After not falling asleep until close to 2 am, I was awake by 6. My alarm wasn’t set to go off until 6:30. So I facebooked, lounged around, listened to music on that Disney parks info channel (predictable right?), and then eventually ate that doughnut I’d gotten the night before at Everglazed. It’s a really good thing that key lime doughnut was only a seasonal thing. It was a thing of beauty, and delicious. Huge though. I only successfully ate about half of it.
Breakfast complete, I, what else? redid my bandaid foot art and got ready for the day. I was pretty sure I was taking today slower, and only 75% of that was because of my feet.
By 7:20 I shuffled on out to the bus stop. A coach bus circled the lot a couple of times before pulling up to the load zone for Hollywood Studios. The bus stop was really chaotic today. Felt like none of the drivers, Disney or otherwise, really knew where they were going. But anyway, pretty soon the bus was on its way, and we arrived at Hollywood Studios probably 10 minutes later.
My messages about park opening were much less detailed today (wonder why…), so I don’t have the exact time breakdown like the other days. But I was farther back for entering the park today, but didn’t stress too much, because Studios has several attractions that draw people at opening. I made my way to the holding pen for Toy Story Land, where we were held until about 8:30. Studios probably has the most organized and most spread out rope drop of the 4 parks (there are even signs being held by CMs directing people), and so while it’s my least favorite park, it’s definitely my favorite rope drop.
My first stop of the day was Slinky Dog Dash. Even shuffling along, the ride was a walk on and I was off the ride by 9:00 (official park opening time). Everest is still my favorite, but I really enjoy this ride. Such a smooth roller coaster, and fun too!
Slinky Dog conquered (and posted as a very believable 80 minute wait at this point), I headed for Toy Story Mania, which was almost a walk on. The wait was just long enough for a selfie for the #shirtoftheday.
After breaking plates and failing at 3-D ring toss, the wait time was posted as 15 minutes, so I decided to take one more spin through Midway Mania. The posted time was actually the closest to accurate of any wait time I saw this trip. I waited 13 minutes. That was fine though. Gave me the opportunity to order a fall treat from ABC Commissary for a bit later.
Second round of Toy Story Mania complete (I really like this attraction), I took a picture with the popsicle wall because it’s way more fun than the purple wall, and then headed out of Toy Story Land.
I didn’t go far though. My first stop was the Market, which many people know as being home to the Num Num cookie. I wasn’t interested in the cookie though. I needed the pineapple coconut slushy.
This was delicious. Next time though I won’t forget my reusable straw in NH. Those paper ones don’t exactly add to the slushy experience. Well...they add fiber, but they don’t add positivity to the experience.
Slushy mostly finished, I shuffled on over to ABC Commissary, where I got a “your order is ready” almost as soon as I hit “I’m here”. Pickup was pretty organized here, and the CM at the door took her job of keeping people who didn’t have a ready order out of the restaurant quite seriously.
So why was I at ABC Commissary? For the caramel apple tart. Disney had released their fall treats in the parks the day before, and this was one of several that sounded amazing...and the only one accessible before I turned into a pumpkin and left the parks for the day. It was a shortbread type tart, with a healthy layer of apple pie filling, topped with a sizeable amount (that red round blob) of caramel cheesecake mousse. This had my name written all over it. So, despite my not so favorable history with ABC Commissary, I had to try it. It was delicious.
Dessert finished way before lunch time, it was time to leave the park. I semi-browsed the stores on my way out, then headed for the bus stop. As I approached the bus stop, I decided the one last thing I needed to do on this trip that wasn’t specifically planned, was a loop on the monorail. So I ended up on a waiting and empty bus to the Red Roof.
The ride to the Grand Floridian was uneventful, and pretty soon I was walking across the lovely plush carpet that I’ve never appreciated until now. Now THAT’S what my feet needed. I made my way upstairs via the carpeted stairs and briefly poked around in the store, before heading for the monorail that arrived right as I got out on the platform. I used my usual strategy of going straight to the far end of the monorail, and had a nearly empty monorail car.
I rode the monorail over to the Contemporary, enjoying the views along the way.
At the Contemporary, I poked around the store, but didn’t buy anything. Then I got back on the monorail and rode to the Magic Kingdom. It was so weird to not stop at the Polynesian!
Monorail loop complete, I got off the monorail at the Magic Kingdom and SLOWLY made my way to the Movies bus stop. As I got there, a bus pulled up. Despite warnings years ago to never get on a Dynamic bus, I did, because I was not standing waiting for another bus to come along. Thankfully, the interior was in good condition, and I made it safely back to the resort.
Back at the resort, I picked up the lunch I had mobile ordered on the bus ride there (perhaps this system isn’t as bad as it once was), and took that back to the room to eat. Lunch was a grilled chicken sandwich with fries. The fries were far better than the sandwich. The flavor of the chicken was fine, but the sandwich was just sad.
Monorail loop complete, I got off the monorail at the Magic Kingdom and SLOWLY made my way to the Movies bus stop. As I got there, a bus pulled up. Despite warnings years ago to never get on a Dynamic bus, I did, because I was not standing waiting for another bus to come along. Thankfully, the interior was in good condition, and I made it safely back to the resort.
Back at the resort, I picked up the lunch I had mobile ordered on the bus ride there (perhaps this system isn’t as bad as it once was), and took that back to the room to eat. Lunch was a grilled chicken sandwich with fries. The fries were far better than the sandwich. The flavor of the chicken was fine, but the sandwich was just sad.
After lunch I took a nap. Yup, you read that right. It was much needed and I slept for a couple of hours.
Nap complete, I did some more bandaid art. Yes, I’m pretty sure the trash can in my room was half bandaids at this point. Then I hopped in the car to drive over to Disney Springs, for a bit more shopping and my final Disney dinner for the trip.
Once again I had no issue finding a good spot pretty close to security on the second level of the Orange Garage. Tonight I headed for the spendy district of Disney Springs for my shopping. I browsed a few stores and bought a couple of Disney Vera Bradley things before heading to dinner.
Tonight’s dinner? Another new one for me. Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’. I checked in and was seated almost immediately. I liked the decor and music here immediately, but also knew immediately to cross this off the list of contenders for my trip with Nick. It’s small and LOUD here. My server was Ty and he gave me the whole rundown on the backstory of this place.
I really enjoyed my dinner here. Service was friendly and quick, and the food and drink were great! I had the Florida Crush to drink, and I WILL figure out how to make this at home. So refreshing. To eat I had the Famous Fried Chicken. While the Disney food facebook page I follow seems to show everyone subbing mac and cheese for the mashed potatoes, I had the meal as intended (fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a cheddar drop biscuit), and I was very glad I did. Everything on that plate was delicious.
It should go without saying that that was a meal that I couldn’t finish. I enjoyed trying though. Once I finished dinner, I headed back to the hotel. Time to put my feet up some more. The cankles were real!
Again it was an easy drive, and I found a good parking spot, knowing the next morning I’d be dragging luggage out to the car. I cleaned my car out as best as I could, and then headed back to the room. I lightly organized, but quickly decided to pack in earnest in the morning.
Once I’d digested dinner a bit, I showered and then had that pina colada cheesecake I’d gotten the night before at Amorette’s. The cheesecake was phenomenal. The alcohol in the pipette didn’t really add to the experience. It’s cheesecake, so you can’t really inject the alcohol into it, and pouring it over the top is just kinda pointless. But anyway...great cheesecake.
I’m pretty sure I crashed later than I should have, in total denial that this trip was already ending.
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