And Then There Were Three - the big (double) surprise

[Dixiechic]

And Then There Were Three - the big (double) surprise.

Friday 6th May 2022
Day 5

The alarm was set for 6 but I had been woken up a few times in the night having heard my name shouted - apparently I was snoring.

I got up showered and out the last bits on to the day bag - the had to use extender bag as we had so much stuff. We loaded ourselves up and said goodbye to our stateroom. Victor was outside so we said goodbye to him too and headed for the royal palace restaurant. Limited breakfast items so we can’t scan the full menu. Phoebe decides she’s still full from yesterday, I just have a cheese omelette and a piece of toast and Jas has scrambled egg, bacon, breakfast potatoes and toast.

We are back on port wifi and I discover from someone in the Facebook group that there was a space x launch early this morning. I’m gutted. I went to look up
Launch dates before we flew out but must have got distracted as I didn’t then do it.

Just as we finish it’s announced that all passengers are cleared to disembark. We head off and into the lower level of the port where it’s super organised with all of the cases lined up in different catergories. We head to Daisy Duck and collect our bags, through passport control and are in the minivan to the rental car place by 7.34. Luckily we don’t have ‘give me a tip man’

New rental car collected - a jeep cherokee - this one has the gps enabled on the screen so we enter our hotel details and are on our way.

We arrive just after 9 and go in to see if we can store our luggage - good news - our room is ready! We head up and have a quick look round. We are staying at Staybridge suites Seaworld and have a 2 bedroom suite. No bed arguments!

The girls have a quick wifi catch up and then we head back out to Justin Jeep. When the bus lady took us to the Dolphin, she told us there was lots of road construction on Disney property so we knew our gps might be a bit sketchy. After less than 20 minutes we were on Disney property and following the Epcot diversion signs to get to magic kingdom. Less than 20 minutes from the hotel and we were parking up. It felt great to get back on the tram and I didn’t even mind the ferry! I usually hate the faffing of the monorail or ferry as I just want to get there. Bag check is so much better now too. There is a big area before the ferry and it was just the airport style walk through thingys and they then only check your bag if you set the alert off.

We stopped at guest relations and picked up our souvenir 50th anniversary tickets and sorted a small reservation problem we had.

We were back in the Disney park after 3 years! Jas was hungry by this point and asked if she could have something to eat. We used mobile ordering for Casey’s corner and ordered a hotdog fries and 2 drinks. I don’t notice anywhere for choosing a size of drink and ended up with 2 buckets full.

It would appear that the love bugs are just starting to appear. Last time we came they were in full force at the beginning of our trip but we’ve only seen a handful so far.

We get a couple of photo pass opportunities

and then phoebe notices that space mountain is back up and has a 25 minute wait So the girls head off there. I decline as the last two times I’ve ridden it I’ve either hurt my back or my neck. I’ll be gutted if they get to ride with the lights on though! 35 minutes later the ride has gone down again and hoards of people have streamed out but no sign of the girls. I wait until 1pm which is 50 minutes after they started queuing and then go and speak to a cast member at the entrance. I ask if there are people stuck on the ride as my daughters haven’t re- emerged yet. As the words are out of mouth they come sauntering along.

They had joined the queue literally as the ride had come back up so the 25 mins was a false time. They’d pretty much walked up the ride cars, set off and just before the second drop the brakes are slammed on. They don’t know what’s happening as they can still hear the ride running but they then realise that it’s the other side of the track that’s still running. About 5 mins after they stopped the lights came on! Phoe says to Jas, get that camera out! It was on my bucket list to see space mountain with the lights on and I achieved this in 2019 but only by seeing it from the people mover, not on the actual ride.

Several cast members came up to them and said they would get them down shortly. They were buzzing when they got off and said I should have gone on! They were given a lightning lane pass to go on again when it comes back up.

We then went to Indy speedway as that was only a 10 minute wait followed by goofy’s barnstormer. Voyage if the little mermaid was after that with a 25 minute wait. Times posted have been accurate so far. We then went to find the cheeseburger spring rolls and got one those along with the 50th anniversary pastrami one. Both were very tasty.

A cool sit down was needed next so we went to Mickey’s philarmagic. We decided to call it a day after this but head back via space mountain. The app was showing it still down but as we approached it was back up so off the girls went. They were back In less than 10 minutes as it was a walk on

We headed out through the shops. Jas was after one or 2 of the retro t-shirts that have been brought out as part of the 50th anniversary. She managed get one of them.

The temperature is hot hot hot and that combined with the late night and early morning we’re all feeling it.

We head home via Disney springs as Jas wants a white magic band but there are none to be found. We find Phoe and she’s still face timing Connor so we go in to Uniqlo as Jas likes their T-shirts. A lady directed us to the self check out - this was one of the most genius things I’ve ever seen. She told me to drop my items in the box shaped hole, it then told me that I had 4 items and how much they cost! No scanning, just dump them in.

