Disney 2021: Magic Kingdom Part 1 (& Copper Creek)

On our final morning at Pop Century, we loaded up the truck, checked out of our room, then made our way to the Skyliner for our brunch reservation at Topolino's Terrace. Our plan was to leave the truck at Pop, take the Skyliner to Riviera, then take the Skyliner back to Pop to get our truck and drive over to Copper Creek for check in.

On our way to the Skyliner, we spotted a few friends!

They were so fun to say hi to and wave. It was a cute little encounter!

The Skyliner hub seemed like chaos but those cast member's had their system down and in no time, we were at the Riviera.

Gotta love those Skyliner views!

To this day, Brayden's favorite is still the Skyliner. He LOVES it!

To see a full Topolino's Terrace brunch review, check out this post here.

After brunch, our plan of taking the Skyliner back to Pop where our truck was parked, then driving to Copper Creek for check in worked out perfectly!

Goodbye, Pop....

...Hello Wilderness Lodge!

This was our first time staying at Copper Creek as members and we loved it! (CC is our home resort)

Our room was a deluxe studio. I love how that little coffee table opens up to make a taller ledge/table! 

There was also another small table included in our room. This room was perfect for the three of us!

We utilized the little kitchenette area a lot, too!

These rooms are fairly new and we loved the overall feel of them.

We also loved our balcony!

Our room was on the first floor, but the path in front wasn't ever busy and it was nice being able to sit out and enjoy coffee in the mornings.

Hello gorgeous!

After settling in and arranging the room, we took a boat to Magic Kingdom to meet up with our friends there.

They were waiting just outside of Starbucks and we had a chance to watch a cavalcade when we arrived!

While waiting in line for Haunted Mansion, the CUTEST moment happened. Chip kept pointing at Jason, motioning for him to play rock paper scissors. I got Jason's attention and they played and Jason won. It was seriously the cutest thing ever!

Another new-to-us ride was the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We didn't have to wait in much of a line, and Brayden wanted to ride with our friends, so we sat behind them! So cute!

Dinner at Pecos Bill was delicious as always and did not disappoint.

After dinner, we decided to let Brayden try Space Mountain. I reached behind me and held his hand the entire time. He told me he didn't like it because it went too fast and it made his mask fall off (but I think he actually liked it)! He still talks about Spaceship Earth to this day!

So funny!

Another new-to-us ride this trip was the Astro Orbiter. We rode it once during the day earlier in the trip and decided to ride it again at night for a different experience.

It was amazing! Definitely the best to ride at night!

By this point, the lines were so short, we were basically walking on to everything. I believe they also opened the MK to 10 p.m. this night to accommodate the crowed level. 

We made a quick stop on our way to Splash Mountain and decided to split a Mickey pretzel. 

It was chilly, but we rode Splash anyway and it was so much fun!! We didn't get soaked, so that was perfect!

Big Thunder Mountain was up next and another walk on.

Brayden was so brave and rode everything we put him on! My little rockstar!

Pirates was our final ride for the evening before calling it a night. I couldn't believe we were able to walk on to so many rides like that! It was great!!

Goodnight, Magic Kingdom!

The lobby of the Wilderness Lodge was so quiet and peaceful when we returned. Such a perfect end to an amazing day! 

Disney 2021: A Day At Hollywood Studios

On our first full park day with friends, we planned to visit Hollywood Studios and hopefully obtain a Rise of the Resistance boarding group. We also had another Hollywood Studios day planned later in the week, just in case a Rise boarding group didn't work out that day. 

So, around 6:50 a.m. my little group met up in the courtyard outside of our rooms (near the Lady statue) to try our hand.

Sadly, the odds were NOT in our favor for the 7 a.m. boarding group round. It was ok though, because we could try again at 1 p.m. from inside Hollywood Studios and we were ok with that!

Since we were up and ready to go, we decided to join the Skyliner line and hit up Hollywood Studios early. We'd heard that they were letting people inside of the park before official park opening time and we wanted to experience that if so.

The Skyliner line was quite the orchestration at the Caribbean Beach hub, but those cast members knew exactly what they were doing and it all flowed very very well! (However, it looked like a hot mess to the outsider!) 

