A tale as old as time TR (Pre Covid! Completed 5/7/21) - Started my 2019 solo TR! (Updated with F&W 7/10)

[WonderWoman28]

I really don't know what I would do being at Disney without the kids. I mean, it would be so amazing. Just such a new and different experience I am sure.

It was definitely different. I was just so thankful that I went with a group of people who knew Disney (for the most part) and had ideas of what they wanted to do. If I had went with people who had never been it might have not gone as well having to make all the plans and make sure everyone had a good time. For the most part everyone was really go with the flow, we all had a few things we really wanted to do, but ultimately we were all up for anything.

Things I noticed without kids - I shopped less, I carried less (no backpack/stroller), I was more flexible with eating, I was more willing to wait 60 minutes for a ride, I was able to stop and take in my surroundings more, I was able to take in rides and their ques more, we park hopped which I usually don't do with the kids, we didn't take an afternoon break which I hadn't ever done. I kept sending DH pictures to show the kids and facetimed them a few times, I really missed the crap out of them specifically when we went to MK, but it was such a great trip and I'm thankful I embraced the opportunity.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

sounds like so much fun! Such a different expierence depending on who you are with. I hope to go all adults one day!

 

[Steppesister]

You guys all had such a blast! I loved reading about how you laughed until you cried and just really enjoyed the parks and each others' company! :

 

[WonderWoman28]

Day 2 - OMG it's Tigger!
Wednesday September 11th, 2019

When we left off we had done about 9 hours in the parks on our arrival day - we had done AK and HS!

Our plan today was to rope drop MK then hit up Epcot! I had mentioned before that K was in NP school, he actually had an online test this morning which I think was open until 12 or 1. Since he hadn't gotten to do much studying on the flight down his plan was to wake up early, get some studying in, and have his test completed by lunch. So the plan was for the girls to head to MK and meet K at Epcot in the afternoon.

Even though it had been a late ish night considering we had such an early flight, we were all up bright and early! I was so used to having to get my entire family fed and ready for the parks that I was up around 6. I was the first one up, which was the theme of the trip, but everyone else wasn't too far behind. We were ready to go and waiting for our Uber by 7:15. And let me tell you we had the oddest Uber driver - which also seemed to be a reoccurring theme for us. Since K wasn't with us we didn't have to get an Uber XL, and since I'm the next tallest I got to ride in the front while C,L, and E crammed into the back of a pretty compact car. The extra leg room was nice but it also meant that I had to socialize with our driver. This is one thing that you really take notice of when you're not in the Disney bubble. While in the bubble I had no problem talking to any guest or CM, and would often chat with our transportation CMs. They're all so knowledgeable and just really love their jobs! All of our Uber drivers really seemed to be annoyed with having to transport people to Disney. Which I guess I can get in a way, I live near a beach that's pretty famous locally. I work in a city about an hour from where I live and people always are so excited when I say I live near this beach and ask if I spend the whole summer there. My response is always "not really, it's always extremely crowded and it's just not that cool when you live there" and I kind of feel like that's how people who live in Orlando feel. When I was a kid I would always talk to my grandparents and my sister about how cool it must be to live in Orlando, or in Florida in general and be able to go to Disney whenever you wanted. But I can imagine it might not be as exciting if you live right there and you constantly have to deal with the insane amount of tourists that invade your hometown.

Anyway - we told our driver we were heading to MK. We asked her if there was a ride share drop off at MK or if we'd have to be dropped of at the TTC. She looked at me like I was the worst and said "How am I supposed to know, I've never been to Disney". Which fair enough, I should have done my research, but I also think that if you're providing a ride share you should try to be somewhat familiar with the area that you're providing the service. A quick search and we realized we needed to go to the TTC, she huffed since now she had to change the address in the GPS. Then it was an awkward ride and I really wished K was there so that I didn't have to be in the front to take the brunt of her annoyance. During our delightful trip they did the weather on the radio where they mentioned that there was a chance of a quick storm in the afternoon. Our drive then told us that we didn't want to go to MK if there was a storm and asked if we wanted her to take us back. I mentioned that I had been to WDW several times, and often the afternoon storms are quick so I wasn't worried about it. She then said that I was mistaken because whenever it storms they shut the whole park down and no one can enter or exit until they can get the servers back up once the storm has passed...... At this point I didn't feel like arguing with her so I just said we'd take our chances since we planned on spending the whole day at MK anyway- which was a lie but I honestly didn't want to talk to her anymore. Then once we finally arrived at the TTC she all of a sudden was really cheery - telling us she hoped we had a lot of fun and wishing us a great day . Little did she know, the other girls did not take well to poor customer service. Where as I will just usually move on (for the most part) the second we got out of the car they were on Uber leaving a 1 star review. It was a very odd start but we weren't going to let it get us down.

