Pre-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. This is season seven of the podcast. If you're new here, welcome. Like I said, my name is Virginia and I am a New York City based Walt Disney World annual pass holder. I'm a DVC member. My home resort is Copper Creek at Wilderness Lodge. And I have a love of the Disney parks and resorts. I also enjoy Universal and other magical properties all around the world. But do you like to see if you're a newbie?

[00:00:41] Disney parks and resorts specifically have my heart. My goal is to stay at every single Disney resort and I've almost finished all of them in Orlando at least. The only properties I have not stayed at yet are All Star Movies, Art of Animation, and Yacht Club. Besides that, I've hit them all at least once. This is primarily a Trip Report podcast for all kinds of magical destinations like Disney and Universal properties all over the world. Though sometimes I do have episodes that I call off the monorail episodes where we talk about the world.

[00:01:11] Talk about something else that's sort of talk about something else that's sort of in the same universe like trip planning or interview someone special that's related to these magical places. But overall, those episodes are a lot more rare. So if you love Trip Reports, this is your place to go to find them. There are two episodes each Monday, one pre-trip episode and one post-trip so you can hear all about the plans and how things change once the trip actually happens.

[00:01:37] Today's guest Kelly will be traveling with her husband Chris, her son Patton who is 12 and daughter Grace who is 8. They are coming to Walt Disney World from the great state of Ohio where Alex happens to be doing his acting intensive as we speak. Before we get into this interview, I want to be sensitive to my listeners and give a trigger warning for child loss.

[00:02:00] If you skip forward as soon as you hear the chime by about 8 minutes and 15 seconds, that will get you past it if you need to do so. Though I encourage everyone to stick with us if you can. Now, please welcome for the first time to the podcast family, Kelly. Welcome to the podcast, Kelly. Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. You're now the second Kelly to be on the podcast. It's a good name.

[00:02:27] You're going to have to go by Kelly C because I realized just the other day when I was getting my schedule going and reaching out to you and reaching out to somebody else, there's another Kelly coming on too. So there's going to be three of you total that have been on the show before. So then original Kelly came back. She's going to be on the show again soon. And I was like, Kelly, I got two more Kellys coming. It's going to get crazy in here. And her last name starts with the G. So I said, you'll have to be Kelly G, I guess, now that we're having two more Kellys.

[00:02:56] And she says, yeah, but I'm the OG. So I was like, OK, I guess you're Kelly OG. And then I have two more here. So welcome, second Kelly ever to the podcast. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Never happier to be second, right? Right. Well, thank you for joining me today. You have a trip coming up. Before we get started, why don't you just tell us where you are in the world? And I can't even remember. I'd have to click on something else to remember what state you're in.

[00:03:26] We live in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Oh, OK. Yeah. I don't know anything about geography, but Alex is going to Ohio this summer for two weeks. He's going to be outside of Cleveland. OK. Is he going to go to Cedar Point or any of the fun amusement parks there? No, he's doing an acting intensive. So for two weeks, he will be there and he will only have one day off.

[00:03:53] And the rest of the time, they are working with college professors and stuff, basically doing two weeks of acting work. That's amazing. Good for him. Yeah. I'm excited for him. And he's going to fly for the first time by himself. So that will be exciting for him as well. So definitely. I have to trust that the training that I have given him every time we've been in an airport of showing him the signs and all of that, that he's going to be able to do just fine without me. I think he will be fine.

[00:04:22] He'll be 16 by that point. So surely he'll be fine. I think based on some of the other podcasts, he's going to be looking for the lounge at the airport. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. He doesn't have access without me there. Yes. Oh, no. He is my plus one. So. Bummer. I know. I know. I've spoiled him on lounge life, but he'll survive. I think it'll be exciting enough to be in the airport by himself that he won't need a lounge.

[00:04:52] He'll be like, yes, I'm here. I can go to the McDonald's, which is a place that I never go to when we're in the airport. Anyway. All right. Enough about my kid. Let's talk about your trip, your family. And how did you come to Love Disney? Is this your first trip that you're taking? Is this your 20th trip? Tell me a little bit about that. So the group that's going on this trip is my husband, Chris, and my daughter, Grace.

[00:05:21] She is seven, almost eight. And our son, Patton, Patton like the general, he is 12. And we got into Disney in the year Patton was born. So it was 2014. We actually have an older daughter named Allie that was born in 2011. And shortly after Patton was born, I had this crazy idea to leave him at home with my mom. And we took her to Disney World for a couple of days. And we just had the best time ever.

[00:05:48] And my husband, who no one would think would be a theme park guy, was immediately hooked. And so was I. And so we, you know, started planning more trips. But when Allie turned four, we found out that she had a rare brain condition. And she had to have brain surgery. But she came out doing all right. So we got to go on a celebratory trip when she was four, almost five.

[00:06:16] But as that year went on, she wasn't doing as well. And she had a stroke in 2016. And she passed away in 2017. And so, but going to Disney really makes us feel close to her. It helps us remember these times that we had. And now we get to do some of these things with our daughter, Grace, that she loved to do. And, you know, it's still really special.

[00:06:46] So, you know, when we're there, we have a lot of happy memories. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about Allie and what she loved at Disney. Did she have favorite things that she did? Yes. So she was a princess girl for sure. And loved doing the Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique. Even when we went the first time, we were Disney dummies. We didn't know anything. But she loved, she wasn't three yet, but she could get the glitter in her hair.

[00:07:15] And that was so fun. And we did like a Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique in the room because she wasn't old enough. And I put her hair up in the bun. And we went and met characters. And it was just so fun. And then when she was older, she did get to do it one time. And there's just this one really special memory where when she was in the hospital after her brain surgery, one of my friends who lived in Orlando said, like, can I do anything? I know you guys love Disney. And I said, can you, like, get a recording from a princess to send it to us? So he did.

