Post-Trip Report: Kelly’s Shades of Green Split Stay (May/June 2026)

[00:00:11] Welcome to Where I Long To Be, a Magical Trip Report Podcast. My name is Virginia and I am your host. Thanks for tuning in for this week's Post-Trip Report. If you have not yet left a review for the show, or if you have left one but it's been a long time, I would love to get some new reviews. You can do that on the podcast app that you're listening on right now. If you'd like, you can also leave a review on my website, which is whereilongtobepodcast.com.

[00:00:37] The best ways to support the show are through reviews, engagement on my social media channels, and sharing the show with friends. Thank you to everybody who's listening right now and I really appreciate your support and I hope I do get some new reviews. As a reminder, my voicemail inbox on my website is open for questions, feedback, hot takes, and more. You can find that on my website again, which is whereilongtobepodcast.com by clicking on the Send Virginia a Voice Message button on the right side of the screen.

[00:01:07] Any message you leave may be used for the podcast and I'd love to hear from you. And now let's get into this week's Trip Report. Kelly and her family were traveling down to Walt Disney World from Ohio. This included her husband Chris, son Patton, who is 12, and daughter Grace, who is 8. They were doing a split stay between Caribbean Beach and Shades of Green. In case you didn't listen to the pre-trip episode, I do want to be sensitive to my listeners and give a trigger warning for child loss,

[00:01:36] which sadly Kelly and Chris have experienced. It does get brought up in the episode just for a minute or two after we discuss them writing Figment. So if that might be hard for you when you get to the mention of Figment, you'll want to skip forward just a couple of minutes and that will get you through it. And now let's get into this amazing trip. Please welcome back to the show, Kelly. Kelly. Welcome back, Kelly. Hello. It's good to be back.

[00:02:03] I think you are wearing a Roosevelt shirt. Am I right? Yes. So I wore this for you because this is like the men's like stretchy, but it's cute on me. Yes. I don't know. Maybe not right this second. I'm chuckling to myself because that's the exact same one I have. Oh, I was I just thought, well, maybe if she sizes down or something, she would like it.

[00:02:30] I mean, I have lost weight since I ordered it, but not that much. I mean, like I've been on a journey for since the beginning of the pandemic. So like I look totally different than I did at the beginning of the pandemic, but it's been like very long process. And when I ordered that, I was not that much bigger than I am right now. And it was just the boxiness. And I think it's because how my curves are.

[00:02:58] It's just like I have to have certain necklines and stuff. Otherwise, it's like that's all you can see. And so I feel like it just looks very rectangly. So I took it over to my friend Jeanette's because Jeanette is a seamstress extraordinaire. She does all these like vintage fits and her own makes when she goes to Disney for Dapper Day and all that kind of stuff. And I can sew. I have sewn. But that is very stretchy material.

[00:03:24] And if you do so, you know that sewing on very stretchy material like that is challenging. Yes. And she had a serger. And I technically own a serger, but I've never once used it. So I don't know how. And I was like, it's just safer. Let Jeanette help me. And she helped me. And it is taken in on the sides. But it is still, I think it's my height in this case. Like it's still way too long. That's a bummer. It looks a little bit like a dress on me. That's not good. Well, I like mine. I want another one.

[00:03:54] Yeah. The size wore off, so I can't see what size it is. So I'm like afraid to order another one because I want this size. Yeah. I think my next move will be, should I just shorten it? Should I just hem the bottom? Yes. Because it's too expensive not to wear. And I love it. I ordered it for a reason. That is such a cute pattern. It's the best one. And for listeners who are like, why are you talking about something I can't see? I will put a link if they, obviously they still have it if you've looked at it recently.

[00:04:23] I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes. Obviously, I don't have any kind of relationship with the Roosevelt's. But I do like their stuff. I just wish they had better sizing for women. But you'll see the pattern is so cute. It's like, it looks like it's hand-drawn. Yeah. Like black and white art. Yeah. That's cute. Yeah. So I think you're inspiring me now that I see you in it. I'm like, I need to take the time to shorten it.

[00:04:52] Because at the time that I made the alteration to it, I thought it was only how big it was on the sides. Now I've decided. No, it's more than that. It's the length too. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm not going to be wearing it. Best wishes to you and your hoodie. Thank you. And I will not be wearing it during the heat of summer. So there's no rush on this project. So I'm going to give myself some grace to actually move forward with this when I have time. Which may not be anytime soon. That's okay. All right.

[00:05:21] Enough with Roosevelt's slash seamstress talk. Let's talk Disney. Let's talk magic. Let's talk some things that I've never gotten to talk to people about before. Which is a resort that is new to me. But first, let's dive into your travel. So you were heading down to Orlando from Columbus, Ohio. How was your travel down to Orlando? It was great. We flew Allegiant, which I had never flown before.

[00:05:50] And the Columbus airport that Allegiant flies out of is literally the smallest airport I've ever seen. I think there are two gates. It's there are two desks for two different airlines. I forget what the other airline is. I don't even know. But you just go up a little escalator. I mean, you can be from the check-in through security to your gate in like two minutes. It's so easy. So that was wonderful.

[00:06:18] And then we flew into Sanford, which I had never done before either. And I had heard that that's a small airport. And I didn't know how small it was. And I was a little worried that a Lyft could take a while or an Uber. So I had pre-booked my Lyft, which I had never done before. And then after I pre-booked it, I saw that it said it would arrive like 55 minutes after we landed. And I was like, oh no, I don't want to be at the airport for 55 minutes.

[00:06:44] But that's, I think, what they tell you when you book. But when we got to the area where they pick up, you can say, I'm ready. And our Lyft was there within six minutes. So that was really easy. It was, I don't think I needed to pre-book either though, because it was kind of close to the size of the Columbus airport, I feel like. Maybe a little bit smaller. But it wasn't like, you know, out in the middle of nowhere.

[00:07:13] There was a lot of in and out traffic. And I think we would have been fine without pre-booking. But have you pre-booked when you've gone into MCO before? No, because that's pretty easy to get an Uber. And then we've used mirrors here and there just because it's cost effective and easier with the luggage. You don't have to worry if it's all going to fit in Uber. Right. Yeah. I nearly always pre-book my Lyft to go to the airport.

[00:07:44] Okay. I have never once thought about doing it at the end of the flight. But you've given me something to think about. Yeah. Because sometimes I've had to wait at MCO for a Lyft. Like you think, oh, there's tons of them around. But depending on when you're landing and stuff, I've had to wait a good amount of time for one to show up, you know, because they have to finish a ride or whatever. And then if they need to do the loop again, that loop takes a little bit of time. A while. Yeah.

[00:08:14] And then you're sitting there on the app watching them circle. Oh, my goodness. You're like, come on. You can do it. Yes. And if you've got a plan, you want to get to your hotel and get to a park or reservation. You want to go. You don't want to be at the airport. Right. Exactly. All right. So you were hoping to arrive around 2 p.m. at your resort. What time did you actually pull up? 1-11. We made excellent time. Yeah. When we got there, I wasn't sure if my location was turned on.

[00:08:43] And because I had heard a lot of people say, oh, as soon as we got to the resort, our room was ready. Well, ours was not. So I stood in a really long line just to check in because I wanted a specific room. And I just thought I'd have a better chance if I talked to someone, which I did. I talked to a very nice man. And he asked exactly what I wanted, what floor, what building. And he said, OK, let me see if it's available. And he called. And it was available. And our room was ready.

[00:09:13] So we could just head right over there. So that was really nice. So now you have to share this information with us because I am not a big Caribbean beach person. I've stayed there once. And I know that I think they've done a renovation since I had stayed there. Or I need to give it another try. But it is a big resort. And so there are people, A, who love Caribbean beach and are real devotees. And there are people who are like, oh, it's so big.

[00:09:41] I don't even know how to navigate it or where to even request so that I'm in a good section. So if you have a section that you like, you don't have to tell us the exact room number if you want to keep that to yourself. But what section should we be aiming for? I don't know what it was called. But I wanted building 45. Because it's right across the bridge from the main lobby. And then you can just kind of cut through the parking lot to the Skyliner at Caribbean beach.

[00:10:10] And then even on our last day, we walked to Riviera. And it was still a really short walk. There was a Coke machine in the building next door. And I'm a Diet Coke person. So that is like essential to life. I don't do coffee. But I do Diet Coke. So I thought the location was great. We were just kind of right in the middle. But I don't think we were in that preferred room status. So but I don't know if every room has the fifth sleeper.

[00:10:38] But we had a fifth sleeper, which was wonderful for my son to have his own. So there was no like infighting between the kids. And that was really nice to have that. I'm not sure if that was just a little upgrade or if every room has the fifth sleeper. But we had one. I don't know that every room has one. But I feel like I spoke to somebody.

[00:11:01] I want to say it might have been my girl Molly, who has been on the show before and who is my travel agent for my upcoming universal portion of my next trip. I think it might have been her. If it's not, apologies to whoever actually told me about it. But I think it is. I think it's one particular section. So I just pulled up the map and Building 45 is in the Jamaica section.

[00:11:24] So if you are looking at the Caribbean Beach Resort map listeners, what I'm noticing is that they have also noted on their map, probably because it's such a big resort, where the freestyle stations are. So there is literally a Coke logo on the building next to Building 45.

[00:11:43] So if you want to select a building from across the resort property, you should be able to see how far you are away from Diet Coke or Coke Zero or Coke Zero with peach flavor added or whatever you want. Cherry vanilla. Yes. I also thought 44 would have been good because I really had to take a very long path, even though it was a straight shot. I could almost see the Coke machine from our balcony, but I had to meander to get there.

[00:12:11] So 44 is not much farther from everything. It might be even a little closer to the Skyliner, but it has the Coke machine. Well, and I can tell you because I'm looking here at the map, Building 44 is directly between two buildings that have Coke machines. Oh, okay. And it's close to a quiet pool. Yes. Okay. All right. This is helping. All right. Thank you for that information.

[00:12:37] That goes across the water is crucial because then you can get to the lobby just in a couple of minutes. It was very easy. Right. So when I had stayed here, the one time I had stayed here, I was in the Trinidad section, I believe, because we were below where the Skyliner station was. I'm looking at them. Am I looking at this in the right way? I think I am. Yes.

[00:13:04] And so we had to cross the road that the Skyliner is on and walk quite a ways to Old Port Royale, which is their main building. Yes. And that's a long way to go to get to the main pool and the store and all that kind of stuff. Yes. All right. How did you feel about the resort overall? We loved it. So that was a surprise that we were going there.

[00:13:28] I told my husband the night before because I said, I think some of the things I'm telling you about tomorrow aren't adding up. And I just want you to know that we're actually not starting at Shades of Green. And he was like, you're giving me way too much credit. I had no idea that something was amiss. But the kids were surprised. Even my son on the drive, he's like, why are we pulling in here? And we were just like, we don't know. So that was fun because he had really wanted to be on the Skyliner.

[00:13:54] So, I mean, just being on the Skyliner for me is one of the best ways to do Disney. So we loved that. And we enjoyed the pool. So I will say just compared to Shades of Green, our room was so small. I don't know if we could have maybe done three nights. I don't think we could have done more than three nights knowing that that bigger room was available for the same price. But it was wonderful for a short stay. And I did ask my husband.

[00:14:24] I said, at the end of the trip, I said, what do you think? Skyliner resorts are not Skyliner. And he said, if you're doing a quick trip, I think you have to stay on the Skyliner. But if you're going for a long time, it's okay to be somewhere else. So I think I agree with him that if it was a short stay, we would want to be in one of those resorts. But we loved it. It was great. We're easy to please, though. And I think if you're looking to stay on the Skyliner and save a little bit of money,

[00:14:50] maybe you would save enough doing Pop Century that you could justify getting to connecting rooms or something like that. And then you have a little bit more space. Or you could do a family suite at Art of Animation. So we actually are going back on July 31st with my brother and sister-in-law and their son. And my husband's not coming. And we're staying in a car suite. We got one of the really good deals. So we're going to be crammed in like sardines. But we will be on the Skyliner.

