August 2021: How much can I eat? A summer pandemic solo trip to Disney World: Day 4, Part 1

Day 4: Tuesday August 10, 2021

I woke up a little before my alarm this morning, which was not necessarily a good thing. It was going to be a very full day! This morning I watched the local news a bit. Given all that was unfolding with both Covid and Afghanistan, this was probably not the best idea, but also seemed wise. I DID enjoy watching all the news about local kids going back to school that morning while I was going to the theme parks!

Eventually I got up and redid my bandaid foot art and got ready for the day. I think I had a breakfast bar and then I headed for the bus stop. I got to the bus stop by 7:20. While I wasn’t exactly in a rush this morning, because I knew Magic Kingdom was the one park that was absolutely NOT opening rides before official opening, I really liked the concept of being at the front of the opening crowd pack and since I had no problem getting up and out for it, being on the first bus out of the resort just made sense.

A coach bus rolled up to the Magic Kingdom stop at Movies at 7:31 and was loaded up and rolling out shortly after. We pulled in to the Magic Kingdom bus zone at 7:48, and were quickly held there by security. It didn’t take very long to realize mine was the very first bus to arrive at the Magic Kingdom that day. New level of Disney dorkdom unlocked!!

Other buses quickly filled in around us, and behind us. The picture isn’t super obvious, but there was a long line of buses on the road in front of the Contemporary.

At exactly 8:00, buses were allowed to start rolling in to bus stops. Getting off the buses felt like not exactly controlled chaos. It was a LOT of buses unloading at once!

I headed for the entrance. Tip! Stay left for security. No one coming off the buses realizes that there’s a line to the left; they just go to the closest line, which is on the right. Granted, these lines go a lot faster with the new security screeners than they did pre-Covid, but still...shorter lines are always better. Also, for the love of everything, if you have a stroller, have the kids and the bags out when you reach security, because that’s going through a different line. Just don’t even load the stroller after getting off the bus until you get through security. And if you don’t take my advice, then listen to the security dudes, and stay out of the way of the people who have a plan. Please.

I made it to the tapstyles pretty quickly (again, stay LEFT), and was hit by a cloud of aerosol sunscreen. For the love of climate change and breathing issues, could we please ban this crap? And if we can’t do that could we require a spray-on sunscreen etiquette course for all who buy it? DON’T SPRAY SUNSCREEN IN AREAS WITH LOTS OF PEOPLE!!!

On the plus side, I’d decided that the Covid safest way to tackle rope drop was to keep my mask on from the bus until I got off the first ride. The mask definitely did filter out the aerosol sunscreen, and I was VERY grateful for that.

Within just a few minutes of arriving at the tapstyles, they let us into the park. I grabbed a park map, because how can you NOT grab such a joyful map, and headed deeper into the park.

My rope drop goal was Splash Mountain, and I knew that Magic Kingdom wasn’t opening anything early, so I also wanted shade. I waited at the rope at Adventureland. This was pretty amusing, as they sent some of the guys from Pirates out to chat with everyone. They were pretty good. While waiting for the park to open, I mobile ordered a Kakamora float from Aloha Isle, for pickup between 10 and 10:30. I was not throwing away my shot at trying that float!

Obviously this strategy doesn’t work for those that need to ride Mine Train. But if you’re like me and realized 10 years ago that Mine Train is just meh, rope dropping the Frontierland area is the way to go. That Adventureland rope filled in, obviously, but it just didn’t get crazy crowded.

The rope was dropped at EXACTLY 9:00 and we were truly walked through Adventureland. I debated heavily but eventually veered off to Frontierland, where I met another rope. This ended up being a good strategy because at that rope, we were all told that Splash Mountain’s opening was delayed. ARGH. And then they began walking us to Big Thunder. But, because I was on the Frontierland rope, I was on the right when we met the rope coming from Adventureland. So I was in the right spot to join the Big Thunder Mountain queue, and I basically walked right on the ride.

Once I made it off the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!, I opened up the app to see what wait times were. It was obvious that Splash was still very down. There wasn’t even water coming over the falls. Turns out Pirates was also down, so wait times were building everywhere. So THIS is what people are complaining about!

Despite my aching feet, I headed for Tomorrowland, watching wait times grow as I limped. Buzz Lightyear was somewhat miraculously still posted as only a 5 minute wait, so that seemed like a good starting point, even if it was clear on the other side of the park!

Miraculously, Buzz Lightyear was still nearly a walk on (have they changed where the line dumps into the load zone? Or has it just been forever since I’ve been here?). I got a solid enough score that I don’t remember, even though my Zurg blaster had terrible agility.

