Good day. And welcome to Day 8 of our May/June 2025 trip down to Walt Disney World! And in keeping with the theme of “Celebrating Everything,” today we were all kinds of celebrating.
Because tonight we were pulling a double-duty dinner.
Heh. Dootie.
…
Tonight’s dinner was kind of the official celebratory dinner for Owen’s graduation on account of we were eating at a real schwanky dank location in the Magic Kingdom. Schwanky. Dank.
But dinner was also special for me and Nickie. On account of it was our 22nd wedding anniversary today.
22 years, you guys. Like our marriage has been old enough to drink for a whole year. But shhh, it was drinking long before that.
Look at us 22 years ago. Babies.
And I mean, that’s not everything that’s awesome about today. We, once again, are joined by more people that we love. My brother Jeff and my niece Shannon join the fun today. Exciting stuff!
So yeah, let’s get on with Day 8. Cuz it’s a banger of a day. Well wait.
First, I wanna remind you once again to check out Myles’s YouTube Channel – Disney Mom Myles – on account of he has also been vlogging this trip!
Here is Day 8 if you want to check it out. And you should. You should check it out:
It’s like reading. Without having to read.
Our 2025 “Celebrating Everything” Walt Disney World Trip: Day 8
I really wanna preface Day 8 with a reminder. If y’all read Day 7, you might remember Larissa was all kinds of sick last night. Like, literally couldn’t even leave her room because she was so sick.
And I don’t mention this to remind Larissa of this painful memory. I bring this up because Larissa was up before all of us this morning and she called us to let us know we had a surprise waiting in the space between our two adjoining room doors for our anniversary. Lookit what Larissa left for us.
Two coffees in some refillable mugs along with some sugar, Splenda, and cream to customize however we want. And anniversary celebration pins.
So nice, right? Larissa is kind of the best. I mean, waking up with Nickie is always you know…hashtag blessed…but waking up with Nickie and coffee? That’s like a dream I don’t wanna wake up from.
Thanks Larissa!!
After we finished up with our coffee, it was time to get the boys up and get us all kinds of ready for our park day! But no one wants to see us shower and get dressed, so.
Or maybe you do, you little freak.
Well, no luck this time around. On account of I’m fast-forwarding to 9AM, when we met up with everyone in the Polynesian lobby.
Let’s get that monorail.
And right so today we were visiting Disney’s Magic Kingdom. And it seemed the “rainy Magic Kingdom day” trend was continuing.
Disney rain though. So still. Magical.
We scanned our MagicBands and then met up with Jeff and Shannon before heading into the park proper. Yahoo for family.
Yahoo for Disney.
Let’s get on into the Magic Kingdom, friends!
We didn’t pause for our usual Main St. pics because I mean. It was raining. And while we are all kind of in love with ourselves, those pictures aren’t worth getting all wet f…
Pfft. Divas.
Well, I wasn’t being completely honest. We did take some pictures of Myles, Owen, and Shannon walking up Main Street towards the castle.
I know. I said we didn’t take pictures. And then we took pictures.
I am. I am a liar actress.
Let’s ride some rides tho.
Arrrrr first ride was in Advent-arrrrr land.
Arrrr you picking up on my hints, matey?
Yeah, you got it. Our first ride was…
Ha, nah. Not the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, dummy. Of course it was Pirates of the Caribbean.
Sorry. Sorry to pull the rug out from under you. Get it? Because carpets?
Pirates is legit such a photogenic ride. Girl loves the camera.
Next up was another Adventureland attraction, just a short walk awa…
OMG lookit these two.
Sorry. Right. But yeah it was super close. Just a hop, skipper, and a jump away.
You see, skippers are the people that drive the boats. The Jungle Cruise boats. Please try to keep up.
Lucky me, I got to sit between Shannon and Nickie.
And across from Mikey who took a spot sitting on one of the crates in the middle. And you guys. Mikey was REALLY enjoying the jokes our skipper told.
Dude could not stop laughing. Mikey finds so much joy in puns so Jungle Cruises was totez his jam.