[00:15:20] And my nephew's four. So it should be really fun to be. So I will have some experience with that soon. Good. Oh, my God. That's amazing. Yeah. All right. So your first night here, you were talking about, well, I should say afternoon and night because of what time you arrived. You talked about maybe getting lunch with the Riviera, maybe going to activate your tickets, which were, as a reminder for listeners, the special 250th anniversary of the United States.

[00:15:48] It was a special ticket for the military that is available. And so what did you end up deciding to do that afternoon before your Sebastian's dinner reservation? So we took the Skyliner to Epcot because this ticket is for the whole year of 2026. We thought we have to go into a park, just even if it's just to have lunch. So and I wanted to rope drop the next day. So I didn't want to have any trouble with tickets.

[00:16:16] I didn't want to have to be doing any fingerprinting in the morning. So we went to guest services at Epcot. The tickets did not need to be activated. But I did buy Memory Maker because you can buy military Memory Maker for $98. So we went ahead and purchased that. And then we went into Epcot and just walked over to England and got fish and chips. And we had the quick service dining plan.

[00:16:40] So my husband and I had whatever lager they serve there, which I would have not normally had. But we have to, you know, make the most of our dining plan. And then we headed out of Epcot. On the way out, my husband bought my son this Donald Duck hat. And my son is 12. And it's got like two bills to look like a duck.

[00:17:09] And my son just unironically wore that hat for like the whole vacation. And I just thought it was super cute and super fun that he would even want to wear that hat. So that was a really fun start. I came out of the bathroom. I saw my husband talking to someone. I was like, did my husband see someone he knows here? And then I was like, oh my gosh, that's my son wearing a duck hat. Where did my son get a duck hat? So that was funny. Well, you said Patton is 12.

[00:17:37] And that's that in-between age. And it's like sometimes they seem so grown up. And sometimes they let their inner kid come out. And that's amazing. I love that he was willing to wear the duck hat. He also, I should point out, is two years into his life as a Disney adult. So did you take advantage of the beverage that came with his quick service dining?

[00:18:02] Not his, but I will say Fish and Chips is one of the places that doesn't have kids meals. So I think I used two kids meals for our fish and chips. So you basically, you're using a kids meal, but you're getting that $14, $15 meal. So that's why we only got two drinks, but we were able to get rid of two of the kids meals. So then if Gracie wanted to order something on the adult menu later, she could. Okay. Sounds smart. Okay.

[00:18:32] Yes. Oh, and while we were there, right when we got there, Captain Hook was wandering around. And Gracie used to be obsessed with Peter Pan. And she had her little cast that kind of looked like a hook. And so he kind of took her and walked her around. And we said she got kidnapped by Captain Hook, which was her like toddler dream come true. She loved to pretend like she was getting kidnapped by pirates and then would get rescued by Peter Pan. So that was really fun.

[00:19:02] That is so funny. Yeah. And then after we ate our fish and chips, we went back to Caribbean Beach and the kids swam. And we just hung out and got ready for dinner. And then we had dinner at Sebastian's. Mm-hmm. How was that? Because Sebastian's, I love. It's a little bit more adventurous for adventurous palates because it's Caribbean food. Were the kids into it? Yeah. They loved it. Our kids are pretty adventurous.

[00:19:31] We really liked the pork and the beef. I mean, everything was good. I could have had more of a lot of things. But it was really good. We all very much enjoyed it. Did you go back into the resort at all to do any firework watching that night? No, because we were only going to, I was only passionate about rope dropping two days. And that next day was one of the rope drop days. So I just wanted us fresh, ready to go.

[00:20:01] We just kind of wandered around the resort. There was a dance party that Grace was not into, but we kind of watched it. And then we headed back to our room. Okay. All right. So let's get into Tuesday, May the 26th, which was another Epcot day, but this time rope dropping. So how did you do with your rope drop? Pretty good. I got up early to fill up my Diet Coke and was taken aback at that Skyliner moving already.

[00:20:30] It was like 645. And I had not paid attention to this time that Hollywood Studios was opening, but it opened really early that day because it was the first day of Rock and Roller Coaster. So I was thinking we would be arriving at the Skyliner when it opened. So we would be kind of getting to the back of Epcot, like pretty close to the front of the line. But that Skyliner was running for an hour before we even got on it. So it was fine.

[00:21:00] The line was not that bad, but I was still, it kind of took some pressure off of the morning because I was like, well, the Skyliner's running. So we'll get there when we get there. People who are in front of us are going to be in front of us. And it was totally fine. So when we got into Epcot, we went straight to Remy's because I wanted to get that one in first. And we were in line at 8.

[00:21:27] And right at 8.30 when it should have opened, they made an announcement that there would be a temporary delay. But pretty much everyone in the line, I think, had committed at that point. You know, what are you going to do? You're going to run to another ride and maybe it's down or be in the back of that rope drop line. So we decided to wait and the line started moving at 8.36. So we were very happy. That was good. Yeah. Thank goodness. Yes. Yeah.

[00:21:57] And by this point in time, listeners will have already heard the episode of mine and Jeanette's episode where we decided to stay in a line for Big Thunder and eventually had to abandon. And we were in it for like an hour. It's such a gamble. You don't know what to do. And they won't give you any information. No. No. It's frustrating. I mean, you just have to make the best decision you can and be okay with if you leave the line and 10 minutes later you see that it was, you know, up and running again.

[00:22:26] You have to be okay with the decision you made. Yes. Yes. So everyone loved Ratatouille. Grace, I started asking the kids how much they liked the rides and Grace gave it a 9. Patton gave it a 10. But that was the first ride. So it was high ranks. After that, we went to France and got some breakfast, which was wonderful. And while we were there, I remarked that if I did not get that like white chocolate dome

[00:22:56] before we left, that the trip would not have been worth it. And I never went back and got that dome, which is why I'm glad I get to go back in July. But our breakfast pastries were delicious and everyone was very happy. After that, we headed over to Figment. We had a lightning lane. And Grace was so mad and lying. We were doing an educational ride and she was complaining the whole time. I don't want to do this ride.

[00:23:25] I can't believe we're going to have to learn while we're here. And when she got off the ride, she said it was her favorite ride ever, which just cracked me up because I was like, I mean, it's funny, but it's fun. But she really loved Figment. Okay. Next, we went and saw the butterflies. One of the symbols for my daughter's life is a butterfly. The Children's Hospital that we have here, that's their symbol.

[00:23:54] And we put butterflies in a lot of our things. So that's really fun. To go see the butterflies and especially white butterflies. Because Patton was just a couple years old when she was three when she passed away. But that spring, he would say, oh, there's a white butterfly. That's Allie. So white butterflies are Allie. So we had to see the butterflies. So sweet. Yes. And then after that, it was the opening day for Soarin'. I don't know if Soarin' over America or across America.

[00:24:25] You know what? I don't know. I look it up every time because I can't remember. Soarin'. Okay, I'm Googling Soarin' across America. Yes, it is across. Okay. So I did not think we would get a lightning lane for this this day. We were using Weight Magic. And originally, my lightning lane was for 3.30. But by that day, it had modified it all the way up until 10.30.

[00:24:53] Which I kind of wanted to make a loop around the World Showcase that day. I did not want to be crisscrossing. So I thought, well, that's perfect. We can go on opening day. That's kind of fun. So we got to ride the new Soarin'. We really liked it. I loved it. But I think there could be even more with America or with transitions or something.

[00:25:21] It was wonderful. There's just something missing. We have a really beautiful and diverse countryside. I just wonder, could they have done more? I don't know. But it was lovely. We liked it. I have a couple questions because I haven't gotten to see it yet. So my problem with Soarin' over California is the transitions because they're very abrupt. And Soarin' around the world, they're very smooth.

[00:25:50] Like something flies up in front of the camera and suddenly you're in. And I like that. So were the transitions abrupt for Soarin' around the world? Yes, I think it was the transitions that were kind of throwing me off. Each scene was beautiful. And the sights and the smells and the sounds were all amazing. But just sometimes it would be like, wait, no, go back. Or how did we get here? I don't know. All right.

[00:26:19] Second question because I cannot recall Soarin'. Across California. Now I'm like across, over. Who knows? Was the music the same as the normal Soarin' for the America version? I don't think I would know what the original Soarin' music was. So I don't think I would recognize it in a second iteration. All right. I will be interested to see what that is. Because I like the original music.

[00:26:48] But I also could see them doing something unique for this. Yes. A lot of times my mom is with us and she is the funniest person to ride Soarin' with because she is acting like she is actually on a hang glider about to smash into the Statue of Liberty. And she like screams the whole time. So everyone always fights over who gets to sit next to her own Soarin'. So that's usually my soundtrack. That's funny. Where did you head after that?

[00:27:17] So after that, we just went right to Living with the Land. White Magic got us a lightning lane for that. But I think I could have gotten it myself. The kids were a little like, seriously, you're making us go on this. But we said, this is a great opportunity to take a break. So my son loves fishing and he got to see some fish. So it was fine by the end. And how did Gracie feel about it? Because this is a lot of learning.

[00:27:45] Well, she is not usually anti-learning, but she gave it a six. Patton gave it a five. She liked the flowers, but I think they were just ready to be out and about at Disney. I'm not sure they wanted to be on a slow boat ride listening to organic farming practices. I mean, when you put it that way. Exactly. Yeah, so we got a little break. That was wonderful.

[00:28:15] After that, we headed over to Frozen because we had a lightning lane and we got there at 12. And we were off the ride and through the shop by 12.20. And I think the standby time was like 60 minutes. So that was wonderful. I love that ride. And we saw the new animatronics and they were really great. And yeah, super fun. After that, this was the only time we doubled back.

[00:28:42] We went back to Mexico to eat at La Cantina. Is that it? Yeah, I think it's La Cantina de San Angel. Everything has very similar names over there. Okay. Well, we ate at the Mexico quick service. And we were... Usually I kind of stand in line. I like to manage everything. And my husband and the kids go off to find a table. They couldn't find a table. But then the lady who was working said, well, you can go inside, which we would have never known.

[00:29:11] And so that was so nice to get to go inside the restaurant and be in the air conditioning and eat. So that was nice. I was glad that she... I was glad he couldn't find a table. So after that, we did the Grand Fiesta tour. It had just started to rain. So that was perfect. Like, we got into the pavilion right as it started raining. So we still got to the front of the line before all the people escaping the rain could get in there and get in line. So that was really excellent timing.

[00:29:39] And by the time we were out, there was no rain anymore. So that was wonderful. Yeah. So the goal for the rest of the day was just to do as many countries as we could. We really only got to China and Japan, but that was okay. They had so much fun in those stores and walking around. Patton was really into getting the different snacks.

[00:30:04] So he got shrimp chips in China and these super cola things in Japan. And the super cola things may be one of the funniest things from the whole trip. They're these hard candies, and it's like the most sour thing I've ever eaten, which we thought it would taste like pop. And so when everyone put one in their mouth, I'm like cracking up because they're all making these faces.

[00:30:33] And they can't tell me what's going on. And then eventually they start to taste lemony, but then some stuff fizzes out of them. They're wild, and they're really fun. My son actually ended up buying another pack of them. He loved them so much. The bag looks like a cartoon, and it says, Oh, noble. One person saying that, and the other person saying, Oh, cola. And we just say that to each other all the time now. Like, Oh, noble. What does that even mean?

[00:31:03] I don't know. So that was just really fun. And Gracie found lots of things that she wanted in Japan. And since she was worried about Guardians, they selected something that she would get after Guardians if she successfully wrote it. So she put in her request. Okay. Yeah.

[00:31:26] And then we headed back to the Skyliner and went back to the room around three so we could just nap and rest before our evening at Hollywood Studios. All right. So given that you mentioned that this was the first day of the newly muppetized rock and roller coaster, how were the crowds over in Hollywood Studios? Was it more busy overall?

