Our big Disney trip finally arrived! We have been preparing for this trip for over a year.. we had monthly "hype" nights where we did a different Disney themed night every month with the girls, and we were so excited for our trip with the Delias!
Due to having our Hyatt credit card and having Hyatt points, we were able to take advantage of some cheaper flights and go into Orlando two days early. We got in on Thursday around 11am and went to Miller's Alehouse for lunch. Our tradition!
We were staying at the Hyatt Grand Cypress for two nights. When we first got there our room wasn't ready so we headed to the pool for a few hours and had fun in their massive pool.
Kayla loves swimming and she's a good enough swimmer that while she's with us she doesn't need to wear floaties anymore. She loves swimming under water and diving for items.
We had a really nice room and had a suite with a living room and a bedroom.
Here is our bedroom. Kayla also loves the parrot that is the lobby of this hotel. We've been here enough times that it's familiar now.
Here was our view! It was nice because we could see the Disney fireworks at night.
We went to Disney Springs for the night. We first went to the Disney store and looked around. Kayla got a baby rajah toy. Then we went to eat at the Polite Pig and I was not overly impressed. You order at the counter and there aren't any servers. The price was expensive and the platters to share gave really small portions.
This is the platter that they advised to share for 2 people... I barely thought it was enough food for 1 person let alone two people.
After dinner, we started heading to Gideon's for cookies, but it started pouring. We ran under cover under an awning. It stopped raining pretty quick so we went back in line for cookies and we were almost inside when it started pouring again. Clearly we got drenched haha. We figured we'd waited too long to get our cookies and couldn't get out of line again. We ran under another awning across the way after getting our cookies.
Definitely a crappy day. We kinda hung out until the rain let up, and we saw more was coming so we decided to head back for the night. We did stop at Dollar Tree to pick up a couple of pool floaties and stuff for the next day which was a lot of fun.
Yummy Gideon's cookies!
Kayla and I watched the fireworks from both Epcot and MK in the distance from our room.
I woke up early the next day to get our fast passes for the parks and I was really excited with everything that I got initially besides Hollywood Studios. I was hoping to improve them before we got to the park. We hung out in our room until 11:30am because it was raining. Here was Kayla sitting in her new pool floaty waiting to get to go out haha.
Luckily we were able to get 3-4 hours of swimming in before lightning was in the area and we had to get out of the pool. I forgot to bring down our pool noodles and Kayla was teasing me all day about forgetting them. We had a fun day in the pool.
We ate lunch by the pool. It was pretty reasonable there to get food and it was easy to just order something there instead of trying to go somewhere.
Basic burger, fries, and Kayla had chicken tenders.
After swimming for a while, we got out and got changed and hung out in the room for a bit. We went to Sal's pizza bar for dinner. The shop was small without a lot of seating, but it had the New York style pizza that Cody likes. We liked the pizza and garlic knots.
They had an Italian bakery there too.
After dinner we went to Disney Springs again, and Kayla wanted to go to the Goofy candy store. I was hoping to find churro toffee like they have in California here, but no luck...
Kayla got a mark your own Mickey's chocolate bar. I was surprised it was only $10 because it felt like a good value for that price.
Posing!
Trying to snack on it.
Afterwards, we walked across Disney Springs to Everglazed and got some big yummy donuts to eat. Kayla had a donut from there and a woman came out and said that donut is bigger than your head! Kayla thought she was crazy and was like my heads a lot bigger than this haha. Only to have Cody walk out to her chagrin, and say "Woahhh that donut is bigger than your head!!" and she was like whaaat?? Lol. Afterwards we walked around a bit, and watched some live music performing and Kayla jumped and played around a bit.
We decided to head back to the hotel was a swim, and Kayla goes.. "Now mama I want you to listen to me because this is very important for you to hear. Do. Not. Forget. The. POOL NOODLES!" Hahaha! Silly girl. She was as serious as could be too.
We went back into the pool for about 45 mins. Kayla was loving playing in her rainbow inter tube and it was HARD getting her out of the pool. She really didn't want to get out, but I told her that I wanted to watch the fireworks from our room. The next morning, we woke up to storms and no water in our room! The room also had an area that was flooding by the sliding door by the balcony. We were pretty surprised with that. And unfortunately, the Delia's flight were delayed by an hour so we were kinda waiting around to start the day. We ended up checking out and going to a giftshop near Miller's House to buy a few things.
