Character-a-Palooza: A (first-ever!) Walt Disney World 2022 Trip Report!

[stuffandfluff]

Hiya folks! So excited to be writing my first ever trip report! Stay tuned for our report on the cruise portion of our trip as well!

Some quick facts before we start:

• We visited Disney World from August 2nd to August 5th (and it was very, VERY hot!)
• We stayed for 3 nights at the Contemporary Resort Garden Wing! It was our 4th time staying at the Contemporary, and 2nd time at the Garden Wing!
• We visited MK twice on Tues and Thurs, and Epcot on Wed.
• This was my birthday trip, and I love meeting characters, so my goal this trip was to meet as many characters as possible (at least, as many as I was interested in!)
• Our trip last year was a bit disastrous, as we got stuck in knee-deep rain puddles on our first day and walked around with wet shoes and socks for the rest of the day, leading to some angry blisters for the rest of the trip. Obviously, we did not want to experience this again!
• We did Disney World before our cruise, meaning we had to be very careful to avoid getting covid and testing positive so we could actually get on the boat!

The cast:

Me - hey there! I’m stuffandfluff, an anxious planner who loves a color-coded spreadsheet and a fan of all things Disney!


My momma: My Disney-loving momma who loves drinking coffee on the hub grass and following along on the adventures I plan for us!



I celebrated my 21st birthday in April, and decided that the best way to celebrate was by doing our first ever Disney cruise! But of course, we can’t go down to Florida without stopping by the parks, so we added on 3 park days before our cruise! If you have any questions during the report, feel free to ask, and we would love to answer you!

Will we manage to break our record of 22 character meets in one trip? Will we get rained out or burnt to a crisp in the 106 heat index? Will we be able to board the boat? All this and more on “Character-a-palooza: A (first-ever) Walt Disney World 2022 Trip Report”!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Our flight from Chicago to Orlando was at 7:19 am, so we arrived at the airport around 4:30 am! I barely got any sleep the night before due to a mix of anxiety and excitement, and I ended up having a nightmare where I was being chased by creepy monsters, so that didn’t help! We woke up with some McDonald’s, which is all that was open at the airport that early, and waited around for our flight. One thing about me is that I love airports. I could spend all day in one easily, just exploring the shops, terminals, watching planes taxiing, and looking at the unique architecture.

Soon enough, we got on the plane and were off to Orlando! This flight went off without a hitch - the flight home however…

Thankfully, meet and greet Lightning Lanes don’t fill up as quickly as rides, so once we landed, I made my first Genie+ Lightning Lane for Mickey and Minnie. All my planning showed me it would be the quickest meet and greet to go, but also, the two other meet and greet Lightning Lanes for Princess Fairytale Hall were still scheduled for around 11:00 am, and we wouldn’t be able to get to the parks that quick.

Speaking of planning, did I mention I’m an anxious planner? Prior to this trip, I had been obsessively checking the meet and greet schedules and making spreadsheets and documents trying to plan out the perfect day to do everything. By the time our trip started, I had 5 different places listing out meet and greet schedules. Of course, I was feeling quite anxious about getting everything done, as for some of the days, I didn’t even have time for lunch scheduled. So I resolved to go with the flow as best as possible, and use my plans as more of an outline rather than a hard plan of action.

We had been hearing about flight delays, so I prepared for us to arrive a lot later than scheduled, so when we landed perfectly on time, I was thrilled!

Soon enough, we were boarding the MCO tram, passing the Walt Disney World sign and on our way to the most magical place on Earth!

Isn’t our resort beautiful? On our first trip in 2011, with my grandpa, grandma, mom and dad, we stayed at Bay Lake Tower with rented DVC points, and I absolutely fell in love with it. As a child, I always loved things that were very plain, sleek and modern, like vanilla ice cream and Frank Lloyd Wright houses, so the Contemporary was my dream resort. Since then, we’ve stayed there every trip except last year’s quick trip to see Happily Ever After one last time (hopefully not for long!) We love this resort - it feels like home now. I am also probably the biggest advocate for the Garden Wing - the walk is not long at all, and it’s so nice having a little, almost hidden section of the Contemporary.

The new lobby was beautiful! Loved the Mary Blair tribute wall.

I thought I would hate the Incredibles theming of the rooms, but I actually thought they fit the resort nicely and were super subtle and classy.

