There She Goes Again... Coming to you LIVE!

I am now going to CBR 3/21-3/24, please let me know how the construction effects your trip, thanks! (good plans for day 1!)

Absolutely! We'll be spending a bit more time around the resort than usual for one of my trips - on my own, I'm rope drop to EMH close commando! - so I'll definitely be back with tons of pictures and opinions about the construction's impact.
 
Detailed plans, day 2: March 5

We're kicking off the trip at my least favorite park:Studios.



I promised the teenagers not to subject them to too many early mornings, so Katie and I will get going whenever we're ready and the teens will catch up with us at lunchtime. I don't have any plans for the morning, but I know Katie wants to meet BB8, which we can probably do without the big kids, and Starlord and Baby Groot, who will probably have to wait until the older kids are with us. We might try to ride Toy Story if the line isn't too long, or catch the Frozen sing-along because she's the only one of the kids who still loves that movie.

We'll all meet up for lunch at a long-time family favorite.



This place is so much fun, with just enough antics to be entertaining and really good American homestyle food!

After lunch, we have a Fastpass for a ride I suspect the kids will want to ride more than once. No, not Toy Story... Star Tours! I used to have some motion sickness issues with this one so I'd only ride once (I'm too big a Star Wars fan to just skip it!), but ever since version 2.0 launched it doesn't bother me any more and we usually ride at least a couple of times to see different segments.

Then it is off to another can't-miss, one both girls worried would end up a casualty of the Star Wars project. MuppetVision 3D! I wish they'd update the film, but I love that the Muppets still have a place in the parks and that my kids have gotten into the original Muppet Show thanks to the new movies.



And of course we have a Fastpass for Toy Story, because it really wouldn't be a trip to Studios without that. Seriously, it is like one of five whole attractions left, right?



It will be so weird going to Studios without this photo op. It is probably the thing I'll miss most with all the changes, even more than the Osbourne Lights, because I have pictures of my girls here from every one of our trips.



So, that just leaves two more attractions to see - Rock & Roller Coaster, which the whole group will ride, and Tower of Terror, which Sebastian and Katie will probably sit out. Katie has never been on it but has a hard time with scary rides, and Sebastian has just never liked it. So that works out well.



Using the custom itinerary tool on Touring Plans, it projects I can get this all done with quite a bit of time to spare before the evening shows, but I'm not convinced. So that's all I have planned. We can stop for a snack or revisit Star Tours if we have time to kill before the fireworks. I'm not really worried about catching Fantasmic, though if we have time we might see it, but the new projection show and the Star Wars spectacular are must-dos.

Dinner is at Yachtsman after the park closes, so we'll probably just Uber back to the resort at the end of the night.

And the day's plan card with everything in a nutshell.

 
Detailed plans, day 3: March 6

This is going to be a long day, in the very best of ways!

Katie and I will be up and out early to join Minnie and her friends for breakfast at Cape May. It is the only character meal this trip, and the menu looks better than most so I figured it is worth a try. It was that or Akershus and Katie said she'd rather Minnie & Donald than Princesses.

After breakfast, we'll walk over to the back gates of Epcot. I'm hoping we'll be there at least a few minutes ahead of opening, since we've got a long walk to our first destination for the day - the new Frozen ride in Norway. We haven't ridden yet, but only Katie is interested so instead of tying up a top-tier FastPass on it we're just going to do it early, before the big kids join us for the afternoon.

From there, I suspect it'll be over to Soarin', just so Katie can say she saw the new film before the big kids, and to Figment. But that could change. Katie has the lead for the morning. If she decides she'd rather play on one of the Flower & Garden playgrounds than go on rides, that's what we'll do.

At 11:30 or thereabouts, we'll meet up with the big kids at Spaceship Earth for our first Fastpass of the day. It isn't really needed, I know, but the line can sometimes spike in the morning as people hop in line for the first ride they see when they get to the park, so it isn't a bad choice for a fill-in-the-gap third FP.



We're also going to pop in to visit with Joy & Sadness. My girls' outfits are Joy and Disgust dresses for this day - their Halloween costumes last year - so of course that is the one character meet & greet that is on their list. I think they'd also like to meet Baymax if we have time.

From there, we blast off into outer space on a ride I very much hope I don't regret... Mission Space: Orange. I usually ride the Green experience because I have some issues with spinning and motion sickness, but Katie wants to try Orange only if I come with her, so I'm going to give it a shot.



And then to our third and final pre-selected Fastpass - Test Track. All three of my kids list this among their favorite Disney attractions, so it is an absolute must do.



After that, there is no plan... just wandering the World Showcase, snacking at Festival booths, and enjoying the day. We'll definitely hop a ride with the Three Caballeros and I'll probably grab a passion fruit margarita from La Cava while we're there. Or maybe blood orange. Or avocado. There WILL be margaritas, the only question is which flavor. :D

I suspect Sebastian and Dillon will wander off on their own after that, though they might stay with us because my girls make better shopping companions for D than S does.

