Keeping the Disney Dynasty Alive (or how did my babies grow up so fast?)-A New Year’s Trip Report (12/31/23-1/7/24) ****Updated 4/18

[Ellester]

Alrighty! Time to move my PTR over to the big leagues! Our trip is a short 12 days away and with all the excitement of the holidays (and a birthday) between now and then it will be here before I know it! I love reading everyone else’s trip reports, so many different kinds of trips, families, personalities and experiences. I always pick up a tip or two (or three or more) so I hope you will find this report informative and entertaining. On with the show!!!!

Basics:

We will have a group of 8 traveling. We are staying in a 2 bedroom preferred villa at Saratoga Springs (SSR), our home resort. I still have a waitlist in for Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village and for Bay Lake Tower but I feel pretty confident that those will not be coming through at this late date. I was hoping for the extra bathroom the 2 Bedrooms have at those resorts but we will survive with the 2 we will have at SSR. We are arriving on New Years Eve and departing on Sunday, January 7th.

The regular group:



Me!!!- Ellen, 54 (how did that happen?!?), Disney veteran, first visit in 1972 and many more since then. Currently a homeschooling mom and online tutor.


DH - John, 57, first trip with me and my mom while we were in college back in the great 80’s, lots since then. Software Engineer who works from home.



DD1 - Anabelle, 25, first trip at 18 months. She is very excited to get her Disney fix. Loves all thrill rides, all the dark rides, basically all the rides. Currently a Mining Engineer in Charlotte, NC. Always wants to ride Winnie the Pooh with me.


DD2 - Rebecca, 22, first trip at 20 months. Loves mostly thrill rides. Most likely to want to go back to the room and take a nap. Cosmetologist and server/bartender.



DS1 - Andrew, 19. First visit at 2 ½. Not the biggest fan of thrill rides but a good sport. Tall enough on his very first visit to ride all the 40”+ rides, currently a solid 6’-6”. College sophomore, plays baseball and guitar. Huge Muppets fan.


DD3 - Natalie, 15. First visit at 8 weeks. Loves the thrill rides now, not so much when she was younger. Ninth grader who plays volleyball, softball and ukulele.

Special Guest Stars:


DSIL - Michelle, John’s sister, 51. She has often teased us about wanting to tag along on a trip and this time she was actually able to make it happen! She has only been once before, 6 or 7 years ago with a now Ex. She loved it even with her toxic Ex, so we know she will have a great time!




DAF (Dear Almost Fiancé) - Matt, 26. Anabelle’s significant other, we are expecting an engagement announcement in January! Matt has never ever been to Disney and had never even been on a roller coaster until Anabelle took him to Carowinds in NC over the summer! He is looking forward to it but really has no idea what he is getting into!

So that’s our merry band for this trip. Matt is a veteran (Marines) and was able to purchase our tickets for the military price so we opted for 7 day Park Hopper Pluses, normally we are one park per day folks! We are looking forward to the option to hop, even though it will still have to be after 2pm since we are there just before that rule goes the way of Splash Mountain. I’m not sure if we will actually use the Plus options at all, although we do love a good round of mini-golf! We were hoping it might be warm enough to hit Blizzard Beach but it’s looking iffy right now. Andrew may take advantage of being able to play a round or two at Oak Trail but we will see.

MagicBand+’s have arrived, Memory Maker is ordered, tickets are linked, park and dining reservations are made! Countdown is on, we leave in 12 short days!

 

[footballmouse]

This looks like it's going to be a good trip report! Can't wait to read all about it.

 

[Ellester]

This looks like it's going to be a good trip report! Can't wait to read all about it.

Thanks for joining in! We are all getting very excited!

 

[Ellester]

Hard to believe, but we have been back home for 6 weeks already! Definitely had a “Disney Hangover” to work through before I could think about posting about the trip. But, I think I’m ready now! Overall, it was a great trip. Definitely not perfect and we had some bumps but priceless memories were made for sure. So without further ado, let the actual trip report begin!

