WDW May 2024

We had an amazing trip to WDW this month! While this was definitely part of our monthly WDW adventures this school year, we were also celebrating C's birthday! I used three personal days to make it a five-day weekend, and it was so nice to be able to do things at a more leisurely pace than some of our other 36-hour trips have allowed!

For this trip, we rented DVC points and stayed at the Grand Floridian. We had not stayed there since 2008! Of course the resort is beautiful and its proximity to Magic Kingdom is a huge bonus, but what I loved most was the theming in our room - Mary Poppins! - with cute details everywhere! We had a nice balcony with a perfect view of the Wedding Pavilion and as you can see from all of the pictures, the weather really could not have been better!

Overall it was a nice mix of park hopping and relaxing! It was the seventh time we've gone for C's birthday, and generally speaking, we lucked out with both weather and crowds on these trips in early May over the years. We did make a point of completely avoiding Hollywood Studios on May 4 because we knew there would be a ton of people there to celebrate Star Wars day, especially given that it fell on a Saturday!

One cute story from when we were at Beaches and Cream:

Server: What are we thinking for dessert?

Me: We've been getting the same dessert here for 30 years!

Server: The No Way Jose?

Me: Yes!

I don't know if she knew because it's just an item that has always been on the menu or what, but we were impressed she guessed correctly nonetheless!

Finally, I think it's a well established fact that I love all of the live entertainment at WDW, and one of my favorite things about MK is getting to hear the pianists perform at Casey's Corner. On the last day of the trip, we spent the morning at MK and we had the opportunity to listen to one of these incredibly talented pianists. I was wearing an Obi-Wan Kenobi shirt and the pianist took note of it and told me he was going to play a Star Wars medley for me and I was completely blown away. I know I'm prone to crying, but honestly, I was so moved by his performance! After a few other songs, we chatted about Mary Poppins and I asked if he would play "Let's Go Fly A Kite" for me and he did, which I absolutely loved! Even though when he finished his set it was time for us to head out of the park, which is always a sad moment for me, I could not think of a better way to wrap up our trip than with that pianist!

the Grand Floridian is so beautiful!

the rooms have a subtle Mary Poppins theme

penguins and MP's umbrella

the chandelier has glass birds
all the way around except for one penguin

the art work is perfect

we had the best view of the
Wedding Pavilion from our room
#happymemories

one of the best things about the GF
is being able to sit in the lobby and
enjoy the talented pianists

Disney details

the PeopleMover stopped and all of the lights
came on and I can't explain why that's
exciting to me, but it is

MK has a cute little scavenger hunt in Storybook Circus

you use the map to find the eight "smellephants"
and put the matching sticker on the location...
pretty adorable!

even though we were at WDW, the Maple Leafs
were fighting for their lives in the playoffs,
so we hung out in our room and watched the game...
they did manage to win and force a game 7,
which they lost two days later,
resulting in the end of their season
#whatelseisnew

Tonga Toast is one of our favorite things to eat!

finally did this awesome walk-through experience;
it's really well done, but I would never wait in line for it,
so I'm glad we waited until the hype had died down

Epcot is absolutely beautiful during the
Flower and Garden Festival -
the flowers and topiaries are so lovely!

we always love to listen to the mariachi band
when they perform at the Mexico pavilion,
but the star of the show here was definitely
this duck who did not move at all while everyone
walking by stopped to take pictures of it

rode the PeopleMover on a different day and
this time, the lights were on inside Space Mountain

celebrating May the 4th

I have really grown to love Animal Kingdom
over the past several years -
for a long time, I was not particularly a fan

I can relate to this lion LOL

we spotted the baby elephant on Kilimanjaro Safaris!

we finally completed the Wilderness Explorer activity!
you go all around the park and chat with cast members
and collect "badges" (stickers) to put in your booklet -
we started it back in March and finished it on this trip!

I've never been able to get a pic of Gertie's
footsteps because there have always been too many people around!

the best!

this pianist is amazing!

these ears were a gift and I love them!

finally spotted the Orange Bird bus!

last snack of the trip was this "crookie"
(it's a croissant filled with cookie dough!)

One last share...we are always up for trying out different styles of travel bags and we recently bought a pair and used them for the first time on this trip. They each have four separate zippered compartments as well as two smaller pockets and a slot for a laptop. They're a great carry-on size and can be worn as backpacks or placed over the handle of rolling luggage. We're pretty pleased with our purchase!

the bags are from Tobiq

Happy Tails to you!