It's a Small but Magical World - a Thanksgiving 2018 Trip Report

[jrmint427]

Bon Voyage Breakfast – The Characters

We had just a few minutes to dig into our breakfasts before the first character was announced – and it was the one we were most excited to meet – Flynn Rider! My DD4 calls him Eugene, which I absolutely love. She once met Rapunzel and asked her where Eugene was, to which Rapunzel replied, “Aww, I call him that too!” I think it’s very cute and was excited for my daughter to meet him. But I was also looking forward to meeting him, after reading about how great his character is at breakfast!

Eugene did not disappoint. My daughter was start struck and got quiet when he approached our table. It was no problem, he did plenty of talking. I always appreciate it when the characters make an effort to engage, even when my girls are being shy. I love this picture, I think my husband must have been saying, “Look who it is!”



My daughter and I had talked about this meet in advance, and I can’t remember if it’s because I told her she could ask after reading another review, but she had told me multiple times she wanted to ask him what is inside his “purse”. Since she was being shy, I asked on her behalf. He eyed her and decided, given that she doesn’t talk much, his secret would probably be safe with her, so he would show her. He must not have realized that Mom was snapping pictures with plans of posting all over the Internet!



Eugene noticed that my husband was Disney Bounding as him and suggested they take a picture together doing their best smolders. Who wears it best?!



We loved meeting Eugene! In all of my pictures, at least one of the girls is grinning at him



Rapunzel was announced next. I loved that Eugene took a break from meeting tables to go and greet her. They danced around and greeted all the tables in our area briefly, together. When they floated by ours, Eugene told Rapunzel that my girls had been in her closet! I think she replied, "That's awkward." Then Eugene went back to the table he had left off at and I think we were the second table Rapunzel visited. She was my girls’ favorite princess last year.



She also talked about my husband’s outfit and how he was dressed as Flynn Rider. Pat was impressed; as we were getting dressed that morning he voiced concern that he just looked too dressed up for a Disney breakfast. He didn’t believe that people would notice that he was supposed to be dressed as Flynn Rider, so I think he was happy that they commented. I just wore a purple dress for Rapunzel. I also had on Rapunzel earrings but completely forgot to show them off to the characters.

Rapunzel then got down on the floor to have a chat with the girls. They loved this! I was so happy with the time that each character spent with us and the fact that they each took the time to make a connection with the kids.



She was one of the few characters that my DD2 wanted to hug the entire trip!



Shortly after Rapunzel moved on, they played Little Mermaid music and announced Prince Eric. I wasn’t expecting much of a personality from him, but he took a lot of time to chat with the girls. I heard them having a conversation about their shoes and their dresses. It was very sweet and we thought he was great.





When Ariel came out, they did a little parade with the kids. Rapunzel and Eugene made a tunnel with their hands for all the kids to walk through. My MIL walked DD2 around but the DD4 just wanted to watch.

Ariel came to our table next. I think she was one of the DD4's favorite princesses of the trip.



We loved this character meal and would absolutely go back again. If you’re interested in seeing more, I put together a little video with clips and extra photos from our breakfast:

We spent $138.03 before tip. The adult meals were $40 and the children’s meal was $24. I saved $14.40 with my AP.

 

[QueenJen]

Eugene noticed that my husband was Disney Bounding as him

She also talked about my husband’s outfit and how he was dressed as Flynn Rider. Pat was impressed; as we were getting dressed that morning he voiced concern that he just looked too dressed up for a Disney breakfast. He didn’t believe that people would notice that he was supposed to be dressed as Flynn Rider, so I think he was happy that they commented.

This is fantastic that both characters noticed and made a comment! What a fun guy your dh is - joining in the fun.

The girls look very happy with meeting these characters.

 

[jrmint427]

This is fantastic that both characters noticed and made a comment! What a fun guy your dh is - joining in the fun.

I got lucky on this trip - he was open to wear just about anything I asked of him! On our last trip I was allowed to request what color polo shirt I wanted him to wear each day But it was definitely fun that both characters commented and validated his outfit :-D

 

[mustinjourney]

Following along!

Ariel came to our table next. I think she was one of the DD4's favorite princesses of the trip.

