4/26-28: Old Commandos Don't Die, They Cramp Up

[Praying Colonel]

Cast: Me, DW, SIL and BIL, all "of a certain age." I prefer to think everybody older than me is old, everybody younger than me is young.

We've done several trips with our kids and as empty nesters. First was 2004, last was 2019. We're used to going Commando Style. We now live about an hour from WDW and SIL and BIL said they wanted to do 3 days at WDW the way DW and I used to do it with the kids.

I asked them if they knew that meant leaving about 90 minutes before park opening so we could be there about 30 minutes before, pushing hard the first 2 hours or so, and since we can't go back to a hotel for an afternoon break, we'd be there all day. When the weather was cold and they were nice & rested, they said yes, they understood and were looking forward to it.

OK...

Day 1

After flying in from the Mountain Time Zone, BIL and SIL had trouble getting to sleep and were sleep-deprived the next morning when we were up at 6 and by 6:45 we were on our way to EP. We got our tickets and were in line by 8 for park opening at 8:30. We decided not to buy Genie+ that day and to follow a custom touring plan from TP.com.

We did SE first, which is always a treat, then headed for Soarin, which had a very short wait. They had technical difficulties and after about 15 minutes they were preparing to excuse us and give us FPs (they'll always be FP to me!) good for anything but Remy and FEA. They got the ride back up and they still gave us FPs. Score! Soarin was awesome, as ever. SIL said that was her favorite attraction of the whole trip.

After that we did LWTL, walked to France and did Remy with about a 35-minute wait. It was my first time and I found the theming and ride itself to be thoroughly (and typically Disney) immersive and enjoyable. Well worth the relatively short wait.

We were going to do Impressions de France but were disappointed to see a Beauty & The Beast singalong in its place. (Bad preparation by yours truly.) We were hungry and always enjoyed Tangierine Cafe, so we walked over there. Again, we were disapppointed to see that they'd drastically overhauled their menu. (More bad prep by me. ) Gone was the Shwarma, hummus and tabbouleh (our favorite). They had 2 types of kebabs with a small amount of chickpea salad, and flatbreads. It was nice to sit down and rest, but I'm sorry to say we have to cross Tangierine Cafe off our go-to list.

We walked over to the American Pavilion and listened to the Voices of Liberty and saw The American Adventure. Always a favorite of ours. Unfortunately, the jet lag was catching up with BIL and SIL and they slept through most of it (admittedly, a known hazard with this attraction ).

We then went to Norway and got a schoolbread snack, skipped FEA and used our FP for Test Track. Again, a time-honored favorite and BIL especially enjoyed the run around the outside.

At this point it was about 2 and BIL/SIL wanted to go to MK, so we left EP. Overall, it was a good half day. They got a good taste of the park without too much of a wait.

We took the monorail to MK and arrived as the 3:00 parade was coming to the square. It was unexpected and honestly we were trying to get someplace else, but we went with the flow and enjoyed seeing it.

We then headed down Main Street (always a great experience on your first day in the MK) and got in line for Space Mountain, which was listed as a 45 minute wait with TP.com projecting a 24 minute wait. 75 minutes later we were on our way. I think I may be done with Space Mountain, which makes me sad. Maybe I was a little worn down by that point in the afternoon, or maybe it affects me differently now that I'm :mumblemumble: years old, but I found it very "jerky" and not very enjoyable. It used to be my favorite MK attraction.

We headed over to Columbia Harbour House for dinner (no line!), which we always enjoy. Again, they've changed the menu since we were last there in 2019, but we still enjoyed it. We headed over to Philharmagic and BIL and SIL really enjoyed it. BIL said that was his favorite of the day.

By that time we'd walked about 20,000 steps and BIL/SIL were feeling it (and the lack of sleep), so we called it a day around 7:30 pm and headed for the exit. Monorail to the TTC, monorail to EP, tram to vehicle and we were home by 9:30.

Overall it was a great day, although we lost momentum after leaving EP. If I could do it again I probably would've bought Genie+ and booked MK attractions, or not tried Space Mountain and done more low-wait attractions like Philharmagic. But it was an enjoyable day, even though we were beat.

Another early start and visit to the Studios was in the offing. To be continued....

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Enjoyed this!! My dad is also a "Praying Col." Army brat here. Thank you for your service!

