How can this year possibly get better? LET'S GO TO WDW!!- A 10-Day November 2021 TR- Updated 9/26/23!

[footballmouse]

Your niece and nephew are adorable!

 

[paradesintherain]

Yay I'm here! I can't wait to read about this trip!

Me: “Wanna go to Disney World in November?”
Jake: “That’s it? Of course!!”

Wow, I love that attitude, just a yes without hesitation!

But my tops are Disney’s Polynesian Resort, Disney’s Riviera Resort

Those are in my top 3 as well. So dreamy!

We’ve been dating for almost a year now and I am continuously floored by how amazing he treats me. He’s my best friend in the world, and sometimes I think we’re the same person

This makes me so happy for you and I even got a happy teary-eyed.


I love the day 0 and travel days too! Enchanted is such a perfect movie, and those babies are the best!!! I can see why you're obsessed with them!

 

[amazingact21]

Day 0's are exciting! Even things like work seem a tad bit better when you know Disney is on the horizon.
Your nephew and niece are adorable, and I'm partial to the name Evie. (I've got an Evie, as well.) And kudos to your mom for helping out with a 3 a.m. wakeup on the horizon! It's the thrill of Disney that makes those early alarms worth it!

 

[Mollydolly334]

So exciting that you got to have a classic Mother Daughter trip and show Jake how to do Disney all in one trip!! Can't wait to read more! Those babies too...so cuuute!

Hey girl, glad you're here!! It was really (Hannah Montana voice) "THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS"

It is always so exciting the night before a trip even when the dreaded 3am wake up call happens!
Your little niece and nephew are so adorable

Yes! I always like doing an early wake up, otherwise I drive myself crazy all day trying to stay busy! And thank you

Love the update! Your mom is TOTALLY grandma of the year- those middle of the night feedings can be brutal!
Can’t wait read more!

My mom barely sleeps at all regularly, so adding babies to the mix is so fun for her!! I hope it sticks by the time I have kids myself

I like reading about Day 0's. We live in central IL and usually fly out of Midway. It's not the best but it's familiar now. That was a late night considering your early flight! Hope your travel day was smooth.

We always try to get the earliest flight out, but sometimes we regret it after our marathon first day!! We had a really good experience flying out of Midway. O'hare is just so big and overwhelming- Midway is smaller and reminds us of the Milwaukee airport!

Your niece and nephew are adorable!

Thank you so much!

Yay I'm here! I can't wait to read about this trip!



Wow, I love that attitude, just a yes without hesitation!



Those are in my top 3 as well. So dreamy!



This makes me so happy for you and I even got a happy teary-eyed.


I love the day 0 and travel days too! Enchanted is such a perfect movie, and those babies are the best!!! I can see why you're obsessed with them!

Hi girl!! SO glad you're here I miss our trip so much and we NEED to go back soon! <3

Day 0's are exciting! Even things like work seem a tad bit better when you know Disney is on the horizon.
Your nephew and niece are adorable, and I'm partial to the name Evie. (I've got an Evie, as well.) And kudos to your mom for helping out with a 3 a.m. wakeup on the horizon! It's the thrill of Disney that makes those early alarms worth it!

Ahhh that's right, I remember from your TRs that you have a daughter named Evie! It's a great name Do you pronounce it like Eeee-veee (that's how we pronounce it) or Eh- vee?

Sometimes I wish I could bottle the Day 0 feeling!! I feel like I never appreciate it as much in the moment

 

[Mollydolly334]

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas


Day 1, Part 1- Saturday, November 13th, 2021


Finally, Disney day was here!!



I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm at 3:10 AM! I wish I could say I had a restful night’s sleep, but that wasn’t really the case I was all wound up and excited, plus the brussels sprout salad didn’t sit great in my stomach. I heard the babies start to cry around 1:30 AM, and I ALMOST went upstairs for some snuggles. But, sleep won out I was tossing and turning all night!

Miraculously, I woke up quickly and my stomach started to feel better almost immediately. Disney cures all!

