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

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

I hope it won't take that long! LOL! Thanks for reading along!

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!

That is too funny. A lot of people get upset about how well Kylo stays in character because he doesn't budge at all. I think it's great that he's that way.

Glad you are updating. I have been following along.

Thanks for following along my slow journey! Good stuff is coming up!

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 love reading trip reports from when I was close as well. Thanks for sticking with me!

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

I love that you still call it MGM! I think I've finally broke the habit but it still comes out every now and then. I hope your little one likes ToT. Brody did not want to do it again but I was able to get him to do it during the day a second time. He still was satisfied with just one time and then taking a break.
 
Entry #15 - Keys to the Kingdom!!!

When we last left off (way too long ago), we had ended Brody's birthday in Hollywood Studios with the Star Wars fireworks after a very long and amazing day! We headed back to the hotel and passed out quick for the evening. Lucas, Dawson and the boys had the luxury of sleeping in the next morning but my mom, John and I had to be up bright and early for our long awaited Keys to Kingdom Tour!! My mom and I had been talking about doing this for as long as I can remember and finally decided to bite the bullet and do it. Unfortunately, Dawson was less than 2 months shy of the 16 year old requirement so he couldn't go. (That just gives us another reason to do it again in the future!) Here is a quick picture of us on the way to the MK that morning. I don't think you can tell we are excited at all!

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Now, the sad part about the tour is that you can't take any photos along the way. I totally understand why, but it also means that I don't have a lot of pictures to share with you from the experience. You can take pics while on the "on stage" portion of the tour but that would mean photos of stuff that you can just see at any time in the park. I decided not to confuse myself with random pics and just enjoy the tour and take it in. I can introduce you to our guide, Joseph, he was amazing!! He had worked in many different facets of the park, even being a Jungle Cruise skipper at one point, and now he works in Guest Relations and does a few tours a week. He was a great guide!

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I cannot recommend this tour enough. It is worth every penny. Since I can't dish out all the details or show lots of pictures, I can at least give you a run down of how the tour went in case you are interested in doing it yourself in the future. After meeting up, we set off down Main Street and got a lot of MK history and info about Walt and Roy. We then trekked back to the Jungle Cruise where we got a special ride with Joseph telling us all about the ride, its development, how it works, etc. After the ride we walked back and took a seat in the Tortuga Tavern area. We had a bathroom break and a chance for a little Q & A session with Joseph. He then spoke to us about a few other items before we were up and off again. This is when we got to go to the first backstage area. He took us behind POTC and Splash to see the area where the parade floats are and where the performers get ready. After that little sneak peak, it was already time for lunch. Lunch apparently moves around a bit but we had it in the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant. At the checkin for the tour we chose what we wanted our meals to be and when we arrived at the restaurant they were waiting on us. The food was just ok. It was a little cold since it had been out awaiting our arrival. They had basic burgers, nuggets, caesar salad, etc. to choose from. It was included in the cost which was nice. At this time we also received a special Keys to the Kingdom pin as a souvenir. After eating lunch, we headed back across the park to the Haunted Mansion. We received some background info on the ride and were taken in a back way to skip the line and take a ride ourselves. It was nice to watch it from a different perspective and to know how a lot of the tricks are done, like the dancing ghosts. After the ride we headed back to the heart of Fantasyland and finally got to go underneath the MK to the utilidors. This part was really awesome. It was cool to see some of the cast members and characters (like princesses) just walking around in normal clothing. It didn't take away a bit of the magic though. In fact, I would say that seeing more of the work that goes into Disney made it even more magical. Towards the end of the utilidors tour, we went down a hallway and received a bit more history of the park from Joseph. My mom got a bit sentimental at this point and started to cry when he talked about how much Roy loved Walt and was committed to seeing the MK open. That brought us to the end of the tour. I know that seems really fast but that was literally hours of information. Our tour began at 8:00 and we didn't finish until 1:00ish. I really can't begin to explain how great it was. I was so excited to do it and would do it again in a second!

After the tour was over, we decided to get a little treat from the ice cream place on Main St. I got a kid cone with Mickey ears. It was delicious!

