Disney World Trip Report (Nov. 7th-16th)- Trip Summation & Review!

[Jabroniville]

Hi all! I figured I would share my most recent WDW trip while it's still fresh in my memory!

Trip Dates: Arriving Nov. 7th, going home Nov. 16th.
Heading From: Alberta, Canada
Number of Trips: 3 (2014, 2019, and this one)
My Resort: Art of Animation (because it's cheaper and because I like the decor/crowds more than PoP)

So I'm a longtime parks-goer, but had decided to make WDW my regular haunt since I enjoyed my 2019 trip so much (you can still find it on this very forum). It was set for March 2020, but... you know. Since I'm from Canada, international travel was a no-go for ages (14-day quarantines in addition to weaker park experiences), so I FINALLY rapidly planned this trip a couple of months back.

Word is coming out that this November has been VERY busy for the parks- Cast Members have corroborated it and I definitely noticed an increase over my spring trips (which are usually planned around quieter times of year). building through my vacation. And yeah, the experience is a little bit different owing to Genie+, different kinds of meet & greets, shorter parades, etc. So I was somewhat hesitant, and prepared to downgrade my expectations over past trips. Also, travel is HORRIBLE right now and constant Covid testing caused repeated pains throughout... but thankfully everything worked out fine and I can compartmentalize stress while on vacation, so overall I'm glad I came at this point! That said, I'm not going back until they improve that aspect of things!

 

[Jabroniville]

SO, my planning!:

The idea was to book a Disney trip for some time in late 2021, as restrictions were loosening up in Canada, specifically for international travel- this kind of thing adds a HUGE amount of hurdles to already-complicated Disney planning, but mostly got it together. This unfortunately made it a very quickly-planned vacation (less than 2 months notice instead of six) so I had to scramble.

One early issue was that November was SOLD OUT for hotels for the longest time! I actually couldn't book anything! I don't know if this was legit sellouts or just Disney withholding things, but I initially found nothing, and kept retrying each night until a 6-day trip popped up a few months ago. I snapped it up, but still found it fairly short... thankfully within a week or so more dates opened. But unfortunately while cancelling a reservation costs nothing and can be done online, CHANGING one means I have to phone internationally, sitting on hold for 60 minutes and spending 50 bucks or so on long-distance (I do not believe there's a workaround on this)- but thankfully this meant I got the longer vacation I'd wanted- eight days in the parks.

Now, having a short-notice vacation also meant scrambling for flights, and also missing the big dining reservations, meaning Cinderella's & Be Our Guest. However, someone on the Trip Planning forum here told me about the Touring Plans paid service to constantly look for openings, and I got that... only to always be too late. I mean, if you were a MINUTE late the option was gone. So I was kind of not expecting much, until I got a random opening for BOG very late one night while in a different park, and so the Touring Plans option worked out after all!

Since I'd worked right up until my trip, and had to take a COVID test to even fly, I hadn't packed until the day of- it mostly worked out, except I left out nailclippers, lol.

Another benefit: VERY shortly after I'd scheduled my trip, Disney announced the return of Meet & Greets! So I could actually see characters after all! And shortly before I got here, I saw on IG from some park CMs I followed that the underrated Elena of Avalor had joined them, and not been retired as many people had suspected!

The Park Plan:
* I had some stuff set up for the parks, but altered my plans the week prior when I saw which dates were open and for what- I think they either changed some park hours or I got them wrong the first time. I swapped things around so I didn't get caught doing a park on an "early closing" day. I also spread out stuff heavily to allow for things like getting a COVID test to return back home so I wouldn't miss as much.

I went with Day 1 (Epcot), Day 2 (Epcot), Day 3 (MK), Day 4 (HS), Day 5 (AK), Day 6-7 (MK), Day 8 (Epcot). Mostly because Epcot was a favorite on my last trip (I'm a huge Frozen nut, and Frozen Ever After was my happy place). Most of this worked well, though in retrospect I should have done MK even sooner and not put Epcot back-to-back like that. MK is just too important for "Classic Disney Feel" to me, so things didn't feel quite "right" until Day 3.

 

[Jabroniville]

Assorted Park Things:

The Park Wifi: Amazingly, this remains terrible. The staff know it so management probably knows it, and it cuts in and out all day, and certain areas get none (the outskirts of most parks have problems with it, and things like the Frozen Sing-Along Theater have zero wifi at all. This wouldn't be such an issue if I wasn't from Canada, so I was using wifi or nothing... and they make you be on your phone for G+ all the time. I gotta look into one of those "Personal Wifi" things.

Strangely enough, wifi used to be ineffective at the bus stops... but now it works fine! That makes waiting for buses a lot better.

"Early Magic" Openings: I forget what they're called now, but Disney resort guests get in a half hour early. Never later. This leads to a "staggered" opening time, and actually a LOT of math right early in the mornings- I usually plan my day down to a "T", but even I struggled with this- you have to calculate your opening time at the park (never listed on the app/website), your arrival time (half hour earlier, probably), when you have to actually hit transit (an hour before the park-guest-opening-time, then your 7am Genie+ bookings, then when you're actually going to wake up. It's a bit much, even for me!

My Disney Experience App: This is my first time using the app, as I needed it for G+, and it does a few annoying things- chief among them is logging you out 1-2 times throughout the day. And every time you long it, you have to type out your email exactly (not autocorrect/autofill) and THEN get emailed a code, which you can then use to log back in. Again, multiple times a day. Add this to the bad wifi and you have a tricky situation- I often don't want to be writing down my return times immediately, and frequently I'd have issues looking back just to find my LL bookings.

Genie+: It... works. Kind of. It's not helped by the general app, but I was able to figure it out. Waking up early enough to activate the rare stuff is no fun, but since every park is an "Early Opening" since you're in a Disney hotel, you kind of have to get up that early anyways. One issue is the near-constant reloading times, pushing you back and back if you hesitate for even a second. Much like the Virtual Queue, in a way.

Disney Transit: Out of desperation, Disney has commissioned other kinds of buses to take people, which is actually kinda great, as the huge buses have nicer seats and more room. Otherwise transit is pretty similar, but buses at night appear more frequently. They're still having issues with the sheer amount of scooters, which only seem to have increased at the parks. I recall finding them not as common at WDW as at Disneyland, and it's still better because there tends to be more open areas and ways to get around, but there's far more than my 2019 trip. Which is odd, because I see them far fewer now in my regular life, and had figured their use had dropped owing to difficulties, the stigma against them, etc.

The Skyliner: This was my first time using the Skyliner (it was just being completed in 2019) and... I'm not really a fan. It's maybe a tiny bit faster, but prone to "we're barely moving" delays (on my last day, this actually made me late for rope-drop). And, as a solo traveller, I end up in that unique position of being shoved in with a complete family to save space. Never 1-2 families but just an entire family and me. So you end up sitting there as a fly on a wall for their entire family dynamic- kids squabbling or acting out, dad bugging the kids, mom & grandma having a personal chat as they sass back and forth ("You can't be coddled by your husband- you have to sit here next to your cold-hearted mother" sez grandma as mom is nervous about the gondola), etc. It's basically my personal hell, lol.

The Skyliner at AoA/Pop will get JAM-PACKED early in the morning- the first time I kinda slept in and missed the early launches so it was literally a 15 minute line just to get on the Skyliner at all. And it's a bit of a jaunt from those resorts, as you have to transfer, then cross another resort before getting to your destination.

Add to that the same dialogue comes up over every single resort, so doing Epcot twice in a row had me given the same spiel 4 times in two days.

 

[Jabroniville]

MY POOR WALLETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.

DAY ONE (DISNEY SPRINGS):

Okay, so my usual plan with WDW is to get the WestJet red-eye from Edmonton to Toronto, then Toronto to Orlando on Sundays (the only direct flight to Orlando is I think on Tuesdays and pretty pricey), then to the hotel and then to Disney Springs. This means I get to skip the busy weekend in the parks and I like airports better at night- no line to check bags and none at security. It stinks having every shop closed, but whatever- Chili's is open! The only one left in Edmonton! Except for whatever reason it was so busy the two people working there had a lot of trouble managing all the tables, so my bill came SUPER late and I could barely pay in time- gates had been open for like ten minutes by the time I got to it! And then, even worse, the plane was JAM PACKED. On a flight that's done multiple times per day, for whatever reason the 12am flight to Toronto was absolutely stuffed to the gills with people, which was pretty shocking and annoying. Did EVERYONE have an early connecting flight?

I barely remember connecting at Pearson at all- it's a genuinely horrendous airport but I made it with a bit of time to spare (2:45:00- ALWAYS give yourself a ton of time at Pearson... this will be important in my final post, lol). But amazingly, NOBODY was going from Toronto to Florida! International travel is still a big pain, so there were plenty of empty rows- I even had a row all to myself! That's only ever happened ONCE before!

