Just to ease your concerns, this is not going to be a Disney travel blog and every post about Disney. It was, however, our most recent trip and the easiest for me to talk about to ease my way into this. But I promise this is the last one. Unless someone just begggggs for another installment. If any of the five of you are interested in something specific, let me know.

Our flight left from Bentonville (XNA) mid-afternoon. I know everyone has their favorite airlines and I’m no different. My top choice is always United. I also love Southwest and Delta. Allegiant and American are the bottom of the barrel for me. To be fair, I’ve not flown Spirit or Frontier, so keep that in mind. I legit HATE American.

Our connecting flight was Chicago. We’re super familiar with the O’Hare so, at first, the short connection didn’t worry us. Until we went to check-in and realized that not only was it a short window, it was also about as far across the airport as you could get. So we did the only logical thing you can do, we paid for upgraded seats to sit closer to the door of the plane. Then ran across the airport. We were that family. We made it and had time to spare.

Upon landing, we picked up the rental car and headed to the resort. We ultimately decided on a rental car instead of Uber and then utilizing the buses. A few reasons, but the main one being how far the Value resorts are from some of the parks and the amount of people attempting to catch the bus. Sometimes the buses can be a very long wait. They are absolutely great options, but for someone who is impatient as I am, I prefer setting my own timelines.

I had checked in to our resort in the app prior to arrival, so I already had a room number and it was tied to our Magic Bands. No front desk visit required. We headed straight to the room, got unpacked, showered and headed to bed for an early morning.

We don’t always do rope drop, but we decided that it would probably be necessary with this volume of people. Spoiler alert: we were correct. We drove to Magic Kingdom, got a decent parking spot, hopped on a monorail and walked straight into Main Street.

Once they scanned our bands, we headed straight for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train.

That’s one roller coaster I will ride, and one of the ones I wasn’t able to get passes. We waited about 20 minutes and then headed to Tiana’s to get some beignets. I don’t eat sugar, but Nick and Anniston loved them.

By this time, Nick’s sister and her kids met us so we headed to Tiana’s which was our first time to ride it since it reopened. The reason I don’t ride roller coasters is not because of speed, it’s because of drops, and I hated Splash Mountain. I put on my big girl panties and rode it anyway. I’m glad I did the one time just to see it, but you won’t catch me on it again.

After that, we utilized the DAS passes with a combo of our lightning lanes and rode as much as we could throughout the day. Nick, Anniston and I did have our scheduled lunch at Be Our Guest. It was fantastic and I love the Beast’s Castle theming. It was our first time sitting in the ballroom. Every other time we’ve been seated in the West Wing. Out of the two areas, I much prefer the West Wing. It’s a little darker, but it’s so much quieter.

Nick and Anniston were able to use the Lightning Lane Single Pass for Tron, which they loved. They attempted to talk me into riding it multiple different times throughout the trip. Each time, I gave them the typical “we’ll see” mom answer that really means “absolutely not.”

During the day, everyone but me grabbed a Dole Whip at Aloha Isle. Disney classic that Anniston couldn’t remember before she took a bite, but hasn’t forgotten since. It was her favorite treat while we were there. We grabbed a quick-service dinner at Tortuga Tavern. It was my favorite quick-service meal of the trip. It’s sometimes hard to find good plant-based food, but theirs always hits.

This is Disney tired.

We had big plans to stay until close, see the parade and fireworks, but a late travel day and early morning caught up with us. I can’t remember what time we ended up leaving, but we got back, showered and hung out watching Mickey cartoons until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. Which was honestly pretty dang early.

We got up early again on Tuesday and headed to Hollywood Studios. Our plan was to head straight to Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. It’s one of our very favorite rides, or at least one of my very favorite. Do I close my eyes on the waterfall scene? Sometimes, but I try not to. After we got off that, we met up with Nick’s family.

Throughout the day, we took advantage of the DAS pass and lightning lanes. The only ride I didn’t get to ride that I really wanted to ride was Slinky Dog. Yes, it’s a roller coaster, but it’s another one I can actually ride since it doesn’t have any major drops. Even at rope drop, I never saw its line less than 70 minutes. Most of the time, it was closer to 120 minutes.

We at lunch at Backlot Express. It was your typical quick-service meal. Nothing to write home about, but also good for what it is. After that, Nick took the kids to ride a bunch of different stuff and Laura and I took advantage of the time. We went to Oga’s Cantina which is a bar in the middle of the Star Wars area. This may get me cancelled, but I’ve never seen Star Wars and know nothing about the franchise. That being said, this place was AMAZING. It was such a vibe. We were too early for our reservations, so we got one drink to go. We sat in the shade of the Millennium Falcon (I googled it), and just sat in peace. It was so nice. At our reservation time, we got to experience the entire bar. They have mocktails, so even if you aren’t a drinker, you can still enjoy the experience.

They were still all out riding rides, so once our time was up (you get 45 minutes at your table), we headed to Baseline Tap House. After the two drinks, I was not ready for a third, so I just enjoyed the Avenue Chips. Soooo good.