During our big family trip a year ago, the Ariel at CRT looked like she had had a rough night and was not feeling all that cheery for breakfast time. Good thing she was perky for you guys! I'll need to dig up a picture b/c it's quite funny.

 

[Minniedoc]

Following along - I was there at the same time. Spent a lot of time at Disney Springs this trip - it is beautiful!

 

[jrmint427]

Following along!

Yay, glad to have you here!

During our big family trip a year ago, the Ariel at CRT looked like she had had a rough night and was not feeling all that cheery for breakfast time. Good thing she was perky for you guys! I'll need to dig up a picture b/c it's quite funny.

That’s too funny! I’d love to see the pic. Ariel skipped us at CRT the year before... we had to wait for the next set to meet her. Wonder if it could have been the same one!

Following along - I was there at the same time. Spent a lot of time at Disney Springs this trip - it is beautiful!

Thanks for reading! I love Disney Springs and was a little sad we didn’t get back after that first night. We never made it to the Christmas Tree trail.

 

[jrmint427]

My First Dole Whip

After breakfast we ducked inside the Boardwalk just to check out the Christmas decorations inside. But not before I asked my family to change outfits for the first time… we got pretty fast at outfit changes over the course of the week.



Once again, my favorite ornament on this tree.



Then we were off to the Magic Kingdom! It was about 11:30am and it took 20 minutes for us to drive from the Boardwalk to the MK parking lot. We liked driving ourselves to the parks more than we thought we would. Having to get on the tram was a little annoying, but Pat said it was easier than the buses with the double stroller. I’ll take his word for it, since he’s the one who has to lug that monster around! I told DD4 that the tram was our first Disney ride :-D



Side story: She's holding an expired Disney gift card. After breakfast at the Boardwalk, she left it in the bathroom by the sink and some very nice people were concerned that someone had lost a gift card! Hopefully they were relieved when I told them it was empty and just a toy for DD4, but we were still happy they returned it.

Pat has fond memories of taking the boat to MK. We weren’t staying at a resort where the boat was an option, but I realized we could take it from the TTC, so that’s just what we did. It was nice to be able to walk right on without folding the stroller up (though we wouldn’t have had to do that on the monorail either). As slow as it might have been, it was fun to watch the castle getting bigger as we got closer.



The ferry didn’t take too long. We walked on at 12:25 and were at the MK dock by 12:40. It took another 10 minutes to get through security and ticketing. For future planning purposes, it took us an hour and 20 minutes to get from our boardwalk breakfast to inside the park.

We took the obligatory picture outside of the park before heading in. The Photo Pass line was short and I was excited to get our first family picture. We were staring into the sun!



As we walked into the park, we realized that at 12:50pm, people were already reserving their seats for the 2:00pm parade. Is this typical?? I know it was Thanksgiving day, so maybe that had something to do with it. The spots I thought we would scope out were already taken. We made our way down Main Street and I told Pat and MIL to keep their eyes out for any empty spot where we could watch the parade front row.

Since we still had plenty of time, we stopped for a Photo Pass picture with the castle in the background. Still staring into the sun!



We continued to make our way up Main Street and finally found an open spot. We had an hour to go before the parade would even start, and then I knew it would take about 15 minutes to reach us. I had mentioned to my husband that we needed to try Dole Whips on this trip (yes, we’ve been to Disney 5-6 times and neither of us had ever tried them before – a friend went as far as to say we couldn’t be real Disney fans until we did). He agreed and suggested we pick some up while we were waiting.

I gladly pulled up the app to try mobile ordering for the first time! I ordered 3 classic Dole Whips and some waters. I then took off at a quick pace to Aloha Isle to pick them up. When I got there, I tried to push the button to say I had arrived, but it wasn’t working. I kept getting an error message that said I needed to talk to a Cast Member. So I got in the regular line, disappointed.

I kept hitting the button while in line, and after a minute, it finally went through, so I jumped right back out of the line. Our dole whips were ready in no time! I was grateful for mobile ordering, as I could tell it had saved me some time.

While I was there, my husband texted me that they had put up ropes for the parade route. It was only 1:30 but he was nervous about whether I’d be able to get back to our family. I knew I could still jump ropes this early, but I practically ran back with our dole whips. One guy called out that I better run before they melted! He was totally right. They were melting as I went.