[00:07:45] He got a recording of Merida reminding her to be brave and just this really sweet video. And when we went back to Disney after her surgery, we were in line to see Merida. And my husband went and talked to the character attendant, kind of told the little story. And they were like, okay. And they brought us in very last. And Merida played hide and seek with her. And it was so special.

[00:08:11] But the most special part about it was it was the exact same Merida from the video that we had gotten. So it was just, like, really cool. So whenever I see Merida, I'm like, I can't even talk to her. I'm just, like, crying. Like, no, no, no. It's okay. Can you take a picture with me? Just ignore my tears. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that with me and with our listeners. Yeah.

[00:08:41] And we're just so happy to have so many happy memories with her. We were so lucky to not know anything was wrong until she was four. I don't think there was anything they could have done. So we just have tons of good memories with her. And we, you know, move on and honor her memory however we can. Do you have any special traditions when you go back to Disney now that you do to think of her? Besides just feeling her everywhere you go, I'm sure.

[00:09:11] I don't think so anymore. One time I had put something on a button about her, but I did not like some of that extra attention that we were receiving. Like, I didn't want a free lightning lane because of my horrible tragedy or whatever. So, um, no, I was thinking more like we go to this, a special tree that we see and it reminds us of her or anything like that. I think just seeing Merida is kind of special. That's, that's a special one for us. But nothing else.

[00:09:39] She was pretty little and now we're getting into some older kid things. Yeah. It changes things. Oh my goodness. It does change things. Wow. Thank you so much. I'm so sorry that, that your whole family had to go through that. And I, you know, feel, I feel for any family who's, who's dealing with, with child loss, obviously with child medical issues. That's especially hard.

[00:10:01] Um, but I, I love that you're able to carry on, uh, your love of Disney and that they have that connection now to Merida. And she can remind us all to be brave when things like that happen and, um, that we need to push forward and keep doing our best and show up. Right. Yes, exactly. So, so how many times have, uh, Patton and Grace been to Disney? Are they very experienced park goers?

[00:10:32] I would say moderately experienced. We haven't been for a while. The last time we were there was for the princess marathon and half marathon in 2024. So Gracie was five and she's almost eight now. So it's been a while for her and Patton. He's been several times, but you know, the last time he was nine, almost 10. So it's been a while. So we're excited to be in this different stage with them.

[00:10:58] When they've been before, were they adventurous riders? Was it merely their height stopping them from doing bigger things? So Patton will ride anything. He cannot wait. He's so excited. Um, the last time we went, Gracie was tall enough for guardians, but I don't think I properly warned her. And that initial blast of music scared her to death and she hated every second of it. She actually provided great entertainment for people after the ride.

[00:11:27] She was stomping down the street. I can't believe you made me ride that ride. And everyone was just like laughing because it was really cute. Um, so she's a little bit more timid, but she's done slinky and test track. And she just agreed tonight to do guardians, mostly because we said, Gracie, if we have to do rider swap, it's going to take like two hours. Can you just get on the ride for two minutes?

[00:11:52] And she said, she's, she's pretty sure she'll do it, but she will not do tower of terror, which she calls tower of horror. Okay. All right. That's where she's going to draw the line. Okay. Will she wait in the line with you for the ride and just get out of the last second? We'll do rider swap because Patton loves to get to ride twice. So he'll be, he'll be excited to ride twice. All right. Let's talk some of the details.

[00:12:22] Where have you decided to stay for this trip? So we are doing a split stay. We are going to start out at Caribbean beach, mostly because of where our second place is, doesn't have as, um, kind of untraditional transportation. So my son said, I really want to stay on the Skyliner. So the family does not know that our car is going to be taking us to Caribbean beach. And I think that'll be a little bit of a fun surprise.

[00:12:51] Um, so we're only doing two nights there and then we are moving to shades of green, which is the military hotel that is on Disney property, like near the golf course and across from the Polynesian. Have you stayed there before? We have stayed at shades of green, but we have not stayed at Caribbean beach. Okay. I'm excited to hear about the shades of green portion because I've never stayed there.

[00:13:16] And my sister-in-law is a veteran and I think that they have talked about, you know, going back at some point because I indoctrinated them into the love of Disney. In fact, they have spoken about going on an adults only trip. So I think I really did a good job there. So, um, but because of her veteran status, she was like, Oh, I heard about this resort. So I am looking forward to sharing this episode with her so that she can hear more about it as well.

[00:13:43] Is there anything else about the resort that makes you want to keep coming back? Do you get special discounts? Does it offer special opportunities for people to stay there to do magical things? Yeah. Yeah. So there's a lot of reasons to stay at shades of green. First of all, um, the night it was built as a Disney deluxe hotel, I believe. And then Disney sold it to the military. And so, um, the rooms are really large.

[00:14:09] There's two beds plus a couch that turns into a bed and there's like a table and balconies. So it has that bigger, more spacious feel. Um, but the price is the same amount that we're paying for Caribbean beach. Oh, um, also it is counted as a deluxe hotel. So we can do the extended evening hours. Yep. And, um, there's a little like convenience store there too.

[00:14:37] That is like a military store. So you do have to show your ID, but it's really pretty gas station standard, um, like prices. So it's not very expensive. You know, you can get a beverage to take out to the pool and it's just, it's pretty cheap, which is really nice. You're not getting that, um, markup that you might get at some of the parks or resorts. And yeah, it's, it's wonderful.

