Daddy Daughter Disney Dash - January 2018 -- COMPLETED

[mustinjourney]

Wow. Where to begin?

It was a dark and stormy night…

No!

It was the best of times…


….it was the worst of times.

NO! That’s not it either!!!

If you know where that intro comes from…shout out your guesses in the comments.

Ok. Let’s get this show on the road.

This will be my first official trip report. I’ve lurked on some others and commented on some others, but I figured I’d go ahead and try my hand at this. Forgive me if the pictures aren't great. They were all shot on an iPhone.

So here it goes!

Cast of Characters:

Me – your narrator – AKA “mustinjourney.” I’m a father of two young daughters. Current ages are 5 and 3 (ages 4 and 2 at time of this trip). My wife and I, now in our mid to late 30s, have been married for 14+ years.

Here's a pic of me in Pandora.

And here's a pic of my wife at DLP.

While she likes Disney World…she does not have the bug like I do. Luckily, she’s a good sport and puts up with my mini-obsession…

…ok ok.



Full-fledged obsession.

Here's another picture that I find hilarious just to make sure you guys stick around a little longer...

The two young ones in the front row are my DDs. The youngest one makes that shocked face on any and every drop known to man. You'd think she was riding expedition everest.

As for me, I do not scare nearly as easily. In fact, some rides I find quite boring. So much so that I have actually fallen asleep. See for yourself.

Hey -- when you've got two young kids, you gotta get a nap anywhere you can.


Back to the bio:


A little about me:

My favorite rides are RNRC, ToT, FOP, people mover, and EE (not in that order).

Favorite Disney movie is probably Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. Moana is quickly rising the ranks as well.

DD(4) – my partner in crime for this trip. Codename “Kat.” She loves going to the parks, playing in the pools, and watching the Disney channel and/or Disney movies back at the room. Naps do not happen while at The World. At the House of Mouse, she is go, go, go all day, every day! Here's a pic of Kat with her sis.

We actually have a tradition where we allow her to jump on the bed upon arrival at the hotel, since… you know…it is vacation and all. I thought I had a picture of it, but I can't find it...so just imagine a 4 year old jumping on a hotel bed and laughing hysterically.

As you might have surmised, she’s equally as crazed about Disney as I am, and she LOVES to ride the rides. When we went on this trip, she was right at 41”, so she was tall enough to ride most of the rides. Not sure when I’ll convince her to ride EE – she’s still a little too short for it, but she’s convinced the monster is going to get her…so I’ve got some work to do. I got her on Dinosaur last year…but it might have scarred her for life. ;-)..

Her favorite rides are Barnstormer (it was her first rollercoaster), BTMRR, 7DMT, Soarin’, and ToT.

She loves all the princesses, but I’d say Aurora and Cinderella are her favorites.

She enjoys meeting the characters much more than her sister.

Her favorite movies are probably Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella as well. What can I say? She likes the classics.

A little bit of background and what precipitated this trip…

Short answer -- After dipping my toe in the water on a last minute day trip to Disneyland after not visiting a Disney park in 12 years (or watching any Disney movies for at least 5 years), my love for Disney snowballed out of control to the point where I now own 30+ movies, and I am a DVC member, an AP holder, and a TIW holder.


How did it get to that point, you ask?

Well -- I was going to bore all of you with my life's history -- but if I put that all down here right now, I'll lose all three of my readers, and I don't want to start off like that. Maybe somewhere down the road I'll post an Addendum or something for any hard core readers that stick around.

In the meantime -- just know that I am a full fledged Disneyholic and like many of you, am constantly dreaming about my next trip.

Ok – enough background – let’s get this trip report back on the rails.

This trip was a special one for me. While it was my 6th trip in two years, there were a lot of firsts, and honestly, I think this might have been, top to bottom, the best trip I’ve had at The World. The reason this trip was so special was because, not only was it to celebrate Kat’s 5th birthday, it was going to be just her and me!

Yes – a daddy/daughter trip to the world! If you didn't already figure this out -- then I seriously question how you function in day to day life.

Don’t get me wrong – I love going to Disney with DW and DD2, as well as bringing along the grandparents – but we’ve already done those trips! This one was special because it was just me and my partner in crime. With only two people, I knew I could more easily move from attraction to attraction, and I only had to focus on the wants and needs of one other person. So it was kind of like a solo trip, but with someone to share it with.