By 7:59 we were on the monorail taking this lovely picture!



And I was once again reminded how great this group was when we all got so excited when we heard "Please stand clear of the doors...", then when C announced we needed a monorail selfie, and again when we all agreed we needed to rope drop PPF! You have to be some true WDW nerds to know that you want to rope drop PPF.

We 8:09 we came upon this beautiful sight just as the welcome show was finishing up.



It was perfect timing as we got into the crowd just as the were opening up the lands.

We headed right over to PPF where it was a 15 minute posted wait at 8:19.

This was my first time going into the queue and it was amazing. PP is one of my all time favorite Disney movies, and seeing the kid's bedrooms and having Tink flying around was so magical. We were all squealing at how perfect it was - we were probably really annoying



After an amazing trip over Neverland we literally skipped our way over to 7DMT around 8:35. We were on and off in close to 15 minutes, and while we all said that it was fun and wonderfully themed we agreed that it's too short.

We had a FP+ for Splash which is another favorite of ours! We sang the whole ride and once again had a blast. We were off an taking our ride picture at 9:24.



We were all bummed K wasn't with us. We kept saying we wished we could show him MK, and that he wasn't really getting the WDW experience without it!

At this point we decided we needed breakfast. E and I wanted savory while L&C wanted sweet. We stopped at Westward Ho since we spotted it on our way to Splash - I think I've only ever grabbed popcorn here but was excited to see that they had breakfast sandwiches. We both got bacon and egg on a croissant while E also got the candied bacon, and oh my - these were so good! They really hit the spot and I'm sad to see that it looks like they don't serve breakfast at this time because I still think
about these to this day.

L&C headed to Sleepy Hollow where they both got the Nutella waffles and love them!

Breakfast with a view! This picture was taken at 9:51.



After this we hopped on E's all time favorite and must do for the day - HM! My 2013 trip was actually the first time (that I can remember) that I had ever been on HM, so it's not a really nostalgic ride for me but if the wait isn't long I'll always go on.

After HM we headed over to IASW - a must do for all of us and another ride that everyone probably hated us because we couldn't stop singing!

This picture was taken at 10:26 and as you can tell by our shiny faces - it was already getting pretty hot out!



Next up - Pooh had a minimal wait so we hopped around the 100 Acre Woods! Then we went to visit Ariel and rode the little mermaid - which L&E hadn't been to the parks since this ride opened and they loved it. Once again a really fun ride for all of us.

We scooted over to Cheshire Café to grab some iced coffees and I wanted a Cheshire cat tail. We of course had to take a selfie with our snacks.



But as we were in the middle of snapping a few pictures this happened -



Tigger photobombed us! I wish we had snapped a picture of our faces when we all realized he was standing behind us. He got right up on E and was waving before we noticed and we all started screaming! Which once again - I think the surrounding guests must have hated us and how excited we were. This was a highlight for us and almost 2 years later we still talk about this moment! Actually just the other night we all were working together and talking about our trip and someone said "wasn't that a really long time ago?"

We all said "SO!?" and E said "it was just so amazing!"

Next we headed over to Adventure Land

We of course had to take a group castle picture on the way to commemorate another park!



We hopped on Pirates which also had a minimal wait and was a must do for E&L. My must do's are PPF and Splash, with everything else being a bonus ride so I was happy to ride whatever was on their list.

After PC we noticed Space Mountain had a growing line - and wasn't really a must to for us. Plus it was nearing noon so we wanted to head over to Epcot to meeting K.