[00:31:52] Or was everybody in that area anyway so the rest of the park was pretty manageable? I don't even think I really noticed the rock and roller coaster crowds. We didn't go to the right at all. The only thing I noticed is in the past, I've used Standby Skipper, and I've always been able to just get a slinky dog. And I was hoping to do all of Toy Story and Star Wars, and I never got that slinky dog. So that might have played into that crowd piece a little bit more.

[00:32:22] They might not have been dropping as many lightning lanes through the day, but I was holding a space open for it all day long, and I never got it. So that was a bummer, but it did not seem overly crowded. Okay. And same with Epcot. With the Soarin first day, I thought that the land pavilion might be crazy, but it was not. It was actually just seemed like a normal day. I guess maybe people weren't as excited about that one. Yeah. Who knows? Yeah.

[00:32:51] So when we got there, we had a 530 Toy Story, 630 Millennium Falcon, and a 9 o'clock Runaway Railway. But that... Runaway Railway. I know. It ended up getting modified up much earlier, which is what I really like about Weight Magic. It's even if, okay, well, we could do that at 9, but maybe it'll get us something sooner. And it did, which is just so nice. Mm-hmm.

[00:33:19] Can I ask, because I am considering using this for my July trip, are you able to clearly identify the things that you're hoping to get moved earlier versus something where you're like, no, I for sure want this to stay where it is? Yes. Yes, because you set up different searches for each thing that you have. So if I already had a Soarin' booked, I might set up a search that says,

[00:33:47] modify up to the earliest time available, where it would just keep modifying it as it can to that time. But once it's at a time that you like, you can just pause that search, or just cancel it, and then it doesn't search for it anymore. So there's a lot of ins and outs. I joined their Facebook page, and you just have to kind of think critically when you're setting up your searches. What am I telling this program to do?

[00:34:16] And, I mean, we had pretty good success with it. Our next day, I think, was our best day, and I do have in my notes some of the texts that Weight Magic sent me just to show how I was able to modify and book the rides that we wanted. Since we have that year pass, I signed up for the year of Weight Magic. So as soon as I booked my Lightning Lanes, I had it searching for that better soaring time.

[00:34:42] And another thing it does is at 12.01 a.m. on your park day is when you're allowed to make your Lightning Lanes start to overlap. So at 12.01, while you're fast asleep, if you have, say, a 10 o'clock aerial and a 9 o'clock dumbo, but you know you can do both of those within 10 minutes, you can tell it, hey, trying to move my aerial up so by the time you head to Magic Kingdom, you might have a 9 o'clock dumbo and a 9.05 aerial.

[00:35:12] Okay. So then it can bring them up together and move them and overlap them. All right. And we really took advantage of the unofficial two-hour time window, and we were very successful. Every time I would, right before we'd tap in, I'd say, no, it might not turn green. And it always did. So when they were clumped up like that, it was so nice because then I could just start making new ones. Okay.

[00:35:43] Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm set on getting it. I was just trying to debate whether I should do like the one-month version or whether I should just go ahead and get the whole year since I have an annual pass anyway. So, yeah, it might be nice to have the whole year since I go down enough. I mean, if you use it once, it's basically free your next trip, right? That's true. That's true. I love that, Disney math. Uh-huh. It works every time. This evening, you had an Ogas reservation.

[00:36:11] So how did all the shifting of the lightning lanes work with that? Yeah. So we went straight to Toy Story Mania. And after that, we got off at 615. I think our Ogas wasn't until like 850. Mm-hmm. And we had a little bit of time before our next lightning lane. And so we decided to try Rise of the Resistance without a lightning lane. It said that it was a 55-minute wait.

[00:36:39] And we were off the ride in 40 minutes. And that's a long ride. So our wait was maybe 20. It was really strange. When you go on the transport vehicle, there were like 10 people on the vehicle with us, which in my experience, it's pretty crowded in there. So, yeah, I'm not sure what was going on, but that line did not stop moving. And we were on and off that ride. So we were so glad we did not buy a lightning lane for that. Mm-hmm.

[00:37:08] And Gracie loved it, which was funny because she doesn't really like super intense rides, but she was just in a mood where she was having fun with Star Wars things with Patton. And she's now still saying that that was her favorite ride, which if she would have been in a different mood, she would not have liked it. So, I mean, okay, first Figment is her favorite ride. Yeah. Uh-huh. Then Rise of the Resistance. Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. So funny.

[00:37:38] And then after that, we did the Millennium Falcon. And my husband and son are really good pilots. Like if anybody ever wants to get a great score, they should recruit them. And Gracie and I are pretty good gunners now, too. I think we rode that three times by the end of the trip. And almost every time the person who led us out of our spacecraft said that they had done some excellent flying. So that was pretty fun. I don't think I've ever once had anybody say that to me. Yeah.

[00:38:07] So I don't know. We took pictures of their scores. We never actually looked them up to confirm that they were good. But we were, I was not even jostling around in the Millennium Falcon during our trip. So it was very smooth. After that, we had dinner at Docking Bay 7. And then we had our Mickey and Minnie lightning lane. And then after that was when we went to Oga's. Which, so it was kind of towards the end of the night.

[00:38:34] The bartender, it was, there were not very many people in there. We were at the bar. Which Gracie comes up to like, maybe her forehead comes above the bar. So she was sitting on the little foot rail. But the bartender was like harassing her. And it was really funny. They were having some fun with her. And if you have kids in there, the servers do not like being paid with the rodent credits.

[00:39:04] So the kids thought that was really funny. She would like barely touch our Disney gift card. She was holding it like it was stinky. And the kids thought that was so funny. That is funny. Yeah. Okay. So that was the end of your night? Yes, that was pretty much it. We got some funnel cakes and some soft serve. And we headed out. And as we were heading out, we were like, oh no, Fantasmic is also heading out. But it was fine. It was not an overly long wait for the Skyliner.

[00:39:34] And it's just nice because that line moves no matter what. It's not like a bus when you're just wondering, when will it come? Will I be on this bus? You know, there's no anxiety. You just, you're in the line. And so, yeah. It's fine. Yeah. I think it does move fast. And for whatever reason, I always feel like Hollywood Studios is better than the one over at Epcot. That station at Epcot. I know it's got to be moving the same speed, right? Right. That's all Skyliner. You think so? I don't know.

[00:40:03] Maybe it's just perception because there is that incline up so you can't see as well. I don't know. All right. So Wednesday, May the 27th. This was the day that you were transferring over to Shades of Green. Yes. You had mentioned to me when we spoke the first time that sometimes they will transfer your luggage from Bell Services at a Disney resort over to Shades of Green. But Shades of Green typically will not transfer to a Disney resort if you're doing it the opposite direction.

[00:40:32] So did you have any luck with luggage transfer? Yes. They were more than happy to take our luggage, which was such a relief. So they even came to our room in the morning. They came like 20 minutes early and we were like, oh, we're not ready. But yeah, they came to our room and they picked up our luggage, which was so nice to not have to take it back across the bridge. And yeah, that was wonderful. Now, in the past, when they used to take your luggage from the airport, one time we had

[00:41:01] plans and we didn't know how long it took. So we packed a bag with our everything we wanted for the evening and like everybody's like iPad or Kindle or whatever. And we took that to Hollywood Studios with us and we just got a locker as soon as we walked in. So we knew when we left Hollywood Studios, we would at least have like whatever we needed to freshen up or so we didn't all have to agree on a TV show once we were in our Shades hotel. So Chris did get stopped at security for a while.

[00:41:31] They had to thoroughly examine his bag. But that was the only time we got stopped. So we were pretty proud of that. And we knew we would get stopped because he was carrying like five electronics. Okay. So how did he not get stopped anywhere else? Did he stop taking... Oh, because it was all the iPads. Yeah. It was just all the iPads that we wanted to put in the locker. So yeah. Yeah. But that worked out really well. We had to put iPads out in front of you as you go through the scanner.

[00:42:01] Right. We were like, we'll just let him search this bag. We were not aiming for a rope drop. We were just getting there when we got there. Yeah. All right. How was Hollywood Studios on this day? It was wonderful. I will say before that we went to Riviera and I got the banana bread and it was delicious. So thank you for that recommendation because I probably would have like hemmed and hawed and picked something I ended up regretting, but I just got the banana bread. I loved it. Chris loved the coffee.

[00:42:31] Kids love their food. It was great. Okay. New recommendation for the next time you go because the banana bread holds a special place in my heart, but I recently tried the raspberry brioche. I was looking at that. And it is also so good. Okay. So next time you might want to consider trying that. It is pretty big though. So I think like when Jeanette and I went on our trip, we split that and then we split something else for breakfast.

[00:42:58] And I think splitting it was a good way to go if you don't want quite so much sugar right at the beginning of the day. Cause the banana bread, yes, it has sugar, but it's fruit. It's fruit. Yes. It's essential to my diet. Yeah. It just happens to have chocolate chips in it. Yeah. No, I, I ate that whole thing. I don't know if anyone would look at me sideways for that, but I felt great. I did not feel like I had eaten, you know, a donut. I felt good. Yeah. So it was great.

[00:43:29] Um, we got to Hollywood studios around between nine 30 and 10 and we, um, had our first lightning lane at star tours. And after the super fun star Wars experience last night, Patton had already wanted to build a lightsaber, but Gracie also wanted to build one, um, in that gift shop. When you get out of star tours, the little plastic ones. So they built their lightsabers and had so much fun.

[00:43:56] Um, after that, our day went off the rails a little bit. We headed over to Mickey and Minnie's for our lightning lane. Um, but it was down. So we had, it had not yet converted to an any time. And we had some time then between that point. And when Patton and Chris were supposed to build the lightsaber at Savvy's. So we were kind of like, Oh, what do we do? Well, everyone really likes star tours.

[00:44:26] It always has a short line. Let's just go back there, write it again. Because every time you get a different like combination of things. Yeah. Yeah. So we get back in line at star tours and I'm taking pictures of Gracie because the lighting was really good. And I said, Oh, Grace, where's your backpack? And it was a rose gold lounge fly and it was no longer on her person. So we're like, and this was the first time we didn't have a stroller.

[00:44:51] So both kids had to carry backpacks and they did a great job. And this was the only incident we had, but we did not want to lose that backpack. So I got out of line and started retracing our steps. They just stayed in line. Somebody sent me to one guest services place at kind of the middle of Hollywood studios. And I waited a very long line because Mickey and Minnie's was down. So everyone wanted to know about their lightning lanes.

[00:45:20] And I don't think anyone's was converting because ours wasn't converting either. So when I got there, she said, you don't really want to be here to ask about the backpack. You have to go to the guest services in the front of the park. And I said, well, while I'm here, this hasn't converted and we're not doing much more here at Hollywood studios, but we were planning on going to magic kingdom that evening. So I asked if she could make it in any time for magic kingdom. And she was very happy to do that. So that did work out.

[00:45:50] So after that, they were off of Star Tours and I had to run to them to let Patton know that he got to build the lightsaber. And the boys went off to go do that. And Gracie and I were going to have girl time, which she was super excited about. We just couldn't focus. We went to the new animation courtyard. It was so cute. Rapunzel's like sitting in the courtyard braiding girls' hair and like Pluto or Goofy's like jump roping and Chippendale are out. And it was adorable. And I... On earth. This sounds amazing.

[00:46:20] Oh, yes. Yeah. There was like characters everywhere and like games and Mulan's out. So neither of us could focus on not having that backpack. So we were like, let's just stop. Let's go to the front of the park. Let's see if they have a backpack. And that's what we did. And they had the backpack. Oh, thank goodness. And so... Wait, where was it left? I don't know. I didn't even ask. Okay. It was...

[00:46:45] Every place I went, I asked the cast members and everyone was like, no, we haven't seen that. Because we had gotten a snack and the kids had played lightsabers while we were waiting around by Mickey and Minnie. So we've just been to a few different places. So... It could have been anywhere. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you found it. Yes. And I just want to go like rewind back in time. I don't know, 15 seconds ago to acknowledge your unintentional pun when you said you were going to Mickey and Minnie's and that's where things went off the rails. So...