After arriving, our room wasn’t ready, so we popped on our MagicBand+, dropped off our bags at the valet, and took our first walk of the trip over to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[Hubie]

We'll be spending 7 nights at Saratoga Springs Resort prior to our 8-day DCL cruise on Oct. 29th. Hopefully we'll stay well and not test positive before boarding the ship.

 

[stuffandfluff]

We'll be spending 7 nights at Saratoga Springs Resort prior to our 8-day DCL cruise on Oct. 29th. Hopefully we'll stay well and not test positive before boarding the ship.

I hope you stay safe too! Good luck!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Walking into the Magic Kingdom, we saw Pooh and friends making their way to the top of the train station, and I hauled my little booty under the archway to get some photos! First characters of the trip!



We made our way down Main Street, caught a performance by the Dapper Dans, took a castle selfie, and shuffled through the crowd and over to Peter Pan’s meet and greet for our first face-to-face meet and greet since 2018!



He loved my Tink shirt and matching bun, and we had to get a silly pic in as well! For autographs, I scoured our house for every colored Sharpie I could find, and gave each character a color matching them to sign with - which turned out so cute!



Once we said bye for now, we realized we hadn’t eaten since McDonalds at the airport, and it was already 1:30 pm, so we popped over to Liberty Square to grab some chips, and the heat was kicking in, so I also got a slushie, which I immediately spilled all over a tree! We ran to grab another, and as we stepped out of line, a cavalcade was coming right down the road! What a way to make a bad moment great!



Our next stop was to meet Aladdin and Jasmine, and as we were in line, my mom spotted vlogger Jojo Crichton of Jojo’s World in the crowd! I snuck a sneaky photo - and you can actually see us in line and me waving to his camera around 3 minutes and 17 seconds in his video getting a haircut at Harmony Barbershop! We’re famous! We were also very surprised by how unnoticeable he was in the parks - we hear a lot of reports about vloggers and live-streamers being disruptive and loud, but he seemed super calm, quiet and respectful - to the point that I even lost him in the crowd when trying to snap a pic!



We then met Aladdin and Jasmine who planned a big birthday bash for me with 75 golden camels and 53 purple peacocks, and lots of food (as long as Abu doesn’t eat it all!)



Our next stop was Columbia Harbour House - our favorite quick-service meal, and we ate upstairs and people-watched out the window while we re-hydrated and cooled off from the heat.



Our next stop was to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade from our favorite viewing area - Liberty Square! While we waited, I booked our next Lightning Lane for Princess Fairytale Hall at 7:10 pm.



It was so hot out, even Maleficent took pity on us and refused to breathe fire!

 

[stuffandfluff]

We started making our way to our Mickey and Minnie Lightning Lane around 3:30 pm, but just then I saw my favorite meet and greet characters, Anastasia and Drizella meeting at the gazebo with no line, so I power walked my way over there and we had a great conversation! I definitely DID NOT tell Anastasia she was my favorite, so don’t tell Drizella I said that! They wondered why I was still milking my birthday from 4 months ago, but I informed them that you can just say it’s your birthday, and no one will know any better - to which they proceeded to shout at everyone nearby to bring gifts! After we left, I realized I was so excited that I forgot to get their autographs, and, as you can probably tell, my pictures came out blurry, so stay tuned for our return to the gazebo…



Our meet with Mickey and Minnie was so magical! Mickey was giving the biggest hugs ever, and when I told him that I was planning to apply to the DCP, he pinky swore that he would put in a good word for me! Minnie also loved my matching gold bow!





For whatever reason, the group ahead of us in the line was taking a VERY long time, so we were slightly worried we would be late for our 5:25 pm reservation at Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge, since we still had to get back to our room (which may or may not have been ready since we never received a text), change into our nicer outfits, fix up our makeup from 2:30 that morning and catch the boat across Seven Seas Lagoon. To save us some time, we ended up taking our first ever Minnie Van! Our driver, Rocky, was so kind, ended up picking us up at a closer location than I selected (since I didn’t really know what I was doing) and told us all about his old cast member roles as a monorail driver and Skyliner engineer!



Finally, we were at Artist Point, and we were actually early for our reservation! I was most excited about this dinner because it offered a place to meet the Evil Queen, who is super rare outside of special events! I love a rare character!



Our character interactions here were just wonderful. Snow told us that she had been teaching Dopey to write his name, so we asked him to show us how he’s been doing, and he took his sweet time, and did a great job!