I stopped to grab my first ever solo castle picture! Taken at 12:01



It was such a beautiful day but it was getting HOT!

We stopped into the shops on Main Street since we had bypassed them on our way in, we had gotten a text from K saying he was done with his test and would meet us in Epcot. We hopped on the monorail around 12:25 and were happy with a nice little sit down break!

In about 4 hours we had ridden PPF, 7DMT, Splash, HM, IASW, Pooh, Little Mermaid, and Pirates. We also had breakfast, a snack, and did a little shopping.

Overall we were REALLY happy with how productive our morning was and checked everything off each of our lists. We were excited to hit up to F&W boots for the rest of the day.
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[Steppesister]

Anyway - we told our driver we were heading to MK. We asked her if there was a ride share drop off at MK or if we'd have to be dropped of at the TTC. She looked at me like I was the worst and said "How am I supposed to know, I've never been to Disney". Which fair enough, I should have done my research, but I also think that if you're providing a ride share you should try to be somewhat familiar with the area that you're providing the service. A quick search and we realized we needed to go to the TTC, she huffed since now she had to change the address in the GPS. Then it was an awkward ride and I really wished K was there so that I didn't have to be in the front to take the brunt of her annoyance.

Ummm, what?

Seriously. If you're going to do the Disney routes, you NEED to understand this stuff. It wastes peoples' time and they will for sure get bad reviews.

Our drive then told us that we didn't want to go to MK if there was a storm and asked if we wanted her to take us back. I mentioned that I had been to WDW several times, and often the afternoon storms are quick so I wasn't worried about it. She then said that I was mistaken because whenever it storms they shut the whole park down and no one can enter or exit until they can get the servers back up once the storm has passed.....

Unbelievable. I"m not sure if she truly believed that or she had just moved there, or misinformed, or? Weird!

Breakfast with a view! YES!!

Tigger photobombed us! I wish we had snapped a picture of our faces when we all realized he was standing behind us. He got right up on E and was waving before we noticed and we all started screaming! Which once again - I think the surrounding guests must have hated us and how excited we were. This was a highlight for us and almost 2 years later we still talk about this moment! Actually just the other night we all were working together and talking about our trip and someone said "wasn't that a really long time ago?"

I LOVE this memory! Just perfect!!! So what if others were annoyed. Seriously, no reason to be!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We asked her if there was a ride share drop off at MK or if we'd have to be dropped of at the TTC. She looked at me like I was the worst and said "How am I supposed to know, I've never been to Disney". Which fair enough,

What!?!! Don't do ride share if you don't at least kind of know...

. She then said that I was mistaken because whenever it storms they shut the whole park down and no one can enter or exit until they can get the servers back up once the storm has passed.

Again, whaaat!?!?!! That driver was strange.

L&C headed to Sleepy Hollow where they both got the Nutella waffles and love them!

Both excellent breakfast options!

But as we were in the middle of snapping a few pictures this happened -

AMAZING!!!

In about 4 hours we had ridden PPF, 7DMT, Splash, HM, IASW, Pooh, Little Mermaid, and Pirates. We also had breakfast, a snack, and did a little shopping.

You guys had a great morning in MK!!!

 

[WonderWoman28]

Day 2 Part 2 - Have fun and hydrate!
Wednesday September 11th 2019

It's been a bit since I updated, but for my own sake I really want to finish this bad boy up. I'm currently planning our December 2021 trip, and we're long past the former "180 day dining reservation" mark and I'm a little sad. I originally thought I'd like having to decide 60 days out, giving me more time to plan, but now that 180 days has come and gone I feel at a stand still with planning and that bums me out. So here I came, to try and cure my planning blues.

When we left off, K had text us that he had just finished up his test. Us girls hopped on the monorail and headed over to meet up with him. We snapped this obligatory Spaceship Earth pic at 1:04.



I had figured since it was K's first time at WDW, he would just meet us right past SE. As we walked in we were kind of looking around, walking towards Canada. He text that he'd meet us and we were not expecting him to come from the world showcase - with a drink in hand! Apparently he had been there for about 45 minutes and wasted no time hitting up booths without us!