[00:15:07] It's, it's a great place to stay. The pool, they've got a great slide. It's a Mickey shaped pool. And then there's also a zero entry pool. Okay. Yeah. I, I hope that you will take some pictures there because I would love to see a little bit of that space. I think I had watched something about the history of that resort at some time. And I feel like it was, uh, this sounds so funny to say, but just like a Florida themed deluxe resort that Disney had planned.

[00:15:35] Um, like that was the theming, uh, Florida. So I can, I can see that maybe. Yeah. Curbium beach. How are you getting over to the hotel? You said it was a car, but specifically how are you doing that without the kids knowing where you're going to, are the people who are driving you in on the secret? Well, I think we're just going to do an Uber or Lyft and I'll just put it in on my phone.

[00:16:01] I was looking at pre booking last night and I thought the prices were great, but I was a little, just not in the mood to book it. And then I looked again today, they were like $20 more. And so I was thinking, do I need to go on like an incognito browser? Are they price gouging me? Because now they know I, I really want to book this car or what? So I don't know. We are flying into the Sanford airport, which we've never done before. Oh, interesting.

[00:16:27] But we, um, had some flight prices that we just couldn't beat. So it is a little bit of a more expensive Uber or Lyft, but the price last night for an Uber XL, I think was like $66, which I didn't think was too bad. But then today it was almost 90. So I thought maybe I'll try around 11 PM again to see if I can get a lower price. Have you flown into Sanford before? No, this is our first time. Okay.

[00:16:56] It will be sad when we leave because we always go to the Disney store one last time at the airport. And so to not get to do that, we are going to have to make sure we buy all of the things before we leave. Yes. That is a tradition for me as well. Yeah. So we'll see. Just one more trip through. Charles is always like, really? Seriously? I hardly ever buy anything. I just like to like walk through, make sure.

[00:17:22] So what time is your flight on Monday, May the 25th? So it's a direct flight. We leave at 945 and we get in at 1151. Okay. So then I'm hoping that we are at the resort by two. If everything goes according to plan, it should be a little bit earlier, but I have it in my mind that we'll be there at two for planning purposes. Okay.

[00:17:50] What is going to be the first thing you're going to do when you get to Caribbean Beach? So because it will be probably a little bit after lunchtime, I do want us to secure lunch. But I was thinking either checking out their Riviera food, which I've heard is really good, or maybe even going to Epcot. But the military to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States has these special tickets for 2026.

[00:18:20] And the ticket was $500 and it is for all of 2026 up until December 19th. So we basically have an annual pass that's just for 2026. And one thing that I want to do is make sure that our tickets are activated. Sometimes you have to go to a window before you use a military ticket.

[00:18:43] So I wouldn't hate going over to Epcot to make sure that our tickets are activated and maybe we can then go in for lunch and then just go back to the resort for some pool time. That is an amazing deal. Yeah. When could you have started using that? Like if you had bought that back in February or January, would you have still been able to get basically the whole year? Yeah. So it's, it was for 2026.

[00:19:13] There were a couple of blackout dates around spring break time and then it ends on December 18th or 19th. And we could have gone before this, but just with kids sports and flight prices, it just didn't work out. And so that's why we have this nice long trip. We can kind of go in and out of the parks as we please and not have to have so much pressure on this is our Epcot day or, you know, we only have this many days to accomplish what we want to accomplish.

[00:19:43] And speaking of kids sports, I know that your youngest Grace has recently had a broken bone. So she presumably will still be wearing this cast when she goes to the parks. Any concerns about that? No, we have a great children's hospital here in Columbus and it's a waterproof cast. And he actually wants the cast to get wet every day.

[00:20:09] So we were just thinking when she gets really hot, we can, you know, pour icy water down our cast because I'm sure it will be a little bit uncomfortable, but she can swim and she is just a trooper with the cast. She hasn't complained once. So I think she'll be fine. Any other plans for that evening? Any dinner reservations or anything like that? Yes. So we are going to Sebastian's at 620. I've just heard really rave reviews and my son loves an all you can eat situation.

[00:20:38] So I think he's really going to love this meal. After that, we will probably just hang around the resort unless we have not gone to Epcot. And if people are into it, I do have on here that we could go over to Fantasmic if we wanted to. But we'll just kind of leave it up to the group and do whatever we feel like doing.

[00:21:04] On several of our last trips, we've had family with us, which is so fun and it's wonderful. But we are a little excited to do this trip, just the four of us so we can really be doing what we want to do the whole time and not really have to take in other people into consideration. But with these tickets that we have, we are going to go with some family later in the year. So yeah. Yeah. No, it's very nice to be able to travel with other people, but also nice to be able to just

[00:21:34] have your immediate family there. I think you're going to love Sebastian's. I really enjoyed it. The food was so good. And with Patton being 12, that's the time when they start eating like a teenager. So you want to take advantage of those opportunities where they can have as much as their heart or stomach desires. For sure. What is the plan for Tuesday, May the 26th?

[00:22:00] So Tuesday is one of the only days I'm really adamant that we are rope dropping. We are going to go to Epcot and I'd like to start at Remy's. And then I book our lightning lanes tomorrow. So I'm hoping to get Frozen, probably Figment, and then maybe Mission Space. One really fun thing about our trip is that literally everything's opening day is Tuesday,

[00:22:30] May 26th. So the Bluey Rock and Roller Coaster soaring, the Cool Kids Summer. So I'm not really sure what to expect in regards to crowds. But I don't know if everyone's just going to be going to those new things or if overall things are going to feel a little bit more crowded. But we shall see. I'm going to anticipate there will be higher crowds because all of the influencers will

[00:22:59] come out to be there for the first day. But I'm guessing that many people will gravitate towards those new or reopened things. And it might make some of the lines a little bit better. But if you're getting multi-passed, you'll be fine anyway. That's what I was hoping. And since we have a long trip, I'm saving those new things for the end. And then we'll be able to have the lightning lane times that we want. And we should be okay.

