Monday, March 22, 2021
Emily wanted to leave
at 8am. We did pretty well and left at about 8:15am. I was not happy with the
people next-door who kept us up talking and laughing last night. Thankfully,
that was the last we heard from them. A few minutes before 7am, Emily knocked
on our door and came into our room so that she could help me with getting in
the queue for Rise of the Resistance. We started trying to join the list at
6:59am. I kept clicking “Join” and then going back over and over until it opened
up. Right at 7am, I clicked Join, I took a half second to check and make sure
we were all selected, then once I hit Join again it was already full. We were
devastated! I couldn’t understand how we couldn’t get in when we did it right
at 7am. Anyway, we got to Hollywood Studios and got parked and got in and went straight
to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. By the time we got to the line, which was
fairly short, it was already 9am. It was drizzling, but it wasn’t bad. It was a
super short ride. Nathaniel looked it up and it’s only a minute and 22 seconds.
It definitely felt short. I’m glad we didn’t wait very long. We walked over to
Toy Story Land. There was barely a line at The Market, where you buy Cookie Num
Nums, so we had to stop. Jonathan and
Emily didn’t want one, but the rest of us did.
They were just as good as the ones at California Adventure! I wanted to
ride Toy Story Mania, but we decided it would be better to have everyone go to
Millennium Falcon and have me go to guest services to find out about getting in
the queue for Rise of the Resistance. The lady at guest services said there was
nothing she could do to help us. She was able to tell me exactly what screen to
go to and how to refresh it and a few more tips like not being on Wi-Fi. At least
I felt a little more ready to try again at 1pm. I walked over to the 50s Primetime
Café to see if I could get us on our on their walk-up list, but I didn’t have
any luck. I waited for a while and then went to meet everybody at the Millennium
Falcon ride. They came off the ride and we took a picture.
Then, we walked over to
Toy Story Land. We got in the line for Toy Story Mania. I wanted to have lunch
at Woody’s Lunch Box, so while we stood in line for Toy Story Mania, I went to
make the order but the first available pick up wasn’t until 3pm. So that wasn’t
going to work. Emily wanted to order from ABC Commissary. Jonathan and Daniel
did, too. Then Nathaniel decided he would too, so we made an order for all four
of them, but Michael, Andrew, and I did not want to order from there. We ended
up getting an order from the pizza place, PizzeRizzo. So while we waited to
pick up the food at ABC Commissary, Michael and Andrew went over to the pizza
place to find us a table. We walked over there just a few minutes before 1pm.
That’s when I needed to try and join the virtual queue, so I told the kids to
meet up with Dad while I stood outside to join the virtual queue. There was a family
right across from me doing the same thing and the dad had it timed down to the
second. When he said go, I refreshed the page and we got in. So did their
family. I was so happy and we all cheered! I felt bad for a lady near us who
came up to me and asked if she was able to join but it was already full. When I
told the kids, they were so happy. What a relief! Our turn was going to be in
three hours. Star Tours was practically next-door so we went there next. As we
were in the line, we heard one of the cast members reading from a paper,
talking about Covid cautions. Daniel says as he was walking past, he saw that
the guy was reading off of a paper that said “Cleaning Spiel“ at the top. I
thought that was pretty funny. We had a little more than an hour left before it
was our turn for Rise of the Resistance. We were going to go to the Muppet Show
but that wait was too long and the movie was 17 minutes. Instead, we went to
the line for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. We were in that line for
quite a while and started getting nervous, but we were able to get through it
and ride the ride and be done just in time for our boarding group to start.
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway
Railway
We stopped at the
bathrooms and then went right to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. The Rise of the Resistance
line was pretty short. It was so cool! All of the cast members were totally in
character and it felt like we were in the movie. It was really fun!
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge
is so cool! Even the drinks look like they
are from the Star Wars movies.
After that, we split
off and Jonathan and I went to Toy Story Land while everyone else went to ride
Tower of Terror. They said it was a little underwhelming compared to the one
that was at California Adventure. Jonathan and I went on the Alien Spinning Saucers
and then on Toy Story Mania again. The queue for that ride is so cool. The kids kept saying that it puts the one in
California Adventure to shame.
