February 2020: An Exploded Family Trip to FL: Day 1

Day 1: Saturday February 22, 2020

After a night of tossing and turning (I thought I kept my house cold; it’s got NOTHING on my now typically unoccupied childhood bedroom), that 3:30 alarm absolutely did come early. It was about 18 degrees outside overnight, which, while balmy compared to the 0 I had seen Friday morning, was pretty cold.

I quickly got ready, having organized surprisingly well the day before for a quick departure. T was working this morning, before he and mom flew to Florida that night, and had said he could take me to the airport before work (therefore letting mom sleep) if we left PROMPTLY at 4:15.

I’m going to put this out here right now. T and I are generally civil. He and my mom married when I was 13, and like most 13 year old girls, I was not the most pleasant human being. T is pretty arrogant, so we got off on the wrong foot, and never created the same bond he achieved with my sister. These days we’re civil, but that’s about it. As much as I didn’t want to start the trip with him driving me to the airport, I appreciated the fact that he was literally going in the opposite direction of work to take me to MHT before work, and even moreso, I appreciated the fact that he was actually doing something nice for my mom for a change, by letting her sleep, so I was determined to not be late.

We were out the door at 4:09. Go me! At 4 am, all of those sensor traffic lights go straight to green, so it was about a 12 minute trip to Manchester airport. It was exactly enough time to discuss trip plans without leaving room for our typical awkward silences.

T dropped me at the curb, and I headed inside where I received comments of gratitude from my 6th grade science teacher’s husband (who I swear is at work at the Southwest counter EVERY time I’m at the airport, no matter what time of day I’m checking in for a flight), as I flawlessly found an open kiosk and tagged my bag, while dozens of others stood around staring into space, not even trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing.

With my bag checked to Orlando, I hopped on the escalator and walked through the empty precheck line. I believe it was 7 minutes from stepping out of T’s truck to parking myself at my gate, and that included buying myself a bottle of water.

My gate was 14, and I was very happy (but not surprised) to see that my plane was already there for this 6:15 am flight. 

The last time I sat at this gate, I was in this airport for 7 hours, and wasn’t sure we would actually get on a flight in time for what turned out to be our FANTASTIC cruise on the Fantasy. Thankfully this was a much smoother travel experience. 

About 5:45, boarding began. I was B34, despite early bird check in, because, vacation week. All I could do was stand back and marvel at the size of the family boarding line, and the size of some of the families (what happened to 2 adults per child?!) and those teenager-looking 6 year olds…

Eventually I got to board, and shockingly found a window seat in row 8. I actually ended up in a row of adults, and my seatmates were pretty great. The guy on the aisle is a pediatric dentist, and the woman in the middle seat runs an afterschool program and preschool. Both had a great sense of humor, and we chatted until we were airborne.

Once airborne, I got to see a great sunrise. 

Following sunrise, I settled in to read. I actually put a pretty good dent in the book (After Anna), managing to read about 200 pages, before we began our final descent into Orlando, despite the scenery being great. This is probably the only flight I’ve ever taken where the entire trip down the east coast was clear enough to see ground. We were about half an hour early, and as we cheered about the idea of extra vacation time, the flight crew was quick to remind us that there might not be a gate available for us. Such buzzkills!

As it turned out, a gate WAS available for us. Being a New England based flight, deplaning was very quick, and pretty soon I was at baggage claim. This is where I discovered that while a gate was available for us, a baggage crew must not have been, because here I waited for a solid half hour before bags started emerging. And for the first time in the history of flying, I actually saw the first bag to emerge be claimed by someone, rather than the usual, where that bag typically never seems to belong to anyone.

Once bags started emerging, mine made an appearance pretty quickly, and I set off for the rental car garage. I had done the “skip the line” online check in, so all I had to do was walk out to the garage and find Alamo. The girl directed me to the midsize lane, and I cruised the lane to find the most eligible car. The most eligible bachelor award went to a black Toyota Corolla. I checked for bumps and bruises, loaded my luggage, and realized I didn’t have enough cell phone signal to link the car to my Sunpass account. Well, crap!

I came up with a plan, and got underway. And then changed plans once I exited the garage and saw the sign for the cell phone lot. I pulled in the cell phone lot, marvelled at it for a few minutes (it has real bathrooms! MHT just barely paved their cell phone lot), and then got to work on that Sunpass account.

Usually this is a quick process. But Sunpass felt it was necessary to have me reset my password, and establish security questions. So...what seemed like 20 minutes later, my rental car was finally connected to my Sunpass, and I was finally on my way to DISNEY!