Plus – with her being a child, I had the ultimate veto power to decide what we did and when we did it...which basically means I didn't have DW second guessing all my decisions.

(no one tell her I said that, okay?)

Alrighty then!

Raise your hands if you want to join us for a fun filled Disney Dash!!!

Find out what is in store for us in the Next Chapter!!!

#ETA -- As this is my first TR, I actually wrote the whole thing out before posting just to make sure I actually finished it. So if you're wondering why I'm posting about a trip 11 months ago, no need to wonder why. Good news for everyone reading...I will not leave you hanging! This TR is guaranteed to be finished!

 

[mustinjourney]

CHAPTER LIST​

Intro:
Pretrip Plans
Day 1 -- Part I -- Travel Day
Day 1 -- Part II -- DHS
Day 2 -- Part III -- Epcot/Pool
Day 2 -- Part IV -- DVC Moonlight Magic
Day 3 -- Part V -- Pirate Adventure!
Day 3 -- Part VI - Moving time
Day 3 -- Part VII -- Date Night!
Day 4 -- Part VIII -- All Four Parks in one Day!?!
Day 4 -- Part IX -- CRT and Fireworks!
Day 5 -- Part X - Morning at MK!
Day 5 -- Part XI -- More Magic!

 

[mustinjourney]

Pretrip plans:

The original plan was to make this trip more low key with less rides, more pool time, and more princesses and character meals – but based on feedback I got from Kat during our trip with the grandparents two months prior, it was clear to me that she was much more interested in riding rides than doing a lot of character meals. So say goodbye to Akershus, Bon Voyage, BOG (dinner) and Lilo & Stitch breakfast.

It’s not like those reservations are hard to get or anything.

With that said, canceling the breakfasts worked out pretty well since it allowed me some extra morning sleep time (and saved me some serious cash to boot).

With that said, I was NOT cancelling CRT dinner or 1900 Park Fare (dinner). The step sisters crack me up too much to miss them again.

On to the details – this trip was set for four nights, Saturday through Wednesday (January 27-31st). We ended up doing a split stay in order to minimize time spent on buses. The first two nights were BCV and the last two nights were PVB, with lake view in Moorea.

The original plan called for:

Saturday: Travel and then head to DHS for lunch and rides

Sunday: Epcot AM/Pool afternoon/DHS evening

Monday: Epcot AM/head to PVB (pool)/MK evening

Tuesday: MK and Epcot evening

Wednesday: sleep in/MK/pool/travel back home


As with all things, the plans changed and morphed. Once DVC announced that they were doing moonlight magic on Sunday 28th, I cut out the DHS evening stuff and planned for hitting up MK around 6 pm. That also meant Monday Epcot AM was toast since we’d be out so late the night before. Noticeably absent from the touring plan was DAK.

As this trip was primarily going to be “princess” themed, I hadn’t really planned on going to DAK. However, Kat told me she wanted to ride Dinosaur (I guess I didn’t scar her for life???). This shocked me a little bit, but with that thought in mind, I asked her what her thoughts were on hitting up all four parks in one day and she was excited to give it a try! Stay tuned to see how that goes. Haha

Ok – that should be enough background to get you all caught up on this trip. Stay tuned for Day 1!

 

[mustinjourney]

Before posting the next update for our first day -- I just want to give a shout out to @pkondz. He writes some epic trip reports -- and if you haven't read them -- you should definitely give them a look! But the reason I'm giving him the shout out is because this trip never would have happened without his TR from when he took his youngest on a Father/daughter trip a few years ago. Honestly, the thought never would have crossed my mind to have done this -- so I just want to publicly thank him for his TR. It is THE thing that led me to take this trip with Kat and the memories we created are priceless. Thanks again @pkondz!

here's a link to the TR that started it all for me!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/c...-with-a-teen-vacation-08-13-the-wrap.3446023/

 

[mustinjourney]

Chapter 3, Part I -- Travel Day

So with this trip only consisting of four nights and five days, I made the executive decision that we would try to maximize our time at The World, and since we weren’t going to be spending much time at DHS, I knew we’d need to get there as early as possible. Unfortunately, this meant catching a really early flight.

Did I forget to mention that I’m not a morning person?

Like. Not. At. All.

But I do make exceptions for vacations!!!

