My 20th Trip to the "People Trap Set by a Mouse"!!! - UPDATE 12/8

Entry 10 - Let's FINALLY see what this Rivers of Light thing is all about!

Sorry it's been a bit...I feel like I start every entry by saying this now! I totally had plans to post earlier this week and then forgot that I had my open house on one night and then my son's open house on another. I'm finally here to bring our AK day to a close though.

Once we were finished exploring Pandora, it was time to get some good food but we took a potty break and took a couple cute pictures on the way.

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We then traveled to one of my favorite places to eat, Flame Tree BBQ! I love love love this restaurant and end up loving it even more after this trip. I eat something new on another day that is sooo good but that'll come later. For now, I got what had been my favorite meal there. The pulled pork french fries!!! Nom nom nom!!!

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I could seriously eat these every day! It consists of fries, pulled pork (which is delicious but as a North Carolinian I'm a bit partial), BBQ sauce, and the best part of all PLASTIC CHEESE! I know that not everyone is a fan of it but I LOVE plastic cheese! My husband got his go-to favorite, the ribs, which were as good as always.

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He loves the ribs but I believe that he may love the jalapeno cornbread more!

Our Tusker House meal from the morning was a RoL package but it was still way too early to head that way when we were done with dinner. We decided to head back over to Dino Land again because the boys wanted to ride some of the rides from earlier in the day. This was my first time being in AK since they started staying open in the evening. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Being in the park at dusk and then at night was awesome! I didn't take any pictures but we rode a couple rides in Dino Land and then Jackson and I danced together with the DJ played Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling," which is a favorite in our home. It was a really cool experience. We then hopped into a gift shop and bought a couple of the unicorn horn suckers too keep the boys occupied during RoL. We arrived at the time on the ticket but apparently, everyone else had gotten there way before us. The seats were all filled but a great cast member was able to move a couple people down and put us all in the same area. I didn't take many pictures because I wanted to focus on the show since it was my first time seeing it. If I'm being completely honest it may be my last time seeing it. I didn't think it was awful it was just ok in my opinion. I think that after all the hype for so long that I expected a lot more. I know I wouldn't do another dinner package for it just due to cost and I also don't think it's worth waiting an hour in a seat for. It was cute. Dawson was the only one out of the group to really enjoy it but Jackson liked the first half. He and Brody were very tired though and ready to go about half way through. I wouldn't say that anyone should totally skip it. It's definitely worth seeing once.
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After the show was over we left the park, hopped on a bus, and made our way back to the hotel. Everyone was totally spent and I think we were all out within minutes once we laid down.

UP NEXT: We make it to the MK for Brody's Bday!
how long is this show? im trying to see if we can make it back to the AKL for a 830 sanna ressie after the show
 
I'm going to try to put together an update tomorrow night because I'm going to run out of time now but I wanted to share a bit of fun news with people that I knew would appreciate it.

I'm FINALLY getting to go to Food and Wine in a few weeks!!! My ticker still says that it is a year away but I was able to arrange a quick little one day trip to go to EPCOT for just one day!! My mom is taking my grandmother for her 74th birthday, which is October 1st. I was playing around with flights on Sunday morning and found a ROUND TRIP flight from Charlotte to Orlando for only $112 after taxes and fees and everything!!! My actual ticket into EPCOT cost more than the flight! My sister is going to drive down from Tallahassee and pick me up from the airport, then we are going to surprise my grandmother, spend the next day with her at EPCOT (on her actual birthday), and then I fly back the following morning. It's going to be a whirl wind of a trip but it'll be so worth it! I'm so excited for time with family (this will likely be my grandmother's last trip) and for good food and booze with NO KIDS!!!! :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Just wanted to share my joy! I'll do an update soon...I promise!!!
Yay! So fun! I'm trying to convince my mom to go with me and the boys for two nights and just do the Halloween party. AJ's birthday is Oct 9th so I'm saying it could be for his bday. Not sure she is going for it though. Lol.
 
Just finding your report, but I'm all caught up. Feeling a kindred spirit to any Mom who spills bloody Mary's during check in. My kinda Mom :drinking1 can't wait for more!
 
Sorry it's been a bit...I feel like I start every entry by saying this now!
I can so relate to this....

We then traveled to one of my favorite places to eat, Flame Tree BBQ!
I think we ate here, as well. I am not a fan of BBQ, which is probably weird since I am from the South, but my DH is. Plus they had hotdogs and AJ likes hot dogs!