Mom was ready on time as well (which is a miracle in itself), and Haley drove us to the airport around 4:05 AM. Thanks Haley!!

It was a bit of a harrowing drive. The crazies were out this morning and we almost got into so many fender benders! I was pretty excited when we passed by the Hotel Cicero (fellow fans of the musical Chicago can relate)!



We arrived at Chicago Midway airport at 4:30 AM, with plenty of time before our 6:15 AM flight!

Story Time:

For my birthday this year, Jake surprised me with a 4-night trip to Miami We left the day after my birthday, flying out of Milwaukee, and we made sure to get to the airport at 3:30 AM for our 5:30 AM flight. Plenty of time, right?

WRONG!

The airport was a madhouse. We waited in a 1.5 hour line at the Delta counter to check my bag, since there was only one agent working the entire counter, and ended up missing our flight I was a hot mess and crying hysterically, while Jake was an angel and calmly called Delta, getting us a refund and booking us on the next flight out at 9:30 AM. I also lost my purse during our 4-hour wait in the airport and had to be paged to come get it. I was successfully traumatized after that morning. Thank goodness, the rest of the trip went perfectly!

BUT, I am absolutely scarred for life from that experience, haha! So, we made sure we got to the airport super early so there was no chance of us getting delayed at luggage check-in or security!





I loved how Midway decorated their terminals for Christmas! Fortunately, we got everything set in record time, so we had about an hour to kill before boarding



Disney Bound!!

I got some coffee and we hung around our gate for a while. It was fun to people-watch, SO many people were going to Disney and had matching shirts on! Our flight boarded right on time and at 6:15 AM, we were off!

No plane pictures, but the flight went very smooth and was uneventful. I listened to some music while Mom took a cat nap. We hit some turbulence over the Smokies, but it was over quickly and we were descending into Orlando soon after! We landed at 9:30 AM!!

We took the Fake-O-Rail over to the other terminal and headed over to get our bags. While taking the escalator down to baggage claim, a lady stood directly behind my mom and I, breathing down our necks, and said “Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me!”



When we turned around, she pointedly said “I need to get past, right now.” At this point, we had about 4 stairs left of the escalator. Shocked, I turned around and said “We literally have 4 stairs left”

She huffed and walked right past us after we got off, only to go to our exact same baggage claim and wait just like the rest of us! We thought that she had maybe felt sick and needed the bathroom, but nope. My mom and I just started laughing, we were dumbfounded! If you’re in a rush, just take the stairs???

After getting our bags, we headed over to Starbucks and my Mom got a hot chocolate. I almost took the wrong bag! There was another lady from New York who had my exact same bag, which is pretty hard to do considering that my suitcase is pink with flamingos all over it

The line for DME looked super daunting- it stretched all the way to the complete other side of the terminal! Somehow, we got through it and onto a bus by 11:00 AM!



No video on DME, but we didn’t care one bit because we were SO EXCITED! Before we knew it, we arrived at Disney’s Boardwalk Villas, home for the next 9 nights!!





This was my second time staying here; I stayed at the Inn side in December 2019 with my college roommate, and I fell in love with this resort. Ironically enough, this was only my second time going to Disney around Christmas time, and both times, I stayed here! Mom had never stayed here before, so she was very excited to check out a new resort. Some day, we’ll cross all resorts off of our bucket list!

No Christmas decorations yet... will they pop up later in the trip?

We checked our luggage in with bell services, since our room wasn’t ready yet (it was only 11:45 AM at this point). No worries, we had a park to get to!

​

 

[suse66]

When I leave for vacation, I always make sure to block notifications from my email and GroupMe so that I am fully disconnected from work. It feels so good to release that responsibility!

Absolutely! I am lucky in some ways that I can only travel on school breaks so don't have to worry about the classroom.

Mom and I chatted during the drive down, and we made it to Chicago at about 7:45 PM. We were a little sad, because Evie and Ollie had just gone to sleep for the night, and we REALLY wanted our baby snuggles!