We'll undoubtedly spend a ton of time in the Japan pavilion because it is everyone's favorite. Japanese was Shanna's high school language and she's doing an eight-week exchange program there this summer so I know she'll spend some time just chatting with cast members to practice her conversational skills. The CMs there are always so friendly and patient with her limited language skills, even when she was self-taught and only knew a few basic greetings and phrases.

For dinner, we go our separate ways - S and D to an Illuminations-timed ADR at Rose & Crown, and the girls and I to Spice Road Table. SRT is one of my favorites but the kids haven't been there yet; I've been twice, on solo trips. Rose & Crown is one that the whole family enjoys but which only rates as a favorite for Sebastian, making it the ideal date-night option for them.

It is an evening EMH night, so after the fireworks we'll regroup and hopefully have a 4th Fastpass to use for Soarin'. If not, we'll ride standby. And I'm going to drag the kids on one of my personal favorites, Living With the Land, while we're there. It is a family tradition, after all!



The girls actually don't mind it - they're both involved in 4H garden projects and Shanna has started a school garden to benefit our parish food bank, so the gardening element appeals to them, and we've done the Behind the Seeds tour together more than once. Sebastian will gripe, but Dillon will want to see it so we'll just veto his too-cool-teenage-boy nonsense right off the bat. ;)

From there, we'll head over to The Seas. I'm sure we'll skip the Nemo ride - none of us really love it, and D doesn't seem all that interested in it either. But Turtle Talk and visiting the manatees in their aquarium are both must-dos.

After that, if we have time left, we'll probably run over for one last ride on Test Track before we call it a night.
 
Detailed plans, day 4: March 7

Another long day... and finally, we get to everyone's favorite park!



We have a pre-park opening breakfast at Be Our Guest, so this is the only morning I'm expecting the teens to get up early. There's just too much to do at the Magic Kingdom to manage it in an afternoon!

I've already ordered our breakfasts, and with an 8:20 reservation we should be done in plenty of time to be among the first to Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We should be able to ride twice - once standby right when it opens, and again with our 9 am Fastpass.

From there it'll be off to Peter Pan, before that line builds too much, because I really prefer to ride standby to spend some time in the interactive queue. After that, we'll be touring more or less by geography, because with D's mobility issues I'd like to avoid too much doubling back on these long days. So it'll be Splash and Thunder, then on to the Adventureland attractions.



Unfortunately, Pirates will be closed for the changes to the redhead scene, so it'll just be Jungle Cruise (which I have a FP for) and maybe the Flying Carpets. Then we'll make our way back to Fantasyland by way of the Haunted Mansion - our 3rd FP, so I'll be on the app looking for a 4th - and the Muppets history show. I'm not sure we'll bother with Hall of Presidents this time. I usually make a point of seeing it at least once during every new administration but I'm not sure if I really trust the kids to behave. ;)



For the rest of the morning and early afternoon, we'll hit the rest of the Fantasyland attractions before hopping the train back to the front gate station. We're going to stop in to see Mickey at Town Square before we leave, and if we have time to spare we'll do a bit of shopping on Main Street before we go.

Dinner is at Narcoosees, right when they open at 5, so we'll take the boat across. Katie is *dying* to try their surf & turf, having only recently discovered lobster, and I'm looking forward to a repeat engagement with my very favorite cheesecake in all the world.



After dinner, it is back to the park for the evening shows. Since this is D's first trip, I'm willing to brave Main Street or at least the train station for good fireworks viewing.



We'll probably take it easy for a little while to let some of the crowds thin before we head off to tackle Tomorrowland. Buzz, Monsters Inc. and Space are the must-dos, but Katie will probably want Astro Orbiter too and if we have time I'd like to fit in Tomorrowland Transit. Ideally we'll be able to get a FP for Space when our earlier ones are used, but if not we'll just wait until later in the night to get here because this is another evening EMH night so we should be able to catch it with a bit less of a wait later in the night.

 


Detailed plans, day 5: March 8

And last but hopefully not least, Animal Kingdom.



This really hasn't been a favorite park but none of us has seen the new Pandora addition so it is possible that designation will change with this trip.

With two late nights in a row, I'm assuming we'll all sleep in a bit on this one. Lunch is at Yak & Yeti at 11:30 and I assume that will be the start of our park day.

After lunch, it will be off to one of Sebastian's favorites, and one he refuses to ride. First, the favorite: Kali River Rapids.



Then, the one he sits out: Expedition Everest. Katie will probably sit that one out too. She's finally tall enough but still not a big thrill ride fan, and the fact that her brother doesn't like this one intimidates her.



My touring plan for this park, like for Magic Kingdom, is generally based around minimizing the walking rather than the most efficient plan. So we're going in a rough figure-eight through the park - Dinoland, then across Discovery Island with a stop at Tough to be a Bug, then to the safari and back through Pandora.