Check in isn’t until 4 at Silver Lake, and timeshare resorts are pretty obnoxious about check in times. And let’s be real, you didn’t really expect me to spend this day somewhere other than Disney did you?

Traffic didn’t really want me to get to Disney in a timely manner, but eventually I made it to the Orange parking garage at Disney Springs, despite Google’s best attempts at messing me up. I parked, swapped the sweatshirt for a lighter open cardigan, and was on my way to the bus stop. It was in the upper 50s, headed for mid 60s, and VERY windy.

My first stop at Disney Springs? The bus stop. I took in the sunshine and palm trees, until my bus driver finished “refilling his pixie dust” (really, the bus marquees say that now) and the bus pulled up to the bus stop.

For some reason we didn’t use the shortcut past Golden Oak, so it was a longer trip than normal, but eventually I made it to the Wilderness Lodge. I wasted no time in heading for Geyser Point, where I was rewarded with a table with a great view of Bay Lake.

I had the bison bacon cheeseburger for lunch. The food appeared quickly. It wasn’t quite as good as when I had it in August, but it was still very tasty. I enjoyed lunch and my view, despite some ducks that came begging for handouts. 

Once lunch was done, I headed for the boat dock. I was a bit surprised to see the ancient looking boat they were using for the trip to the Magic Kingdom.

Pretty soon the boat to the Contemporary came along, and I was grateful that it was a short boat ride. It was COLD on that open air boat.

At the Contemporary, I took a few minutes to poke around the shops, and then made my way to the monorail. The monorail actually was running reasonably efficiently, so it was a relatively quick ride to the Polynesian, with some great views along the way. It really was a beautiful day, when the wind wasn’t blowing!

Once at the Polynesian, I poked around the stores, hoping the line at Pineapple Lanai would decrease. It actually got longer. So I sucked it up and waited in line for about 15 minutes, but it was worth the wait. They were still serving the “Polynesian Lava You” float that had appeared around Valentine’s Day. I got this without the rum floater. What is this? Pineapple soft serve, with POG (passion fruit, orange, guava) juice and some pop rocks and a tiny amount of red syrup (that didn’t negatively impact it) to give that volcano look.

It was amazing. This should be a year-round offering.

Once I’d enjoyed my float (inside the lobby, out of the wind), and a cast member had quickly removed my empty cup from my hands (the cast members are taking cleaning seriously right now), it was off to the bus stop. Time to return to Disney Springs for real.

The wait for a bus was a bit long, but eventually I was back at Disney Springs, marveling at just how crowded it was. Seriously. WHERE DID ALL THESE PEOPLE COME FROM?!

I took my first ever trip through Ron Jon, where I found some new flip flops to replace a pair lost to a bit of a (dog) shitty situation last summer, and confirmed my thoughts that the Ron Jon in Cocoa Beach absolutely has to be on the itinerary in April. Then I poked around some other stores, before finding my way to Dockside Margaritas. You see, it just happened to be National Margarita Day. And it would be wrong to not honor such an important holiday.

The line here was long too, but worth it, and there was steel drum music to listen to while waiting in line. I got the Sunset Margarita, and it was excellent. 

 

While I enjoyed my margarita, I continued wandering through stores, simply blown away by the crowds. There were wait time signs for the lines in Disney Springs. Yes, you read that right. I didn’t buy anything else in terms of merchandise, and was relieved when it was late enough to work my way toward the resort for check in. I DID stop at Amorette’s for the Cinderella Carriage cake to go, because I couldn’t pass up that social media-able treat!

Cake purchased, I made my way back to the car, and to Silver Lake Resort. It was about a 20 minute drive, and relatively straight forward. Silver Lake Resort is about half a mile from the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Check in was reasonably painless, despite the fact that my stepdad hadn’t bothered to purchase a guest certificate when the reservation was initially booked, so the guest certificate that allowed me to check in was purchased at the last minute, and therefore the paperwork was a little wonky. I had about 10 pages of reservation paperwork and they needed to see ALL of it. But, I got checked in, and somehow managed to avoid being forced into a timeshare tour while there, and pretty soon I was on my way to find my unit, 9201A, in the 900 building.

Silver Lake Resort is pretty compact, so it was easy enough to find my unit. I left my luggage in the car, went up to find the unit, checked for bedbugs, and took some pictures. The unit was very nice. 

Then I brought my luggage up and settled in, debating heavily what to do for dinner. Eventually I decided to go eat at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I spent a few minutes checking out the animals before the sun went down.