But we forced him to take a picture with us - where the creepy photopass photographer kept making comments about K being the only guy to "handle all these ladies"

Barf.



From here on out it will probably just be some food shots with a few details as my picture taking fell off the more drinks I had

First stop was Hawaii - which was just to the right of this picture heading towards Canada. I got a Sparkling Pineapple wine which was so refreshing and delicious, I also got SPAM! The teriyaki-glazed SPAM hash with potatoes, peppers, onions, and spicy mayo. The group thought it was weird, but everything in this dish sounded good other than the spam so I thought I'd give it a try. I remember it being surprisingly good but a little spicy for how hot it was!

They insisted on getting a picture of me at my first booth to send back to DH, you can sort of see my spam pictured in the back.



Next we headed over to the cheese studio where I got a blueberry sparkling wine and Maple Bourbon Cheesecake with Maple Bourbon Cream, Caramel and Pecan Crunch.



This was so yummy!! I was so tempted to go back for another but knew we needed to keep trucking along.

We headed to Flavors from Fire next, which is always a hit. During our 2018 trip I had gotten the Smoked Corned Beef with Crispy Potatoes, Cheese Curds, Pickled Onions and Beer-Cheese Fondue and the Charred Chimichurri Skirt Steak on a Smoked Corn Cake with Pickled Vegetable Slaw and Cilantro Aïoli - which I shared with my DH. This time I got the Steakhouse Blended Burger: Blended Beef and Mushroom Slider with Brie Cheese Fondue, Arugula, and a Truffle and Blue Cheese Potato Chip on a Brioche Bun - which I split with L, and we both wished we had gotten our own

At this point - 2 sparkling wines in less than an hour and 90+ degrees, I was feeling a little off. We were right next to Appleseed Orchard, so we headed inside to cool off. K & C got cider flights, L got a single served cider, and E got a huge apple brandy drink. Meanwhile I got 2 bottles of water



The funny thing was - my husband was so nervous that I would get dehydrated and pass out. He had asked if I could send him updates and every time I would he'd respond with "have fun and drink water!". This was a picture for him, that I was taking a rest and staying hydrated lol

The picture above was taken at about 2. After cooling off we took a slow stroll through Canada and the UK, I don't believe we stopped at another booth until France. We grabbed a drink there now that I washed away my 2 sparkling wines with at least 2 bottles of water. I believe I got the La Passion Martini Slushy: Vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, Cranberry and Passion Fruit Juice. There was a free high top that we stood at and chatted for a while, it was in the shade and the breeze was amazing. This picture was close to 3:30.



We stopped at Brazil where I got the pork belly and C got the cheese bread. At this point we were all just sharing everything!



I feel like this was pretty good, but the problem for me with F&W is that a lot of the dishes are very heavy and it's always so freaking hot as it runs from July - October. I remember this being meh - I really just think it was too hot outside.

Next up on the agenda - L had asked prior to going if we could stop at Pick a Pearl in Mitsukoshi. We all agreed knowing it would be a good AC break and the store would be cool to show K.



She was beaming the entire experience and I'm so glad she got to do it! It was about 4:15 when we wrapped it up in here.

We kept trucking around the world. I believe someone stopped in Germany, and I grabbed some food in Africa. This is obviously where the details and pictures drop off

We did another first for me - actually went into the Mexico pavilion and rode 3 Caballeros as our AC break. The inside of the Mexico pavilion is so beautiful and I'm so disappointed that this was my first time stopping in!

Next up we decided to take a break and hit up some rides. We booked it from Mexico over to The Land to ride Soarin. Poor K was trying to get us to describe Soarin, we just kept saying "trust us, you'll love it!"

We were flying around the world at 6:15 and he did in fact love it!

We also rode Livin' with the Land after and I just remember we were really hyped for it, and after we got off K said "that was odd, but I didn't hate it"

Next we stopped back at the cheese studio since it had been since Africa around 4:45 that I ate last, and it was now 7 . I got Braised Beef “Stroganoff” with Tiny Egg Noodles, Wild Mushroom, and Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Sauce.