[00:47:15] Sorry. I can't focus until I acknowledge. I'm a wordsmith. That was amazing. Thank you. All right. Yeah. We had a backpack incident with Alex when he was little one time where we were eating Dole Whip. And he just like had taken it off and was sitting sort of like in the planter behind him. Yes. And we ended up going over to do something and we were kind of like halfway across the park.

[00:47:43] And it's the only time I've really ever truly run. And it was because I was like I knew exactly where it was. And the funny thing is is while I was doing this sprint down that like wooden walkway in Magic Kingdom like that goes in front of the river and everything, I passed people I knew from home. And you're like, hey! And I was just like, I gotta go. I was like, we lost a backpack. I'll text you. Right.

[00:48:10] Because you even want to get it before the Good Samaritan finds it and turns it in and then you have to go wait. Which I am thankful someone turned it in. But... Because I think the fear is it's... I mean, it's good that it made it to the front of the park. But sometimes depending on the timing, it like goes to a central Austin Fountain place. And then it's going to take you even longer to get it back. So as soon as you realize something's missing, it's better to just go try to settle it as if you can. Right. Yes. So we were very lucky. Gracie was really happy.

[00:48:39] So we decided to reward ourselves by getting shopping a little bit and watching the Little Mermaid show. But we shopped too long. We waited for like 15 minutes in the Little Mermaid show line. And we were the... There was one party in front of us when they said, we're full. So... Been there. Our girl's day is... Literally in that situation. We got key chains, but we did not get to see the show.

[00:49:05] So I drug her by her cast, like walking, speed walking, because the Frozen show was starting really soon. And I'm like, we just... If we can get into the Frozen show, this will not be a complete just waste of time. And we made it. And I love the Frozen show. I may be one of the only people on earth who like cries during the whole thing. But I did see that for the first time with Allie. And we did not know it was going to snow when we saw that. So it just brings up a lot of memories. And I just like...

[00:49:35] So... Yeah. Love it. So we had fun doing that. But that was the end of our girl's time. Salvaged. Somewhat. She says, when we go back, are we going to get our girl's time? I'm like, I will try. Well, how was Patton's lightsaber blowing experience? Oh, they had a great time. I don't know. He's... The crystals and all this and that. And this person's crystal. I'm like, oh, great. So happy. But he had a really fun time.

[00:50:03] I think he was a great age to do it because he had done it before and he didn't even remember. And my husband and Patton watched Star Wars together all the time. So that was fun for them. So... But I don't know too many specifics about what actually went down at Savvy's. Yeah. I watched Alex do it. And it was... I got teary-eyed at that because like watching him do something he was so into and then also

[00:50:28] being a kid who grew up watching the Star Wars movies, you know, hearing that music and everything. It's really... It's really cool. And I would say even if you're not a huge Star Wars fan, if you have the opportunity to watch somebody else do the experience, I think it's worth going and watching if you're able to. That you can only have one witness per builder. But the thing I did want to tell you, just in case it happens to you, because this happened

[00:50:54] to us is that after we got back with the lightsaber, I think a couple months went by maybe and then suddenly it started like activating by itself. Like it's possessed. So if that happens to you, you just have to take the battery out and you can't just store it with the battery in. But it would be like in its carrying case and it would be like... What is happening? The force is all around us.

[00:51:23] The force is really strong in this room, but unfortunately it's 2 a.m. and I need the force to go away. I need to get some sleep. That's so funny. Well, I think they have a plan to hang them up in like the kid's little den. So we may just take those batteries out for that. Okay. Cool. So thank you. So after that, we met the boys to do Millennium Falcon again because, you know, we are skilled at this point.

[00:51:53] And oh, so this was the day that Weight Magic had been so good. So right before we went into our, to the Millennium Falcon, I got a text that said that we had gotten a 230 slinky dog. So that was so exciting. I had made a blunder that I'm not proud of, but Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is one of my very top favorite rides. And so when I was booking, I was just thinking, well, we have to ride this.

[00:52:22] Not really factoring in that that's an easy lightning lane to pick up. Mm-hmm. So I should have had Slinky be our lightning lane for this day. That was my bad. But thank goodness Weight Magic could come in because I was starting to panic. Like, are we going to ride Slinky this trip? Like, I'll be a failure if I ride Slinky this trip. So that was so great that it was 117 and we got the 230 lightning lane, which was awesome. So. Okay.

[00:52:51] I just want to say, this is probably the third thing that you've said on this trip where you were like, if this doesn't happen, then the whole trip is a bust. Well, you know, when you spend such a long time planning and thinking about it, and then you're just like, I've got to hit my goals. Yeah. Yeah. I can tell that you don't really mean it. I just think it's funny that it keeps coming up. I am slightly sarcastic. So, yes. I like did a whoop.

[00:53:19] Like, yes, we got a Slinky and we got the right time. So, yeah. So after we did Millennium Falcon, we went to our Slinky and we did it and that was awesome. And we ate at ABC Commissary. And then we had a lightning lane for Tower of Terror. Okay. So full stomachs and then a drop. Well, all we wanted to do was leave the park because we wanted to rest quite a bit before

[00:53:48] we tried to shut down the Magic Kingdom for the extended hours. And so we were like, Grace, you're tall enough for Tower of Terror. Let's just do it. We don't want to do a rider swap. It takes so much time. There's the pre-show. Oh, like just like three minutes, just get on Tower of Terror. And she gets into the line. But at the second tap style, she wouldn't tap. She was just like, no, no, not tapping. We're like, tap, Gracie. And she did. And my husband's carrying her.

[00:54:18] And she, I mean, on one hand, everyone in line probably thought we were the worst parents in the world because she was crying and obviously upset and didn't want to get on. But on the other hand, like we are her parents and we know her and we're like, you're going to be fine. Like, just, just, let's just do this. Now, in hindsight, we did not know that there is a way to do the rider swap within the line of Tower of Terror. But that was information we did not have at the time.

[00:54:48] So we're like, come on, Gracie, you can do this. And everyone was really nice to her. And she, she got on Tower of Terror. And the video is really funny because she was just like so scared and she hated every second of it. But as soon as we were off, she was like, I did not like that, but I'm glad that I tried it. And I was like, you know what, girl? That's, thank you.

[00:55:11] Thank you for not making us sit in the roasting sun for an extra 20 minutes while we rider swapped. But I do, I felt for her a little. Well, and now you know that you, you can do the rider swap even when you're all the way in the ride like that. But I will tell you from experience, if your kid seems like they're old enough to stand

[00:55:35] by themselves for like three minutes, they can make it to the tap style, go all the way to where you're lining up to get into the elevator. And then they will let them take the chicken exit and just wait for you at the bottom. And we did that with Alex all the time and until he fell in love with the ride. Right. And that's, you know, we could have done a hundred things, but she was fine. And honestly, it's her headline. Every time someone says, how is Disney? She'll say, I hate a Tower of Terror.

[00:56:05] But she was fine. And like I said, I wrote down her quote that she said it was scary, but she's glad she did it because she really was. And for her, she's the kind of kid that being encouraged to face her fears really helps her because otherwise sometimes she would just be inclined to not do anything. And so she sometimes needs that gentle nudge.

[00:56:32] And, you know, we know her and we love her. We're not going to let her get hurt. So, yeah. And now you probably have amazing video footage of her from the ride that we'll treasure forever. Oh, yeah. And during the ride, Patton had the popcorn bucket. And when we like went up and down or something, the popcorn bucket like hit the ground. And then there was popcorn confetti in our elevator.

[00:57:01] And everyone was like laughing. And when I got off the ride, I told the person, I said, I'm so sorry, the popcorn bucket exploded. And she just looked at me like this happens all the time. And it's probably one of the worst parts of my job. I was just like, I'm so sorry. Like, I know you don't want me on my hands and knees picking up popcorn. So make sure those lids are secure. And it's not going to like hit the ground. So, yes.

[00:57:29] So then we finally got out of Hollywood Studios. And we raced to the bus because we could see it on the horizon. And we did not want it to leave. And it waited for us. And we got to our room at 445. And it was wonderful just to be able to sit down and take a break. So. Now, since you got back to your room later than you had anticipated, you originally said you wanted to be back at Magic Kingdom for the extended hours by around 7.

[00:57:59] Did you adjust that at all so you could have a decent break? It doesn't. I think we still got there around 7. But what I did do is I ordered room. So this, we had checked into Shades of Grain. And everyone kind of fell asleep except for me. So with about an hour to spare, I pulled up their like room service menu. And they have this like family pizza pack.

[00:58:28] And it's a pizza and wings and a two liter for $38. And I was like sold. So while we got ready for the evening, they delivered that to our room and we ate. So then we didn't have to like rush off to Magic Kingdom. And we were already fed for the night. So that was wonderful. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. So when we got there, Weight Magic had gotten us a Tiana's, a Pirates, and a Jungle Cruise.

[00:58:53] So I was really happy because I kind of wanted to do that like Adventureland, Frontierland section of the park. And that is exactly what we did right when we got there. It looked like it was going to storm. And we'd never been to the tiki room. So we went in. And I did not know what to expect. And I enjoyed myself. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

[00:59:18] But it was, it was, it definitely felt, you know, like a relic. And that was kind of cool because I know it is. Yes. So that was super fun. And Patton still sings the song to drive me crazy. That's okay. I mean, there are other songs he could be singing that would drive you even more crazy from the parks. So. That's probably true. So after the tiki room, we were, we kept thinking Tiana's was going to go down because you could kind of see the storm, but it was still going.

[00:59:48] And we scanned in with 10 minutes left of our two hour grace period and turned green. We were good. So I had been telling the family, I said, I heard the front row, you get really wet. So if they say, go to the front and we'll just say, can we have like rows three and four? And my husband was like, absolutely not. No, we ought to go in the front.

[01:00:10] So Chris and, Chris and Gracie went in the front and he was a little bit shocked by just how soaked he got, but it was worth it. It was funny. And he was like, so glad that they did it. It's just so, it's so funny how wet you get in the front versus second, third and fourth row. It's like exponentially less wet as you go back. 100%.

[01:00:34] So, yeah, but we, we had not been on that new Tiana's and we loved it. We had, it was like our favorite thing this trip. We just kept doing it over and over. So I'd love that movie too. So it's so much fun to have a ride that's associated with her and all those characters. I'm a huge Ray fan. I love Ray and his obsession with Evangeline. Yes. It is so cute. So we loved it.

[01:01:02] And then we used our Anytime that I had gotten at Hollywood Studios on Big Thunder and that was our first time on the new Big Thunder and that was super fun. And then we went to Pirates, which I know that that's like a, I don't know, a cult favorite. But the first time my husband and I rode it on our last trip, we were like, we did not like that ride.

[01:01:29] And when we rode it this time, as soon as we were done, I was like, I don't know if this is unpopular in our family, but I kind of enjoyed that. And my husband was like, me too. And so I think maybe you just have to ride it twice to start to like it. You know, there's something about it. The smells, the memories you have of watching old Disney specials where they show them making the animatronics and all of that.

[01:01:54] And I think that it's just, it's something special because you know that Walt himself was involved in planning. Yeah. And so I really love it. And I agree. I think maybe if you didn't like it the first time, give it one more go. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because we were like, yeah, this is like, we want to go back on this again. So that was, that was a good change of heart we had. Good.

[01:02:20] After that, we did, we got dual whips and then we had that Jungle Cruise lightning lane and we scanned in at 9.59. The park closed at 10. I don't know what would have happened at 10.01 if our lightning lane would have still worked, but I did not want to find out. So we like, we're like finishing our dual whips and running over. And then the park was closed and it was extra magic hours. So we wanted to do Seven Dwarfs, but that line still looked pretty long.

[01:02:47] So we decided to do Peter Pan because Gracie had used to love Peter Pan. And I really didn't want to use the lightning lane because of how cool the queue is where you go through the nursery. And I thought that Gracie would like that more than the ride. And she did. She said that the line is awesome, but the ride is just a six.

