July 20: EPCOT & Animal Kingdom Lodge

Today, we checked out of the Contemporary and loaded all of our luggage into the car. Later tonight, we would be checking into Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House) for our final two nights at Disney World.

The kids took the monorail directly over to EPCOT while Grant and I drove our car over to park it in the main lot. Tonight was Extended Evening Theme Park Hours for deluxe resort guests, and we wanted to have our car available as soon as the event ended so we wouldn't have to rely on potentially crowded late-night buses.

Once inside the park, we jumped in line for Spaceship Earth, which stopped a record NINE times while we were riding it! Absolute insanity!

While we were inside the ride, a massive Florida thunderstorm rolled in. We lingered near the ride exit for a while, waiting for the downpour to let up before attempting the move across World Celebration toward The Land pavilion. When a brief lull came, we booked it for the pavilion, but we didn't quite make it. We had to take shelter under the monorail track and pull out our umbrellas as the skies opened up all over again!

The heavy downpour was holding up Teri and Damien as well, so Grant, the kids, and I went ahead and took a ride on Living with the Land while waiting for them to arrive.

We all met up a little after 2:00 PM for our lunch reservation at Garden Grill Restaurant, the revolving restaurant located inside The Land. The entire dining room rotates slowly, giving you cool, overhead views of the rainforest and farmhouse scenes from the Living with the Land boat ride below. It’s also a character meal, so we got to visit with Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale while we ate!

The meal is served family-style and features an all-you-care-to-enjoy menu: fresh garden salad (made with veggies grown right inside the EPCOT greenhouses you ride through!), warm cornbread, green beans, zucchini, creamy macaroni and cheese, roasted turkey with gravy, grilled steak with chimichurri sauce, and warm strawberry shortcake for dessert. We absolutely love this restaurant, but not the steep price tag—we hadn't been back in probably ten years! We were so excited that it was included in the Annual Passholder 40% discount offer and thrilled to be back.

After lunch, we re-rode Living with the Land (of course!), this time bringing Teri and Damien along. Afterward, we headed over to the World Showcase to ride Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. Next, we stopped by Royal Sommerhus in Norway to meet Anna and Elsa and grab a few fun photos, browsed through the shops in China, and caught a showing of the Wonders of China Circle-Vision 360 film. We picked up a few delicious caramel treats in Germany before heading to The American Adventure pavilion to see the American Adventure.

Afterward, Geoffrey and Katelyn grabbed some Kakigōri shaved ice from the Japan pavilion. We planned to head over to Test Track next, but the standby line suddenly grew to 120 minutes! Instead, we swung by the DVC Lounge to check out their exclusive evening event, where we got to meet Mickey and Minnie in special outfits. Minnie absolutely LOVED my Captain EO shirt!

We took one last ride on Journey Into Imagination with Figment alongside Teri and Damien, gave them huge hugs, and said our goodbyes... they were heading back home to Ohio early the next morning. It was so awesome getting to spend the week with them!

Once we said our goodbyes, we headed over to Norway to ride Frozen Ever After. We stepped into line around 9:10 PM—during the fireworks, but after the park had officially closed to day guests—so only eligible resort guests were allowed into the queue. The wait only took about 30 minutes!

Next, we marched over to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind because the posted wait was sitting at 50 minutes, whereas Test Track was still posted at 70 minutes. We were really hoping to knock out all three big headliners during Extended Evening Hours, so with fingers crossed, we stepped into the Guardians queue around 9:45 PM.

Our strategy worked like a charm! We were loaded onto the ride by 10:30 PM (getting a different song for this trip: "One Way or Another" by Blondie!), and we were already making our way toward Test Track by 10:50 PM with ten full minutes to spare. We even had time for a quick restroom stop!

Test Track recently underwent a major reimagining (making this the third version of the attraction), and it is so much better than Version 2.0! It includes some cool nostalgic callbacks to the original World of Motion and the 1999 ride. We were really pleased with all the updates and glad we got to experience it before the night ended.

We left EPCOT and drove over to check into our new room at Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House). Our room was located on the 5th floor of the Zebra Wing. Although we hadn't booked a Savannah View room, we were thrilled to discover the next morning that we could see large sections of the savanna right from our balcony! Over the next two mornings, we spotted giraffes, zebras, bongos, and springboks roaming around not too far in the distance. We were super excited. 

