A Whole New World of COVID-19: An Annual Passholder Adventure (Updated 10/1 x2: Disney Springs & Epcot)

[PlutosRHM55]

So excited to see all the costumes and bounds you have planned! I've already seen some cool ones. Makes me wish I could go back down and spend a week, but that just seems too much time to spend outside of my home state rn so I will be living vicariously through everyone down there.

Omg this is so exciting about your finally getting ride to Rise and so glad to hear you got a full experience! I've been on Rise three times and somehow managed to get a full experience two of the three times, but I hear many have not had that luck.

I definitely have similar feelings towards the prequels. They are special to me since I wasn't a Star Wars fan prior, but I really am into it (I mean, I've worked in the land at this point sooo), it's hard to ignore what a mess of continuity they are and TROS is a garbage fire of pandering to the toxic fans. However, Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film ever made and nobody will change my mind on that.

Ok so I've done Rise three times and on none of those times were there ever real Stormtroopers as you say in that waiting area before the interrogation room, just the ones on that platform. I've never even heard that was a thing so I'm shook/questioning your source.

Lol, I was by myself the first time I rode Rise and still lost my **** in the AT-AT room. Still one of the most incredible scenes in any attraction I've ever been on. I get chills just thinking about it.

I'll definitely have to be on the lookout for that Seinfeld reference next time I'm in the parks. It makes me miss how many random non-Disney references used to be hidden in Studios.

 

[lindseyanne]

August 14: Hollywood Studios
Part Five

At this point in the afternoon, the lines for rides were relatively long (think 45-55 minutes), and we were still in a Star Wars mood, so we decided to go back to Star Tours, with its steady 5 minute wait.


I think you can just feel the mid-afternoon heat and humidity in this picture.

This time, we were #blessed with a prequel-series heavy ride sequence, ending in Naboo. I like to think this is due to the fact I was wearing my Queen Amidala mask:


A reference to Padmé Naberrie AND The Smiths?!? Be still my heart.

We were starting to a drag a bit, so we made our way back to very empty Hollywood Blvd and to Starbucks.



The Starbucks line was stretching out the door with social distancing in place, so Boyfriend and I decided to kill a few minutes by checking out the stores on Hollywood Blvd while the line went down.

This award made me laugh for like five minutes straight:


We ALL deserve an award for living through 2020!

Hollywood Five & Dime had their pin board out (the only pin board I saw all day, sadly!)--you choose which pin you want and drop your trader in a box so it will get sanitized. Unfortch, I didn't find anything worth trading for.



I'm very happy with my phone case (it has a pinup style royal handmaiden and Theed Palace on it and says Greetings From Naboo) buuuuuuuuut this case was mighty tempting:


It also made me think of Dan the High Talker from Seinfeld: "This is DAN!". I bet the Imagineer who programmed K. Assman into the Grand Avenue callbox appreciates this.

The line at Starbucks had shrunk significantly, and this iced black coffee with an extra espresso shot tasted like the nectar of the gods:



I also saw this A frame that has RUINED MY LIFE for a year, and got to tell it to pound sand. (One of my space buns looks oddly square in the shadow, but that was my phone being held up.)



At this point, we went to Toy Story Land and waited about 25 minutes for Slinky Dog Dash, but I have zero pictures of this because the heat was really starting to get to me, and riding Slinky Dog Dash made it even worse. I had only ridden it once, at night, and I guess the heat of the day combined with having just drunk a red eye coffee made the ride hit me really hard. I knew that I needed to do two things: sit down in the air conditioning for awhile and having a drink with lots of sugar in it. Basically, I needed to get to Docking Bay 7 ASAP.

Scroll down to continue!
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[lindseyanne]

August 14: Hollywood Studios
Part Six

I marched myself over to Docking Bay 7 and had Boyfriend mobile order a Moof Juice so it was ready and waiting for me:


I cannot express how refreshing this was.