Finally our vacation was kicking off with the Delia's getting into town! The girls were sooo excited to be together.
Cheers to starting our vacay!! We got a pitcher of margaritas and hung out at Miller's Alehouse.
The girls were soooo happy to be together!!
We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana resort, and when we first got there our room wasn't ready so we walked around the resort for a bit. Then we went to get our room keys and went to our room... and that is when our problems started. Our room key worked fine, but the Delia's didn't. When they tried to scan the key it turned yellow. So we went to the front desk and had our keys re-made. We went back and they still didn't work. They called security to come up and as we were going to get in a man and a woman who were cleaning people walked out. They didn't have any supplies and our room was already turned over as cleaned. So we think that they were in there having an affair with each other. Bobby and I were absolutely shocked when they walked out. The security girl didn't do anything, and we walked back to our room. Cody was appalled and was like that's awful! Who knows what they were doing in there or if the room is clean, and I got to thinking and I was like geee you're right! We went and tested the door and if you do the dead bolt from the inside and scan the key it turns yellow. And if the dead bolt is open then it'll turn green and open. So we think they knew it was an empty room and went in and locked the deadbolt and did god knows what. So Becky and Cody took the girls to the pool, and Bobby and I went back to the front desk. I wanted to talk with a manager. I told him nicely but firmly that it just wasn't acceptable and that we did not want to accept that room. We did not feel confident that it was clean and we wanted a new room. So the manager was really good to work with and agreed and ended up getting us a new room and gave us a $75 resort credit for the hassle. But it took until 5:30pm to get all this resolved so it definitely impacted our day. But we would have never expected that from the Sheraton. Bobby and I didn't get to go swimming, but at least everyone else did. We ended up back at Sal's pizza for dinner because it was quick and easy. We then went to Meijers for groceries for the week, and they had a lot of good buy 1 get 1 sales. Afterwards, we came home and unpacked and got ready for the Magic Kingdom the next day.
The next day was our MAGIC KINGDOM day!! Our group did a great job with getting up and getting ready, and we got to the park on time! Here are our girlies ready to start their day! Our first ride was the Barnstormer! Kayla liked it, but Abby did not like it.
Waiting in line for their ride... Dumbo!
We used our lightning lane for Dumbo and got right on it. We had bought standby skipper for this trip, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it... but Tiana's Bayou Adventure was sold out for the day and VERY quickly SS got us a time for 11:30am which was a huge win! It was sooo nice not to have to focus on the lightning lanes and to let it book stuff for us! After Dumbo we rode the Little Mermaid right with our LL.
We all tried our luck at pulling the sword from the stone, but no one in our group had the magic touch.
Then we headed to It's a Small World on standby and our group really loved this ride. It's such a cute and fun ride.
Next we used our lightning lane for the teacups. This is our traditional family picture on the teacups! Cody spun our teacup like crazy!! Haha!
Afterwards, we stopped at the Cheshire Cat and got Chestire Cat tail snacks which were yummy, and we all took a potty break. Then we headed to the castle show. I ALWAYS love this castle show. It's so cute and always warms my heart... It was such a perfect morning for us so far that I was even a little teary eyed. Elsa waved to the girls and they were soooo excited. It was a great start of our day.
We went around and took some photopass pictures. I love that we bought this package! I LOVED this picture of the girls. I thought it was so cute.
More silly girls.
In front of the castle.
I'm not sure where the boys wander off to when we were doing pictures right here... They might have been getting coffee or something. But here is a mommy and daughters picture.
Castle shot of the girls.
We went on Tiana's Bayou Adventure with our lightning lane which saved us 75 mins. This ride is only ok now... They just didn't add enough into the ride to make it all that exciting. I don't feel like the story line is as good as splash mountain... after seeing the original and this new version I just miss all the action of the other. I think re-theming it was fine... I just wish they had made it more exciting. Bobby and I took one from the team and sat in the front row to get all of the splashes haha!! This is where we started to realize that Bobby and Abby aren't really into rollercoasters/drops.
