There's Always Too Much Sauce - A July 2022 TR *Updated 3/23

[MeghanEmily]

Alicia! Hi! I showed up more than a little late to the party, but I've so enjoyed bingeing this report and catching up on your two trips! (And seeing your most recent runDisney trip pictures on social media, of course!) I wasn't going to multi-quote at first, so there are things I left out from early on, but then decided to start quoting partway through.

I always love your reports and your writing so much! They're always so readable and relatable, and you've got a great entertaining funny way of sharing these memories.

Every time you describe a travel incident where someone gets sick in your TRs—I can remember two over the years, but there have probably been more—I simultaneously shudder and am impressed about how you handle it. As a fellow emetophobe, I would have been majorly freaking out internally when Landon met his fate with the MCO trash can!

Have you ever had a moment on a Disney trip where you’ve gone, “This. This is the memory that’s going to stick out to me from this trip.”?

If so, what was it?



For me, I knew it was going to be this.

Sitting in Epcot, eating a snack, watching my babies goof around, I said to myself, “I’m going to remember this. I’m going to think back to this trip and the first thing that’s going to come to mind is this. Evie and Landon standing in front of me, kids being kids, while Alex and I look on.”

I remember writing about one of these moments in one of my TRs. It was a simple one, but sitting and waiting in the stands after Fantasmic for the theatre to clear out one evening, nowhere to rush to and totally relaxed, a fine mist in the air, and watching two little girls chasing bubbles around and playing together. I know I'd think of more if I thought about it for a bit, some trips had bigger things and some were more about little moments, but this one stands out from that trip.

The safari is Evie’s favorite attraction at Walt Disney World.

If you were to ask her what she wants to do most every Disney trip, without hesitation, she will say the safari.

Evie and I have this in common.

Evie was completely starstruck. When we talk about kids and them getting swept away in the Disney magic, this was the perfect example. I’ve never seen Evie so happy in the parks before. Her smile was ear to ear, and you could tell from her expression she couldn’t believe this was happening.

If Alex and I randomly getting an “It’s a Boy” vinylmation a month before we found out we were having Landon is our magical Disney moment, and if Landon pulling the sword out of the stone is his, then meeting Rey is definitely, one hundred percent Evie’s.


This will forever be: THE TRIP WHERE EVIE MET REY.

This is so amazing!! She must have been completely in awe. <3 This was me, I think, on the trip when we happened to unexpectedly meet Paige O'Hara and got her to sign a print.

As we were packing up and getting ready to head out, I decided to make the kids pose for one last photo.

One of my favorite shots from the trip!

Such a wonderful photo! They look like they're straight out of a Disney Parks brochure/commercial.

Evie swore she didn’t fall asleep on the way home that night. She was awake the entire time.

On this trip, I solifidied my suspicion that Wilderness Lodge is my favorite WDW resort.

I think it's probably mine, as well. It's so special. This is a gorgeous photo.

Mountains were explored:

Love this picture of your fam! Even though Landon got a little bit Mike Wazowski'd

One day I’m going to try some of the treats. I think the jelly beans and chocolate frogs are the only desserts I’ve tasted. Carly absolutely loves the Fizzing Whizbys and buys a box to bring home every trip.

I'm a fan of the peppermint toads, but haven't tried many of them.

But that was about the only amazing thing about the restaurant.

Maybe we were all too tired to be openminded. Maybe with the heat we were more critical. Maybe we were too big a group to get a great dining experience.


Or maybe Mythos is just lackluster.

We've had a couple of decent meals there, and one or two less so, but I feel like the food quality doesn't really live up to expectations.

Upon getting into the other park, most of my group had a confession to make.

We had reached our limit.

It was too hot, too busy, too much of everything. Our ability to have fun was spent.

A lot of people were ready to go home.

Well, this caused a bit of drama within the group. Some were happy to go, some were upset we only spent half a day in the parks.

It was a whole thing.

Nothing to dwell on, everyone’s gotten over it, but it was definitely a good reminder that traveling with 9 people is hard. I would not recommend doing it in the summer when tensions rise quickly.

Totally fair. Good for you for asking for what you need. But yeah, I can imagine how drama may have occurred with a group this size when something doesn't go according to how people are expecting. Any time that size group travels together, especially in the heat, I feel like some upset is possible. It happened by mid-day the one time we park-toured with Nathan's whole family as well (party of 7.) People got hurt feelings/got miffed with each other pretty easily by the time the heat and fatigue had set in,

When I get hungry in Animal Kingdom, there’s one place I always head to for a bite to eat.

Satu’li Canteen.

Same! Well, that, and Nomad Lounge. And we like some of the table service. Really, we're good with most of the food at AK. But I especially love Satu'li Canteen.

I think Alex and I would be willing to try Whispering Canyon Café again if we were in a large group and wanted to partake in the antics. Since it was only us two at the table, our server didn’t do anything, but we were able to see a big group next to us have a lot of fun.

I think we feel the same way. It can be fun when you get to enjoy the antics, but even when we've had an animated server, it feels a little silly when you're just a party of two. I feel like it would feel less awkward and more fun with a bigger group. And we've always had decent food there, but nothing to enthusiastically write home about.

Once my mom got her diagnosis, we changed our plans to have Alex’s mom come and stay with the kids while we were gone. But then Alex’s mom was diagnosed with cancer. (In a six day span we got those pieces of news. It was a HARD WEEK.)

My goodness, what an ordeal for your family to go through! I'm glad to know that they both had good recoveries, but can imagine how incredibly difficult it must have been for you all.

FOP was a one and done for my mom. She said it made her motion sick, but she was glad she experienced it.

“I did it. But never again.”

Your mom and I have this in common. I will NEVER do it again, but I'm glad I can at least know what I'm missing now.

Because I was solo, I took a lot of group photos for people. My lack of being able to be on my phone left me free to look around and observe everything, so lots of people took that as an opening. I just hope they all turned out all right.

Very kind of you! A kind solo runner did the same for us when we ran the 5K with my mom, and it's so nice to have a picture of the three of us together now to look back on.

Monsters Inc. is my favorite Pixar film

Me too! I think Finding Nemo is probably an objectively better Pixar film, but I love Monster's Inc more.

I celebrated with my mom, called Alex and the kids, who were so supportive of me. Landon couldn’t wait to tell me, “We watched you, Mom!” (There’s a runner tracking page.) “We saw you were going fast!”

This is so sweet! They must have been proud of you

Meanwhile, my mom did laundry.

Such an exciting task.

But as she said: “I love you, daughter, but I’m not spending three more nights in this room with all these workout clothes hanging around.”

I walked up when they were finishing their set with “Dare You To Move.”

The ghost of my fourteen year old self was cheering

Oh gosh, this song takes me back!!!

We all have the people in our lives who look at us like we’re crazy for being Disney fans. They JUST. DON’T. GET. IT.

And that’s all right.

Because us DISers do.

We see the worth.

We understand the value.

And we’ll keep taking as many trips as we can.

Because we never know what is coming for us in the future.

You could be like me and go to Disney with your mom and have an amazing time, and then five months later learn she’s sick.

One afternoon when I was sitting with my mom after her surgery, we were talking about our morning in Galaxy’s Edge, laughing at something mundane that occurred.

A completely crappy time, and we used Disney to relieve the stress.

The Disney trips are worth it.

You can’t change my mind.

Chills.

Thank you so much for sharing this trip with us! Another great TR--really, two!--in the books!