D2 Summit & Disney 2018: Arrival & Parks (1 of 3)
Our very first experience at the Varsity All Star Cheer D2 Summit May 10-14 was...WONDERFUL! I have so much to say - I hardly know where to start...
We got up Thursday at 2:45 AM (my mom stayed at our home, asleep with our dog ❤️) to fly out at 5:25 AM :-O but it honestly wasn’t bad, b/c 1) we were excited & 2) we had several other families from our gym on our flight:
We are not typically “package travel people” - even abroad in Europe, I used to plan my own itinerary, transfers, details, etc. Varsity did a spectacular job, though, of having everything ready: airport bus, magic bands & tickets at the hotel, etc. Seamless. We landed, bussed, checked in, went to Varsity cheer orientation, & were in the Magic Kingdom for our own fun in less than 3 hours. Thursday & Friday were our true park days, so we took advantage; and even w/o being able to book FastPasses 6 months in advance, we *did* get several & actually didn’t mind waiting in a few lines.
Magic Kingdom highlights: my enormous turkey leg lunch, immediate FastPasses for Pirates of the Caribbean (it so reminds me of my dad), Dole whip in the Tiki Room with Ainsley & Mrs. Cami, waiting in an insane-but-not-whiney 70-min line for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (smooth & fun, but too short!), breaking for dinner with JB’s parents who came to join us & Will eating his first whole lobster at the Boathouse at Disney Springs, back to the Magic Kingdom for Big Thunder Mountain (our MK fave!) FastPasses and The Haunted Mansion (the other that reminds me of my dad!) before meeting up with grandparents for It’s a Small World (which *TRULY IS* Will’s fave! not being facetious!), final FastPasses for Splash Mountain (Will was nervous, but he braved it; we were at the top for the most gorgeous sunset ever - almost cartoon colors!!! I wished I could pull out my phone, but not on a water ride :-P), finished up with Grandma & Grandpa Blake on the silly Jungle Cruise before seeing the BEST fireworks show (Happily Ever After) in all of Disney on our way out:
On Friday after family breakfast, Will, JB, & his parents stayed at the hotel for JB to work and Will to arcade & pool:
Annelise & I got to do our FAVORITE park, Animal Kingdom, just us 2! We rode our ULTIMATE FAVE Expedition Everest twice (once waiting in a crazy line - from which we watched our gym’s Wild Card team perform their Summit routine on my phone! - & then once with blessed FastPasses.) We also did Kilimanjaro Safaris (Annelise kept leaning over saying, “I love this! I’m so glad we did this!” ❤️) and the Maharajah tiger walk. (No Avatar this time; not worth a 2-hour wait to us. Motivation to go back! ;-)) Such a great girl day:
Friday night was time for Annelise to kick into full on 100% CHEER MODE! She had her final team practice (no family allowed) ...so after a mom pose, we went to Epcot for German pretzels & the IllumiNations fireworks:
Now Saturday, it. was. on. Saturday was our D2 Summit At-Large semifinals competition day... *deep yoga breaths*
The boys had breakfast & played with Grandma, Grandpa, & Uncle Dave while I got Annelise competition-ready...
Next up: COMPETITION!
We got up Thursday at 2:45 AM (my mom stayed at our home, asleep with our dog ❤️) to fly out at 5:25 AM :-O but it honestly wasn’t bad, b/c 1) we were excited & 2) we had several other families from our gym on our flight:
Magic Kingdom highlights: my enormous turkey leg lunch, immediate FastPasses for Pirates of the Caribbean (it so reminds me of my dad), Dole whip in the Tiki Room with Ainsley & Mrs. Cami, waiting in an insane-but-not-whiney 70-min line for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (smooth & fun, but too short!), breaking for dinner with JB’s parents who came to join us & Will eating his first whole lobster at the Boathouse at Disney Springs, back to the Magic Kingdom for Big Thunder Mountain (our MK fave!) FastPasses and The Haunted Mansion (the other that reminds me of my dad!) before meeting up with grandparents for It’s a Small World (which *TRULY IS* Will’s fave! not being facetious!), final FastPasses for Splash Mountain (Will was nervous, but he braved it; we were at the top for the most gorgeous sunset ever - almost cartoon colors!!! I wished I could pull out my phone, but not on a water ride :-P), finished up with Grandma & Grandpa Blake on the silly Jungle Cruise before seeing the BEST fireworks show (Happily Ever After) in all of Disney on our way out:
On Friday after family breakfast, Will, JB, & his parents stayed at the hotel for JB to work and Will to arcade & pool:
Annelise & I got to do our FAVORITE park, Animal Kingdom, just us 2! We rode our ULTIMATE FAVE Expedition Everest twice (once waiting in a crazy line - from which we watched our gym’s Wild Card team perform their Summit routine on my phone! - & then once with blessed FastPasses.) We also did Kilimanjaro Safaris (Annelise kept leaning over saying, “I love this! I’m so glad we did this!” ❤️) and the Maharajah tiger walk. (No Avatar this time; not worth a 2-hour wait to us. Motivation to go back! ;-)) Such a great girl day:
Friday night was time for Annelise to kick into full on 100% CHEER MODE! She had her final team practice (no family allowed) ...so after a mom pose, we went to Epcot for German pretzels & the IllumiNations fireworks:
Now Saturday, it. was. on. Saturday was our D2 Summit At-Large semifinals competition day... *deep yoga breaths*
The boys had breakfast & played with Grandma, Grandpa, & Uncle Dave while I got Annelise competition-ready...
(We fell in love with Captain Ron, the beagle, on this in-room Disney commercial!
We literally watched the info channel just to see him. :-D)
We literally watched the info channel just to see him. :-D)
(And we’re off...)
Next up: COMPETITION!
Looks like such a fun family trip!!! Makes me want to go back to Disney soon ;) Off to read the next post!!!
ReplyDeleteWow! That looks like so much fun!
ReplyDelete