[00:23:26] And it occurred to me that Monday is Memorial Day. So we're also talking about a holiday week. So that will probably impact your crowds as well. Yeah. Yeah. We've been in May before. I work in a school. So I love to get out of school and just immediately go on a vacation because then my summer feels nice and long. And I also feel like I'm really celebrating the end of the school year.

[00:23:53] So it hasn't been too bad in May crowd-wise. But I like to think I'm pretty savvy with lightning lanes. So I don't know if we even notice the crowds as much as maybe some other people would. When you do a split today, sometimes that can impact how you're able to make these arrangements.

[00:24:16] So on a Shades of Green Facebook group that I'm in, I have had several people say that when you do a split stay, you have two different dining booking dates. But as long as there's no break in your stay, your lightning lane booking date is the same and you can book your whole trip. So I'm hoping tomorrow I can book my whole trip. But if not, I just have to wait two more days. Any dining reservations this day?

[00:24:46] So no dining reservations. My goal for this day is to, like I said, hit Rummy's. And then while we wait for World Showcase to open up, maybe go meet some characters or check out the cool kids summer things that are going on. But around mid-morning, I'd like to get back to World Showcase in Mexico and start working our way around as much as we can. We've hardly ever gone into the shops or gone back into the countries. So I want us to do that together.

[00:25:17] I want the kids to do the DuckTales thing. I don't know what it is, but I keep hearing about it. Another thing, another idea I got was to give the kids a gift card and have them go into the shops and find like unique snack or candy or something to eat. So if they're bored, they can shop together. And my husband and I can hopefully explore the countries a little bit.

[00:25:43] I don't know how far we're going to make it, but I want to be out of the park around two. I'm hoping that we can just snack or even get food in Mexico. I think the kids would like that quick service. I've never eaten there, but the menu seems to be pretty. Yeah, it's really good. I think that it would probably have something for everyone. The DuckTales adventure, my friend Jeanette just pointed out to me the other day,

[00:26:11] I have not been talking about DuckTales as much as I used to. And when she and I were there the first week in May, we did the one that's in China, and I had not done that country. I highly recommend it as something to do. It's fun for kids and adults alike, and it gives you a little like 20-minute activity to stand and do in the country and see things that you would not have seen and all kinds of magical things happen.

[00:26:38] If I had to say my favorite one, it's the one in the UK. Okay. I don't really know what to expect, but based on what I hear, I think the kids would really like it. So I think they'll have fun doing that. And hopefully they won't have the need to bicker with one another if they are working on a cooperative activity. Yeah. You said you wanted to leave around too. What is your goal for the afternoon?

[00:27:07] So my family needs a break usually, so we're going to go back. We're going to hang out. If kids want to swim, that's fine. If we want to sleep or just kind of plug into our screens for a little bit to just have some alone time, we'll do that. I want to go back to Hollywood Studios in the evening, and my goal is to have booked as many lightning lanes as possible. Well, I know I can do three, but as many good ones as possible. I would like to do, if we can, anything in Toy Story Land

[00:27:36] before heading to Star Wars. We love Docking Bay 7, so I went to eat dinner there and ride Millennium Falcon hopefully with the lightning lane. And I'm hoping if I just keep an eye on Rise of the Resistance, maybe we can find a lower standby line towards the end of the night. They changed the park hours so it closes at 10 now. So I'm hoping that somewhere between 7 and 10, that line goes down a little bit.

[00:28:04] I think my family could stand in line for 30, 40 minutes. I just, with all the lightning lanes that we're buying, the individual lightning lanes are losing their value to me a little bit when we have a long trip. I just think, okay, we can wait in line for an hour. Like no one's going to, we couldn't do it all day, but we could do it once. And then we have an 850 Ogas reservation. I was hoping that would be the last reservation and we would be leaving to an empty park, but they changed the park hours to close at 10,

[00:28:34] but they did not make more Ogas times. As of the last time that I looked. So I think that it might benefit you. I think right now they're doing a 10 p.m. Phantasmic, like a later showing. So perhaps after your Ogas, it might be lighter crowds because people are making their way over to do Phantasmic where you would have a chance to do Rise of the Resistance. They do sometimes inflate the time towards the end of the day

[00:29:05] to make it seem like it's going to be a little bit longer than it actually is. There is an app called Lines, I believe. It's through Undercover Tourist. Okay. Let me see. I'm not wearing my glasses. I'm having to hold my phone back so I can see what it is. I think it's called Lines. Listeners, I'll put it in the show notes if I can figure this out. But it tells you like here's the current posted wait time and here's what we anticipated actually is

[00:29:34] based on all of our data. Okay. Yeah, that would be great because I do hear on these podcasts sometimes people will say, oh, it said 45 minutes and we waited eight or whatever. It's just like, well, that would be nice to know if the line was really only eight minutes. Yeah, especially at the end of the day because they want to get people out of there and as long as you get into line by the time park closes, they let you finish it out. So it's kind of to discourage people from hopping in at the last second

[00:30:04] but it can really benefit you. And this like getting in line at 10 o'clock is something we never would have even been able to consider before. So it is kind of exciting to have that flexibility to say, hey, maybe we'll jump in line at 9.30 or maybe we're all going to be like tired and want to go back and go to sleep and that's fine because we do have the long trip. So right. All right. Wednesday, May 27th, which park? We are heading to Hollywood Studios. I don't have any strong feelings

[00:30:31] about getting there anytime before 10. I would love to stop at the Riviera for breakfast because my husband's a coffee guy and you just rave about it. So we definitely want to check out their breakfast. I'm hoping... And I just want to point out for listeners because you're doing your resort swap. So this will be the morning that you're checking out of Caribbean Beach and going to Shades of Green. The way that you've kind of concentrated

[00:31:00] your Epcot and Hollywood Studios time on these days and really taking advantage of that is super smart. And so it'd be very easy for you to go to Riviera to do the coffee and everything, which I highly recommend. The almond corn brew is the best. And obviously, the banana bread that I've talked about before. But I also had the... I think it was a raspberry brioche when I was there recently. And it is also top notch.