ORLANDO TO DISNEY:
* So thankfully they still have the Magical Express for now. I arrived at Orlando and this time didn't lollygag at the gift shops for Disney/Universal (last time, I did that and I was late picking up my back, so WestJet "Helpfully" loaded my bags onto a Disney coach and I was left with no luggage or change of shirt, and had to wore a long-sleeve button-up shirt in May weather)... and of course this time the carousel took forever to get started. But for whatever reason there was a MONSTER line for the DME- like it literally took 20-30 minutes just to get through it! I've never seen THAT before either. Yet another sign that the parks were going to be packed. And of course when I got up I told them I didn't have my DME tags (I booked this fairly quickly... and actually they never showed up in the mail at all anyhow). So she asked me my order code and I had to scramble like a doofus despite having had a half-hour to get ready for this moment- I think it'd just be my name that they needed! Took me half a minute to find it (while the CM didn't act impatient, which I'm sure took some doing, lol).

ANYWAYS, there was zero wait for the shuttle and I hit Art of Animation quickly. Took the standard wait for check-in since I had my Magic Band to pick up (I checked in the rest online at the airport), as AoA always has a bad line for concierges... and turns out my Magic Band wasn't there! The CM was confused, I thankfully had my order code at the ready (I KNEW something was going to go wrong, because my account said "there is no Magic Bands associated with this vacation" even though I knew I'd bought one), and my theory was correct- because I'd shifted my hotel dates around, they'd screwed up and the Band was only going to be there on the day I was INITIALLY supposed to have arrived. So I'd have to wait a day (two, as it turned out- the line was too long the morning of my second day so I went without, haha).

I legit love this hideous place.

DISNEY SPRINGS:
* So my 2014 Disney Springs trip was awful (I was there late and there was massive construction everywhere- I couldn't get a restaurant and was too inexperienced a traveler to get a reservation), but 2019's was awesome, and set the stage for future trips- arrive in the afternoon and stay all day.

I do like what they've done with the place. Covid seems to have not hammered it too bad (some CMs told me some shops died, but every place here was fine). Everything was mostly as I'd remembered it- almost a theme park in and of itself, with some fantastic theming in T-Rex, The Rainforest Cafe and the like. I just love those two- I've never eaten there, but they're brilliantly garish, excessively noisy, full of animatronics and wild stuff- pure Disney magic. They had the giant water balloon running, I still saw that basement bar restaurant dug way into the ground, etc. I had a lunch-ish reservation later, so I just got ice cream from the one place close to the entrance (Sprinkles!). I forget what I had.

My Paddelfish thing. I'm not normally a "take photos of my food" people.

I had booked a reservation at Paddlefish for 3:45pm ages ago (and couldn't find a single mealtime later, even after checking repeatedly!). Unfortunately, I'd found out weeks before that the dish I'd been thinking about weekly since 2019- the Crab Boil- was GONE. The restaurant manager/PR person had confirmed it when I'd asked via email. So I was "stuck" with the Alaskan King Crab for like some giant fee (I mean, I'd been looking forward to this for AGES, so I had to get SOMETHING). Interestingly, I was put at the exact same table I had been in 2019- is that the official "single person's table"? The crab was fine, though I find there's so much it and the butter inevitably get cold, haha. Are most people faster than me at busting these open? Or is this just a normal part of eating crab? I'm usually a fast enough eater that nothing ever gets cold on my plate!

The Stores: Looks like the one strip has a Marvel store (all Eternals stuff right now), a Star Wars store, etc. There's the Cuban-themed restaurant, Jock Lindsey's (which is super-well-themed- I kind of wish you could get in without a reservation just to check it out) which is where I've heard a lot of CMs hang out on days off, etc. That one bakery that's super-well-themed was there and has a line to get in. I think it's impossible to see ALL this stuff in one day; a lot of it must be for locals or longtime visitors.

The Lego Store interestingly enough blocks off everyone and there was a HUGE line to get in- I waited almost all night to see the line finally shrink enough to get in. It's... fine. I dunno. I've never been as crazy into Lego, but it's a nice big store. The Frozen 2 Anna & Elsa are still out front, which is good.

WOD and the Magic Kingdom's Emporium both had these MASSIVE Cinderella Castle displays up. Easily the highlight of both places.

The World of Disney store is the main event here (with the biggest nuisances of an entrance ever, now- they blocked off every single entrance but one, which required an almost 360-degree run around the building for me), and... it's fine. I guess. I REALLY wish I'd been more enamored of it, especially because all the Disney Stores in Canada closed a few months back. So I was expecting this big religious experience of finally being back in my beloved Disney Stores... except those Stores had gotten lamer and lamer post-Pandemic, with nothing really new coming in. And this WoD store had the same old stuff those Stores had, with walls of the same dolls (with the cardboard packaging so they looked extra-identical). There's some huge MK Castles on that some people were buying- those are neat. But mostly I saw the same kinds of things I'd seen elsewhere.

This was the most tempting thing I didn't get.

The Art of Disney store felt like it'd seen better days, with a few statues/figurines and some nice-looking framed posters- someone on a (Eris) server had shared some INCREDIBLE art and I didn't see any. Thankfully I showed someone the pictures and they pointed me in the right direction- there's this store hidden wayyyyy in the back corner that's the most amazing EVER and has all the best stuff. It's the part by Trend-D where they sell all of the fantastic art prints. I immediately bought 4 Frozen-themed posters and some of the little postcards (the cards weren't as good as last time- in 2019 I easily picked up 10-14 of those!). Unfortunately two of the Anna ones only had large framed pics instead of postcards or I'd have gotten those, too. But this was BY FAR the biggest single hit to my wallet in terms of merch this time around. But this one store is always worth the trip to the Springs by itself- it's dangerous for my bank account but it's the one thing that never really disappoints.

Since I'd eaten around 4pm and it was nearing 11, I needed SOMETHING else, and thankfully I finally tried out Earl of Sandwich! Which apparently has two lines, because I ordered food from an annoyed clerk who was in the "buy off the counter stuff" line and not the sandwich line. But at least I got a beef dip! I can see why people go ga-ga over this place, though. And then I got a giant milkshake from Ghirardeli, because Disney is the place where I eat ice cream twice in a day like an insane person who isn't 40 years old.

 

[Hubie]

I can understand how your poor wallet felt with the pictures you bought, but they are beautiful. Hey, it looks like I'm first to comment? We leave for WDW this Sat,

 

[dmbcanada]

Nice pictures, jealous fellow Canadian Disney fan here. Don't think I will make it for a while, but out of curiosity what did you do for the Covid test to enter back into Canada? Love Earl of Sandwhich, have it every time I am there.

 

[Jabroniville]

Nice pictures, jealous fellow Canadian Disney fan here. Don't think I will make it for a while, but out of curiosity what did you do for the Covid test to enter back into Canada? Love Earl of Sandwhich, have it every time I am there.

Check this thread for the full story, lol: https://www.disboards.com/posts/63562148/

I did the ID NOW/NAAT test at Walgreens. Got a cab from the contemporary.

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY TWO (Monday- EPCOT):
* Okay, so I slept in, lol! Not exactly how I wanted to start my trip, but it happened. Thankfully the only thing this really cost me was a ride on Ratatouille today, and since I rode it twice in Disneyland Paris 5 years ago, that wasn't quite the make-or-break thing for me. So I had my regular phone alarm set for before 7am (to get a virtual queue boarding group), and a backup set for 8am via the hotel automated wake-up call thing. For whatever reason, my phone one either didn't go off or I shut it off without thinking so I missed the queue. Later, I tried for the second chance at 1pm, but I'm telling you, if you get a late group, you ain't getting on. Earliest one I could get was 6pm, and they just pushed it back and back all day long until nobody else was getting on. Okay I could have paid $15 for a guaranteed ride, but heck no- I've done in before, and we'd be getting into huge expenditures if I did this every time- to me, only Frozen is worth THAT.

So getting up late, I kinda had to scramble, avoided getting my Magic Band (because of the HUGE line at the concierge- a constant AoA/Pop problem), grabbed carry-able breakfast stuff and hit the Skyliner... in time to see a MASSIVE lineup there, craning all the way back to Pop Century (it's at the midpoint between the two hotels). Literally with an "end of line" sign guy and everything. Took about 15 minutes to get through, but thankfully I was at Epcot in time for rope-drop. I was a ways back from the crowd, but this turned out to be the least busy day of my trip so I still walked on to Frozen Ever After right away. Because Skyliner guests hit the International Gateway entrance it's a pretty good way to hit Frozen (skipping the hub), but it was busy enough that my old standby- hitting Frozen and then getting right back in- did not work. I COULD have, but it was already at 40+ minutes immediately after I got off the ride.

So, as mentioned earlier, Frozen was my happy place. One of my favorite Disney movies with my favorite characters. So I go all-out in getting on this ride. Thankfully I kinda mastered riding multiple times- I did pay the$9 "Guaranteed Lightning Lane" thing for it, hitting it again around lunch. Then I managed a shorter line later, and another one near park closing (old school hint: they lie about wait times at night so people don't bother, but they have to let you in before closing). So I still managed a bunch of rides on it. With only two attractions with serious waits (and both being paid LL rides), there's no purpose for Genie+ in Epcot, I think.

The "Frozen Pen"!

