Besties from the West do Disney! (January 21-25)

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Enjoying your TR! Sorry you had to deal with the cold temps. Went once in Dec. and it was COLD. They totally missed the forecast so we were not prepared. Maybe it's better than hotter than H--L? Interested to read about your RotR experience! We're going to be there late March and I'm stressing about the boarding group process.

Yeah we knew going in January we would have unpredictable weather but man it was cold lol. I’m glad we dressed for it though!

 

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Chapter Four (cont.): Hollywood Studios Day, ROTR experience, ride breakdowns, more cold weather

We hustled over to Galaxy's Edge...and guess what. The ride was down The CM's had just cleared the line so the whole area in front of ROTR was very chaotic. A CM said we could come back any time during the day and our BG would be honored. Although that sounded great, I got worried. At DL, while I love the CM's,they often times give wrong information. I wasn't sure if that was the case at WDW. So I asked a few CM's in the area if our BG would be honored even after it had been called. They all said yes. So I decided to let me paranoia go, and went and did other things around the park. C wanted to MFSR. So we got a return time for that. After getting our return time, we went over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid to redeem our fastpass.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid was such a cute show! Great way to sit and relax away from the cold. After the show, we checked the app to see how the rides were doing. Slinky was still down!! We sort of wandered around like lost puppies for 20 minutes lol. During that wandering time, we found the show at Star Wars Launch Bay. While it was sort of boring, we were happy to sit down and get our minds off the uncooperating rides. When we finished that, we realized that our return time for MFSR was ready to redeem! So back to Galaxy's Edge we went!

We passed the hot mess in front of ROTR. A huge line of people had formed outside of the entrance! We bypassed that and went over to the Millenium Falcon. C and I wanted to be pilots, so we politely asked the CM who handed out the cards, and he gave it to us We did pretty good and caught 2 containers of coaxium.

After flying the Hunk of Junk, we realized we were getting hungry. Also, at this time, it started raining! It wasn't a heavy rain, but a misty damp rain. Once again, we were soooo happy to have warm, waterproof gear with us! We ate at Docking Bay 7. I've eaten at the one at DL, but C hadn't so she wanted to try the food. While eating, ROTR was up!! Yay!!! We scarfed down our food and bolted over to the ride.

The long line of people were filing in. We got in the back of it, scanned in, and went over to the fastpass entrance. If you use DAS, you enter in the fastpass lane. We had a few minor stops in there, but the ride was amazing! I was mind blown! Like who designed this awesome ride?? Waking up and standing in the cold was worth it!

Our good luck continued because Slinky was finally up and running! And it had stopped raining! This was about 1pm. We trucked all the way back to Toy Story Land. C gets slightly nervous on coasters. So she was getting nervous while we were boarding, but she ended up liking it! I did too! Wish this ride was at DL! By the time we got off Slinky, it was around 1:20pm. We were beat! We decided to ride Star Tours again. Thankfully the wait was only 15 minutes (which was really 5).

After that, we made our way out of the park and to the bus stop. It took the bus 16 minutes to come (I timed it on my phone lol). But it felt longer. Probably due to the tiredness. When we pulled into the Coronado Springs property, I was so happy to be back!

Back at the room, I took off my shoes, and crashed on the bed immediately! C took a shower, and she said when we got out, I was out ! She said I must've been tired because I wasn't under the covers and the lights were all on still.

We slept until 7pm that night!

 

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When we woke up, we were thrown off by how late it was. We couldn’t believe we slept until 7pm. We thought about going to Disney springs for dinner, but we were still groggy and just opted to eat at the hotel.
Since Coronado Springs has a Spanish theme, the restaurant we ate at was Mexican. Although a bit over priced, the food was yummy.

After that we headed to the bar below the main lobby for some drinks. This might sound silly, but we felt a little odd at the bar area. We are in our late 20’s but we look young for our age. The other guests at the bar sort of stared lol. Granted I noticed the other guests looked to be in their 40’s...so maybe that bar just had an older crowd.
Since we felt a little awkward at the bar, we took our drinks back to our room and watched the Mandalorian on Disney+

 

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Chapter Five: Epcot Day, Celeb Spotting, Florida rain, Migraines

A new day! A new adventure was waiting for us. We did our typical morning routine. We woke up, got dressed, ate down stairs at El Mercado. Before we went downstairs for breakfast, we were looking out of our hotel window and saw a massive group of teenage boys heading towards the tower...we assumed they were coming to eat. We scrambled to put our shoes on, and went downstairs. Thankfully we beat them to El Mercado, and we didn't have to deal with the long lines. We overheard some of the staff talking, and they were a football camp from the area coming for the Pro-Bowl, which was in 2 days.

When we finished breakfast, we went to the bus stop. There was a handful of people waiting to go to Epcot. When the bus came, there were people already on it. Thankfully not too many, so we all fit just fine. We arrived to Epcot about 15 minutes later. The security lines weren't long, but they were slow. We switched lines 3 times to find one that would move. They all seemed to be at a stand-still. Once we got through security and tapping heads, we took some pictures in front of the big Ball (does that thing even have a name? lol).