Next up? Peoplemover. Except...not. As I approached it, they weren’t letting anyone up the escalator, the escalator wasn’t moving, and the CM at the bottom was on the phone. Not a good sign! Sure enough, by the time I walked by it, they were clearing the line. So how many rides are down at Magic Kingdom now?! (at least 3…)

I studied the app some more and made my way to Little Mermaid. This was a walk-on.

Back on land, I headed for Adventureland. Time to eat! But first, I hear music! I watched the Tinkerbelle cavalcade, before heading over to Aloha Isle.

 
As I approached Aloha Isle I hit the “I’m here” button on my mobile order, and pretty quickly I was directed to window 3. I’d wondered how mobile order would go with frozen treats, but it turned out they didn’t actually make them until you’re physically in front of them. So that was good. The not so good? They were accepting walk up orders at the mobile order pick up windows. Not cool, not cool.

So...what’s the kakamora float? That would be coconut dole whip, in pineapple juice, with blue syrup. And a cake pop. My understanding is the cake pop is chocolate, so I didn’t eat it, because Disney chocolate cake and I are NOT friends. The float was AH-MAZING!

Adding to the fun, I got to eat my float while watching another cavalcade. These cavalcades are so much better than full parades (during the day...we’ll talk about special after hours events later).

 As I finished my float it became clear that Splash Mountain was finally opening. While an actual date for the redo hasn’t been announced, I’m familiar enough with Disney’s refurb patterns to be pretty confident that this is my last trip to ride the Zip-a-dee-do-dah version of Splash. So I inhaled the rest of my float, and headed for the line. They were claiming a 45 minute wait, but they weren’t actually sending occupied logs over the flume yet, so I figured my odds were pretty good.

And they were. 25 minutes exactly from the time I stepped into line I was stepping into a log. Front row too, because the people in front of me in line didn’t want the front row. Guess I’m making this one count! I zip-a-dee-do-dah’d and just generally enjoyed the ride.

 

After Splash, I had to get a selfie with my Splash appropriate shirt and Splash in the background. This was easier said than done.

Splash conquered, I headed for Fantasyland. Even though I was still wet from Splash, it was time for some AC, stopping to see some Country bears on my way to Fantasyland.

Philharmagic was basically a walk-in so that’s where I went. It was enjoyable as always, but I definitely prefer sitting farther back than the 4th row where I ended up!

Philharmagic done, it was time for another float! Storybook Treats thankfully does not use mobile order, so within a few minutes I had the Peter Pan float in hand. This one is lime dole whip in Sprite. Super refreshing, although the sprite didn’t do much for it. But overall, delicious on a hot day.

 From here I did some picture taking and shopping as I gradually made my way out of the park. I saw another cavalcade and the band, and I bought stuff in the Christmas shop and the Emporium. Then I left the park. It was really feeling like August today, both in terms of heat and people. It was time for a break.

August 2021: How much can I eat? A summer pandemic solo trip to Disney World: Day 3, Part 2

Day 3, Part 2

I found the car and messed with Google enough to keep me off of I-4 (NOT where I want to be in torrential downpours), and used the same International Drive route to get back to Disney that I had taken in the morning to get to Aquatica. I was pleasantly surprised by how little traffic there was. It was an easy roughly 25 minute drive back to Movies, and it miraculously did not rain. Apparently that storm was all over on the Sea World side of town. For now…

When I got back to the room I redid my bandaid artwork and relaxed in the air conditioning for a bit. Then I got my park bag ready and headed for the bus stop. It was time for an evening of food!

It took awhile but a bus came along for Hollywood Studios eventually. It was a relatively short ride there (10 minutes?) and it started downpouring on the way. But then the rain lightened up as the bus pulled into the bus zone, so I didn’t wrestle a poncho on right away.

When they redid the Hollywood Studios bus zone, they definitely did it right. I was able to stay under cover dodging rain drops for long enough to truly get out of the way. I really wasn’t excited about putting a poncho on in August humidity, so I found a spot out of the way, that was covered to check the radar and make decisions. In the end, the poncho won.

I headed for the entrance to the park trying to decide on my game plan. I’d gotten here later than I’d intended so I needed to recalculate a bit. In the end, I ended up in front of the Frozen Singalong just before it started, so I headed inside. Mom had told me I needed to see it.

It was fine. The two that lead the show were pretty funny and overall it was cute. The air conditioning was good. And the rain was completely over by the time I left, so once I exited and moved away from the building, I was able to put my poncho away.

Poncho wrestled back into my bag, I headed for dinner. Once I got near Mama Melrose I did online check in, and I got the notification that my table was ready just 5 or so minutes later. The staff was friendly and I was seated quickly, according to the hostess, at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Service here was good and they also seemed to be making it a point to stagger where they were seating people. I had the Mama’s Margarita (margarita that also involves limoncello) and the Mama’s Italian Pasta with chicken. The margarita was a little heavy on the lemon, but overall dinner was great. I was pretty excited that they brought me multiple rolls even though I was solo, and my pasta dish was nice and light with great flavor.