New Years Eve Eve, 12/30/2023

Michelle drove down from Atlanta and arrived in the evening. She definitely has the “overpacking” gene and it was fun watching Andrew try to wedge all her stuff in his little Prius. And because nothing can every go off without a hitch in our household, Rebecca called me about 8pm to tell me she forgot to pick up her prescriptions before the pharmacy closed for the day. Sigh. She was off all day but got so immersed in cleaning her apartment before she left that she totally forgot about her meds. Walgreens was opening at 10am the next morning, so we made some adjustments and planned to be there when they opened. So much for our 8:30am departure time. Orginally, Rebecca was going to ride in the car with Andrew and Michelle but Andrew was pretty adamant that he still wanted to leave on time so Natalie would ride with him and John and I would take Rebecca.


New Years Eve 12/31/2023

Thankfully the Walgreens opened right at 10am and we were there in the parking lot waiting for them to open. So on the road 2 hours after originally planned, but it could have been worse. Anabelle and Matt got on the road at 7am as they had planned. Andrew managed to get all of Michelle’s stuff in his car and he and Natalie and Michelle left close to our planned time of 8:30.

I tried for a VQ for Guardians at 7am but it immediately filled up, I went ahead and got us ILL’s for 7:45pm to get the trip started!

Fairly uneventful ride down, traffic was great even through the dreaded Ocala corridor. Stopped at the Florida welcome center for the requisite OJ/potty break and pulled in to Saratoga Springs right around 4:15pm.

You know you are in Georgia when there are two kinds of boiled peanuts available at the gas station.





I had gotten the room ready text around 1pm, we had rooms 1141/1143 in the Congress Park section. I had requested the Paddock to be close to the gym for Andrew and Matt but honestly the location worked out to be about perfect. Andrew, Michelle and Natalie arrived first around 3pm and Natalie sent pictures and video of the room and view and said “it smells like Disney in here!”. High praise indeed!








Andrew called to have bell services deliver the Walmart order that had arrived earlier. Anabelle and Matt got there at 3:30. By the time we arrived at 4:15, all the groceries had been put away. Excellent!



We were all pretty hungry so decided to eat at Artist’s Pallet before heading to Epcot. Everything was very tasty.

Dinner:
I went with the tuna fish sandwich, it was very moist and tasty although super salty. The Saratoga chips were amazing as always, one of my favorite things at AP for sure. John and Natalie had the meatloaf and said it was really tasty. Nat had the greenbeans and mashed potatoes and gave both high marks. John went with rice and green beans. Michelle went with the classic chicken tenders. Matt and Andrew had the roasted chicken and basically inhaled their plates! Andrew had the double carb dose of rice and mashed potatoes for his side while Matt went with mixed veggies instead of the rice. Both Andrew and John said the rice was the incorrect choice, crunchy in spots. Anabelle had the grilled shrimp and was very surprised at the large serving size.





All filled up, we visited the front desk to get everyone’s bands connected with the proper credit cards and picked up a 1st Visit button for Matt!

 

[Ellester]

New Years Eve - Continued

We asked where we could get some NYE hats since pretty much everyone was wearing one and they told us they were out of them in the lobby but the pool had plenty. We stopped by the pool on the way to the busstop and were directed to Community Hall where we were all able to get a stylish hat!



We hopped a bus to Epcot at 6:30 and were soon
through security and headed to Guest Services to activate our military passes. After a bit of confusion, the CM realized that the passes were in fact already activated so we were good to go! I have to say that NYE in Epcot was an absolute blast! I would do it again every year if I could! We started out riding Spaceship Earth since it was pretty much a walk on.





After that we spent a little time in Club Cool sampling, loved springing Beverly on Michelle and Matt! Funnily enough, John and I both actually really like Beverly.





At 7:40pm we hopped in the Lightning Lane for Guardians and were on within 20 minutes or so. We love, love, loved it! We got “One way or Another” by Blondie. I had been avoiding spoilers for the ride so it was pretty much a totally surprise for me! So, so good!



Now it was time to brave the World Showcase. First stop, Mexico! We waited about 30 minutes to get our drinks from Cava del Tequila, but worth it for sure. Yum! We danced around the WS, stopping for a while at the rave in Italy, getting some sushi and plum wine in Japan.



Natalie and I spotted two of our favorite Disney YouTubers and they were both so sweet to take pictures with us!



