First trip with teens: one niece turning 16 this week, the other 16, two sons, one 13 and one 19. First time at a value for all 6 nights.

Last night we walked around Disney Springs. It was nice, but I am not a mall/shopping person and this area just seems like an open air mall to me. We ate at Cooks at Dublin which offers counter service on dining plan. It was ok. The fish and chips is the thing to get in my opinion. Burger was okay, well done, with sweet chutney. not my cup of tea. Pork had fall seasoning...nutmeg? cinnamon? But the fish was good. We enjoyed walking around and I was nostalgic for my little boys making light sabers, and lego toys. I think they were missing those days too.

First impression of All Star Music-family suite. Meh. We have stayed one night at POP and one night at All Star Movies and loved both. I was so impressed with the cleanliness and theming of both. Granted this was just for one night. I don't think the theming at ASMusic is as good. The pool looks cute, but that seems to be it. When we opened the door to our room we were hit with a musty smell. The AC does't seem to get very cool. The bed side lamp is missing its switch. I saw hair on the bathroom floor. Oh, well, we are mostly just here to sleep. We are staying in suite. The 'bedroom" part of the room is fine and the bed is fine. There is a very, very thin blanket? or cover? over the sheet. It's okay. The room doesn't get really cool, so... The kids are not very impressed with the extremely thin mattresses on the fold out couch, ottoman and chair. But it all seems adequate. Someone apparently put a privacy hanger on our door knob today while we were at parks. No one in our family says they did it (but who knows?!) but no housekeeping today. Sigh. Not the best after a long day at the parks. When I said, trying to be positive, "well, it's not perfect, but it's fine since we don't spend much time at the room. Really, it's fine," my son interpreted: "that's Mama saying we'll never stay at a Value again." I had to laugh.

The day in Magic Kingdom was great. The weather was breezy and nice this a.m. We did: Space Mountain, Stitch (teens insisted), Pooh, Small World, 7DMT with FP, lunch at Be Our Guest, Thunder Mountain FP, Splash Mountain FP, Carousel of Progress.

We had a rest in the lounge in the Poly (three of the teens fell asleep in the lounge, while the adults fortified themselves with coffee) and dinner at Kona which was delicious. I recommend the Kona Sampler Sushi and Pork two ways. The yaki soba stir fry was okay. The pot stickers were good. The Volcano cake was delicious. I did experience a bit of resort envy.

We headed back to MK for our FP to Pirates. Then saw Happily Ever After. Sigh. Technically impressive and probably great for Millennials, but nothing I need to see again.

I miss Wishes.

All in all, though, it was a great day and so fun to be with my sweet Teens, so different yet wonderful in their own ways. I also kept finding myself reminiscing about when the boys were little and got their hair cut in MK, and when they fell asleep in my arms during Wishes, and how scared they were in Stitch (like all the little ones who started crying when it went dark...and by the way, when are they going to get rid of this stupid attraction?") and how they liked the bubbles, etc. It was fun not to have to go on Dumbo, and yet I also enjoyed the still-a-kid-energy of my teens when they insisted on trying to pull out the sword and ooohh, ahhed about the falling snow in Be Our Guest. Let's face it, we are all a little kid at heart in the MK.

Tomorrow- Hollywood Studios.