Then it was dinner time at the Mara. I got the chicken sandwich. This was good, but would have been better if the menu boards had mentioned the pickled onions on it, so those could have not been put on it, where they soaked through some of the bread. I hate onions. I hate pickles. I REALLY hate pickled onions.

I ate about half of my sandwich and then was full. Thankfully, my table was very close to a stack of go boxes, so I was able to pack up the rest of my meal (which never did get eaten), and soon enough I was back at the resort, where I enjoyed half of that social media-able treat. Yes, now you get to see it!

Then I crashed shortly before 8, relieved that plans had changed earlier in the week and I no longer had to pick up mom and T when they arrived at MCO around 9 pm. Only problem? I didn’t respond to mom’s texts upon their arrival, and she worried that I’d gotten lost at dinner, so she called me around 10:30, as they drove to The Villages. Thankfully, I went back to sleep quickly.

February 2020: An Exploded Family Trip to FL: Pretrip

Pretrip:

Cast of Characters (it’s actually a long one)
Me: 33, a school-based Speech-Language Pathologist, Disney Dork, will always find an excuse for Disney if in the general vicinity
Laura: 29: my baby sister, some level of manager at the restaurant of a hotel/conference center associated with that giant university in the middle of Pennsylvania. She’s a graduate of that same university
Mom: self-explanatory...she’s a family and consumer sciences teacher at a high school and has one year left (she thinks) until retirement.
T: my stepdad. Same age as my mom. He works for the postal service. He doesn’t usually come along on these trips, but wanted to go house hunting
Grammy and Grampa: 95, have been married for almost 72 years. Truly the matriarch and patriarch of our family. Born and raised in the northernmost town in NH, they still live pretty far north, so they (still) winter in FL. And by that I mean they leave at the start of November and come back at the end of April. As Depression era folks (and Grampa’s a WWII combat vet), they are about as determined, persistent, and independent as people could get, despite my grandmother showing her age and then some.

I don’t usually write trip reports for my February vacation trips. These trips typically consist of my mom and me flying to FL, staying with my grandparents for a week in retirementville (The Villages, FL), with a couple day excursions for me. But this year’s trip looked VERY different.

Last summer, in between my mom’s multiple surgeries to reconstruct her scalp, following removal of basal cell skin cancer (still 2 more surgeries to go), Southwest put their airfare on sale for February vacation. Although my grandparents had not confirmed their return to FL for the winter (they’re 95 after all), I booked air for myself, suspecting that their determined streak would continue, and not wanting to miss out on the good flights/prices. My mom dragged her feet a little bit and didn’t book right away.

In late September my grandparents confirmed what we were all suspecting; they’d be returning to FL. Then it was a scramble to arrange flights for them...and for mom and T. WAIT, WHAT?! T is coming too?!

Yup, T is crashing the girls’ trip. I received a phone call after one particularly long day of meetings, asking how I would feel about sleeping on the couch at Grammy and Grampa’s for the week. Uh, say what?!

Grammy and Grampa rent a 2 bedroom house in The Villages for the winter. Grammy, thanks to a broken neck a few years ago, sleeps in a recliner in the living room. Always the night owl and losing both her vision and hearing, she watches some combination of Fox News, the Hallmark channel and Mollie B polka in the evenings, at volume 60, until close to midnight. My school year bedtime tends to be about 8 pm. Sleeping on the couch for the week meant not sleeping for a week. I’m not generally picky about sleeping arrangements, but in this school year, not sleeping for a week was not an option.

So, I threw out the suggestion that we use mom’s horrifically unused timeshare points to book me a condo. The Villages is a little over an hour from Orlando, and there are a TON of condo resorts in Orlando to book through RCI. I found a couple along 429, which allowed me access to the FL turnpike without dealing with I-4, and before I could even second guess the suggestion, mom and T had booked a 2-bedroom unit at Silver Lake Resort. 2-bedrooms in case my sister and her boyfriend came along. We came to an (easy) agreement on how many times I would do the drive to The Villages (close to 140 miles roundtrip), and waited to see if Laura and Josh would be joining the party.

In January we finally got an answer. Laura would join the party but not Josh. He has never been on a plane (and has barely left Pennsylvania in his lifetime), and doesn’t want his first plane trip to be to FL. With Laura on board and flying in on Fat Tuesday, I started scheming more.