We made it all the way around to Canada by about 11pm so decided to hop on Figment with no wait. We checked on the Soarin’ line and it was posted as 15 so we ran in to get on before midnight, we were on in 12 minutes. We were feeling a bit peckish so got some pretzels with cheese and popcorn and headed to the entrance to World Celebration to ring in the New Year with fireworks around the World Showcase. There were a bunch of custodial CM’s near us waiting for the fireworks as well and it was so fun yelling and singing with them! Once the fireworks were over, we made a quick exit to the busses and were on our way back to SSR by 12:15!






Steps/miles: 16747, 7.24 miles

 

[jrmint427]

Following along! Sounds like a fun trip and it's helpful to see how other large groups coordinate/plan!

 

[jrmint427]

I have to say that NYE in Epcot was an absolute blast! I would do it again every year if I could!

Oops - posted reply instead of adding in the quotes! We rang in 2012 in Epcot and it's still one of my favorite NYEs of all time!

Funnily enough, John and I both actually really like Beverly.

I think you're the first I've heard say that! We'll be taking some of our family to try it for the first time in a couple of weeks here, can't wait to get reaction photos.

 

[Ellester]

Following along! Sounds like a fun trip and it's helpful to see how other large groups coordinate/plan!

Welcome aboard! Yes, I also like reading reports to get idea on how to travel with large groups. They definitely have their own challenges!

Oops - posted reply instead of adding in the quotes! We rang in 2012 in Epcot and it's still one of my favorite NYEs of all time!

I think you're the first I've heard say that! We'll be taking some of our family to try it for the first time in a couple of weeks here, can't wait to get reaction photos.

Over the past few years we’ve explored different bitter aperitifs like Campar/Aperol/Cynar etc. Beverly has a very similar flavor profile so pretty sure that’s why we like it. We also liked the smoky flavored soda from China, so unusual!

 

[ambula603]

Sounds like a fun trip so far!!

 

[DLo]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more .

 

[Ellester]

Monday, January 1

After the long travel day and late night, we decided to not attempt rope drop. I did wake up to buy Genie+ for the day, make our first G+ selection for the Jungle Cruise and buy ILL’s for Tron. I’m pretty sure Andrew ran over and did a quick workout this morning. Once everyone was up, we ate in the room and were at the busstop by 10:05am and on the way to MK at 10:22am.


SSR gets a bad rap for the buses but we honestly had great luck this trip all the way around with the buses. We made it though security somewhat quickly, Natalie was detained a bit for an in-depth search of her Loungefly but they eventually gave her the all clear.



We stopped for our first PhotoPass of the trip in front of the trainstation. For Christmas I had gotten the girls and me coordinating sweatshirts off Etsy with Magic Kingdom lands on them. I got something different for Andrew thinking there was no way he would want to wear one. Whelp I was wrong and he was disappointed so I gave him the one I had gotten for myself. Sometimes we have to make tough sacrifices for our kids!



The day was warming up quickly, so Matt got a locker and we stuffed our jackets in before heading to Adventureland. It was still the Jingle Cruise, which is always fun!



I made our next G+ for Pirates after scanning in for our cruise! We all needed some coffee, so we headed to Sleepy Hollow for iced coffee. Matt got a funnel cake which he was kind enough to share! Once we scanned into Pirates, I got our next G+ for Pooh. We mobile ordered lunch from Columbia Harbour House. It was tasty as usual. So strange that they don’t offer just fried shrimp or fish, it comes with chicken too. That ruled it out for Anabelle who went with the lobster roll. I had the grilled shrimp. It was good as usual, we spent some time relaxing upstairs where we could spread out a bit.

After lunch we had a bit of time before Pooh, so we headed to Philharmagic. It was our first time seeing it since they added Coco, we really enjoyed the update! The park was super crowded, no surprise there. While I didn’t love paying for Genie+, it was nice avoiding the long standby queues. On to Pooh, I love that Anabelle still wants to ride it with me!