We sat and relaxed and
waited until everybody was done. We met up at Woody’s Lunch Box right at 6pm,
when it was time for our dinner order. We were all feeling pretty exhausted at
that point. Emily accidentally dropped her mask and it got thrown away by the
workers. When we found out, they apologized and gave us a coupon to get two new
ones in the gift shop. Emily was so disappointed because it was her favorite
mask that she always wears. After we finished eating and cleaned up, we headed
over to Slinky Dog Dash. Thankfully, the wait was only 45 minutes. It had been
60 minutes or longer all day. I actually think the wait was more like 30
minutes. One of the workers space-shamed Nathaniel in that line. He just told
him to please stand on the line. It was a fun ride. Afterwards, we didn’t have
much time left. Nathaniel wanted to go walk around and explore in Star Wars Galaxy’s
Edge. Everyone else except me went on the Alien Spinning Saucers, twice actually.
The wait for Toy Story Mania was so short that we thought we could do that and
maybe the kids could ride the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster again. We had fun on Toy Story
Mania and practically got right on. Afterwards, Andrew really wanted to go on
the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster so he and Daniel and Jonathan all raced over there.
They even spotted Nathaniel on the way and had him go with them but they barely missed it. We stopped at the gift shop so Emily could get a new
mask. She used the other coupon to get
one for Jonathan. Then we left the park. The only thing I wish I could’ve done
was have another Cookie Num Num, but the Market where they were sold was closed
up when we were walking out. I think it was about 8:30pm once we got to the
car. We read scriptures in the car as I drove home. Then we had prayer once we
got back. Nathaniel had homework to work on, but he and I went through his
taxes and submitted them first. Then, we had the boys take baths and sent
everyone to bed.
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Emily wanted us all to
leave for Magic Kingdom at 7am. Luckily, we already knew that when we get off
of the loop on the exit takes us to Disney World, you have to immediately get
over to the left lane. This is tricky because they have a ton of cones set up
and if you don’t pay attention, you miss it. We learned that lesson when we
went to Magic Kingdom on Thursday. Thankfully, we already knew about it so we
were able to do it with no problem because it was really foggy. If you didn’t
know where you were going, you literally couldn’t see the sign. To make up for
Andrew’s disappointment yesterday of not being able to go on the Rock ‘n’ Roller,
Michael told him he could choose the first ride. It turns out what he wanted
was to take the Monorail in instead of the ferry. It turns out he wanted to
ride it in to the park because then we get to go through the huge Contemporary
Resort hotel.
Waiting for the Monorail
Next, we headed over to
the Haunted Mansion because the wait was super short there. I finally got to
ride with Michael on a ride. It was 9:30am when we got out of there. Then, we
headed over to Mickey’s PhilharMagic. We didn’t have to wait very long. Then,
we went shopping in a little store right outside of the theater. Emily got a
T-shirt and a little Pascal lizard from Tangled. By then, it was 10:30am. Most
of the waits were pretty long. We decided to go to the Mad Tea Party since the
wait was only supposed to be 15 minutes, but the line was ridiculous so we had
to change our plans. We decided that since the wait for the Mine Train was less
than an hour, we would do that instead. I really like that ride, even more than
Big Thunder Mountain. While we stood in line, I made an order for Pinocchio Village
Haus restaurant for Nathaniel, Emily, Daniel, and Jonathan. They all ordered flatbread pizzas and
breadsticks. Once we got off the ride, I had them prepare the order and sent
the kids over there to wait for it and then pick it up. Michael, Andrew, and I
went to the Sleepy Hollow restaurant in Liberty Square. I really wanted the Mickey
waffle and Michael wanted a funnel cake. Andrew also got a funnel cake. We all
sat in Pinocchio Village Haus to eat our lunch. The boys enjoyed their blue
raspberry slushies. Next, we decided to head over to Big Thunder Mountain. Michael
and all the kids rode it. Next, we
decided to go to Tom Sawyer’s Island. Daniel wanted to run around with his
siblings for a while and just have fun. The boys ran around and played hide and
seek while Emily, Michael and I relaxed. We left the island around 2:30pm.