The days ticked down. The never-ending school work got done enough, and the weather forecast and coronavirus maps were monitored. I got home from school Friday Feb 21st about 3:30, raced around the house packing the suitcase and trying to make it a little bit better for Nick to live in for the next week, and raced out the door again about 4:45, much to the horror of the little dog Gizmo, who has learned exactly what the suitcase means. Nick and I met for dinner, and then I headed for mom’s house for the night. We chatted for a bit, and then I tried to crash. That 3:30 alarm would come early.

August 2019: A Slightly Laid Back Summer Disney Trip: Day 5, The End

Day 5: Saturday August 10, 2019

I was awake relatively early this morning, and made a fairly early morning trip to the front desk, because nothing had been left for me about Magical Express. This seems to be a trend for my recent trips! I had a transportation notice in my hand fairly quickly, despite it being early enough in the day that there were minimal CMs working the front desk, and a LOT of people in line to check in that didn’t speak English, requiring a lot of translation phone calls.

Once I’d obtained my transportation notice, I grumbled my way back to my room to finish (start?) packing. Why was I grumbling? My flight was at 7 and my DME pick up was at 3:30. Disney seems to want to cut my trips short lately…

I finished packing, shooed away an over-eager housekeeper (where was she a couple days ago?), triple checked the room, and it was time to haul my luggage to the main building. I stored my big backpack with luggage services, checked my suitcase, and then headed for the line for the Disney Springs bus.

Eventually a bus showed up, and after a stop at Movies, it was off to Disney Springs. I still had a little bit until my brunch reservation, so I poked around some of the spendy stores (Columbia, Vera Bradley, etc) before making my way to Raglan Road, where I was seated immediately for my brunch reservation.

Brunch here was great, but I’m going to have to go back sometime sooner rather than later, because I was too early for the live entertainment, and it was too hot to order anything off this crazy long drink menu. But the service was great, no one acted like I was a problem for being solo, the food was great, the atmosphere was neat and the background music was also enjoyable. The soda bread and dip were fantastic, and I had the Three Times a Boxty for my entree, which was also delicious. This was basically thick cut ham, Irish cheese, and an egg, sandwiched between 2 potato patties, served with fries...I mean...chips. YUM! Why have I not eaten here before?! Seriously...I’ll be back!

After brunch, I poked around the various stores for awhile, making sure I hadn’t missed anything in my previous trips to Disney Springs this week, then headed back to Columbia, where I got a fantastic deal on OmniFreeze cooling towels. Why didn’t I walk in this store earlier this week?! They were marked down to 30% off, and then when I got to the register, they were actually 50% off. As an added bonus, because I’m a rewards member (Columbia OmniHeat is how I survive winter in NH...I have the jackets (yes plural), the vests, the ski pants, the base layer stuff, the gloves, and even the boots), I got another 20% off. So while the colors are ugly (they’re sweat rags, who cares), we are now all set for the annual cookout where Nick grills for 80 people (spoiler alert...it didn’t get over 74 that day…), and I’m all set for when I forget next spring just how hot this trip was and inevitably decide to book another summer solo trip.

Shopping complete, I limped toward the bus stop. A bus came along soon enough, and pretty soon I was back at Music, where I collected my backpack and started consolidating my day bag (have to carry a poncho somehow!). Then I changed into a long sleeve shirt, because it would once again be cold in NH by the time I got home. It’s totally normal to need long sleeves in August right?

It was closing in on bus time, so I headed outside and grabbed a bench, noticing that the sky totally matched my mood. The sky was getting darker by the minute.

The bus, of course, pulled up a few minutes early, and the trip was officially over.

It started raining as I sat down on the bus. Again, appropriate. We made one stop at Movies, where the rain moved to torrential downpour levels. As we rolled out of the Movies parking lot, the driver revealed his sense of humor, with the announcement that this was our final stop and the airport was our next destination, “We will be arriving at the Orlando airport in approximately 35 minutes, traveling at a max speed of 70 mph, and a cruising altitude of approximately 12 inches”.

The driver was an excellent driver, but this was probably my scariest ride ever to MCO yet, because there was absolutely no visibility. I passed the ride texting, to try to distract myself a bit. Thankfully the rain let up as the bus approached the airport. And we got another dose of driver humor as he explained the layout of the airport, which Disney probably wouldn’t have appreciated, but every adult on the bus did, “On level 3, the wonderful security folks with the TSA are eagerly waiting to give you a full body massage”.

Once the bus “landed”, I headed for level 3, pausing near the entrance to the Precheck line. Eric was in between Give Kids the World greets, so he met up with me and we were able to chat for about 15 minutes. It’s always nice to catch up, and it was also nice to see a friendly face before flying home.

