NikkiMouse's Trip Report: Now with Day 4 and pictures!

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NikkiMouse's picture
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NikkiMouse's Trip Report: Now with Day 4 and pictures!

After the month that we have had and the fact that every time things seem to improve with my mom, we then take 2 steps back, we decided on going in Jan/Feb instead. This has been awesome because it has given me something to focus on rather than all the bad that has been going on.

This trip will be me, my husband (who despite his insistence that he hates Disney keeps coming along on these trips), and my little one who is 10. We might have our friends with their 2 kids joining us also, but they have not made a definite decision yet. At this point we are just making our plans and if they are joining in then they can come along on the stuff that seems interesting and if not then we can all go our own way. We talked about traveling through the parks together and decided it is much easier to let everyone kind of do their own thing and just meet for some meals and events. They are also getting the plus dinner vs. our QS plan and no park hopper for them, but we are huge fans of having a hopper.

So as of right now we have a few things definitely decided:

January 30th: Flying JetBlue to MCO. Our flight leaves bright and early at 6am just the way I like it as I love being able to be in WDW in time to eat breakfast! The plan for that day is the Magic Kingdom and we somehow managed to snap an ADR for BOG for lunch. I guess I am used to going at a busier time when snagging an ADR can be a bit more difficult. After a 6am flight we usually turn in early the first night, but we will party for as long as we can.

January 31st: Today is 3 people, 4 parks day. We had this in the plans for our October trip, so we are going to try it again. We are going to start with AK since it has AM Magic Hours. Then we will bus it to MK where we will have our FastPasses ready to go. Monorail to Epcot and then finally the boat to HS.

February 1st: Hollywood Studios today. This is my husband's favorite park, so I know he is really looking forward to that. We also have an ADR for 50's Prime Time for lunch this day. Rest of the day will be spent on rides and shows. We will also be heading to Fantasmic that night.

February 2nd: BOG for breakfast at 8:25, so I am looking forward to getting into the park before opening. I am hoping to ride Haunted Mansion many times this day and to spend time just riding the PeopleMover and relaxing!

Febraury 3rd: Minigolf at Fantasia Gardens and then ADR at Beaches and Cream. We will probably head to Epcot after that.

February 4th: Hope to start the day with some pool time and relaxing in the resort. Quick trip to Disney Springs before heading to MK for the parade and Wishes. I got FP+ for them last time, so I am hoping to score that again.

February 5th: Last day sad But luckily we have a late flight so we are able to enjoy most of the day at least one the parks. We have not spent too much time at AK up to this point, so I think that is where we are heading with maybe a quick stopover at the MK for a goodbye before we get on the MDE to head back home.

I am really looking forward to this trip, and even though it has been tough lately, I can count on my happy place to really make me happy.

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Mad Hatter's picture
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Sounds really great!! Were there any issues with delaying your trip? And how is your Mom doing?

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Allie's picture
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Boo for having to postpone but yay for having another trip to look forward too! Hope your mom is improving! crossfingers muchlove

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Mad Hatter wrote:
Sounds really great!! Were there any issues with delaying your trip? And how is your Mom doing?

Not at all. Disney was fantastic and we even added on a day! I was literally on the phone for maybe 20 minutes and it was done...no charges or anything.

My mom had a setback the other day when she had a stroke. She was doing really well and was ready to get discharged to rehab and then that happened. Right now we are waiting for her to get into a neuroscience rehab in the area and then we will see. Currently, she can speak, but does not know who she is or who anyone else is. That has been really hard to deal with.

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Allie wrote:
Boo for having to postpone but yay for having another trip to look forward too! Hope your mom is improving! crossfingers muchlove

Thanks! We have definitely experienced some more issues the past few days, but I am hoping things look up soon.

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bighug to you and your family and Mum. Hope she improves soon

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So sorry to hear about your Mom's health - I hope she continues to improve.

January/February is a great time to go to the World. Glad you were able to rearrange your trip. mickey

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Sorry about the request on your January post. I'm sorry to see that Mom has had a stroke. But it's good that it happened while she was still in the hospital and received immediate treatment. Be strong. There are lots of people on this site praying for her!

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So sorry to hear about your mom - it is really difficult to see our parents decline. Sending prayers, positivity and pixie dust your direction. stars

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Glad to see you've moved the trip forward!

My father went through something similar (he was fighting cancer and had a stroke during rehabilitation before another bout later that year). If you need someone to chat to, feel free to drop me a line on here.

And I'll be sure to post lots of photos from out trip so you can live vicariously through us! muchlove

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No trips planned currently... But we're hopeful something in 2017!!!

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Thank you, everyone! I am sad thinking we were supposed to be on a plane in three days, but I need to take care of family first and foremost.