Grumpy was a little upset that we got Dopey’s signature first, but we told him that he could do SO much better, and he proved us right!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Then we met the Queen, and I curtseyed to show how I was being graced by her presence. She graciously signed my book, and even allowed me to give her a hug! What a generous queen!



The food was amazing too. We had heard that the mushroom soup was raved about, and I can see why - it was delicious! The shrimp cocktail appetizer was amazing too. I wasn’t a fan of the meatball puff pastry, but I’m not a fan of puff pastry or barbeque sauce, so that was just a personal preference thing.



Our server also brought over a little vegetable and cheese board for my birthday, which was so kind, and so delicious!



Mom and I both got the prime rib roast, which was delicious, but after a hot day at the parks, was way too big of a portion and way too rich. On any other day, it would be amazing, but due to the circumstances, I could barely finish it! (It also probably didn’t help that we had a late lunch at Columbia Harbour House!)



Even though I’m celebrating my 21st birthday, I don’t drink, so we got lots of mocktails on this trip! Here, I got the In The Clouds, which was essentially just cotton candy melted in blue Powerade. I love sweet drinks, so it was perfect for me, but I can definitely see that it wouldn’t be for everyone. In contrast, my mom got the Through The Forest, which she thought was nice and refreshing, but I thought was too subtly flavored.



The desserts were amazing! Neither of us liked the gooseberry pie, but we both loved the poison apples and the Dopey panna cotta, and loved the Huntsman’s chocolate hearts!



While at dinner, the rain rain rain came down down down and it was HEAVY! So we resolved to stay dry and miss our Cinderella/Elena Princess Fairytale Hall reservation rather than rushing back to Magic Kingdom in the flood. We explored the gift shops until the rain let up a bit, and as we waited, I managed to make a reservation for the Rapunzel/Tiana side of Princess Fairytale Hall. We caught another Minnie Van back to our resort so mom could change, and we headed off to the parks again!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Following along. I travel with my daughter who loves Disney and was in a meet every character phase several years ago. We have had so much fun meeting so many wonderful characters!
We liked the food at Artist Point but didn’t have very good service. The Evil Queen is awesome!
I love how she looks when you are hugging her, very funny!
Are the rooms in the garden wing refurbed now? That is really nice.
You guys went all out on your first day, wow I would have been dragging!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Following along. I travel with my daughter who loves Disney and was in a meet every character phase several years ago. We have had so much fun meeting so many wonderful characters!
We liked the food at Artist Point but didn’t have very good service. The Evil Queen is awesome!
I love how she looks when you are hugging her, very funny!
Are the rooms in the garden wing refurbed now? That is really nice.
You guys went all out on your first day, wow I would have been dragging!

Thanks so much! The characters are always fun to meet!

We liked the food too - sorry you didn't have great service! I can't take full credit for the picture idea - I saw someone else doing it when looking up the restaurant and thought it was so cute!

Yep! I think the garden wing was the last to get the refurbishment, but it's fully done now, hallways included!

Haha - we always have an easier time early in the trip, because the excitement of being at Disney keeps us going! Later in the trip though, after we've been doing 30,000 step days and being in the heat all day... it's a struggle!

 

[stuffandfluff]

The rain had stopped, but there was still lightning in the distance, so we weren’t sure if the fireworks were going to be happening, but I checked with a cast member who confirmed they were. Perfect! We got a spot towards the front of Main Street to see the new projections on the buildings and prepared to see Enchantment for the first time!



It still is no Happily Ever After. There was one new thing I liked that I hadn’t noticed on YouTube streams or videos, which is the use of lasers to mimic magic as Elsa shows up, or when the fairies fly, that give the castle a little extra magic. However, the show still just feels boring to me. I’m the sort of person that is not interested at all in typical fireworks shows - and I didn’t care for Wishes, because there was nothing to it besides the fireworks. That’s why I loved HEA so much. But often, during Enchantment, I found myself watching the fireworks - not because they were interesting, but because the music and projections were boring me. We kept hearing that it was better in person, but we didn’t really agree. One major issue is that the space on the castle is not utilized well. In HEA, it felt like you could see the characters from the back of Main Street clear as day, because they were projected across the whole castle, but where we were standing, it was hard to see the characters at times, because they were taking up a tiny amount of space on the towers. I could go on, but I won’t!