We then go back to the car and out into the satnav to take us to publix to get some supplies. I miss the turning we need and get rerouted on to the i4 so it takes a bit longer than it should.

Things have definitely got more expensive the same as they have at home but some things are silly expensive. A nicely wrapped up cucumber like we have at home was almost $3 but the kind that you’d get in Spain or if you grow it yourself was 89 cents. A 500g pack of lean mince was $9!

$155 later we are done - we have plenty of shooing bags but not a lot of food! It’s less than 5 minutes back to the hotel - we were going to stop at Olive Garden on the way back but we hadn’t looked up the address while we had wifi and by the time we’d have got all the shopping in it would have gone cold. So we’re hoping to get it delivered. This is where a villa would have been better as we’d have just pulled on to the drive and taken the shopping in. Luckily there was a space right opposite the front door and I went in and got a luggage trolley that we loaded up.

Back into the apartment and it’s carnage, our suitcases are still open on every bit of floor space where we left them after we arrived and now there are 95.000 public carrier bags. Jas is out in charge of looking for food delivery while phoe and I empty the shopping. Bad new - Olive Garden doesn’t appear to be on and food delivery site so we have no choice but to head out again.

It’s a 10 minute drive. We place the order. Phoebe is please to see that there is a gluten free pasta. Jas gets a kids spaghetti and meat sauce which comes with fries and phoe and I share a creamy mushroom pasta with the infamous salad and breadsticks. Jas has a gift voucher that I brought her back from a work trip in feb 2020 so it’s a bargain meal for less than $15

It’s 9 o’clock by the time we get back and eat and we are all totally shattered and our feet are killing us. Phoebe keeps saying that she didn’t think we were going to spend as long in magic kingdom as we did - she didn’t at any point before we left say ‘shall we only do a couple of hours’!

We decide that tomorrow there will be no alarms we’ll just wake up naturally and go to Hollywood studios when we’re ready. This is totally alien to us as we’re rope droppers! We will just have to go with flow.

It’s almost 11 by the time I get into bed after unpacking and having a bath. 20.000 steps today. I’m in the bedroom that houses the a/c unit for the apartment - it sounds like a 747 taking off when it kicks in so I see that this is going to go well!

Phoebe’s point of view:

Day 5 -

I don’t know what happened but all of a sudden I was wide awake and mum was right in front of my and I pooped my pants. I was in and out of sleep all night and at one point mum was snoring so loudly and I was shouting MUM several times and there was nothing. In a real emergency Jas and I would be screwed! I drag myself out of bed at 6:15 and start getting ready and packing the last minute stuff in our newly giant handbags. Headed down to breakfast at the Royal Palace. Mum had a cheese omelet and Jas had some scrambled eggs bacon and breakfast potatoes. I was not hungry at all, I’ve eaten so much more since Monday than I have done in my entire life and my tummy was still hurting. I had a token fruit bowl and ate 3 tiny bits of watermelon and passed the rest to mum. I was connected back to the port wifi now so I can finally catch up in the world and get onto my beloved WhatsApp and insta reels of salads 🤣 And I need to get up to date on the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial!

We finish breakfast and get off the ship and walk through to the luggage area where all the cases were laid out. I think for some reason the 3 of us thought we’d have some more time to just chill but no we were literally shipped off! Cases collected and through customs and out to the shuttle to get back to the car rental place. We were the first ones into the queue and the man got our cases in and said he’d take us right back, 7:36am! We’re gonna be in Magic Kingdom for rope drop at this point! I’m joking obvs mum drives at the speed of a snail.

Checked in to get the car and I also hand my license over, I’ve been waiting for ages to be able to finally drive over here! I wanted to do it in 2019 but because we’d booked everything separately as it was a big trip and costing us all sorts of arms and legs, it would be something ridiculous like $200 a day!? Because I was under 25. Well this time, as Miss Phoebe booked the trip, Miss Phoebe added in the gold plus car insurance where you can have under 25’s drive, which meant Miss Phoebe could drive! I’m so excited. We go outside and pick up a black jeep, she looks like my Melody, big and fancy with the built in GPS and she has a reversing camera 🖤 Jas is struggling to get the cases in again and makes comments how we’re just standing there but I’ll be no help so I’ll just move away. GPS set up to the hotel and we’re on our way!

We get to the hotel at about 9:15 after I fell asleep and we had a near miss! Get the cases out and into the hotel to leave them whilst we go out and about. The lady tells us we’re able to get into our room now so up we go! We’ve found a hairdryer and an ice cube maker but no safe! Re connect to the wifi and set off for Magic Kingdom an hour later. Jas and mum fall out over the GPS and what address to put in and then which turn to take! I can already feel myself falling asleep in the car which isn’t great!