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Nyxess wrote:
Glad to see you've moved the trip forward!

My father went through something similar (he was fighting cancer and had a stroke during rehabilitation before another bout later that year). If you need someone to chat to, feel free to drop me a line on here.

And I'll be sure to post lots of photos from out trip so you can live vicariously through us! muchlove

Thanks! I can't wait to see them! Get me a good shot of the Haunted Mansion, please! clapping clapping clapping

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Sorry to hear about your mom. Sending lots of good thoughts her way. However so excited for you and your upcoming trip! Can't wait to hear how your 4 parks in one day goes.

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Hope all is going well and that you are enjoying your new countdown

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Yay!!!! FastPass selections can be made at midnight, so I am going to set an alarm and do that. I have missed Anna and Elsa the last 2 years, and I am determined not to have that happen again.

My friends have decided to join us, so there will be 7 of us all together. We are not going to stick together the entire time though. We will have meals together and then just kind of do our own thing in the parks. It can be so hard to navigate with a larger group and we have both had experiences of trying to do that, and agree that it easier to let the families do their own things.

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Good luck with the Fastpasses!

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did you get the fp for Anna and Elsa?

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JoAnn C wrote:
did you get the fp for Anna and Elsa?

Yes!!! I am actually really happy with what I got and the times I got it. It was well worth getting up at midnight clapping clapping clapping

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Awesome plans awesome , and great fp catch! Btw, love that time of the year to visit WDW yeah

Enjoy and looking forward to your trip report and photos mickey

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Emilio wrote:
Awesome plans awesome , and great fp catch! Btw, love that time of the year to visit WDW yeah

Enjoy and looking forward to your trip report and photos mickey

Thanks! I can't wait. I was a little nervous about traveling at that time since we had never gone then, but most people seem to love it.

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I can't believe that with everything that has happened in the past few months that we are once again under 2 weeks. My mom is settled into assisted living and my best friend is going to visit her every other day when we are gone, so I can just relax and enjoy the trip. So excited!!!!!

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I am super excited for you! You have had a lot of stress and worry lately. Some Disney magic is really going to be good for ya! Glad your friend is going to help with your mom so you can enjoy your trip!

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Yay! Have a great, well deserved vacation!

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We are back from another wonderful, and tiring, trip from WDW. This was our first time staying for 7 days, and I initially thought this would give us more time to sit back and relax...it did not. Maybe one year! Our traveling group consisted of me (celebrating my birthday and a complete Disney nerd), my husband (not a huge Disney fan just gets dragged along but once he is there seems to enjoy himself), and my daughter (age 10...also a Disney nerd. Takes after mom!). Friends joined us this year though we did not stick together for the whole trip. That group consisted of Tina, Jay and their 2 kids (ages 11 and 6, both boys). We decided before we booked to do somethings together, but as they have boys it was nice for each family to kind of do their own thing too. I think it worked out really well in the end.

Saturday, January 30th:
The day started super early as we had a 6:00am flight. My daughter thought we were leaving on Monday because we needed her to actually get some sleep! I got up at 3am to get things together and then we got her up and moving. Trip to the airport and the flight was uneventful (even with my severe anxiety about flying). We flew JetBlue for the first time this year and I have to say I was very happy with all their service.

We arrived at Pop Century at 9:30am. On the way there on MDE, I was sent a text message with our room number, so we went right over there and put our carry-on bags away and just ran right back out. We then headed to the food court because I always require Mickey waffles on my first day or in this case, Pop waffles. They were delicious and as usual the service was great when it came to my allergies. I love being able to eat for an entire week out and not worry about getting sick.

Now it was onto the parks! First day was MK as usual. We had Fastpasses that day for 7DMT, BTMR, and Peter Pan's Flight. All good choices as the park was not a crowd level of 2 or 3 as predicated by most sites. It was definitely more of a 7 or 8. Lines were crazy and getting around was a bit of nightmare. I expected most of the crowds to be the international tour groups, and while they were there, I was surprised just at the amount of families there. From what I have heard January into early February tend to be lighter on the crowds. Most of the week did not really show that to be true.
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We ate lunch at BOG that day, and I was really happy with my meal as was the rest of my traveling group. It was our first time there and I enjoyed the atmosphere and attention to detail. I love a raspberry lemon desert that I could not even tell was gluten free. After our late lunch, we tried to get on a few more rides but most rides were at least a 40 minute wait and we were all exhausted, so after a quick ride on the PeopleMover we decided to head back to the resort for the movie by the pool. The kids fell asleep watching the movie, so we headed back to the rooms quite early that night and were in bed by 9pm.

More to follow....