As you’ve probably guessed from some of the hints I’ve dropped, this trip was not going to be a total surprise trip for Kat. However, she didn’t know WHEN we were going on the trip. I had actually told her we wouldn’t be going for another week, so the night before we left, she had no idea she was only a short eight hours from leaving for the happiest place on earth!

We had a 7:40 am flight, so I had everything packed and ready to go by midnight before I settled in for a quick four hour nap. Phone alarm went off far too early…but Disney traveling day has a way of getting the juices flowing and after a quick shower, I was ready to go! I got the car all packed up and then went upstairs to wake Kat up.

I slipped into her room and quietly got her up and out of bed without waking DD2. In order to keep the ruse going, I told Kat that I was taking her golfing with me.

We were out of the house by about 5:00 am. Of course, it was lightly raining outside – but it was too early in the morning for her to start questioning things. Plus she’s knows I’m crazy enough to golf in all kinds of conditions.

Side bar -- I apologize in advance -- I like doing side stories to give some context.

Prior to having kids, I was a pretty avid golfer. I joined a golf club here in Houston and was averaging about 60-75 rounds a year. DW would join me about 20 times for 9 holes. However, after Kat was born -- those numbers dropped precipitously. I played maybe 30 rounds (GPs lived close to course, so I could drop Kat off and play 18 while they got to hang out with the first grandkid and DW got 6 hours to herself -- so it was a win-win), and DW played probably 4 that first year. Then second DD came and my rounds dropped to about 10 a year and DW played zero. So needless to say, I had to drop the membership because it made no sense to pay to not play.

But before I dropped the membership, I would skip out of work around 3 pm and pick Kat up from day care a few times here and there and get in a quick 9+ holes. She was a great partner.

I was a huge golf fanatic -- but what is funny is that I don't miss golfing nearly as much as I miss just taking her out in the afternoons during those random days. So much fun.

But I digress...

Back to the insane early morning start...

We made our customary pit stop at the neighborhood kolache place and started out for the airport…I mean golf course. About halfway there, Kat started questioning why we were heading to golf while it was still dark outside. I guess the kolache got her mind to start firing on all cylinders?

Damnit! This was not something I had accounted for. I had to act quickly. What to say? What to say? My cover is about to be blown!!! All this deception will be for naught! Hurry! Come up with something!

"Early? What do you mean early? By the time we get there and warm up, it'll be sunny! Plus, since we're playing so early, we'll be able to do more fun stuff today! Won't that be AWESOME?"

(Inner monologue) "Whew! That was close! You are a genius!"

Kat: "But what about the rain?"

Me: (inner monologue) "dammit -- I knew I shouldn't have gotten the kolache! Her brain is actually functioning now!"

At this point, the rain was really picking up. And with her mental faculties catching up, I shifted the topic a little and mentioned that the rain might prevent us from golfing and so we might need a backup plan.

Kat sighed and said, “let’s just go home then.”

Me: “You don’t want to do something else? Surely we can do something fun.”

Kat: “let’s just watch a movie at home.”

Me: “well. If you could do anything, what would you want to do?”

Kat: “Go home and watch a movie.”

<Insert Dramatic pause>













Me: “Really? If you could ANYTHING???”

Kat: “well. I’d like to go vacation…but that’s next week. So we can’t go right now.”

<hahaha. Now I got her where I want her>

Me: “Hey…You know what? That sounds like fun. What do you say we head there right now???”

Kat: “WHAT??? Are you serious? What about our bags?”

Me: “Yep!!! We’re heading to the airport right now. They’re in the back of the trunk. We weren’t ever going golfing!!! I hope you’re not mad at daddy for playing a trick on you.”

Kat: [After a high pitched squeal] “Playing tricks on people isn’t nice. But I’m not mad at you, daddy.”

Me: "You're right. Daddy was pretty mean. You going to be ok?

Kat: BEST. DAY. EVER!!!!

Drive to the airport was uneventful, which is a good thing. I could barely contain my excitement with the anticipation of all the fun we’d have together. I’d been looking forward to this trip for over a year, and now that it had finally started, I had to fight back the happy tears while driving through the rain.

After we got to the park and ride, I finally got Kat changed into her Disney outfit (she was still in her PJs). I then continued the surprises with a Lady plush doll! I’m such a sucker.

Here’s a picture that pretty much sums it up.

We made it to the airport and through TSA without issues and hung out at the United lounge for about 40 minutes or so.