I even did the other classic thing: Meeting Anna & Elsa. I didn't know it'd be the only time I'd see them on my trip, but it's a bit of a different experience anyhow. I got on Soarin' with no wait, Test Track with no wait (Single Rider on TT is essentially a walk-on no matter what), Mission: SPACE with no wait (where it turns out that ride kinda sucks if you haven't eaten much- it'd be my only ride this trip, haha), and Spaceship Earth a couple of times. Overall, this was least busy any park would be for my entire vacation, so doing stuff was pretty simple. I talked with Belle (her: "Maybe we can sit and read a story some time!") and I think maybe Aurora as well, but didn't see the others on the first day.

Oddly, and this would happen more than once, my Spaceship Earth "time machine" had almost zero sound at points- I had to lean in to hear ANYTHING the British lady said. Some vehicles are louder than others, so I'm not going deaf- this definitely needs a refurb (they had announced one a while back but scaled back after Covid hit). Haunted Mansion was the same way, oddly. Spaceship Earth is a legit fave of mine, though- I love dark rides and this one has a TON of stuff. Oddly for 2 days there was no movie on the movie-screern (I had forgotten there was supposed to be the Jesse Owens stuff there)- only on my final day did I see it.

One of the weirdest cultural shifts from my 2019 trip is that the entirety of World Showcase is now staffed by regular ol' CMs- the College Program and international CMs are no longer there, which has definitely altered the place. Part of the fun of the Showcase was seeing people from all over the place in a section that represents them, but now it's people in the generic Epcot CM shirts. Walked into England's one time and the girls in the heraldry shop were talking about how neither can afford to live or get their lives in gear and they were clearly standard-issue penniless Florida CMs, lol. HOWEVER, the Japan Pavilion has numerous Japanese women, usually as cashiers- they must live here full-time. The one quick-service restaurant was all regular CMs (last time I saw a girl from Osaka and we were able to talk about Osaka and Wicked, since I'd seen both), as were most of the management of the Mitsukoshi store (I think this is almost always true- I saw them last time as well), but I saw a handful of actual Japanese folks, which goes a long way towards making the Showcase feel "real"! More on the Showcase later, as I was more about "doing stuff" on my first park day.

Freeloading Ibises in their natural habitat.

The weird thing about this day and the next one was this since of... "hey, shouldn't this be BETTER?". I still don't quite know what it was, but I felt like it was diminished from the 2019 trip. I think it might just be familiarity- like very little was NEW, so I was just retreading past stuff- even Frozen Ever After I noticed just how short it really kinda was, and all the shops and the like were the same as always. It could have been Covid stuff or the altered way they do things now, or just the fact that the merch was pretty basic and it wasn't new stuff around every corner anymore. But this being my third trip, I was now a "pro" with everything already well-remembered so maybe that's it. In any case, this feeling thankfully wore off by my MK day (Day Four), and I think was helped partially by parades and meet & greets (some of the few "unique each time" attractions you can get). I wonder if this is common with repeat visitors?

The ball changing colors.

EPCOT- Construction Heck:
* HOLY BUCKETS- people who've complained about this know what they're talking about. Epcot is a NIGHTMARE to get around from the hub area- massive construction walls 10 feet high are alongside almost every single path up to the lagoon- they block your view of nearly everything. And so many older buildings are toast or so modified I don't even recognize them. The whole other building by Soarin' & Figment is being modified, Club Cool and the stuff by where MouseGear was is either gone or changed. However, most of the good stuff is still sorta around- Club Cool now has a line to get in and all the booths are alongside a wall instead of scattered around the room. And heaven help me... I swear I tried Beverly again and it WASN'T THAT BAD. Like it wasn't the worst of the lot! Have my tastes changed? Have I reached a Disney milestone?

MouseGear has been replaced by "Creations" which is... just another Disney shop, really. As I said before, merch offerings were kind of weaksauce, so it's the same toys & puzzles & shirts as every place has. It's a GIGANTIC shop, though- it feels way bigger than MouseGear, and much more open. But most Disney clothes seem designed for women anyhow- at least ones based around specific characters I like. Most of my good Disney stuff comes from Hot Topic. Both Creations & Club Cool are close by.


Next up... Food & Wine! I finally ride Ratatouille! And more Epcot stuff in general.

 

[Jabroniville]

Food & Wine:
* I think this is my first Food & Wine festival, and it was pretty good. I definitely tried a few of the booths, but I generally got big meals. I ate at the Mexican outdoor restaurant (tacos!) and for the first time in my three trips, tried the American restaurant... which turns out is right up my alley, as it had ribs and all sorts of actually filling foods. I also had the fish & chips one time (where those ibis freeloaders are CONSTANTLY waiting for people to drop things). I think I was mostly at the Australia thing for F&W stuff- the shrimp thing they had. Oh, also I went again to that neat little Japanese quick-service place around Japan! I think that was my second night there. There's some donut shop by Club Cool which sold a highly overpriced not-great donut.

I always skip out on Le Cellier because of my massive let-down in 2014... getting a reservation six months in advance, paying 60 bucks, sitting down and finally taking a single piece... and going "WAIT. This is ALBERTA beef. I'm FROM Alberta! This is what steak ALWAYS tastes like to me!". I paid 60 bucks for a $30 meal I could get at home! It's a nice-looking place but GEEZ. Sadly, Akershus is closed entirely save for people with a certain kind of medical insurance.

The Tale of the Wicked T-Shirt (and me being an attention hog):
I have a pair of Wicked t-shirts that I wore on my 2019 trip and let me tell you... there is a MASSIVE crossover fandom between Disney & Wicked. I would get stopped 5-6 times PER DAY by CMs and park-goers alike to talk about my shirts. That kind of attention is unusual if you're a guy, so I figured I'd wear 'em again this time, and sure enough- still true! None of the Princesses nerded out about it this time, though (Mary Poppins remarked upon me describing myself with such a term, though). I once attained "Maximum Nerdiness" by explaining to Belle the similarities between Wicked and her story ("It's about a person who nobody likes because of their appearance, and how they learn to open up through their relationship with a girl" "That's just like MY story!").

It got to the point where I'd be recognized in a store because "Were you the guy in the Wicked t-shirt?". People would ask me if I'd heard the casting news about the upcoming movie or had seen Kristin Chenoweth in the park the day before (she had performed a single song on the stage and I had no idea, lol).

My other shirts were typically A Goofy Movie-related, and even THOSE did pretty well! Though mostly with people my age who remembered the movie ("You can tell someone's an elder millennial when they know who POWERLINE is!": one guy). But Max Goof saw it from a parade float and totally freaked out, doing a little dance and pointing at me repeatedly when he saw it, so that makes it the best "t-shirt story" of my trip.

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY THREE (EPCOT):
* I got up on time! I never had an issue with my phone alarm again, but always set my wake-up call for the same time just in case, and made sure to not only get up early but to be ready for the Skyliner early to prevent an issue like the day before. And I got my Ratatouille boarding group! I finally got in... like at 7pm (from a 7am appointment, mind you). And when you get off the virtual queue you now go on an ACTUAL QUEUE, so I was in the attraction queue for like 30 minutes after I got in line! It's the same ride as Paris, but mind-blowing to people who haven't done a trackless ride before (*puts on Disney Snob glasses* as someone who's done Pooh's Hunny Hunt, it's PRETTY neat...)- you get on various "rat" vehicles and circle about a variety of large props and 3D viewscreens as the evil chef chases you around- you go under a hot oven, get sprayed by water a bunch, and more.

I REALLY like this queue, though. You start off outside winding in the switchback queue, then go into the "restaurant" and what looks like a series of Parisian rooftops. Then you suddenly pop into room upon room, looking like various characters' apartments and all sorts of stuff. There has to be 7-8 distinct rooms in there, plus a series of hallways.

The first day I was in Epcot, they had an armada of CMs at the entrance to the "Ratatouille Area" (which is by where Aurora's meet & greet was pre-Covid)- because of that, I thought that was the start of the queue so I didn't go in until nightfall (when all the CMs were gone), where I realized it was set up like a Parisian street (with street names on the corners of buildings). Tiny windows, shops you can't actually enter (is this supposed to be stuff eventually? Or is it just the back of the actual shops France already had?), a creperie on one end, and more. But the centerpiece is the big Gusteau's building with sign off in the distance- a rat fountain out front, and more. It's set up kinda like a theater box office, and is easily the biggest and most detailed queue area any ride has in Epcot. Thankfully I came in the next day to see the details in the light, though like much of Epcot, the whole thing looks better at night time.

I went to "Living With The Land", something I'd skipped on my last trip. It's better than I remember, but goes on a LONG while after the cool "Dark Ride" scenes (I forgot about the rainforest stuff entirely, as I was last on this around seven years ago). Some interesting information, though, and plenty of tanks of fish and weird plant-growing contraptions. I went on Soarin' another time this day, hitting the second row (single riders are usually stuck in the bottom, I've found). Three trips and I don't think I've ever managed the top row, and I always forget which one it is and don't feel like bugging CMs to put me in the "one without dangling feet".