Our first fastpass was Spaceship Earth. The crowds were pretty low. We probably could've managed without a fastpass. We were on within 2 minutes (literally). The ride was pretty neat. We got a kick out of the end where they take a picture of you and put it on the screen. After Spaceship Earth, we got lost looking for Soarin. For any new people, Epcot is a huge construction zone right now! We would follow the map, but some walkways are blocked, so we had to take longer ways, and that confused us.

We finally made it to Soarin'! Whew! We didn't have a fastpass, but the wait was only 20 minutes, so we did stand by. Soarin at Epcot is the same as California Adventure, except you end at the Epcot ball rather than the castle. Next, we did Nemo. This was our longest wait of the day, at a whopping 30 minutes! That was cute. I wouldn't say it is a must-do, but since Epcot doesn't have many rides, you can add it to things to experience.

Sidenote: While waiting for Nemo, we met a nice family in front of us. The day prior, they were also in HS trying to ride ROTR. They had a guaranteed group, but due to the ride not being able to run, they got compensated, and were going back later in the day to ride.

Next Sidenote: I feel really guilty that we had pretty decent crowds during our trip. I am reading a lot of posts on horrific crowds recently and they make me sad. I get it was January, but still. Reading threads, and seeing the app on wait times looks like pure insanity. Our Epcot day actually had the lowest crowds. I think it was projected to be a 6...I would say it was a 4. It was still chilly, but not brutally cold like the last 2 days.

Next on our list, was Frozen Ever After! Yay! Downside, was that we got lost again trying to get over to World Showcase lol. I learned on this trip that i have a poor sense of direction! When we finally made it to Norway, we found the ride. It was sooo cute. We sat in the front row and were in awe! Is it normal for two women in their late 20's to be so excited over a Frozen ride

When we left Frozen, we had to take a bathroom break...upon leaving the bathroom, we had our first celeb spotting!

 

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So as we were leaving the bathroom, a little girl walked in that looked very familiar. She was followed by a woman and a VIP plaid CM. Right outside of the bathroom, a man was standing there who also looked very familiar. Then it hit me....it was the KARDASHIAN CREW. Kris Jenner was standing a little further back and we walked right past her. The man we saw waiting outside the restroom was her boyfriend Kory. And the little girl who had walked in the bathroom was North! What was kind of shocking to us was that they didn't have a crazy big presence with them. They had a few VIP plaids with them. But they kind of blended in with others. People passed them but didn't turn heads. I probably wouldn't have noticed them if we were just in passing.

In all, we saw Kylie, Stormi (we found out later that day, the trip was for her bday), Penelope, North, Kris, and Kory. Other people were with them, but I don't know their names.

*Yes, I know there are people who don't care for them. But I was happy to see them. I've been watching their show on E! since 9th grade lol*

 

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Chapter Five: Epcot Day, Celeb Spotting, Florida rain, Migraines
After our celebrity sighting, we went to check out the Festival of Arts. C is an art teacher, so she was the most excited about this. She also follows an artist on Instagram who was painting in the festival. We found him, talked to him, and watched him paint. I liked the chalk art the best. As someone who can barely draw stick figures, I was impressed lol.

C and I also did an animation drawing class over in the World Showcase. We drew Minnie. Of course hers looked waaaay better than mine haha.
After our art adventures, we got lunch in Japan. We had sushi. I’ve had better sushi, but it wasn’t awful.

 

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Chapter Five: Epcot Day, Celeb Spotting, Florida rain, Migraines
As the day went on, I started to feel a little off. I got a tingling behind my right eye and I started to become very sensitive to scents. On top of this, it began to rain. First it was a light rain, then it was a shower. Nothing crazy, but it was pretty wet. We took cover in Mexico and rode the Grand Fiesta boat ride. We actually didn’t even know it was there. Many people were inside the temple trying to stay dry, but the line for the ride was short and continuously moving. We were on the ride within 5 minutes or so.

Even though I liked the ride, I had a hard time enjoying it because that tingling behind my right eye turned into a migraine. I quickly took my medication I have from my doctor, but I think it was too late. The migraine had already set in.

We left Mexico and went to China and watched the Reflections of China show. Again, the show was interesting, but since I was not feeling well, I couldn’t enjoy it. At this point, I had a full on migraine. I was very dizzy, nauseous, and the sounds from the screens in the show were too loud. I actually had to sit on the floor, holding my hands Over my ears during the show I even had to keep my eyes closed because the lights from the screen were too bright for me. C got pretty worried about me. She knows I have migraines, but she hasn’t seen me with one.
I’m not sure if anyone else out there suffers from chronic migraines, but it is the most frustrating thing! Before leaving on the trip, I asked my neurologist what to do to cut down on migraines while I’m on vacation. He said to stay as hydrated as possible and to take Aleve before going to the parks. I did that and still got one. So I’m not too sure what caused it. Maybe I was tired from traveling and being on the go? New environment? Weather changes? Sushi? Who knows. For me, if I get what I call the “level 10” migraines, my blood pressure will actually spike and I’ll get nose bleeds...thankfully that didn’t happen, at least I didn’t think it did. I also will get anxiety attacks since the pain is just so bad.