One thing nice about traveling with just Kat is I can get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. DW seems to love to play the game of how few minutes can she spend in the airport before boarding. I’m not exaggerating when I say we’ve been the last people to board on two separate occasions.

Alrighty – where was I? Oh yes. Time for boarding.

We boarded our flight and settled into our seats. It’s a 2ish hour flight from Houston to Orlando, so our arrival time was set for 10:55 EST, and we were pretty much right on time. Good thing, too, because we had a lunch ADR set for 12:50 at Sci-Fi and I didn’t want to miss it.

After landing on time, taxiing took a little longer than normal, but we got off the plane super fast, and we stopped off in the United lounge so I could grab a quick drink before heading down to DME (I got a double vodka diet sprite and threw it into the Yeti – tipped the bar tender $4 and said “you didn’t see that.” He smiled and nodded. After 6 trips in less than two years, he already knows me. Don’t judge!). We were making such great time, I had no doubts that we’d make our lunch ADRs, and I figured a free drink (or two) would get this party started off on the right foot.

We boarded the fake-o-rail at 11:20.

Not the greatest timing – but we should be fine.


That was until we ran into this…

Not sure how easy it is to see from the picture, but in the five previous trips, I’ve never had to wait more than one or two people to scan my magic band at the first spot. Needless to say, this line took awhile to get through. And it didn’t help that EVERY.SINGLE.PERSON didn’t have their paperwork or their magic bands out when they got to the front.


I mean seriously??? If you’re standing behind someone, don’t you notice that they’re having to get their magic bands out? Am I the only one that isn’t clueless? I could feel the characters from Inside Out waging war inside my brain.

When it was finally our turn to scan in, I sashayed to the desk (hat tip to @pkondz ) and scanned us both in and we were on our way. I think it took all of 10 seconds. If only everyone else could be like me.

As expected, the bus we needed left while I was watching the MENSA applicants in front of me, so we had to wait an ungodly 10 or 15 minutes for the next bus (if you don't like hyperbole -- you might want to stop reading). But the silver lining was that we were practically the first ones on the bus! Naturally – we should take the first available row…but Kat thought it would be fun to sit in the back!

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?????

Doesn’t she understand the importance of being at the front??? And it’s right there for the taking!!!

Well – since this trip is for her, I figured I’d take one for the team and we could sit in the back.


THE THINGS I DO FOR MY KID!!!

We finally got moving around 11:40 am and were on our way! Sitting in the back was actually kind of nice since it allowed us to spread out a little more.

Plus, the bus driver let us go to the very front of the bus to get the coveted picture since no one sat in the handicap seats.

Bonus! He earned an extra $5 for that! I think the free drink(s) was/were starting to loosen my purse strings. Ha!

We didn’t get to BCV lobby until around 12:30 pm, so we were definitely running late. By 12:40 pm, we had dropped our bags off with bell services and then took off on the walking path for DHS with Kat in the stroller. It was now about 1:00 pm, so I made pretty good time and figured we would only be a few minutes late…but then I ran into this at the security entrance.

Of course a Brazilian tour group would drop off two busloads of people RIGHT before we got there. It’s not like I have any place to be!!!

Stay tuned to see if we make our lunch ADR at Sci-Fi!



CLICK HERE FOR PART DEUX!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Hello! I've noticed you commenting on ponzi's TR before. It's nice to see you've started a report of your own. A daddy daughter trip sounds like a lot of fun. Something I would like to do one of these days (but I don't think my wife would let me go without her).

 

[mustinjourney]

Hello! I've noticed you commenting on ponzi's TR before. It's nice to see you've started a report of your own. A daddy daughter trip sounds like a lot of fun. Something I would like to do one of these days (but I don't think my wife would let me go without her).

Thanks for checking it out!

If you can’t do a full daddy/daughter trip—you can always do a daddy/daughter day (or maybe a block of four hours) on your next trip.

My wife and I do this on our trips. She likes to take each kid separately to MK in the am and hit up fantasyland and circus area. It allows each of us one on one time with each kid.

 

[cinderaimee]

How fun! Following along. We're heading back in January so I love January TRs to see the weather and crowds that time of year, I also have my 4 and 6 year old boys we're bringing along (since I suppose it's frowned upon to leave them home alone), so it's basically like you wrote this TR just for me, which I super appreciate.

Your DD is super cute and I can't wait to hear all about your daddy-daughter trip!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I love that this is a special Daddy/Daughter birthday trip. Making memories is what it's all about.

