Disneytopia: The Phantom Menace of Park Capacity

[AirGoofy]

Disneytopia - the perfect, Disney vacation.

So, last year I used the word Disneytopia to describe the perfect Disney vacation and record tips of what worked and didn't work for me to remember to make this year's trip even better.

Here is last year's trip report. 10 years, 10 trips, 20,000 miles ... almost Disneytopia

This year, I continue toward that goal. Perhaps the realization will be when I win the lottery and live in WDW. But until that time, I present this year's trip report - Disneytopia: The Phantom Menace of Park Capacity

 

[AirGoofy]

Please let me introduce my family.

DW and I on our honeymoon 11 years ago.

DW and I last week. The last renovation made those tea cups a lot smaller for me. My hair grew a lot as well.

Our two dds. They are the ones in the middle.

The 50' kitty moved Cinderella's castle over to Epcot.

 

[twokids0204]

I am in...

Love the Monorail, Castle and Spaceship Earth.

Next year, I am just going to vacation at your place.

 

[AirGoofy]

As the children are in school Friday, I load the van, including the kitchen sink. They arrive home from the bus around 2:30 and we are on the road at 3:00 PM ct. The only traffic we hit is Nashville.

Phantom Menace I hate traffic. Next year, we need to be on the road sooner somehow so we can get to Nashville before the 4:00 PM.

We have no other travel delays and arrive to Bay Lake Towers at 6:00 AM et.

We get some coffee while we wait for 7:05 AM ADR at Chef Mickey.

CM is better for breakfast than for dinner. My favorite part of the meal was the kids breakfast pizza with bacon, egg, and cheese. I do get some biscuits n gravy, but certainly lacking as they are not from KY.

Children left to wait find fun ways to entertain themselves.

The characters are always fun.

 

[AirGoofy]

Since it rained all day Saturday, we rode some Disney transportation.

The five legged goat at CR.

We usually do not plan a park day on our arrival as we drive all night and are tired. We headed to DTD where I did some pin shopping. A BLT pin.

I could only get the BLT pin in a DVC collection that included Aulani and THV. So, it looks there are 2 future destinations we will just have to go.

 

[AirGoofy]

After some shopping, we get our text message that the room is ready. Yeah!

The view from out room. 8025 at BLT Lake View.

I thought the kitchen design area was brilliant. It completely seperates the kitchen and bathroom from the sleeping area. All the space savers were so cool.

 

[AirGoofy]

I am in...

Love the Monorail, Castle and Spaceship Earth.

Next year, I am just going to vacation at your place.

What, the 50' kitty doesn't scare you? I think I am going for the train and pirate ship next year.

 

[twokids0204]

What, the 50' kitty doesn't scare you? I think I am going for the train and pirate ship next year.

Scared.... never.. I assume you have a BBQ Grill outside... right?

 

[AirGoofy]

We take showers (don't have pictures - I know you're disappointed) and go to Mass at Mary, Queen of the Universe. This will be our only other driving time for the rest of the trip.

When we return, we meet up with some friends, parents of our godchildren, at 1900 Park Fare for dinner.

Phantom Menace We could only get an 8:00 PM last minute reservation for a party of 8. And, since it was so late, as families were paying their bills and leaving to go watch Wishes, the characters were pulled out of their rotation to take pictures. It took 45 minutes before we found 1 at our table. I talked with Disney Photo guy about this, and it is just their policy that if people have paid their ticket and are leaving, then they get photos with the characters. I don't know if the other people knew and planned this to get to see Wishes, or ...

Nonetheless, the step-sisters put on a great show.

My two dds with goddaughter.

Our godson acted like a dork and woudn't pose for a picture. I got him anyway and told him I emailed his teacher.

Back to the room. We get to see the water electrical parade. View from our room.

 

[AirGoofy]

So, it is raining. I have been watching weather report and am . But, let's do it.

Why is the hat the only one without a ride or dining inside?

It was a long bus ride from BLT. We get there and RD has already occurred. We walk to TSM to get FP. The stand-by line is an hour. So, we grab the FP and onto RRNC.

There is no line at RRNC. Now, My youngest has never been on before and is 7. She liked it so much that she rode it 3 times in a row. Thankfully, the weather was bad so everyone else was inside somewhere so we waited 10 minutes and rode it, waited 15 minutes and rode it, waited 20 minutes and rode it. I love coasters as well.

Over to TOT.

It finally stopped raining.

 

[AirGoofy]

It was almost 11:30 and time for the first Belle Show. Our trick last year and again this year was to grab lunch, eat and watch the Belle show. This way, we get our rest in and the dds eat as they stare.

I split a cheesburger with dd9 at Rosie's.

DW and dd 7 each get hot dogs at Fairfax.

Now that we are fed and watered, let's go do some TSM with FP.

The single staircase to the right at FP station is for parties of 2 only. Again, only 1 TSM ride today. I only managed 127,000. Getting too old to be quickly pulling on that trigger .....

 

[AirGoofy]

We did the muppets. (insert joke here) History of Walt Disney.

So, I knew that Star Tours had been renovated, but was thinking, what was the big deal? It can wait. - WRONG!!! But, I didn't know it. We saw the one with the Millenium Falcon. It was ok.

Parade.

Up.

Great American Movie Ride.

Early dinner at Sci-fi.

 

[AirGoofy]

While waiting for dds in the bathroom, I run up to get a picture I really liked on ABC TV show row. Love the picture. Hated the show.