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July 21: Disney's Hollywood Studios & EPCOT

Today we decided to catch a few last-minute attractions we had missed earlier in the trip. After enjoying lunch off-property at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, we started our afternoon back at Hollywood Studios to see the updated Voyage of the Little Mermaid stage show. It is much improved, featuring an extended finale, far better use of live performers (Prince Eric especially!), a gorgeous new "Kiss the Girl" musical sequence, and enhanced stage effects that improve the entire show.

Next, we caught a showing of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! it's one of those classic shows we  enjoy, but we always fear each showing might be our last because the concept is so dated. We wouldn't be at all surprised if Disney decides to bulldoze it one day for a new land! Before leaving the park, we took a quick ride on Star Tours since it was a complete walk-on.

From there, we boarded the Disney Skyliner and glided over to EPCOT. We originally planned to ride Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, but the standby queue was too long. Instead, we ducked into the DVC Lounge for some free drinks and snacks, then took one last flight on Soarin’ Over America. We explored the Moana: Journey of Water trail, and then walked over to Mission: SPACE.

Sigh... I love the concept of Mission Space so much, but the visual projection system is in such bad shape! The film stutters, shakes, and looks incredibly dusty. I can't believe Disney doesn't maintain the ride better... it breaks my heart to see the level of disrepair it's kept in, considering how incredible it could be. Plus, given how easily this ride makes people motion-sick, cleaning up and smoothing out the visual displays would definitely help prevent nausea!

Anyway, once we stepped off, we took the Skyliner back to Hollywood Studios, rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster one last time, and capped off our evening by watching Fantasmic!.

After the show, we drove back over to Skyline Chili for another late-night meal of chili spaghetti and Barq's Red Creme Soda before heading back to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our final night's sleep in Orlando!

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July 22: Animal Kingdom & Flight Home to Denver

This morning, we checked out of Animal Kingdom Lodge (saying a fond farewell to the bongo hanging out near our balcony) and packed up the car.

We grabbed breakfast at one of my favorite Florida spots: Maple Street Biscuit Company. I always order "The Farmer," which is a fresh-baked biscuit stacked with a fried chicken tender, melted cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, and sweet apple butter. Unbelievably good! Grant loves the power bowl - spinach, tomatoes, avocado, eggs, and a balsamic glaze Both kids go for the Sweet Grace - a chocolate chip waffle topped with strawberries and whipped cream, although sometimes Geoffrey will switch it up for biscuits and gravy - but today was a sweet grace day for both of them. 

Next, we drove over to Animal Kingdom for our final park visit. We headed straight for Expedition Everest, which in hindsight might not have been the best choice: it was brutally hot out, and a large portion of that queue has zero shade. (Why, Disney? At Universal, there wasn't any queue we waited in that was in the sun - at Disney, there were several that had portions out in the sun. Really, Disney? This isn't something we'd really noticed about Disney until more recently, as out trips to Universal have increased.... as have the temperatures in Florida, it seems. MOST of Disney's lines are indoors or covered, but there are several of them with significant outdoor portions that have some ocassional umbrellas - it was noticiale on this trip that there were more situations like this at Disney than Universal. 

Anyways.... afterward, we ducked indoors to watch Festival of the Lion King, which we hadn't seen yet this trip. The heat was showing no signs of breaking when we exited the theater, so we headed out on Kilimanjaro Safaris. A highlights moment on this ride was a major traffic delay caused by a few white rhinos who decided they wanted to stand right in the middle of the dirt road! All the safari jeeps had to hold position for about 10 minutes until the rhinos slowly felt like moving along. One rhino stood so close to our vehicle that Geoffrey could have reached out and petted it!

Since the sweltering heat still wasn't letting up, we decided to catch another showing of Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!. Afterward, we decided to hunt down a cool treat. We were originally heading toward a Dole Whip stand, but passed a kiosk serving Kakigōri shaved ice (watermelon and passionfruit flavors) that sounded super refreshing. Unfortunately, this particular batch was not great quality: the shaved ice instantly froze into one solid, hard block - nothing like the fluffy shaved ice served at EPCOT. We either had to wait for it to melt down completely or try to bite chunks out of it—eating it with a spoon was impossible! The syrup flavor was nice, but it took forever to consume and difficult to share. Oh well—live and learn!

