She's Packing it All In, a June 2023 5 Night Copper Creek 1BR Trip Report (Completed 8/17)

[Hubie]

After lunch, the rain had let up and it was a beautiful Florida afternoon, and we had more of MK to cover, so we headed into Tomorrowland.

We headed to People Mover because it’s my favorite. I rode backwards which felt odd, I realized I never ride this backwards.

We got on the People Mover at 2:11 and enjoyed our tour. I usually do ride backwards, so sitting forward was different. On it we saw that they had Nuimos in Star Traders so that was our next stop.

Allie was on the hunt for an Edna Mode Nuimo so we headed there to search.

Unfortunately she was not to be found at Star Traders though.

Marshall decided he wanted in on the fun, so he chose to spend part of his gift card money on a Mickey Nuimo and a pair of roller skates.

He was a fun little buddy for him. After that we had to do something on Marshall’s must do list.

Marshall had been asking to do Tomorrowland Speedway again since we did it last time, so despite the fact it was nearing the temperature of the surface of the sun we waited in line.

We got in line at 2:36 and it showed a 25 minute wait, and we got on it at 3:06.

Oy the wait was warm. I had a new best friend though, I picked up this fan at the Dollar Tree before the trip and it was awesome for just getting some air flow.

It was the best 1.25 splurge I packed for the trip and I used it quite a bit.

On the ride Marshall loved driving and Allie got her own car.

Melissa was between us, but her car was super slow. Marshall did a great job and made sure I didn't allow the cars to bump.

I think I had the slowest car in the fleet. I had it floored the whole way and it was just slow. It’s ok though, I enjoyed the leisurely ride.

After that Allie begged to head over to the teacups, and the line was super short so we got in line for it at 3:18, and were on it by 3:22.

We all 4 barely fit in one cup, this might be the last time we all make one. That’s a little sad now that I think about it.

Aww, that is sad. From our engagement pictures to now we have had some great rides. This was one of our fastest, with Allie and me teaming up to get it really spinning.

Paul got it going really fast, I was afraid I was going to fall over on the way out because it took so long to not be dizzy.

Allie wanted to go ride Barnstormer but we had other plans. We wanted to shop on Main Street before we headed out.

We had to draw the line somewhere and couldn't pack everything into a single MK day. We all wanted to shop though, and the Emporium was a nice cool break from the warm afternoon.

Allie found Edna and discovered the latest Disney stuffed craze, Munchlings.

She had heard about these before the trip, and I teased her about them being the "next thing" and replacing Nuimos. Fortunately there was room for both of them this year. Marshall decided to spend the rest of his gift card on a parking lot tram model, which he had seen at the WL gift shop but decided to buy here.

Then we headed across the street to see if there was a new Dooney I couldn’t live without. I didn’t find anything I loved, however the new Bambi bags are really cute. The new black Vera Bradley pattern is fun too but I didn’t end up buying anything.

It was fun to look, but eventuallly we made our way out of the park at 4:10.

We went to the boat dock, and got on a small red flag boat at 4:18. It was a nice trip back to the resort, and we arrived there at 4:31.

When we got back to the room we had the sweetest surprise waiting for us.

Paul’s parents had a gift basket sent to our room for our anniversary.

It was really neat. The bag was a Mickey shaped cooler bag with two compartments, and it was full of lots of snacks and some water bottles with a Disney castle logo on them. It was nice of them to send us. We hung out in the room for a bit, which I always enjoy before we headed towards Disney Springs for the evening.

We were not making this our first bus ride of the trip so we headed out to the Jeep.

We saw one of the new Sunshine flyer busses on the way out.

Going to Disney Springs was one of our biggest reasons for getting a rental car.

We left our room at 5:38, and the phone sent us on a different route than the buses take wrapping around Disney Springs past an almost back-stage warehouse building.

We arrived to the parking garage at 6:01.

We really liked the red and green light parking sensor system for finding an open parking space. We made it through security, down the escalator, and into Disney Springs by 6:05

Those lights are super cool and make finding an open spot so much easier.

Our first stop was the Lego store. We had fun playing with the virtual sets, where you can see a computer image of what the set looks like by scanning the product box.