It was finally time to taste these mystical Dole Whips we had read and heard so much about!



Oops, I might have snuck a bite before I remembered to take a picture.

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but… I’m not sure I understand the mania around dole whips. *I’m hiding now* They were good and I would eat one again, but not sure I can put it on my “must have every trip” list. I think I will try it with the pineapple juice next time. I really do love pineapples, and I liked that this was a dairy free treat. The girls LOVED them though!





We had 3 to share and ended up giving most of 2 to the girls.

This was the crowd across the road from us, waiting for the parade.



This was going to be our very first time watching the Festival of Fantasy parade! We tried to catch it on our last trip but it was too hot and the toddler wasn’t interested, so we bailed quickly. I was very excited to finally see it. A couple of high school cheerleading groups marched by while we waited. Around 2:15, I heard the music starting – it was time for the parade!

 

[QueenJen]

Cute matching shirts.

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but… I’m not sure I understand the mania around dole whips. *I’m hiding now*

No need to hide - there are a few of us that can take or leave (or not care for) a dole whip.

 

[d-train]

Loving your story so far! We did two visits with a car, and enjoyed being able to be in control of that too. Totally agree about the stroller being easier too. Did a couple buses with the stroller, that was rough. I think I had to hold it, folded up, the entire ride from MK to AOA, along with the backpack and other miscellaneous bags, standing up. LO was fast asleep in Moms arms...as was Mom in the seat...LOL!

I love the dole whip float, much better with the float.... rest of the fam could take it or leave it too.
Two of our local ice cream places at home have it a few weeks in the summertime, just isn’t the same though.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your story!

 

[mustinjourney]

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but… I’m not sure I understand the mania around dole whips. *I’m hiding now* They were good and I would eat one again, but not sure I can put it on my “must have every trip” list. I think I will try it with the pineapple juice next time. I really do love pineapples, and I liked that this was a dairy free treat. The girls LOVED them though!

They are most certainly overrated. If you ever go to Disneyland -- the line for one is like 30 mins long...no joke. They REALLY take them seriously over there.

The citrus swirl is much better!

And if you can sneak some dark rum in, it does make it better! Certainly better than paying $3 for pineapple juice.

 

[jrmint427]

Cute matching shirts.

Thank you! Lots more coming

No need to hide - there are a few of us that can take or leave (or not care for) a dole whip.

Phew! I feel like I only see people raving about them. Maybe my expectations were too high.

Loving your story so far! We did two visits with a car, and enjoyed being able to be in control of that too. Totally agree about the stroller being easier too. Did a couple buses with the stroller, that was rough. I think I had to hold it, folded up, the entire ride from MK to AOA, along with the backpack and other miscellaneous bags, standing up. LO was fast asleep in Moms arms...as was Mom in the seat...LOL!

That is my husband's complaint too! With the double stroller he's always the last on the bus, then he's stuck standing and holding onto it for long rides while the rest of us wrangle the kids. He said his legs get so banged up from that. We're planning to drive on our next trip too, it was definitely nice to have the flexibility!

I love the dole whip float, much better with the float

I love pineapple juice so I'm tempted to give it another try as a float.

They are most certainly overrated.

I'm glad it's not just me! I think I went in with expectations too high here.

The citrus swirl is much better!

I was thinking about trying the orange version next time... I like pineapple fruit better but the citrus swirl does sound good. Is it like an orange creamsicle? That is what I'm picturing.

 

[jrmint427]

Festival of Fantasy Parade

DD2’s favorite princess is Belle without question. Any time we would talk about going to Disney, she talked about Belle. We had a Beauty and the Beast themed birthday party for the girls this year and Belle came to our house. DD2 wouldn’t get any closer than to give a high five, but hasn’t stopped telling people about that time that Belle came to her house. DD4 originally wanted an Ariel party, but her friend had one a few months before, and I told the girls they had to agree on a theme (their birthdays are 3 days apart, so they get a joint party).

So when the parade started with Belle, my girls were SUPER excited. They both shouted, “Belle! Belle!” in hopes of getting her to look our way, but it was so loud!



I think seeing the princesses was the best part of the parade for the girls.