We had about an hour left before we needed to leave for the airport (our goal was to walk out of the park by 6:00 PM). Avatar Flight of Passage had a posted 45-minute wait, so we decided to end our trip with one final flight over Pandora.

Unfortunately, the ride broke down while we were sitting on our ride vehicles! We were fully loaded and strapped in when an automated announcement started going off every few minutes warning us of a delay. After about 10 minutes, a Cast Member informed us that there was a technical issue with our specific row and that they would need to unstrap everyone and move us to a different theater. By then, it was already past 6:00 PM and we had a plane to catch, so we made the tough call to just exit the ride. A bummer, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes! We had an absolute blast overall and we know we'll be back again soon.

We exited Animal Kingdom and drove straight to Orlando International Airport (MCO), making a quick stop at CAVA to grab dinner for the plane and topping off the rental car with gas. Airport security wasn't too terrible, though I really wish all airport checkpoints would hurry up and upgrade to the new modern scanners so you don't have to pull all your laptops and electronics out of your bags... that bogs down the line so much!

Our flight ended up delayed by an hour and a half due to severe summer weather in Denver, so we hung out near our gate and took turns walking around the terminal. Eventually, we boarded, took off, and touched down in Denver a little after midnight (Colorado time). Luckily, we had booked a room at the Westin Denver International Airport right at the terminal, so we were tucked into our hotel beds in less than 30 minutes from stepping off the plane!

July 23: Returning Home to Steamboat

Blake and Helena picked us up from the airport hotel in the morning, and we all went out for lunch at the Denver Biscuit Company (what can I say... I really love my biscuits, and you just can't get good ones at home!). Grant and I split a chicken tender biscuit sandwich topped with cheddar cheese and Mike's Hot Honey, a giant biscuit cinnamon roll, and a side of cheese grits. Geoffrey got a full breakfast platter with eggs, bacon, and a biscuit with jam, while Katelyn ordered a big ass slice of cheese pizza. (That's literally what the menu item is called.) 

After lunch, we swung by Blake and Helena's house to hang out for a bit and see the dogs. Then, we loaded up our car (now fitted with its newly installed windshield!) and, after a quick restocking stop at Costco, made the three-hour drive back up the mountains to Steamboat!

We arrived home around 8:00 PM and were so excited to see Mom, Bobby G, and of course, Wrigley—who had a wonderful time being spoiled rotten by Grandma Patty and Grandpa Bobby G while we were away!

We had a truly fabulous time in Florida, but it feels so good to be back "home" in Steamboat Springs!

July 16 - 19: EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, "Rest Day" (Magic Kingdom), MGM

July 16: EPCOT

After our late night, we slept in today and enjoyed a leisurely start to our morning. We didn’t arrive at EPCOT until later in the afternoon. Taking the monorail over from our resort is always a treat, and we couldn’t help but smile as we walked into one of our absolute favorite parks in Disney World. Once inside, we went straight to the DVC Lounge to fill up our water bottles and grab a quick snack to tide us over until our dinner reservation.

Next, we met Teri and Damien over at The Seas with Nemo & Friends for a ride through the aquarium. You may be surprised to learn that Damien rode right alongside Katelyn once again! Afterward, we headed over to The Land pavilion and took a peaceful boat ride on Living with the Land. I really wish Disney realized just how much these simple, classic, educational rides are what make EPCOT so special.

At 4:00 PM, we had reservations at Coral Reef Restaurant, the seafood spot located inside The Seas pavilion. They were offering a 40% Annual Passholder discount, so we managed to snag a great last-minute dinner booking. The restaurant is really neat because the main dining room features floor-to-ceiling views directly into the giant Living Seas aquarium, with schools of fish and sharks swimming right by your table. The seating is cleverly designed on tiered levels so every table gets an unobstructed view of the marine life. However, between the metal tables and the low ceilings, the room gets super echoey and loud, so it wasn't the most relaxing environment. That said, we really enjoyed the food, and the price was fantastic (for Disney standards, anyway!).

