Disney Day! - Monday, Feb 17, 2025

      It was kind of a rough night sleeping for most of us.  We were up before our 5:00 alarm and ready to get going.  We packed up and drove the car to the parking garage we had reserved a spot at (based on Julie's brother's recommendation).  It's covered but the wind does blow through so it was bitter cold with temperatures in the teens while we were waiting for the shuttle.  We got all our stuff to the airport, checked in and waited in the long security line.   It was almost our turn when Abby decided that she had to go to the bathroom.  They let Julie and Abby out of line to take care of that.   Security always seems like an ordeal, even though the other passengers and the TSA employees were all pleasant enough.

     Except for maybe Julie, we all hate flying.  Abby was having a hard enough time being in the elevator this morning.  She did not like the flight at all.  Emma and Scott sat in the very back row of the packed airplane, and Julie and Abby sat across the aisle and one row forward.  There was a small baby behind them that was crying for most of the flight.  The baby was annoying, but people laughed when we were starting our decent into Orlando and Abby yelled, "I don't want to fly upside-down!"   In spite of a delay taking off, we arrived in Orlando on time and right-side up.

    We were almost the very last off the plane and took our time getting to the baggage return.  Abby liked seeing palm trees from the monorail that takes you to that terminal.  When we got to the baggage return, it was just ours and a few others circling.  We then got on the Mears bus which took us directly to the Art of Animation Resort where our room is.

    The Art of Animation is one of the "value resorts" at Disney that are fun, and still expensive, but not as expensive as some of the others.  In many ways, the buildings here remind us of the ones at the Disney All-Star Movies resort and other All-Star resorts we've stayed in previously.  This resort has four themed areas- one for the Cars movie, one for Finding Nemo, one for the Lion King, and the one we are staying in, themed to The Little Mermaid.  It was early, a little after noon but before 12:30, and we really didn't expect our room to be ready, but when we stopped to check our baggage, the woman checked and said our room was indeed ready.  We made our way past the Nemo pool, and through the Lion King, to the Little Mermaid building where our room is.  There are giant statues of the characters in the courtyard around the pool.  (Abby doesn't like the Ursula one.)  The room itself is painted in shades of blue with coral highlights in the furniture.  There are lots of mermaid touches, like shell shaped headboards on the beds and shell shaped chairs.  Several pictures on the wall and curtains show characters from the movie.  Our "magic bands" worked to open the door for us, but our favorite moment when we check into a Disney hotel might be when the TV says "Welcome Frank Family" on its screen when we open the door.

     It was getting close to 1:00 and we were all hungry, so we went down to the quick service restaurant.  It's called Landscapes of Flavors and is decorated with concept art of the landscapes used in the four movies.   We are on the Disney Dining Plan this time, which means that we have prepaid for two meals and a snack each day.  We've used this system before, but it's been a while and we had to have a refresher course on how it works in practice.  We had lunch, but before we could get up from the table, little Abby fell asleep in her mom's arms.  We had been going since a little before 5:00 AM this morning and this was the first time it felt like we could sit and rest, so we weren't surprised that she fell asleep here.  In fact, this was the same eating place where Abby decided to take a nap before back when we were resort hopping in April 2022.  So we were slowing down now whether we wanted to or not.  Emma and Scott went to the big gift shop next door and Scott bought two pins for the board we have in the living room.  One pin says "2025" and has a picture of Ariel and the other says "Art of Animation Resort."

     While Abby was catching a much needed nap, Donald Duck and Pluto made an appearance in the lobby area nearby.  After about an hour, Abby woke up and when she had come to enough, we went to the lobby and found Goofy there.  She got her picture with him and gave him a hug afterwards, of course.  She had seen the pools on our way in, though, and now that's where she wanted to go.  There's a new offer from Disney that on the day that you check in to a Disney resort, you have free admission to one of the water parks.  Scott was hoping to use this opportunity to take Abby to Blizzard Beach where there is a water play area with figures of Anna and Elsa from Frozen.   We asked Abby if she wanted to go to that one or the Nemo one, and since she is five, she was most interested in the one that was right in front of her.  That was fine, and since the weather was in the 70s, it felt like warm swimming weather to us.  

    Abby spent a while in the "Big Blue Pool" that is decorated with characters from Finding Nemo,  Of course, she made a friend right away and played with her until the friend had to leave.  Abby was wearing her floaty so she first went into the pool with Mom just watching from the side (and Dad taking pictures).  Eventually, Mom got changed and went in too.  From that pool, we drifted to the splash pad overlooked by Marlin and Nemo, peeking out of their anemone.  She had a great time there chasing the spouts of water as they squirted into the air from various places.  We then got her to the smaller pool, near our room that is themed to Ariel and The Little Mermaid characters.  When we finally got her out of that pool, it was past 5:00.  

    Emma had spent most of the afternoon working on school stuff in order to free up time tomorrow.  We went to the room and asked if she wanted to join us in the evening.  She decided she had to continue to work, so we did the evening without her.

    One of the things that makes this resort different from the All-Star resorts is that it's a stop on the Skyliner.  The Skyliner is the gondola ride that connects several different resorts with Disney Hollywood Studios and Epcot.  Buses don't run from resort to resort-- they only connect theme parks with resorts.  But if you are at a theme park, you can take a bus to any of the resorts.  We're getting pretty good at using Disney transportation in unintended ways to get where we want to go.  We got on the Skyliner first.  It freaked Abby out a little, especially as it was going over the wheels at each of the large poles, but by the end of it, we think she was liking it.  She said "Wheee," anyway, and smiled.  We took the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios (transferring once at the Caribbean Beach Resort), and from there we took a bus to the Polynesian Village Resort, which was our first destination.   Abby liked the bus.

    We wanted to get 'Ohana noodles and some Dole Whip, and maybe watch the fireworks from the Polynesian Village.  There were mobs of people here though.  We did one lap around the 2nd floor and decided to revise the plans.  We took the Monorail to the Contemporary Resort.  (We realized as the Monorail dumped many people off at the Magic Kingdom that today is an "After Hours" event, when you can pay extra for longer hours and other perks.  That's one reason why the Polynesian was so crowded).  By this time, it was after 7:30 and we hadn't eaten since our late lunch.  We went to the quick serve restaurant there, but it wasn't as quick as we had hoped.  The buzzer to tell us that our order was ready didn't seem to work.  Anyway, we chowed down our food and at 8:00 we went out on the balcony to watch the fireworks over Magic Kingdom.  It's not a bad view from there and they do pipe the music in for them too.   Since we got there just as they were about to begin, the best spots were taken and our view was slightly obstructed by the Monorail track.  That turned into a plus when several Monorails passed through at dramatic times.  They are certainly sleek and iconic vehicles and it really doesn't feel like Disney until you ride one.

    After Abby had her fill of the fireworks, we went to Fantasia, the gift shop and toy store inside the Contemporary Resort.  She had admired the stuffed Minnie Mouse in a princess dress in pictures with Emma when she was little.  We don't know what happened to Emma's, but Abby decided before we came that Princess Minnie was one thing she'd like to get here.  Grandpa and Grandma Frank had given her money to spend here, so that was where that went.

    We knew that after the fireworks, the buses leaving the Magic Kingdom would be packed because the regular day guests have to leave before the After Hours event begins.  We had some plans to work around this, like taking a bus to Disney Springs first and then a bus to Art of Animation from there.  In the end, we were pretty tired, and we decided to spring for a cab in order to get back faster.  We brought Emma some dinner and she seemed glad to get it.