Once I felt like myself again, we wandered around the Millenium Falcon. The line for Smuggler's Run was only about 20 minutes, but I didn't think it was a good idea to jostle myself too much.


I still can't believe this is inside a theme park.

Instead, we decided to just wander around Batuu.



We saw a handful of guests outside Savi's workshop and thought, hmmm....Since at this point equity performers were not back, the workshop itself was open, and it was instead selling legacy lightsabers. Because it's so small, CMs were limiting 2-3 parties inside at a time, so we asked if we could go in to have a peek even though we had no intention of buying a lightsaber that day.




The details inside Savi's were incredible, as per usual with Batuu.



After leaving Savi's, we noticed some friends hanging out by the podracers. I appreciate how WDW has figured out ways to get characters out while still keeping their friends safe.





We doubled back further into Batuu, hoping to catch some villains, and we were not disappointed (unlike everything else in this long DHS update, these were taken with my DSLR):



I hesitate to take pictures of other people's kids/post them, but this kid is wearing a mask and is therefore not easily identifiable and this was also adorable:



Click here to continue​

 

[Lilias]

AAHHH WHERE DID YOU ACQUIRE PADME MASSSKKKK /screech

I tried to not spoil myself too hard on the Rise part, but man it's going to be life changing for meeeee. Husband doesn't care for Star Wars as much as I do, WHICH IS A SHAME. He's one of those "I don't like Star Wars, but love The Mandalorian" people, whereas I love ALL OF IT. All of it. Prequels and sequels. LOVE EM ALL.

 

[lindseyanne]

August 14: Hollywood Studios
Part Seven

As you may be able to tell from these pictures, what was happening was that Kylo Ren would speak to and gesture to people in the crowd, and they would come forward to take selfies. This led to yet another of the many mortifying experiences that make up my life.



You see, I thought that he was gesturing to me. It sure looked like he was. So I handed Boyfriend my phone to take my picture, dropped my purse and camera, walked in front of the stage and posed...only for Kylo Ren to go, ".....not you."

THE MORTIFICATION!

After Kylo left, I tried the new-to-me Photopass tiny earth shot. It's....interesting?



(I've cropped this because there's a ton of empty space in the shot itself.). It's an interesting idea in theory butttttttttt in practice you get a bunch of people just standing around (like Boyfriend there to the left).

I must have blacked out in shame because the next picture I have is from my happy place, the Chinese Theatre.



Here's a tip: save Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway for the last thing you do at DHS! The wait itself isn't awful (it was hovering around 35 minutes for most of the day), but because of social distancing it's pretty much all outside and in the direct sun. By this time, it was around 5:30ish and cloudy, so the outside portion of our wait wasn't too brutal.

The first and only time I rode this was right after it opened, and we were unfortunately sharing a vehicle with the absolute WORST unaccompanied 5th grade boys (I know this because of their field trip t-shirts) and I spent the first two rooms yelling at them. So I was happy to have our own vehicle this time and get to actually enjoy myself!


This is fine when you don't remind yourself that this used to be the Great Movie Ride.

This guy is my favorite part of the ride:


I just think he's neat.

Once we arrived at Daisy's dance studio, we took a silent meditation break for three entire minutes that felt like an eternity. Poor Daisy just stayed like this:



(I have since found out that they use this room to hold ride vehicles if unload gets backed up without having to stop the whole ride. The more you know!)



We also get held up for a few minutes in the last scene. It's so sweet!



I really love the "you-entered-the-animation" preshow and postshow, although obviously right now the preshow isn't happening because it would be too crowded.

It was after 6 by this point, and the clouds were starting to look very threatening, so we called it a day.



So here's my verdict on DHS in these times: it is, shockingly, the only park besides Magic Kingdom that holds its own as a full day park. DHS has never been a full day park for me, mostly because I don't do Tower of Terror and Rock n' Rollercoaster and the fastpass situation at DHS sucked. Now, with no fastpass, it really is possible to spend the day at DHS, even without the live shows. I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that we were able to spend around 9 hours at DHS without getting bored.