 

[mustinjourney]

I also have my 4 and 6 year old boys we're bringing along (since I suppose it's frowned upon to leave them home alone)

Don't be afraid of an adults only or solo trip -- if you have grandparents somewhat close by, it's a great opportunity for the kids to spend time with the GPs while you can recharge!

so it's basically like you wrote this TR just for me, which I super appreciate.

Your DD is super cute and I can't wait to hear all about your daddy-daughter trip!

Stay tuned! Will probably post the next part of Day 1 tonight!

 

[mustinjourney]

I love that this is a special Daddy/Daughter birthday trip. Making memories is what it's all about.

I don't want too many spoiler alerts -- but this was my favorite trip ever! The memories were priceless.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

 

[mustinjourney]

DAY 1 -- Part Deux

After spending 10 minutes getting through bag check (not hyperbole), I THEN still had to activate my AP voucher at the ticket booth.

Luckily that went pretty quickly and we were at the front entrance to Sci-Fi in no time.

I think we checked in around 1:20 pm, and we were seated within five minutes. Score!

The atmosphere here is pretty cool – and Kat really enjoyed the car seats.

Sorry --- no food porn pictures for this stop. At this point, I was so hungry. I didn’t eat kolaches since I’m trying to avoid carbs, plus with the 20 minute brisk walk, I was running on empty. Kat got a kid’s meal of Mac & cheese and I got the brisket burger thing with onion rings (so much for no carbs).

The onion rings were really good and the burger was the best I’ve had on property (but I’ve only had them at QS places…so it’s not a great comparison).

After lunch, we had a show to make!

That's right! FROZEN SING ALONG!!!

We had FPs for the 2:30 show and got in right before they started letting the regular queue in. Did I mention I love this show? Every time I watch it, my mind drifts back to that first time and the memory of Kat losing herself and just being in total wonder. Those imagineers know how to pull the heart strings, don’t they? (remember when I said I cut some stuff out from the background of what precipitated me becoming a Disneyholic? Well -- part of that story is related to this....perhaps we should have another sidebar?)

------------------------------
Stay with me for a bit...here's a bit of background from our trip we took back in 2016 that started it all...

While the trip had some ups and downs, it was the only vacation I have experienced where I was so overcome with emotions that I could barely keep it together. I shed quite a few tears watching Kat (not-quite-three years old) experience the magic for the first time. The two things that really got me were Wishes and the Frozen Sing Along show in Hollywood Studios. I don't think I have to explain Wishes -- but with Frozen (SPOILER ALERT), the very end where they make it snow, it was so amazing watching her become engrossed in the magic she thought it was actually snowing inside the building. In addition to those two moments, she also had so much fun with the character meals -- and riding the Tea Cups and Barnstormer “again and again and again!!!” (seriously – she rode this one night at least 8 times in a row).

Am I allowed to quote myself?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok -- let's get this back on track!

We had a great time!

After singing our hearts out, we made it over to Star Tours and took a nice tour of the galaxy. Neither of us were the rebel spy though. Not sure what it takes to get that, but I’ve been on this thing at least 15 times and still haven’t ever gotten picked. It must be rigged!

Time for our next ride!

But first, we caught a little bit of the Galaxy stage show. I enjoyed the little bit I saw, but we had a schedule to maintain! Or at least, try to maintain.

So we started heading down Sunset Blvd, but then Kat asked me to slow down. In fact, she said we needed to turn around. Something had spooked her so bad she was hiding her head. I wasn’t sure what was the matter, but I must admit I started to get a little spooked myself. See for yourself.

After overcoming our fright, we decided to take it head on. It was time for “the elevator ride.” More commonly known as Tower of Terror. This was Kat’s second time on the ride and she did quite well. It cracks me up because she screams really loud and seems genuinely afraid during the whole ride, but as soon as it’s done, she’s saying how much fun it was. I then ask her if she wants to do it again, and both times now she’s said, “no thank you. Once was good.”

Go figure. Here's the carnage from the show.

From ToT, we made our way to the 4:00 pm BATB show.

After BATB, it was time for our second first of the trip (Sci Fi being the first first). We made our way to the Disney Jr. show.

It was a cute puppet show and I think Kat enjoyed it…but I would say it was a one and done for me.