We pull into the Magic Kingdom car park and park up and get the tram across the car park to the TTC and jump on the ferry across to Magic Kingdom. They’ve got a new system in place where you walk through an airport type scanner rather than the bag check they used to have. We’re though in no time and head guest services to check in out tickets and get the 50th anniversary cards.

We stop at Casey’s Corner for Jas to have a snack and the plan is to go over to Under the Sea, Journey of The Little Mermaid and we see that Space Mountain is back up and only a 25 min wait after previously being down. Mum says she’s giving it a miss as last time it hurt her back but she’ll regret it if the lights suddenly come on. Famous last words! Jas and I set off and we walk pretty much all the way and we’re on the ride within 20 mins. We set off and I remember how much I love this ride and why it’s my fave. We’re on the ride less than 30 seconds and as we come to the next drop, the breaks are slammed on and we’ve come to a stop. We’re all looking around at each other especially as we can feel the track underneath us and trying to push us forward as well everyone else still moving. I start to get a bit sweaty at this point thinking why are people still moving and Jas says it’s because of the gravity and they’ll slow down. I’m not sure how much longer we’re sat there for whilst people are still going round and everyone is starting to get a bit more worried at the situation. It then goes quiet from the sound of other carts moving and you can just hear us and the background music. I’m thinking gosh will the lights come on? Jas is filming ready and before we know it, the lights are on!

I’m so excited because this is a rare occurrence! We’re taking some pictures and looking around like we’re at a museum! We must have been sat there for a total of 20 minutes before a cast member appears to say they’ll be getting us out shortly.

Eventually we’re out and running to mum to tell her what’s just happened and she’s sooooo jealous. We then queue for Indi Speedway and tell her all about it. I say I’m surprised you didn’t get on the blue thing (people mover) to see it! Indi Speedway said 15 mins I think but it was closer to 10 and we pretty much walked straight on. Then onto Barnstormer which was another 10 minutes. We then went to look in the big top souvenir shop for the magic band Jas wanted but no luck. Then onto Under the Sea, Journey of The Little Mermaid. Classic. What I didn’t realise before we got here is that Ariel’s Grotto hasn’t reopened yet!? Jas tells me that not all the characters are back yet so if she’s not back by the time we go home, I’ll be telling Ursula to pay her a little visit! Aka I’ll be booking another trip.

After this I thought we’d then call it a day but the others wanted to make the most of it as we’d paid $25 doubloons. I can’t quite remember what we did next but it might have been to locate the famous spring rolls and then onto PhillarMagic. We questioned It’s a Small World but at 25 mins decided none of us enjoyed it that much to wait so we were going to head to the shops and then what I thought was home! We’d forgotten we had an lightening lane pass for Space Mountain after our rescue mission earlier on but it was still down. Jas then spots it’s open so we’re back over there for round 2. It’s showing as a 60 minute wait already but we walked straight through and then as we were a group of 2, jumped about 20 people in front and walked right up to the gate!

Then onto Disney Springs to look for the chuffing magic band that they still didn’t have. Jas went into Uniqulo whilst I FaceTimed Connor. After this we stopped at Publix to pick up some goodies. $158 and not even a full meal later, we set back off to the hotel hoping we’d be able to Uber Eats an Olive Garden! I said shall I drive home which was met with a big fat NO. I have a feeling Miss Phoebe won’t be driving this trip and spent wasted coin on the insurance upgrade! Turns out we couldn’t get the food delivered so back out to get it. We ordered a kids pasta bolognese for Jas which came with an apple juice and fries. Mum and I shared a GF creamy mushroom pasta and then had the salad and breadsticks too. By the time we’ve ordered and waiting for it to be cooked, I’m done. I’m tired. I’m cold. I’m past hungry. My feet ache. I need a wee. I’m cold and I’m done. I don’t have it in me to talk to mum about god knows what abs I certainly don’t have it in me to deal with her driving on the way back! Jas is in the front and I’m in the back with the food and fall asleep holding it.

Back upstairs and I eat and have a bath and put away my case bits and straight into bed. Hollywood Studios opens at 8am tomorrow and I don’t see that happening! We shall see.

Number of times mums tripped today - 2
Number of times mums nearly killed us all with the driving - 4
Number of times I’ve asked to drive but been told no - 3
Number of cheese strings purchased in Publix - 12

See you in the AM kids x

[ClaireNJ]

Great day lots happening, what an experience on SM 🙊🙊
Always do a trip to Olive Garden one of our favs 😋😋
Decathlon have the same way to pay as Uniglo, drop it all in & it’s all done
Enjoy HS