Soph, however? Soph seemed a little erm trepidatious. In fact, let’s ride the Jungle Cruise through Sophia’s eyes. To start, like I said. Trepidation.
To be fair she was watching those lions tear that poor zebra apart.
And when she saw these guys she was like, “HippOMG no thank you.”
But eh, the elephants and these monkeys holding underwear kind of helped to turn things around.
Also though? The ride was over. So who knows. Could have been the underwear monkeys. Could have been the end of the ride. Point was, she was ok everyone.
That was a close one.
Next up, we had a Lightning Lane for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. As you might recall from Day 4, we tried to get on Tiana’s last time we were in the Magic Kingdom but the weather kept us from the bayou. Which meant that today was a first-time ride for a lot of us.
Look how cute this picture is.
Also today? We were like really bad at sitting in seats. Like, multiple times today we walked up to sit in a ride vehicle and got all freaked out when it came time to figure out where to sit. For example, when we made our way up to our log here? Myles, Shannon, and Jeff all crammed into the front row for some reason.
Like I said, this happens a lot today.
We’re the best.
Anyway though. Let’s get that Tiana.
Including in the first-timers club was Scarlett. And if you’re wondering if she enjoyed it, ba-you better believe it!
So the million-dollar question. Is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure better than Splash Mountain? I mean, look. I loved Splash Mountain. For a long time, I noted it as a top-tier attraction due to it not only having a high level of thrill, especially for a Disney attraction but also for its storytelling and inclusion of a lot of what makes a Disney ride really pop for me – it was long, it was a boat ride, and it used a crap-ton of animatronics.
But I mean. I think Tiana’s hits all those notes as well. And bonus? It’s based on a movie kids actually know and cherish. I kind of love it and think its an improvement over what Splash Mountain was.
Oh and double bonus? It’s not racist anymore.
And speaking of not being racist anymore, this dude’s name is Romeo now.
Look it up.
After Tiana’s, in keeping with the theme, we ordered some beignets over at Golden Oak Outpost.
And that theme I am referring to? Overeating. On account of we put in for 6 orders of these puppies.
And I know what you’re doing right now. You’re counting and you see 6 beignets there and you’re assuming that’s what I meant. That we actually ordered 6 total beignets. But oh, how stupid you would be. Because no, we got 6 total orders of 3 beignets each. Which essentially means we had 18 beignets.
How we roll.
And these things were good stuff. They weren’t JUST puffed up dough with a ludicrous amount of powdered sugar on them but they were ALSO drizzled with honey.
Good stuff.
Both Scarlett and Mia agree.
Beignets? More like Beign-YAYs. Amirite?
Next up, since it was showing like a 5-minute wait, was The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
But like, yeah. It was showing a 5-minute wait. However, when we got in line, they made an announcement that they had to shut the ride down for like 15 minutes.
Which is like…
…
…
Three times as long?
But eh, what’s another ten minutes when you’re with friends, right?
We did end up boarding eventually and once again, sitting in things proved difficult as we just couldn’t figure out who to sit where. Like, literally, it felt like we all just stood there not knowing who to sit where.
But we did figure it out.
Like, Nickie, Sophia, Myles, and Owen were in one carpet.
And Steph, Mia, Mikey, and me were in another.
Totally had it all figured out. Like here, Larissa, Nickie and Sophia were in this carpet.
And Myles, Owen, and Scarlett were in this one.
Wait. What?
Yeah, like I said. It was a scene man.
Sitting down issues aside, we obvs had a good time.
It had been like 20 minutes since we ate more beignets than we should have so obviously I was STARVING. It was either get some popcorn or, like, die.
Oh Disney popcorn, I love you more than a man should love a snack.
We walked on into Fantasyland and decided to hop into line for It’s a Small World.
As we were making our way down, Myles ended up running into one of his friends from the Disney College Program.
Annnnnnd some more sitting in rides issues happened.
When it was time to board, we were directed over to sit in the last two rows of the next boat. As we were boarding, Myles was kind of still talking to his friend and while his back was turned, two girls that were behind us snuck past and sat in the last row.