Next was our Aladdin LL. We did sooo well with not having to wait in hardly any lines. Delia family!
Charles family! Of course, Kayla wants to sit with Cody and mama is scrapped haha.
Afterwards, we ate our lunch that we packed at Tortuga Tavern in the shade and under the fans. Then we went and got a dole whip ice cream. Cody and Kayla got a vanilla and I got a coconut which I thought was delicious and refreshing. Right after that, we had our LL for Peter Pan. Abby had recently become a fan of this movie and was very much looking forward to this ride. It's cute, but definitely not worth the super long wait for in my opinion... Unless of course you have a kiddo with you like we did.
After Peter Pan, we went around the park and took some pictures.
Family shot!
Group shot!
We love the magic shots!
Stitch!
Love this happy one of us!
Our baby girl!
Another group shot.
The girls!
Rainbow magic shot!
Love them!
I'm so glad that they got to have this experience together.
The boys held our spot in line for the parade, and we saw Mary Poppins and Mickey Mouse.
Abby, Aunt Becky, and Mickey.
Kayla and I with Mickey.
Abby asked him for a magic trick and he did it for her. The girls were also very into getting their books signed by the characters.
We had a great front row parade spot right on main street. Kayla was very excited that a bunch of characters gave her a heart sign back. She gets so thrilled and excited when they single her out and point back to her.
Elsa and Ana!
Now, it was time for our Seven Dwarf Mine Train ride. We weren't able to get the ILL, so we just stood in line. Abby needed a break, so they were sitting in the air conditioning relaxing at Pinocchio Haus. Abby needed to get there ASAP, so Becky wasn't able to come in line with us to get the rider swap. When we got off, she said that she'd like to go on it with Kayla and we asked the people as we were getting off if we could do the rider swap and they said that you had to do that before you get in line... The blue umbrella people were right by the ride though, and didn't have much of a line... so I thought that I'd plead our case to them and ask if they'd let Kayla and Becky on together anyway... and they were so nice and kind to us. They fixed it for us with no problem.
This is Kayla's favorite ride! She loves going on it.
Of course the first time she went on with daddy.
Here we come!
Cody's arm kinda blocked Kayla..
Here's a little bit of a better angle.
Such a good one of Kayla and Aunt Becky! I'm so glad that they both got to go on it together. Kayla was excited to get to go on again with no line.
We were all there cheering them on and watching them ride it.
I was hoping that we were going to be able to do story time with Belle, but she is done in the park at 5pm, and we had dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table!!!!
We got to meet with Cinderella pretty quickly and they had our table ready for us.
Cinderella signing their books.
Talking with her... they noticed that Jaq and Gus were up top and they pointed them out to her.
Group shot!
This character dining is one of my absolute favorites. I love getting to come into the castle, and the food is really good in here too.
Princess Aurora. My dad commented on facebook and mentioned how much this girl looks like Shaylee Douglas, and once my dad said it, I couldn't unsee it!
This dining experience was especially fun with the Delia's. Bobby and Abby are a little bit more outgoing then us so their conversations with the princesses were really good.
Our experience with Merida was especially good. Bobby was talking to her with a Scottish accent and was asking her all kinds of questions... and she was just delighted with our group. It was really funny!
The girls with Jasmine.
Here we all are with our wands making our wish at the end. Poor Bobby forgot his and was so sad. He almost went back in to get it, but we had already moved on by then.
The girls had their wands in their pictures for the rest of the night.
Next, mom's took the girls on the Peoplemover and dad's went on space mountain. I love the Peoplemover, it's such a classic. Afterwards, we all switched places.
Becky and I went on space mountain and she was hilarious on it! She was like ahhhh!!!! I was laughing the whole time haha.
Next we went on Buzz Lightyear. Our lightning lane game was really on point at Magic Kingdom... everything just seemed to go our way.
You can tell that Buzz frustrates me like no other. I can never tell where I'm aiming or if I'm hitting my targets. I'm sooo excited that they are refurbishing this ride and updating it. I hope that it makes it a more enjoyable/easier to play ride.
Cody and Kayla.