Of course you did...they are SO cute!!

After our movie night, we decided to hit the hay. My mom decided to stay upstairs near the nursery and help with the twin’s feedings in the middle of the night . My mom is grandma of the year- she absolutely adores the babies and always wants to help out. I, however, was selfish and stayed in the guest room downstairs We managed to get to bed around midnight Alarms were set for 3:20 AM!!

So sweet! I am sure I will be just like your Mom if my boys have children one day.

Miraculously, I woke up quickly and my stomach started to feel better almost immediately. Disney cures all!

Disney does cure everything!

BUT, I am absolutely scarred for life from that experience, haha! So, we made sure we got to the airport super early so there was no chance of us getting delayed at luggage check-in or security!

Oh I can so relate! I get to the airport ridiculously early as I always stress about crowds and delays.

We took the Fake-O-Rail over to the other terminal and headed over to get our bags. While taking the escalator down to baggage claim, a lady stood directly behind my mom and I, breathing down our necks, and said “Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me!”

Uh oh.. a special friend!!

She huffed and walked right past us after we got off, only to go to our exact same baggage claim and wait just like the rest of us! We thought that she had maybe felt sick and needed the bathroom, but nope. My mom and I just started laughing, we were dumbfounded! If you’re in a rush, just take the stairs???

Some people!

The line for DME looked super daunting- it stretched all the way to the complete other side of the terminal! Somehow, we got through it and onto a bus by 11:00 AM!

Yay!

No video on DME, but we didn’t care one bit because we were SO EXCITED! Before we knew it, we arrived at Disney’s Boardwalk Villas, home for the next 9 nights!!

Awesome! MK first?

 

[MeghanEmily]

Yay Molly! I'm so excited to read about your trip! I'll try my best to pop in and out and catch the updates when I can. You and your mom look like great travel buddies, and your boyfriend sounds like such a sweet person and so good to you. <3 Can't wait to hear about the long-awaited mother-daughter trip! I'm hoping for another one of those with my mom someday soon.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Following! Your niece and nephew are so adorable

 

[paradesintherain]

The airport was a madhouse. We waited in a 1.5 hour line at the Delta counter to check my bag, since there was only one agent working the entire counter, and ended up missing our flight I was a hot mess and crying hysterically, while Jake was an angel and calmly called Delta, getting us a refund and booking us on the next flight out at 9:30 AM. I also lost my purse during our 4-hour wait in the airport and had to be paged to come get it. I was successfully traumatized after that morning. Thank goodness, the rest of the trip went perfectly!

Oh wow that sounds soooo stressful. Thank goodness for Jake!

When we turned around, she pointedly said “I need to get past, right now.” At this point, we had about 4 stairs left of the escalator. Shocked, I turned around and said “We literally have 4 stairs left”

She huffed and walked right past us after we got off, only to go to our exact same baggage claim and wait just like the rest of us!

Geez what is wrong with people?


Also, I thought that picture of the MagicBands was you and Jake first (probably because it was right after the Miami story) and I was like huh, he must be super secure with his masculinity to wear a pink MB

 

[amazingact21]

Do you pronounce it like Eeee-veee

We do! Her cousin, who's about 6 months younger than her, is named Kylo and they are hits at birthdays parties. Kids come up to them all the time and go, "You've got a Star Wars name and you've got a Pokemon one!!" (Although, I know absolutely nothing about Pokeman and had no idea that was a name before she was born.)

Disney cures all!

True fact.

I was successfully traumatized after that morning. Thank goodness, the rest of the trip went perfectly!

Oh no! That sounds like it was a super stressful start. I don't blame you for wanting to arrive at the airport early from then on.

If you’re in a rush, just take the stairs???

People can be so impatient in public walkways. Don't know if you've ever been to London, but don't veer to the left on walkways. People will run you down. Only to be stopped at the same spot waiting for the tube or the ticket kiosk. Who knows....



Can't wait to see all the pictures of the Boardwalk decorated for the holidays. I bet it was a lovely sight to welcome you back after time in the parks.