Following dinner, we took a journey through human history on Spaceship Earth - again, we just love these classic rides! On this particular trip, our vehicle stopped three separate times along the track. Little did we know at the time that this would actually end up being one of our better runs through the old golf ball... yikes! It's such a wonderful, iconic ride, but it is in desperate need of a full mechanical tune-up.

In honor of America’s 250th anniversary, Disney put together a brand-new third edition of Soarin', this time called Soarin’ Over America. We went over to check it out, and overall, we really enjoyed it! It’s not 100% perfect—it still relies on some noticeable CGI in places—but it feels much closer in spirit to the classic Soarin' Over California, and it was certainly awesome to experience a fresh version featuring brand-new destinations across the country!

Next, we headed to Journey Into Imagination with Figment. This may have been Damien’s very first time on the ride (or at least his first in a really long time), but he was game to try it, and he ended up loving it! He thought Figment was awesome—which, of course, he is! After the ride, Teri and Damien said their goodnights and headed back to their hotel.

The rest of us started our evening stroll around the World Showcase, hanging a right toward Canada, passing the UK, and arriving in France to catch a showing of Impressions de France. You may recall, dear reader, that several of the actual locations we visited during our trip to France last summer were chosen specifically because we discovered 

them through Impressions de France. It was so exciting to sit in the theater, watch the film, and revisit the places we were lucky enough to see in person!

We continued our relaxed evening stroll around the lagoon, and since our timing was looking good, we popped into the Mexico pavilion to visit Donald, Panchito, and José on Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros.

We stepped off the boat around 8:40 PM, with about 20 minutes left before park close. Our plan was to jump into line for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind right at the final minute. We hit the restrooms, made a quick stop at Club Cool to sample Coca-Cola products from around the world, and swung by Creations Shop to pick up our complimentary Annual Passholder magnet (this season's design features Woody and Bullseye!).

Then, we rushed over to Guardians and stepped into line at precisely 8:58 PM. The Cast Member at the entrance tried to warn everyone stepping into the queue that it was a two-hour wait, but that didn't deter us. Quite frankly, we were skeptical the the line would actually take two hours... especially since the Lightning Lane queue closes right at 9:00 PM! Sure enough, we were loaded onto our Starjumper ride vehicle by 9:45 PM—our soundtrack track was "Conga" by Gloria Estefan!—and after that 45 minute wait, we were already back on the monorail heading to our resort by 10:00 PM! 

Once we got back to our room, we hopped in the car and headed out for a late-night bite at Skyline Chili! The Skyline location at Flamingo Crossings (right by the Disney College Program housing) stays open until 1:00 AM, making it the perfect spot for night owls like us. We enjoyed our chili-topped spaghetti and chili coneys, and Geoffrey officially discovered the deliciousness of a Chilito (chili, cheese, and spaghetti in a tortilla). And yes, they even have Barq's Red Creme Soda on tap!

July 17: Disney's Animal Kingdom

Happy 71st Birthday to Disneyland!

We always seem to end up at Animal Kingdom on July 17th, don't we, Katelyn?

Grant and Geoffrey woke up early today and drove over to Disney Springs for a 10:00 AM showing of The Odyssey! Geoffrey had reserved their movie tickets way in advance, so they had incredible seats—which was a good thing, because the theater was totally packed!

Katelyn and I slept in a bit longer and then walked down to catch a bus over to Animal Kingdom. The bus situation was rough: we waited 55 minutes for a bus to show up, which is really unusual. Disney bus service can be a little inconsistent, but it's usually a 15-to-30-minute wait at most. This was definitely an extreme delay.

Once we finally arrived, we met up with Teri and Damien inside the park. We originally planned to ride Expedition Everest, but it was incredibly windy, the standby line was long, and we were worried an approaching storm would shut down the outdoor track before we made it through. Instead, we went to see the new 3D show inside the Tree of Life theater, Zootopia: Better Zoogether!, which recently replaced It's Tough to be a Bug!. It started to rain while we waited in line, so moving our plans indoors was definitely the right call!