The boys were drooling over all the Legos. Marshall was just in heaven. Both of them picked out a set to take home.

And you even got some Lego flowers to bring home. There was something for everyone.

That’s right! On our way over to our dinner reservation we stopped and picked up some things to bring home for our office pups Claire and Crouton.

We also walked by the new Corksicle stand, and considered coffee mugs but didn't go for it.

That put coffee on our mind though, so we stopped by Joffrey's to pick up some coffee to take home.

The coffee mugs are so cute! It was tough but I was hoping to find another Tervis coffee cup like the ones we got at Aulani, I use one of those every day. I’m excited to use the Joffrey’s coffee at home, we have a bag of other stuff we have to finish first though.

We then walked across to Boathouse to check in just before 7:00.

The line was super long, but we got checked in and went to shop at the gift shop while we waited. Then they called us, but we had to wait in the long line again. We were then seated at 7:13, and got a great seat next to the boat. We were as close to it as we could be without baing at the table that sits inside it. Marshall actually complained that his head hit the boat hull.

We just scooched his chair around so that his head wouldn’t hit. He was fine. We ordered Chips with salsa and pimmento cheese dip and Allie ordered a couple oysters.

Her getting Oysters always surprises the servers. The Pimento dip was great, and is a must do for us now.

I really love this restaurant, there is just so much variety, and I love the atmosphere. They were really busy this night though. We didn't get bread until 7:40, and finally ordered at 7:50.

Service was slow but we didn’t mind having an airconditioned place to hang out for a while.

When the food came at 8:03, it was exceptional. I got the filet mignon sliders, and they were made even better with a bit of the pimento cheese on them.

They truly were one of the best things I have ever eaten. So tender and buttery, they were just great. My mouth is watering as I write about them.

Both Allie and I got the same thing too. They were delicious as usual and the addition of a little pimmento cheese made them even better.

We also got a cupcake for our anniversary, since we had it noted on our reservation.

It was cute and just enough dessert after that meal. We even got a DVC discount too, making this meal the best value of the trip.

The cupcake was a sweet surprise. After dinner we headed straight over to World of Disney to get some shopping done. I was concerned about Marshall’s longevity for the evening without the stroller.

We knew we wanted to shop at the big store, so we went there first.

We looked for whatever we could find, and got a Stitch bathmat.

I thought I found a green T-shirt, but it wound up being a kids size one not an adult one. It would have matched the Jeep... Oh well. I did find a VRC elevator material lift back stage though, so that was neat to see.

Oh my gosh. So in the last year and a half Paul has officially become an full fledged elevator guy. He reminds me of my dad checking out all the elevators all the time, and yes we walked by a door that was open to the back area of the store and he was so excited to see the lift.

It's part of the job, being a dorky elevator guy. It's like how corny Dad jokes come with being a Dad, it is part of the job.

After we made our purchases of random stuff we headed over to the CoOp. Marshall really loves the Mr. Toad car so we got a picture with that.

We all admired the sparkly castle too.

We were also wondering if you get the display pedestal for the $250,000 or if you just put it on your dining room table or what.

At that price, I'd have to live in it... We did enjoy shopping around, but noticed they had fewer Dooney bags at the CoOp than usual. This used to be a great place to find them, but they only had a couple this time.

It was a tad disappointing but that’s ok we found lots of fun stuff to bring home. Marshall was pretty tuckered out at this point and honestly so was I so we headed to the Jeep. Now friends, this is where the rental car is just so worth it. We just walked to the car and got in. No waiting at the bus stop and watching busses drive by, no packed bus with someones butt in your face. Just us in the Jeep. We didn’t have the Wilderness Lodge bus soundtrack to listen to though, I kinda missed that. I tried to make up for it and find some flute music but I didn’t quite get it perfect because we were back to the resort so quick!

We started up the escalator to the parking lot at 10:08, then the kids placed rubber ducks on three other Jeeps at 10:14.

We were back in the WL parking lot by 10:33 and in our room by 10:39.

It was so great, and we really enjoyed the quiet time in the rental car vs the hectic bus ride. We did miss that bus music just a little though.

It was a packed day and I was so happy with how well Marshall did keeping up without a stroller. I threw a load of laundry in and Paul went down to get our last mug refills of the evening. It was a pretty perfect day.