 

[rdkeim]

Glad your trip down went well! We live in central IL and usually fly out of Midway. Not my favorite airport but it's familiar now. Can't wait to hear about your stay at the Boardwalk - never stayed there but I think it's a great location!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

The airport was a madhouse. We waited in a 1.5 hour line at the Delta counter to check my bag, since there was only one agent working the entire counter, and ended up missing our flight I was a hot mess and crying hysterically, while Jake was an angel and calmly called Delta, getting us a refund and booking us on the next flight out at 9:30 AM. I also lost my purse during our 4-hour wait in the airport and had to be paged to come get it. I was successfully traumatized after that morning. Thank goodness, the rest of the trip went perfectly!

We had something similar happen on our last adult only trip. I cried... Andy stayed level headed. You have a good one!

We thought that she had maybe felt sick and needed the bathroom, but nope. My mom and I just started laughing, we were dumbfounded! If you’re in a rush, just take the stairs???

The whole world needs to slow down!

I almost took the wrong bag! There was another lady from New York who had my exact same bag, which is pretty hard to do considering that my suitcase is pink with flamingos all over it

Too funny!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Absolutely! I am lucky in some ways that I can only travel on school breaks so don't have to worry about the classroom.
Of course you did...they are SO cute!!
So sweet! I am sure I will be just like your Mom if my boys have children one day.
Disney does cure everything!
Oh I can so relate! I get to the airport ridiculously early as I always stress about crowds and delays.
Uh oh.. a special friend!!
Some people!
Yay!
Awesome! MK first?

Those twins have added so much joy into our lives! They are the first grandchildren on both sides, so needless to say, they are SPOILED!! And nope.... hint- it's just a short walk away

Yay Molly! I'm so excited to read about your trip! I'll try my best to pop in and out and catch the updates when I can. You and your mom look like great travel buddies, and your boyfriend sounds like such a sweet person and so good to you. <3 Can't wait to hear about the long-awaited mother-daughter trip! I'm hoping for another one of those with my mom someday soon.

Hi Meghan!!! I hope you are doing well Have any plans to get back to Disney soon?? Mother-Daughter trips are so much fun and I was so excited to take another one after 5 long years!! I was also super pumped to re-introduce Jake the Disney magic and show him the extent of my obsession

Following! Your niece and nephew are so adorable

Thanks for following along!! Thank you

Oh wow that sounds soooo stressful. Thank goodness for Jake!



Geez what is wrong with people?


Also, I thought that picture of the MagicBands was you and Jake first (probably because it was right after the Miami story) and I was like huh, he must be super secure with his masculinity to wear a pink MB

It was sooo stressful! It was also our first vacation we took where we flew to our destination. So we were hoping it wasn't a bad omen haha!


HAHA! Honestly I could totally see Jake wearing a pink MagicBand, he has a few pink polos that he wears for work and I always call those his "preppy golf shirts" LOL

We do! Her cousin, who's about 6 months younger than her, is named Kylo and they are hits at birthdays parties. Kids come up to them all the time and go, "You've got a Star Wars name and you've got a Pokemon one!!" (Although, I know absolutely nothing about Pokeman and had no idea that was a name before she was born.)




True fact.





Oh no! That sounds like it was a super stressful start. I don't blame you for wanting to arrive at the airport early from then on.





People can be so impatient in public walkways. Don't know if you've ever been to London, but don't veer to the left on walkways. People will run you down. Only to be stopped at the same spot waiting for the tube or the ticket kiosk. Who knows....



Can't wait to see all the pictures of the Boardwalk decorated for the holidays. I bet it was a lovely sight to welcome you back after time in the parks.

I had absolutely no idea that Evie was a Pokemon name either!! Well you learn something new every day

Oh my gosh, I've never been to London but after hearing that, it gives me anxiety about ever visiting!!! I have low tolerance for people who block walkways or stop in the middle of a moving crowd! I feel like my tolerance has really gotten lower as I've gotten older, haha! It never used to bother me a few years ago!!