The girls were clapping and dancing to the music. It was awesome to finally see the parade myself, but even more special to see how much they were enjoying it.





I don’t seem to have a picture, but Snow White was walking in the parade and stopped to say, “Hello, Princesses!” to my daughters. Swoon. I loved how many characters seemed to wave directly to the girls. It made them feel special.



Sadly, we didn’t get to see the fire breathing dragon. I just read that there was an incident earlier this year, so I’m not sure if it’s been down since then or we just caught the parade on an off day. Anyone know the background there?

I’m sure you’ve all seen it a million times, but I took some video of the parade too. You can watch it here:

 

[Cloe Colton]

Joining in! Great report so far - love the coordinated outfits! I see that in my future haha

Unfortunately the dragon hasn't been back since it caught on fire. I believe its supposed to make a comeback soonish but that hasnt happened yet!

 

[jrmint427]

Joining in! Great report so far - love the coordinated outfits! I see that in my future haha

Unfortunately the dragon hasn't been back since it caught on fire. I believe its supposed to make a comeback soonish but that hasnt happened yet!

Thank you and welcome!! The coordinated outfits is a fun rabbit hole to jump down

I’m sad to hear about the dragon! I was hoping we’d get to see it... maybe next year.

 

[jrmint427]

Meeting Mickey

After the parade it was almost time for our first Fast Pass of the day – meeting the mouse himself! DD4 insisted on bringing her stuffed Mickey with her this day. It’s not like her to want to carry around a toy or a doll, but it was really cute.



There was one family ahead of us in the FP line and then we got to go into Mickey’s room. Last year, when my older daughter met Mickey for the first time, she screamed. Legitimately screamed in his face. This meet was much more successful! She showed him her Mickey doll and he took it, cuddled it, kissed it, and then gave it back to her. It was very sweet. And I got it on video

DD2 was a little less sure about him.



It was a nice, quick meet.



DD4 didn’t want to give him a hug, so she asked for a high-five instead.



We’re making progress! Now that we greeted Mickey, it was time for some rides. But first… if you can believe it, we were hungry again. We went in search of another snack!

 

[jrmint427]

Casey’s

This trip was full of firsts for us. We had never eaten at Casey’s before, but I was drooling over pictures of the vegan slaw dog on Facebook. As soon as my husband mentioned he was hungry, I realized I was a bit hungry too. Casey’s was coming up on our left so I suggested hot dogs, and my family was sold.

Pat went to find a place to sit while my MIL and I got in line to order. I was wishing I had used mobile ordering, but we had literally decided a minute before to eat here. In hindsight, I would have stood outside to mobile order anyway vs. waiting in the line. This place was crowded. People could barely fit inside to order, let alone wait for their orders.

I ordered 2 hot dogs, an order of fries, 2 diet cokes, and the vegan slaw dog. I think we waited 20-25 minutes to get our food. Most people were very nice about being crammed in a small space, but a few people seemed anxious. We got our food and headed outside to look for Pat. He had texted that he hadn’t been successful in getting a table. As soon as we got outside, DD4 needed a bathroom, so he took her and I stayed with the stroller while my MIL looked for a table.

It took her no time at all – a nice family saw her searching and flagged her down to tell her they were leaving. I was juggling the stroller and some of the food and drink. A VERY nice woman came up to me and said, “Here, let me take that, where are you sitting?” I pointed out my MIL and went to park the stroller. This is one of the many reasons we are Disney people. Other guests can be so nice!

This vegan slaw dog was everything. I wish I could eat this every single day. It was even better than I expected it to be.



The meat eaters enjoyed their hot dogs too.



The girls loved the fries. And the ducks walking around us! One of the ducks stole a fry right out of the hand of a girl sitting nearby us.





We all felt better after eating. This meal cost us $39.89.

Now it was FINALLY time for rides. We had another FP window that had opened up. What would our first ride be?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Man! I was behind!!!! But I am all caught up now.

What a pain about getting your annual pass activated. I am super excited that we are all annual passholdholder for our next trip!!! I think we are going to take 4 trips next year before they expire!!! We will have to do that at some point.

Eugene noticed that my husband was Disney Bounding as him and suggested they take a picture together doing their best smolders. Who wears it best?!