The Zootopia show was super cute, much less terrifying for little ones, and far more family-friendly than its predecessor (though I'll still miss the nostalgia of the old bug show). Change is okay sometimes, though, and it worked well here. My only real critique: if Disney is going to bring Zootopia into the parks, a whole immersive land seems tailor-made for Animal Kingdom, so I don't quite understand why they settled for just a 3D theater show!

Grant and Geoffrey arrived at the park right as our show finished, and we all met up at Satu'li Canteen in Pandora – The World of Avatar for lunch. This is easily one of our favorite quick-service spots on property because the food is so delicious and fresh—definitely not your standard theme park fare. They serve customizable grain and salad bowls topped with proteins like grilled chicken, beef, or tofu, dressed with yummy sauces.

The highlight of Animal Kingdom, of course, is Kilimanjaro Safaris, and that's where we headed after lunch. It was phenomenal, as always! The safaris keep running even in rain and lightning, which many people don't know since they assume because it's outside it is closed.... but unless it's extremely windy, you stay dry because the jeep has a large cover. By the time we boarded our truck, the worst of the storm had passed, but the sky remained cool and cloudy. The animals were out and active everywhere! The rare bongos were grazing right near the jeeps, the hippos were fully out of the water, the painted dogs were running around, the wildebeests and springboks were wandering across the open savanna, and the giraffes (including a cute one-year-old calf) were walking alongside the trees right near the track. Further down the trail, we spotted a mandrill (who is usually hiding!), several elephants (including the adorable two-year-old baby), a pack of cheetahs, and a majestic pride of lions. It was an incredible safari!

Following our trek through Africa, we caught the 3:30 PM performance of Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!. Next up was Expedition Everest—and Damien surprised us all by deciding to brave it! The coaster was a little intense for him, but I was so impressed that he gave it a shot anyway. Afterward, he and Teri visited the gift shop and bought a celebratory stuffed ostrich to commemorate his bravery, while the Benedicts headed back over to the Tree of Life so Grant and Geoffrey could catch the new Zootopia show.

Finally, we wrapped up our day at Animal Kingdom back in Pandora onboard Na'vi River Journey. After our boat ride, Teri and Damien caught an Uber over to Disney Springs (where we planned to meet them later), while we squeezed in a ride on Avatar Flight of Passage—easily one of my favorite attractions!

We left Animal Kingdom and met back up with Teri and Damien at Planet Hollywood in Disney Springs for dinner. The food was good and the restaurant environment was fun (though LOUD AGAIN!!), but the kitchen service was painfully slow. Our server was very attentive, but the food took forever to come out.

By the time we finished eating, we were all pretty exhausted, so we said our goodnights. On our way out, we made a quick stop at Basin to pick up a few of their fun mystery gift bags (I scored a full-sized Body Butter, along with bath salts, bath bombs, and sliced soaps!). Then, we headed back to our resort to crash.

July 18: A Day of Rest (Sure...)

Today was officially designated as a day of rest: a day with zero set plans, a day to chill out, and a day to sleep in.

So that’s exactly what we did.

Sort of.

We slept in, and we really did sleep for a long time. Eventually, though, we had to force ourselves out of bed—otherwise, we would have completely ruined our sleep schedules for the rest of the trip!

Once we got dressed, we wandered down to explore the lobby of the Contemporary, checking out the different gift shops. Then, we hopped on the Resort Monorail and rode it over to the Polynesian to check out the new DVC Tower (Island Tower at Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows). The tower features a fantastic new Hawaiian restaurant on the ground floor, so we decided to sit down for lunch. It was phenomenal! We ended up wildly overordering because everything on the menu sounded amazing: we got the ahi tuna nachos, Hawaiian chicken sliders, tofu noodle salad, a tofu poke bowl, and finished it off with a Dole Whip sundae. It was so delicious, and we definitely plan to eat here again!

After lunch, I hopped back on the monorail while Grant and the kids decided to walk the pedestrian path around Seven Seas Lagoon, heading from the Polynesian past the Grand Floridian and straight toward the Magic Kingdom.