We got in line on Main Street and had a perfect view of the castle, but realized that we forgot Kayla's headphones and she was freaking out and wouldn't watch them. It was such a disappointment from last year when she was so excited and so into the fireworks. Cody kindly took her towards the tomorrowland terrance and I stayed with the Delia's to watch the fireworks. It was sad for me though without Cody and Kayla with me.
I love this picture! I guess a lady at tomorrowland terrace gave Kayla some earplugs and she was just fine after that and actually wanted to come back to us, but it was too crowded and busy to do that.
Our plan was to go back to 7 dwarfs and ride it once more, but Kayla was feeling tired and it was very crowded as everyone was leaving so we decided to skip it.
We waited in line for a loooong time at the Confectionary for make your own popcorn, but it was sooo good. Kayla fell asleep in her stroller pretty much right away while we waited. And the girl was OUT... she slept the whole night. I was sooo sweaty and yucky from the day that I immediately jumped in the shower when I got home haha.
The next day was a rest day for sure! I don't know how someone can do the magic kingdom and then do another park the next day. We slept in until 10:30am and then had breakfast in our room.
We played in the pool from 12pm-3:15pm. Cody got both of the girls the same floaty and they enjoyed jumping into the water over and over. Kayla was getting fancy and doing front flips into the pool.
Having fun in the pool!
Some days you just need a relaxing pool day.
Matching girls! Thank god for Cody's quick thinking so they wouldn't fight over the float!
Mama's and their girls. We all had so much fun together.
We went to Disney Springs for dinner and we went to Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' and the food was absolutely delicious. We all really enjoyed our meal. We all really loved the sweet tea. After dinner we lost the Delia's... we had a long day the night before at MK and then Abby had been swimming all day so the poor girl was just done for the night. They were all sad to leave, but sometimes you gotta enforce boundaries and go home when the stakes are low.
We went to Everglazed and got some donuts.
Their donuts are sooo good there!
We listened to some live music for a few minutes and took some funny pictures.
The band went on break pretty quickly after we sat down, so Kayla was running around and doing poses.
Silly girl! We came home and explored around our resort. We found the splash pad area that I KNEW was there!! And we also found the pool that had a water slide for future reference. Kayla played on the playground near our room for a few minutes. That night, I gave her... her first ever melatonin gummy. I had always felt kind of weird about giving them to her before and felt like it would mess up her ability to sleep on her own, but when Becky told me she regularly gave them to Abby and that they weren't addictive and didn't hurt kids... I decided to give it a try. I wanted Kayla to get a really good night of sleep, because we were getting up early for Animal Kingdom the next day and I didn't want her staying up too late. She was soooo excited for it too haha. She fell asleep pretty easily within 20 minutes too and was down by 9:10 which is really early for her. Cody and Bobby went to the pool and had a few beers with each other and hung out. They came back around 11:15pm after the pool closed for the night.
We were planning on getting to Animal Kingdom at the 7:30am opening time, but it was raining in the morning so we decided to get to the park at 8:15am instead. Our first stop was meeting Mickey and Minnie. I realized once we got there that we forgot Kayla's autograph book and marker... so super dad, Cody, ran out to the car and made it JUST IN TIME for us to get up to them so she didn't miss getting her book signed for the day.
Delias!
Group picture! Becky and I were twinning for the day with the same shirts on. We planned this for a couple of days during our trip.
Kayla and Aunt Becky waiting in line.
Twins!!! Our magic bands were also really excited for these statues throughout the park. They would make sounds or interact and Kayla was ALL about it and very excited to do it.
Next we went on the Gorilla Explorer Trail and saw various animals. Kayla learned about Wilderness Explorers which is a really cool and educational program that they have throughout the park. She was definitely into getting her stickers into her book, but there was sooo many of them that it's definitely an all day/multiple trip thing to do. Very cool program though.
Monkeys
Checking out the fish
Pretty sure these were meerkats. I really enjoy watching them. They remind me of Timon and the Lion King 1 1/2.
There he is!!
So stinking cute... I could have watched them forever!