One cool thing we got to see was the fog that covered the castle after! I’m sure it was a mix of the rainstorm and the humidity, but it was really neat looking down Main Street and seeing nothing in the distance!



Mad Tea Party also looked super cool.



It was about time for our Lightning Lane, so we hopped in the line and met Rapunzel and Tiana, where we talked about the best ways to celebrate birthdays, and I asked Tiana about her restaurant on the Disney Wonder.



Then, we hopped in the standby line for Cinderella/Elena. I showed Cinderella my Halloween costume from last year when I dressed as Cinderella in her "peasant" dress, which she just loved, and asked Elena if she thought being on a cruise was like flying on jaquins.



On our way back, we stopped in Tomorrowland looking for a Stitch hat my mom wanted and were hoping The Lunching Pad was open with frozen Cokes, but we didn’t find the hat and it wasn’t open. (Didn’t it stay open later in the past, or are we misremembering?)



At the end of the night, we caught some extra special magic - Mickey and Minnie came out on top of the train station to say good night! This was so sweet, and a beautiful surprise to end the night on. I hope you enjoyed our first day - there are many more to come!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Welcome to day 2! I’m glad you stuck around! Today was our Epcot day, so we took a quick walk through the Contemporary lobby before getting on the monorail.




On the monorail trip, I managed to snag a Lightning Lane for Frozen Ever After around noon. We had early entry that day, but as much as I can get up early at home, I can never seem to wake up early at Disney! So we ended up arriving at the park at regular opening time - 8:30 am.




A few quick shots of Spaceship Earth and detours in gift shops and then we got in line for Royal Sommerhaus. The line was huge and we were in the direct sun when we got in around 8:54 am , but when the meets started at 9:15, it moved pretty quick.

Elsa and I discussed the best kind of chocolate. My vote is dark, while she prefers white chocolate best of all! Anna and I did more birthday planning, and she said that Olaf is a great party planner - he goes all out!



Then, we trekked over to the China pavilion to meet Mulan! She told me that Mushu loves having birthday celebrations, and that he got his hands on a massive red firework! She said she would tell him to set it off during the show tonight just for me, so to make sure I kept an eye out for it!



Then, we took our time exploring World Showcase until we made it to France, where we were first in line for Aurora! She has always been one of my favorite princesses, and she was so kind to me on this trip. We had a very long conversation about my hobbies and about making sure that I invite any fairies I might know to my birthday party, lest they get mad and curse me.

 

[stuffandfluff]

By then, it was lunchtime, and I knew exactly where I wanted to go! On our trip last year, we tried Sunshine Seasons at the Land pavilion for the first time, since we were visiting a cast member friend of my mom’s at Garden Grill and figured it would be a convenient place to eat. I got the salmon with cheese grits and FELL IN LOVE! The salmon was just ok, but THE GRITS! I had never had grits before, and they were gone before I could even remember to take a photo! A common saying around our house now is that “I’m thinking about those grits…” so we knew we had to go back and get them. We found a table and I got up to order and looked at the sign.

Wait a second… the sign listed mashed potatoes as the side for the salmon. I checked the app. “Cheese Grits”. I went over to the counter. “Are the grits gone?” I asked. “Yeah, they’ve been gone for a while.”

I was devastated! Out of all the things being taken from us, not my grits too! Distraught, I accepted my plate of potatoes and made my way back to my seat.



I’m just kidding, of course (mostly). The mashed potatoes were also very good, and I’ve since learned to make instant cheese grits at home, but I’ll still remember those grits, if only in my memory…

The salmon also comes with ratatouille now (the dish, not the movie) which was very good.

Our next stop was to meet Donald at the Mexico pavilion. Donald is my mom’s favorite, because he’s not as appreciated as Mickey! Donald was so sweet, and loved hearing that he was number one to us!



Next was his main lady, and my favorite of the Mickey Mouse crew - Daisy! I was exactly on time to see her, so I wasn’t even ready when she came over! This might be a good time to talk about my preparation in line for each meet and greet. First, I got out my signature book and the right colored Sharpie for the character(s) I’d be meeting. Then, I would get out my mini hairbrush and give my hair a few run throughs. Finally, I’d get out a tissue and tap the sweat off of my face! Perfect and ready to meet! Of course, Daisy caught me in the middle of all this, but she was so sweet and patient.



She loved looking at the other signatures in my book, and promised to bake me a pie and a baguette for my birthday! Yum!