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Sounds like a great trip so far!! awesome

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Great day one! I had a friend that was there at the same time as you and she too was shocked by the crowds since I had been sharing the crowd predictors with her prior to her trip. What a good idea to trick your daughter on the date, too! I'll have to remember that one laugh

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Okay Day 2! This was a day that I was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time...4 parks, 1 day! We started the day earlier to get into AK for extra magic hours. However, when we got there I was shocked at how packed it already was! We decided after seeing all the wait times for rides to just take the train and head over to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which was something we had never done before. My daughter really enjoyed the petting area and watching them x-ray a little monkey over in the vet area. After that we got some pictures with Chip and Dale; they were a lot of fun to meet.

At this point it was time to head to the next park which was the MK, so we grabbed the bus and headed over there. We had our FastPasses at that park, so we headed right to the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan and Pirates. With the FastPasses we managed to get all that done pretty quickly even with the parks being as busy as they were. We ate at Pecos Bills for lunch yuck yuck Never again. I do not mind QS places at all, but this place was the worst Tex-Mex I have ever had. The rice was not completely cooked, the grilled onions were just gross and the portions were so small. And even with the awful food it was so crowded that we had to stand around with our trays for 10 minutes waiting for a table. This will not be on the list for return trips.

After our not so great lunch, we hopped on the monorail for Epcot where we headed immediately to the World Showcase with a quick stop off for some Beverly, which I told my daughter was delicious!
[img][/img]

We did about half the countries and I stopped in England to grab a shot glass for a friend of mine who was watching our dog for us. By this time, I started to feel the results of packing too much into the day and felt a bit off. I blame Pecos Bills food! I sat down for a while and almost went back to the room, but my traveling group told me that I had gotten this far with our adventure that I could not give up now. I drank some water and we headed for the Friendship Boat to HS.

The boat ride definitely helped me to feel a little better, but I was still kind of iffy, but I decided to at least walk into the park to make it official and after a few minutes I started to feel a little better. My husband and daughter went on Star Tours and then we all went on the Great Movie Ride. My daughter had seen the dance party on the way in, so we headed over that way. It was a lot of fun and by this point I felt great. We had dinner at ABC Commissary. I had gluten free chicken fingers and fries. Now I know a lot of people like the table service meals better, but with Celiac I hardly ever get to eat things like chicken fingers, so for me this is a huge treat. I also had some fantastic mousse that night for dessert and they gave me a birthday cupcake, which was not gluten-free, but my daughter enjoyed eating 2 desserts that night. By this time, the Symphony in the Stars fireworks were about to start, so we stayed to watch them. I have to say even though I am not a huge fan of Star Wars they were some great fireworks. I would definitely recommend them to anyone.
[img][/img]

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You are amazing!! I don't think I could do 4 parks in one day. I have always thought it would be fun to try but don't have the nerve. My hats off to you. clapping

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jhugo wrote:
You are amazing!! I don't think I could do 4 parks in one day. I have always thought it would be fun to try but don't have the nerve. My hats off to you. clapping

It was fun but challenging! I don't think I would ever try it again!

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Day 3...or the day someone stole the castle

There was no rest for the weary as we had an ADR for BOG at 8am. So we were up and out the door and on the bus by 7:15am. I was too excited for a nearly empty stroll down Main Street to be tired after yesterday's challenge. However, the fog did put a bit of a damper on things...or did it? I feel like we got some amazing shots of Main Street with a view that most people do not get to see. You know with the castle being completely gone! It was pretty amazing actually.

BOG breakfast was yummy and I loved that they brought me out my own platter of gluten free pastries. ALL MINE!!! We had a fantasic time and were ready to head out by 8:50am. 10 minutes before I thought I would see crowds. Somehow I messed that up and when we got to 7DMT there was already a 30 minute wait, so we ran towards Frontierland and got on BTMR, which I would advise against after a rather large breakfast. yuck yuck

After that we had FastPasses for Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Pirates. We finally went to Tom Sawyer's Island, which my daughter really enjoyed! After that, the temperature really started to get up there and the sun was brutal, so we headed back to the resort for some pool time.

We never spend enough time just relaxing, so this was a great time. My daughter and I entered a trivia contest and came in first place, so my daughter was thrilled to win the big prize. I was thrilled that my Disney knowledge had finally come in handy. After our big win, we headed back to the room to get ready for Epcot.

I love Epcot at night. During the day it is okay, but at night there really is something special about it.
[img][/img]
I love this view as I wait for everyone else to get off Mothership Earth. Got stuck one time and it made me extremely claustrophobic, so I have not been on it since. I might be the only person in the world to be scared of the ride! After that we headed to see Baymax, which turned out to be my favorite meet and greet of all time. He is so squishy!!! By this time, the park really seemed to thin out crowd-wise so we rode Test Track a couple of times and just leisurely walked around.

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What did you guys win at the trivia contest?