Whos' the Fairest of them All and doesn't skip arm day? Snow White!

World Showcase: I finally managed to trek through the rest of the Showcase on this day, since I had done most of the rides already. I'd gone through MOST of it, but now I was into all the various shops. There's the Heraldry one in the UK, the chocolate/caramel one in Germany, and more. What's kind of become my favorite stop, however, is the Mexico Pavilion, which has that FANTASTIC "inner pyramid", the distant "volcano" and more. The pyramid has some of the best backgrounds and immersion in all of Epcot (which has issues with that since it's mostly just shops and tiny imitations of big cities). Sadly I was only ever in here the second day, because usually there's not quite so much to really DO in it- though they have some booths selling merchandise, and this area has some of the most unique stuff in the parks, with those neat painted wooden animal figures.

Hidden Remys are now found all over the Showcase to celebrate Food & Wine and the new ride.

Riding the Three Caballeros ride, I suddenly found myself FAR more impressed with it. Like... I remember this being a cheap "filler" boat ride on past trips and just kind of did it for "whatevers", and went in because it was a 5-minute queue... but it actually has really good backgrounds! The early part of the ride takes you past the volcano and some of the stone "heads" in the background, then you go through some Mayan-style ruins until the comedy stuff starts. Seriously, it kind of comes off as the start of an Indiana Jones ride!

The famous "Club Cool" roster of drinks.

Morocco has an exhibit about a variety of races- one that's about women teaming up in a "the winner is the one who drives the least distance" race, and another about a long-distance marathon in the desert. It's... kind of unique, and the only real attempt at a proper museum in Epcot right now, but an odd fit in an area that's probably the least popular of the World Showcase. Canada probably has the best "outside" of the Showcase, which is kind of funny because I usually skip over most of it (there's no attractions and I LIVE in Canada!), but that big castle and the fake mountains are great.

I find this little area (I think in Italy) interesting- it's a door to backstage, in the middle of this area between two buildings used for restaurants, but it's one of the more empty, quiet areas of the park because of its relative isolation.

Impressions de France (which I swear I've never seen despite three trips, lol) is only available at night, and instead we get a "singalong" of Beauty & The Beast... but some edited version where LeFou is the main hero and is shown being responsible for Belle & the Beast meeting, helping the Beast win her over, etc. This is... well, it's sacrilege, lol. Seriously! They even edit out the part in the main brawl where he's ripping Babette's feathers out to justify this! I mean, he was a dumpy loser character in the movie who barely even had his name mentioned one time, and they're fashioning him as the "secret good guy". Thankfully this never made DVD! But hey... it's Beauty and the Beast scenes! On the big screen! That's pretty cool!

The American Adventure is pretty great. I was kind of bummed I missed it on my second trip (for whatever reason, finding the precise time to watch a 10-30-minute thing always eludes me at Epcot- I didn't see the China show until my second trip, and have never seen Canada or France's), but I got to it again here.

Humorously, because I was spending so much time in the World Showcase or directly to Spaceship Earth/Soarin', I realized I had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN to hit the Aquarium/The Seas until the end of my last day. Thankfully these are open pretty much till park closing, so I was able to go in. I was intending to hit them on my last day in town and maybe catch the Manatees awake or something, but didn't have time for it.

 

[Jabroniville]

Epcot Meet & Greets:
* So in my 2019 Trip Report, I mentioned that I actually did M&Gs for the first time and even learned they were a lot of fun. I used to think they frowned upon adults doing that, especially guys by themselves, but as long as you behave it's fine (character attendants in the Fairytale Hall confirmed this when I asked directly, though I guess they could have lied, haha). I've seen the movies enough to talk the lore so it's pretty fine. And M&Gs had JUST returned to the parks at this point! But they're a lot different- instead of a single line to meet the Princesses, with an attendant & PhotoPass guy there to snap pictures, you just kind of hang out in front of a thing, and the character stands behind it so you're all distanced. You pretty much take your own pictures, and instead of a queue, you just kinda run up and the character wanders back & forth talking to everyone. A dour-looking character attendant (this has to be the most miserable job in the parks, lol- people who've been characters AND attendants confirm guests just ignore the CAs hard).

This actually suits me fine, since it's easier to take pictures that way (ordinarily if you did that you'd be intruding on another family's pictures, but with the distance you can take pictures without them in it). Though sometimes it's trickier to talk because of the distance.

The Meet & Greets they have are Snow White (Germany), Jasmine (Morocco), Belle/Aurora (France), Mulan (China) and Anna & Elsa (Norway). Interestingly (because this stuff fascinates me), Snow White was the same "friend" all three days, Elsa was the same, Belle was different, Aurora I think was different, Jasmine was different (one was clearly a white girl who just had "the nose" that's required for Jasmine), and I think Anna was different on one of the 3 days. What's funny is I would learn via Instagram right after I got home that the first Elsa I'd ever met in 2019 (and in my opinion the best one) finally got her job back and was now doing these (as the M&Gs mean they need more girls than the "walkarounds" they had before). Her glowing essay about it was somewhat inspiring and also a look at the sheer religious reverence these girls have for their characters. Like, it was a HUGE thing about how "I first met you seven years ago" and how they cried together and learned together and stuff. It sounds crazy to people outside the Disney bubble, haha.

Overall I think Snow has the best set-up, since she has a large area to walk around and plenty of shade. And she did NOT skip arm day, holy cow. Belle & Aurora had to share a small alcove over in France, with iffy shade (she often had to shield her eyes or hide under a bit of shade so pictures were harder to get)- one day was JUST Belle, one was just Aurora, and on one day they alternated (an attendant was shocked when I told him Aurora wasn't on the schedule). Snow actually recognized me a week later! I wonder if that's a good thing, lol. CMs I talk to online say that's flattering and unusual, at least!

I met Anna & Elsa the first day only- it was around 11 or 12 and there was little line. We just had a quick chat about how I was glad the sisters could still hang out together (a BIG issue with Frozen fans is that F2 split them up so they have to live apart now- it was a very bittersweet ending). Elsa seemed to just be giving "filler" chatter, as I was like "Yeah, you can just ride on your water horse super quickly!" "Yes- that's the Water Spirit" and "I'm glad you can still hang out together" "Yes- in our Sommerhus"). Anna had a great nervous energy to her (you can tell they study body movements for the characters a LOT), constantly clasping her hands in front of her chest or at her waist like Anna did when she was crowned Queen. Elsa... had a really high-pitched "Betty Boop" voice- part of why I liked my fave is that she had the raspy voice down.

So my go-to with Belle is to mention I've met Paige O'Hara (Belle's VA)- that KILLED in 2019, with two girls nerding out and the Belle in the Akershus being so excited she clasped her hands over her mouth and JUMPED. This time it's a bit too hard to have a direct conversation so I kinda had to shout that and didn't get as much of a reaction, lol. Belle always strikes me as a more distinctive meet & greet- she gets so much time in her movie that the performers have a lot to go on, and her distinct mannerisms and walking style (all her movements were based off of a ballerina). I noticed every time I saw Belle she would do the "sideways hair-wipe", brushing her hair back with the back of her hand.

Jasmine, Mulan & Winter Aurora!

The second time I met Aurora one day she'd changed into the "Winter Gear" because it was slightly breezy out (if you live in Florida it's probably cold). Jasmine had some talk about me going to the market with Abu- Belle and I once chatted about her going to the Beast's castle, at which point I talked about his restaurant (since I'd been there by that point on this trip). Also, Mary Poppins saw my "Wicked" shirt and was astonished I'd use such a word to describe myself! I can't remember if that was something from the show, but the second day I was in Epcot, she noticed my OTHER Wicked shirt and commented I was still going by that term! I actually spoke to Mulan for the first time ever (for whatever reason, probably because China is next to Norway and I spent more time doing "Frozen" stuff, I was never around China when she was there on past trips). It's kind of odd how she's in the dress she found so unnatural to her in the first movie.

The attendants were nearly always dour, particularly the men. CMs I talk to say they're ALWAYS like this. I try to be sympathetic since like I said, it's the butt-end job of the joint- you're the one who has to tell everyone they can't meet the Princess because it's too late, you're the one people shove their cameras at (I once got a disgusted grunt for asking one to take my picture and decided to just let PhotoPass do their thing from then on), and you're the one they ignore so they can gush over Ariel or whatever.

 

[Jabroniville]

The Anna & Elsa Line:
* Interestingly, this trip I mostly spent around the Showcase because of the construction everywhere else and I'd mostly done the other things. Plus it's easy for the meet & greets and there's NO line for anyone... except of course for Anna & Elsa. STILL those two manage to command a massive line. What's odd is back in 2019, every Princess had a pretty big line, but mostly nobody cared about them here, as there was usually 2-3 families around their "pens" watching them move about and talking to each family. But the Frozen sisters, who had commanded a pretty minor line on my first day, now had a HUGE line going the opposite direction (they'd shifted it to go down Norway to the stave church)! And they cut it off good and early to give the girls a break! So a couple times I cycled back to see if I could get in, but found the CM going "This is the last family" at the end of the line, and when I realized I'd have to get there 15 minutes early... I realized that this was actually the one with all the families and little girls wanting to meet the sisters, and I didn't want to be the reason some kid couldn't meet their heroes. Like, because they cut off the line, you WILL make some family unable to do it. Plus it was the same Elsa as the last time/s, lol- all three days I was in Epcot it was the same Elsa (but I think Anna switched once). And it's a pain to talk in that setting, too- there's distance AND two of them!