All too soon I was cruising through the precheck line, literally. While the main security line had a half hour wait time posted, precheck was a walkthrough.

Once gateside, I picked up dinner from Jersey Mike’s, and headed for my gate. As I got near my gate, I saw that my gate area was completely full, with a flight starting the boarding process, so I veered across the way to a nearly empty gate area. As I went to turn to sit down, I heard “no, don’t take that chair” from someone who was apparently in a smart ass move. I turned around, and saw a retired principal, turned substitute from my district. I’m not sure who was more surprised to see the other. He also looked a bit embarrassed. Lesson learned, you might actually know the person when you’re being a smart ass 1000 miles from home. We chatted for a few minutes, and then he went off to find a seat, and I sat down to enjoy my food. We really need Jersey Mike’s at home!

Sooner than I would have liked, boarding began. I had purchased EBCI for this flight, so I had a boarding position in the A group, and got a window seat in row 8 for this flight. I sat down and quickly noticed this plane needed a bit of a paint job. 

The plane was fully boarded a few minutes early, and we all found out that our flight attendants have a great sense of humor. Best security spiel ever, complete with a fake microphone, Elvis glasses, pig nose, swinging oxygen tubing and (not pictured) a clown nose at mid cabin. I only wish I had taken video instead of photos. Definitely made departure from a great vacation a little less painful to leave laughing.

The flight was uneventful, although, I couldn’t help but think about the kid on the flight down who referred to landing as “popping a wheelie” as we touched down in Manchester. Not the smoothest landing I’ve ever experienced!

We landed on an infrequently used runway, so we taxied ALL the way around the airport. In fact, if it hadn’t been dark out and I’d been more aware, I should have waved to Nick, since we taxied right past the cell phone lot.

Deplaning was definitely faster than on the flight down, and soon enough I was collecting my luggage at baggage claim. Nick arrived at the curb to meet me about 3 minutes after I texted him that I had my bag, because Manchester’s great like that. And with that, the trip was over. It was an uneventful drive home, and Gizmo was VERY happy to see me when I got home. 

Final thoughts:

It was another great trip! While I can always use more park time, I had enough park time to hit the absolute must dos. And I really enjoyed being able to justify some of the restaurants I’ve heard so much about, but don’t usually have the opportunity to get to.

I’m so glad it worked out so that I could get down to Disney this summer and see Illuminations for a final time.

August 2019: A Slightly Laid Back Summer Disney Trip: Day 4, Part 2

Day 4, Part 2

I slowly made my way to the bus stop, where I found an empty line for the Animal Kingdom bus. That’s never a good sign! Thankfully a bus came along within 15 minutes, and soon enough I was entering my second park of the day.

Once at Animal Kingdom, I bee-lined it for Everest. I was starving, but the sky was getting darker, and I wanted to make sure I had the opportunity to ride Everest. So I put lunch on hold, and headed straight for Everest, stopping just briefly for a picture of Kevin because...it’s Kevin!

When I arrived at Everest, I found that even the single rider line had a pretty long line, but, I was on the ride in approximately 20 minutes. The ride was fun as usual, and I got a good chuckle from the person I was seated with. He was a British grandfather, and his comment at the end of the ride (his first time on Everest) was “I don’t think I like my grandkids too much right now!”. Apparently Everest was not his favorite ride!

Having once again successfully escaped the Yeti, it was time for lunch. I decided to continue the trend of something new, and went with the counter service Yak and Yeti. I went with the chicken fried rice from the side menu, and this turned out to be a perfectly sized (and CHEAP) lunch option. For those keeping score, Animal Kingdom has at least 2 perfect “snacks” that are big enough for meals...the chicken fried rice and the pulled pork covered fries (Flame Tree). The other parks need to catch up!

It took awhile for me to find a seat that was at least somewhat under cover, since it looked like rain was approaching quickly, but I did find one eventually. While this wasn’t the best chicken fried rice I’ve ever eaten, it was still good, and I would absolutely get it again. Of the two “sides/snacks” I’ve tried in Animal Kingdom as my meal, the pulled pork fries at Flame Tree are my top choice, but this was definitely lighter and therefore better in the summer heat. 

Lunch consumed, it hadn’t started raining yet, and the people around me were having some epic meltdowns, so I got the heck out of the Yak and Yeti area. I headed back toward the Tree of Life to pick up a souvenir I had found on the way through that would be perfect for my mother-in-law. Christmas shopping has begun! Since it had started to thunder, I then made my way to It’s Tough to be a Bug.