One thing I had been hearing about for a few years now was the special, rare character training event that takes place at unannounced times at World Showplace in Epcot, so on our way to Daisy, we waited there for a bit to see if any surprises happened, but nothing, so we resolved to meet Daisy and come back. When we returned, a nice young man was waiting as well, and he seemed to know what he was doing, because he started calling whoever he was with saying it was starting soon, and no more than 2 minutes later, the doors opened wide and special characters started spilling out!

The first character I met in this crowd was Wendell! Now, I know absolutely nothing about the Country Bear Jamboree other than the fact that mom and I called it “Country Bear Jamboroo” for no reason at all, so I was a bit disappointed, but he pulled me into a big hug and we had a great interaction, so I now have a new favorite character!



Then, I popped over to see Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, while mom waited in the ever-growing line for Tigger. I handed my phone to the cast member, and was shocked to discover the one and only photo she took of the three of us during our 5 minute conversation, including posing for a photo! But I managed to confirm that Captain Hook also stays at the Contemporary, based on the time that we were on the same escalator in 2018! Only the best for us!



Then, I hopped (ha!) in the line for Tigger and told him about my kitty at home who loves watching Winnie the Pooh videos, and is also orange striped like him! He loved it, and loved my ears as well!



Then, I got in line for Rafiki while mom ran over to snag a spot in line for Alice for her last meet of the day. I told Rafiki that he really knows how to celebrate birthdays, with the whole ‘lifting the baby up on Pride Rock’ and all that, and he told me the best thing to do is to eat lots of fruit! Good idea!

 

[erinch]

Loving your report!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Loving your report!

Aww, thank you!! This just made my day!

 

[erinch]

Also I love your Dis Name!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Also I love your Dis Name!

Thanks!!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Next, I ran over to meet mom in line for Alice, and I told her that I’m technically celebrating my unbirthday today along with my birthday, and she thought I had somehow forgotten my birthday, which would be a very silly thing to do indeed!



Then, we went to the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along, which we had never seen before, because I love being able to sing Disney music at the top of my lungs without bothering the people around me! The show was really cute, and I liked the plot, especially as I’m the kind of person who believes in a LeFou redemption storyline! We also loved the pre-show exhibit showcasing costumes and props from different French stage shows.



We also went on Gran Fiesta Tour for the first time! With Donald being mom’s favorite, we wanted to see it, especially with all the rumors of a Coco retheme coming. It was super cute, but the videos are super outdated, and they seemed a little off with the position of the boats.



A drizzle started as we came out of the pavilion, so we stopped in Connections Eatery for dinner. Mom tried on her new Mexico pavilion ears while I mobile ordered dinner.



I was lucky to get the last mobile ordering slot, since I was so hungry, right? Right?? After 30 minutes, I realized I hadn’t actually entered credit card info and purchased the order, so I had to go up and wait in line! Remember to read everything carefully, folks!

Finally, we got dinner - I got the Bistro Burger, which was delicious, and mom got the Chicken Sandwich which she said was great, and not dry at all!

We waited out the rain in there until it was time for Harmonious!



This show was AMAZING. Talk about a show that’s better in person! We got our seats at the very front of the rope at the World Showcase entrance around 7:50 pm for the show at 9. We had a nice view, but we were a bit blocked by trees and light posts - but other views were probably worse! I loved this show. I don’t know what hormones were going on in my brain at the time, but I was full ugly sobbing by the end. It was also nice being able to sing the lyrics to songs rather than just hearing instrumentals (looking at you Enchantment! )



We got some neat shots of Spaceship Earth, since this was our first time in Epcot at night, and then we headed back home to the Contemporary. We had late night hours at Magic Kingdom this night, but were too exhausted from being go go go since 3:30 am the day before, and I was starting to develop some blisters, so we resolved to go back early, and caught Monorail Gold on the way home!



We also saw this on our hotel room tv - "One of our favorite nighttime spectaculars" - ours too! (Bring it back already!!!)

 

[stuffandfluff]

Day three! Last Disney World day, let’s go! We started off the day with our first Lightning Lane for Big Thunder Mountain around 11 am. I finally managed to get up early enough for early entry, and since we weren’t dead set on riding Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, we utilized that half hour to take nearly empty hub photos!