But this is a bit curious- not only a sign of how busy the parks were getting, but how Anna & Elsa are STILL the most popular characters around! And also that they need to bring back the Sommerhus setting- it's got a fun queue and they can sport two rooms to allow for more guests and performer breaks and the like, so this big outdoor line and families being turned away isn't so much of a thing.

The Shoes:
* I feel I should mention that a very rare thing happened- my feet weren't totally destroyed by my trip. Now, it's important that you all know that when I go to Disney, I become a crazy person. Despite all advice to the contrary, I go coast-to-coast every single day for as long as my trip lasts on every vacation, whether Disney or otherwise. That means I'm there at rope-drop and I stay until fireworks and stuff. In this case, for like 10 days in a row. So usually by day 3 my feet are DYING, and I usually need a tylenol or whatever in the morning or else I can barely walk all day. However, THIS TIME, my shoes actually seem far better for the task of walking, and so that was usually not necessary. I had the mandatory blister or two and needed a pain pill a couple of times, but for the most part I was fine. So Columbia hiking-style shoes are apparently where it's at if you're completely insane and do Disney for 14 hours a day.

 

[Jabroniville]

I have an unnecessarily large amount of pictures of the castle from every sort of angle and light level. Is this normal?

DAY FOUR (MAGIC KINGDOM):
* So today was my first day in the Magic Kingdom. It was kind of weird doing the "big park" after only 3 days, and I think I wouldn't do that again in retrospect, as I guess the trip just doesn't feel "real" until I hit the big one, you know? As the days were getting busier, it was even more important to hit the place early, and this was probably my most successful attempt at it- I was pretty near the front in Fantasyland for the Mine Train. I'd also gotten Genie+ for the first time on this day, realizing that it had an epic amount of rides that would necessitate it. And indeed it did!

The "I Lava You" float, which is basically THE GREATEST THING EVER and I had like 4 days while I was here. How do I not have diabetes?

So I walked right on to Mine Train with zero wait, and it's fine as ever. Not QUITE as outstanding as it maybe should be given the waits it commands, though- I mean, it's not more thrilling than the 3 Mountains, though it does have better animatronics than anything else here. Though it's wild because this would turn out to be the only time I was able to ride it all vacation! Mostly because I refused to pay out the nose just to ride it one more time, and various things happened on my other three days at MK (once it broke; once I was just too late).

Inevitably, at least one day of my vacation will see a butt-load of rain. Thankfully this one was a light one, but it turned the four parades into "people being driven in cars". As you can see, my ability to take pictures of moving things while also trying to look at them with my eyes to not spoil the moment is... hit or miss.

I'm pretty used to bad rain in Florida, but this trip was easily the most free of that- at no point was there ever a MAJOR thunderstorm... except that today, where there was only a small percentage of rain, it managed to rain literally from noon to about ten pm. I mean, the ENTIRE DAY had a light drizzle. Given it was like a 10-15% chance and so I skipped on bringing my jacket, that was kinda annoying (I pretty much walked around "damp" for ten hours), but at least it wasn't like the massive spring storms I've seen before (generally, at least one day will have BRUTAL rain when I come to Florida).

The best thing about ride breakdowns: Simple pictures with no blur!

So on my first day, I largely got all my "Must Do" things down- all the big attractions, plus some things I think I skipped last time. All the big Mountains, Mine Train, etc. I rode Haunted Mansion early (early enough to get several uncrowded views of the building) and got a G+ for later as well. The lines were okay at first but got worse throughout the day, so my typical "Park Plan" definitely pays off- do stuff early, then just hang around and go to simpler stuff, then use FPs/G+ for stuff until the end of the night. I believe on this day I hit Splash Mountain very early, which was lucky because it broke down later- on a later day it was toast until the very late part of the day! From various Disney Parks sites I'm on, this is becoming very common. In any case, I've finally sorta got the map of New Fantasyland set in my head- for whatever reason, I always think the Beauty & the Beast portion is the end, and go the wrong way for The Little Mermaid. Thankfully now I figured it out after the first day. Though I find I only hit that area right at the end of the day anymore, as there's just not that much else out there.

The "bookshelf" at the Jungle Skipper Canteen, which is actually one of the best restaurants on property in terms of design and menu.

I got reservations early (I think the night before, or the morning) for the Jungle Skipper Canteen, and MAN was I sleeping on this place! It's apparently a sleeper hit among park-goers and it's as good as the hype- some of the best theming (my dining room was behind a "fake bookcase" (the door doesn't move but it looks like it should) with all the book titles featuring animal themes, there was stuff in cabinets and all over the walls keyed around the Society of Explorers & Adventurers (a big nerdy "Imagineering Story Arc" threading through all the parks now), and more. I finally tried a medium-rare steak after a lifetime of medium or medium-well, and I now realize why people go on about it. GREAT WiFi in here, too, lol- I uploaded an entire gallery to my photo-site in minutes when it normally takes forever!

Elena of Avalor! Most adults don't know who she is, but they should because she'd rad! And she is SUPER-appreciative when adults can actually go along with the lore!

I also managed Meet & Greets since the Princess Fairytale Hall is back- this was something I had a lot of fun with on my last trip, so I was glad it was back weeks before I arrived. I met Rapunzel & Tiana once, and Cinderella & Elena twice- hilariously, the same "Friend" of Elena was there both times- she actually jumped up and recognized me "You came back! I'm so glad you did!" and we nerded out over Elena lore and we talked about her cool powers- she suggested "Snow!" instead of "Glow!" for her powers but when I brought up that was Elsa's schtick, she got competitive with her and we got talking about Spirits, since both "Frozen" & "Elena" detailed stuff about them. This is actually the first time I'd met someone twice- on my last trip I'd only gone once per day and it was always different "Friends" in there.

Main Street at night remains one of my favorite "Disney Things" for ambiance.

I ended the day seeing their new Castle Show, and... it's fine. I dunno. Not as good as their last one (which people tout as the BEST EVER). I was disappointed that many songs were covers instead of the movie versions- especially "Into the Unknown". Impressive visuals and everything, though, as stuff that doesn't seem possible happens frequently, and even the little "Side Parapets" next to the castle show stuff! They are emphasizing Tiana's stuff and Soul a lot in all the shows I've seen, probably for "Diversity" reasons, but I dig Tiana so it's fine. Just somewhat notable that a Princess movie that was considered a big box office disappointment is being put out there like it's a huge deal and of vast importance. One thing that always irks me about MK's castle shows is that good positions are IMPOSSIBLE- there's always like one big tree perfectly in the way of something. People can't quite see, everyone's kinda jostling for position, etc.

Thankfully I took pictures of the Main Street windows... because the next day I came here, they had all swapped over to the Christmas Carol ones!

So my MK days usually start off with the "Get stuff DONE" day, which this kind of was- I did all the big rides, plus the Castle Show, with expectations to do other things later. Typically this is the "can do any time" stuff like Tom Sawyer's Island, Tiki Room, Country Bears, Hall of Presidents & the Mark Twain. I'd actually not get three of those done on this trip (despite it being MASSIVE) for some complicated reasons, which I'll get into later (mostly Covid tests and waiting for the micro-parades, lol).

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY FIVE (HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS):
(Part One)
-So on my last trip, the Studios was the one where I was like "This sucks; I wanna go back to Epcot". Having been here in 2014 and almost nothing new since then (and stuff even CLOSING, like the tram thing and the Great Movie Ride), and Star Wars Land not being ready yet, I bailed on the park around 5pm as it was my last day in town and I wanted to revisit the Frozen stuff in Epcot instead. Unfortunately I failed to get a Slinky Dog FastPass that day (long story; I changed my day for HS and thus FPs were already taken) and when the line was short, it was MASSIVELY hot in an uncovered queue and so I left it entirely. So I figured "Hey I'm coming back next year!" and so that's not a big deal! Unfortunately, next trip was set for March 2020. So yeah. It's been a bit.

ANYWAYS, I arrived at HS somewhat early in my trip with a LOT of new stuff planned- I had to get on Slinky Dog for real this time, PLUS there was the Runaway Railway thing, AND "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge". So this would have to be a full day no matter what, and I made sure to get Genie+ this day because that was a TON of high-value stuff to see. But this might have been my earliest wakeup yet, hitting the park good and early and being led right into GE for "Rise of the Resistance", the legendary super-attraction everyone's been talking about! I'd already bought a "Guaranteed Lightning Lane" thing for it, but now I would ride it TWICE! And the plan worked perfectly- it's a huge jaunt to GE from the park entrance but I am a SERIOUSLY fast walker and can effortlessly outpace most tourists, so I was within like a complete walk-on for the attraction. Or I would have been, if it had been working! But it wasn't! Instead, it never even opened and was broken for three solid hours, lol! So never mind!