Anyway, back to the story.

We left China, and world showcase all together. C was worried but I assured her my migraine should pass. So we decided to do some “easy” activities. We went to see the Pixar shorts. I’ve seen them before at DL, but C hadnt. I took the time there to close my eyes. I had to cover my ears again because I was overly sensitive with the sounds.

I think after the shorts film we saw Mickey! To be honest, I don’t really remember meeting him, but I do know he was inside of the building after a show. There was no line for him. I think he was inside due to the rain.

We left the shorts and Mickey , and rode Figment. Which was a horrible horrible mistake. While the ride was slow and easy, it sprayed some sort of awful scent! And that is what ultimately took me out for the rest of the day! I told C when we were exiting the ride that I had to get to First Aid ASAP! The scent nearly made me throw up. My migraine got significantly worse to the point where I could barely keep my eyes open. We found the closest guest relations kiosk and asked where first aid was . Of course it was all the way back near Mexico. We trudged over there. We were greeted by sweet nurses. I told the what was wrong, and they let me lay down on one of the beds. I dozed off for about 1 hour.

 

[midnight star]

Chapter Five: Epcot Day, Celeb Spotting, Florida rain, Migraines

Whew finally back! Hope everyone is staying healthy. I talked to C the other night on the phone. Arizona schools are cancelled the rest of the year, so she is teaching through google classroom. Arizona also now has a Safer at Home Order. As for me, I am working from home full time, which I am grateful for. California also has Safer At Home orders.

Back to the story. I woke up from my short nap in First Aid. I felt much better. The medicine finally kicked in. Downside was that I was still a little nauseous. We thanked the nurses on the way out. I really wish I had gotten their names. They were all so friendly. By this time, it was early evening. The rain had thankfully stopped. I can't remember what we did, but I know we decided to check into our Coral Reef reservation a little early. They told us checking in early would cause us to wait 45 minutes, we only waited about 30.

The restaurant itself was cool. I liked the fish tank at the front. Our table was one of the booths towards the back, but we could still see. I did a more in depth view here (https://www.disboards.com/threads/coral-reef-restaurant-review.3788770/). My only real complaint about the restaurant was the dark lighting and noise. I was still a little sluggish, but I was glad we ate there.

We headed out of the restaurant, and saw a photopass photographer at a spot facing Spaceship Earth. We took some fun shots ! After that, we decided to call it an early night, and headed to the bus. After arriving back to Coronado Springs, we stopped by the bar to grab some drinks to go. We wanted to be well rested for day 4, which was C's 27th birthday!!

Looking back: If I were to redo our Epcot day again, I would maybe start later in the day. Sleeping in, and then slowly making our way into the park I think would have helped the midday boredom we experienced. Plus since we had been there all day, I had a bad migraine, we didn't stay for nighttime entertainment.

*For some reason I can't get my Coral Reef Picture to add*

 

[midnight star]

Chapter Six: Animal Kingdom Day, NFL celeb spotting, Disney Springs, nicer weather, fastpass+ awesomeness

Wow's it's been 6 months since I updated this trip report! This year never ceases to amaze me! It's crazy to think this time last year i was planning this trip. Hope everyone is well! I am still working form home, and waiting for DL to open C is back teaching in person. Her school has been safe so far!

Alright back to the trip report.
Our final park day! Plus it was January 24, which means it was C's birthday!!! We woke up! I excessively screamed "Happy Birthday" to C lol. This was the day we would be heading to Animal Kingdom. WE did our typical morning routine. Got dressed, ate at El Mercado, and then waited for the bus. We were excited for C's birthday, and for the fact that it was going to be in the 70's and sunny! While waiting for the bus, we could already tell it was going to be a beautiful day! The sky was clear and blue!

We caught the bus with no problems. During the bus ride, it we overheard people mentioning that Flight of Passage was already showing 75 minutes, and the park wasn't even open . Coronado Springs is very close to Animal Kingdom, so we arrived in less than 10 minutes. Security was pretty quick, and so was the scan in.

When we walked into Animal Kingdom we were AMAZED! This park is beautiful! The tree of life with the carvings was so cool. Out of all of the parks, this park had the best theme in my opinion.

Our first stop was Expedition Everest since we had a 9:10am fastpass. However, it was down when we got over there. So we decided to get a return time to Navi River Journey, and slowly walk towards Pandora. I also remembered that if a ride is down, and you have a fastpass for it, you are free to choose another ride. I checked the app and chose Kilimanjaro Safari! Wahoo!

 

[midnight star]