 Dinner finished, I headed straight for Runaway Railroad. The wait was posted as 45 minutes, and the line was physically long but it really never stopped moving. It was exactly 30 minutes from the time I entered the start of the queue to the time I entered the pre-show. All told, can’t complain about that wait. And I was glad that some of the charm of the interior queue was still there.

What to say about Runaway Railroad? It’s cute. It’s a little odd. It’s a lot disjointed. I definitely need to ride again to see if I understand it better. Next trip.

Runaway Railroad complete, it was time to head for Epcot. To save my very uncomfortable feet, and to theoretically save precious minutes, I decided to take the skyliner, figuring even with the transfer, it was probably quicker.

I do think the skyliner is quicker, if there’s a wait for the bus, which obviously is something you just don’t know. It definitely was quicker than the boats. It was a pleasant ride, with virtually no wait to board or to transfer. And the weather was cooperating. If it had looked even the slightest bit threatening weather wise, I wouldn’t have tried. The other bonus to the skyliner is that it dropped me off near World Showcase, which saved me a lot of steps, given my plan for the rest of the evening.

When I got to Epcot, I headed for the entrance to World Showcase. I was here to cross the last couple of items off my Food and Wine Festival list. First stop was the Refreshment Port for the Maple Boursin cheesecake.

 This was fantastic. Seriously, excellent.

Next stop was the Odyssey building for the Brew-wing booth. I got a cider flight here. The building was nice and quiet and I found a great table in a quiet corner to enjoy my flight. This flight was better than the one at Appleseed Orchard. Still not the best, but definitely MUCH better.

 Cider consumed, I checked out the Doughnut Box booth and decided I wasn’t interested in any of the options. So I made my way out of the park, stopping for a bunch of pictures along the way. Half the park may be a construction nightmare right now, but the entrance plaza is looking great, especially at night.

 
Pictures taken I hobbled to the bus stop, where a coach bus was actively loading. It left shortly after I boarded and pretty soon I was back at Movies, where I showered, facebooked, listened to the music on that Disney parks info channel, and eventually crashed for the night. It had been another great day!

August 2021: How much can I eat? A summer pandemic solo trip to Disney World: Day 3, Part 1

Day 3: Monday, August 9, 2021

I woke up early and excited today. And still barely made it out the door on schedule. But anywho. Today was a day I was especially looking forward to.

I got up and got ready which took extra time this morning. The “you’re really getting too old to do Disney in flip flops” blisters were forming, and with a day in the water coming up, my feet required some serious bandaid art. And then I raced out the door, hopped in the car, and drove to the Boardwalk. Could someone please explain why they need to see my ID when they clearly don’t actually cross-check it?

Anyway, I parked and realized my car had a lovely view this morning.

Then I walked down to the Boardwalk. I do kind of really like those side stairs that go straight to the Boardwalk, rather than having to traipse through the lobby.

The first destination of the day? Trattoria Al Forno for breakfast! As I approached I did the mobile check-in that MDE was begging me to do. That was pretty easy; hit one button. Then I took some pictures. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning.

 
By the time I’d finished taking a handful of pictures, I had a notification that my table was ready, so I headed inside. I was seated within minutes, by very friendly and pleasant cast members, with a great view of the open kitchen. I also noticed they were taking care at that (not very busy) hour (7:40?) to spread parties out around the restaurant. Thumbs up already.

Breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno was awesome. Great service, pleasant environment, and terrific food. I had the buttermilk pancakes, and they were everything pancakes should be. I’ll absolutely be eating here again.

 After breakfast I made a quick trip back to the hotel for reasons that I already don’t remember, and then headed for my next destination, Aquatica. It was time to play in the water.

Entering Aquatica was pretty quick, and I was ready for a day of relaxing!

Finding the locker rentals was not as quick, but I found them eventually and even got the automated rental machine to work on the first try. But apparently they’ve decided to subsidize their low ticket prices with locker fees. They charged me how much for that locker?! I found my locker and got ready for the day.

First stop was Aquatica’s newest attraction, Riptide Race, which I discovered was on a “delayed opening for maintenance”. So, I walked back to the entrance and did the dolphin plunge, which I think I liked even less than 10 years ago. Body slides are not my style.

Next up was a float in Loggerhead Lane, Aquatica’s lazy river. I did three laps through it, because it has a few different routes. One route sends you past the commersons dolphins, one past the tropical fish tank, and one brings you to the entrance to Tassie’s Twisters. My third trip through, I did Tassie’s Twisters. This is a tube slide, and was quite the intense experience! I’m glad I did it!