There isn’t any real seating so everyone just sits on the floor, which is not comfortable for me, so I ended up standing at the back of the room for about half the time. By this point, it was a little after 5:05 and we had one more ride to go before heading out for the night.

TSMM. The FP line was backed up a decent amount, so it ended up taking us about 20 minutes before we actually got on the ride.

Kat LOVES this ride and she’s gotten quite a bit better at it over the last two years. I was actually shocked at her accuracy. Check out her score!

But there was no way I was going to let her win!

We had a 7:30 ADR back at Beaches & Cream to make, so after taking a spin on Toy Story, it was time to bounce. Of course, we stopped and watched the first half of the Star Wars stage show since Kat screamed – “look! It’s the bad guy!” (that’s what she calls darth vader).

After exiting the front of the park, I saw the boat leaving the dock (naturally), so I knew it was best to just keep on walking. Unfortunately, with all of the construction for the gondola system, I completely missed the subtle turn off, and ended up walking on the path that goes to the bus pickups for the other parks. Rather than double back, I made the executive decision to go off-roading with the stroller and squeeze through a narrow path between the fence and the woods. I meant to take a picture but didn’t. Use your imagination.

We actually made our check-in time at exactly 7:30, so we made pretty good time despite my off-roading adventures. Kat got the kid’s meal Mac & Cheese (see a trend?) and I got the grilled cheese and tomato bisque (also added grilled onions and bacon to the grilled cheese). Since the carb day was shot to hell at this point, I went ahead and ordered the bacon cheese fries as an appetizer.

All the food was pretty good, but they sat us at a two topper right next to the to-go line…so the whole meal was a little awkward with people literally standing right next to us. They really should make the dividing wall taller. I had planned on getting the snickers sundae, but I was already too full and Kat said she didn’t want any ice cream.

Huh?

Oh well. By this point, it was around 8:30 pm and it was time to get to the room and crash. I had some instacart deliveries made while we were at dinner and I got text messages that they had arrived. Awesome!

On the way to our room, we stopped off at bell services and asked them to bring our bags to the room. We then made our way to room 460 and I said a little prayer that our magic bands would open the door (I’ve had bad luck there on three previous stays). Luckily, both bands worked and bonus points – our luggage from DME was also waiting for us!

Got Kat in the bath and ready for bed and our bags and groceries from bell services came shortly. There was a small snafu with one of the deliveries. I had some liquor delivered from ABC liquor using instacart, and the driver dropped it off at the front desk instead of bell services. Apparently bell services never contacted the front desk, nor did the front desk contact bell services…so it kind of was in delivery purgatory.

Long story short, I didn’t get the delivery until the next afternoon when I decided to check with the front desk (this was 8 hours after bell services said they checked EVERYWHERE...including front desk and the convention center). Instacart was great about the whole thing, they said they’d refund me the money since I didn’t have it. Of course, I had to call them back to stop the charge reversal once I realized the hotel screwed the whole thing up.

Bottom line – instacart worked really well. Just make sure to check with the front desk too if something is missing.

Day 1 was now in the books, and tomorrow morning was Epcot AM! After starting this day at 4 AM CST -- it was time to get some sleep!

A little over 8.3 miles on 4.5 hours of sleep!

CLICK HERE FOR NEXT CHAPTER​

 

[QueenJen]

OMG - your writing is hilarious - love it. Excited to hear all about it.

Here's another picture that I find hilarious just to make sure you guys stick around a little longer...

These are some of the best types of pictures.

my love for Disney snowballed out of control to the point where I now own 30+ movies, and I am a DVC member, an AP holder, and a TIW holder.

Wow - that is a quick extreme all in.

Raise your hands if you want to join us along for a fun filled Disney Dash!!!

So say goodbye to Akershus, Bon Voyage, BOG (dinner) and Lilo & Stitch breakfast.

And say hello to $$ saved.

(and saved me some serious cash to boot).

There you go.....until she figures out that you may open the wallet in the gift shops.

I asked her what her thoughts were on hitting up all four parks in one day and she was excited to give it a try! Stay tuned to see how that goes. Haha

What a great partner in crime.

Side bar -- I apologize in advance -- I like doing side stories to give some context.

No apologies needed - adds to the TR.

so it was a win-win

or a win-win-win

But before I dropped the membership, I would skip out of work around 3 pm and pick Kat up from day care a few times here and there and get in a quick 9+ holes. She was a great partner.