I actually rate this particular show pretty low. But, it really is the only attraction in Animal Kingdom where you get guaranteed rain cover, that isn’t at risk for closing due to weather, without a hideous wait time. So, with thunder crashing, I decided to tolerate it.

I pretty much walked into a showing, which made me nervous that I was going to end up exiting the show as a storm was starting. In the end, I survived the bug invasion and exited the show right as the storm finished. I could see it raining over by Everest still, but it was done in Africa and Discovery Island.

So...I headed for Africa. Next stop? More food. I wanted to try the Simba’s Sunset. This is dole whip, with different fruity syrups in it. I think strawberry, watermelon and coconut were all involved. It sounded good. It actually really was pretty boring. The syrups didn’t taste like much of anything. But, it was cool and refreshing.

I ate my dole whip while watching the African entertainment. This particular session involved a bit of music and some soccer. I couldn’t get over the stunts they were performing in this heat. I’m not kidding when I say that even my ankles were sweating. I didn’t know that was possible!

Once I had finished my dole whip, I poked around the stores that were right behind me for a bit. Then it was time for my fastpass for Safaris.

Safaris looked like a nightmare line, since half the park was shut down, but, the fastpass was a walk on. And, for the first time in years (in my experience at least), they had both loading docks operating. So, I was on a truck very quickly. It was a great safaris.

Once off the safaris, I had a few minutes before my Lion King fastpass. I listened to some more African music, wondering if these performers had even taken a break, and then headed over to the Lion King, where the fastpass line simply didn’t move for quite some time, despite announcements that we were entering the theater.

We were brought inside approximately 8 minutes before the start of the show, and the seating process felt more rushed than usual. Shortly before the show started, one of the CMs made an announcement about making sure we drank enough water because it’s really hot out. I’ve never heard this in an air conditioned show before at Disney, so I began to wonder if perhaps the delay in opening the seating was due to a dehydration issue.

Festival of the Lion King was fantastic as always. I’m always impressed with the energy of the performers here. I’m also always impressed by just how inclusive they are during the kiddie parade toward the end. There were at least 4 kids in wheelchairs at this performance and every single one of them was included in that parade. It was awesome.

After Lion King my next stop was Pandora. I had done really well lining up fastpasses, and my fastpass window for Flight of Passage opened about the same time I entered the land. So I walked straight there, and straight through the line, right to the merge point. Then I had to wait about 15 minutes. It was an entertaining wait, though. There was one lady who was totally trapped in the 80s. I mean, some good things came out of the 80s. The music was good. I was born then. So was Nick. But leopard skin print dresses and wedge sandals and white sweatbands were not some of the good things to come out of the 80s. Just saying.

Eventually I was boarding my banshee for another enjoyable flight. Disney really did amazing things with this attraction.

When I exited Flight of Passage, it was actively thundering and the sky was getting pretty dark, so I knew I needed to take cover. I ended up getting dinner at Satuli Canteen.

Satuli Canteen is VERY well organized in terms of the process. It’s a little less organized in terms of finding your way into the area where you can get a table. Thankfully, a CM saw me looking a little lost and moved aside a rope so that I could enter the eating area.

I had the chicken and noodle bowl with herb dressing, and the non alcoholic specialty drink for dinner. The chicken and noodle bowl was very tasty. In fact, it really didn’t need the dressing, and I think if I end up eating there again I would order my meal without the dressing or the slaw. 

Once I had finished eating, I headed for the exit. It was time for my final park of the trip.

I just missed a bus to Epcot (saw it pulling away), so when I reached the bus stop I settled in for a long wait, and discovered I had blue fingers. HUH??! It was from the plastic bag my purchase was in. UGH!

Mystery solved, I continued waiting for the bus. One came along sooner than I expected, and the bus ride to Epcot was uneventful.

Once in Epcot, I headed for the Land, because I needed a restroom, and I needed a quiet place to sit and re-Bandaid my feet. I knew that the outer seating areas of Sunshine Seasons were generally pretty deserted, so I decided that sounded like a good spot to take care of the feet. And it was.

As I finished taking care of those needs, I discovered that Michele and her crew were in line for Soarin and was encouraged to join them. What the heck. So, I “excuse me’d” my way past a handful of people and found Michele, her son, one of her daughters, and her husband in line. The line moved quickly, and surprisingly soon we were in the cages awaiting our flight and chatting.

