so that the walkways weren’t totally blocked. We decided to just stop at Club Cool and pick up a pretzel and popcorn on our way out. Once we got back to the room just after 7pm, Anabelle was feeling much better. Rebecca and I walked over to Disney Springs and placed a to go order for everyone at Eet. Anabelle and John opted for some plain rice and everyone else got more substantial fare. Super convenient to SSR, it was about the same walking distance for us as it would have been to walk over to Artist’s Pallet!
G+ rides: 3
Steps/Miles 19,117/8.37 miles
Ellester
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2003
Friday, January 5th
Sigh. Not a super fun day although it ended up being OK in the end. Today my dad and stepmom were planning on driving the 2 hours north from their place to meet us for lunch. Our original plans were to head to Animal Kingdom for a few hours in the morning and then head over to Disney Springs to meet them. However John was still really not feeling well. He was concerned about the tightness in his chest and pain in one side of his neck. After talking about it for a bit, we decided that a trip to the ER was needed to rule out any heart related issues. I googled around and found a highly rated stand alone ER affiliated with the top heart hospital in Orlando just a few miles off property. So John and I hopped in the car and I drove us to the ER.
Anabelle was feeling much better so she, Matt and Natalie headed to Animal Kingdom to ride Na’vi River Journey in the standby line. I believe they waited the entire 80 minutes posted.
Meanwhile, John was immediately taken into a room at the ER and lots of testing ensued. Surprisingly, they no longer immediately do a Covid test and since he had no symptoms of that or any respiratory issues they just did the standard chest pain work up. I really have to say that the staff was amazing. The hospital was clean and modern and everyone was super efficient and friendly. All his blood work was good, thank goodness. After we waited for the second round of enzyme results to come back (they usually do the bloodwork again after two hours to make sure the heart enzyme numbers are stable to rule out a heart attack) they told us they weren’t sure why he was having pain but that he was OK to be released and suggested we follow up with his cardiologist at home. They did offer him a steroid/anti inflammatory shot but he declined so they just suggested he take some Advil to help the pain. We stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way back since John had not eaten yet and were back in the room shortly after 1pm.
Since they weren’t sure what was going to happen with John, my dad and stepmom decided not to come. I was disappointed but it turned out for the best as my dad started feeling crummy that night and they both ended up testing positive for Covid over the next few days. They are all better now.
Andrew, Rebecca, and Michelle had all stayed at the resort to rest/relax. Andrew worked out as well. John, Michelle and I decided to head to AK to meet Natalie, Anabelle, and Matt. They had waited another hour or so to ride Everest. Michelle had really wanted to see Lion King, so we all headed that way. Matt, Anabelle, and Natalie got in line and we joined them shortly thereafter. After the show, Matt, Anabelle, Michelle and Natalie headed to Epcot to meet Andrew and Rebecca for a ride on Guardians with an ILL they had purchased earlier in the day. Since John and I weren’t riding, we took a quick safari ride. Not nearly as many animals as earlier in the week but the wild dogs were very active which was cool!
We were one of the last trucks of the day, they closed the queue shortly after we got in it. We headed to the busstop and decided to catch either a Riviera or CBR bus, whichever came first. Riviera won this time and we were on the Skyliner by 6:15. We had a 6:50 ADR at Via Napoli so the IG entrance was the most convenient. Rebecca and Andrew had made it to Epcot a little earlier so Rebecca could visit the store in Japan.
She bought a few things including a fan for Andrew and a Mario in a Tanooki suit for John which they presented him at dinner!
We enjoyed our drinks, salads, calamari and pizzas and headed back to the resort after dinner. One last day to go and we wanted to be rested up!
Steps/Miles: 12,766/5.56 miles
Sigh. Not a super fun day although it ended up being OK in the end. Today my dad and stepmom were planning on driving the 2 hours north from their place to meet us for lunch. Our original plans were to head to Animal Kingdom for a few hours in the morning and then head over to Disney Springs to meet them. However John was still really not feeling well. He was concerned about the tightness in his chest and pain in one side of his neck. After talking about it for a bit, we decided that a trip to the ER was needed to rule out any heart related issues. I googled around and found a highly rated stand alone ER affiliated with the top heart hospital in Orlando just a few miles off property. So John and I hopped in the car and I drove us to the ER.
Anabelle was feeling much better so she, Matt and Natalie headed to Animal Kingdom to ride Na’vi River Journey in the standby line. I believe they waited the entire 80 minutes posted.
Meanwhile, John was immediately taken into a room at the ER and lots of testing ensued. Surprisingly, they no longer immediately do a Covid test and since he had no symptoms of that or any respiratory issues they just did the standard chest pain work up. I really have to say that the staff was amazing. The hospital was clean and modern and everyone was super efficient and friendly. All his blood work was good, thank goodness. After we waited for the second round of enzyme results to come back (they usually do the bloodwork again after two hours to make sure the heart enzyme numbers are stable to rule out a heart attack) they told us they weren’t sure why he was having pain but that he was OK to be released and suggested we follow up with his cardiologist at home. They did offer him a steroid/anti inflammatory shot but he declined so they just suggested he take some Advil to help the pain. We stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way back since John had not eaten yet and were back in the room shortly after 1pm.
Since they weren’t sure what was going to happen with John, my dad and stepmom decided not to come. I was disappointed but it turned out for the best as my dad started feeling crummy that night and they both ended up testing positive for Covid over the next few days. They are all better now.
Andrew, Rebecca, and Michelle had all stayed at the resort to rest/relax. Andrew worked out as well. John, Michelle and I decided to head to AK to meet Natalie, Anabelle, and Matt. They had waited another hour or so to ride Everest. Michelle had really wanted to see Lion King, so we all headed that way. Matt, Anabelle, and Natalie got in line and we joined them shortly thereafter. After the show, Matt, Anabelle, Michelle and Natalie headed to Epcot to meet Andrew and Rebecca for a ride on Guardians with an ILL they had purchased earlier in the day. Since John and I weren’t riding, we took a quick safari ride. Not nearly as many animals as earlier in the week but the wild dogs were very active which was cool!
We were one of the last trucks of the day, they closed the queue shortly after we got in it. We headed to the busstop and decided to catch either a Riviera or CBR bus, whichever came first. Riviera won this time and we were on the Skyliner by 6:15. We had a 6:50 ADR at Via Napoli so the IG entrance was the most convenient. Rebecca and Andrew had made it to Epcot a little earlier so Rebecca could visit the store in Japan.
She bought a few things including a fan for Andrew and a Mario in a Tanooki suit for John which they presented him at dinner!
We enjoyed our drinks, salads, calamari and pizzas and headed back to the resort after dinner. One last day to go and we wanted to be rested up!
Steps/Miles: 12,766/5.56 miles
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