Well, yes... technically it was our day off. And yes, technically we had no specific plans. But we decided to pop into the Magic Kingdom simply because it was RIGHT THERE, and we wanted to hit a few things we missed the other day (since we didn’t have any other Magic Kingdom days on our schedule). The kids and Grant rode the PeopleMover while waiting for me to arrive, and then we all met up at Mickey’s PhilharMagic. After enjoying the show, we caught the Country Bear Musical Jamboree before popping into the Frontierland DVC Lounge for a quick cold drink and snacks.

After that, Grant and I left the Magic Kingdom and walked back to the Contemporary to grab our car for a quick grocery run, while Geoffrey and Katelyn stayed behind at the park to ride a few more attractions. A fun highlight for them was catching a show at The Hall of Presidents, Geoffrey quietly and accuratly recited all the US presidents in chronological order during the roll call at the end!

Once Grant and I finished at the store, we decided to head back into the Magic Kingdom. Really, the main thing we wanted to see was the brand-new nighttime parade. We arrived around 9:30 PM, met the kids over at "it's a small world", and took a cruise through the ride before hopping on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Geoffrey went to grab a spot on Main Street, U.S.A. to watch the fireworks, while Grant, Katelyn, and I took two back-to-back spins on the PeopleMover. (Teri and I had discovered earlier in the week that Cast Members will often let you stay on the ride without unloading, and sure enough, they let us stay on again tonight! It was so peaceful watching the fireworks burst over the park from multiple vantage points as we glided along the elevated track.)

When we stepped off, we met Geoffrey over at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin for another round of target shooting. We exited the ride at 10:55 PM, so we briskly walked over to Frontierland and snagged a prime spot for the 11:00 PM parade. We love when Disney runs two parade performances in a single night! The second parade always draws significantly lighter crowds, meaning you can snag front-row, curb-side views just moments before step-off, especially in Frontierland and Liberty Square.

After the parade passed, we snapped some fun photos on Main Street and took the monorail back home to the Contemporary. We enjoyed a true "hotel dinner" tonight: leftover Skyline Chili, leftovers from the Polynesian, and a couple of frozen pizzas we had grabbed at the grocery store. We turned on Coco, ate our dinner, and had a chill evening! Did I mention we can see Tomorrowland and Main Street from our balcony? We went out every once in a while because they were testing Halloween lights on the caste and main street so that was cool to see! 

  

   

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July 19: Disney's Hollywood Studios (MGM Forever!)

Today we headed to Hollywood Studios—though it will always be MGM Studios to us! We met up with Teri and Damien, and after a bit of back-and-forth planning, we got started on our first attraction of the day: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. This ride used to be themed to Aerosmith, but it recently underwent a massive makeover and is now hosted by The Muppets. We have mixed feelings about this. The track layout itself the same, but it features new music, updated visuals, and some fun new animatronics at the end of the ride. We used Rider Switch for this one since Damien didn't want to ride—it goes upside down multiple times and the ride is indoors so he couldn't see the track to judge if ie he would like it or not.  Rider swap meant that Geoffrey and Katelyn got to ride twice - once with Grant and me and once with Teri. 

Next, we caught the brand-new Disney Villains Stage Show located right behind Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

• The Pros: Blast-of-cold-air AC, comfortable theater seats with real backrests (no hard benches!), impressive digital backdrop screens, and 

• wildly talented live performers!

• The Cons: Unfortunately, there were only three live performers on stage, and they were blended heavy-handedly with animated screen projections. The finale felt a little weak. Still, overall, it was a really fun show and a great addition to that corner of the park!

We conquered The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror next, taking turns waiting with Damien at the exit, and then took a trackless runaway train ride on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Afterward, we barely made it into the theater for For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, only missing the very beginning. By then, we were ready for a bite to eat, so we grabbed an early dinner at ABC Commissary.

Grant, Geoffrey, and Katelyn did a quick walk-on ride on Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, and then we all headed over to Galaxy's Edge to check out Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, which recently added brand-new mission destinations! Afterward, we stepped into the queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Boy oh boy... the Disneyland imagineers need to come over and give this facility some TLC, because there were quite a few special effects and animatronics that simply were not working on the Florida version!