Because we were chatting and laughing, it took a few minutes to realize that the pre-show video seemed to be delayed in starting. Pretty soon we were informed of “departure delays”. So, we kept chatting, realizing that we would be missing our opportunity to get a good spot for Illuminations, but we all had seen it earlier in the week, and we all were in agreement that spending the evening laughing was a good substitute for staking out a spot for Illuminations. It was closing in on 8 at this point.

Surprisingly quickly, the maintenance was finished, and they boarded us as quickly as they could. When the ride was over we were provided with “anytime” fastpasses for our inconvenience, good through the next day. Of course I get this on my last night in the parks!

It was about 8:30 at this point. We checked on the fastpass situation at Test Track (it was also the last night in the parks for Michele’s family), but that was quite long. So we went shopping at Mousegear.

A couple minutes before 9, I decided, since my feet were killing me, to get a head start on the bus line, and said goodbye to Michele and her crew. As soon as I got outside, I had a bit of a change of heart and decided since I was going to see the high fireworks while I was walking to the buses, I might as well at least get close enough to World Showcase to hear the Illuminations music along with the fireworks one more time.

It turns out that the World Showcase end of the flower patch actually provides a pretty good view of Illuminations. Having spent the evening laughing, I managed to avoid ugly crying as my absolute final viewing of Illuminations came to an end, but, there definitely were a few tears. I just hope the new show is good.

I then limped my way to the bus stop. I guess the blisters got worse?

A bus came along fairly soon, and pretty soon I was back at the hotel. I showered and crashed eventually, not really ready for this trip to be over.

August 2019: A Slightly Laid Back Summer Disney Trip: Day 4, Part 1

Day 4: Friday August 9, 2019

I was awake pretty early this morning, even before my alarm went off. Needless to say, I was at the bus stop shortly after 7, along with many others. Hmm...never seen such a popular Magic Kingdom early Extra Magic Hour before...

While waiting for the bus, I couldn’t help but overhearing the group next to me formulating their plans: “first we’ll go to Space Mountain, and then we’ll go to Seven Dwarfs...the line shouldn’t be too long by then”. All of this while spraying their kids with sunscreen and bug spray IN THE BUS line.

Horrified, I suggested to them that they reverse the order of their rides. And tried to avoid choking from all the sunscreen fumes. Seriously people...spray at the hotel room. Or use the lotions. Don’t subject others to the horrors of aerosol sunscreen!

Off my soapbox...a bus appeared just about the same time I realized I hadn’t put my rings on this morning. *&#! Yup, those rings...the wedding and engagement rings. I knew exactly where they were, and while they were tucked away, sort of, they were still pretty much out in the open. So...back to the room I went. UGH!

Music isn’t a big resort...until you’re on a mission, have epic blisters already, and it’s already over 90 with the heat index. But hey, I had 4000 steps before I ever got on a bus that morning!

I was back at the bus stop about 7:30, a bit annoyed with myself, since the line had only grown longer while I was gone. A bus appeared pretty quickly, but there were 2 ECVs and a wheelchair to load, so it was awhile before we got going.

Thankfully, the bus ride itself passed quickly. I chatted with a high school dance/PE teacher from Illinois for most of the bus ride. And, despite all the delays, I was walking into the Magic Kingdom a few minutes before 8. Since I wasn’t trying for the Mine Train, I really couldn’t complain.

I headed into the park, a bit confused that they weren’t scanning Magic Bands at the entrance to ensure we were staying on property. I also was a bit confused by why brochures were being handed out about Haunted Mansion merchandise, but I didn’t stop to take one. And WHY are so many people here for the morning EMH? I thought attendance was down this summer?

As I reached the Hub, EMH guests were clearly being directed to the Tomorrowland side of the park. It half registered that there was already a line of people at the rope for Liberty Square (at no later than 8:10), when that part of the park wouldn’t open until 9, but I was on a mission, so I didn’t think much of it.

It was a beautiful day, so I stopped for a quick castle picture as I headed for Fantasyland. 

Upon arrival in Fantasyland, I found that the line for Peter Pan already stretched practically to the carousel, so that was a hard no for me. I turned and headed for Tomorrowland, passing some hefty waits throughout Fantasyland along the way.

Buzz Lightyear was my first attraction of the day. It was basically a walk on, which was very nice, given the sizeable waits elsewhere in the park. I scored one of the lower scores I remember scoring in recent trips. Guess I just need to increase my Disney trip frequency again!