[00:31:27] But in terms of moving your things to Shades of Green, do they transfer luggage because it's not a Disney resort? Given its proximity and that it used to be, I'm just not sure. How would that work? So we... I don't know. People say that it kind of depends on Bell Services that day. They will not transfer from Shades of Green to another resort. But sometimes they will transfer from a Disney resort to Shades of Green.

[00:31:58] So we're going to ask nicely, see what they say. And if they will transfer our luggage, great. We might throw some things in our backpacks just to make sure we have everything we want. But we'll let them transfer that if they will, which would make our afternoon and evening go much more smoothly because we would be able to leave Hollywood Studios and just take the Shades of Green transportation back to the hotel instead of having to go to Caribbean Beach, getting our luggage, getting an Uber. So... Right. Okay. Hoping they'll transfer it,

[00:32:28] but if they don't, it's fine. Yeah. You'll figure it out. You're in Disney. Right. All right. Hollywood Studios for the day. So I want to get Mickey and Minnie's. That's my favorite ride. Also, Tower of Terror and Star Tours. And my son, Patton, doesn't know, but at 1145, he and my husband are doing a lightsaber build. So they've done it before, but Patton was pretty young when they did.

[00:32:56] So he's just going to be thrilled. My husband and my son are really into Star Wars. So they know all the lore and buy all the things and that's what makes them happy and that's great. I like Star Wars, but I always say, I don't remember, like I could watch a movie, but I don't remember what happens. I never know where we are in the timeline or what's going on. I'm the same. I enjoy it.

[00:33:24] I love that Alex is so into it, but sometimes he acts like I am so out of it when I'm like, wait, who is that person again? Yeah. It's like, mom, that's so-and-so and I'm just like, and they have this color lightsaber. Unless they're the original people like Luke, Leia, and Han Solo. I mean, that's, I think, probably makes sense given my age, but there's too many movies. There's too many TV shows these days. Like the Star Wars universe has expanded so much

[00:33:54] that there's a lot to know. yes. So, while they do that, Gracie and I will do whatever we want. We love the Frozen sing-along. The new Disney Junior show is starting the day before. She's a little bit older than maybe their target audience, but I think she would still like to go and stand in the back and clap along. So, I want to give the boys plenty of time to do Star Wars things. That's what I have

[00:34:23] in my notes because they like to go in all the shops and I would be just bored out of my mind. So, we're going to give them as much time as they need and I'm hoping that we can leave around two to three. Ideally, Shades of Green transportation to Shades of Green, but if not, we will do an Uber. All right, what's the plan for the afternoon after your break? So, we're going to chill for a little bit because we are going to need it and it is Wednesday, which means deluxe hotels get extended

[00:34:54] evening hours. Is that it? Yes. At Magic Kingdom. So, I want to be at Magic Kingdom by seven. I have a jungle skipper canteen reservation. I'm not sure if we'll keep it, but that's just like guaranteed food. And my goal in my notes I have, I want to do the front left side of the park. So, anything we can from like Jungle Cruise all the way around to like Peter Pan. So, that Big Thunder Mountain, Tiana's,

[00:35:24] Haunted Mansion, Pirates. And if we, just based on time, if we're being successful, we'll keep looping around. If we're not as successful, then I wouldn't mind heading over to do some things in Tomorrowland. And we'll keep an eye on that Tron line and the Seven Dwarfs line. If it seems like the wait time is low, we'll try to do those too without having to pay for them. So, I'm thinking we'll be there pretty late. It's open until 12.

[00:35:53] If we can see the Starlight Parade, that'd be wonderful just while we're over on that side of the park. But if we don't catch it, I'm not worried about it either. All right. So, that brings us to Thursday, May the 28th. So, at dinner tonight, I said, what's everybody's top three things that we're doing? Just so I know what to talk about. And my husband said, rest days. So, this is a non-park day, but I still have a couple of things planned.

[00:36:22] My husband and kids love Legos, so they are going to do the minifigure build. Well, I think I can call and cancel some of my reservations. I made three reservations because they are three people, but then I've heard that it's like up to four people on a reservation, so I probably don't need to be hogging those. Yeah, we, the three of us did it together and I only made one reservation for the three of us. So, we have a 10-30 and 11 and an 11-30, so I guess we have a little flexibility of when

[00:36:51] we get to Disney Springs. I've never had Gideons because I've had little kids that I'm not going to make everyone wait in a cookie line for an hour, but I would be thrilled to have Gideons. I thought that maybe even I could go over to Disney Springs ahead of the family. I rise a little earlier than they do to just be in line, so we'll see. My son, Patton, since the time he was three, just had this weird obsession with Guy from the Food Network.