It really did top off the day well. We didn't have to worry about Roaring Fork closing before we got back for refills, since they keep the dining room open all night now. It was nice and we took advantage of it. Soon after 11:00 we went to sleep ending a great first full day.

Come back for our anniversary day! We had lots of fun planned and made up some fun stuff too.

The sliders at the Boathouse are my favorite meal at the Springs.

 

[jgl130]

Our choice there would be to request a room near the elevators to avoid a potential long walk down the hall.

That’s great advice! It’s also the first time I’m staying there for more than two nights. I’ve been a longtime lurker and love y’all’s reports. Can’t wait to see where the rest of the trip takes you!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

what a great day . Looking forward to see what you do next.

Thanks. Up next is our Anniversary day at our favorite park, and more...

The sliders at the Boathouse are my favorite meal at the Springs.

They are exceptional, and a great value too. I wish I could get them at home, but that might not be a good thing.

That’s great advice! It’s also the first time I’m staying there for more than two nights. I’ve been a longtime lurker and love y’all’s reports. Can’t wait to see where the rest of the trip takes you!

Well thanks for joining in! We've got lots more fun to come.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I also forgot to include the link to Allie’s vlog from the MK day. Here it is:

 

[Camonkeygirl]

It is a good thing that your trip was not in May, you could have really confused Allie. On the road down to the airport, you could see the Disney Wonder. When sailing out of San Diego, you can see the ship just after passing the large brown building on the left in your photo

 

[GrandCalifornian]

It is a good thing that your trip was not in May, you could have really confused Allie. On the road down to the airport, you could see the Disney Wonder. When sailing out of San Diego, you can see the ship just after passing the large brown building on the left in your photo

We have never noticed a Disney ship at San Diego, but that is super cool. Allie was happy to be back at WDW in warm weather, since she was done with being cold at Disney.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I started the next day early by getting up at 5:20. I walked out to the balcony first thing.

Then I went and showered and went out to take my usual pictures.

The plan for today was to get up early and take advantage of early entry at Epcot so we could get a ride or two in before the park opened.

I got some better sunrise pics than the day before, since a few clouds made it interesting.

I went back up to the room by 6:40 and got everyone up. I had planned on doing the Virtual Queue for Guardians, but we got busy getting ready and I missed it. By the time I checked about 10 minutes late the spots were gone.

I was a little disappointed but neither kid seemed to mind and Allie actually really didn’t want to ride it anyway.

For breakfast we had donuts in the room that we had bought at Target. I made a pot of coffee to help get us going.

It worked fairly well, since we got out of the room by 7:35, then ducked three Jeeps in the parking lot.

We pulled out of the parking lot at 7:45, and for the first time ever we drove to a WDW theme park parking lot.

We pulled in to the Epcot parking lot at 7:55. We decided not to pay the extra for Preferred Parking, so we went with the free standard parking but still got pretty close. We left the Jeep at 8:02 and walked right through security and into the park for early entry.

It was way more relaxing making rope drop driving rather than taking the bus.

It really was. I was begining to really enjoy the private bubble away from crowds that the Jeep offered. It is quite different than a crowded bus to kick things off.

I even think our parking spot was closer to the park entrance than the Wilderness Lodge bus stop.

It totally was. At that time of the morning, most of the people were coming in from the buses since they were other resort guests, so we had less wait on our side. We got to go further into the park before we had to stop and wait for 8:30 to head to our first ride.

Our first stop was Test Track, we pretty much walked through the queue to the design part before we had to wait for just a bit.

They let us head to the ride lines a little early at 8:26, then we crowded up outside.

We made it in the building at 8:37, then did the car design and were on the ride fairly quickly.

Both kids had fun designing their rides. Allie got pretty competitive and her car did really well in the tests.

Except for top speed, where Marshall's supercharged motor did very well. He was proud of himself.

We all stopped to drool on the Corvette on the way out. I see one of those in our future after we don’t have to haul kids around.

It is one of those bucket list things, and I just love the new mid-engine 'vettes. They look like a supercar, and while still really expensive they are a relative deal. I have loved looking at the new cars here since 1986, when I got my first Suburban brochure.