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You can tell how hot it was that day by noticing the amount of melting happening just for me to stop and take a picture of it. Lol!

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After our treats we ended up back in Frontierland and decided to cash in the Splash Mountain rider swap passes I had from the previous day. My mom, John, and I got right on the ride and enjoyed the refreshing splash!

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So, while our tour was happening. Lucas was back at the hotel with the boys and they decided to go for a swim. I left Lucas with explicit directions to take pictures while I was gone. This is the one picture I received:

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It came along with a text that read - "I forgot to take pictures at the pool but here is the proof that we went." Lol!! They had a great time playing in the water, I just don't have any actually photos of the fun.

By the time we hopped off Splash Mountain, the boys had made their way to the park and were eating lunch in Pecos Bill's. We headed that way and met up with them.

That's where I'm going to end it for now. There's still plenty of good stuff to come!

UP NEXT: Festival of Fantasy Parade and more fun in the MK!
 
I've really enjoyed reading this so far. Eager to read the rest of it.

I'm considering a trip for Father's day weekend 2018. How were the crowds? Was the heat unbearable?
 
I've really enjoyed reading this so far. Eager to read the rest of it.

I'm considering a trip for Father's day weekend 2018. How were the crowds? Was the heat unbearable?

I really like going this time of year. The crowds are about a 7 out of 10 since schools are out and it's definitely hot but I don't think it's unbearable. We beat the heat by taking afternoon pool/hotel breaks. I'm also from FL originally so the heat doesn't bother me that much.

Thanks for reading along. Sorry it takes so long for me to respond. One of these days I'm going to finish this trip report. Lol!
 


Entry #16 - Let's See a Parade

Once we were done eating lunch at Pecos Bill, it was about time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade to begin. We hadn't seen the parade before since we were taking afternoon breaks during that time on our last family trip so we thought it would be fun to watch. We found a spot right where the parade comes out in Frontier Land. I've seen video of the parade before but it is definitely better in person. I would definitely say is my favorite of all the Disney parades that I've seen. I think they do such a great job with the floats and the character interaction.

Now we may have been a little spoiled with the character interaction because Jackson was the only little kid on the front rope where we were but he ate up every minute of it. I didn't get a good shot of it but the Tangled float is probably my favorite. The dragon is pretty awesome too though. Unfortunately he wasn't breathing fire that day so we missed out on that but it was still pretty awesome.

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The Peter Pan float is pretty awesome too!

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I'd say that the only part that Jackson didn't really like was this creature with the dragon coming to see him. It took him back a little but not enough to really scare him. I thought it was really cool.

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Goofy paid Jackson a special visit which he LOVED! He was so good with him! By the way, Brody was at the parade too but he was standing on a ledge behind me. He is a stay in the background kind of kid and isn't all about the interaction.

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Of course we capped off the parade with the man himself, Mickey!

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Once the parade was over, we headed out to ride some more rides. I need to do some research to remember what exactly we did though and now it's time for my planning period here at school so I should get to work. I'll try to update again soon...one day...eventually...

UP NEXT: More MK fun!!
 
Now we may have been a little spoiled with the character interaction because Jackson was the only little kid on the front rope where we were but he ate up every minute of it.
We got to benefit from this too! The family next to us had a little baby, so all of the characters would come up to them. If there were 2 characters though, the other would end up diverting to us!
 
Okay so I finally caught up. And don’t feel bad about taking so long to update bc I’m not finished with mine either! Last year I did so much better than this year. Oh well. Anyway, I’m enjoying it so far.

I did Keys to the Kingdom a long time ago but loved it. Will probably do it again with DH one day.

Do you remember if you would’ve had time to do two rides on 7DMT after your BOG breakfast? I only ask bc we are doing it in June and my oldest won’t ride. So my youngest will have to go with one of us while the other waits. It would be nice if the waiting adult could get a ride with the youngest too, but I do plan to get FPs so we will be able to do it later as well.

There was other stuff I wanted to comment on but I can’t remember it now. Anyway, I’ll be back whenever you post the next installment!
 



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