[00:37:21] I don't know when I try to say his last name, so we want to go to Chicken Guy. He's really excited. Have you been to Chicken Guy before? Nope, but we're going for lunch. It's good. I mean, if you love a chicken finger and you like choices in sauce, it's going to be ready to go. yes. I'm very happy. I dream of chicken tenders. Okay. I definitely do. And I also really love

[00:37:50] Deluxe Burger. Those are probably my two favorite quick service type foods. Well, now I'm thinking back. Polite Pig is also considered a quick service even though they help you at your table. We've done that one. There's so many good choices. Yeah. And I'm not the biggest Disney Springs gal. I love shopping but not necessarily there. I can do the Disney shops there but the clothing stores, I don't want to be there.

[00:38:19] I would rather be alone at my local mall than at Disney Springs with my whole family in a shop. With them going, are you done yet? Can we go? Right. Yes. Yeah. Or if I'm looking at something, I'm going to feel rushed or, you know, so I would just prefer to wrap up Disney Springs by mid-afternoon and head to the pool and just relax. Mm-hmm. That sounds like a good plan.

[00:38:49] All right. What's happening in the afternoon and evening on this day? So nothing really. I'm really trying very hard not to overschedule us. There is a restaurant at Shades of Green called Mangino's. It's an Italian restaurant and it's the kind where they will do the Alfredo table side which my son just thought was the best thing ever last time so this is a requirement for the trip so I'm hoping to just eat there this night so we know we've done it and we can

[00:39:18] kind of check that off but other than that we're just hanging out. Friday, May the 29th. So I think we're at this doesn't make a lot of sense but it's the only way it works in my head when I consider like a hundred other factors but we're going back to Epcot this day to do like the front of the park and anything we don't get to on our first Epcot day. I know people say it gets a little bit more crowded on Fridays and Saturdays but I'm hoping to get there fairly early

[00:39:48] and be done mid-afternoon. We definitely want to ride Guardians that day and Soarin. I don't think I'm going to get Soarin' the first day Soarin' Over America opens but I think I'll be able to get it this day. We also want to do Tush Track. We've never done Turtle Talk with Crush which I think is a crime because my son is such a like animal guy but we're doing it. Yeah, so anything in the front of the park and then

[00:40:17] anything we missed in the countries and then we are going to Beer Garden at 205. We did it the last time we were there and the kids loved it. Like I said my son loves the all you can eat so he really wanted to go back to Beer Garden and I loved it too so I'm not complaining. Yeah, it's really good. For Guardians of the Galaxy did you get individual lightning lanes for that? So I will get yes. Tomorrow when I can buy them I'll get them for everybody. Yeah,

[00:40:47] I couldn't remember we talked about Rider Swap earlier so I was not sure whether it was the plan to just do standby with Rider Swap or the individual lightning which that makes sense. Okay, all right, Saturday May the 30th. So this is the only other day that I am passionate about rope dropping. We are going to rope drop Magic Kingdom. I love a Magic Kingdom rope drop morning so it just we have to do it

[00:41:17] even if everyone's a little tired so I'm hoping early bedtime is the night before. I would like to rope drop just any rides we feel like doing in Fantasyland. I don't really care whatever the group wants to do and then I want our lightning lanes to be probably Buzz the Speedway just for those like early burner lightning lanes and then Big Thunder. And this will be your first time back on Big Thunder since it got its refurb.

[00:41:47] Yes, we're excited. Um, this day is also the day that we have the Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique. It's at 2.30 which was not my ideal time. This is where my two reservation windows really let me down. It didn't let me down but I didn't really think it through completely. Um, the Festival Fantasy Parade is maybe my favorite thing at Disney World so I'm a little like devastated that on

[00:42:17] our Big Magic Kingdom day we're going to be at the Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique at that time but that's okay. I will see it again I'm sure and I still may see it this trip but um, I've got my little alert. I'm just hoping can I get that Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique moved up but I there's been no movement yet so we'll see. I think that you will have a better chance to have that movement as you are within a day or two of your trip so cross my fingers for you. That's what I'm hoping. So since

[00:42:46] her appointment is at a slightly odd time I have in my notes that we will either leave around 11 and go back and just chill out for a little bit or we might go to Columbia Harbor House, go upstairs and have like a long lunch in the air conditioning because I would kind of like to push us all day this day if we can but I don't know it's going to depend on how hot it is and how tired

[00:43:15] people are but just a weird time to rope drop but also be back by 2.30 so we're going to play this one by year. Yeah and I think that with Shades of Green I'm imagining that the bus for Shades of Green is over at the Ticket and Transportation Center is that correct? Yes so we take a bus from Shades to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then do the monorail which is fine and the Shades of Green buses run

[00:43:44] with military precision they're about every 20 minutes and they run on schedule it's not just oh about every 15 minutes or whatever they have a schedule with times so that is that predictability is nice but also getting places takes a long time when you have to do more than one mode of transportation right yeah but at least Shades of Green is not too far from Magic Kingdom so even with that swap it's not too far a drive once you're actually on the

[00:44:14] bus right yeah it just depends on when you know when the train pulls up how long it is till the bus pulls up but so it's not too long but it can feel like a lot like it might be less work just to go find an air conditioning spot and sit there for an hour to recharge our batteries does Gracie have a sense of what she might be choosing when she goes to the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique so since Grace is almost eight she's done

[00:44:43] the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique twice before and she's kind of moving out of that princess lover stage when we were planning the trip I said to her do you want to do the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique this time and she said yeah why wouldn't I and I it just made my heart so happy but I don't think she will if she does pick out a princess dress she'll wear it for like five minutes and she'll be done so I found on Etsy these really cute little

[00:45:13] athletic princess sets with the little athletic skirt and top and we got a Cinderella and a Rapunzel because they were just honestly too cute so we will bring one of those with us and that's what she'll wear she'll just get her hair and makeup done that will be much better much more comfortable for sure yeah the dresses when it's 100 degrees stay on for like 10 minutes so they might stay on for 10 minutes but the hairdos last forever forever