Glad your trip down went well! We live in central IL and usually fly out of Midway. Not my favorite airport but it's familiar now. Can't wait to hear about your stay at the Boardwalk - never stayed there but I think it's a great location!

I really didn't mind flying out of Midway! It was calm and quiet compared to O'hare! We looooved Boardwalk- the location can't be beat!!

We had something similar happen on our last adult only trip. I cried... Andy stayed level headed. You have a good one!


The whole world needs to slow down!


Too funny!

Haha, sounds like our relationship dynamics are very similar I've been reading along with your PTR and I'm REALLY hoping you all can still go in February!!! I'm emotionally invested now!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Haha, sounds like our relationship dynamics are very similar I've been reading along with your PTR and I'm REALLY hoping you all can still go in February!!! I'm emotionally invested now!!

Thanks! I just did an update... and spoiler alert, we are looking at pushing it back a bit.... But I am making lemonade out of lemon with the change.

 

[Mollydolly334]

Day 1, Part 2- Saturday, November 13th, 2021


If you’ve read my TRs in the past, you’ll know that my Mom and I’s traditional first-day park is Epcot!! Lucky for us, we were a 5 minute walk





We decided to check out the pool area on our way. The last time I stayed here, the creepy clown slide was still intact! I enjoy this version much better

It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside, warm but not blazing like our September trips in the past. My mom was definitely pumped for some cooler weather!





What a beautiful walk!

We caught our first glimpse of the Skyliner and headed into Epcot right at 12:10. Mom’s last time in WDW was August of 2019, so she was super excited to try out the Skyliner during our trip.




Throughout today, I’m going to include various “Lori-isms” that my mom uttered throughout this trip My mom often does this thing where she says the wrong word for something repeatedly, despite multiple corrections and laughs! For some reason, the Lori-isms were out in full force today

As we entered the park, Mom exclaimed, “Look Molly, we’re finally at Epic!”

Yep… she meant Epcot

We leisurely made our way around World Showcase to head to our traditional first ride- Spaceship Earth!





I’m not sure how this became tradition for us! It started one trip and kinda stuck We both love this ride, and I’m so relieved that the refurbishment has been delayed so we can enjoy this version for a bit longer. Mom insisted on getting a pic of me- It was so sunny! We waited about 20 minutes at the most.



Well, this was definitely an eventful ride. We ended up getting stuck as we were descending backward!



I was realllllly hoping that we would get evacuated off. That’s how you know you’re a Disney nerd! We managed to get going soon enough, but it took about 15 minutes!!



We always try to make funny faces in our future photo



Had to get a photo at the Bubblegum Wall!

We also ran into a Photopass photographer and got some good shots



After this, we headed to the Seas. The Seas with Nemo and Friends was a walk-on!



While looking at the aquariums after the ride, Lori-ism #2 happened. Mom- “Molly, want to do Turtle Talk with Crunch?”

This CRACKED me up for some reason! Jake’s profile picture on MDE is Crush, so we had a great time calling him “Crunch” during the trip

We bypassed Crunch this time. I was starting to get super hungry- I had only had an iced coffee all day and it was almost 1:30!! We decided to head to World Showcase after that to get some Food and Wine treats!

We ran into Pooh on the way



Our first stop was Canada! I had a drink on my mind that I had tried in 2019- the Frozen Apple Pie!





Yum!! This drink was just as delicious as I remembered. It’s an apple juice slushy with cinnamon pie crust sprinkled on top. Mom got a frozen jack and coke, and these cold drinks definitely did the trick!



We headed to the Hawaii booth next, where Mom ordered a Kalua pork slider. I was holding out for a different snack, so no food pics here!



We couldn’t believe how beautiful the weather was. It felt amazing to sit and soak in the scenery!

Our last food stop was at the Donut Box booth near Test Track. I wanted to try the Sriracha Chicken Donut Sandwich!