So with my "Rise" double-riding plans dumped (thank goodness I paid for a spot and got on later), I went to Smuggler's Run instead. It promised a 15-20 minute lineup and was instead closer to 30+, which was weird. It's effectively a giant video game, with four people- two pilots, a gunner and an "engineer" to fix stuff. Does everyone like pilot? Because I was a pilot ("left to right" pilot, to be precise). I think I did pretty well... particularly since when I rode it later, some kid was a pilot and we smashed into EVERYTHING. The only issue is with a video game you have to pay attention to what you're doing and miss some cool stuff to look at, haha. But I did pretty well and it's a pretty immersive thing. The greedy "Con Man" guy isn't that funny but it's a very good animatronic, and the Millennium Falcon outside is an amazing prop. The big downside of that, though, is you can't get a good look from above! You can see it from one angle in the queue for "Smuggler's Run", but I'd have loved to be able to climb into these various buildings around GE to see the Falcon from all angles!

Once "SR" was done, I high-tailed it to ride "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror"- another ride I'd bailed on last trip because I was leaving before my FP came up. It's a really great attraction, of course- WAY more advanced than the ones in any of the other Disney parks I've ridden, and has the bit where you ride through the hotel itself, which is crazy. I wish I could check out this queue more often, but it's unfortunately every time I'm here I either miss it or get the FP or whatever and so I only barely looked at it! Some poor kid bailed on the ride right before we started, and I think his dad tried to shame him (all holding up his arms like "What?"). I honestly find the drops more mild every time I ride this, for some reason. Is that normal? So I'd managed some good stuff early on in the park... but realized I'd forgotten to get a reservation for Slinky Dog Dash, haha! The ONE THING I'd been forced to miss out on in 2019! I think it was my rush to get around and do all these other things I'd totally glossed it over, and eventually it had run out of LL spaces. So I would have to do the regular queue later.

STAR WARS- GALAXY'S EDGE:
-Crazily enough, for all the talk I'd heard about the "Build-A-Droid" and Blue Milk and Oga's Cantina and the Lightsaber Ceremony... I never ONCE heard of the gigantic Ithorian Animatronic in the one shop! And this thing is AWESOME! Just this enormous, hyper-mobile animatronic Ithorian that takes naps, reads stuff, types things, gets up and swivels around, etc. This is the coolest thing in the whole area, to me! Probably the most "Take THAT, Harry Potter!" thing in here!

The land itself is very well-detailed, and definitely has that "lived-in/scratched-up stuff" vibe that Star Wars was always good at- nothing is glistening and perfect for the Rebels. But I would have MUCH prefered a real thing from the movies, like Jabba's Palace/Mos Eisley, etc. I mean, things fans have real emotional attachment to and would recognize. When Universal built Harry Potter lands, they didn't make it some random new Wizard town that's Hogwart's-like but isn't in any of the books or movies, y'know? The various domed round buildings are kinda featureless and generic as Star Wars buildings go, and all the walkways are things you can't even go on!

The merchant shops in the one row are... fine. Very small shops and pretty basic toys, though you can't find them anywhere else so they are in fact some of the most "special" things in the area. This apparently gets ridiculously busy at points but I must have avoided the worst of it. The various robotic things hanging around are all great scenery, though. The Droid Shop is pretty full of people all the time, and I love the huge conveyor belt going around. Looks like there's tons of different droids you can make, with variations on BB-8 & R2-D2 especially.

I managed to get a reservation for Olga's Cantina, which I guess is a highly-sought-after one? I honestly hadn't looked it up (my hotel concierge was checking and got it for me while looking for Be Our Guest reservations), so when I got in, I didn't know what to expect. It's got more great theming, though HOLY COW it's a tiny lil' bar. No wonder nobody can get in. It greatly resembles a dive, with "gross" stuff like the little blue boba-things that go in your drinks appearing to be the eggs of some lumpy frog-monster in the giant tub with tubes "leading" to the drink fountains. That's pretty funny. There's a robot DJ bouncing to random electronica beats and a lot of high-tech-but-scrappy gear all over the place. I didn't want a MEAL meal and so I went with a pretty generic cheap non-alcoholic drink and paid before having a wander around the place to get my money's worth, haha.

There are some MASSIVE foot stops around this place, it seems- a gigantic barbecue-looking thing and another quick-service place in a big building off to another side- these seem like more "mass transit quick service" places just to deal with the massive influx of tourists. I was curious (and hungry) but ultimately passed.

 

[Jabroniville]

https://jabroniville.smugmug.com/Disney-World-Day-7/i-BZLtKKGhttps://jabroniville.smugmug.com/Disney-World-Day-7/i-vcm8cCT/A
Three-minute clips of the finale, one from the second row. See if this works.

FROZEN EVER AFTER:

So like I said before, Frozen is my jam, and so I KNEW I would end up seeing Frozen Ever After at least once. So I went pretty early in the first one, but the timing stank because I had to absolutely SLAM the slush drink I'd just bought, because you can't even stand in the crowd to get in with the drink. I figured it would be a good enough seat and it KIND OF was, but I figured an LL selection would be superior and so got one for later. First World Problem: the WiFi in here is COMPLETELY non-existant, so the queue and the auditorium completely blanked my phone or any checking of the App. I found two different pairs of narrators once more- they must alternate semi-frequently, because in 2019 it was the same deal. It's a mostly full theater, but close seats are MUCH better.

Both groups of narrators have a similar dynamic- the middle-aged woman being a thirst-queen for Hans and Kristoff is always entertaining, and the repartee between the hosts is always fun. I like how they both get zingers on each other. Watching twice in one day means you get repeat jokes, but they often put a different spin on them and have completely new material as well- it seems a bit like the Jungle Cruise where you have some freedom to do different things. This time neither group called out the one guy in the "Elsa Reveals Her Powers Outside" bit who happens to be smiling nonchalantly, lol. The show itself is solid, though most people call out the problems- Frozen is immensely front-loaded with songs, so the narrators largely have to spend 20 minutes on the first half of the movie, then railroad everything into the end with this ridiculous "Okay so then all this stuff happens!" that glosses over the entirety of the rest of the film. Though it's actually been so long since I've seen Frozen and heard many of the songs that it was kind of nice to see them again. Like, that is a REALLY GOOD soundtrack.

But we get Anna early on to give us a "main" character, Kristoff in the middle as everyone's still looking for Elsa, and then BAM! Anna comes out at the end and we finally get Elsa, the Main Event of the whole thing. And it's a legit singer doing "Let It Go", not lip-synching or anything (unlike the old Friendship Faire castle show, where it was Idina Menzel doing even the new dialogue). The funny thing is Anna gets almost nothing to really do in this one, obviously playing support for Elsa... funnier still because I know for a fact that at least one Anna performer is also a Belle performer at the Studios and DOES sing for that show! I always wonder if people mind being "The Anna" and having Elsa steal the spotlight, lol.

So the second time around, I made sure I was able to get a middle center seat wayyyyyyyyy up front, getting in the second row, and it has pretty much no weaknesses. you can still see everything just fine, and when you're up front, the people on stage can see you and wave at you! I got waves from Anna AND Elsa, you guys!!

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST:
I managed to see this for its last show- the Studios are actually REALLY BAD for spacing out all the shows "just so" that you will miss 1-2 performances of one if you see another one. Plus the shows all end fairly early, and you will miss valuable park time if you go in the morning, so there's really only a small handful of time where it's best to go see them. This one is DEFINITELY showing its age, though it's kind of funny how the truncated form of the show is. You get all of the Beast's cartoonish anger and rage, yet none of his heroism or character development, so it's literally just "The Beast apologizes and so Belle instantly knows he's a great person". Interesting to see them use the same 6 people for all the "background" bits and give them some notable dances during scenes, even though their backgrounders- I think this is to make those supplementary roles "worthwhile" and not something an actor would grow to resent, haha.

The day I finally got to ride Slinky Dog Dash, lol.

TOY STORY LAND:
-Okay, so FINALLY, near the very end of the day, I managed to get on Slinky Dog. It had a 30-40 minute wait, and I wasn't gonna see a better one. I joked with a CM there that coasters at least never seem to break down, but he promptly corrected me. "You were VERY lucky" he said, to not have seen this one break down. This was indeed a lot of fun, though, and is MUCH better at night with all the bright lights everywhere. It's not really a "thrill ride" or even more hardcore than Big Thunder (much less Space Mountain), but it's nice and you can see the characters and such. The queue has a solid design (though is BRUTAL if it's light out), especially once you get inside to the massive indoor switchback thing. I stayed near the drop-off point to repeatedly watch Slinky Dogs scoot through the Hot Wheels "light up" arches.

I actually managed a Midway Mania spot via G+. I'd missed this one last time I was here, because the lines were pretty bad and I left around 5pm. I also skipped it on Tokyo, because for some reason over there it's the most immensely busy attraction in either park! I seem decently good at it, but I find scores that are preposterously huge- are these people who play all the time, or just know the tricks? Again, it's got a good queue. Unfortunately I didn't go on the Alien Spin thingie, like last time- it's a pretty neat attraction with an interesting, complex design, but the wait wasn't justifiable to me.