Next we went to one of my favorite shows in all of Disney... Festival of the Lion King. I loooove this show and it did not disappoint. Simba was very realistic and moved around more than I remembered... granted it's been quite a while since I've seen this show. Kayla was amazed every time our bands went off and changed colors during the show. She was super excited. Buying us magic bands definitely added to the enjoyment of our day.
The acrobat monkeys are my favorite. I know that due to Covid I think they were gone for a while, but I was really happy to see them back because they are my favorite section of the show and are so funny.
Next stop was going on Safari. I absolutely love this ride and I think it's one of the best parts Animal Kingdom. We had a good safari too and saw lots of animals... including a baby giraffe which Kayla was excited about.
At the end of the ride, the girls stopped at a booth and got baby animals. Kayla got a giraffe and Abby got a tiger. They were sooo cute and Kayla still loves her baby giraffe.
Next we stopped at Harambe Market and ate our packed lunches. Then I went over to the bakery area and got a cupcake for Kayla and a Simba cake for me. I had heard good things about it, and it was definitely good... it had a filling inside the cupcake which was unique.
Kayla's favorite!
Tree of Life... the new Zootopia show wasn't open when we were there yet so it was still under construction.
We did get to meet Pocahontas though. The girls were really excited about meeting characters and getting their books signed.
Talking with her! Abby was really good at interacting and asking characters questions. She's very outgoing and easily talks with them.
Huggies! Of course they had to have their new babies in the pictures.
While walking to the finding Nemo Show we ran into Kevin.
The finding Nemo Show was cute. We did have a lot of hustling to do in this park in order to get everything done. We were kind of rushed because the park is so big and it closes so early.
We took turns riding Dinosaur. I knew that Kayla wouldn't like it, but I thought it was 50/50 on whether or not Abby would. In the end, she decided that she was too scared to go on it. So she and Kayla ran around in a dino themed play area.
Cody and I went on after them. I really wanted to ride it because I knew this was my last chance before they re-theme it. This is not my favorite ride. I think too much of it is in the dark, and I don't really enjoy the dinosaurs... so I am not sad that it is going away. After this ride, we had to BOOK IT across the park to make our Avatar Lightning Lanes on time, and we made it with minutes to spare. It was kind of raining and it was a far walk... and honestly I wish that we had just skipped it all together. But I know that it's a very popular land and people rave about Flights of Passage being the coolest ride at Disney... so I wanted us to go on it again. To be honest, FOP is a bit overrated in my opinion. It's a cool concept and a neat ride... but it was too much for the girls. Abby REALLY didn't like it and Kayla wasn't a huge fan either. Afterwards we ran over to Navi River, which is the most popular LL in AK... and it just wasn't as good as I remembered it. I remembered being awed by it and it being all lit up... but when went on it I found it kind of dark and not as pretty... and the characters were kinda creepy. Overall, I'd say that the Avatar land was the least favorite on our groups list and if we go back to AK again, I'd probably skip it all together and go on other things. I did get a very tasty drink in the area called a Night Blossom which was very unique and tasty. I loved the Bobas.
Next we had to go to the OTHER side of the park to use our Everest LLs. At first, Kayla refused to go on it... even though she had talked over and over about wanting to go on it. But because Abby didn't want to, she decided that she didn't want to either. So since she refused to go on it, Cody and I went on while she wanted with the Delia's. We came off and pumped her up about how it was the best rollercoaster in Disney and I asked if she wanted to go.. and she still said no... so I told her that I was going to go ahead and give our lightning lanes away to another kid and she decided to go on it after all. She didn't love when it went backwards in beginning and she was scared of the Yeti... but otherwise she really liked it. And she was talking about it the next day and saying how she loved it and wanted to go on it again. I know my child... I know that she is a rollercoaster girl and I knew that she would regret not going on it... so I was glad that she was brave to go on it.
Pretending to be the yeti.
We wanted a picture with the Everest Mountain behind us to commemorate her first ride.
Thumbs up!
Group picture at the Tree of Life.
Family pic!
Other family pic!
First visit pin! This was Kayla's first time at the Animal Kingdom. It's not one that we will come to regularly because there's just not enough to do there in my opinion. I could do Safari, Lion King, and Everest and be done with the park for the day. It was fun to explore it a little bit more... and maybe when the new Encanto ride comes eventually it'll be more fun. And I think that's been my impression for a long time of AK which is why we haven't ever been there with Kayla before. I did enjoy my day there... I just wish it was open longer and that we didn't have to rush about so much.