Then, can you guess what we rope dropped at 9 am? Space Mountain perhaps? Or Splash Mountain? Maybe Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Jungle Cruise or Peter Pan’s Flight? You would be wrong on all of those! We got in line to meet Merida at 9 am! Merida has also always been a favorite princess of mine, and I was so excited to see that her meet was coming back only a few weeks before our trip!!



I told her that I had been eating lots of cakes and cookies for my birthday, but none of them had turned me into a bear (at least, not yet!)

After this, we got breakfast at Cheshire Cat Cafe! The cheshire cat tail is one of my favorites, but right now they have the cheshire cat paw instead, and it’s pretty much the same but bigger. I also got one of the new slushies which is always good, but I still can’t understand the combo of sweet, creamy whipped cream with tangy fruit slushie.



It was already time to head back to our hotel for the night! Just kidding - we had our covid test appointment now! For the cruise, we had to self test somewhere between 24-48 hours before the cruise, so we booked for 10:15 am the day before embarkation. The process was pretty smooth - we connected on Zoom, opened up our tests and gave out our info to the proctor while the tests processed. The only issue was when my mom started silently panicking, because she thought the control line on the test labeled C stood for covid! So now, “C is for Covid” has become a frequent saying in our household!



Once we were all tested and negative, we shopped in the Contemporary lobby a bit before heading back to Magic Kingdom. I power walked over to catch our Big Thunder Lightning Lane and we got in row 15!



Then, I power walked over to Belle’s meet and greet in Fantasyland (can you see how I get blisters so easily?) and we got to visit Maurice’s cottage for the first time! Belle and I talked about Gaston, and I told her that she should ask him who is more beautiful - himself or Belle - because it might get him thinking for a long time and he’ll ignore her for a bit.



I had planned to get lunch next before the Festival of Fantasy, and to meet Anastasia and Drizella after the parade, but as we walked by, we saw that their line was again empty, so I got in line to meet them for a second time!



Drizella immediately recognized me, and we talked about how Cinderella has to wear all those bows and fancy dresses and shoes but they have natural beauty, so they don’t need all that stuff. I finally got their signatures, and we spun together in our nice fancy dresses!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Then, we had some time to kill, so we sat near the gazebo and mobile ordered the Mr. Toad burger from Friar’s Nook for lunch. If anyone else knows Homestar Runner, it reminded us of Homestar Jr., so we kept saying: “Hey stupid, I brought you this stuff, I mean, I brought you this veggie burger”! We also grabbed a Lightning Lane for It’s a Small World.



Our next step was to watch the Festival of Fantasy, again from our favorite seating area! I had planned to see it again from the other side of the path to try and catch Anna and Elsa, and see Flynn, but that side was fully in the sun, and I am not a full sun person, so I opted to move a bit further down the path to try to catch the opposite side of the spinning Tiana/Frozen float. It didn’t work, but it was ok, because I already met both Anna and Elsa (and will again - stick around for the cruise portion!) and because Tiana and Naveen (my favorite Disney prince) both wished me a happy birthday!



I also got some great interactions with the Mad Hatter, Sleepy and Donald during the parade! Even though it may not seem like it, I can be pretty nervous at character interactions sometimes. I typically plan out exactly what I’m going to say/ask each character in my head for months before each trip, so I can stick to the script and riff a bit based on their responses, but with parades, I get nervous figuring out how to interact when you can’t have a script, but I figured it out by the end of the parade. Curtsying, blowing kisses, and drawing hearts with your hands tend to work and get attention a lot more than just waving!

Our Lightning Lane was ready to go, so we headed over to Small World and hopped in line! We had a bit of a boat backup in the last room, but luckily, I don’t get annoyed at this song easily, so I had a great time singing along with Mary Blair’s beautiful dolls!



By this time, both of us were feeling dehydrated and blistered, so we stopped in Pinocchio Village Haus to get some drinks and to write our wishes in the Blue Fairy’s book!



One of my biggest goals this trip was to see the new Adventure Friends Cavalcade from both sides of the street to try and see every character in it, so we made our way to Main Street next. I staked out a spot while mom checked out the Emporium, and as I waited, it began to rain! I had gone this far without getting wet, and I wasn’t about to get rained out of the cavalcade, so I popped up my umbrella, stacked our backpacks on my lap and waited out the rain! The rain was on and off, and the shower was so sudden that I could tell it would be over soon, and when mom came back to meet me, she hadn’t even realized it had started raining!