[00:45:42] they're wonderful the buns with the amount of hairspray that's in there it's like days of enjoyment of that hairstyle for sure I went Grace does dance and cheer and when I do her dance and cheer hair I use the techniques they use at Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique to get that slick no flyaways and it works every time it's great oh my goodness all right any plans

[00:46:11] for the later afternoon and evening on this day yes so this is Grace's surprise she has Cinderella's royal table at 420 all four of us are going and then I definitely at some point in this day it's a must do the enchanted tales with Belle and then if we want to meet any other princesses or characters while she's done up we can spoiler alert the next day is a non-park day so if we can it'd be

[00:46:41] great to just stay for fireworks if we can't that's fine too we'll do whatever we feel like doing when she's all dolled up that would be such a perfect day to see the fireworks in my opinion I agree and we've always done the dessert party I've never once done the fireworks without the dessert party so we're not doing it this time mostly because my son is an adult and it would be

[00:47:10] $400 for the four of us and I just can't that gets to a point where I can't justify it anymore if it's just me and my husband or the kids were counted as kids then maybe yes but if we do do the fireworks I want to find a great spot I want to find it early I want to get snacks I just want to sit down and wait I don't want to be last minute trying to find a spot that will be the moment when you just say you know yes there are all these things we could be doing but

[00:47:40] we're just going to clock out of all of our ride riding and just be here and enjoy the vibes until it's time for the fireworks to start and one thing that I heard from you that the kids would like to do too I said if we do wait for fireworks we'll go to the confectionary we'll get the popcorn with the special popcorn whatever it is that you can make yourself and then we will go find our spot we'll sit down and we will have our popcorn so

[00:48:10] that's what we may do okay that sounds like a good plan and yes that is has become a new tradition for us is getting the custom popcorn so that'll be a lot of fun for them just don't forget if there is a big line you don't have to wait in it just go to the main part of the counter so glad to know that I love a hack I do not like waiting in lines all right Sunday May the 31st so this is seriously I

[00:48:39] don't have a single plan one thing we might want to do is go to Port Orleans because my son is a huge fisherman I don't want to do the chartered boat well I do he would love it so much but the fishing at Port Orleans is much more economical and we've never had the beignets so we might go over there I have two reservations which I doubt we'll do either one is for beaches of and cream at

[00:49:08] 415 Gracie really wants to go back there but I feel like I've done that like the last three trips I'm not sure I need to go this time I have a 530 at Wailulu that one will do if maybe we decide to do fireworks this night maybe go there eat and head over to Magic Kingdom I don't think we will do that but if we want to at least we have that reservation and then there is a sports bar at Shades of

[00:49:37] Green that one of my favorite memories from our last trip was being at that sports bar with my family and there is this women's basketball game on that we were all very invested in and it was a great night so it's had a good vibe and we may just have an evergreens night I'm not sure but that's the beauty of the rest day we'll do whatever we want yes and that sounds like a true rest day to me Monday June the 1st what are you going to be doing on this day so we're going to Animal

[00:50:07] Kingdom when I said that I thought that the Epcot day shouldn't be an Epcot day I feel like that day should be an Animal Kingdom day but Epcot has extended hours on Monday for the deluxe guests and my husband and I might go back just the two of us that evening and I didn't really want to be at Epcot during the day take a break and go back to Epcot I just figured we would we would just not go back to Epcot so I wanted to be at a different park

[00:50:37] this day so that's why we're saving Animal Kingdom for so long but also Bluey is starting on the 26th and I'm sure it's going to be crazy at Animal Kingdom so I'm fine giving Bluey a few days to cool off before we head over there. People do love Bluey like they're kind of obsessed with it and I hear that parents even like him and find him to be tolerable as far as kids characters go. It is a cute show I think

[00:51:06] Grace was just a little bit she was kind of on the border she watched it a little but she grew out of it pretty quickly but my nephews love Bluey so yes we we understand the Bluey allure so we're going to Animal Kingdom maybe around rope drop but I'm not shooting for it that's an early one I don't really want to try to get my family out of the room by 645 or whatever I'd rather just get to Animal Kingdom a little bit later.

[00:51:37] I want to get Everest for Patton, the Safari and Navi River and then we definitely will buy the Flight of Passage Lightning Lane. This is one Gracie is really excited to do but I do have some concerns about her being on her own on that Banshee bike thing. When she did the Millennium Falcon before and she's just in that seat by herself and it

[00:52:05] was pretty chaotic and loud and she was freaking out immediately and there's nothing you can do except reach your arm across the aisle and say it'll be over in a minute and I worry about this same thing on Flight of Passage with her getting up and the ride starting and then her thinking I don't like this. So we're going to see how she's doing with all the other rides before we make a final decision on the Flight of Passage for her but I'll buy it and if she

[00:52:35] doesn't do it I'll ask nicely for them to give us our money back and you know if they don't Patton will go ride it again and he'll be happy so it'll be fine. Yeah win-win. We have Tusker House at 1140. That is a tradition at this point. We love their lunch and love meeting the characters without waiting in line so we will do Tusker House and yeah we'll do as much as we can at

[00:53:05] Animal Kingdom. We haven't done the shows in a while and I've never done Cali River Rapids and I know the kids will get a kick out of that especially if I'm the target of the waterfalls and things like that so I know that they'll want to do that. I'm hoping to spend some time at Everest. I feel like my son Patton will just want to get in that single rider line over and over and if that's what he wants to do then I'll do it with him and my