Coming up: a not-so-scary Saturday at Magic Kingdom​

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Excuse me while I cry over seeing Savi's kinda reopened (even though it's now officially reopened doing shows again which I cried at the announcement the other day). It feels so weird to see it and knowing I won't be waking up and bussing out mid-day to go build scrap metal all day.

That's so interesting that they just hold you in Daisy's dance studio if they are backed up. That was my favorite part of the whole ride so I'm down with that, even if I'm not crazy about the ride itself (forever a GMR stan).

That's wild to think DHS is the one that holds up as a full day park now. It makes sense, but yeah crazy how times have changed. I'm glad you had a decent day. Looking forward to hearing about your Halloween experience at MK!

 

[lindseyanne]

So excited to see all the costumes and bounds you have planned! I've already seen some cool ones. Makes me wish I could go back down and spend a week, but that just seems too much time to spend outside of my home state rn so I will be living vicariously through everyone down there.

Omg this is so exciting about your finally getting ride to Rise and so glad to hear you got a full experience! I've been on Rise three times and somehow managed to get a full experience two of the three times, but I hear many have not had that luck.

I definitely have similar feelings towards the prequels. They are special to me since I wasn't a Star Wars fan prior, but I really am into it (I mean, I've worked in the land at this point sooo), it's hard to ignore what a mess of continuity they are and TROS is a garbage fire of pandering to the toxic fans. However, Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film ever made and nobody will change my mind on that.

Ok so I've done Rise three times and on none of those times were there ever real Stormtroopers as you say in that waiting area before the interrogation room, just the ones on that platform. I've never even heard that was a thing so I'm shook/questioning your source.

Lol, I was by myself the first time I rode Rise and still lost my **** in the AT-AT room. Still one of the most incredible scenes in any attraction I've ever been on. I get chills just thinking about it.

I'll definitely have to be on the lookout for that Seinfeld reference next time I'm in the parks. It makes me miss how many random non-Disney references used to be hidden in Studios.

TROS is just such a giant pile of hot garbage...the only thing I like about it is the music in the final trailer. THAT'S IT. Ugggggggh it makes me so angry even thinking about it. I was seething with rage watching the movie in the theatre itself, never watched it again in theatres (the first time that's ever happened for a SW movie for me) and have yet to rewatch it on Disney+.

The prequels, for all of their faults, I think did a wonderful job of expanding the SW universe and world-building. I still am not a huge fan of the overuse of green screens and CGI in them (I am a sucker for physical sets and puppets, since they add to the sense of realism), but they really expanded the scope of the galaxy to different types of planets, societies, cultures, etc. Plus I am a major Padmé and her handmaidens stan and I will go to my grave angry at George Lucas and Co. for sidelining her character in Revenge of the Sith.

That AT-AT room is just over the top bananas. The entire time I was like, is this real life? I was so shook that I barely had time to notice the Finn animatronic, because I really need to know if it's truly the reused Sigourney Weaver AA from GRM.

AAHHH WHERE DID YOU ACQUIRE PADME MASSSKKKK /screech

I tried to not spoil myself too hard on the Rise part, but man it's going to be life changing for meeeee. Husband doesn't care for Star Wars as much as I do, WHICH IS A SHAME. He's one of those "I don't like Star Wars, but love The Mandalorian" people, whereas I love ALL OF IT. All of it. Prequels and sequels. LOVE EM ALL.

Teepublic! And ROTR is so amazing. Like, I still have not even begun to process it. Even for a casual fan it would be great but for a big SW fan it is LIFE-ALTERING.

Excuse me while I cry over seeing Savi's kinda reopened (even though it's now officially reopened doing shows again which I cried at the announcement the other day). It feels so weird to see it and knowing I won't be waking up and bussing out mid-day to go build scrap metal all day.

That's so interesting that they just hold you in Daisy's dance studio if they are backed up. That was my favorite part of the whole ride so I'm down with that, even if I'm not crazy about the ride itself (forever a GMR stan).