We actually might be in the market for a new suv for me soon so I was checking out the Tahoe they had sitting out.

The kids had fun doing the photo ops while we checked out the cars.

From the cars, we moved on to my favorite dump shop, the still and always will be referred to as "After Market". I found a couple of T-shirts for me and my Dad, and got Marshall a Hot Wheels sized Test Track car, and one for myself.

After Test Track we headed over to the land to ride Soarin but the kids got distracted by the jumping fountains.

Then after being inspired by the flow of water we needed to find a restroom, and with the main ones there still closed we followed signs to ones on the back side of the Figment building.

They are super secluded and quiet. I didn’t actually know they were there until this trip.

I don't think they are usually open to guests. It seemed to be a backstage area, and lots of CMs were walking by with their special costume bags.

It was fun to sit for a minute and watch people to come in for work.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to go ahead and ride Figment. We walked right on the ride at 10:06.

Figment was cute as always and after we checked out the dump shop where I fell in love with a sleepy Figment plush. He was pretty soft and cuddly but I didn’t want to carry him all day so I decided to wait and see if I could pick him up elsewhere or come back later.

From there we went through the Butterfly Garden on our way to The Land.

This was a cool extra Flower and Garden thing that the girls had enjoyed on their trip.

We saw lots of pretty butterflies but no catterpillars, I think they were just about to wrap it all up for the season.

We went into The Land at 10:24, and we all agreed to ride Living with The Land first.

It is still my favorite. It’s so pretty with the extra flowers in the greenhouses for the festival too.

We all loved it. As we got off, Melissa noticed something we had never seen before.

They were selling little plants that they grow from tissue cultures.

I was totally geeking out.

Apparently they only put out a few each morning and they sell out pretty quickly. I had never seen these before and I’m so glad we caught it. I picked out two little baby plants, a Kalanchoe and a Dragon Fruit plant. The little guys made it home and are so far doing great transplanted into their new little pots. These have to be some of my favorite souveneirs to date.

They are absolutely adorable and super cool. While we were there, the wait time for Soarin went up to 60 minutes. Allie doesn't like it anyway, and the rest of us decided we'd rather snack than wait in line. We got some strawberry shortcake and watermelon and sat for a bit. Allie went off to have some alone time, but soon rejoined us.

After we were done with the land we started our journey around world showcase so we wouldn’t be late for lunch. Marshall’s poor feet were starting to feel tired so he hitched a ride for part of the way.

We started with Mexico, which meant we had to go inside and visit the Three Caballeros. Unlike Soarin, some rides can't be skipped.

I love this ride too. It’s just so unique to Disney World.

It is neat. We entered the Mexico pavillion at 11:30, basically walked on, and left the pavilion at 11:45. We continued on around and stopped to check out the trains in Germany.

We continued on to Japan for our lunch reservation at Tepan Edo.

If you’ve followed our trip reports at all you’ll know this is one of our favorites and a must do on just about every trip. We love having lunch here too, the break from the heat (or the cold) is really nice in the middle of the day and the meals are timed well so we get done in a reasonable amount of time.

It is also, without a doubt, my favorite steak anywhere. Yes, we have tried all of the steakhouses at WDW and this is my favorite place for steak. In my opinion you just can't beat their filet mignon with a bit of yum yum sauce. We chose this for our anniversary meal, and it did not disapoint.

Also they brought back the salad!

The ginger dressing is back and just as good as before. We had a trip, or maybe two where they had changed from the salad with ginger dressing to a more traditional cucumber salad, which was ok but not nearly as good as the salad with the ginger dressing.

It was great, as were the noodles.

The rice was there as a filler, but wasn't worth wasting the stomach space on.

We did however get a volcano roll, and it was great too.

Both Allie and I ordered scallops and our chef was really impressed with her choice.

Like the steak though the scallops here are exceptional, it’s hard to find good scallops in general and they are perfect here every time.

I went with the chicken... Just kidding (although I used to do that here before I fell in love with the filet). My steak was perfect and I loved every bite.

In the middle of lunch Allie went to pick up her water glass and it slipped and dumped in her lap, fell and broke. It was slightly epic but everyone was so nice, they got it all mopped up and apologized to Allie for the glass breaking.