After taking pictures, we went to the Tiger Trail and we only saw 2 tigers, no bats, and hardly any other animals. It was only like 5pm but they were putting a lot of animals away for the night. They did have cool bird watching rooms, where the birds had the zoomies and were flying all crazy above us. The education girl says that it amuses them and they think it's funny. Kayla wasn't overly impressed by it, but I imagine if you were a nature/bird enthusiast that it would be really neat for you.
We got over just in time to see Chip and Dale in the dinosaur costumes.
Signing books.
I was really hoping to catch them, because once the Dino area is re-themed, I think they won't be in these cute outfits anymore.
Our group had a little miscommunication at the end of the night, all day I thought we were going to make burgers/hot dogs to eat.. but Cody didn't want to cook them... so after LOTS of deliberation we decided to order Millers Alehouse to go. I won't lie... I was getting hangry and just wanted a decision made. After dinner, we hopped into the pools for a little bit and Kayla jumped around and did flips into the pool, and then we went to the hot tub for a bit. My feet were huuuurting!! Phew! It had been a long couple days/lots of walking. I was fine while we were going, but once I stopped it was rough.
Next day was Epcot!!! It was supposed to rain this day, so we were hoping for the best.
Delia's!
Group pic! Bec and I were twinning again today.
Another picture. :)
Right when we got in, we headed right to our first LL of the day. I had it for like 10 minutes after the park opened, but beause the ride wasn't very busy they over-rode it and let us go on a few minutes early. At this point in time, I could have picked up Remi fast passes for 8:10pm, but I decided to roll with Stand by Skipper and let them try to get it for us. It had done such wonders were Tiana's and other rides that I had confidence in it... which turns out was misplaced... because it never found us a LL all day for it. :( That was really shocking to me... I guess a bird in the hand. Wish I had booked it, because we didn't end up getting on it that day either.
After the nemo ride, we went over and met with Moana. We had fun playing guess the Disney character in line. Her line was pretty quick right in the morning.
Smile!
Of course we had to get the group.
Next we went to the Moana water area which was really neat. And we were there early so we had it pretty much to ourselves which was cool. We got to run around and play in all the features together.
Such a cool magic picture!
Family pic
Magic!
More magic! Afterwards, we went over and caught some of the Encanto show.
I love the flower characters that are around the park.
Then it was time to start walking around the worlds. We had a few hours before the rain was supposed to hit, so we were making the best of it. First stop was in Canada for some maple popcorn. I've always wanted this and it was pretty good.
Bobby loved wandering around the different countries and looking into all the shops.
Cody got a coffee and pastry in England.
Kayla was like look daddy!! It's your favorite! Goofy! So of course Cody was all excited about it. Haha
Abby is recently into Peter Pan, so she was interacting in this scene and was very excited by it.
Kayla was all about the Seven Dwarfs because she likes the ride at the Magic Kingdom.
Picture with Daisy!
Group shot.
Muppets.
We stopped for Gelato in Italy after lunch too.
Bobby's favorite country was Italy. We ordered pizza and he talked to the workers in Italian.
I was a little bit bummed because we were there when there wasn't a festival going on, so there was no chicken teriyaki bao bun for me. I think the lack of those booths being open definitely leaves something to be desired at Epcot. They add a lot. Cody grabbed me chicken and shrimp teriyaki with rice for lunch in Japan and he grabbed sushi. Kayla had pizza from Italy.
We met with Mulan and got her picture in China. I was able to get my hibiscus honey blueberry bob tea in China... which I find just delightful and love getting it. And we did some general walking around/browsing the countries.
Group shot! Abby had gotten a bubble wand at the end of the day at the Animal Kingdom the night before and Kayla was whining NON-STOP for one too. So luckily we found a place that sold them in America, and she picked out an Olaf one.
Next we used our LL for Frozen. This was a highlight for the girls and probably their favorite ride of the day. Luckily right as we got into line, that is when the rain started. So we got to go around the worlds and look around for the most part before it impacted us. I also felt like the worlds section wasn't too busy which was nice so we could walk around.