Rides continued throughout the rest of the afternoon, and the last ride I rode was Rise of the Resistance. After our rope drop of Runaway Railway, we attempted to make it to Slinky Dog. When that was a no-go, we hightailed it over to Rise, but it was also a no-go. Late in the day, Laura was able to snag as DAS pass for us and I got to ride it. It was fun, but since I’m not familiar with Star Wars, it’s not one I’d wait in a forever long line just to ride.

Nick, Anniston and I ended our night with our reservation at Roundup Rodeo BBQ. We’d never been and I’d never really read any reviews, but we decided to take a chance. I’m so glad we did! It was themed adorably, and the food was very good. It’s served family style, but they brought me plant-based options on the side. We absolutely loved it, and had a good time participating in all of the little shout-outs (Andy’s coming!).

Since our reservations were at the end of the day, by the time we were finished, the park was closed. It was another exhausting day, so we did the same as the night before. Early to rise, early to bed. Definitely not how we’ve done Disney in the past, but it’s what worked for us this trip.

Wednesday, we started our day at Epcot. The plan was to spend the majority of the day at Epcot, hit up Hollywood Studios one last time before heading to our ‘Ohana reservation. ‘Ohana is one of our top choices.

We rope dropped Test Track, then Nick and Anniston headed to Guardians. They had a Lightning Lane Single Pass later in the day, but wanted to get on it before the masses arrived. Guardians ended up being their very favorite ride, and is now deemed the very favorite ride of all of Disney. While they were on that, I shopped a little bit and then headed to a sunny spot to drink my coffee. While I was sitting, an Encanto show started. It was made for littles, but, oh my, it was so cute! I enjoyed the whole thing!

We visited the World Showcase (my favorite!) and ate all the food. We didn’t eat an official lunch, but snacked at all the different places we thought sounded good in the moment. We rode all the rides we could. It was insanely crowded. I wasn’t able to get a pass for Frozen so we never made it to that.

As the day went on, we realized we didn’t want to fight the crowds at another park, and we didn’t want to wait around on dinner reservations at 9:00 pm. I was able to change our reservation to an early Space 220 reservation. Great decision on our part. We were able to eat early, and it was a very fun experience. I don’t want to spoil too much, but if you get a chance to go, go.

After dinner, we had to basically sprint to Ratatouille. We made it withing the lightning lane grace period. Here’s another thing that might get me cancelled with the Disney crew. Ratatouille is cute. I’m happy to have used a pass on it. Would I wait in any length of line for it? Nope. The wait had been an hour plus all day. If I had waited that long for a ride, and then got on that? Instant disappointment.

After that, we went to a few more of the countries we had missed earlier, took pictures in front of the ball and then walked our tired butts back to the car and drove to the resort. Here’s the deal. There’s a lot of walking a Disney. Things are spread out. The parks are large and you’re often running from one side to the other based on passes or wait times. But that’s not what made this trip so tiring. It was the sheer amount of humans. Everywhere you went, it was packed and like trudging through mud to get places. I swear I almost lot my voice just from saying “excuse me” to get around people. By early evening, I was ready to be in my room and no one to say a word to me.

Our last day, Thanksgiving day, started at Animal Kingdom. We went straight to Flight of Passage which is another of my favorites. I’ve never seen Avatar (almost called it Pandora), but I love this area of the park.

Nick and Anniston rode Expedition Everest, and we did the safari. We attempted several things for lunch but everything was a forever wait so we ended up with Pizzafari. It was edible. I’ll leave it at that.

We headed to The Lion King at just the right time and got to be indoors throughout the only rain shower to hit us the whole trip. The rain shower made it COLD though. So cold that we had to purchase Anniston a long-sleeved shirt. She wanted it anyway, but it because a necessity and not just a want.

We headed to Magic Kingdom to finish out our Thanksgiving. We rode rides, we ate snacks, we went to our dinner reservation. We ate at Jungle Skipper Canteen. We’d eaten here on a previous trip and really liked it. It was one of the few places that still had reservations. I love the theme, and we were sat in a really quiet area of the restaurant. It was so nice to get away from the crowds for a little bit. The food is great, too!

After dinner, we did a few more things, and I really wish I could remember what all they were. I know they rode Space Mountain and Tron. We had planned to see the fireworks and such, but we just couldn’t make it. We had to be up super early for our flight home the next day, so it was another early bedtime. We did almost freeze to death on the tram back to the car, so you’re actually really lucky we survived to tell the tale on this blog.

Our flights on the way home ended up with the same situation as the flight to Disney. This time our connection was in Houston, an airport we aren’t familiar with at all. We did the exact same thing as the previous flight since it worked well last time. We made it with minutes to spare, and made it home. Completely exhausted but hearts full from a fun trip.

Was the trip perfect? No. Did we have stressful moments? 100%. But Disney is always worth it to us. I’m already looking forward to the next trip.

Until next time: Stay curious, stay caffeinated, and stay a little LindSwept.