If you are going to drop a glass in your lap at a restaurant, this is the place to do it. They took great care of her, and even the chef joined in on making sure she was still having fun. It was a great meal as always.

During the meal we were alo able to get our spot in the virtual queue for Guardians at 1:00.

To see if we made it, check back for more in our next update, where we have more Epcot fun, break out of the bubble and pop right back in.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

What a fun time!

Did anyone duck your Jeep during the trip? I notice the little plants had pictures of Mickey pumpkins on the package. Were there any actual pumpkin seeds/plants? Was the food in the last teppanyaki picture supposed to be a character?

Speaking of Soarin', did you know there is a virtual reality experience near Bryce Canyon, based on a similar concept? They have two versions, one being Utah scenery and the other is a mine ride chase. Will your upcoming Utah trip be only Coral Pink again, or are you also going anywhere else in Utah this time?

 

[Wood Nymph]

It was way more relaxing making rope drop driving rather than taking the bus.

Our daughter likes to drive to the parks, too. Did you have any trouble with directions or long waits to get into the parking lot?

Then after being inspired by the flow of water we needed to find a restroom, and with the main ones there still closed we followed signs to ones on the back side of the Figment building.

The bathrooms behind the Figment building are a real hidden location. I think they had them closed during the Covid restrictions but almost everything is getting back to normal now.

This was a cool extra Flower and Garden thing that the girls had enjoyed on their trip.

I think the best Flower and Garden show is the very first one you go to, where you see everything for the first time.

They were selling little plants that they grow from tissue cultures.

I have to look for these the next time we go there. I'm glad to hear that yours are still alive.

We continued on to Japan for our lunch reservation at Tepan Edo.

It sounds like you had another great meal there.

During the meal we were also able to get our spot in the virtual queue for Guardians at 1:00.

I remembered to try to get a virtual queue at 1:06pm and was surprised that they were still available. It worked out perfect for us because our number came up right around 7:30pm.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

What a fun time!

Did anyone duck your Jeep during the trip?

Sadly no. We still have not been ducked in the wild (by someone we didn’t know) in our Jeep or the rental. The time will come though.

I notice the little plants had pictures of Mickey pumpkins on the package. Were there any actual pumpkin seeds/plants?

No, we didn’t see any pumpkin plants. I wonder if they use those graphics for any plant related things?

Was the food in the last teppanyaki picture supposed to be a character?

He said it was "the boss" and looked like Mickey.

Speaking of Soarin', did you know there is a virtual reality experience near Bryce Canyon, based on a similar concept? They have two versions, one being Utah scenery and the other is a mine ride chase. Will your upcoming Utah trip be only Coral Pink again, or are you also going anywhere else in Utah this time?

We have seen ads for those VR experiences, but never have tried them. We will be going to Coral Pink once again, this time for the 29th July in a row.

Our daughter likes to drive to the parks, too. Did you have any trouble with directions or long waits to get into the parking lot?

We drove right in, but it was early. We were surprised to have to drive around to a further parking area (since we didn't pay for preferred) but it was fine. We drove right up to the place where you pay entering the parking lot every time.

The bathrooms behind the Figment building are a real hidden location. I think they had them closed during the Covid restrictions but almost everything is getting back to normal now.

We had never been there, and it was really interesting to see all the CMs coming on stage near there.

I think the best Flower and Garden show is the very first one you go to, where you see everything for the first time.

Yeah, it is a nice extra festival. I don't rate it as highly as Festival of the Arts, but it is cool to see.

I have to look for these the next time we go there. I'm glad to hear that yours are still alive.

We heard they tend to sell out later in the day, but were surprised we had never seen them before. They are at the counter where you sign up for the behind the seeds tour right as you get off the ride.

It sounds like you had another great meal there.

Yes we did. The food quality was just great, and the service and show were fun as always.

I remembered to try to get a virtual queue at 1:06pm and was surprised that they were still available. It worked out perfect for us because our number came up right around 7:30pm.

I set an alarm so I didn't miss it. We weren't sure if we'd still be in the park when ours came up, but at least we had a shot.