 

[DLo]

Great start. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[footballmouse]

 

[Praying Colonel]

Day 2

I was in a serious accident in 2018. I fractured my pelvis, dislocated my hip, had internal bleeding and required 4 surgeries and several months of physical therapy to walk again.

I'm blessed to have recovered almost 100%, but when I have a really physical day I have a lot of leg cramps at night. Having walked around EP and MK the previous day, I had some pretty big cramps the night before Day 2. BIL and SIL were still struggling with their sleep, too, and only got about 5 hours each. But we were all up and out the door by 7 for an 8 am start at the Studios.

Our plan for the day was to be at DHS until 2, then hop again to MK. We bought Genie+ and tried to book Slinky Dog Dash, but there were no reservations available. Also no ILL availability for Rise of the Resistance. We expected this; mainly we were getting Genie+ for MK.

Our custom TP.com touring plan projected we'd be able to do RnRC, ToT and TSM with virtually no wait in the 1st hour, and we'd do SDD/Rise of the Resistance standby later, taking our medicine there.

1st stop: RnRC! Except it was down.

We walked over to ToT, intending to check back on RnRC later. (It didn't come back up until early afternoon, as we were leaving, so we missed that one.) ToT had reduced operations due to technical difficulties, plus the guests who would've gone to RnRC (like us) went to ToT. What was projected before park opening as a 3-minute wait turned out to be over 50. But we were given a re-ride by a nice CM due to some cheerleader antics, so that was some nice pixie dust.

At that point TSM was projected by TP.com to be a 25 minute wait, so we went there. After waiting about 15 minutes, a CM came out and told us it would be operating at reduced capacity due to technical difficulties. We decided to stick it out. About 15 minutes later another CM came out and said they were operating at 1/3 capacity and it would be even longer. At this point we became members of the Sunk Cost Fallacy Club and stayed in line. It ended up being 65 minutes.

Having been in the park for over 2 hours and experienced 2 attractions, we were tired of waiting around. We went to MuppetVision, which we always enjoy and BIL/SIL, who are big Muppets fans, really liked.

We spotted PizzeRizzo close by and had lunch there. It was our first time, and it was fine for CS. We were ready for a break, the mobile ordering got our food to us quickly, and it was plentiful and relatively inexpensive as Disney CS goes. We'd go there again.

We'd been able to book a FP for the Runaway Railway, so we went there next. It was the first time we'd experienced it and it was cute. It seemed to work a lot like the Remy attraction in EP. BIL really enjoyed it.

We'd also booked a FP for Star Tours, and even though the wait time was relatively short (25 minutes), we used the FP and got right on. BIL and SIL are huge Star Wars fans and they really enjoyed it. I have motion issues on that attraction but joined them and didn't lose it.

BIL and SIL wanted to spend our remaining time in the Star Wars area, so we walked over. It was crazy crowded in that area, but it really is some great work by Disney and BIL/SIL really enjoyed the theming.

At that point Rise of the Resistance was posted 115 minutes and Smugglers Run was 80 (projected 45 by TP.com), so they couldn't decide if they wanted to do Smugglers Run or just walk around. Eventually they decided to do it, so they got in line while DW and I walked to the front of the park and had a couple of adult beverages at the Brown Derby Lounge. They joined us a short while later, saying the wait ended up being only 30 minutes. They said it was their favorite attraction at the Studios.

By this time it was about 2:30 so we decided to head to MK. Overall our time at the Studios was enjoyable, but we didn't get the park opening boost we usually expect. If we'd known we were going to have so many technical issues early in the morning we would've slept in.

By the time we drove to the TTC and monorailed over to MK we were feeling the walking we'd done the last 2 days. We'd been able to book Peter Pan and it was great to do that with no wait. DS lives in the area and met us, and we went over to Pirates and did it standby with about a 35 minute wait. Great Disney classics that everybody enjoyed.

7DMT was showing about a 50-minute projected wait and we decided it probably wasn't going to get better than that for the remaining time we would be at MK (we'd decided to leave after fireworks, even though the park was open until 11). It was about that long of a wait and SIL really enjoyed it--she said that was her favorite MK attraction. We then did Splash (DW's favorite attraction) on a FP.