That's wild to think DHS is the one that holds up as a full day park now. It makes sense, but yeah crazy how times have changed. I'm glad you had a decent day. Looking forward to hearing about your Halloween experience at MK!

I was so happy to finally see inside Savi's. I can see why you loved working there! I'm so glad that the gatherers are back so everyone can have the full experience again. It's also very bizarre to me how DHS is now a full day park, even without a) shows and b) Fantasmic/fireworks at the end of the night.

 

[Lilias]

Curses! The Teepublic masks are polyester, the bane of my fragile skin lol. I found something nice on Etsy that should be coming soon that's dyed to be Padme's Naboo I HATE SAND seashell hair dress colors!! With her pretty sigil on it. I need Padme everything yes please I love her so much! My headcanon is that she was murdered by Palpatine and didn't just decide OH MAN MY HUSBAND IS EVIL I GUESS IMMA DIE NOW SORRY KIDS.

I didn't hate TROS, but it definitely didn't totally strike me down with awe and the need to watch it over and over again like TLJ did. I hope Rian is still doing his own trilogy??? He captured the kindof Star Wars that I'm into. But the toxic fans hated that movie so much that might've been canceled. Sigh.

SORRY I COULD TALK ABOUT STAR WARS ALL DAY

 

[lindseyanne]

I'm back again, and I come bearing tales of Halloween Lite, frightful friends, and even more frightful CROWDS. Seeing the Magic Kingdom slightly decked out for fall just made me sad again that Not-So-Scary is not happening this year. Halloween is already here at my casa, though; I decorated inside two weeks ago, my outdoor decorations will go up on October 1st (the first day the HOA allows them), and my Halloween music playlist has already been on permanent rotation while I work. I also have an Epcot park pass for tomorrow, so fingers crossed more Taste of Food & Wine booths will be open!

September 19th: Magic Kingdom
Part One

Neither Boyfriend or I had any intention of spending an entire day at the Magic Kingdom when we made this park pass; UCF's first game of the season would be on TV at 3:30, so our plan was to spend the morning and early afternoon primarily catching the character cavalcades, then leave before 3 so we would be home by kickoff. Naturally, I wore my UCF mask to support the team:


You can feel the heat and humidity and overall stickiness and grossness in this picture.

As usual, we avoided rope drop (the park opened at 9 am) and arrived outside the parking gates around 10 am. UNFORTUNATELY, it was still really busy, and it took us until 10:20 am to even get through:



We parked in Jafar, which was not bad at all--the parking attendants had begun filling the empty spaces from earlier in the morning (they park you with an empty space on either side), so we didn't have too bad of a trek to TTC. As we waited a few minutes in the temperature check line, I got to witness my first lady throwing a tantrum because masks are required, no exceptions. Kudos to the guest service manager who was handling her, because he was not putting up with her silliness. IT IS NOT A SURPRISE THAT MASKS ARE REQUIRED FOR EVERYONE, IT'S LITERALLY WRITTEN EVERYWHERE ONLINE AND IN PERSON.

It was really busy at TTC, especially the ticket lines which I imagine must have been for will-call tickets, because signs were out saying that all of the parks were at park pass capacity for the day:



Luckily, the monorail lines were not backed up at all, so within a few minutes we were through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, being greeted by NO PUMPKINS ON THE LAWN.



This began my theme of disappointment with the lack of Halloween decor. I know, I know, money's tight and all....but how much could it really cost to put the pumpkins out on the lawn? Or to put the jack o'lanterns up along the windows of Main Street? Or the scarecrows?



