Birthday trip recap-lite

[Patsy Baloney]

I thought I would post a short recap of our most recent trip for my DD’s 10th birthday. Her nana (my mom) wanted to take her on a special visit to celebrate double digits. We had a lot of fun extras on our trip and had an absolute blast in all of the parks.

Some extras we did -

Princess 5K
Magic Kingdom Fireworks Treats & Seats package
Magic Kingdom After Hours event
Fantasmic dining package

We hit all the parks and a lot of great restaurants, too. We also used Magicband+, and I can say after using it in December and again in February, they are doing a lot of work to integrate extra features and make those even more fun.

Day 1
Fly in, check in to Port Orleans Riverside, head to EPCOT

We used Sunshine Flyer for transportation. Great service, reasonable cost, but if you’re flying Southwest, be ready to walk all the way across the airport to terminal A for pickup

Port Orleans Riverside is BEAUTIFUL. This was my first time staying there. I did not love being tethered to the bus system (we had previously stayed at a Skyliner resort and got spoiled) but buses run so frequently and our room was right by the first bus stop, we got spoiled there, too. The staff were fantastic, food court was good. I would definitely stay there again.

We got to EPCOT in the afternoon and I had been stacking rides via Genie+ and Lightning Lane all day. We rode everything, did a walk around the world showcase, and had dinner at Via Napoli. Delicious!

Day 2
Hollywood Studios and ESPN Wide World of Sports/bib pickup
I don’t understand rope drop. This was the only day we got to the park early. Omfg, what a cluster. Does anyone actually know how to use the ticket finger scanners? Because the 974 people in front of us in line did not. We did a handful of rides, but Genie+ was a bust that day because we were trying to leave early. Had an awesome lunch at Prime Time, saw the Indiana Jones show and buzzed out to ESPN.

This was my second time doing a RunDisney event, and I love them. However, be ready to walk your ass off. We had to go to 1 building for our bibs, 1 for our race shirts, 1 for merch. Totally fine, we spent too much money, got our pictures taken with Princess Minnie and Princess Daisy, and marveled how we had already walked 2 5Ks that day 🤣

Day 3
Princess 5K and EPCOT
We were up at 2:30am to get dressed and head out to the race. My DD wanted us to be DuckTales themed, so she was Webby, I was Mrs. Beakley and my mom was Magica DeSpell. With tutus…of course! We walked to the main building at Riverside for pickup and rode over to the race (all 3 miles at EPCOT). We headed to our corral and had a fun pre show for about an hour and were sent off on the course with a countdown and fireworks. The vibe was great, just so, so happy. EPCOT was all lit up; characters were out; staff and volunteers were cheering for us; there was a marching band and gospel choir. It was just fantastic fun. The only bummer was that the character lines were just too long. We’d still be running the 5K if we had stopped for pictures, unfortunately.

But the medal was beautiful, my mom and daughter were so happy, and we got some fantastic pictures of the 3 of us having tons of fun.

We got back to Riverside and they had a celebration table set up! They had fun photo frames to take pictures with and had princess crowns for the finishers. It was so sweet!

We had a big Mickey waffle breakfast, took a nap, headed out to EPCOT where I had once again been stacking Genie+ reservations all day, and just smashed the park. Had a great dinner at Garden Grill and finished the night watching Harmonius. LOVE that show. I’m so sad it’s leaving.

Day 4
Magic Kingdom
Had breakfast at the Crystal Palace, rode a ton of rides (all hail Genie+) saw a marching band and the parade. Took the boat to Wilderness Lodge for dinner at Artist Point - this was really special. Unique food and the characters were fun. Snow White was perfect and just so, so, so sweet to my DD. Dopey and Grumpy cracked us up and the invitation to meet The Queen after dinner was fantastic. 5 stars, would recommend! Lol

Day 5
Hollywood Studios
We had an awesome breakfast at Kona, explored the Polynesian a bit, headed over to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, stacked the hell out of Genie+, and had a MAJORLY AWESOME day. My DD did a droid build - that was a ridiculously fun 20 minutes. I hated parting with so much $$$ for it, but it was great. She built a BB model and we took it to BB-8’s meet and greet to show it. BB-8 let out a happy squeal and my DD was beside herself. It was hilarious.