So, maybe we should ride Star Tours again. It is close by.

It's nice that they updated it with C3PO, R2 in front, and that cool video in the front.

Nope, this time there are StormTroopers.

Walked around and still here. What are they waiting for?

Of course, their cue for Darth Vader.

 

[AirGoofy]

So, we continue and ride it again. This time, we get a different show. It is the one where Vader comes out, uses the force to stop the shuttle, uses the light saber against the ship lasers ..... WOW!

Of course, we get these shots.

It made the day and put Star Tours back ahead of TSM in my book.

 

[AirGoofy]

Youngest dd wanted the Ariel Show. Had to do that. I would have kept riding Star Tours.

As we took our pictures with Frozone and Mr. Incredible ...

... found the oscars. I thought it was cool.

The only ones I wanted to do today but missed was the backlot tour and Indiana Jones show. But, part of that was due to weather and multiple rides in the AM and other was just bad timing. After the first Fantasmic show, we snuck out right at the end to beat the rush and made it on the first bus back to BLT. Then, up to TOTWL to watch Wishes. A super terrific day.

 

[AirGoofy]

So, slept in late and heading to MNSSHP tonight.

We headed over to Poly for some Tonga Toast.

I need to start taking pictures of the food. Sorry.

Got dressed for that party. If you haven't noticed, I'm a pirate. Specifically, I am Captain Jack on vacation. You decide if it is Sparrow or Skellington.

The top is a wig but that is my real beard. I grew it out for a few months, DW braided it, wrapped it, and then those are WDW beads hung at the end of it.

Waiting outide the ticket line. We only do MNSSHP ticket and not a TP ticket this day.

 

[AirGoofy]

So, here we are at the party. My youngest is Princess Tiana. Her choice last year at BBB. My oldest is disco Minnie. That was her dance recital outfit this year along with bling Minnie ears.

Did stop long enough for the first Dole Whip of the trip. I like pineapple/vanilla swirl.

Is this form of discipline frowned upon? Can I get these shipped to my house?

At the Haunted Mansion. Obvious joke about Capt Jack to bring Capt Morgan next time through the line.

Alice.

I really like the spider on the side of Space Mountain.

Phantom Menace: Our digital camera battery died and my phone does not take great pictures at night.

So, that's all I have for you here. We did all the Mountains, AstroOrbitor, Peter Pan, IASW, POTC, etc. My candy bag somehow didn't stay filled with candy. I also ate some pretzels. Hallo-Wishes is even a better show than Wishes. We are debating doing 2 MNSSHP next year.

 

[AirGoofy]

So, it is Tuesday. We sleep in really late after the MNSSHP last night. There is no park planned for today. We went swimming at the pool today. It was a great, relaxing day. BLT has shuffleboard and bocce ball. We played shuffleboard as I thought the other may still be too wet. The community hall is small, but does have foosball, coloring, and craft stuff. The dds did the pool games by the side of the pool. After a nice long day of relaxing and sun-tanning, we showered and went to Narcoosee's for dinner.

We all dressed up for the signature dining. I had a golf shirt and shorts on, but that counts. People were even wearing t-shirts there.

Everywhere we went at MK, GF, and Poly, we kept searching for our hotel.

I had the lobster dinner. It was amazing. Sorry, forgot to take pictures. It was a maine lobster. DW had the chocolate Godiva martini, which was good. I was surprised it wasn't Ghiradhelli, but it was still good. Once the sunset, it was REALLY dark inside.

Phantom Menace Don't go to Narcoossee that late. The fireworks may be nice, but I can't eat when it is that dark.

After a great dinner, we returned to BLT and watched Hallo-Wishes from the TOTWL. That is a terrific view. Then, right downstairs to bed as tomorrow is the MK day.

 

[AirGoofy]

So, up early and stroll over to MK. It is really nice to be able to walk to MK and sleep in later. Normally, we do Welcome Home Wednesday as I enjoy the show and "free" snacks and hat. But, this was DW's birthday and she wanted MK.

We have a 8:05 AM ADR at CRT breakfast. Walking up an empty main street is wonderful.

Another one...

I grab a picture of the show times for easy reference. If only I knew then ...

The five princesses. Cinderella only in the lobby.

Snow White.

Aurora.

Ariel.

Belle.

Now, I have never thought about why CRT was so good for breakfast, other than the castle and empty main street.

But, DW tells me to order the stuffed french toast. Wow! Again, sorry, no pictures. It was even better than Tonga Toast. And, it is served with BACON. CRT breakfast has become a must do!!!!!!!!!

 

[AirGoofy]

We walk out of CRT and head into Fantasyland. I'm sure some of you would have run for SM, but we decided to just keep it easy. Walked over to Peter Pan with no line and grabbed a FP before we got on the ride. And, a special birthday present ...

So, 2 FPs. One for Peter Pan and one for PhilHarmagic. I always hoard FPs for later in the day, and now I have a second one.

I enjoy IASW and even the song. I got a picture of my favorite girls.

it's a world of laughter, a world or tears
its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
theres so much that we share
that its time we're aware
its a small world after all

Now, it's stuck in your head.

The Dumbo ride gives you a great view of the construction.

Carousel.

We continued thru Fantasy Land except for PhilHarmagic, and we would return later.

The Pooh renovations is really cool with games for the children to play while waiting in line as well as the large honey drip screens.