[01:03:10] So, um, and it said a 25 minute wait and we were on and off, um, in 16 minutes. So that was very doable. Yeah. So then Grace was crying at this point. She was so tired. She did not have a stroller. She had been going pretty much all day. And we were like, listen, the fireworks just ended. We can go stand in line at the monorail or we can go stand in line at Seven Dwarfs.

[01:03:39] And she was like, she understood the logic. So she agreed, but she was really tired. And it said it was a 50 minute wait and we were on and off in 26 minutes. So that was pretty good too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then we went, that was the end. We were done. Like Grace would not have made it another minute. So when we got out to the front of Magic Kingdom, the monorail line was still long.

[01:04:05] And as soon as we got in the undercover tunnel to lead up, it started raining so hard. And I am just so thankful that we did not like stop and even snap a photo on our way out or we would have been standing in that before our long monorail ride. So that was a kind of chaotic end to the night. But we were back at our hotel at 1155. So which is late.

[01:04:33] Just so that I can make sure I remember this correctly. When you're staying at Shades of Green, you take the monorail over to the TTC and then catch a shuttle from there. Oh, yes. And the bus was pulling up when we got there. And there were a lot of people. And through the power of teamwork, we got everyone on the bus. But it was tight. Tetris, but with people. I know. Because you just keep thinking.

[01:04:58] Well, at least I think I would not want to be that last family that gets cut off and the bus driver says, sorry, see you in 20 minutes. So it's just like, oh, squeeze in so everyone can get on. Yeah. All right. Thursday, May the 28th was supposed to be a rest day. And it sounds like it was well deserved after all of the stuff you've gotten done.

[01:05:20] So you had planned to go to Disney Springs for some cookies and some Lego building and some eating and all of that kind of stuff. So tell me about your Disney Springs time and anything else you did during this rest day. Yeah, we did exactly that. They had an 11 o'clock minifigure build. They had so much fun. I should have built one because then we would have had our whole family. But I don't know what I would have put on it. It would have just been so generic.

[01:05:48] I could just get a blonde minifigure and say that was me. But they had fun designing theirs. And I think they're like $12. Like, what a great souvenir. I don't know. I hope to keep doing it to see my kids' minifigures change. It's kind of like a little time capsule. So I should have had them put the year on their shirt. Oh, yeah. Because you can have something printed on the shirt. So I got mine done and it says Virginia on it.

[01:06:17] And it's a generic blonde lady with a little ponytail. I know. I would have probably been like, here's the heart sticker. I don't know. It's hard. But it's cute. And I don't know. Charles and Alex did them too. And I have no idea where theirs are. But mine lives on my desk. Yeah. I look at it every day. Yeah, they're super cute. And we have more Legos than we have space. So it fits right in. And after that, we went around World of Disney.

[01:06:44] And then we had to go to Chicken Guy for Patton. And it was great. We loved it. I got like, I think you got two sauces with every meal. And I was like, and I want that sauce and that sauce. And I think I ordered a few more just so we could try them all. And they were all so good. And we loved it. And then we kind of split up. The boys headed to like the Star Wars Marvel shops. And Gracie and I headed to Gideon's. They said it was a 20-minute wait. It maybe took 20 minutes. I did not think it was unreasonable.

[01:07:14] But I had never been there. So I was like, how do I pick between these cookies? Like, they all sound good. So I got a lot. And we got the cold brews. And yeah, I was eating those cookies until about a week ago. But that was fine. Did you have a favorite flavor? Um, yes. There was like a pistachio toffee, I think. It was really good. I liked that one a lot. And maybe the peanut one.

[01:07:43] And I'm a chocolate girl, but I liked those a whole lot. And the cold brew you got was the peanut butter cold brew? So I got peanut butter and my husband got French toast. Okay. How was the French toast? Because I always get peanut butter because it's a... Well, Pat and... Or Chris and Grace loved it. Grace loved it so much that when we got home, we had gone to a coffee shop. She was like, can I get that French toast cold brew? And they did have a French toast latte. And they made it with like half a shot of decaf espresso and like extra milk.

[01:08:12] And she guzzled that thing down. So Grace would say it's great. Chris liked the French toast more than the peanut butter. So... But I liked the peanut butter. So it worked out. The peanut butter was so good. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I loved it. I felt like it was just something I had to do. Mm-hmm. I don't know if I... If it was a 20-minute line, I'd probably wait again. But I don't know if I like have to go back. Yeah. Like every trip. I would say probably 20 minutes would be the maximum I would wait. Yeah.

[01:08:39] But of course, everyone knows how much I love the Summer House cookie. So I don't think I'm going to wait in line at Gideon's again to specifically get a cookie. But I will wait for that cold brew. The cold brew. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe when they have their new other shop, it'll like split the crowd. Oh, yeah. I think so. Yeah. After that, we just... We wanted to go into Uniqlo because we don't have one of those in Columbus. So we like to pop in anytime we can.

[01:09:09] And Chris and the kids all got some really cool shirts. Mm-hmm. And then one thing we always... Well, always do. This is our second trip. We've done it. But we will always do it is go to Art of Disney and pick out a print. Mm-hmm. To bring home. None of our prints are framed. But we have them. And one day, they will be proudly displayed in our home. Mm-hmm. And so it's just kind of fun, whatever we're into. So this time, we got a Peter Pan. And then Chris found one of Ahsoka Tana that he was like, I must have this.

[01:09:38] So we actually ended up with two prints this time. And that's okay. It's good souvenirs. Very cool. Yeah. After that, we went to the pool. And this is like one of my favorite things at Shades of Green. In their little shop, they have just like single tall beverages. And I got a tall white claw for $3.49. And I took it to the pool. And it's just like, I mean, that's a deal. That's summer. Yeah.

[01:10:08] So and then I did some laundry while we were getting ready for dinner. And we ate at the Italian restaurant at Shades of Green. And the kids had the like table side Alfredo. And everyone was very happy. And that was it. We took it easy. And that was the goal. And we succeeded. That sounds like a well-deserved and well-executed rest day. Yes. And what I know from talking to people all the time is that people are not as good about

[01:10:37] actually resting on their rest day and doing things that will not run them ragged. And so yeah, you might have with your steps and everything. Yeah. And I'd had on our other rest day to like some reservations. It's just like, no, this is the day that we are gearing up for our last two days. So it was good to just take it easy. All right. Friday, May the 29th was an Epcot day.

[01:11:02] And you were aiming to get to the park on the earlier side so that you could be done by the middle of the afternoon. Yeah. How did your day pan out? We did a pretty good job. We left the room at 855 because we were not trying to rope drop. I had a nine o'clock Nemo. And while we were on the monorail, it converted to an anytime, which I was like, oh, that's cool. We can probably book another lightning lane right now. But we could not.

[01:11:31] And this kind of ruined my day. But it didn't ruin our day. But it ruined our lightning. Ruined the trip, didn't it? It ruined the whole thing. So I thought, okay, well, we can't. I can't schedule a new lightning lane. So I'm just like, everybody, we have to just tap into Nemo. We've got to use this anytime so I can book a new lightning lane. That was also wrong. We tapped into Nemo. And I'm like, I still can't book anything.

[01:11:58] So I just went into the chat because there were still frozen lightning lane availabilities for the day. And I'm like, if I had my tears unlocked right now, I could be getting a frozen for later. But I'm just like watching them disappear in front of my eyes. And the chat people were like, you have to go to guest services. So I just took a screenshot, though, to show that I had attempted to work this out in a time efficient manner.

[01:12:24] But I was like, okay, well, when I see a blue umbrella, I'll see a blue umbrella. And there was really nothing I could do because I didn't want to just, the plan was kind of to do the seas and the Moana. And we had another soar in lightning lane. So I was not going to just like go on a quest for a blue umbrella. Like I just want to stay where we were. So that's what we did. We went to Turtle Talk and we met Moana and we did the walkthrough, which the kids loved. Like they could have been there for five hours, I think.

[01:12:54] I'll just want to say that this is something fairly new to me as well, is that if your first lightning lane turns into an any time, you have to scan into that second lightning lane, even if you use the first that became an any time to activate the second. And the same is true if you, and this happened to me once, so I think this sounds like it's the exact same thing happening. So we had a lightning lane that we didn't use and it was our first one.

[01:13:23] The time had expired and I guess we were still in that two hour window. And we went ahead and tapped in and used it. But tapping in and using it after the window still did not unlock the ability to get another lightning lane until we went and tapped into our second lightning lane. So there's some kind of glitch in there when you either don't use it within the real hour

[01:13:51] and it's your first one or if it becomes an any time and it was your first one. And it makes sense like you're at a disadvantage. Yeah. I don't like it. It does not make any sense with their rules and how things are supposed to work. Right. But it is how it is. And I've, I've come to, you know, accept it now. I still, I still don't understand it. But I guess if I have to trade off a bonus two hour window and this, I guess I'll take the two hour window every time. Right. Yeah.

[01:14:19] So, and that, that's what annoyed me too is our Nemo lightning lane was for nine. We tapped in with our anytime at 945. Like why did they even give me the anytime? The ride was up within my time window. Like, right. Where Mickey and Minnie's, I was way past my time window and it still said I had a Mickey and Minnie's lightning lane. Like, uh, so I mean, it was fine. It all worked out. It was not a big deal.

[01:14:46] But, you know, just when you feel like you should be able to navigate it and then you're kind of like, wait, this is a scenario I did not foresee. You know, it can be just, you know, a lot of stress being that planner. You just want to make it magical for everyone. So. And that's exactly what it is, is that when you are the planner and you have, I think

[01:15:14] it's different if you have a group of people with you who all kind of like plan their own trips and whatever, and they sort of understand when these things go wrong. But when you're the planner of the family and nobody else is active in that process, you carry the weight on your shoulders of how this vacation is going. And is everybody having a good time? Are we being efficient with getting everything done that we want to get done?

[01:15:39] And it's hard to let that go, even if there's a pun because we're talking about. Even if your family is giving you a lot of grace about it, you know, even if they're like, it's fine, it's fine. It's the pressure you're putting on yourself. And so you have to find a way to lift a little bit of that pressure off yourself and remember how much magic you are creating at any given moment.

[01:16:07] And one little blip like that, as much as you say it will, Kelly, it doesn't ruin the trip. So. No, it doesn't. Right. And my family is none the wiser. They're be popping along. We've already rode Frozen once. They probably aren't even thinking. But I wanted to ride it again because I wanted the first time we rode it, I had so much fun and I wanted to kind of take it in a little bit more. And they didn't even know. And I'm trying to explain the problem and they're going glassy-eyed on me. Yeah. Like, it's fine. It's fine.

[01:16:39] So, yeah. After we kind of did some of those front of the park things, we did Soarin' again. And this line took a long time. We were like, we had the lightning lane. I think we must have like just kind of missed a group or something. And then we had had a horrible position the first time. I think we were C3. So, everything was very warped. And so, I was like, nope, we're going to ask for B2.

[01:17:09] And that's what we did. So, then we had to wait for a whole other round of Soarin'. So, we were in there for quite some time. But that's okay. It's air-conditioned. After that, we were hungry and we were going to eat inside the land pavilion. But the food just, I saw what was on people's plates and I was like, no. I don't want this. I never like eating there. I'll be honest. The only place I like to eat in the land pavilion is Garden Grill. Okay, yeah.

[01:17:36] And there was like some band or choir thing there. They were all wearing matching shirts. But they were all eating in there at that exact moment. And so, it was just kind of like chaotic. And we were like, no, we'll order connections. But there was like quite a while return time. We should have ordered while we were in line for Soarin' for so long. But we thought we were going to eat in the land pavilion and you can't mobile order there.

[01:18:06] So, not really our fault. But on the way to connections, we saw the Goofy's Goof Ups, which is a new little stand outside of the Goofy's Cool Kids Summer. And it's literally my three favorite foods. Not my three favorite foods, but my three favorite non-adult foods. They have a basket of cheese curds and chicken chunks. And they're the exact brand of chicken chunks that I buy and air fry weekly.