I love it. And I love that they all reconized that he was Flynn.

I love this pic! The girls both looks so happy! Also, the girls def don't look like twins. But it's probably the lack of hair that makes people think that.

Big hugs! Such a big difference from last trep!

I think I will try it with the pineapple juice next time. I really do love pineapples, and I liked that this was a dairy free treat. The girls LOVED them though!

I am partial to the float, personally. And I do always need to get at least one a trip. But I also can see how it wouldn't be for everyone. I haven't had a mickey bar yet.

Sadly, we didn’t get to see the fire breathing dragon. I just read that there was an incident earlier this year, so I’m not sure if it’s been down since then or we just caught the parade on an off day. Anyone know the background there?

I think someone already meantioned it, but it caught on fire DURING the parade. look it up on youtube there is a lot of videos of it.

DD2 was a little less sure about him.

HA! Her face...

Pat went to find a place to sit while my MIL and I got in line to order. I was wishing I had used mobile ordering, but we had literally decided a minute before to eat here. In hindsight, I would have stood outside to mobile order anyway vs. waiting in the line. This place was crowded. People could barely fit inside to order, let alone wait for their orders.

I can't wait to use mobile ordering on our next trip. It sounds amazing!

This vegan slaw dog was everything. I wish I could eat this every single day. It was even better than I expected it to be.

What is the vegan dog made out of? I am not vegan or vegitarian but I do like black bean burgers and stuff. It does look good. And hot dogs are just ok to me...

 

[jrmint427]

Man! I was behind!!!! But I am all caught up now.

I’m so glad you’re still here!! I’m trying to take advantage of the holiday break to write/post more often!

I think we are going to take 4 trips next year before they expire!!!

I’m so jealous!! I’m just itching to fit in a third trip for the year I have my AP but I’m not sure if it will happen.

Also, the girls def don't look like twins.

I agree! It’s funny because I had them dressed the same 2 days ago and had someone else ask me if they are twins. I think we only get that comment when I have them in the same clothes! It’s so funny to me though because DD4 is much taller.

Big hugs! Such a big difference from last trep!

Yes, such a difference this year! But they still seemed to prefer face characters over the fur characters.

I think someone already meantioned it, but it caught on fire DURING the parade. look it up on youtube there is a lot of videos of it.

I found the videos! I’m surprised it’s still out of commission but hope it comes back soon.

What is the vegan dog made out of?

I had to look it up! It’s spicy Italian Beyond Sausage, which is made to mimic real pork more closely. It’s soy and gluten free and I read the main protein comes from peas. It was really good! And I don’t remember it being too spicy.

 

[jrmint427]

The Rides

Our second FP was for Winnie the Pooh. The girls rode it with my parents on our last trip, but the 3 adults on this trip never got to ride it (though my husband and I rode it back in 2012 or 2013). We knew the park was going to be slammed on Thanksgiving day, so we had pretty much planned to do our 3 FPs and meals and not much else. Anything else would be a bonus, but we tried to keep our expectations low.

I can’t say that the Pooh ride is a favorite of mine, but we thought the girls would like it. I was a little sad that we didn’t get to go through the queue and let them play, but I couldn’t complain about walking right on a ride either.









Next we headed to the carousel. There is a carousel at our zoo back home, but both girls were asking to ride THIS carousel. It was about a 20 minute wait, but they really wanted to ride it, so we jumped in line. It was a hit!



No pictures of the fun allowed though...



I always forget how short this ride is :-D It was almost 5pm after we rode. Our next FP wasn’t until 5:40 so we had some time to burn. However, we needed to be on that ride RIGHT at 5:40 to make it to our dinner reservation on time (according to Touring Plans). I checked the app for wait times and didn’t see anything near us that we wanted to ride that had less than a 30 minute wait. DD4 fell asleep in the stroller almost immediately after the carousel, so we decided we would just hang out until the next FP. We found a table just past Splash Mountain and sat to chat, check our phones and people watch. I’m usually go-go-go at the parks, but it was nice to take a moment to rest.

At 5:40 we jumped in line for our next FP… the Jingle Cruise! Pat and I missed the Jungle Cruise on our last trip, and we had never been on the Jingle Cruise before. You’ll notice the theme for our first day of this trip was doing all things we had missed the year before or had never done before.



