The Pearsons do Disney (Polly’s 11th Birthday Trip) Day 1: Travel Day and Birthday Eve

We’re back! And we are so incredibly happy to be here (Polly actually said that her cheeks have hurt all day from smiling so much!!)

After the always chaotic pre-travel day (why is it that no matter his organised toy think you are, you end up with 150 jobs to do?!) we flew in from Manchester yesterday on a fabulous, if slightly chaotic journey (cabin crew down meant the others were run ragged) maxed out with hand luggage as I was so paranoid about cases going missing despite having everything air-tagged, and landed, were through security, had picked up the car and were almost at the hotel before we should have officially landed.

This time we have a split stay, but are starting with a nice chunk of time at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We managed to snag a value DVC room which meant we had no say on the view we got. When we found out we were allocated a pool view we had a few concerns about noise, but the location is perfect (right next to the lift/ stairs so really close to pool and bus stop). It’s a good job really as Steve had nipped to the supermarket when we got the message saying the room was ready, so we had to lug all the cases and bags between the three of us! The girls managed 3 hours in the pool last night and didn’t go to sleep until 9 (unusual for them even at home).

We were therefore hoping they may actually sleep in past their usual 5am first day wake up, but when Steve’s alarm went off at 3.45am because he’d not changed it after setting it for the airport the day before, I wasn’t hopeful (and obviously, being a lovely wife, didn’t point out the error of his ways at all!!) Amazingly though, everyone (except me) got back to sleep and didn’t wake until 6.40am.

As it was Polly’s birthday-eve we let her plan the day. She decided to make a list of 10 things she’d like to do on her last day of being 10. Most were at Magic Kingdom but she wanted to finish with fish & chips at Epcot so she also added a few things there, including trying Guardians out. As we had an MK park day our only option was to buy a lightning lane, but it was easy enough and meant we got a time to fit in with our plans.

We set off for Magic Kingdom at 7.30am and were early enough for some cute castle pictures. The first ride on the list was 7 Dwarves Mine Train. The park seemed weirdly quiet so we managed that, Dumbo (the first ride ever the girls queued for entirely and went on without us), Winnie the Pooh (Polly bought a new Pooh toy in the shop), Little Mermaid & Small World really quickly. Haunted Mansion was the longest queue (I think the ride had gone down briefly which left us at a standstill for a while) but even that wasn’t bad.

We happened to catch a Pooh cavalcade when we came out off the shops and decided to wait to see if the characters came out to the train station afterwards. The girls went into Main Street Confectionary to make their own popcorn mix to eat while they were waiting. You get to choose the popcorn type you’d like, the syrup topping and the sweet-based sprinkles (such as M&Ms, crushed cookies, pretzels etc). They loved the whole process as much as eating it!

The characters didn’t appear, so after about half an hour we decided to go and meet Chip & Dale and get the girls their first post-Covid character hugs. The meet was absolutely fabulous and Winnie said it was the best hug as Chip didn’t want to let her go.

We planned to grab some early lunch but thought we’d check on the train station character situation. As we got to the hub we saw they were out, so a very quick power-walk right down the middle of Main Street USA later, the girls were in heaven communicating with them. Tigger then gestured to the girls to move to near The Chamber of Commerce, and when the characters walked off he gave them the biggest hug! Day completely made!!

We always find our appetites are a mess with jet lag, so just ordered 2 children’s quick-service meals at Cosmic Rays (you get 2 sides and a drink which is more than enough food) for lunch. Steve decided to head back to the hotel to pick up the giant cookie we’d had made instead of a cake for Polly’s birthday. Winnie wanted to know why he was heading back so I told her his shorts were rubbing. She then spent the day questioning him about the location of his fake chafing! Nothing gets past that one.

Winnie bought herself the small weighted Mickey plush she’d seen earlier in The Emporium before jumping on the monorail to Grand Floridian to visit Basin. The girls chose to make their own bottle of bath bubbles which wasn’t the cheapest bottle I’ve ever bought by a long way (I mean, Blue Nun can still be found for £2.99 in some shops at home!) but if it actually gets Winnie in the bath it’ll be worth it! I did have to clean Polly’s nose before we left though as she’d got a bit too up-close-and-personal whilst sniffing and had a rather fishy looking powder residue situation going on! We then jumped back on the monorail to head over to Epcot and meet Steve.

Our journey was timed to perfection as skies suddenly turned very dark and it started to storm. By the time we’d got to Epcot it had cleared and all was good.

We had 3 things planned for Epcot: Guardians, Space 220 lounge and Fish & Chips. I also fancied watching Joey Fatone at Eat to the Beat. However, despite sickness patches and tablets, the spinning of Guardians hit the girls and I hard (I can’t even do teacups so fully expected it) and whilst we all loved it, even after a sugar fix there was no way we could do anything else. We heard someone describe it as the most amazing ride they’ll never go on again, and I think that pretty much sums up the girls’ feelings.

Polly & Steve went to Space 220 to explain (Polly offered to look really poorly if she needed to but I think her green face was evidence enough!!) and they cancelled without any fuss. We have it later in the trip again so all good. As for Joey…well, I just hope he wasn’t too devastated when he looked out into the audience and saw I wasn’t there!!

We headed back to the hotel and the girls watched a bit of Avengers Endgame before falling asleep.

Polly’s birthday tomorrow and we are all very excited for it! Just hoping the birthday fairy doesn’t bring too much for us to carry home!