Just Trying To Escape
This short weekend trip was planned a couple days in advance. Work was bogging me down and I knew one of my favorite bands would be playing at EPCOT so I nicely asked my husband if I could go. He said we work to make money and spend money. There were some stipulations that I wasn’t allowed to do any fancy Food & Wine Events and I needed to stay at a cheap hotel. Disney Value Hotels were all booked so I had to start looking off-site
Technically it was my Friday off on October 30th but it was the end of the month for work and that usually means some heavy pushing to get product out the door. I got in at 7AM with the full intention of trying to get out at 10AM. I was happy I made it out at 10:30AM with the promise I would still be checking my emails and would be available by phone although that was hard to accomplish.
I hit the road and was happy to have little traffic on I-75 or I-4 during my entire ride up there. I did stop in Fort Myers for some Taco Bell Dollar Menu to get a taco and a drink to hold me over until I got to Disney for real food.
I got to my hotel, Buena Vista Palace, a little after 1:30PM & attempted to check in. My room wasn’t ready which made me sad as I wanted to take like a 30 minute power nap before heading to the parks as I felt draggy. I left my bag with their bell services so it wouldn’t be left in my car all afternoon and headed over to Hollywood Studios. I had at least an hour until it was time to use my FP+ for Toy Story Mania so I went to
Tune In Lounge to get a cocktail and a bite to eat. I was lucky to get a seat at the bar as it was super crowded! The poor bartender was going a mile a minute on his half of the bar while his coworker was purposely moving slowly to not help him out with any of the walk ups.
I ordered my cocktail and found it to be very refreshing and looked over the menu on what I would want for such a late lunch. I didn’t want to have a ton of food so I went with an old favorite appetizer that finally made its way back onto the menu! It was just as tasty now as it was years ago & the fruit thrown in totally helps balance out the fried cheese right?
Dad’s Electric Lemonade - Dad Whips Up An Electrifying Blue Drink w/ Bacardi Superior Rum, Skyy Vodka, Blue Curacao, Sweet & Sour and Sprite
Fried Herb & Garlic Cheese - Served w/ Warm Raspberry Sauce, Grapes, Apples & Toasted French Bread
I enjoyed my appetizer and my cocktail slowly and enjoyed people watching. People ranged from super understanding to the overworked bartender to annoyed that they weren’t served as soon as they walked up. Some were mad you could only get 2 Drinks Per ID & that they didn’t take Foreign IDs outside of the Passport. I made sure I tipped the poor guy better as it was just not a good day for him!
As it neared halfway through my FP+ window, I headed to Toy Story Mania where I got placed in the same vehicle as another family & sat next to someone’s grandfather. He seemed to be impressed with my skills & I told him he did well for his first time!
Super Long FP+ Line!
FP+ Score!
I headed to Rock’n’Roller Coaster to attempt to do the ride as a single rider but was shot down as they had closed off the single rider line sadly & I wasn't going to wait in a 80 minute line. I went to use my FP+ for Tower of Terror instead. I got through the line queue and was about to enter the room where we see the video when I got a phone call from my boss. I stepped in front of the service elevator and attempted to try to deal with it all and forward some emails. Doing everything I could at that time, I rejoined the line and got weird looks from people. Oh well!
Once on Tower of Terror, I realized why we usually skip this ride now. My stomach does not like the ride anymore. I didn’t feel too hot afterwards. Once off the ride, I had to call my customer and save the day for work.
I wandered aimlessly around Hollywood Studios trying to kill time before my Star Tours FP+ but eventually I just gave up as I had been fighting a headache most of the day and headed back to Buena Vista Palace as my room was now ready and I wanted to relax. I settled into the room and actually took a nap around 6:00PM or so for 45 minutes as my headache wasn’t going away with just relaxation. I was happy with the cleanliness of the room and the overall size. The only complaint I had about the hotel is that there was a ton of construction walls up as they are being heavily renovated but it was something that was liveable and other than making the outside ugly, it didn’t affect me in anyway.