The rain cooled the park off nicely, and clouds had started filling the sky, so we didn’t have to worry about being in direct sunlight this time! We watched both cavalcades - some characters were missing, but no one I was desperate to see, and I got some great interactions with Panchito, Jose, Marie, Bert, Pocahontas and Stitch!

 

[stuffandfluff]

Our next stop was Tomorrowland to see the Stitch 50th statue while I was wearing my Stitch dress, and ride the PeopleMover.



This is where the stress started! An email came in - “Your Safe Passage submission has been rejected”. You see, reader, our proctor told us that the results would be sent in about 20 minutes, and she would even expedite them for us since we needed them for the next day. But we waited, and never got them. So I uploaded a screenshot of the link given to us through the text saying that we were negative, but also that the test results were TBA. We figured that wasn’t right, but we hadn’t received anything else, and people online were saying it could take up to 48 hours for Safe Passage to approve you for sailing. I panicked, mom panicked, but we resolved to enjoy our PeopleMover ride and worry when we got off.



We had a fun time on the PeopleMover - Space Mountain had the lights on and wasn’t running when we went through, and we got some great Tron views, but when we got back to the station, the panic crept back in. Mom got us a table at The Lunching Pad so we could finally get our Frozen Coke while I checked to make sure I hadn’t received anything from our proctor.

And guess what, dear reader?

I had.

11 am, the results had come in via email, but since I had my phone on battery saver, I hadn’t gotten the notification. *facepalm* HOURS of anxiety for no reason!!

But at least we had them. So I quickly re-uploaded them, or at least I tried. But the Safe Passage website kept giving me an error. And it was giving mom an error too. It was DOWN!!

How were we going to get our results uploaded now? It could take 48 hours, but we were getting on the boat in about 18 hours. What if the website was down all night and all morning? What if they didn’t let us on the bus? What if they made us turn around at the port and we had to somehow find a place to stay for the night and a flight home?

In our panic, I accidentally ordered two foot-long hot dogs for dinner and we stress-ate as we continually reloaded the page.



Once dinner was finished, we figured that they could help us at the port, and if not, we could at least enjoy the rest of our night, so we grabbed a closer spot for Enchantment. During last year’s trip to watch Happily Ever After, we consistently found a great spot about an hour/hour and a half before the show, but this year, we could barely find a seat with that same amount of time - it was crowded!



As we waited, we both continually refreshed the Safe Passage page, sometimes getting errors, and sometimes losing wifi, until…

It loaded! It worked! I quickly rushed to sign in to my account and upload my PDF, then log into mom’s account to upload hers, since the PDF was taking forever to send (of course!) and eventually, after some fiddle-faddling (sorry, Molly!) we got them both uploaded! Phew! Now we just have to worry that they’ll be approved in time!

I got some great shots of Enchantment this time, despite being in an ok spot, by having my camera open the entire time and just tapping the camera button whenever the castle looked pretty! It took up a bit of space in my camera roll, but check out the results!



Then we hobbled back to our resort and caught the Electrical Water Pageant with the special 50th anniversary float! Good night Disney World!



The next morning we woke up to VERY good news!



We’re clear to sail! Yay!!

We quickly packed up the rest of our stuff and left them outside our room to be picked up for the cruise, said goodbye to our room and made our way down to the Contemporary lobby where we got character drinks - a latte for mom and a hot chocolate for me, and a chocolate croissant while we waited for the cruise bus!



This means that I’ll be switching this trip report over to the DCL trip report section, so if you want to follow along with the rest of our adventure, you can do so here:

Part 2!

Hope to see you there!

Some final thoughts:

• Compared to our 2021 trip, the magic has definitely returned. While our last trip was great, during this trip, I kept wondering how in the world we enjoyed ourselves last time with so much missing!
• This trip felt a lot like our old trips, where we were able to both plan and take the magic as it came.
• Of course, we’d like to see more, like a return of characters to the parades that aren’t back yet, Pooh and Tigger’s meet in MK returned, the return of the Once Upon a Time projection show (remember that one?) etc.
• Genie+ wasn’t terrible or uncomfortable or inconvenient to us at least, though we were using it to book less popular rides/experiences, so take that with a grain of salt (and we would still prefer FastPass.)

Thanks so much for reading my first ever trip report! As I said, I’d love to answer any questions you guys might have, so please feel free to ask! And have a wonderful rest of your day, wherever you are!

• Stuffandfluff & momma