I loved the Christmas overlay on this queue and ride. While we were in line, I picked up a FP for It’s a Small World for after dinner.



Despite having a FP, we waited in line almost 20 minutes. DD4 slept through most of the wait and we took turns holding her until we couldn’t take it anymore and had to wake her up to set her down. I heard a CM having a conversation with another group about people being grumpy about the wait times for this ride. I didn’t catch what exactly caused it, but it sounded like some kind of back-up had occurred, which was making those of us with Fast Passes wait longer than normal. I think I heard her say some people had cursed at her earlier on, which made me really sad given that she was working on a holiday.

I don’t have any pictures because it was dark. Next time, I would rather go on this ride during the day. There were parts that were hard to see or not as well lit as I would have expected. Our tour guide was good, but not many people on our boat seemed to be laughing. It was a tough audience!

It was finally time for our Thanksgiving dinner! Any guesses where we might have eaten?

 

[jrmint427]

Skipper’s Canteen

We ate here on our last trip without the kids and it was one of my favorite meals! I love the food but I also love the theming of the restaurant, and best of all, the corny jokes. We showed up at 6:30 for our 6:50 reservation, but didn’t get sat until closer to 7:00.

The girls were in a goofy-tired mood at this point. Does anyone else have kids who get kind of hyper when they’re overtired? They were running in circles outside the restaurant. DD2 kept fighting for us to set her down, but as soon as we did, she would take off running away from us, in a circle around the host’s stand. I did my best to keep her with us.

There was lots of twirling in circles happening. I could only hope they would burn off all their energy and sleep well that night!

This was the best picture I could get of the girls in their Thanksgiving outfits. I knew it was going to be cold most evenings on our trip, so I had packed cardigans and leggings to go with their dresses as needed.



We were sat in the same room we were in last year – the S.E.A. (Society of Explorers and Adventurers) room. We were ready for a Thanksgiving feast!



I’ve admitted that I really try to coordinate their outfits. But I had no idea that the feathers on their dresses would kind of match the feathers on the trim near the ceiling in this room.



The soup of the night was coconut curry. It was a little spicy, and I believe the server told me that the only ingredients were coconut, curry, a few spices, and carrot and green onion for garnish. The coconut “meat” gave the soup some texture. I really liked this, as did the girls.



Pat ordered the grilled lamb chops. I asked him what he thought about them and he said, “Well I don’t eat lamb very often.” When pushed to say good or bad, he said good, but make of that what you will.



The girls split a kid’s mac n’ cheese with fruit. I thought they had good fruit here – I might have taken a few pieces of kiwi. And a few bites of that mac n’ cheese – I liked it better here than at Homecomin’.



My MIL and I split the curried vegetable stew. I had this last year and was excited to order it again. It was just as good as I remembered! We told them we were splitting and they were very nice to bring two plates with the bread already cut in half. The picture below is a half serving, so it was the perfect size for us to split, especially after the soup appetizer.



I ordered a glass of white wine and my MIL ordered a Blue Moon. Pat was still recovering from a cold and didn’t order anything to drink.

We decided to split two desserts. I was eyeing the Coconut Bar with Pineapple-Basil Compote and vanilla cream since before our trip, so I knew we were ordering that.



We also ordered the Kungaloosh! It’s an African-inspired chocolate cake with carmelized bananas served with cashew-caramel ice cream topped with coffee dust.



Both were awesome! I honestly can’t remember which I liked better. The coconut bar was nice and light, but if you’re in the mood for chocolate, the Kungaloosh is the way to go. The kids meal came with the choice of two sides, so we did fruit for one and the chocolate volcano dessert for the second side.



I nibbled on this too, it was really good! I think I might have even liked this better than the Kungaloosh.

We were seated next to some really nice families, which was good, because my girls were still a bit hyper and didn’t want to sit still. It turned out one of the families is from the same large city as us, just a different suburb. They had a 7 year old boy who was awesome with our girls. He kept hugging DD2 and helped to entertain our kids. Another family was watching and laughing at the girls. Their son told me that DD2 was “a little rascal!” It was too funny. We had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner!

Our total out of pocket cost was $96.55 before tip.