Right after we entered MK, one of the Halloween Lite cavalcades came down Main Street: the Pooh and Friends trolley. As you can probably see in this picture, or saw on social media last week, people unfortunately do not seem to respect social distancing during the morning cavalcades on Main Street, nor do the CMs do much to enforce it (not that there's much they can do anyway). I know that people say that pictures can be deceiving, but I promise you, I was there and most people along Main Street were crammed against one another. Because of this, we snapped a few pictures and then headed towards the Hub, where people were thankfully spread out more. (However, later in the afternoon, Main Street was empty--so if you like to avoid being right up next to people who don't respect social distancing and your personal space, save the cavalcades for the afternoon!)


Same.


I do love their lil' Halloween costumes.

Once we moved down into the Hub, the beautiful strains of "Boo to You" began, which meant it was time for Mickey, Minnie, and some Boo to You parade friends:




Me walking around WDW in 95 degrees.

They've been switching up Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy's costumes daily, which I think is a nice touch!

Scroll down to continue!​

 

[lindseyanne]

September 19th: Magic Kingdom
Part Two

Not long after the Boo to You crew came by, "This is Halloween" began, which means that Jack, Sally, and Oogey were on their way! Now, I know that we alllllllll know these characters, but Boyfriend has spent plenty of quality time hanging during MNSSHP with these two (Sally in particular), so we got lots of attention today from her during the cavalcades.




I'm very pleased with this picture of Sally that I took with my DSLR!

I suppose I should tell y'all now that Boyfriend and I had had a stupid mini-argument in the parking lot about an umbrella, and at this point I was still low-key annoyed about it, so Boyfriend suggested that we go and fix my mood by watching the Country Bear Jamboree. It's impossible to be grumpy during CBJ! It worked, because afterwards I was fine (although I can also still say that I WAS RIGHT in said argument because we DIDN'T need an umbrella.)


SAME.

My mood may have been fixed, but lawd, these wait times:



When Philharmagic and Carousel of Progress have wait times of multiple shows, you know it's crowded. The days of five minute waits are definitely over. I will say that although wait times are high during the weekends now, and the lines for snacks are also pretty long, the park itself isn't crazy crowded. It's mostly just seems like the result of social distancing in queues. We hadn't really planned on doing many rides anyway, so no loss there.

Since we were right next to Pecos Bill's and had nothing on our agenda beyond catching more cavalcades, we decided to have lunch on the earlier side and mobile ordered some tacos. I did not take pictures of these, because as always it was very dark in Pecos AND their food is not exactly aesthetically pleasing.

Once we finished, the Villains were starting their cavalcade to the tune of "It's Good to Be Bad". We followed them down to Liberty Square:


How does she bend like this tho?


Truly the fairest of them all.


There are no pictures of Bowler Hat Guy that aren't bizarre. I love him.

It was going to be awhile before the Nightmare Before Christmas crew came by again, and Boyfriend and I both were craving something sweet and cold. Since Gaston's Tavern was finally open, we headed there for some LeFou's Brew, detouring through the castle.

On our way, we passed the extended queue for Philharmagic:


LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL nope.

The social distancing queue to order at Gaston's Tavern was also not promising, but at least it moved relatively quickly:



We lucked out and a couple was leaving a small table right as we got our drinks, so we snatched it and were able to sit down in the AC for a few minutes. Real estate inside during this day was a rare thing.


I have no idea why there was no foam this day, but I was too hot to care.

Scroll down to continue!

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[lindseyanne]

September 19th: Magic Kingdom
Part Three

With the remains of our LeFou's brews (that's fun to say), we prepared ourselves for a gauntlet of parade dashing for the next round of cavalcades. This is when you photograph the parade in one location, then dash to another (or even a third) as it makes its way down the street. Boyfriend was going to shoot across the Liberty Square bridge from the Hub, but because I don't have a great zoom lens (I'm still just using the kit lens for everything), I had previously staked out a spot across from Sleepy Hollow where I could get closer to the floats. So we split up, intending to meet again by the trolley barn on Main Street at the end of the parade route.

Because I'm nice, I'll show you where my spot is. It's directly across from Sleepy Hollow, next to an entrance to Ye Olde Christmas Shop. As a bonus, you get to smell both funnel cakes AND generic Christmas scent!