At this point we were hungry and we had a quandry. DS wanted to eat at Cosmic Ray's. We had a BTMRR FP for later. We didn't want to walk over to Tomorrowland and then walk back to Frontierland. We'd eaten at CHH the day before and we didn't want to eat there. The closest restaurant was Pecos Bill's, where DS didn't want to eat because he'd gotten sick after eating there once. We convinced him to have a burger there, so we went in.

Huge mistake! For some reason they'd run out of cooked hamburgers and must have had to go dress the cow and grind the beef to make them. We waited for over 20 minutes while non-burger people were getting food left and right. To say we were frustrated (as well as hangry) would be an understatement. Eventually we got our food (along with an unnecessary apology from the poor CM, who was awesome and had nothing to do with our wait) and ate. It was food. I don't think we'll be back to Pecos Bill's anytime soon.

We used our BTMRR FP and it's always fun doing that after dark. It feels like a completely different experience.

At this point it was a few minutes before fireworks and no one really felt like fighting our way down to Main Street, so we stood on the walkway to/from BTMRR and watched the fireworks from there. Although we missed the show in front of the castle, it was also nice to see the fireworks from a different angle and in a much less congested area. SIL had wanted to stay just for this, and she was glad she did.

Simply put, we'd had it at this point. We'd gone from 8 am to 9:20 pm with no break, on day 2. Even in my younger commando-touring days, I would've been tired. Now? After over 40,000 steps in 2 days? Yeah, we were very ready to go. So it was ferry boat to TTC, TTC to our vehicle, home by 11:30.

I don't think we even said good night to each other--it was straight to our respective bedrooms, with an agreement that we were not starting early the next day. We would sleep until we woke up, have a good breakfast at home, then get to the parks when we got ourselves together.

Overall it was a good day, but we'd overdone it a little! Genie+ was helpful at MK, but not so much at DHS. The technical difficulties at the Studios were a big issue. Is it like that all the time? If it is, I think I'd probably stay away until they get it together. But MK continued to be a win for us.

To be continued, with our 3rd and final day.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Day 3

If this were one of our previous pre-Covid trips, we would've taken today off and gone to the parks the next day. But now we have to reserve a park day, and there were no reservations available for the next day. Also, DW and I were blacked out on our AP for the day after that.

So we were heading back to the parks for Day 3, but we were changing up. Instead of arriving early for rope drop, we decided to sleep in, have a leisurely morning, go to EP to do Soarin, then after 2 we'd go to MK and stay until park closing.

It was a great decision. Day 3 would be our favorite day of the trip.

We bought Genie+ for the day and booked Soarin for 1 pm. We arrived at the TTC around then, monorailed to EP and walked over to Soarin. Another fun world adventure!

OK, we're done with EP. There's a lot we haven't seen there yet, but BIL/SIL really want to do more MK, so it's monorail from EP to TTC, then TTC to MK.

We start with BTMRR, which we have a FP for. Except it goes down with technical difficulties as we're in line to get on. They give us anytime FPs for everything but 7DMT. Awesome, we'll try back later.

DS arrives, and we all head over to Adventureland for a Dole Whip! The long queue moves quickly, and it's refreshing, as always. After that we go to the Tiki Room, a favorite of DS.

At BIL's request, we go to Philharmagic and do that again. We happen to be sitting in seats that are very "spray-ey," which was a pleasant surprise to everybody. BIL continues to like that attraction.

We walked over to Cosmic Ray's and had dinner. It was very good for CS and lots of seating. Everybody enjoyed it, and it was a good rest of the legs.

We walked over to Tomorrowland and did the TTA, which was also relaxing and provided a view of Fantasyland that BIL/SIL thought was neat. For our family no trip is complete without a visit to the Carousel of Progress, so we walk over there and stay awake (for the most part--SIL faded out).

We had a FP for Pooh, so we walked over and did that. BIL is a Disneyland guy and he was going through the list of attractions they have there that we don't have at WDW. Yes, BIL, there used to be a Mr. Toad right here....

There was thought of doing 7DMT standby once again, but the wait was listed as 85 minutes so we decided to do POTC again, instead. Even though it was listed as 25 minutes we walked on, which is always a pleasant surprise.

We had FPs for Peter Pan, so we did that one more time. It's short but we really enjoy it and like doing it whenever we're in MK.

Splash and BTMRR were still down, so we went to Haunted Mansion about 30 minutes before fireworks and had about a 5 minute wait. I've done HM a lot, and I still see something new every time we visit it. It's arguably the best themed attraction in MK, if not WDW, IMHO.