Twisting and tube floating complete, I made my way to Roa’s Rapids. Roa’s Rapids was my favorite when I was here years ago (2010?) with my family, and that’s definitely still the case. The best way to experience Roa’s Rapids is to put on a life jacket and just let the current carry you. Some people were trying to swim, which was obnoxious, because they became obstacles in the rapids. Thankfully most seemed to understand how this attraction works best though.

I did 3 wonderful loops in Roa’s Rapids before I got out to figure out what time it was. I was very much regretting no longer having a true waterproof watch. Technically I can swim with my fitbit, but honestly, I don’t know enough about it to be comfortable doing so, which meant I was completely clueless as to what time it was, and that was a problem.

So I headed for my locker and realized that not only was I somehow hungry, but it was definitely an appropriate time for lunch. So I grabbed my ticket, my phone, shoes, mask and towel, and headed for Waterstone Grill for some food.

When I’d bought my park ticket, it had only been $20 to add on All Day Dining. Knowing that essentially equated to a meal and an extra bottle of water, I did exactly that. Sea World parks have generally had pretty good park food, and I would definitely be there until after lunch time.

The line at Waterstone Grill was pretty long for 11:30, but it moved. The selection seemed significantly less than the last time I was in a Sea World/Busch park, but, I found food, so it was all good. Since you can now only go through the line once an hour with the All Day Dining, I got lunch and dessert all at once.

 
The food was good, although the fries were about as bland as could be. Cooked well, but boring. The chicken tenders and cookies were good though. And I promise I didn’t finish all of it.

Lunch finished I took a few pictures before getting ready for a bit more time in the water.

 
Getting ready for a bit more time in the water took more effort than I had anticipated. I think I won’t be back at a water park until I return to a point where I’m willing to put on a two piece swimsuit again (damn you remote learning!). That wet one piece swimsuit thing is a royal pain. But eventually, after like 10 minutes of fighting with the swimsuit in the ladies’ room, with a corner of lining still hanging out the bottom of my swimsuit, I headed back to Roa’s Rapids. It was quite a bit busier now, but I was still able to do another 3 laps before getting out to change into street clothes. No way was I wrestling with the swimsuit again, plus I figured tour pictures would look better in actual clothes.

Yes, I said tour. We’ll get there in a few. First I had to fight with the locker. For some reason, after I dug out what I needed to change, it wouldn’t re-lock, so I ended up just taking everything with me.

Aquatica has a surprisingly nice changing area. I got changed, and then did a bit more picture taking before checking in for my Commersons Close Up Tour.

Aquatica is home to small black and white dolphins. These are called Commersons dolphins. They’re pretty adorable, not exactly common, and when I booked my ticket they were offering a seemingly pretty reasonably priced tour where one learns about how they care for these creatures, and gets to interact with the dolphins out of the water. I took a giant leap of faith that this trip would work out and booked the tour, because that was definitely up my alley, and sometimes solo trips require cool little splurges.

My tour ticket said to be at the Commersons underwater viewing area 15 minutes before tour time. So I did that. The trainer doing the tour wasn’t there yet for check in, but the girl answering questions about the dolphins said I was in the right spot so I took some pictures of the dolphins and then just sat back waiting.

 Promptly at 1:15, the trainer doing the tour appeared and closed off the viewing area briefly. Once she had cleared the other guests out, she introduced herself, told me I was the only one booked, so I had a private tour today(!) and she got started.

The tour started with Brittany telling me about the Commersons dolphins species, the dolphins they have at Aquatica, and also the dynamic habitat model that they have moved towards (hence the green...they want the habitat to closely resemble the real environment). She then took me backstage where I, once again, fought with lockers, and then she showed me the kitchen and explained the nutrition/feeding of the dolphins and talked briefly about the water quality systems which were massive. Then we went to a platform above the water, where she (and I with her help) interacted with these adorable creatures. Following the above water interaction, we went back down to the underwater viewing area where we interacted a bit more through the window and my personal photographer and the trainer teamed up to get one of the dolphins (Pepe?) to pose for a picture. The tour includes one printed photo, so there’s a photographer present for the various interactions. Clearly I ended up buying more than one (additional pictures beyond the included one are $5 each).

This tour lasted about 45 minutes and it was awesome. The trainer was a wealth of knowledge and excited to share her knowledge. The Commersons dolphins are adorable, and it was great to learn about them and their care. It was also really cool to get to interact with them a bit. The price of the tour was fair for what it was. This was absolutely a trip highlight.

Following the end of the tour, I watched the dolphins for a few more minutes and then headed for the photo stand to select my picture(s). This was a quick process, and pretty soon I was on my way, eyeing the very ugly sky and listening to the park announcements that they were closing attractions due to impending severe weather. Definitely time to get out of here!