YUM! This was amazing! I am a huge fan of sweet/salty combinations, so I knew that this would be right up my alley. It was a little messy- I wolfed this down since I was so hungry so I probably wasn’t very ladylike My mom tried this and really liked it too, and I was surprised because it’s a bit out of the box for her!

This conversation happened while eating our snack by Test Track:

Me- “Wow, you can hear the cars going around, it sounds so fast!”
Mom- “Well, that’s why it’s called Fast Track.”
Me- “No it’s not…”

Cue insane laughter. Lori-ism #3!!!

Our snacks did the trick and filled us up just enough so that we would still be hungry for our dinner ADR.

Almost immediately after, Lori-ism #4 happened- “When are we going to ride Filament?” (meaning Figment). At this point, I was really questioning if my mom was stroking out or not Sadly, this was the final Lori-ism of the trip!! I’m chalking it up to first-day jitters and sleep deprivation!

Next stop: Journey Into Imagination with Filament (Figment)! 10 minute wait, and we were on!



Then, we moseyed on over to my favorite place in Epcot- The Land!



We hopped on Living with the Land, which was another 10-minute wait! I was really hoping to see the Christmas decorations, but we were just a bit too early! I love this ride so much, it’s so relaxing.

Soarin was posted at a 30-minute wait, so we hopped in line after LWTL. It turned out to only be a 10 minute wait!

Soarin is definitely in Mom and I’s top 5 rides. I could ride it over and over all day long! My favorite scene is Paris at night. What’s yours?

We were on a good ride streak, so we finished it off with Fast Track (Test Track)! We always ride single-rider if the line is longer than 20 minutes. My ride mates were super fun- it was their first time.





Whew! After knocking out most of Future World, we decided to visit an old favorite. Where to next??

​

 

[Neverland_Girl]

While looking at the aquariums after the ride, Lori-ism #2 happened. Mom- “Molly, want to do Turtle Talk with Crunch?”

OMG this is something my mom would say! She keeps calling the new variant Omnitron.

Soarin is definitely in Mom and I’s top 5 rides. I could ride it over and over all day long! My favorite scene is Paris at night. What’s yours?

I didn't start riding Soarin until a few years ago and it's definitely in my top 5 rides. I love flying over Fiji and Paris into the final scene of Epcot.

Also I love your Mermaid Lagoon shirt!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love the Lori-isms. I feel for her. I do this on the first day sometimes. I also blame it on being up since 3am. Andi can definitely relate to you!
What a fun day at Epic um I mean Epcot!
Andi really liked the spicy chicken sandwich as well.
My favorite part of Soarin is the Figi part, I have been and it is amazing!

 

[Mollydolly334]

OMG this is something my mom would say! She keeps calling the new variant Omnitron.

I didn't start riding Soarin until a few years ago and it's definitely in my top 5 rides. I love flying over Fiji and Paris into the final scene of Epcot.

Also I love your Mermaid Lagoon shirt!

Hahaha!!! Omitron sounds like a Transformers character!!

Soarin' is a classic!! And thanks, it's from TheLostBros

I love the Lori-isms. I feel for her. I do this on the first day sometimes. I also blame it on being up since 3am. Andi can definitely relate to you!
What a fun day at Epic um I mean Epcot!
Andi really liked the spicy chicken sandwich as well.
My favorite part of Soarin is the Figi part, I have been and it is amazing!

Hahaha, I feel like sleep deprivation is an essential part of a Disney vacation!! LUCKY that you've been to Fiji!! It's definitely on my bucket list- I'm hoping to at least get to Hawaii this year!

 

[rdkeim]

Enjoying your TR! The sun and warmth looks so inviting as i sit here freezing in Illinois. So nice to be able to just stroll into Epcot. Drinks and snacks look tasty - looking forward to reading where your ADR was!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Enjoying your TR! The sun and warmth looks so inviting as i sit here freezing in Illinois. So nice to be able to just stroll into Epcot. Drinks and snacks look tasty - looking forward to reading where your ADR was!

Thank you! Ahhhh....how I wish I could be back there now! It's currently one degree in Milwaukee