Before we knew it, 8:30 PM rolled around and it was time to head over to the amphitheater for Fantasmic! The Disney World version is now hands-down the superior production: it has the incredible original musical arrangements, features a dedicated middle stunt sequence with characters like Moana, Mulan, Elsa, and Aladdin, and, of course, boasts a fully working, fire-breathing dragon! They are currently running the finale on a temporary B-mode setup (no boat. Steamboat Willy), but it was still a spectacular performance.

We headed off-property for dinner at Miller’s Ale House, checking out their brand-new location over in Celebration located inside a lovely new shopping complex.

It was another truly great day with the family!

Tuesday July 14 - July 15: Universal to Disney

Tuesday, July 14: The Best of Universal

Today was the final day on our Universal tickets, and we certainly made the absolute best of it! Thankfully, Geoffrey was feeling completely back to normal, so we packed our stuff and headed straight back to Epic Universe for one last hurrah.

We kicked off our morning in the Isle of Berk, using one of our remaining Express Passes to catch a second flight on Hiccup's Wing Gliders. We really do love the layout and speed of this coaster, but the lap bar restraint digs into my and Katelyn's legs in a super awkward and slightly painful way. Yikes!

Next, we cashed in our final priority Express Passes at Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry and had another absolutely flawless ride. For lunch, we decided to try out Pizza Moon in Celestial Park since we had heard rave reviews about it. Geoffrey opted for a classic Caesar salad, while the rest of us shared two of their artisan pizzas:

• The Nanarossa: A fresh mix of classic tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, creamy stracciatella cheese, confit tomatoes, and fresh basil.

• Pizza Lunare: A white pizza with roasted garlic béchamel, a specialty fromage de lune cheese, ricotta, crispy pancetta, garlic confit, and a striking purple 

• celestial ube crust!

Both pizzas were incredibly fresh and absolutely delicious. We can totally see why this spot gets rated so highly- this is definitely not your standard, generic theme park pizza!

After lunch, Geoffrey, Katelyn, and I decided to take the shuttle bus back over to the original Universal Studios Florida campus, while Grant decided to hang back at Epic to watch The Untrainable Dragon live-action show one more time.

The three of us headed straight for the Single Rider line at Revenge of the Mummy, and we practically walked right into the launch station- it was fantastic! Katelyn and I even lucked out and ended up seated in the exact same row. As we exited the ride, we were greeted by a massive Florida downpour. With crowds of people blocking the exits to avoid getting wet, we decided to just jump right back into the Single Rider queue, and rode it a second time with absolutely zero wait!

By the time we walked out the second time, the downpour had downgraded to a gentle summer rain, so we trekked over to Diagon Alley to ride Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. Right as we arrived, the sky opened up again. The kids dashed straight into the Single Rider line while I stashed our bags in the lockers and met them inside. The line moved beautifully, and we were on the ride vehicle within 10 minutes. Even though we used the Single Rider line, we managed to get loaded onto the exact same ride vehicle, just split across three different rows.

This turned out to be an absolute blessing in disguise: just after the final scene of the ride, our train got delayed on the tracks. We sat there, delayed, for about 5 to 10 minutes - they even turned the emergency light on -  before the ride system finally pulled us back into the unloading station. The team was incredibly apologetic about the delay and offered everyone a complimentary re-ride for the inconvenience. Those of us who wanted to go again lined up near the Child Swap room and were buckled back into a fresh train in less than five minutes!

Grant arrived at Universal Studios just as we were finishing up our double run on Gringotts. Our primary mission for the evening was to conquer Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure,  the only major ride we hadn't managed to get on yet, but due to the persistent lightning storm, it was still closed. Instead, we met over by E.T. Adventure to take another ride on our favorite classic Universal dark ride. After our bike flight to the Green Planet, we took one more spin through Men in Black: Alien Attack while waiting for the weather to clear out.

Once we stepped out of MIB, it looked like the storm was finally breaking. We took the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure to position ourselves for when the coasters reopened. We squeezed in a ride on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, and then, finally, the coasters reopened, and we jumped into line for Hagrid's! It was the absolute perfect ending to our Universal week.

Once the parks officially closed, we headed over to the NBC Sports Grill & Brew for a great dinner before heading back to our hotel to rest up for the Disney leg of our trip!