After Pooh it was time for our Tron ILL, we waited about 10 minutes to get on, the virtual queue side was SO long. Great ride, way too short as everyone seems to agree. Stopped for a cream cheese filled pretzel at the Lunching Pad then a quick spin on the People Mover. We had some time before our G+ at Small World (picked up after we scanned at Pooh) so it was time to reminisce on the Carousel of Progress! Afterwards, Anabelle could hold out no longer and demanded a LeFou’s Brew!



She also decided she wanted some ears, so we headed to the shop right outside Philharmagic. After much deliberation, she decided on a very cute pair!



We still had a few minutes, so we checked out Momento Mori. I wish they still did the lenticular pictures there. Natalie and Andrew had them done 9 years ago and I put them out every Halloween. I would love to have some more now that they are older but they took that equipment out and put in the Pandora bracelet counter. It was finally time for out 4:50pm Small World G+, the G+ line was super long and it seemed they were loading the ride much slower than normal. We waited a good 30 minutes to get on but eventually we were singing right along! Afterwards, Andrew decided he could no longer wait for a Dolewhip and went to get one. He ended up at Aloha Isle and went with strawberry instead of pineapple but it made him happy so that’s all that matters! Our next G+ was for 6:30 at BTMRR so we had some time to kill. We caught the Country Bear Jamboree, a perennial favorite of mine ever since I had the record and follow-along book a million years ago when I was a kid. I’m really glad I got to see the original one more time before it goes in for the update. We still had some time before our G+ and the Haunted Mansion was showing a wait of 20 minutes so we hopped in line. After 15 minutes we realized that the wait was seriously understated so we abandoned the queue and headed over to use our BTMRR G+, our wait was just under 15 minutes. It was closing in on 7pm and we wanted to head over to Epcot before the MK fireworks for the extra evening hours. We decided to eat before we left MK and ended up at Cosmic Rays. Wouldn't have been my first choice but sometimes you have to go with what easiest. Actually, it was very good and hit the spot. Thankfully they had the bypass open and we were able to get our jackets from the locker and hop a bus to the Riviera at 7:50. Rebecca decided she wanted to head back to the room for some quiet time so she took the bus back to SSR.

 

[mommyk8]

I’m here.

 

[rlk]

View attachment 836304

I love this picture of Anabelle and Matt, it made me chuckle. Enjoy the report so far.

 

[Ellester]

Sounds like a fun trip so far!!

Over all, a very fun trip! Definitely some major bumps that I will get into later, but over all a good one!

Following along . Looking forward to reading more .

Thanks for joining!

I’m here.

Welcome aboard!

I love this picture of Anabelle and Matt, it made me chuckle. Enjoy the report so far.

Me too! They are so silly! It’s been fun watching their relationship blossom.

 

[Ellester]

A real life update! Matt is now officially promoted from DBF to DF! He asked us is we could come up to NC in January and be part of the surprise proposal! He planned it out SO well, recruiting two of Anabelle’s good friends to help. Her friend Yvette pretended that she had a work gala at the Mint Museum in Charlotte and asked if Anabelle, Matt and their friend, Jackie would come with her. Anabelle talked about it some on the trip, wondering if she really wanted to go. I encouraged her to go (hee hee) saying it sounded like fun. Our immediate family, Matt’s parents and sister and a bunch of friends arrived and were waiting in the the gallery he rented. Anabelle had told him some time ago that she didn’t really want to be proposed to in front of a bunch of people so he dropped to one knee and popped the question downstairs in front of Jackie and Yvette and not the whole group. Thankfully she said yes! She still thought it was a work thing for Yvette so she was super surprised when she saw all of us! We are very happy for them and are now looking forward to a wedding next February. Thankfully a week with his future inlaws at Disney didn’t scare him off!

 

[rlk]

How exciting! Congratulations to the newly engaged couple and to the proud parents.

 

[Paulaparm]

How exciting! Congratulations to all.

 

[mommyk8]

What a great proposal!

 

[Mary Pops In]

Congratulations to the happy couple! So sweet of Matt to include everyone in the engagement.
Enjoying your TR & that your kids all will travel with you!

 

[jrmint427]

Thankfully she said yes! She still thought it was a work thing for Yvette so she was super surprised when she saw all of us! We are very happy for them and are now looking forward to a wedding next February.

Congratulations to them!! Very exciting!