[00:53:34] husband will and I don't want him to feel rushed. I want him to get his fill. Yeah and there's a coffee there's a Joffrey's coffee right nearby there so that's what I like to do is if Alex wants to keep going on Everest I will usually get a coffee and sit there and wait for him. And I never I've been recently learning about how Animal Kingdom is the place for the snacks and the drinks so I'm hoping that we can partake in some of

[00:54:04] those things. I talked to my family we're we're usually not big food sharers and I said this trip I really want to stop get a snack and like let's all just have a piece of it and then go get another snack and the whole family was really excited about that. So we do want to try like the ice cream sandwich that's animal kingdom and and just have a little bit of a different mindset instead of getting four ice cream sandwiches can we get one or two and then go get a mac and

[00:54:33] cheese or so I did mention that night my husband and I may go back to Epcot just the two of us and I think if we do I will buy Guardians for us because we've never sat next to each other and rode that ride. We don't sit next to each other and ride very many rides at all so that might be fun for the two of us. If you two go there by yourself what do you think the kids will be doing just hanging out in the room watching movies or are there activities at Shades of Green that they

[00:55:02] could be doing? No we'll have them in the room. They're really good kids. They're not the type of kids that would you know look at a balcony and say I wonder what happened if I jumped off of this or let me do a flip off of a bed onto another bed like they're pretty chill and so I feel like if we've tired them out from over a week now it does me and plop them down with their iPads or a movie they will just chill out for a little bit. So I'm not 100% sure we're going to do it.

[00:55:32] I don't love being so far but they are to the age where they can stay home together and Shades of Green is a military base. I don't know if it's a false sense of security but I would feel a little bit of a sense of security that my kids are not in danger. They're in their room and they're just going to be eating snacks and watching movies. Yeah I'm sure they'll be fine and they will probably love the independence of that.

[00:56:02] Alright Tuesday June the 2nd. This is your last full day. day. Yes. We're going to start at Hollywood Studios because I can guarantee I've been looking at the Thrill Data website. We should be fine getting a rock and roller coaster this day and we'll probably get another Tower of Terror maybe Toy Story Mania that's a super fun one to repeat. But after we're done at Hollywood Studios I just want us to go wherever we want do

[00:56:32] whatever we want to do. I would love to make it back to the Magic Kingdom Parade. My problem with that is I feel like if we start at Hollywood Studios and we wanted to do anything at Epcot we would have to do Epcot next because they're right next to each other and then go to Magic Kingdom. So I'm just not sure we would make it there by 3. So I'm just making that day work out transportation wise and time wise is we'll figure it out

[00:57:02] on Tuesday. We'll do whatever we feel like we've missed or whatever we want to do again. Okay. Yeah. I like leaving the last day for that kind of thing. Just, you know, go where the day takes you. Whatever you feel like you have to get in before the day is done and no dining reservations this day. I do have a 640 beer garden just in case the other one doesn't work out for some reason. We could kind of end our night over at Epcot

[00:57:32] but I'm pretty sure that we will do it the first Epcot day. Okay. And that brings us to your departure day. Wednesday, June the 3rd. What time is your flight? It's at 2.59 so I'm thinking we'll probably leave, we should probably leave around 12 but we'd probably just be fine leaving around 1. I know it's about an hour drive but it's also from what I hear a teeny tiny airport so

[00:58:02] maybe we'll leave at 12.30. I don't know. I did get a Kona, is it Kona Cafe? I got a reservation for there at 10.30. I've never tried the Tonga Toast that I've heard so much about so I would like to go there but maybe we just go over to the Polynesian and do the quick service too. I'm not sure. There used to be a walking path from Shades of Green to the Polynesian but they have expanded the road that

[00:58:32] runs between them so now you are not allowed to walk but we could take a three minute Uber over which I don't think would cost very much money to just go over and come right back. So silly. Why did they take the walking path away? I think because it used to be like a one lane each way and now it's like a four lane road so it would not be safe for people to be crossing it. We could take the bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center

[00:59:02] and go back but this is one of those things where I would say my time is money here and I would just Uber over. Right. All right. An hour drive over to Sanford and so that puts you back home in the evening on Wednesday. You said you work at a school so you presumably do not need to work the next day because that's the beginning of your summer break. Does Chris go back to work the following day

[00:59:32] or does he get a day to readjust to life? I'm not sure. He did mention I don't know if I'll work on Thursday and but he typically does not work on Fridays either. He said that's a long time away so maybe I will work on Thursday but the kids and I will be not working or going to school but Grace does have dance on Wednesday and we have already missed two lessons I think from

[01:00:01] this trip so we may head over to dance. I'm not sure. Oh wow. Well maybe she'll be so excited to talk to her friends about her trip. She'll be up for it. Probably not but mom would be excited to get the lesson that we paid for. Yes. Oh gosh. I used to do that when I was younger. I understand now as a parent why my own parents did not want to let me skip on times when

[01:00:30] I wanted to skip. Yes and they have dance nationals at the end of June and not everyone's going to nationals so I know they will be reconfiguring some of their formations and things I feel like she should be at practice so we'll see. She can just hope that our flight's delayed and I don't even have to consider if she's going to dance or not. All right lots of fun plans. I'm looking very much forward to hearing how

[01:01:00] all this goes and I will talk to you when you get back so have a magical time. Thank you. I can't wait to tell you all about it. Thank you to Kelly for sharing all your trip plans with us and being willing to come on the show. Kelly's post-trip episode is up next and it's a good one. I mean I think they're all good and I hope you do too but it was a really fun chat we had so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed recording it. That is all for now so don't forget to

[01:01:30] keep daydreaming about where you long to be.