We had dinner at SciFi (yum, but slow that night) and went to Fantasmic. I don’t think you need the dining package - there are a ton of seats. But we got to sit front row, and that was amazing! LOOOOVE Fantasmic. Don’t miss it.

Day 6
Magic Kingdom/Treats and Seats/After Hours
This day was so special. We spent the morning swimming and headed over to MK in the afternoon. Rode a few rides, had dinner at Be Our Guest (good menu, pricey, I hate how loud this restaurant is! My mom is hard of hearing and it was definitely a struggle for her there. Put up some drapes, Beast!), and then headed over for the dessert buffet at Tomorrowland Terrace. WOW! This was such a great experience. We had a magnificent view of the fireworks and the buffet was DELICIOUS. I felt like a stuffed tick afterward. Just so, so great. Then, we knocked out rides and popcorn and Mickey bars all night for the after hours event. Do this if one of these happens while you’re there. The park is so dead. They do not oversell these like they do the parties. It’s fantastic. Our longest wait was 10-15 minutes to ride Mine Train early in the night. By about 11, everything was walk on. Incredible.

My DD turned 10 at midnight and people were cheering for her. It was just an extremely special day. I hope I never forget that feeling of being so happy I could burst into a million pieces of glitter.

Day 7
Animal Kingdom
My mom paid for a Capture the Moment photo shoot for us on this day. This was a really positive experience. Our photographer and his assistant took us to several places throughout the park. The time period was only supposed to be 20 minutes. He spent about double that with us. He took us to the tree of life and several other beautiful backgrounds. We posed with our run medals, with each other, and then my daughter had some solo shots. I’m plus size, so I was feeling a little eeeeeh about this, but the pictures were great and even being hypercritical with myself, I found no flaws. So happy we had these done.

The rest of the day was magic. We kept trying to get a genie for the Safari, but it kept closing during our time, so we stacked about 4 of the anywhere Genie passes. We rode whatever my daughter wanted again and again, then later on in the day went on back-to-back safaris. My DD was picked to volunteer for her favorite show (Feathered Friends in Flight, she LOVES birds) and the hosts posed with her for a pic afterwards while holding a blue macaw. I thought she was going to rise up into the clouds she was so happy.

The next day, we checked out of Riverside (they picked up our luggage and drove us to the main building, that was so awesome!) and rode the sunshine flyer back to the airport. Totally smooth and a great travel day.

We had a truly magical time! I’m sad to be home! Lolsob

[Patsy Baloney]

Oh, and if you’re celebrating something - wear the hell out of your celebration pin and note it at restaurants. My kid got treated like a queen all week. And it was so wonderful seeing how many park visitors went out of their way to wish her a happy birthday. Just so, so special!

[gretchenindisguise]

That sounds so incredibly magical. I was smiling the whole way while reading it.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Ahh! This sounds like a wonderful trip! David is celebrating his 8th at Hollywood Studios, as well as his first trip all week, and I just imagine him basking in all the attention.

I''m so glad to hear you liked the after hours thing. I want to do that, hope they still have them in June. Also, looking into treats and sweets asaprocky, I love dessert!

[Patsy Baloney]

Mar 2, 2023 16:57:24 GMT -5 ProfessorArtNerd said:

Ahh! This sounds like a wonderful trip! David is celebrating his 8th at Hollywood Studios, as well as his first trip all week, and I just imagine him basking in all the attention.

I''m so glad to hear you liked the after hours thing. I want to do that, hope they still have them in June. Also, looking into treats and sweets asaprocky, I love dessert!

He’s going to looooove it. Literally every cast member you pass will say happy birthday to him. My daughter was tickled because someone wished her a “happy activation day,” in the Star Wars area. There were a couple restaurants who gave her special desserts and birthday cards signed by staff and characters. It was awesome.

Treats and seats was the bomb!! My mom booked it for us and holy crap, I ate so much. Most of the desserts are in individual little shot glass size things. It looked like a college Jell-O shot party once I was done 🤣

[nicolewi]

I loved your trip report. Made me happy to read it! Sounds like a totally magical time. Your daughter will always remember that trip!

[dcrunnergirl52]

What an amazing trip! I felt like I could feel your DD's smile coming through in the post alone. So happy for you all!