It was still difficult to get decent shots because everyone is moving so quickly and my lens isn't the best, but I got a few here, especially of Taffyta, aka the one I really wanted to get pics of because I love her:




It didn't really word for the rest of the Boo to You crew, but I like the umbrellas behind her!

I saved my feet and refrained from dashing down to the end of the parade route this time, and just walked leisurely, as the Villains cavalcade was next up and I specifically wanted to try and get Maleficent close-up, which would be easiest from the Main Street hub.

While I was waiting, I took the same picture everyone always takes when the fall wreaths are up:



The Villains rolled by, and I cursed my lens and my camera because I got some pictures of Gaston on his horse (he hadn't been on his horse in the morning) that were great except EVERYTHING BUT GASTON WAS IN FOCUS. Ugggggh. But I did get Maleficent:



Then it was back to Liberty Square, to catch the Nightmare Before Christmas cavalcade and dash to a few locations down Man Street with it before ending up at the trolley barn.







You can see here just how quiet Main Street was at 2:30 pm, vs. just a few hours earlier:



We considered waiting for the princess cavalcade, but it wasn't due to come down the street for a bit, and I DO NOT MISS KICKOFF EVER, so we headed out to an empty monorail and got back home just in time for the UCF game.

My overall verdict of Halloween Lite at the Magic Kingdom is a resounding MEH. As I said before, I get that these things cost money, but I really don't think it would be that much extra labor and effort to put out the Main Street scarecrows, the entrance lawn pumpkins, the Main Street jack o'lanterns, etc. The Halloween decor is.....just the wreaths. That's all. However, the extra cavalcades with the characters in their Halloween costumes, the Villains, and the Nightmare Before Christmas friends is a major plus (especially because we don't have Jack and Sally in Boo to You, which really makes no sense now that they meet in the Town Square Theatre and not in the grove outside). All of that said, though, I am optimistic that the vibe will improve somewhat as we get into October and hopefully have weather that is more conducive to everyone, kids AND adults, dressing up. (I saw a few adults dressed up in addition to a good amount of kids, and to those brave souls I tip my hat, because I would pass out.)

Coming up: an evening at Epcot

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[lindseyanne]

Curses! The Teepublic masks are polyester, the bane of my fragile skin lol. I found something nice on Etsy that should be coming soon that's dyed to be Padme's Naboo I HATE SAND seashell hair dress colors!! With her pretty sigil on it. I need Padme everything yes please I love her so much! My headcanon is that she was murdered by Palpatine and didn't just decide OH MAN MY HUSBAND IS EVIL I GUESS IMMA DIE NOW SORRY KIDS.

I didn't hate TROS, but it definitely didn't totally strike me down with awe and the need to watch it over and over again like TLJ did. I hope Rian is still doing his own trilogy??? He captured the kindof Star Wars that I'm into. But the toxic fans hated that movie so much that might've been canceled. Sigh.

SORRY I COULD TALK ABOUT STAR WARS ALL DAY

NO PROBLEM BECAUSE I COULD TALK ABOUT PADME AMIDALA ALL DAY. I am still, fifteen years later, angry about the destruction of her character in Revenge of the Sith in particular. I live for E.K. Johnston's Padme novels and I INSIST that Disney+ give us a liveaction Padme and her handmaidens series. It's what we deserve.

 

[lindseyanne]