This was once again a little heavy, but the sun wasn't blasting as hot at this point. Not that it was cooling down, but at least it wasn't as relentlessly hot.

Then we headed BACK over to Mexico where L and I split all the things from The Alps and got margaritas. We got - Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Baby Potatoes, Cornichons and Baguette, Venison Stew with Crushed Potatoes, Blueberry and Almond Frangipane Tart with Crème Fraîche Cream and Blue Diamond® Almonds. We were really expecting the raclette to be so good and it was really meh. Kind of had no flavor - but the tart was delicious! At this point it was closing in on 8pm, our original plan had been to stay at Epcot for the entire evening, but we were realizing there was nothing left we wanted to do. What we really wanted was to show K MK, so at the last minute we booked it out of Epcot and hopped on the monorail to MK!

Another pic to DH so he knew I was alive!



By the time we got over to MK, we had about an hour until the 10pm closing. Most people were already parked for the Happily Ever After so we easily hopped onto PoC and Splash Mountain. We had time for 1 more ride, everyone really wanted to ride HM and it's not really a must for me and we had already ridden it so I decided to skip. If you read my earlier TR you'll know my DH is obsessed with Oogie Boogie, so I ran over to the popcorn cart in the hub near the entrance to tomorrow land to grab him the 2019 Oogie Boogie popcorn bucket.

We met outside as the park was closing, I was waiting on a bench near the boats. Everyone was leaving so the line to the monorail to get to the TTC was insane, I asked a CM if there was a bus to the TTC and he said "um, I think so?" then had to ask another CM to confirm . Sure enough there is a bus to the TTC, and it was practically empty so we all got a seat! We ordered our uber on the way and this was probably the longest we had to wait. There was a huge crowd of people and an equally large line of ubers waiting. We didn't get back until almost 11:30 and we were all exhausted! E was leaving us bright and early, and we all had our first day of the conference tomorrow. We knew we weren't done with Disney as we had plans to head to Disney Springs in the evening!

This was a 14 hour day for us, the previous day being just shy of 10 hours. We clocked 24 park hours, and all 4 parks in just 2 days! I had been a little nervous going into this - traveling with people I hadn't spent too much time with outside of work. But it was absolutely perfect! We all had the same ideas of how we wanted our 2 park days to go and really fit everything in we wanted to. We're almost 2 years out from this trip and we still bring it up often.





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[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am exhausted just reading all of that!

 

[Steppesister]

So here I came, to try and cure my planning blues.

It's a great place to do that!

What a fun picture!

with a drink in hand! Apparently he had been there for about 45 minutes and wasted no time hitting up booths without us!

where the creepy photopass photographer kept making comments about K being the only guy to "handle all these ladies"

Barf.

I've found quite a few of the PP photogs a bit on the awkward side. Forced interactions can do that!

the Smoked Corned Beef with Crispy Potatoes, Cheese Curds, Pickled Onions and Beer-Cheese Fondue and the Charred Chimichurri Skirt Steak on a Smoked Corn Cake with Pickled Vegetable Slaw and Cilantro Aïoli

YES!!! Sooooo good!!

and E got a huge apple brandy drink.

On my list for this year! Can't wait!

We kept trucking around the world. I believe someone stopped in Germany, and I grabbed some food in Africa. This is obviously where the details and pictures drop off

AS it should be.

This was once again a little heavy

I think so too; sharing with others is often a good way to counteract this.

By the time we got over to MK, we had about an hour until the 10pm closing. Most people were already parked for the Happily Ever After so we easily hopped onto PoC and Splash Mountain.

PH'ing FTW!!

This was a 14 hour day for us, the previous day being just shy of 10 hours. We clocked 24 park hours, and all 4 parks in just 2 days! I had been a little nervous going into this - traveling with people I hadn't spent too much time with outside of work. But it was absolutely perfect! We all had the same ideas of how we wanted our 2 park days to go and really fit everything in we wanted to. We're almost 2 years out from this trip and we still bring it up often.

Sounds like it was such a fun, successful trip. I really enjoyed reading all about it. Thank you for sharing and taking us along for the ride.