 

[keh422]

I'm so happy to have another one of your trip reports to read! I know there were a bunch of things I wanted to comment on, but then I saw the baby plants and lost everything else. I have missed those!! I used to buy one every time I saw them, but I hadn't seen them since before the pandemic. We may have just not been there early enough.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I did both of the VR experiences near Bryce Canyon this year! I really enjoyed the scenic Utah one a lot. The mine chase one was fun, but gave me motion sickness that lasted about an hour. If I had it to do over, I'd do only the scenic Utah one. That one was delightful and had no ill-effects.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

All caught up! Seems like a great trip so far!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I'm so happy to have another one of your trip reports to read!

We are glad to have a trip to write about, and to have you joining in.

I know there were a bunch of things I wanted to comment on, but then I saw the baby plants and lost everything else. I have missed those!! I used to buy one every time I saw them, but I hadn't seen them since before the pandemic. We may have just not been there early enough.

We had never even heard of the little plants before, but they are the neatest thing.

I did both of the VR experiences near Bryce Canyon this year! I really enjoyed the scenic Utah one a lot. The mine chase one was fun, but gave me motion sickness that lasted about an hour. If I had it to do over, I'd do only the scenic Utah one. That one was delightful and had no ill-effects.

That sounds like a good plan. I used to love motion simulators, but now I even usually skip Star Tours. I’d try the Utah one though.

All caught up! Seems like a great trip so far!

It was a lot of fun, despite having to pack it all into a smaller package.

 

[disneyfam]

Ok, now I'm in! I've not heard of Duck Duck Jeep until your trip report. We've owned some form of a Jeep for years and do love them! We aren't purists, we do have a Yukon but we do own 2 Commanders And I believe we will always own a Jeep.

I am so joining in on the ducking of the Jeeps! Thanks for introducing me to this fun!!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Ok, now I'm in! I've not heard of Duck Duck Jeep until your trip report. We've owned some form of a Jeep for years and do love them! We aren't purists, we do have a Yukon but we do own 2 Commanders And I believe we will always own a Jeep.

I am so joining in on the ducking of the Jeeps! Thanks for introducing me to this fun!!

I too had not heard of “ducking” Jeeps until we got one, and it is a neat fun thing. Some long time Jeep people are dead set against it since it is a new thing, but in general most people like getting a pleasant surprise that shows someone else appreciates your Jeep. The kids love ducking Jeeps, and they get to see how much fun it is to give, rather than to just focus on ourselves. Someday it will be cool to be given one, and it will make the wait totally worth it.

 

[disneyfam]

I too had not heard of “ducking” Jeeps until we got one, and it is a neat fun thing. Some long time Jeep people are dead set against it since it is a new thing, but in general most people like getting a pleasant surprise that shows someone else appreciates your Jeep. The kids love ducking Jeeps, and they get to see how much fun it is to give, rather than to just focus on ourselves. Someday it will be cool to be given one, and it will make the wait totally worth it.

I can so believe it's fun for the kiddos! I will be likely doing this myself because I will get a "mom, really?" from my 19 and 22 yr old -which, is not unusual - LOL. Hmm, now the quest....do they have Disney or flamingo ducks?

Thanks again and I do always enjoy your trip reports! WL is our home resort too, but we are in Boulder Ridge. As the kids got older they like to stay closer to Epcot so we don't stay at "home" as much as we did when they were younger. But there is something about your home resort. Whenever you step foot there you just feel it in your gut, this is really home.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I can so believe it's fun for the kiddos! I will be likely doing this myself because I will get a "mom, really?" from my 19 and 22 yr old -which, is not unusual - LOL. Hmm, now the quest....do they have Disney or flamingo ducks?

You never know, "kids" of any age might get into it. It is a lot of fun. We found Disney ducks on eBay for our WDW trip. They are super cute, but wound up being a little expensive for daily ducking...

Thanks again and I do always enjoy your trip reports! WL is our home resort too, but we are in Boulder Ridge. As the kids got older they like to stay closer to Epcot so we don't stay at "home" as much as we did when they were younger. But there is something about your home resort. Whenever you step foot there you just feel it in your gut, this is really home.