Which now meant there was not enough room back there for everyone and the cast member told us we all couldn’t fit.
Sooooo, I got up and exited the ride but like those two girls? Just sort of sat there facing forward knowing they totally cut us and took our seat. Legit said nothing at all.
Villains, the two of them.
I mean, its not like the biggest deal. I rode Small World on Day 4. But it’s the principle of the whole thing.
I am glad though that everyone else got to ride it though. Sophia ended up saying it was her favorite ride of the trip. So that counts for something.
Though I think she said most rides were her favorite ride of the trip.
By the time they exited Small World, it was around 1PM and was, therefore, time to head back to the resort for our midday break. But I mean, not before snapping some snazz pics on the way out.
Looking at the next set of pictures, it looks like Nickie and Larissa took the boat while the rest of us took the monorail.
And I don’t know why? I think I was still in a red rage from that whole It’s a Small World fiasco so it’s all kind of a blur.
When we got back to the room, the kids ended up having a pretty epic pillow fight.
Even Mia came over and joined in.
But the whole thing ended with a somber pillow burial.
(Owen is under there).
It was already 2PM by the time we made it down for lunch. Which was late for us, no?
And we once again found ourselves down at the Oasis Bar & Grill down off the Oasis pool.
And I once again found myself ordering the Rose Gold Margarita (Lunazul Reposado Tequila and Cointreau with flavors of Mango, Guava and Ginger).
I also once again found myself ordering the Angus Chuck Cheddar Cheeseburger and Fries.
So I once again was happy.
But even though we were at the Oasis pool at the moment, we took our “pool time” elsewhere. Since we had not yet ridden down the volcano water slide at the main pool yet, a few of us (including myself) headed that way.
And like, the waterslide was fun and all but that pool itself just gets far too crowded to enjoy from a “enjoying the pool” perspective.
So after a few rides down the slide, we volcano-goers met up with everyone else over at the Cove pool.
Which was much more, you know, leisurely and what not.
I’d say we probably spent about an hour hanging at the pool before heading back up to the room to get ready for the night. But before making our way back to the Magic Kingdom, we pit-stopped over at the Great Ceremonial House to get another few Lapu Lapus at the Tambu Lounge.
And while we were there, this whole thing was happening.
And those two were just a part of the whole situation going down outside the Tambu. We saw people dressed like “Macho Man” Randy Savage, the Undertaker, Mankind and what not. On account of they were on a wrestling themed pub crawl.
Which sounded super fun.
Minus the “wrestling themed” part.
And the “crawl” part.
But pubs are super fun.
At around 5PM, we were all “Jack yelling at Kate on Lost.”
You know. We were like Captain B. Mcrea on WALL-E.
Right? Like this guy from Titanic.
We had to go back. To the Magic Kingdom. Is what I am saying to you now.
And hey, it wasn’t raining. So let’s do some Main St. pics. Take it away Mr. Photopass person.
We were pretty much going right to dinner and our walk was pretty short on account of dinner? It was here.
Yup. Dinner tonight was at Cinderella’s Royal Table!! We were eating in the castle you guys!
And not only are we eating the food. We are also seeing the characters. On account of Cinderella’s Royal Table is a princess meal you guys. And the way it works is you check in down at the bottom of the castle and you get right in line to meet Cinderella herself.
See? Lookit Sophia and Scarlett meeting Cinderella.
And lookit Mia. She is also doing the meeting of the Cinderella.
And also lookit Shannon. Lookit.
We went ahead and got a picture with the girls…
…and of course one for the boys.
After getting our picture with the woman of the house, it was time to wait.
And wait.
And wait a little longer.
It was so long in fact, I looked over to my right and it was already knight-time.
Haha, kidding. I mean we waited but it wasn’t terrible. I think maybe we waited like 20 minutes but to be fair, I think we were kind of early.
We were let up into the dining room at around 6PM. And look how pretty you guys.
So exciting!
Since there were 13 of us, we had to split into two tables. One table was the Falzones (Tony, Mia, and Larissa), Jeff, and Shannon.