[01:18:35] They're like just bare or something. I don't know. It's like an advertisement for these chicken chunks. And then they have these mac and cheese bites. But they're bricks of mac and cheese. And they are so crispy and mac and cheesy inside. They're amazing. It was wonderful. Oh, this is the grab and goof. Oh, grab. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Grab and goof. And it was so good. Now, there's no place inside to sit.

[01:19:04] And we were sitting in the hot sun eating cheese curds and chicken and mac and cheese bricks. But it was delicious. I loved every single thing. And it comes with like this sauce that's kind of like cane sauce, but it's more watery. But it was really good. We loved it. Okay. Fantastic. Fantastic. So, I did get a little busy. They ran out of mac and cheese bricks. I was standing there for quite some time. But it was worth it because they were amazing hot and fresh out of that fryer. So.

[01:19:32] And you needed a little appetizer before you went over to claim your connections food. That's. Well, no. So, we canceled our connections food. We just ordered all the goof ups. I missed that. Okay. Yeah. No, I don't think I said that because when we saw the goofies thing, we were like, this looks so good. And I was not super thrilled about what I'd ordered at connections. And I said, let me see if I can cancel this. And we did. So, we were good. Good. Yeah. After that, we had a lightning lamp for test track.

[01:20:02] And we scanned in and we walked like 30 feet. And there was an announcement that it was down. And they pretty immediately took us through and gave us a anytime return. Which was nice that we didn't sit there for a long time wondering. But then it was down for a long time. So, yeah. That was kind of disappointing. But it was fine. We knew we would get to ride it again. It was just like an inconvenience because we were there. And, you know, we were trying to not crisscross.

[01:20:33] After that, we went to Guardians. We had a lightning lane. I mean, Grace kind of liked it. We got Disco Inferno, which I think is what I will always get on that ride. I think. I don't know. That's just the song that that ride likes me to hear. So, it's fine. I like that song. I like it with the ride. I would like to experience something else. After that, I knew there would be a guest experiences umbrella by a guardian.

[01:21:02] So, I went over there and I told the guy about my morning saga. And he was not super impressed. And he said, well, did you try to do anything about it this morning? And I said, yes. I chatted. And I showed him my screenshot. And I said, and there were still frozen lightning lanes. And he said, well, this one time I will give you a 7 o'clock frozen lightning lane. But that is it. I won't. It can't be at any time. And I said, thank you. Even though I didn't think we'd still be there at 7.

[01:21:29] I had asked and I didn't want to say, can it be earlier? Yeah. So, I had Weight Magic working on modifying that or looking for a frozen. I just really wanted to ride frozen this day. And it just wasn't working out. And so, but that was nice of him to do that for me. Because I just kept reiterating. I'm like, there were frozen lightning lanes when I scanned in.

[01:21:56] So, after that, Chris had to deal with a little something from work. So, Grace did the splash pad. Oh, he was fine. It was not a big deal. And while he was dealing with that, he saw Star-Lord roaming. So, he got Patton and Patton got to meet Star-Lord. And Gracie got head-to-toe soaked. But I had not seen, like, happiness on her face like there was when she was doing that splash pad. So, it's like, oh, we come to Disney. We do all these things. And you are most joyful on the splash pad.

[01:22:24] But I'm glad we took a minute here. I'm glad he had, honestly, something to do with work. Because otherwise, we would not have stopped at that splash pad. And she had so much fun. Good. Maybe I can slow down sometimes. So, then we kind of headed around the other way in World Showcase. We, like, popped into Canada. And we had to go back to Japan because Gracie rode Guardians. And she got this, like, bear in a sleeping bag stuffed animal. I don't know.

[01:22:54] It has some name that she knew about. But I did not retain it. Patton got more of the O'Kolas and some sesame chocolate hamburgers. Those were not a fan favorite. But, um, and Weight Magic had gotten us a Remy's for 3 o'clock-ish. So, we headed over there. And, um, I think because Test Track had been down, a lot of people had some anytime.

[01:23:22] So, that Remy's line was, like, pretty long. But it was fine. You know, it just, it happens sometimes. And, yeah. Then we had a beer garden reservation. So, we headed over there. And they seated us 15 minutes early since we were there, which was lovely. And we had a wonderful meal with humongous beers and buffet food. So, that was fun. How did you like the food there? We love it.

[01:23:49] Um, I could just eat the pretzel rolls and the beer cheese soup. But I have a little pride. So, I get some other, like, little salad-y things. That's exactly me when I'm there. Like, I literally just have the soup and the pretzel rolls. And then I load up on about 50 different salads. Yeah. But it was, I mean, everything was great. It's, it's like when you, like, we love beer garden.

[01:24:14] And so, we want to go to beer garden on every trip, which means we haven't tried all of these other places. But, like, we love beer gardens. So, do we miss something we love? I don't know. And the meals are so expensive. And we're just a family of four. But those sit-down meals are over $200 every time. And so, you know, we just can't do a ton of them. But it was great.

[01:24:40] I would recommend maybe making a reservation for something new that you want to try. And just know in the back of your head that beer garden is a fairly easy on-the-fly reservation to get. And that way, if you change your mind, you can make a little switcheroo. But then you might feel inspired to do something new if you already have it booked. And you're like, oh, we've really been wanting to try this. That's good. Because, yes, I think on this trip we did not. Oh, we tried Sebastian. Sebastian's was new. So, we're okay.

[01:25:07] But, yes, we'll have to pick a new place for our next trip. So, yes, it was lovely. But while we were in there, we were watching the weather. And it was storming. And so, we were like, what do we do? Do we sit here longer? Or do we just leave? And I was just feeling antsy. So, we decided to leave. And it was raining really hard. So, we, as efficiently as we could, got from Beer Garden to go meet Anna and Elsa.

[01:25:35] And it said there was a 35-minute line. And we're like, okay, that's good. We will kind of just wait out this rain. And we seriously walked in the house and walked to the room where Anna and Elsa were. And they let us right in. There was a zero-minute wait. So, I said to the lady, I said, did you know that it says 35 minutes outside? So, I mean, that was great. I love not waiting in a line. But I think it's a storm.

[01:26:02] So, Gracie met Anna and Elsa super soaked. But that was fine. And because it was raining, Test Track was still down. So, I went to the inside guest services this time kind of at the front of Epcot. And I said, we really wanted to ride Test Track. But we're planning on leaving. We'll be back at Epcot on June 2nd. Is there any way that you can move our lightning lane to June 2nd? And they said, sure, no problem.

[01:26:31] And so, they moved it and left. Fantastic. Yeah. You got to ask. The worst they can say is no. Right. And they were, like, very happy to just move it. Probably because I wasn't upset that Test Track was down and that we didn't get to ride it. So, very, very easy. Yeah. And I think the kids swam that night. And we just caught it a day. Okay. Saturday, May the 30th. This was a Magic Kingdom day.

[01:26:59] And this was another day that you had intended to rope drop. Yes. Did you make it out the door for rope drop? We made it out the door. Sure. We left our room at 730. But then we must have just missed the bus. And so, we got on the bus at 750. And then we decided to take the ferry boat. And we sat on the ferry boat for, like, 15 minutes before it started moving. But it was fine. There was nothing we were trying to rope drop.

[01:27:24] I just wanted to be there early so we could kind of go around to those smaller rides before the crowds came. So, it was way better than being on the monorail. Just nice to be sitting on a boat. And it wasn't especially hot. So, it was fine. So, we tapped in at 828. So, we did make it. But we weren't, like, in the front of the pack. Okay. So, we went to Dumbo because Grace just loves that ride she has since she was teeny tiny.

[01:27:54] And to Dumbo and then headed over to the Barnstormer. And Chris and I, as we were about to get in line, I said, you know, I think you guys could ride this ride. And mom and dad can watch you. Because I hate it so, like, little to get into those cars. I don't know how anyone bigger than me gets into those cars. So, the kids said, okay. And they, like, marched right up. And they said, Gracie got asked, like, five times how old she was.

[01:28:21] But you had to be seven to ride with someone else. And Patton was 12. So, they just met the age criteria. And so, they got to ride together. And it's kind of fun because you can see them come around. So, that was fun for us to watch them ride the Barnstormer. And a good chance for them to bond and not bicker. So, that was lovely. We went to Gaston's and got cinnamon rolls and the ham and cheese.

[01:28:51] The cheese that begins with a G. And I won't even try to say that name because it's just one of the words I can't say. Gruyere? Yep. Good job. At first, I was going to say Gorgonzola. And I was like, no, surely she feels comfortable saying Gorgonzola. Yeah. Yeah. And we had never had the cinnamon rolls before. I thought they were good. We asked for the extra frosting. But we liked the ham and cheese better. We thought that was a yummy breakfast start to the day. So, yeah.

[01:29:20] And there was, like, no line. I've never had Gaston's because the line is usually out the door and, like, 30 people long. And we walked right in. So, that was maybe one of the benefits of rip-dropping it. So, yeah. That was good. After that, we went to Space Mountain. And this is where we learned something new. And every time we had been at Disney before, when you do the rider swap, the non-rider and

[01:29:48] one parent stays outside of the ride while the other people go. And then you swap. And you, like, go back through the lightning lane and ride the ride. And when we went to set up the rider swap, they said, do you want to do an internal rider swap? And we were like, what is that? And they said, well, everyone goes in together. And then you just take turns riding. And one person stays with the non-rider. And so, that's what we did. All four of us went in.

[01:30:18] And Patton and I rode first. And someone escorted Gracie and Chris to the unloading zone. And when Patton and I got out of the carts, Chris and Patton were escorted back to the very front of the line to get in the cart. And then we just stayed there at the exit. And then we all left the ride together, which was such an improvement over having to go through the lightning lane. And they were doing this. Because that's a long queue.

[01:30:48] The lightning lane queue. You have to walk that whole distance. Right. And so, it saves so much time. And then we found out they're doing that on a lot of the rides now. And that is what we could have done at Tower of Terror that we did not know about. So, the whole thing, we tapped in at 940 and we were in the gift shop at 1002 and we had done the rider swap. So, it was such a time saver. So, they said it's something new that they're doing. I don't know how long they've been doing it.

[01:31:18] But we were surprised. And it was really very nice. Next, Patton had never done the people mover because he normally is doing the rider swap for Space Mountain. He's always the person that goes twice. And he was like, I do not want to go on the people mover. And after our first lap, he was like, this is wonderful. And I said, we're going to ask for a second lap. And there was no one in line. And we asked. And they let us go again.

[01:31:45] And everyone thinks that's so fun to get to go twice. You feel like you're doing something illegal. So, well, I'm glad you've inducted him into the people mover fan club. Yes, he loved it. It was so fun. And especially when it was really dark. Everyone was trying to, like, kind of startle each other by, like, putting their faces really close to each other. And then we come out into the light and you're like, whoa. So, they were having fun being silly in the dark. So, that was fun.

[01:32:15] After that, we went to Buzz for the new shooting, I don't know, situation. And Chris was so happy because he is very competitive. And he loved the new thing where you actually get a little feedback on how you're doing. So, that was good. We got, I think you say Alex likes the s'mores frozen drink. Oh, yeah. The mission to s'mores. Yes.

[01:32:44] He has to get it every time. I would have never even noticed it. And I was like, we have to get this s'mores drink. And I got it. And it was amazing. And Chris got it, too. We both really liked it. And the kids got snacks. So, that was, thank you. I will tell him he's influenced people. He has influenced me for sure. After that, we did Big Thunder Mountain. We had lightning lanes for all these things. I'm not sure which ones we came into the day with.

[01:33:14] I'm sorry. That's okay. But wait, Magic was doing a good job. And we had, we had never seen Country Bears before. But I wanted to do it. And we loved it. We were obsessed. So, that's like a must do now. It's so fun. It is. I love it so much since the renovation. Yeah. And I did. My mom actually told me that I went to it when I was like four. But I don't recall. So, it was great. Loved it. It was probably traumatic for you.

[01:33:43] And you pushed it out of your mind. Yeah. Probably. After that, we did Small World and had Columbia Harbor House. And this was the point in time when we had like a little lull. We had Gracie's Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique coming up. But we didn't really know what to do in this time. And we, Patton really wanted to ride Tron. So, we headed over there to see about a rider swap.