Still waiting for this one to come back, dated as it is.

OTHER STUFF:
SO! Mickey's Runaway Railway! I managed to snag this twice! I bought one "guaranteed spot", and found it pretty entertaining... though we were absolutely jammed into the big "train car" thing and then it broke down partway through (at the carnival scene), which kind of dampened things... then we passed a room with a blank cone in the middle (the tornado scene, as I'd realize later). I do admire the trackless technology; it's kind of funny how it's become the "New Big Thing" in theme park snobbery, as many big attractions now have it. Here it's pretty good, and makes solid use of the big screens and variety of interesting things to look at, "Hobo Goofy" and all. I kept wanting to see how the "explosion in the screen" thing happens in the "introductory from the queue" thing, but I missed it the second go-around, lol.

When the "Castle Show" thing started, I dove right into the queue again- it had a VERY short wait (something like 15 minutes?) and found it a flawless ride this time around. I saw the full "tornado scene" and everything. I tried to spot the "Pluto Backstory" thing that the Disney Food Blog pointed out, but only saw him a couple of times- you might have to be in the right position to see it. Though I do like this attraction, I LOVED the Movie Ride and don't see why they couldn't have just built this wherever. BOO TO GETTING RID OF THE MOVIE RIDE! I only ever got to ride it once!

I found the tail end of the Castle Show after I left the ride, and it went on a WHILE afterwards- this one actually seems to be the most packed with "actual stuff from the movies" with scenes and things playing on multiple parts of the Chinese Theater. The night ended on a great note when I was waiting for the second Railway ride, though- I randomly checked my phone and found that my Touring Plans Reservation Finder had a hit! Be Our Guest for tomorrow afternoon! BAM! I snapped it up, somehow not missing it (you literally have to get it in SECONDS, people warned me), and had my much-desired reservation for the next afternoon! Pretty crazy coincidence.

 

[Jabroniville]

FOODSTUFFS:
-This was probably the least "good" I ate on my trip, as I just couldn't find a reservation ANYWHERE (you really do have to get them early, even at the minor places)- the '50s diner, the other things around the main street, etc. So I ultimately just went with the old standby I went with in 2019- the seafood-ish one in the boat. I do like "themed buildings" for food. One day I might try Brown Derby or one of the other diners (in 2014 I know I was at the Sci-Fi Diner... not sure if that was available at this time).

Bizarrely, there was this ice cream/drink stall in the big boulevard to Twilight Zone and when I ordered something, it turned out they didn't have it. Since I couldn't think of another thing to get, I figured I'd just get a refund. Except the dude didn't know how to do it, and had to call someone. And I ended up waiting like TEN MINUTES to get my five bucks back. After a few I was thinking "geez maybe I should just get a cheaper thing" but the whole time I'm thinking the person would be right over. But nope- they took forever and then I got a refund and went to get the aforementioned slush drink I had to slam because it was already time for the Frozen show, haha. Very weird. What even is that?

At the end of the night near closing, I was in the "Guest Services" thing taking pictures of the various "Park History" photos on the walls and reading the info- something I often like to do as the day winds down. This time I eavesdropped on some heated conversation as two guys had apparently been "stuck on Rise of the Resistance" for three hours and thus missed out on a ton of things at the park ("We missed Slinky Dog and..."). The big burly CM was pretty much going back & forth with them on all sorts of stuff as they wanted a free parkhopper for the next day and he was just NOT having it ("I can't give you a parkhopper- you guys DID have all day in the park"). I'm not sure how those two managed to be stuck on the ride for that long- that WAS the duration of its breakdown that day, but they'd obviously let you off it at some point. I think they must have been insisting on staying there to not waste their spot in line, maybe? I'd have loved to know more, but nobody likes an eavesdropper and I ran out of stuff to photograph so I left, lol. But let it be known that Guest Relations is NOT there to just hand out all sorts of free stuff- Disney actually appears pretty hardcore on this sort of thing.

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY SIX (ANIMAL KINGDOM):
* Animal Kingdom is pretty much the same as when I'd left it in 2019, with nothing really new, save their big closing show being dropped and instead they have boats flying around kites. I saw this while walking by a couple of times and it was pretty cool. I never DID end up seeing the closing show when it was on though, haha. It only stuck around a couple of years! So Meet & Greets weren't a thing here, but they had a quartet of boats going around carrying special guests- Mickey & Minnie, a Donald boat, Santa Claus, and Pocahontas & Meeko! This means I still haven't actually seen Pocahontas in person, lol.

The only attraction really closed is Kali River Rapids, which is kind of unfortunate... though I never really cared for being COMPLETELY soaked like you get on this one- like absolutely drenched down to everything (and the operators enhance this by putting all the heavy people on one side of the boat). Still it's unfortunate that a place with so few attractions is missing one. Otherwise AK is a very pretty park- the Tree of Life is the most outstanding of the three non-Castles (and may be the best overall), and the addition of Pandora certainly added a fair bit to do.

So my "Get Their Early" plan was somewhat messed up here, as my app and even Google indicated an 8am opening time, necessitating being there by 7:30 for Early Morning Entry... except that today was DISNEY+ DAY! So by getting there at like 7:15 for rope-drop actually made me fifteen minutes LATE, as they'd allowed early entry for Disney+ subscribers, and a half hour earlier than THAT for Disney Resort guests! This was mentioned literally nowhere in my hotel, the app, the Genie+ or anything. However, Ride of Passage was still almost a complete walk-on with very little waiting, so it wasn't so bad. And I went right from that to the River Voyage with again very little wait. I had purchased a Genie+ thing for "Ride" as well, figuring I wanted to go twice, so I went on it a couple hours later as well. I actually screwed up here, writing down the wrong arrival time and so I was an hour late, but when I asked the guy how forgiving they were, he was like "You can ALWAYS pretty much just go on" and I was able to ride it again. This usually worked in the parks, apparently (only once was I denied entry for being late).

The "Passage" ride remains one of Disney's best, despite being the typical "3D Ride". I love how the Banshee "breathes" as you're riding it (this time, no operator pointed that out; in 2019, I noticed it near the end of my first ride, but the second operator mentioned it). The queue is pretty great, with all the winding passageways down the amazing Pandora "landscapes", and features the extremely good "lab" area with the floating Na'vi and other scientific stuff. The River Voyage is more "screens that you watch" and isn't as great, but the Na'vi animatronic at the end is another top-tier Disney one. Shockingly, I wouldn't actually ride this one again- on my 2019 trip, I was able to ride it three times (once by accident, as I'd mixed it up with the other queue and waited 35-40 minutes near park closing for it, haha- I only barely got on Flight again!). But this time, increasingly-bad wait times kept me away.

The best shot I got of the "fake waterfall", which is actually a rotating wheel covered in film.

Pandora as a whole is still great. I went sightseeing both in the day and at night for the different vibes. It's really remarkable, though I can still tell it's "faked" a bit with the giant wall of foliage-covered mountains that only SORT OF looks as tall as it's supposed to be. I love the "Floating Mountains", though. And thanks to YouTube, I now know that the "waterfall" furthest in the back is actually FAKE- it's just a rotating metal-covered wheel, because at that distance, actual water is too hard to see! It's a neat example of how Disney Imagineering can "trick" the eye.

I ate this thing! I forget what it's called, but it's my Animal Kingdom standby! Meat + Rice!

In the early afternoon (after the Safaris), I ate at the quick-service thing, which took some doing as the app would NOT let me order food properly. It would take me out every single time, even if I took only seconds to select something, and the guys at the front helping people had no idea what was going on. So they just sent me to the ordering area where people were going ANYWAYS, and oh look! I easily walked right up and got food before the App said it would be ready! I got some kind of bean/beef/chicken thing with one of the cool-colored drinks- it's a HUGE bowl of food, which is pretty great for Disney quick-service. And I really like this whole area- it has a "handmade native-built" kind of feel, despite being absolutely enormous and covering like 1/6 of Pandora, lol.

The only time I got on a Frozen-themed bus, lol.

The scenery and ambiance of the area was a great help when I got the notification I was pretty much expecting that my Aunt Karen had died after entering palliative care following her stroke a couple of years ago. Not exactly the greatest news to get on a vacation, but her suffering was over and it's hard not to feel better in an area like Pandora after dark, surrounded by amazing lighting and neon.

 

[Jabroniville]

Baby Gorilla!!

KILIMANJARO SAFARIS & AFRICA:
-The fact that the parks were just getting busier and busier was particularly notable here, as I went right to the popular Safaris right after Pandora and got SLAMMED by a big line! I mean, for the morning- it was 20-30 minutes or so, with very spotty WiFi. But yay, Safaris! This is something I always tried to do twice, but today it closed at 5:45, stopping me from seeing the unusual "Dark Safari". This one was quite solid- we saw ostrich eggs, most of the big animals, the giraffes got pretty close, and more. The elephants were a bit far off in the distance.