Our FP for Flight of Passage is at 7, so I'm hoping to get Navi River in right before our FP window opens. I doubt we'll spend much time on the animal exhibits, other than perhaps a stroll to see the tigers, and with the projected crowd levels we should have enough time to hit all our must-dos and be ready to use the FastPass right at 7. I still feel like Touring Plans custom itinerary tool is a bit on the optimistic side, but it is leaving us enough of a margin of error that even if it is only somewhat accurate the plan should work out okay.

Dinner is at Ohana at 8:15. After that... well, I haven't decided yet. I was thinking about Disney After Hours for that night, but I haven't pulled the trigger on tickets yet. I'm still mulling the idea of upgrading to an annual pass and until I make that decision it is hard to decide on DAH because the AP discount on the tickets is pretty significant (25%). I'll probably decide either on the first day of our trip, once I've done the AP upgrade if I'm going to, or on our MK day after I get a feel for how interested the kids are in having that second late night. Of course, the risk with that is that it might sell out before I make a decision... So, I dunno.
 
I don't really have a plan for day 6. It is checkout day, and we usually spend it swimming and lazing around the resort. I still haven't revised our drive-home plans to account for the change in where we're stopping, but I did decide to change our departure time. Why? Because Flying Fish brought back the leek fondue/red wine sauce for their fish dishes, and while it isn't the potato-wrapped snapper I loved so much on our last visit there, it is close enough that I need to try the current incarnation. So instead of our last meal on property being lunch, it is going to be an as-early-as-possible dinner seating at Flying Fish (5:10), after which we'll be getting on the road toward home.

I think we'll make it as close to Chattanooga as our energy level allows, because I do still plan on See Rock City! as a stop. That's also pretty close to the halfway mark, so it would make day two of the drive relatively easy even without any other stops. But since we have the extra day, we might make a detour through Nashville to see Sebastian's best friend. It only adds an hour to the drive time and they don't get together often, so I'm thinking it is worth adding the stop if S ever gets around to calling his friend to make sure he's got the night free.

I can't believe it is less than two weeks until we leave! I haven't started packing, just finalized the day-by-day plans, and it feels like I'm so behind just because I'm not doing everything as crazy-early as usual. But this week looks like a relatively light one at work so I should be able to get some of it done in the next few days so I start feeling more on top of things.
 


I just saw the Flower & Garden festival map and I am SO bummed! The festival center and gardening presentations are gone. :sad::sad::sad::sad::sad::sad::sad::sad: I still have a plant in my yard from my solo trip in '13, because they gave them to everyone who attended the horticultural seminar I went to. The festival just won't be the same without those sessons - sure, the decorations in the park are cool and the food booths are wonderful, but this change makes it feel more like Food & Wine-lite than a real garden festival.
 
And we're off! We were an hour late leaving the house and delayed another hour to have dinner with Grandma before we really got into the drive, but by 5:30 we were on I94 and on our way. Unfortunate the teenagers are worse than toddlers and we've already had our first bathroom break before we even hit the Ohio state line! Now I'm in the back of the van with Sebastian driving so I might just lose my mind in the next few hours... but I wanted him taking the Ohio stretch because it is so flat and straight. My nerves couldn't take him driving through the mountains - I'm a terrible passenger even with an experienced adult behind the wheel! At least I have something to keep me busy - one more story that I need to get to my editor before I call it a night and officially shift into vacation mode.

The plan is to drive straight through the night. That's a perk of having a bunch of teenagers in tow... They're practically nocturnal, so they don't mind taking driving shifts at odd hours! I figure I'll take the mountains and then let Sebastian or Dillon take the wheel again in Georgia when it gets flat and straight again so I can get a little sleep. My GPS says we should be there around noon; let's see how accurate it is!
 
Checking in from somewhere in South Carolina, where it is finally starting to feel like the South! We skipped some of our usual welcome center selfies because it was just so COLD when we hit Virginia and the Carolinas! And West Virginia doesn't even have a welcome center on the highway we came in on. But the girls found an alternative - Snapchat geofilters on selfies taken inside our nice warm van!

In other news, my 20yo son drives like my 70yo mother! He's doing just fine except that I feel like we're standing still because he'd rather chill in the right or center lane at/below the speed limit than pass to go a bit faster... I suppose it is better than him driving like I did at his age, but patience is not a virtue I possess in any real quantity so it is tough not to offer to take the wheel again so we can cruise at 75 for the rest of the way.
 
Chapter Two: The What


Oh, and there's one more stop... less of a detour than the others, but the most exciting to me. We're stopping at Rock City to see the ridiculous tourist trap there. Why? Because D and I are both huge Neil Gaiman fans, and tourist traps in general and that one in particular play a big role in his American Gods. Yeah, we're nerdy like that! (Actually, Weeki Wachee's mermaid show gets a nod in the book too, and neither D nor DS believed it was real until I showed them the website.) It only adds about an hour to our drive time, after all, so why not?

So there it is, the full trip. Bike Week in Daytona is the weekend we'll be heading home, so we're doing the beach day at the front end of the trip and the manatee viewing and Rock City on the way home.

Rock City is beautiful (and especially nice during the holidays when it is all lit up!). We live halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga and have been to RC several times.
 

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