By the time I exited Buzz Lightyear, it was no longer a walk on. I checked the wait times, and it looked, on the app, like Haunted Mansion was up and running with the shortest wait in the park, so I cruised through Fantasyland, in that direction, where I was met by a wall of Cast Members outside of Small World. Turns out Haunted Mansion wasn’t open, despite what the app made it look like.

So? Time for that ear worm! Despite what the wait time said, Small World was actually essentially a walk on. Phew! I spent the ride trying to figure out if the woman in front of me actually experienced the ride, given how many times (I lost count at 50) she tried to take a selfie (falfie?) of her family on the ride. It got so excessive that I thought about photobombing, but I’m just not creative enough.

By the time I got off of Small World, quite the crowd was gathering at the rope right outside Small World for the official rope drop into the park. So I joined the crowd, wondering if it always looks like this. Typically, I rope drop the main opening of the park with the crowd into the Hub, heading for the Frontierland mountains.

While waiting for the rest of the park to open, I looked at Facebook. At this point, I discovered there was a release happening today, drawing crowds to the park. That release? Limited edition Haunted Mansion 50th anniversary merchandise. OHHH! That’s why there are so many people.

I was kind of frustrated that I had fallen into the higher crowds trap, but at the same time, I knew that the masses would be in merchandise lines for awhile, and I would not be. Haunted Mansion is an attraction I used to experience when it was regularly a walk on. Since they added fastpass to it, increasing the lines dramatically, it hasn’t been one I’ve made the effort to ride. It’s just not an attraction I’m connected to. So...no need for special merchandise. (On the other hand, I had my mom act as my personal shopper for Farewell Illuminations merch, since she was in Disney 2 weeks before me…)

When the rope dropped, I saw the lines immediately. I think, despite Disney’s attempts, some people had used going to the Tangled bathrooms as an excuse to get themselves in line at the Haunted Mansion store. They had quite the queue set up for that one, snaking all over the place, so it wasn’t too crazy. I kept going, and hopped in line at Haunted Mansion, which was a walk on, because, if there’s a milestone for this attraction, I guess I should ride it.

I really should have taken some pictures or something, but the line was a walk on. They had various characters out in Haunted Mansion related costumes, and different photopass props set up. But really, I was just there for the ride.

After escaping my hitchhiking ghost, I headed deeper into the park. Sadly, there was no way to capture it in a picture, but apparently there was a second location for this special merchandise. The line for the Frontier Trading Post, was absurd. Like it stretched from there to Liberty Tree Tavern, and at least doubled back. NUTS! And the bags coming out of that store. People were dropping some serious cash in there.

I made my way to Pirates, which also turned out to be basically a walk on. And even better, I didn’t get soaked on the ride!

After Pirates, I wandered Adventureland a bit. I considered Jungle Cruise, but the 40 minute posted wait actually looked accurate, so I passed on that one, and simply waited for Aloha Isle to open. It’s never too early for Dole Whip, right?!

For this Dole Whip experience, I went with the pineapple upside down cake, topped with Dole Whip swirl. It was amazing!! Why have I not had this before?!

After thoroughly enjoying that culinary delight, I very briefly considered the Tiki Room, but decided one ear worm was enough for the day.

So I headed back to Fantasyland, quite literally shaking my head at the merchandise lines that had only gotten longer. The CMs working the push carts with water, misting fans and cooling towels were smart though. They saw an opportunity and were working the lines, selling LOTS of water. Did I mention it was REALLY hot today?

Once in Fantasyland, I headed for the last must do for this park for me: Philharmagic. I really enjoy this show, and I’ve seen a few rumors, that, unlike the Tiki Room and Country Bears, Disney has yet to dispute.

I enjoyed Philharmagic as always. As I was exiting, I checked the wait times. Little Mermaid was only a 15 minute wait, so, what the heck. I needed to hear a little more Under the Sea after Philharmagic.

When I got to Little Mermaid, I questioned whether the wait time was accurate a bit, but I had been getting texts from Michele about the grossly over inflated wait times in Studios, so maybe they just hadn’t opened up enough of the indoor queue?

Nope. The wait time here was quite DEflated. 25 minutes later I was stepping into my clamshell. It is a REALLY good thing that there is a water bubbler in that queue…

From here, I walked to Tomorrowland (by way of Cosmic Ray’s for a water bottle fill), to check the Peoplemover situation. I was closing in on overheated at this point, and when I saw a moving but completely full queue for the Peoplemover, I decided I was done with this park and headed for the exit, stopping only long enough to listen to the Dapper Dans for a couple of minutes.