So, hello there. Obviously you all have heard about the layoffs. I don't show my significant other's face here/talk about his specific role, but I'm sure if you read between the lines in my posts, you can figure out his department. He has not heard anything yet, which naturally is incredibly nerve-wracking, but he is prepared (as much as one can be) to hear the worst. My heart has been breaking for the past two days as friend after friend and coworker after coworker posts their "I got my call" message on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. Moreover, my heart is breaking for the thousands of people I don't even know but who have made my visits to the parks magical over the past 35 years of my life, and for everyone out west in Disneyland. I cannot fathom so many thousands of people having to go into a job market here that is ALREADY awful, and deal with a broken Florida unemployment system (well, not broken, really--it was designed to do exactly what it's doing, which is pay people a pittance and kick them off unemployment ASAP with a wave and a shrug). ANYWAYS. The only reason I am even doing to update of a short visit to Disney Springs and Epcot last week is because I have got to give my mind something else to focus on for an hour that isn't doomscrolling Twitter or listening for the phone to ring. Boyfriend and I had a park pass for DHS tomorrow, but we aren't planning on using it--I want to support the people who are still working, but neither of us would enjoy ourselves at all. I truly don't know when I'm even going to feel like going back to the parks, to be very honest. Again, I really want to support everyone who is still working, and I really want the parks to succeed and be able to call more people back from furlough. But I also just don't know how I'm going to do it, especially if my boyfriend does end up being laid off. I don't know when/if it's going to be fun for me or him. So this neverending TR may go on hiatus, or it may not, depending on the next few days.

September 25th: Epcot
Part One

I personally can't believe we're at a point where a trip to Epcot does not include a restaurant visit, but that's just 2020. Nothing appealed to Boyfriend or I in the way of food, so we pre-gamed at Flippers:


Buttaaaaaaah!

If you're not local to Orlando, I really must insist that on your next trip, you either take a Uber off property to the nearest Flippers OR you order Flippers to your room. My boyfriend and I basically go to Flippers every other Friday, because one is right next to my therapist's office (oooooooooh boy has my therapist had her work cut out for her in 2020).

We knew that we couldn't feasibly fill an entire afternoon and evening with Epcot in its current state, so Boyfriend suggested hitting up Disney Springs for a very important purchase with his 50% CM discount. I was on the hunt for a specific fan one of my friends had shown off in her Instagram stories, so off we went, with the World of Disney as our first stop.

I was distracted by this new-to-me coffee mug featuring Disney cats, which I am definitely going to need to buy soon:



I found the fan I wanted, displayed in all of its glory:



BUT Y'ALL. This fan is comically large. Like, it's too large to function as a fan. I played around with it for a few minutes, and even though it's pretty cheap (I think it was $9.99), it just isn't functional, so I ended up not buying it. A+ design, Disney merchandise people, but C- for execution!

My boyfriend made the most important purchase of his life:



This is our child now. My cats are incredibly confused by it.

We headed to Epcot and I took this oddly zoomed in picture of Spaceship Earth, for some reason:



Epcot was feeling incredibly steamy and the lines, as they have been for all of the parks lately, were pretty substantial. We had no real plan of action, but since we hadn't seen any of the socially distanced characters at Epcot yet, we decided to head over to where Pooh and Joy usually play around between the Imagination pavilion and the Land pavilion:


The backside... of Imagination! Also the location of my favorite restrooms in Epcot, as they still play the old music loop.

We sat down for awhile in the shade, and after twenty minute or so, this ol' bear came out:



No one else was really around yet, so Pooh kindly treated us (or did we treat him) to a private photo shoot:





Click here to continue!
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[Lilias]

NO PROBLEM BECAUSE I COULD TALK ABOUT PADME AMIDALA ALL DAY. I am still, fifteen years later, angry about the destruction of her character in Revenge of the Sith in particular. I live for E.K. Johnston's Padme novels and I INSIST that Disney+ give us a liveaction Padme and her handmaidens series. It's what we deserve.

I purchased the first Padme novel as soon as quarantine started and I HAVE STILL NOT READ IT. I am a disgrace. I am glad you like it, as that gives me hope that I will also like it! I used to be obsessed with this website in the 00's called Padme's Wardrobe--it was a website dedicated to how awesome Padme and all her outfits were. I totes have books and paper dolls from the 00's of her squirreled away somewhere that I need to dig up to make a proper shrine. As an adult, I found out that there was a whole YSL makeup collection dedicated to Amidala in 1999 and I'm like, darn. That's all gross and expired now. Curses. DON'T TEMPT ME WITH A GOOD TIME TALKING ABOUT PADME AMIDALA ALL DAY

I am jealous of your Child! We don't have a baby yoda yet, as I really want the build-a-bear one, but I hate the baby noises it makes! Blaaaaah.

