08/02/2026
Hello my friends!
Since I haven’t done a trip report in a while,
I thought I would sit down and share info I gathered from my recent trip with you….
First, let me say - July is obviously hot, but I think it actually helped keep crowds lower. We were prepared for the heat. (If you need a recommendation for neck fans, just let me know! We loved ours!)
We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn - our family’s favorite resort. (If you want to know why, just ask, but be prepared for an essay…lol)
The refurbished rooms are just beautiful! Very spacious, lots of room. Room under the beds to store luggage, too. We had a room request that meant more to us than early check-in, so we told them we would wait for our room while at the park! Handed our luggage to Bell Services and hit the Magic Kingdom! When we got back to the resort at around 11pm, we called Bell Services and they brought it up to us! (We had about a 15 minute wait.)
I wanted to do some experimenting this time, so day one, we did not use multi or single passes. Surprisingly, it was actually a pleasant and easy going experience! No pressure to keep our heads in our phones, just checking wait times and doing what we felt comfortable with. And we were able to accomplish a LOT. We arrived at the park at 11:23am, park closed at 11pm.
We rode -
Haunted mansion
Pirates x2
Big thunder
Tiana’s Bayou
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain
People mover
Winnie the Pooh
It’s a small world
Peter Pan
7DMT
We ate at Columbia Harbour house for lunch.
Got I lava you Dole Whips - which were amazing!!
And got Cosmic Ray’s burgers for dinner (We actually split a burger - they’re so big!)
We took things at a slower pace, with the idea that we would accomplish what we could and anything we missed, we would do later. The only ride we missed was Tron.
Overall, I felt really good about how much we were able to do that day with still being laid back!
A lot of doing Disney is strategic…
Having said all that, multi and single passes did make things easier! lol
And because we stayed at a Deluxe resort, we were able to take advantage of their extended hours (specific days, specific parks).
Thoughts about rides…
TRON is awesome!! Worth the single pass purchase. We used the pass in the morning, and waited during extended hours to be able to ride it again at night. So worth it!
Rock N Rollercoaster is VERY well done! Love the Muppets.
The Haunted Mansion is currently covered by a tarp rendition of itself…lol. I think they’re trying to protect it while construction goes on next to it for Villains’ Land.
The newly improved Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin is awesome! The new guns work so much better!
Photopass - worth the purchase! Take all the pictures! Here’s a tip - if you want a lantern picture by Rapunzel tower, but you don’t want to wait in that really long line - go over by pirates, they have a candle picture that’s super cute, too! And most people don’t know about it (yet…lol)
Dining….
We had a reservation at Beak and Barrel in the Magic Kingdom…
My thoughts -
Super cute experience, but not something I would need to do every time - unless I was a pirate…lol.
We got the snack plate (chips and different salsas)& had drinks. The chips and dips were good and we enjoyed the drinks! It was a nice break on a hot day! Thankfully, we stayed within our 45 minute time limit, so we weren’t forced to “walk the plank” - yes, we saw this happen…lol.
Of course, since we were at the Boardwalk, we had to check out the Cake Bake Shop! It is beautiful & also very pricey. For dining in, you need a reservation, but we did the walk in service and ordered coffees to go. You have to walk in to at least check it out!
Roundup Rodeo - SUPER CUTE experience, but mixed reviews for my family…
I thought the food was good & the experience was fun. I would go back, but my husband would not.
The restaurant itself is adorable.
Checking out is never easy, so this time, I made a reservation at Cape May for breakfast with Minnie and friends on check out day. I will always do that from now on! It was a sweet way to end the trip!
If you have any questions, want more information about anything I mentioned, or want me to price a trip for you, please let me know!
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