I'm sure she enjoyed this as much as you did. I'm mid-40's and looking forward to hanging with my dad at a car show this weekend - just like when I was a kid.

Kat: [After a high pitched squeal] “Playing tricks on people isn’t nice. But I’m not mad at you, daddy.”

So sweet.

Here’s a picture that pretty much sums it up.

Pure happiness.

I’m not exaggerating when I say we’ve been the last people to board on two separate occasions.

Great gif.

(I got a double vodka diet sprite and threw it into the Yeti – tipped the bar tender $4 and said “you didn’t see that.” He smiled and nodded. After 6 trips in less than two years, he already knows me. Don’t judge!).

This is something my DH would absolutely do!

I mean seriously??? If you’re standing behind someone, don’t you notice that they’re having to get their magic bands out? Am I the only one that isn’t clueless? I could feel the characters from Inside Out waging war inside my brain.

When it was finally our turn to scan in, I sashayed to the desk (hat tip to @pkondz ) and scanned us both in and we were on our way. I think it took all of 10 seconds. If only everyone else could be like me.

I was laughing so hard at this entire write up - you managed to describe exactly how my DH would be in this situation.

So glad you had a great time with your daughter. Hopefully your wife and youngest dd enjoyed some quality 1/1 time too.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

After singing our hearts out, we made it over to Star Tours and took a nice tour of the galaxy. Neither of us were the rebel spy though. Not sure what it takes to get that, but I’ve been on this thing at least 15 times and still haven’t ever gotten picked. It must be rigged!

I have no idea. But my wife was the rebel spy twice...in the same trip. And she's not even a Star Wars fan! Not fair.

It was a cute puppet show and I think Kat enjoyed it…but I would say it was a one and done for me.

That's how I felt about it too. I don't know if you heard, but that show is closed now for an overhaul. It's turning into some kind of dance party, I think. I didn't pay much attention since my Disney Jr. days are behind me now.

 

[mustinjourney]

OMG - your writing is hilarious - love it. Excited to hear all about it

Thanks for the kind words! Hopefully I can keep the funny up!

And say hello to $$ saved.

you read my mind.

I'm sure she enjoyed this as much as you did. I'm mid-40's and looking forward to hanging with my dad at a car show this weekend - just like when I was a kid.

I'm hoping she'll still think I'm cool as she gets older. I know I only have a few more years before she enters the dreaded teenage years and then I'll be relegated to dorky dad...trying to enjoy it as much as I can while I can.

So glad you had a great time with your daughter. Hopefully your wife and youngest dd enjoyed some quality 1/1 time too.

I can't remember perfectly, but I think my wife had her mom take the youngest one for a week so she could get some alone time.

 

[mustinjourney]

T-Minus 24 hours until our plane heads back to The World!!!

Well -- it's not "our" plane. It's Southwest's plane. That certainly would be nice. So excited for this one -- it will be DW and both DDs. 7 nights at VGF.

A few firsts for my kiddos on the trip will be:
1. Toy Story Land
2. Jedi Training
3. Going to try and rent a pontoon boat and tool around on 7 seas and Bay Lake.
4. Typhoon Lagoon is a possibility
5. Mini-golf at Fantasia Gardens
6. HEA in front of the castle (we've seen it behind the castle -- not sure if they'll make it since it is past their bedtime and the youngest gets super grumpy)
7. Pixar play thing at contemporary

 

[mustinjourney]

I don't know if you heard, but that show is closed now for an overhaul. It's turning into some kind of dance party, I think. I didn't pay much attention since my Disney Jr. days are behind me now.

I did hear about that and I can't say that I am sad.

I am glad that I at least did it once just to know first hand that it is no big loss.

I never got the chance to experience Stitch's Great Escape -- it was always closed seasonally during my past trips. I know it was supposed to be awful -- but for things that are awful, I at least want to do it one time so that I can rate how awful it was.

Reminds me of the Eddie Murphy Delirious Fart bit

 

[missangelalexis]

Joining in! So sweet that it was just a daddy daughter trip. You two sound like you get along great together. Day 1 sounds like it was awesome!

Looking forward to reading more

 

[mustinjourney]

Joining in! So sweet that it was just a daddy daughter trip. You two sound like you get along great together. Day 1 sounds like it was awesome!

Looking forward to reading more

She’s definitely my bud. Day 1 was great. But it gets even better!!!