And the other table was the cool table.
Ha, just kidding. The other table was me, Nickie, Myles, Owen, and the Pittmans (Steph, Mikey, Sophia, and Scarlett).
Oh right. Yeah, the cool table.
Natch.
Before the dinner, Nickie led a very nice toast to Owen to let him know how proud of him we are and how excited we are for him to be going into his first year of college.
Annd Nickie and I raised a toast to each other to celebrate our anniversary and like, how into each other we are.
Look at us though. 22 years in love.
And Nickie is still all kinds of rawr.
Pretty much as soon as we sat down and put in our orders, Aurora wandered over to say hi.
That picture is legit precious.
Belle followed shortly thereafter and the girls were literally on the edge of their seats.
In between our visits with royalty, our drinks came. And both Mikey and I went for the Celebration Champagne Flight. The description of the flight reads as such – Flight using the Enchantée Champagne. This champagne is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunière and is exclusively sold at the Walt Disney Resort. Cinderella’s will be presenting this three ways to our Guests.
So the flight included one glass of the champagne with a strawberry puree, one with blueberry liquor and boba pearls, and one with edible gold flakes. So pretty right? But I mean, eh. I think the regular champagne with the gold flakes was probably the best one on there. Should have just got a glass of that. But I mean, three is more than one.
That’s math.
Ariel was up next.
I love when Google identifies characters in my pictures. Like now, Google thinks me and Ariel are friends.
I also hope it ID’s Scarlett with that picture always and forever.
Soph was having a good time y’all!
Merida paid us a visit next.
And Merida kind of killed it tonight. The look, the accent, the Merida-ness. She was great. And super funny.
I think.
I couldn’t really understand what she was saying.
Let’s get to the eating, right? Cinderella’s Royal Table works like a prix fixe sort of thing where you pick one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert.
For my appetizer, I went with the Crispy Pork Belly (Sweet Tea-glazed Pork, Heirloom Tomatoes, and Pickled Tomatillo-Cabbage Slaw).
Oof this thing was so good. That glaze on that pork was mwah. Chef’s kiss.
A bunch of us ordered the Grilled Filet Mignon for our main entrée. The steak came served with Olive Oil-whipped Potatoes, Roasted Seasonal Vegetables, and Garlic Butter.
And this was kind of also a seriously good dish. Super tender cut of steak and pretty flavorful for a filet.
I also snapped a pic of Nickie’s Chicken Roulade (Chicken Mousseline, Fregola Pasta, Pancetta, Carrot Purée and White Wine-Black Truffle Butter).
And Scarlett’s Chicken Strips. On account of those mashed potatoes were some serious mashed potatoes.
RULL GOOD mashed potatoes right there.
I didn’t get a picture of Owen’s filet or Myles’s Lamb Chops. But I DID get a picture of Myles and Owen.
It was almost time for dessert. But first? A snack.
The hits kept on coming at the castle. Because LOOK AT THIS DESSERT.
That there is the Jaq and Gus Cheesecake. It’s described on the menu as Vanilla Cheesecake with Fresh Fruit and Garnishes. But like, that obviously doesn’t do that situation justice. I mean there’s a cardboard carriage. And a white chocolate Gus and Jaq. And the thing looks like a friggin cartoon piece of cheese.
Like the kind that Jerry used to sleep in.
The kids got The Sword in the Sweet (a White Chocolate Sword in a Chocolate and Marshmallow Mousse ‘Stone’ atop Cocoa ‘Soil’).
I also took a picture of Myles’s The Clock Strikes Twelve (Chocolate Ganache Tart topped with Salted Caramel-Coffee Mousse).
These desserts love the camera obvs.
Oh our waiter brought us a cupcake too to celebrate our anniversary.
Which was sort of the ugly stepsister of this whole dessert fairy tale. But still, it was a cupcake. So I obvs squad ate it.
Also? Scarlett kept kicking my butt at Tic-Tac-Toe.
But yeah Cinderella’s Royal Table kind of killed it tonight. The characters were a lot of fun, the atmosphere is legit like “OH WE ARE AT DISNEY BUT ALSO FANCY ASS”, the service was on point, and the food hit at every course. Well done, CRT.