This was my first time being in AK since they started staying open in the evening. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Being in the park at dusk and then at night was awesome!
Totally agree. Though I will fully admit that nighttime at the parks is my favorite time to be there.

Jackson and I danced together with the DJ played Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling," which is a favorite in our home.
One of our faves as well! And I think we danced to it in Dinoland, as well! LOL.

If I'm being completely honest it may be my last time seeing it. I didn't think it was awful it was just ok in my opinion.
Agree with this review.

UP NEXT: We make it to the MK for Brody's Bday!
Yay! Looking forward to reading all about it!
 


We were seated and then quickly went to get our food. As I said already, I didn't get any pictures of the food. I will review it a bit though. It was really good. It's definitely the best breakfast buffet I've had at Disney. I've also had Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace in the past. This was by far the best. The food was so good. Everyone enjoyed it and was very full when we left. I must say, if you ever go and they are carving ham...GET IT! It has this kind of honey mustard type sauce you could put on it and it was amazing! They also have a breakfast dish that I don't remember the name of but is was kind of like grits but smooth instead of gritty and it had a sweet taste to it. It was also very good. I did take a picture of the boys and you can see their meals, which of course, included Mickey waffles. Jackson also felt that fruit loops on top of waffles was a good idea. He ate it though, so I was happy that he ate food!
I'm a little late with this but, the "grits" you were talking about at Tusker House are African grits and they are called Pap. I don't like regular grits but, I love Pap! It's the only thing I got seconds of. :)
 
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how long is this show? im trying to see if we can make it back to the AKL for a 830 sanna ressie after the show

The show itself was about 20-30 minutes long. I don't think you could see it and then make it to an 8:30 ADR at Sanaa. It would be very tough to do.

Yay! So fun! I'm trying to convince my mom to go with me and the boys for two nights and just do the Halloween party. AJ's birthday is Oct 9th so I'm saying it could be for his bday. Not sure she is going for it though. Lol.

Good luck! I'm hoping to do the Halloween party when I go in October 2018.

Just finding your report, but I'm all caught up. Feeling a kindred spirit to any Mom who spills bloody Mary's during check in. My kinda Mom :drinking1 can't wait for more!

:welcome: Happy to have you along! There's lots more drinking to come!

I think we ate here, as well. I am not a fan of BBQ, which is probably weird since I am from the South, but my DH is. Plus they had hotdogs and AJ likes hot dogs!

I really love Flame Tree! If you don't like BBQ then I highly suggest the turkey sandwich. It is so good!!! The hot dogs were a plus for us as well. It got us away from the same ol' PB&J.

I'm a little late with this but, the "grits" you were talking about at Tusker House are African grits and they are called Pap. I don't like regular grits but, I love Pap! It's the only thing I got seconds of. :)

Yes! That's what they are called! I didn't know if you saw or not but one of the dishes at the Africa pavilion for Food & Wine is served with/on Pap. You should get it when we go!
 
Entry #11 - A Very Merry Birthday for Brody!

We have finally made it to the Magic Kingdom today and it's a very special day! Brody was turning 8 years old today! :bday: The park opened this day at 9am but we had an ADR for Be Our Guest at 8am. In the past, this would've given us access to an empty main street but as many of you know, they now let everyone in at 8am before the opening show at the castle. With that said, it still gets us access behind the castle before they drop the ropes. That'll come in handy later. There still weren't a ton of people on Main St. at that point and we were able to get a couple good pictures. It's a good thing we did too, because there won't be another time during the whole trip that we get a full family photo in front of the castle.

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Now it's time for breakfast though! This was my first time eating at BoG. It gets a lot of praise but I just hadn't seen it yet. We did advanced ordering the evening before so we were sitting at our table before we knew it. We sat in the big ballroom right next to the snowing windows. I must say that the place is beautiful. This is one of the few times that I did a good job remembering to take pictures of the food.

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Beautiful ballroom!

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Me and my special birthday boy!

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Lucas' Croque Madame - this was actually really good. By the time I sampled it, it was a little cold but still delicious.

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Brody's French Toast - he loved it.

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My open face bacon and egg sandwich - I was very underwhelmed with this. It was pretty bland and just uneventful. I was really looking forward to it as well.

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Just another photo from one of the other rooms. My photos in the rose room didn't come out. It's so dark in the room.