There is something wonderfully "homey" about the lodge. I get the appeal of Epcot resorts, and our kids feel the draw of them too so I'm sure not all our trips will be to WL, but it is definitely my favorite.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We continued our Anniversary day in Epcot by heading out from Teppan Edo at 1:15. Our next activity was shopping at the big store in Japan.

We always find fun things at Mitsukoshi. Allie really wanted mochi so she got matcha and Marshall didn’t want to be left out so he picked out pineapple.

I was skeptical after past mochi experiences, but I did try Marshall's this time, and it was actually pretty good. From there we continued on towards France.

We did some shopping before we decided to get in line for Remy at 2:02.

The sign said the wait was going to be an hour which is longer than we normally wait but we had time. The wait ended up being more like 75 minutes though. I’m glad the posted time was wrong because I probably wouldn’t have wanted to wait that long. We all enjoyed it though.

Yeah, the outside part of the line was pretty hot, but we made it inside within about half an hour. It is a fun ride and I am glad we waited, even though it was longer than we thought.

After Remy Marshall was just about pooped out and his feet were really bothering him. We headed over to World Traveller to see what they had for a stroller.

He ended up being WAY too big for the ones that they had for sale so we just rented one.

We had never done that before in any of our trips, but we found we could rent it there and return it at the front of the park on our way out. It made the walk through the park much better for all of us. We finished the loop of World Showcase by shopping in England and then picking up some Cokes in Canada.

They had lots of souveniers from King Charles’ Coronation in the UK pavillion. I watched the coronation while I cleaned out my kitchen getting ready for the trip.

Then we continued on to the Orange Terrace shop where the Epcot preview center was during our last trip. It was largely a gift shop with a lot of extra air conditioned space.

They still had festival Tervis cups so I picked one up for me, I love my big Tervis tumblers.

Allie got an orange bird sipper and we all shared a lemon meringue pie.

The lemon meringue cake / pie thing was pretty good, but also pretty small, especially to be split four ways.

After that we cruised through the Creations Shop but we didn't find anything we needed. Sometimes we still miss Mouse Gear.

Yeah we really just feel like it falls short of what Mouse Gear used to be. We all wanted strollers at this point though and were done with Epcot for the day. We had plans!

So we headed out of the park at 5:00.

Allie wanted to do Club Cool and hang out for more rides, but didn't want to wait for Guardians, so we decided to head for the car.

It was definitely a shorter walk than the walk to the WL bus.

We decided to try and find a stroller for Marsh so we plugged in the closest Target in the map.

Having the freedom of our own car, we were able to exit the bubble. Soon we crossed the entry sign the other way and arrived at Flamingo Crossings at 5:18, a shopping center on Disney Property West of the parks that we had read about online, and now knew where it was.

Turns out this is a teeny tiny Target. They had lots of vacation essentials but no strollers. We were able to get batteries and bobby pins and a couple waters though.

Instead of giving up, we headed to the second Target which was just a little ways down the toll road, and since we had the toll pass transponder we treked across the airport for, we took advantage of it. We got to the Super Target at 5:34.

They did have strollers, a couple of options but our guy is big now, and they didn’t have anything that fit him great for a price that we were all comfortable with so we left empty handed and decided to just rent one when we needed it.

Instead of taking the toll road back, we decided to explore a little bit more and took 192 back East towards the park. This area of Kissimmee reminded me of the outskirts of Las Vegas, complete with small water parks and discount gift shops on many street corners.

And some giant gift shops, with Mermaids, or wizards.

Definitely chasing the tourists.

We also saw "Sickie's" restaurant. We couldn't bring ourselves to stop for that one, and headed for another arch over the road sign indicating that we were back in the bubble.

We were happy to be back in the bubble and headed back to the lodge.

We got to the lodge parking lot at 6:16, and up to our room by 6:20.

We decided on Roaring Fork for a quick dinner. I mobile ordered it at 6:35 and went down with Allie to pick it up.

After we got to the room, we got our announcement for Guardians. Oh well, we were 0 for 2 on the virtual queues.

I got the BBQ plate that comes with brisket and burnt ends.

I went with the bacon cheeseburger, and it was fairly plain but decent. The BBQ stuff was better though.