Afterwards, we waited in the looong line for Elsa and Anna.
The girls were very excited to see them, and we got to wait the rain out inside.
Disaster struck at the end though... I didn't realize that Elsa and Anna had separate photo scan areas, and I only scanned Anna's pictures. I had to go to guest services at the end of the night to get them to recover/find our photos of Elsa.
Worth getting them!
Happy girls.
Love this picture! These girls got along so good during the trip and just loved each other.
Cody and I took the girls to Mexico to ride the boat ride twice, while Becky and Bobby used their ILL to ride Guardians of the Galaxy. The girls absolutely loved Mexico. They had Coco characters that you could create on the wall that they liked, and they really liked the boat ride and wanted to go on it over and over again. It's such a cute ride, and normally has such a short wait that it's a great option to go on.
After Becky and Bobby went on Guardians, we swapped places with them and Cody and I got to go on it together. It was nice getting to go together. I really enjoy this ride and like going on it. Wish we didn't have to pay extra to go on it, but the stand by line is awful for it.
Such a cute picture of them.
Love the background.
So cool!!
Next we went over to Soaring and Living with the land. Soaring is definitely one of my favorites and Kayla liked it from the last time we went on it. I always think that living with the land is pretty cool.
The had a summer DJ party in the Communication Hall, but it was hosted by Goofy so Kayla wanted nothing to do with it and wouldn't go in. We didn't have a solid plan for dinner, and I wanted to grab a burger and something quick. So I got something at Connections Eatery and had a burger/fries that were ok. The boys ended up walking around the world again.
Becky and I took the girls to Talk Turtle Crush, which is delightful. Abby got picked to ask Crush a question and it was cute.
There's Crush. It's so cool how he interacts with the kids.
Afterwards, we took the girls around the aqaurium for a bit and they were excited to see real life sea turtles.
Turtle!
We saw that Remi was a 25 min wait at 8pm and decided to run all the way over there to try to ride it before the fireworks (sure wish I had grabbed that LL from earlier) but by the time we got there it had jumped to a 45 min wait and we didn't want to miss the fireworks. We were going to go to the Moana area at dark, which I absolutely love, but it was just too much to get all the way over there and then to our firework spot.
Kayla was a happy girl with her headphones on and her magic band going off.
We saw the fireworks, but our location made it hard to see the fountain show. But it was cool to see the fireworks in person.
Afterwards, I went home and jumped in the pool and then the hot tub for a few minutes.
Our family selfie. Afterwards we ate some lunch at we had packed on a bench.
Then we got to go on rocking rollercoaster. Becky and I went and it actually broke down for a minute while we were strapped onto it, and the sign said that the ride will start up without notice at any moment. And she's like it didn't say that before to anyone else.. Haha. It did give us notice before it took off though. It seemed like it took Becky and I forever to get on it, but it must have been having mechanical issues. Cody and I went back on it and basically walked back on. The only thing we didn't get to do was go to the Villian show. Becky and Bobby took the girls to the Beauty and the Beast show while we were waiting for rocking rollercoaster. So it all worked out well. At this point, we went to dinner at backlot express which was perfect for our group. We mobile ordered and got it right away.
The next day was a relaxing hotel day. We slept in and then were at the pools for the day.
We hopped to a few pools throughout the day and were out there from 11:30am-8pm.
The girls enjoyed the pool with the slide. At first I was catching Kayla, but then I realized she didn't need me to and was enjoying dropping into the pool. Becky was catching Abby a bit and helping her. The girls had a lot of fun over here for a while before we switched pools again.
Bobby and Abby.
Catch her!
Kayla splashing down.
Delia's
Kayla was VERY interested in the geckos and really liked them haha. She was spotting them and pointing them out all over.
How many can you spot in this picture?
My girlie
For dinner we ended up getting Sal's again delivered with Uber eats. It was a pretty simple day, but much needed recovery time.