Overall, I would eat at BoG again but I really think that I'd only do it on the dining plan. Our final bill ended up being very high, about $75 for 4 people to eat, so I was very happy to have a dining plan to cover it. I would have been very upset about paying that out of pocket. I feel it was very over priced but still a decent meal.

When we were leaving, we all needed to use the restroom. While us ladies were in the bathroom the guys were just hanging out in the lobby area. While they were there, Brody and Lucas leaned up against a wall. I then noticed this on Lucas' butt when we were standing in line for 7DMT. (Luckily he doesn't read this so he won't know to get upset about me posting this picture.)

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His wasn't nearly as bad as Brody's. It was all over Brody's Star Wars shirt. They dealt with it and decided to change later in the day but when we washed them later, it never came out. It still is just as bad on Brody's shirt. Needless to say, it is now a sleep shirt. I really don't know what it was but take my advice...don't lean on the walls of BoG.

As I stated, we were in line for 7DMT. We got to it about 3 minutes before they opened it up. We were all so excited to ride it...until Jackson decided he wasn't excited anymore and refused to do it. Remember when I said I ruined things by putting him on Dinosaur?! Well this was the beginning of it. He was scared to do a lot from this point on. I refuse to put a scared child on a ride but I was also really upset because we had worked so hard to prepare for rides and he was tall enough. My mom agreed to hang out off the ride with him but I should've let her ride. I will admit, I totally overreacted and got way too upset about him not wanting to ride. Just take one good look at this picture and you'll see that I'm not having very much fun.

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Brody was clearly loving it though and it was his birthday. I just needed a minute to get over it. Once I calmed down and realized that this was going to be the norm for the trip, I was fine. Once we got off 7DMT we headed back to Frontierland to tackle some more rides. I am out of space for pictures in this post though it will take way too long to write up another post right now so I'm going to pause here.

My student teacher is starting to take over classes now so I should have time to keep up with regular updates now. Thanks to everyone that is still reading along. I promise I'll be better about posts.

UP NEXT: It's time for the "wildest ride in the wilderness!"


 


Entry #12 - A Very Merry Birthday Continues

Once we left 7DMT we headed over to Frontierland, which is pretty much a tradition for my family. We always head back there first and get multiple rides in on BTMRR and Splash. I calmed down and came to terms with the fact that Jackson wasn't going to ride any thrill rides while we were walking over there. What stunk was that I knew I did it to myself by allowing him to ride Dinosaur back on the first day. I got out of my bad mood and refused to let it ruin my day. I mean, I was at Disney on my son's birthday with my whole family...what could I possibly be upset about. #firstworldproblems

We headed over to BTMRR first because we could get on and off of it faster than Splash. I'm pretty sure we rode it more than once but my memory is a little fuzzy. I've got to remember to keep a log of our trip next time we go. I do know that one of the times that we rode it, was the best time I can remember. It took some coaxing but my mom was able to convince Brody to hold his hands up. He'd been refusing to do it and finally let go, which lead to my absolute favorite picture of our entire trip:

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I really need to get this photo framed. I truly can almost tear up thinking about it. Seeing my mom and Brody with so much joy on their faces is amazing. It's moments like this that are truly magical and make you realize that these trips aren't about the money but about the experiences. Brody is also a very reserved child, so to see him let go (literally) and just take in the happiness was great!

This picture makes me happy too. Leave it to my brother to never smile the right way in a picture.

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After riding BTMRR, I decided to stay back with Jackson while everyone went on Splash Mountain. He and I hung out in the play area underneath the RR. Is anyone else as thankful for this place as I am? It's really a great addition to the area. Since it was early, he still had the whole place to himself and he loved every minute of it.

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Everyone else really enjoyed their ride on Splash and Lucas even remembered to take a photo of he and Brody on the ride. (This is a huge deal, he always forgets to take pictures...more on that to come later on the trip.)

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Everyone loved the ride. It's my mom's favorite Disney ride, you can tell how much fun she's having by the look on her face.

By this time we had ridden BTMRR more than once, Splash, and 7DMT and it was only 9:35 in the morning! I love RD!