We don’t have any pictures of dinner though, you’ll just have to take our word for it. I ate it too fast for Paul to get his phone out.

I was probably in a hurry, because I wanted to make sure we got over to CR in time. We left the room at 7:30, which felt like we were cutting it really close, but we arrived at the CR at 7:39 so we had time to go upstairs and shop for a bit.

Yo! You didn’t tell them WHY we were going to the Contemporary.

We had our big event of the trip booked, a Fireworks Cruise for our anniversary night.

Marshall had been bugging us all day for cotton candy so we let him pick some up for the fireworks cruise.

We got to check out all three gift shops, which is something we enjoy about visiting the Contemporary. There are always unique things at Bay View gifts, and a bunch of toys in the middle. Tonight all we left with was cotton candy though. We then headed downstairs and got to the boat docks at 8:00, stopping for a family Mickey picture.

Our driver was waiting for us but since there was lightning in the area the lake was closed. It had rained a little bit earlier in the day and we hoped we were in the clear for the cruise.

We stood around and chatted with our driver, then as it started to sprinkle we moved under the canopy. We enjoyed the conversation, and got to tell him about our past fireworks cruises. It turned out our captain last time was his childhood friend, who helped him get the same job at Disney. It is a small world.

We made better friends as the sky opened up and it just started pouring, and then the wind came up and blew all the patio furniture over.

By the time they got the call that the cruise would be canceled we were best friends.

There was lightning on both sides of us, so it wasn't looking good. When they let us know the cruise would be cancelled they tried to book us for an upcoming night, but there were no openings. They did agree to put us on a standby list in case anyone cancelled.

It didn’t make any sense to go anywhere because it was raining so hard and the water was rising in the courtyard area.

So we just hung out and watched it rain for a bit. I took a phone call from Melissa's Dad to go over the week at work, which had just ended since it was Friday night. While we talked elevators for a bit, Melissa and the boat driver chatted about engineering, and it turns out he's an engineering student.

We talked about all kinds of stuff while we waited for the rain to stop.

As we hung out, the water level in the courtyard was rising noticably, and I was getting concerned about how wet our feet would be when we chose to make a break for the hotel.

Finally the sky cleared up but the walk way was still pretty flooded. We were the last family standing though with all the rest of the Recreation Cast Members. One girl waded out into the water to clear the leaves off the drain so the water would clear. It was up pretty far above her ankles.

She was the true hero of the evening. With her crocs on she walked out and saved the day while everyone else looked on. We all cheered for her when it worked, and Marshall particularly loved that the drain worked so well that it made a slurping sound, like a giant milkshake.

He said the show clearing the drain was better than fireworks would have been. We really had fun even without the cruise. We’ll schedule one for next trip, hopefully it works out next time. Marshall did talk about the slurping drain for a week though, I’m not sure he would have talked about the fireworks cruise that long.

That is probably true. I was disapointed to not be able to do the cruise, but it wasn't anybody's fault and we didn't let it keep us from having fun. By 8:45 the rain stopped completely and we walked back across the parking lot to the Jeep. We drove back to WL and caught some of the fireworks form the parking lot as we went up towards the room.

We didn’t get our boat snacks and we wanted dessert so Paul went down and got us a magic cookie bar and mug refills.

I picked up a a Magic Cookie bar and Allie wanted the Bee cake, but they were sold out so she settled for a Campfire cupcake.

Marshall broke into a bag of cookies that came in our gift basket. Those were super tasty. You can find them in a lot of gift shops, they’re just chewy gluten free chocolate chip cookies. They are super good. We also picked up the lemon version later in the trip and those are even better. We highly recommend.

We exchanged anniversary gifts and Marshall repeatedly wished us Happy Anniversary. It was a nice little in-room party.

It was a busy fun anniversary day. We tucked in the kids and then crashed ourselves. Come back for more morning lodge pictures and….. brunch.

There's more fun to come!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Did you find a way to entertain yourselves while in the Remy line?

Have you tried different types of shoes for Marshall, to see if there are any shoes where his feet would be more comfortable for a day with lots of walking?

Sorry to see that you missed Guardians and that the fireworks cruise had to be cancelled.

Great double rainbow picture outside the Contemporary!

Is there a vlog for this day too?