Our plan we initially to rope drop Slinky Dog Dash, but by this time we realized that the Delia's were not rollercoaster people. Unfortunately, the line was very long right at rope drop... so we pivoted and went on Toy Story Mania with minimal waits. Then the Delia's decided to meet Woody and Jesse and Kayla wasn't interested in it... so we went in the Slinky line after all. I was so happy that Kayla decided to ride with me!
Abby was very much into meeting characters and getting signatures for her book.
At the end of Slinky Dog! Her favorite!
Me and my girl!
Next we started using some of our LLs. We went on Micky and Minnie's Runaway Railroad and the Delia's loved it. Kayla did not. She said that she hates that and never wants to go on it again. Which is a bummer to me, because I think it's super cute. Afterwards, we were back in Toy Story land for Alien Swirling Saucer's LL.
Delia Family.
Our family selfie. Afterwards we ate some lunch at we had packed on a bench.
Then we met with Joy. Kayla really liked Joy, and Abby was actually her for Halloween the year before which made Joy very happy.
Group shot! It was HOT and sweaty this day.
Joy finding out Abby was her for Halloween.
Special moment
And special hug
I love these character interactions.
Next we waited a while for the brand new Little Mermaid show. I will say that I was impressed by it. I really liked the combination of real life people and animation.
It was different than the old show and I really thought that it worked well.
Triton
I think we were all impressed by it.
Afterwards the line for Olaf wasn't very long so we ran over to meet him.
He's so cute! Kayla had her Olaf bubble wand to show him.
The girls.
He liked Abby's baby tiger. Abby really liked Olaf and kinda hung around interacting with him a bit.
Next was one of my favorites... the Frozen Show! It never fails... this show cracks me up and the hosts are so funny.
Sooo much magic and happiness. Isn't this type of moment why you go on vacation??
Afterwards, we headed to Hollywood Boulevard for our rocking roller coaster and tower of terror LLs. We stopped first for some Mickey brownie ice cream sundaes and they actually messed one up so we got an extra one for free.
Bobby opted out of Tower of Terror and Rocking Rollercoaster so I got to go on it with Cody and then with Becky. Becky was absolutely hilarious on them. She was so nervous and she grabbed me and screamed haha. Cody and I had a good time after.
Next it was time for Star Wars area. Becky and Bobby went on first while the girls ran around and played in the area. Then Cody, Bobby, and I went on. I let the two of them be pilots. I will say... that the Star Wars area is cool... but I'm just not that big of a fan so I'm not that into it.
Silly girls.
They had so much fun running around. So at this point, Rise of the Resistance had been broken down all day and it had JUST came back up. And our LL's for Toy Story Mania were due. So we took the girls to the toy story area, while Becky and Bobby went on Rise. We also snuck in a quick ride for Kayla on our Slinky Dog Dash LL's that were at the same time. Then Cody and I went to Rise, and Becky and Bobby took the girls on Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad. Kayla got off it and said that she actually likes it now.
The Delia's were so kind to give us their tickets so that we could use their LL for slink again and all go on it together. I love this picture of Kayla and Cody. Riding Slinky at night is definitely pretty cool!
It had been a long day and we did a CRAP ton of walking around this park... and the Delia's were done for the night, but I was not missing Fantastmic. It is my FAVORITE show in all of Disney.
I loved the new updates to the show with Frozen and Moana. It was sooo much better than what they used to have. Kayla really liked the show and stayed up during the whole thing. She loved that our magic bands were going off during it and throughout the park again.
Characters at the end.
My little trooper, making it past the late night showing. We limped back to the car and Kayla fell right asleep. We got home and finished packing up to leave the next day.
What a fabulous trip!!! The Delia's were such a great pairing for us. I was a little nervous going with another family, because I'm pretty intense going to Disney... I'm an open to close girl, and I was a little nervous at first how that dynamic would work. But I should have had no fears... they were on time every morning and stayed with us throughout the day. Kayla and Abby were great playmates with each other and enjoyed each others company. It was sooo nice having them with us and I enjoyed getting to show off my Disney knowledge. This was such a special and once in a life time trip for us, and I truly enjoyed getting to go with them. I think this was one of our best Disney trips we've ever had. It was definitely the first time that we've done all of the parks, and each park for a day. I loved our resort and everything about the trip... this is definitely one of my favorite trips we've had in a while.