[01:34:12] And they told us there too that they can do the internal rider swap. But we thought we would be pushing it just a little bit for her Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique. So, we just got a Dumbo Lightning Lane and did Dumbo. After that, we decided that since you're... We didn't think according to the... I think they would have let Patton and Chris and me all come to the Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique. But Patton would have not enjoyed himself.

[01:34:42] So, we let Patton have a little time on his own. He rode Barnstormer, he says, four to five times. And then he got a churro. Then he got in line for Seven Dwarfs. And just, I think, texted his friends on his Apple Watch to let them know that he was hanging out on his own at Disney. And that was, I think, a highlight for him to get to go do that on his own. So, that was super fun.

[01:35:11] And Grace got her makeover. And she looked wonderful. She had this little Rapunzel athletic outfit. And she decided to do the bun with a blonde braid around it to symbolize Rapunzel. So, she looked really cute. And, you know, so fun. And Patton was still in line for Seven Dwarfs. So, we kind of went around and got some pictures with Gracie. Like, in front of the castle and some things like that.

[01:35:41] And when Patton was done, we headed to our Cinderella's Royal Table. Grace did not know we were doing this. She was pretty annoyed with me for not being a good listener. Because I should have known that she wanted to go to Cinderella's Royal Table. And we were surprising her. And so, right before we went in, I went into the bathroom and changed into, like, a little Cinderella-colored athletic dress. Thinking that when I came out of the bathroom, the kids would say, Mom, why did you change clothes?

[01:36:12] And I would say, to go to Cinderella's castle for dinner. And no one noticed. And I said, hey, did you notice that I changed my clothes? And they're like, no, you've been wearing that all day. I'm like, literally, I was wearing a Merida shirt. And many cast members have talked to me about my Merida shirt. I'm not wearing that. I'm wearing a dress now. And they were just, like, so uninterested. Oh, the surprise is not going well.

[01:36:41] This is, like, every mom everywhere. Like, you get a haircut. It looks totally different. No one in the house notices the difference. Like, yes. I feel this intensely. But she was pleased when she found out we were going to Cinderella's Royal Table. But she maintains that I still could be a better listener, even though I had not ignored her on this one instance. Oh, my goodness. Oh, she's stubborn. She's feisty.

[01:37:11] And Cinderella's Royal Table was wonderful. And the last time we were there, I was feeling a little certain type of way that we were being rushed a little by the princesses. I did not feel that way this time. Okay. I also think that the Merida shirt that I wore that day helped me prepare myself to see Merida. And I did not cry. I didn't even well up. And so I was super proud of myself.

[01:37:38] And it made it more fun to not be, like, a weirdo crying and people probably speculating that I'm just, like, overwhelmed by meeting. I don't know. But I didn't cry, which was nice. Good. And I did not write this down. But you're saying this and I'm remembering that was Allie's favorite princess. Yeah. It was the princess that, like, had kind of been a little special during her time in the hospital. And, you know, be brave. So. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:38:07] So that was, it was good to see her and to have a normal human interaction. Good. Merida. As much as one has a normal interaction with a person like that. A princess. I know that when we had gone there, Alex got, like, I think he got, like, a sword or there was something, like, that they give the, like, the girls get the wands and the boys get the. And I think you can ask for the other.

[01:38:34] And I should say, I don't think you're locked into their gender stereotyping. Mm-hmm. But how did Patton feel about whatever they handed to him? Yeah. Yes. So they brought two swords, handed them straight to the children and handed us the wands with the stars. I think they just knew that the kids would want to battle each other. And so that was good. And we have several of those now. But they, they get played with.

[01:39:01] So even, so that's fun to have updated swords. And it was nice that they just brought all four because I think Grace would have wanted the sword. We did not need the two magic wands, but they said, keep them. Like, okay. So it was great. You know what's fun is if you don't, if you do get one of those, because they gave me one, too, when I ate there. Mm-hmm. And I was like, oh, this is cute. Whatever.

[01:39:27] But, like, finding a kid to give it to later is so much fun. Oh, that would have been a good idea. I think those got put in Chris's backpack. So we, that would have been an excellent idea. Next. Yeah. Then it becomes a game to identify who the lucky kid's going to be. Yeah. Who needs some magic. Yeah. And I don't know when we'll be back at Cinderella's Royal Table. I feel like Grace is a little bit like, when we're there, she loves the princesses.

[01:39:57] And in theory, she does. But she's not into it as much. Yeah. For the price tag. Oh, it's so expensive. Yeah. I only did it because it was my birthday. And I don't feel like I need to go back anytime soon. Yeah. But our food was great. It was wonderful. So, I'm, you know, and would I, if it was not the prefix menu, would I have ordered a filet? Certainly not. And I would not have gotten an appetizer nor a dessert.

[01:40:22] So, like, in some ways, even though it is expensive, it is fun to go and then get those things that you might not have ordered otherwise. So, you know, I'm okay with it. It's just funny. All right. So, you were planning to stay all the way until fireworks. Did you? No, no. So, we wanted to meet Rapunzel because she's not at Cinderella's Royal Table.

[01:40:47] And so, we went to the fairytale hall where you can meet Tiana and a visiting princess or Cinderella and a visiting princess. And I tried really hard to get the guys at the front to give me a hint about who might be with Tiana because we were pretty sure Rapunzel was with Tiana normally. But he was stone-faced and he knew what I was doing and I knew what he was doing. We were kind of, like, playing this little game together, but he wouldn't budge.

[01:41:16] But he also didn't try to stop us as we got in line. So, I thought that was a good sign. And we were good. So, when we, you know, you turn the corner and say, please be Rapunzel. She's dressed up like Rapunzel. And it was. So, that was great. And, yeah. So, we met those two princesses and then we had to go do Enchanted Tales with Belle. She, that is something we could have done during our little lull earlier, but she wanted to be dressed up to meet Belle.

[01:41:46] So, we had to wait. And she got to be the Maurice where they shiver, shiver, shiver. And it was funny because she had her cast as she couldn't really hold her jail cell bars. And she's, like, shivering and it's kind of falling, but it was really cute. And then, before we left, we had to ride Tiana's again because it was our favorite. And that is what we did.

[01:42:10] And we got nice and wet before getting on, I think, yeah, we did the boat again and then the bus. So, yeah. And that was the end of that day. All right. Sunday, May the 31st. This was a day that you didn't have really any plans. You had multiple maybe plans. So, I wrote down, maybe go to Riverside for fishing and beignets. Maybe do a Beaches and Cream reservation. Maybe go to Wailulu. So many maybes.

[01:42:39] What actually ended up happening? Nothing. And it was wonderful. Oh, did you do pool time? I wrote down, we rested on rest day. Yeah. Good. Yeah. We got breakfast at the hotel. They have, like, a little coffee shop. And then down by the buses, they have, like, some hot sandwiches. So, we went, Chris got coffee and we got the hot sandwiches. And we went to the pool. Like, I took a nap, which I don't typically do midday. But we all napped.

[01:43:07] And then we went to the pool again. And then we ate at the sports bar at the hotel. And that was that. Sounds lovely. Sounds lovely. Yeah. And the only other thing that happened that day was as soon as we got on the Skyliner after we left Caribbean Beach, I said, my portable charger is still plugged in. Shoot. So, I did a lost and found thing. And on this day, they started texting me from Caribbean Beach. They said, we have your charger. Do you want to come get it? Do you want it shipped?

[01:43:37] And I said, well, I'm at Shades of Green. And they said, we'll have someone run it over. And they did. And they gave it to the front desk. Oh, that's so nice. And I got my charger back. I know. I was so thankful. A little Disney magic for you. Yes. That was very nice of them. All right. Monday, June 1st, Animal Kingdom Day. Not rope jumping. No. We left around. We left the room at 815.

[01:44:05] Because we really didn't have anything to hurry for. We had lightning lanes. And we also had bought Flight of Passage. So, when we got there, Chris got coffee. And this was the night that we were thinking about possibly leaving the kids at the hotel. But Chris thought I was kidding. And he was mockingly telling the kids, oh, mom and I are going to Guardians without you. And I was like, Chris, we really were. And he's like, oh. So, I stopped at guest services.

[01:44:33] And I just said, is there any way to purchase one more Guardians for Pat? And Grace didn't need to ride it again. And she was very kind and just gave us a Guardians. Because she said, I can't sell you one, but I can give you one. So, that was super nice of her. So, that kind of locked us in to taking the kids, which I was totally fine with. We were having a great time. We didn't really feel like we needed a little, like, decompressed time from family time.

[01:45:01] So, we did the safari and got some breakfast pastries and the coconut cold brew, which I thought was just, like, okay. I've heard good things about it. It wasn't my favorite. But that's okay. The boys got on Everest. We were going to do a rider swap, which this one you could not do the inside rider swap. So, the boys got on Everest. And Grace and I were kind of watching for them to come down when we heard an announcement that the ride had been stopped.

[01:45:29] And right then, I got a text from Chris that they were at the very tippy top of Everest, kind of where you're waiting to go back down. And they did not get unstuck. They had to walk down 17 flights of stairs to get out. Oh, my word. I guess they were short flights of stairs, but they were still flights of stairs. But he said it was cool. You're kind of inside the mountain. You could see. So, that was an experience.

[01:45:59] During that time, I had to go to guest services to say, like, hey, my anytime. We're in the middle of a rider swap. Can you turn mine into it anytime? So, when the boys get off, we, you know, could just go straight to our Tusker house lunch. And they did that for us, which was fine. But the boys were stuck for quite a while. Wait. Did they do anything for the boys, though? Because they didn't get to complete their ride. Yeah. So, they gave them in any time to come back, too. Okay. Good. But nothing else from that.

[01:46:28] But while they were stuck, I did buy us all t-shirts because it was a funny memory. And they had cute t-shirts. So, I had to do that. We had lunch at Tusker house. And I think I made a little bit of a mistake because I think we were one of the earlier lunch seedings, which was fine. I wanted lunch. But the lines were horrible. And I think it's because so many people try to do, like, the breakfast into lunch that,

[01:46:57] like, some people who maybe would normally be done are now getting up to go to lunch. And the buffet line was so bad. But by the time we left, there's, like, no one in line at all. And I just felt like I didn't eat as much as I wanted to because I didn't want to go wait in that line. I didn't want to, like, shove in and be like, oh, I'm just going to get some of this. Whatever. So, not the best Tusker house. But that's just one that we really like to go to. And the food is so good. So, just don't go to the first lunch seeding. Okay. No doubt. After that, we did Flight of Passage.

[01:47:27] I did not want Grace to do it because I couldn't really, no one could really sit with her. But she was adamant that she wanted to do it and she loved it, which. Oh, good. I don't know. I guess if I just tell her that she can't do it, she will and she'll be fine. Perhaps that reverse psychology worked. Not sure. That stubbornness coming out again. Yeah. And then we did Navi River Journey and then we had to head back to Everest. Mm-hmm.

[01:47:52] So, we could do the rider swap and we all successfully went up and down Mount Everest that time. Then we had our first ever Cali River Rapids experience, which was fun. But our whole boat got soaked. I've heard that it's like a roulette of sorts. It is. It is. You never know. Everyone in our boat, 100%, was soaked from head to toe. There was no one spared, but that was fine.

[01:48:21] I mean, that can happen. You can have nobody get soaked. Like, you never know what you're going to get with that ride. Interesting. Everyone wished that that one would have been just like a smidge longer, but that was fun. On our way, we were just done. Like, I think the bluey crowds, there were just a lot of people, a lot of strollers. Mm-hmm. It was hot like it always is. So, we were done. So, we decided to leave, but I was not leaving without the ice cream sandwich.

[01:48:51] But they had opened up a second location where you could get them. And it's like an ice cream cart right as you're leaving, which was perfect. Oh, good. There was like one person in front of me. They got the ice cream sandwich. We ate as we walked to the bus. It was worth the hype. It was delicious. I loved it. Okay. Yeah. So, we got back to the hotel and did some rest time before heading to Epcot. And this was the extra extended evening hours for Deluxe.