We had time to stop at Joffrey's for coffee, so we ordered toffee flights! With an incredibly short wait time at the hub, we were off to Hollywood Studios! (I'm pretty sure it was right at 7:45 a.m. when they started running - and HS wasn't set to open until 9 a.m.!)

After arriving at Hollywood Studios, we joined the line for temperature and security screening and by 8:25 a.m., we were inside of the park. It was SO strange seeing it so empty but also incredibly cool to be among the first to enter the park that day!

A new to all of us ride was Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, so we all headed straight there and it was a walk on! 

Runaway Railway is seriously the CUTEST ride EVER! We all loved it! Sadly, we only had the opportunity to ride it one time this trip but will definitely remedy that next time! I think this is Brayden's new favorite WDW ride!

After Runaway Railway, we walked over to Slinky Dog and waited maybe 10-15 minutes to ride. It wasn't long at all! 

So so cute!

After Slinky Dog, Brayden spotted Alien Swirling Saucers which was yet ANOTHER walk on!!

We felt like we had been transported in some kind of magic Disney bubble because this couldn't be real life!

By this point, it was officially 9 a.m. and "park opening time" and we'd already hit three rides - two of them being major headliners with little to no wait!

Next up was Star Wars Land and a ride on the Millenium Falcon. By this point, the lines were growing throughout the park and this one had about a 40 minute wait. Still not bad considering!

After flying the Falcon and crashing horribly, we all enjoyed a little blue milk treat. I've tried both and prefer blue over green. Anyone else?

We returned to Toy Story Land and Toy Story Mania. The posted time here was 75 minutes but we didn't end up waiting that long, thankfully!

He's not a toy but he sure is a cute little fella!

Before lunch, I had to take my traditional "Karen" photo at One Man's Dream. These date back all the way to 2007! On one trip, they changed the outfit to "Cubby" but it was back to Karen and has been ever since!

By this point, it was closer to noon and definitely time for lunch! We tried ABC Commissary and their new (to us) menu. I really really enjoyed the curry shrimp dish. This is totally something I would never order while out and about around home, but I like to try new foods and was pleasantly surprised!

We hung around ABC Commissary for a little while, waiting on 1 p.m. and the time to snag a Rise boarding group. I was also trying to get Brayden to take a nap, but he was not interested in any of that!

Thankfully, we were successful this time and were set to go! YAY!

While waiting for a boarding group, I sent Jason and our friends over to Rock n Roller Coaster while Brayden and I shopped around and again attempted a nap.

The runDisney merchandise inside of Hollywood Studios was by far the best selection I saw out of any and all of the parks! So, if you're headed there, be on the lookout - this store was on the road way headed to Tower of Terror.

This time, our nap time attempt was successful, and we hung out for a few minutes beyond our rise boarding group return time to give him a little time to sleep. People over on instagram were amazed that he still takes naps in the stroller and yes, he definitely does!

Rise was just as amazing as we remembered and Jason tried to get us all in trouble by attempting to convince the resistance that he actually belonged on Tatooine. They were quite funny in their banter back and forth! 

Our last quest of the day was the brand new Scenic Selfies challenge hosted by Disney Vacation Club. After scanning a QR code at a DVC desk, scavengers set out throughout the park to take selfies with the various landmarks/clues put out by the website.

After completing the challenge, you return to the DVC desk, show the guide your completion, and obtain your button! It was a lot of fun and we learned some trivia/facts about the parks we wouldn't have otherwise known!

Our plan for the evening was to return to Disney Springs for dinner. We wanted to try Chicken Guy as none of us had been there yet.

This salad was SO good!! I would definitely order it again!

We ended our evening with dessert at Ghirardelli and it was truly the perfect way to top off our day!

My plan for the next morning was to run the 5K around the lake at Pop Century prior to heading to EPCOT. I truly loved not being at the parks until midnight then waking up and doing it all over the following day. We actually had a chance to relax and get some sleep on this trip and it was perfect to me!

Up next: EPCOT and Festival of the Arts!