Wednesday, July 15: Magic Kingdom

This morning, we woke up, packed up our things from our Cypress Palms timeshare, and loaded everything in the car. We drove over to Disney's Wilderness Lodge to meet up with Teri and Damien for lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. It happens to be Disney's Annual Passholder Appreciation Month, which means a select handful of table-service restaurants offer a 40% discount on lunch from Monday through Thursday. It was an incredible deal!

After lunch, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom for our official first Disney day! We started out with Grant, Geoffrey, Katelyn, and Damien riding Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This was a Damien's first ride on this coaster, but he agreed to give in a try under one condition - he had to ride right next to Katelyn. While they braved the mine train, Teri and I headed to Tomorrowland and rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover three times in a row—the Cast Members let us stay on without even getting off!

Next, we caught the newly refreshed Country Bear Musical Jamboree stage show and then took a boat through Pirates of the Caribbean. While waiting, we had checked into the digital queue for the brand-new Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Member Lounge in Frontierland, and our number finally got called. The lounge was nice and offered the standard complimentary soda machines and snacks, but the seating wasn't super relaxing (stools!) and the space itself was relatively small. I guess the stools kept people from not staying as long. Plus, having to check-in and wait an hour to be called up wasn’t quite as seamless as other DVC lounges, but it’s still a great, air-conditioned perk to have access to.

After relaxing in the lounge, Damien decided he was brave enough to try Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, again, only if he could sit with Katelyn (are we noticing a pattern here?). The coaster just recently reopened after a massive refurbishment where they re-tracked the entire mountain, and wow, you can absolutely tell! The ride is noticebly smoother now; it feels like a completely different coaster. Damien ended up loving it! Next, we headed over to drop down Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, with Damien only agreeing to try it if... you guessed it... he could ride alongside Katelyn once again.

We had received a notification while we were in the DVC lounge that our studio was officially ready over at Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort. Grant used this window to run out to the car, grab all our perishable refrigerator groceries from the trunk, and bring them up to the room. That is easily the absolute best thing about staying at the Contemporary, the dedicated walking path means you can stroll back and forth to the front gates of Magic Kingdom in just a few minutes.

By the time we finished splashing down the bayou, Grant had walked right back into the park. It was about 9:45 PM at this point. While regular park hours ended at 11:00 PM, tonight was a dedicated Extended Evening Theme Park Hours night for Deluxe Resort guests, meaning we Benedict's got to stay inside the park until 1:00 AM! Teri and Damien decided to head out after Tiana's, so we said our goodnights, and then Geoffrey, Katelyn, and I met up with Grant outside the Haunted Mansion.

Once the daytime crowds cleared out, we went on an absolute tear through Fantasyland, riding "it's a small world" and Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid. By the time we made it over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the extra hours had officially begun and we had to start scanning our room keys to enter lines. Pooh actually ended up being our second-longest wait of the night at a whopping 15 minutes!

Next, we hit Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. They have completely updated this ride with brand-new, detachable blasters that come right out of the holsters (just like the Disneyland version—yay!), along with new digital laser targets that make aiming so much easier. Plus, the entire queue has been deep-cleaned and refreshed, and it no longer has that weird, stale smell! Double win!

Afterward, we hit Space Mountain, which was a literal five-minute walk-on. That low wait time was the only reason I agreed to ride it, and I still immediately regretted it because it was so bumpy and painful for my back. To burn a little more time before our strategic late-night run at TRON, we walked over to ride Peter Pan’s Flight, and we still had enough time to squeeze in a second ride on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!

Finally, we zoomed back over to Tomorrowland and stepped into the queue for TRON Lightcycle / Run at exactly 12:55 AM. We managed to hit almost every single major attraction in the Magic Kingdom today, despite not even stepping past the turnstiles until 3:30 in the afternoon! We missed a couple of minor things, but all in all, it was a wildly successful day. We left the Magic Kingdom just before 2:00 AM. 

We walked the path back to Bay Lake Tower, unloaded the rest of our luggage from the car. From our balcony, we can see Tomorrowland and the castle! 

Please don't ask what time we actually turned the lights out and fell asleep!