We left Frontierland and made our way over to POTC. I was a bit timid about the ride with Jackson. When he was 2 he freaked out and wouldn't go on it. Luckily we walked right through the line quickly and I think he didn't have a chance to consider what might be in those dark waters. In the end, he loved it. Each of the boys then bought a pirate hook with their money because it was burning a whole in their pocket. Those hooks now sit in the bottom of the toy box and have barely been played with. To be honest, I'm actually ok with that. I'd rather them not fight with them. Last thing we need is a hook in the eye.

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Apparently, I decided to stop taking pictures after we rode POTC. As a result of this, I cannot remember anything else that we did. My guess is that we rode Aladdin's Flying Carpet and I really feel like we did Small World too but I'm not entirely sure. We were just having too much fun. I do know that we had a great time! We eventually made it to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. It was good but I forgot to take pictures of the food. I always enjoy CHH though.

After lunch we decided to head back to the hotel for a break. Brody really wanted to swim on his birthday. It was right around noon when we headed back but once on the bus we noticed some rain on the horizon. We made it back to the room and within minutes it was raining. We skipped the pool as a result but the boys weren't too upset. We let them rest and watch some cartoons to just decompress. I think there may have even been some nap time in there as well. Those who weren't resting took the time to enjoy some card games and drinks. We had brought some beer and wine with us so it was nice to enjoy a beverage in the room without paying an arm and a leg for it. Lucas and Brody also took the opportunity to change out of their clothes that had been stained by the BoG wall.

We tried to wait the rain out but we had a FP for Tower of Terror at 3:55. We eventually decided that it was time to venture out.

UP NEXT: Tons of fun at DHS!
 
Nice morning at the MK. WOW you did get a lot accomplished in a short amount of time!

Love the pics of your son on BTMRR, you can tell he is having a blast! Sounds like a great Birthday for him so far.
 
Nice morning at the MK. WOW you did get a lot accomplished in a short amount of time!

Love the pics of your son on BTMRR, you can tell he is having a blast! Sounds like a great Birthday for him so far.

I was so impressed with how much we got done! Rope drops may be hard due to the early mornings but they are so worth it...especially when your kids wake up at 6:00 am every morning anyway!
it was awesome riding with Brody and getting him to let go!:love:

I'm so happy you were able to get him to do it. Now I need to have it happen again in the future!
 
Entry #13 - Did someone say Star Wars?!

When we last left we were headed out to Hollywood Studios! We had a 3:55 FP for Tower of Terror but I think we were afraid of cutting the time too close and we moved it to the evening. I know that we rode it in evening and that's the only night that we were in DHS so that must be the case. With that said, we went straight off to Toy Story Midway Mania. It was super fun as usual and the boys loved it. Once we were done on that we had a break before our next FP so we decided to take the time to roam around the Star Wars Launch Bay. It was still raining a little and my mom and John went off to take a break as they aren't big Star Wars fans. While they were out they got this pic which was super cute!


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We went off to meet some characters and had a blast! We started with the Jawas which I totally forgot to bring a shiny object for trading. We even bought a gold slinky to trade with them and left it in the room! Oh well! Meeting them was still fun!

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We then headed off to meet Chewy. Lucas is a HUUUUGGGEEEE Star Wars fan and has always wanted to meet Chewy. He was on cloud nine! It was the greatest thing to see him so happy!

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From this picture, one of my friends created the funniest meme! It still cracks me up to see it!

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Jackson as you can tell also loved him! You can see here that he wouldn't let go of his hand.

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After meeting Chewy we went over to meet another favorite of the boys, BB-8!

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We then headed over to meet Kylo Ren. At this point, my mom and John had shown back up and joined us for the picture. Jackson was having none of it though. I had to stand in the corner with him because Kylo Ren freaked him out. He's very against "bad guys" right now which I'm ok with, better than him admiring them!

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On the way out, we looked around at gifts and Jackson desperately wanted this $250 light saber. That, of course, wasn't going to happen but we at least let him get a picture with it.

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For a kid that doesn't like "bad guys," he sure looks like one in this picture! Lol!

I'm going to wrap this up here so I can get dinner going but I'm hoping to have another update by Friday. Stay tuned!

UP NEXT: We'll close out our evening in DHS!
 
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Awe
 
Entry #14 - A Perfect End to a Birthday

So I've been so bad about updating this report lately that I feel like no one is even reading anymore. Lol! With that said, I'm going to keep going along until I finish this thing because if nothing else, I really like going back to look through my first one and I know I'll feel the same about this one. So even if I lose all of you in the process I am determined to get this done...slowly but surely!