 

[lindseyanne]

September 25th: Epcot
Part Two

We took a quick free water trip to the Land, then hurried back in time to catch this little spark:



She was delighting two little girls next to us with her dancing skilzzz and general hyperactivity. Then she picked up a stick and started playing with it:



Then, Joy did the most relatable thing in this year of 2020 and just ran:


SAME.

Let me also take this opportunity to register my distaste with Disney for cutting Sadness from meets, even before COVID-19. Boo hiss boo.

We took a relaxing journey through mankind's use, and sometimes overuse, of the land:



Nothing was sounding particularly appetizing at the food booths, mostly because it was SO STICKY and humid out. It was approaching dinner time, so we decided to just walk around the World Showcase once to get our steps in, and see if anything piqued our interest.

France was looking lovely as ever:



What I really wanted was Chefs de France, but it has not yet reopened.

ALSO. I must register another complaint, namely these very obviously fake buildings for the Ratatouille expansion that are currently visible:



I do not like this! Hopefully there's more work to be done to make this look less like a soundstage.

However, I LOVE the art noveau attraction entrance (???) that looks like a turn of the century Metropolitain sign:



We stopped for some free water in Japan and cooled down in the garden. This has to be one of my favorite areas in all of Epcot, and it was looking particularly beautiful in the early evening light:



Sunset was very beautiful, and we also randomly saw the Goodwill Blimp:



I only have one more picture before we left, and its this random one:



I don't know why, but when I look at this picture now, it makes me think about my old Epcot evening routine of having dinner, wandering the World Showcase with a coffee, hearing that Illuminations preshow music start up, and finding the perfect spot to sit and watch. It was my routine for so long that I never imagined anything different. Of course, Illuminations is gone now, and so is almost all of the Epcot I grew up with. I never really had time to establish a new Epcot routine before COVID hit. Now, of course, everything has changed, and I'm sitting here not knowing when the next time I'll even want to return to the parks is. I guess my point is, try to enjoy those moments when you have them, because you don't know how precious they could end up being.​

 

[PlutosRHM55]

My social media feeds have been the absolute saddest ever. We're losing so many amazing CMs I can tell you that much, especially over at Disneyland. I knew a lot of people in Entertainment over there and they are getting hit HARD. Sending lots of good vibes to your S/O.

That fan is actually meant to be that large. It's what one would call a "clap fan" or "performance fan." I have one non-Disney one of my own. The point is to make that loud "clap" sound hence "clap fan." It's used by drag performers a lot to accent their performances or to use to clap while in the crowd. Disney actually executed it very well, especially with the Queen and Shade designs. I have two friends searching for it for me in the parks as we speak lol I'll be down in a few weeks so probably will track it down in Springs and get it for myself. I'd love to roast someone then flip open a fan that has "SHADE" in big letters on it and walk away waving it at myself (also they do create quite a breeze so they are effective in that way too).

I love that you got Baby Yoda. He's so cute. I've debated getting him off the Hot Topic site but keep on stopping myself. I'll bite the bullet one day.

Your photos of Pooh and Sadness are so cute. I have to agree with you I was big sad about Sadness getting cut. She was the best part of that meet for me.

Those golden hour shots are gorgeous. I'd often be at Epcot at that hour just like you doing something similar. I took a liking to Epcot Forever so the transition was easy for me and sometimes I'd flip between that or ending my night catching a shorter wait on Soarin', but I get that. I'm sure you'll figure out something to wind down with.

 

[Verstehen]

Keeping my fingers crossed for your boyfriend! I'm so sorry you all are dealing with this stress.

And I have to admit, I've lived in Orlando for over four years now, and I've never even heard of Flippers!