Our goal was to go to
Main Street and do some shopping since a lot of the ride lines were pretty
long. However, as soon as we got off of the raft, we saw that the Big Thunder
line was super short and moving fast so we hopped into that. We barely had to
wait at all. I was glad I got to ride it one more time. Then, we headed to
Cinderella’s Castle to get our picture taken. Next, we went to the Main Street Emporium
to do some shopping. We were not having much luck finding T-shirts. Andrew did
find a hat he wanted. Everyone wanted to ride Space Mountain again so I
finished the shopping and bought the hat while they went and did that. I did
not want to ride Space Mountain again. I also went to the confectionery because
I was hoping to get some English toffee. Unfortunately, they don’t sell English
toffee anywhere here like they do at Disneyland. I walked over to Tomorrowland
and sat and waited for them to get off of Space Mountain. Then, we went shopping
in Star Traders. Michael and the kids all got a drink and we took a break and
had our drinks and then decided on our game plan for the rest of the night.
Nathaniel really wanted to go on Pirates so he, Andrew, Jonathan, and Michael
all went to Pirates while Emily, Daniel, and I all went to the Carousel of Progress.
I didn’t remember it being so long, but it was OK. It’s kind of cool but kind
of weird. After that, we headed over to it’s a small world. That wait wasn’t too
bad. The only problem was that the family behind us gave us zero space. Their
kids kept coming up right behind me and a couple times bumped me in the butt. I
was about to say something but we were so close to getting on the ride I didn’t
bother. After that, we headed straight over to the Crystal Palace for our
dinner. We got there at 7:10pm and I was able to check in even though our
reservation was at 7:30pm. We didn’t get seated until after 8pm. We were
getting nervous at 7:45pm because we knew that the kids would not have time to
eat and go on rides and they wanted to ride Splash Mountain again. We talked to
them about it and they all wanted to eat there still so that’s what we did. The
lady told us they were clearing the table for us, and next thing we know
another family was seated there. Then I got the notification that our table was
ready but the workers kept coming out and calling other families. Finally, I
said something and the guy realized we somehow got skipped so he fixed it and
had us seated within about five minutes. The food was excellent! Michael,
Daniel, Andrew, and I all got the prime rib. Nathaniel and Emily got fish and
shrimp and Jonathan got fried chicken. We had a really nice time together. I
don’t know when we finished dinner, but it was well after 9pm and the park was closed.
The desserts were amazing! I couldn’t stop eating them. I guess that makes up
for the English toffee I couldn’t get today.
We headed out to Main
Street and got one more picture with Cinderella‘s Castle in the background at
night. I didn’t feel like waiting in lines for the Disney photographers.
We went into the Main
Street Emporium to shop some more. Jonathan got a Funko pop from Raya and the Last
Dragon, Jonathan and Emily got some socks, and Daniel picked out a T-shirt. We
paid for everything and headed out. We took the Monorail back to make Andrew
happy. Then we went back to the car and drove back to the townhouse. We talked
to the kids about what we’re going to have to do to get ready tomorrow. We had
a prayer and sent everyone to bed.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
We planned to leave for
the airport at 7:30am. We did pretty well because we left at about 7:45am and
we made it there and dropped off the car by 8:30am. It took a while to get
everyone packed and out the door. I also had to clean up the kitchen and get
rid of most of the food. The security line at the airport was very long. We
said our goodbyes to Nathaniel and then got in a line. The flight was delayed. We left about an hour late. There was a lot
of turbulence, especially at the end as we were getting ready to land. It felt
like a Disney ride and made me sick to my stomach. We got our bags quickly and
got to the car easily. On the way home, we stopped at Gecko Grill to have some
lunch because everyone was starving. I can’t believe that on a five-hour flight
they didn’t feed us or offer to feed us with lunches we could buy. All they
gave us was a tiny bottle of water and a tiny bag of pretzels. We flew on
American Airlines. Luckily, the kids all took some snacks so we were OK. After
we ate, we got some cookies from Chunk Cookies and came home. We brought
everything in and unpacked. I was so tired so I laid down at 5:30pm. I had set
my alarm for 7pm. I must’ve turned it off in my sleep or something. Emily came
in at 10pm and said, “Mom, it’s 10pm, did you want to get up?” I couldn’t
believe I slept that long! Michael says he woke me up and we even had a
conversation but I don’t remember it at all. By the time I got up, Jonathan and
Andrew had put themselves to bed.
It was such a wonderful
trip. I’m so relieved that we were all healthy and that we made it there and
back safely and without incident. The
thing I love about Disney trips is that the whole point is for us to be
together and have fun! Those are my
favorite trips! The fact that Nathaniel
and Papa could join us was definitely the highlight of our trip. I am so grateful we were able to go!!!
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