[01:49:21] So, we got there around 745. So, this time we had our Guardians and Grace did not have a lightning lane. But they did the internal rider swap for us at Guardians. So, Gracie and I sat where people get unloaded. And then we did tell Patton, since it was supposed to be date night, mom and dad were riding together the second time. He only got to ride once.

[01:49:50] So, Gracie and Patton hung out at the exit while Chris and I rode together. And we got Disco Inferno. I knew you were going to say that already since you already spoiled our wish for other things at the beginning. Uh-huh. And so, that night, we decided, since we were there as a family, we went back to guest services. I said, hey, I had asked for a test track for tomorrow when it was broken down, but we're here tonight. Can we have test track for tonight?

[01:50:19] And they were like, sure, no problem. So, they gave us a test track for that night. And we rode that. And that's, the park was closing around then. We watched Illuminations, but we weren't really, like, super into it. We ate at La Cantina again because, like, everything was... Wait, Illuminations, not Illuminations. Is that what it's called? I don't know what it's called. No, no. What is it called now? I don't know. Hold, please. Now I'm blanking.

[01:50:47] It's Epcot Night Show. Luminous. I was like, nothing is sounding right in my head. Luminous, the symphony of us. I don't know why I'm just not that... I probably would like it if I sat down to watch it, but it's just nothing makes me want to watch it. It's fine. It's not anything special. I don't love it. Okay. So then Chris was like, we haven't eaten. Like, that's a great point.

[01:51:15] So we ate at La Cantina again because we were right there. And we went... This is... I had to ride Frozen. I had to have my Frozen Redemption. So the Frozen line was pretty long because the park had just closed for non-deluxe guests. So we ate. We got school bread because we had never tried it before. And I was like, we have to try it. And we got some beverages while we were just kind of waiting for that Frozen line to go down. It did go down quite a bit.

[01:51:43] So we got on the ride at... Or we got in line at 9.52. We were off at 10.11. It said it was a 50-minute wait, but that was like 20 minutes. So that was great. So we thought that same logic may work at Test Track because that was now Grace's favorite ride. And it said 45 minutes. And it was pretty much... It was maybe 35, but it felt long. So especially after we thought, you know, Frozen, it moved.

[01:52:10] And Test Track was not moving as efficiently as Frozen was. So we crawled into bed at midnight. Wow. Yeah. We were tired. We had one day left. All right. Tuesday, June the 2nd. This was back to Hollywood Studios. Yes. And you were planning to just kind of hop around and do whatever you wanted to do because you had already done most of everything that you wanted. I know you did have your garden reservation for this day, which I know you must have canceled

[01:52:39] because you've already been on this trip. So what did you end up doing this day? So we slept in and we got to Hollywood Studios at like 10.15 because we had a rock and roller coaster lightning lane and I was not sure how strict they would be. We did not want to push that two-hour grace period. So we headed straight over there. They said we could have done the internal rider swap at rock and roller coaster if everyone

[01:53:07] was tall enough to ride the ride, but Grace was not. So I had to wait outside and Gracie and I shopped a little bit while the boys did the lightning lane and then we switched. And I don't know if I'm the first person who gets to tell you my rock and roller coaster song because you get different songs. I was thinking about that like, am I going to be the first? My song was the song I'm not very familiar with. Rock, rock till you drop.

[01:53:36] It was a very rocky song, but I don't know. How does it go? I don't even know. I was like, I don't even know this song. I feel like I know all the other songs. Like, I don't know. But the music they were playing in the line was excellent. It was kind of like some like, you know, early 2000s, really good stuff. Next we did the rider swap at Tower of Terror, the inside rider swap. So that was great.

[01:54:05] And I was not super, I love Docking Bay 7, but I ordered the salad the first night, which was a mistake. So I needed a redemption. So we did Docking Bay 7 again and I got the whatever it is that's like pot roast. And I was not sad about that. It was amazing. And I should have gotten it the first time. So that's what we did for lunch. We had a Toy Story Mania and then another Millennium Falcon because we just had to keep racking up the points.

[01:54:35] And it was really hot that day. So we did star tours and we got out of there. We headed back to the hotel for a little rest. And on the bus, on the way to the hotel, I was just thinking about, I want to see the fireworks. But it's just like there's still things we want to do at Magic Kingdom tonight. So I don't know. I wanted to stake out a spot. But I would not have to stake out a spot if we had the dessert party.

[01:55:04] And there were still dessert party spots open. This is the first last minute dessert party reservation I've ever had. Well, the problem is I've never seen the fireworks without the dessert party, which has probably ruined me because it seems overwhelming to stake out a spot. And I just, since I haven't done it, it just, I don't know. And we had a Kona reservation for the next morning. And I thought, well, that's easily going to be $150, $200.

[01:55:33] If we cancel that, that's halfway paying for this dessert party. So we've had a great trip. There's things we still want to do tonight. I did not have a Lightning Lane Petron and Patton still really wanted to do it. And so that would take time to wait. So that's what we did. We got the dessert party. Good call. For our family in this case. Yeah. So we headed back to Magic Kingdom around 6 and we mobile ordered Casey's, which was way too much food.

[01:56:02] We like all got the corndog nuggets and we probably could have just gotten two because there were so many. So yeah, that was a slight blunder, but that's okay. We had a Tiana's Lightning Lane. We had to ride it one more time since it was our favorite, but it was down. So we had an anytime and then we had a buzz, but that was down. So we had another anytime too.

[01:56:29] So we were kind of holding on to those because first we had to go to Tron and the line said 75 minutes. And we're like, you know what? We haven't waited in any lines pretty much at all this entire trip. We've had a Lightning Lane for everything. It's been a walk on. Let's just do it. It's going to be fine. It took like an hour and a half. Oh no. Yeah. And they did the inside rider swap too. So it wasn't even like we had to go through the line twice.

[01:56:58] It was just long and it moved really slowly. I think the problem was, is that it was kind of in that in between daytime and nighttime time and people want to ride it at night. So I think it just, you know, it was fine. It was fine, but it was long. We had to take turns holding Grace because she was tired and she wasn't even able to ride it. So it was just like, I'm just standing here. I want to go shopping. Poor thing. Yeah.

[01:57:28] But she was okay. So we did, but we did get to ride Tron and then we had to hustle to the dessert party. And then we had to work really hard to get our money's worth out of the desserts and drinks because Patton being an adult gets charged for the drinks that he cannot drink. So we had to try to make up for that a little bit. Yeah. You've had, you do what you got to do, right? Yeah, you do.

[01:57:54] So, which then led to, you know, me watching the fireworks just like so emotional. I can't believe we almost didn't do this. Like it was just so much fun. And, you know, I did, once we're standing there watching the fireworks and, you know, you just have room. I mean, they escorted us to the little private viewing area with maybe three minutes to go and everyone's sitting down. So there's not a ton of room, but when the fireworks start, they tell you to stand up and we like had a great spot. So no need to even go stake out a seat.

[01:58:24] There's plenty of room. And it was just a wonderful almost ending to our trip because we still had two anytime passes. And we loved Thunder Mountain and we loved Tiana's. And we had like 40 minutes to try to accomplish both of them. So we hustled to Tiana's. And as soon as we got in line, we were like, this is a mistake. Tiana's is the longer ride. We should have done Big Thunder Mountain first.

[01:58:54] So the whole time we're on Tiana's, I'm just saying to my son, how many minutes till 11? And he's like, we have three minutes. We have two minutes. We like get off Tiana's. And we like power walked to Big Thunder and they were like, they were looking at us a little sideways. They're like, don't run. We're like, please let us tap in. And they let us tap in. I think it was like 1101, but they let us. So that was just a fun, chaotic end to the evening. But we did it. Yeah.

[01:59:24] Yeah. Wow. So that brings us to your departure day, Wednesday, June the 3rd. You already said you canceled your Kona reservation. Yep. You did have to do that drive over to Sanford Airport, which takes a little bit longer. So what did you do during the morning? And what time did you end up leaving Shades of Green to head over to the airport? So I had asked the night before for a late checkout, which they said we could have at 12, which was super nice. In the morning, we just packed up a little bit.

[01:59:52] The kids swam for about an hour and then we got lunch. And I kept looking at the Lyft app and it would just say that the Lyft would be four minutes away. And so I was like, oh, we're not done eating yet. So I didn't book it. When we finally got up there and I booked it, it took him a lot longer than four minutes to get to us. And when we got in the car, the Lyft app said it would take 55 minutes.

[02:00:19] And I was like, oh, we're cutting it close, Chris, like way closer than I've ever cut it for a flight before. And then the Lyft driver just kept taking turns that kept adding time to our thing. And I started freaking out and he didn't speak very good English. So I'm like, I've got my Google Maps up, like watching him like a hawk, like making sure we're even going in the right direction. And I guess Allegiant has a very strict cutoff.

[02:00:49] They closed the gate 45 minutes before the flight and we got to the airport and unloaded. We had 14 minutes until that 45 minute cutoff. And we were in line. There were a few people in front of us and they said, last call for Columbus. And we were like, that's us. And they're like, okay. And they came and they took us and they got our bags. But I did feel really bad about that. We should have left earlier. So I would say, I factor in at least 75 minutes for the commute.

[02:01:17] I was factoring in 60 and then I probably pushed it to 10 minutes too far past the 60. So I was probably got more cardio on that Lyft ride. And then I did the rest of the vacation because my heart was pounding. You check your health app or whatever. And it's like, are you working out? Right. But we made it. We got home and, you know, it was great.

[02:01:47] And I guess my biggest question about getting home is, did Gracie make it time for her dance practice? Oh, no, we didn't. Because by the, and it was fine. Her dance teachers had said, it's really okay. So it was fine. But yeah, she would have maybe only made one and that was not worth it. We were all very tired. So yeah. And was it her recital that you had last week? No, so she has like a national competition.

[02:02:17] It's called nationals, but it's just basically a destination competition. We're going to Charleston on Tuesday. So. Oh, fun. Yeah. Okay. Have you been to Charleston before? Yes. Okay. I like Charleston a lot. Which, yeah. I do too. But since we just did this very large family trip and we're doing this kind of mini trip at the end of July, I probably wouldn't be going to Charleston. No. If we didn't have this dance competition. So.

[02:02:47] Yeah. We will have a good time. But when your child is in a competitive thing like that, whether it's sport, dance, whatever. You do what you got to do. Right. And if you're me and you're in Charleston, you're just making the most of the opportunity to have really good shrimp and grits. Yes. Oh, I am very excited. And she only has to dance one day. So we're staying near the beach and we'll just, I think the competition's closer to the airport, but that's fine.

[02:03:15] A lot of people in her studio, they'll dance like every day and they basically see the convention center and the airport hotel. So we're lucky that we can stay at the beach and have a nice time. Okay. Well, you've already told me when you're going back. So I hope that at some point in the future, in a future trip, maybe that you will come back and be a guest on the show again. I really enjoyed talking to you. I would just be honored. And this has been so fun.

[02:03:43] And my kids just cannot wait. They just can't stop talking about it. So thank you. I hope I didn't say anything that embarrassed my children, but just know that I love them. And this is a really cool time capsule for us. So just am super grateful. For sure. Yeah. Wow. Thank you very much. I hope you have a magical rest of your week and good luck to Gracie at the competition. Thank you. Have a great week.

[02:04:12] Thank you again to Kelly for sharing this magical trip with me and with all the listeners. If you liked what you heard, please do share it with a friend and also consider submitting to be on a future show yourself. I'm currently looking for guests traveling in the very late fall of 2026 and into 2027. You can submit through the Be Our Guest link on my website, which as a reminder is whereilongtopodcast.com.

[02:04:38] Thank you all for listening and for being a part of this season seven of the show. I really appreciate each and every one of you. And I can't wait to see what the season brings. Until next time, keep daydreaming about where you long to be. . . . . Thank you.