With that said, let's pick up where we last left off. We were having a great (and wet) afternoon in Hollywood Studios and we had some fun times still to come. After meeting all the Star Wars characters we needed to head off towards Star Tours. It wasn't quite time for our tour yet so we stopped over at Backlot Express to eat some dinner. If you haven't eaten here before, it is just your standard burger and fries counter service but they do have a fun Star Wars twist on a few meals. The boys were excited to get chicken and Darth Vader waffles (that I of course forgot to get a picture of). I was starving when we arrived and was totally focused on eating my chili cheese dog which was HUGE and DELICIOUS!! I devoured the entire thing. I did make a point to take pictures of our Star Wars cupcakes though. After the hot dog I had no room left but everyone else at the table ate them up and said they were excellent.

The BB-8 cupcake was a lemon cupcake with vanilla or cream cheese frosting.
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The Darth Vader cupcake was a chocolate and peanut butter cupcake. This was definitely the winner at the table.
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After dinner, it was time for our ride on Star Tours. I was worried that Jackson might freak out a little again but he didn't. I think it helps that it's all so well lit and there isn't a lot of mystery as to what you are getting yourself into. Everyone loved the ride. It made me a little nauseous which was weird but I chocked it up to the chili cheese dog but then when we rode it again on another day it did the same thing. This now has me worried that as I age I'm going to have trouble with rides. Nonetheless, I just took the glasses off and watched the boys have a great time so it was still worth it.

If you remember from a previous report, we had rescheduled our Tower of Terror ride so once we were done with Star Tours we headed in that direction. Jackson was tall enough to go on this but we all new better than to push him into it. It worked out though because we got a rider swap pass and were able to ride it twice. At this point, John (my stepdad) was a bit tired and headed back to the room so Dawson offered to stay off the ride with Jackson so that Brody could ride it with Lucas, my mom and I. As you can see, my mom in the bottom left with her hands up, was ready for the photo. Lucas and I on the other hand were getting Brody to focus on how cool it was to see outside. Brody got off of the ride and said he liked it but was in a bit of shock. He said he was not interested in going on it again right then.
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Lucas took both of the boys and I rode again with my mom and Dawson. We often try to do something fun for the camera. We decided to do a hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil theme. It worked out pretty well. You can see us in the back right of this photo.

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Even though Flights of Passage at Pandora is the coolest ride I've ever been on, ToT will forever be my favorite ride at WDW. It never disappoints and I love that it is always different.

Once done with ToT it was time to go find a spot for the Star Wars fireworks. We got a PP pic on the way there that turned out really well.

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As I said earlier, my DH is a big Star Wars fan so I was very excited about him seeing the fireworks. I knew he was going to love them and I was right. Jackson thought they were a bit much but I think he was just tired. The rest of us really enjoyed them though.

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After the fireworks, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep. We were all happy to go to bed and wiped from the day.

UP NEXT: Time for a very special treat - KEYS TO THE KINGDOM TOUR!!!
 
So I've been so bad about updating this report lately that I feel like no one is even reading anymore. Lol! With that said, I'm going to keep going along until I finish this thing because if nothing else, I really like going back to look through my first one and I know I'll feel the same about this one. So even if I lose all of you in the process I am determined to get this done...slowly but surely!

I'm still here! And love reading your report, so keep it going, even if it takes until your next trip to finish :crazy:
 

We then headed over to meet Kylo Ren. At this point, my mom and John had shown back up and joined us for the picture. Jackson was having none of it though. I had to stand in the corner with him because Kylo Ren freaked him out. He's very against "bad guys" right now which I'm ok with, better than him admiring them!

I've told this story before, but it still cracks me up.

My boys are Star Wars obsessed, they had to see Kylo Ren. Of course, one of them immediately freaked out when we entered the room, and jumped into my arms. Kylo approached, and I looked at my son and told him, "It's Kylo Ren. He's just an emo millenial! Nothing to worry about." Upon hearing that, Kylo got right into my face, and told me "you're obviously with the resistance, and you'll pay!" Spun around, and went right over to my wife and other son, and started to pose.

I almost peed myself, and then laughed ten seconds later!
 
I'm still reading! It's fun since we were there close to the same time, so in a way, it helps relive our trip too. :love:
 
I'm here too! Looks like a great night in MGM!!! Hoping to get my little one on ToT on our next trip too, but like you not gonna push i
 

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