We were back out and in the park at around 7:45. We had a Lightning Lane for Tron tonight so we headed over to Tomorrowland.
But we had a little bit of time before that so we headed into Carousel of Progress. On account of It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.
Such a great attraction tho.
But after that? After that it was time for Tron: Lifecycle Run.
And it was an exciting situation because since we have always been at the mercy of Virtual Queue, I’ve never ridden Tron at night. And I mean, it was getting dark out you guys.
Being a big scaredy-face, Nickie was having nothing to do with Tron. And being that they are little kids, Scarlett and Sophia were also not riding. They hopped on the PeopleMover. On account of they are people. And wanted to do some moving.
Back at Tron tho? Mikey was wishing he was too little to ride.
And guys. It was dark out.
Look how much fun we all had.
Well.
Except Mikey.
But like, right? OK. So Tron is kind of short. But man, is that a fun attraction. When you first shoot out onto the track? It may not be my favorite Disney attraction of all, but it definitely does have a top singular moment. And it’s that moment.
Plus, I mean. It’s Tron. All the kids love Tron. And it’s super timely given there is a new movie coming out with Jared Leto. Yeah guys. THE joker.
…
Oh you know. The new Tron movie. Wait, you guys didn’t know there was a new Tron movie coming out?
Lulz.
After we exited Tron, we met up with all the “Non-Tron” peeps and went walking right down the middle of Main St. to find a good spot down near the end to catch Happily Ever After. We made camp just outside the Confectionary.
Which is a pretty stellar spot to catch the show. Up around the hub is all kinds of madness and with the projections down Main Street now, it adds a whole new vibe to the show.
Such a great fireworks show. Happily Ever After just. I mean. I. All the feels.
After the show ended, we still had some park time left and an Anytime Lightning Lane to burn. Initially, we thought maybe we would jump on Space Mountain but a vote was taken and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ended up being the choice for everyone.
Well.
Not everyone.
Well right. So Mikey was taking the girls back to the Polynesian. And Larissa and Mia already used their anytime Lightning Lane on Space Mountain earlier, so they planned on joining Nickie for a post-fireworks ice cream.
And Tony? Well, Tony still thought we were going on Space Mountain. Like literally, as we were walking over to Tiana’s, he kept mentioning Space Mountain. But like, I thought he was kidding.
It wasn’t really until we were in line for Tiana’s. Oh right, also when we got to Tiana’s, they informed us our Lightning Lane was actually not valid for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. So we just got in line since it was only like 20 minutes.
But yeah. It wasn’t really until we were in line for Tiana’s that I realized Tony was 100% NOT kidding. He DID NOT want to ride Tiana’s tonight and get wet. Like, not even a little.
So I mean, naturally, he sat up front. By himself.
Ha, that Tony. Such a card.
I feel like this on-ride photo really sums it up better than anything I do with words.
He was having a really good time.
At this point, it was approaching 10:45 so it was time to call it a day. On the way out, you know I had to take a picture of this bit of gorgeous.
Also and in addition, everyone else also had the bright idea to leave when the park closed. Which, like, I was sure was something we came up with on the spot. But nope. The line for the monorail was like whoa.
Thankfully, we were staying at the Polynesian which meant we could also get there via ferry. And the line for the ferry was non-existent as it was just boarding. We made it down there just in time, boarded, and ended up finding Nickie, Larissa, and Mia on there!
Timing FTW.
And yeah, the boat was crowded. But like, there is NOTHING like a nighttime Disney World boat ride.
We were back at our resort by 11PM. And that was Day 8, folks. A crazy good day.
And we still have like four more days left. What a long trip this thing was. I mean, I was really hoping to have this series fully written before we took our next trip. But it’s not looking like that’s going to happen.
And you know what that means? I think I may be writing about one vacation while I am on another one. Which is all kinds of meta.
I think.
I don’t really know what “meta” means.
Annyway – see you on Day 9!!
Last post – Day 7!
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