We again decided to watch fireworks from behind the castle, then after that we weren't sure where to go next. Splash and BTMRR were still down and DW isn't a Jungle Cruise fan. We hadn't done Buzz yet, so we decided to go there since it was projected as a 10 minute wait. Apparently many, many others decided to do the same thing at the same time. About 25 minutes later we were onboard. DS kicked my fanny, but he was also in charge of steering, so I'll use that as an excuse!

Remember the anytime FP for everything but 7DMT? We decided to use it for Space Mountain. But when we got there, the CM said that actually, that FP was for everything but 7DMT AND Space Mountain. Not that big a deal, because we didn't really enjoy Space Mountain the previous time we'd done it during that visit, anyway. DW wanted to shop, so she headed to Main Street. BIL/SIL were intrigued by the Astro Orbiter theming and headed there. DS wanted to do Ariel, so he and I did that standby with no wait.

We all met at 7DMT with the intention of doing that standby for our last attraction of the night, but it was very crowded and we figured the posted wait time of 75 minutes was pretty close to accurate, so we decided to shop our way down Main Street and head home. SIL was looking for a picture frame and caramel popcorn, and she hit 50% (the popcorn).

We took one last look down Main Street at the castle and headed out. Monorail to the TTC, kiss goodbye to DS and we were heading home, getting there about midnight.

In spite of the technical difficulties you get during just about any visit to WDW, it was still a great day. We were more rested, less rushed, did most of our favorites and had a great last night. A good way to top off our 3 days.

Next, some final thoughts from an old commando....

 

[Praying Colonel]

Final thoughts:

We'd completed our 3 days, and physically, I was pretty beat up. We'd visited 3 parks and had fun. But we'd walked over 62,000 total steps, our feet were swollen and bruised, we were physically sore and we needed a down day. (We took the down day the day after, then went to the beach the day after that. It was a relaxing change of pace.)

I will say that even if my body could handle commando touring like I did in my younger years, Disney is much harder to do commando-style now IMHO. Back then, if you were willing to get there early and use some extra steps, you could accumulate FPs and do a ton in a day, even in relatively crowded conditions. Now, the park reservation system takes flexibility out of the equation. You have to pay extra for Genie+, and even if you're inclined to pay for it you can't do as much. Genie+ isn't available for the highest-demand attractions. Genie+ is out for many of the high-demand attractions even before the day begins, and the Genie+ rules make it even less user-friendly than FP+ (which wasn't known for its bounty of goodness). And we experienced what seemed like a ton of technical difficulties with attractions (especially at DHS), which further cut into what we could do. I look back at the number of attractions we could do/day under paper FP and even FP+, and the current system pales in comparison.

It's almost like Disney wants us to be happy paying more for doing less, with less flexibility (from the guest's perspective, anyway). I'm sure there are those who are fine with that (and like I said, we did have fun), but it's not the Disney we fell in love with. If our first family trip in 2004 was under the conditions that exist now in 2022, I don't know if we would've become repeat visitors.

Kind of a downer, I know. But so ends our last commando trip. Thank you for reading.

 

[tigerlilly]

Thank you so much for the great report. It is nice to read how empty nesters to the park...we are doing our first empty nest trip this Sept. Like you our bodies are not what they used to be lol. Space is definitely out for us. Our last trip to Disneyland we decided we will never ride our Matterhorn again.... pretty sure I will break a hip if I try again lol.

Thanks again!!

 

[TeresaNJ]

I really enjoyed your report, and agree with everything you said regarding the way the parks are being operated now. It's definitely a bummer.

 

[amytech]

Really enjoyed your report and I also agree with you on how things are being done now in the parks. I have such happy memories of Disney over the years with my family and I don't really want to go back until I can have a great experience again. I'm not quite there yet. Thank you for sharing your experience!

 

[cgattis]

Well. Ditto to everything everyone has said. Except “it’s ALMOST like Disney wants us to be happy paying more for less.” That’s EXACTLY what they want. Which makes it hard for me to want to go back. It was always expensive, but touring as commandos, I always felt it was a value. Not now I’m looking at just little short trips now to focus on the new things like Guardians and Tron. Maybe by the time I have grandkids—since I’m also mumble mumble years old—it’ll swing back the other way or I won’t care anymore LOL

Enjoyed your report!!