I trekked about afterwards on the Africa thing, which felt a bit different- the room with the Naked Mole Rats was blocked off so you just walked down one side of the building, unfortunately. But everyone could see the hippos up close! Very cool area in general. The gorillas were out as usual (Disney keeps them quite visible thanks to the layout of the area), and OMG THE BABY!!! They had this little toddler-sized gorilla baby, who was pretty much left by its mother whenever she wanted to walk off, so he'd have to roll over and follow- not only did everyone get this great close-up of the baby only a couple feet away, but we saw him get up and crawl! With his huge head and long arms! People were freaking out all over- these things are just the best.

Oddly I don't remember much else of Africa- the okapi was absent, unfortunately. I remember it being very visible on past trips, with one zookeeper telling me about them (their tongues are raspy like giraffe tongues- I found out the latter on a San Diego trip years ago! They lick your arm when you feed them at the Safari Park!). The area here is very cool, though- I know a lot of Imagineering Nerds who worship the Africa section for it's "fake lived-in" look and all the building graffiti and assorted bits.

Later in the day, I tried to help a father & daughter get on the Safari before it closed (showing them where it was), but they apparently shut it down early (as it was getting just too crowded in the lines). The girl looked pretty disappointed and last I saw the dad was trying to beg their way into the line- I do feel for people who just don't have the insider knowledge or park knowhow- it's legitimately WAY too confusing or convoluted for most people, and so you get stuff like this where people spend a fortune to get here and can't get on everything.

OTHER STUFF:
Amazingly, I was here for the very first day they brought the "Winter Animal" puppets back to AK! I had no idea this was a thing, but these extremely artistic, cool puppets are brought out and people can touch and pet them, and interact with them. COVID had taken this away for a long time, and the attendant overseeing them told me "There were a lot of happy tears this morning" as they were SO EAGER to bring their friends back out. The first one I saw was a cool Arctic fox that tried to find if I had any snacks ("What's that? No snacks? No, I don't think that he can have Powerade..."). The giant penguin charges people to hug them, the polar bear & cub are huge, and the snowy owls are fascinating to watch. They came out every hour or so for 15 minutes, alternating with two groups so you usually didn't have to wait long. It's really great that stuff like this is coming back. (Fun Fact: A friend of Elena I met earlier was also a puppeteer here, lol- I pretended I didn't recognize her!).

The shops in the main area are... fine. I kind of glossed many of them over, to be honest- the gift shops are becoming increasingly same-y, and I think the pandemic really affected those. I guess there's more stuffed animals here, though.

Though I usually go along the trails of animals on my trip, this time I never QUITE managed it. This was partially because of the distraction of the animal puppets and frequent backtracking as I checked stuff out. I sort of forgot until the end, and most animals had gone away (though I saw the otters earlier in the day)- I went down the trails to get close-ups of the animal sculptures, but it was a tad trickier at night- the rope things off and it's dark- I even slammed right into a thigh-high rope barrier, lol!

EXPEDITION EVEREST:
I was pretty stoked to have made my trip for late 2020, as apparently Expedition Everest is CLOSING for the majority of next year. This is thought by many to be the big fix necessary for the "Disco Yeti", which they shockingly didn't try to fix during the COVID lockdowns- the Yeti animatronic stopped working good and early when the ride was built, and so they've flashed a light over it to give the illusion of movement as you go by. Though I never found you saw it long enough for movement to be that necessary, to be honest. Still, I hope it's true- it'd be nice to see! This one also had a HUGE line all day long, and both my attempts at the old reliable Single Rider line failed- typically in the FP days, I could easily ride this twice using the SR & FP combo, but today, it had a big line even for SRs, and I didn't use G+ for this day.

However, I did eventually find a point where it was sporting only a 20-minute wait, so I hammered that one out very quickly. This was actually my first time in the actual QUEUE of the attraction, as in 2014 & 2019, I'd always used the other options, missing out here. It's quite cool and informative, with a lot of great legit pictures and fantastical stuff. Sculptures of the "Protector Yeti" and a GIGANTIC foot imprint, and more! I usually let people go ahead of me so I could take pictures and actually read some of the stuff. The ride is as good as ever- I don't know what it is, but the "falling backwards" portion always gives me the illusion that the ride is turning you upside-down! But it's a great combination of theming and excitement, as it's one of the most bewildering thrill rides at Disney, but also has the great bits like the torn-up flags and shredded tracks and everything, plus a Yeti!

ASIA:
-While Asia isn't quite as neat-looking as Africa, it's a bit more flashy, with big temple structures and the like. Plus the great ice cream "double-decker bus" is still here! This thing has the best theming ever for a random quick dessert cart, lol. The Maharajah Jungle Trek was solid, with all the animals visible- the big tigress moving from one area to the other and giving a good view.

DINOLAND USA:
My goodness is this place sad now. It's always been the unloved stepchild of this park, but WOW. Now they got rid of the seasonal Triceratops Spin and it's even emptier. The Carnival rides for kids is I guess somewhat valuable since there's less lines and kids can dig it, but still. Oddly, I went into the big restaurant off to the side here... and I don't think I've ever realized just how ENORMOUS it was! I mean, I went exploring in here and found room after room after room- endless hallways of tables, bigger rooms, little side areas (there's one with '50s-style jukeboxes), etc. I don't know if I actually went through all of this on past trips, as I mostly recall the two quick-service/buffet spots with the dino heads on the walls and token fossils in certain areas.

I rode "Dinosaur" again, braving the full line for the first time ever. It tends to have pretty huge line-ups all day long since it's the only thing to do in this area, but I managed with a 20-30 minute one. Not so bad, especially as they have fossils and informative stuff in the queue. The attraction never quite wowed me, which is weird because it was supposed to use the "Indiana Jones" track layout, right? And that one was INCREDIBLE.

I saw... bits and pieces of the "Tree Show" at the end. I wasn't aware they were even doing a thing, but what I saw was alright. The tree looked good in blue light (the D+ Day colors).

Overall I left feeling pretty solid about the park, though it remains one you can do in FAIRLY little time. Though I only did so by skipping the Festival of the Lion King and even kinda missing trailing about around the tree, nor seeing Tough To Be a Bug! (which I liked, but am pretty familiar with having seen in 2-3 times before). It'd have been nice to see the Safaris one more time (like Meet & Greets, it's one of the few attractions you can see a "different" story of each time).

 

[Hubie]

You do a wonderful job of describing everything there is to do and see in each park. I would think your TR would be very helpful for first timers. Oh, and I love your pictures.

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY SEVEN (MAGIC KINGDOM AGAIN):
* So with all four parks down, I had three days left- time to return to the Big Two! I like to have multiple MK days, as it's my favorite park, even over EPCOT it turns out. And this was a day the park was open fairly late, resulting in a massive 9-11 day or something like that. I got in early, got in line for Seven Dwarfs... but found I was a bit behind where I was the first time I tried this. Enough so that when I made it all the way down to the ride, the end of the line was on the OTHER side of the attraction! The CM there admitted it was going to be a 40-minute wait now! I had no idea why I was soooooooooo far back this time around, but it seems the parks were just getting busier and busier by this point. So my "Rope drop" strategy failed and I instead bailed for Space Mountain, because I didn't want to blow park time in the early morning just waiting in line. I managed Space Mountain with a 15-20 minute wait and maybe Peter Pan or something before things started getting really busy.

They were filming a lot of concert stuff on the stage in front of the castle- all for the Christmas Special Disney does each year. The stage was in front of a blocked-off area and I didn't think much of it, save for the occasional mini-explosion of fireworks that startled park-goers every half-hour or so. However, tragedy struck! See, as I wear my "Wicked" t-shirts when going to most parks, I was apparently rather recognizable to CMs in particular. The day after this, when I was in the MK again, a CM on the parade route stopped me and asked if I had been in the park the day before. When I answered yes, he was like "Oh yeah, I remember your Wicked shirt! Did you see Kristin Chenoweth yesterday?" I was like "!!!!" and he said she was one of the people performing on the stage! And I missed it! Granted it was only a single song and the vantage point would have sucked, but that would have been nice to see, as much as missing park ride time in the early morning wasn't ideal. Ah well.

It's still pretty funny that a CM was able to recognize me like that. He said "Yeah, I remember your shirt yesterday and I was wondering 'huh, I wonder if that guy saw her?". Like I said, I was getting recognized a LOT and I was not used to it.

Despite being here TWICE before, I'd never even heard of Sonny Eclipse, lol. I mean, this was never a recommended restaurant, so I never went in! Then I saw that "My Favorite Lame Things to Do in Disney World" video and wanted to see him...so of course he was broken the one time I got in and I wasn't allowed in without a reservation any other time, lol.

The COVID Test That Never Was:
-So based off of the advice at Disboards, I went with "Beeper MD" for my COVID test (as a Canadian, I need it to return home), as it was free and quick. It necessitated me returning to my hotel mid-day, which is NOT ideal for my vacation ideals, but I didn't have much of a choice, really. Typically it's free for a two-hour window around your appointment, but I paid extra for the "No window" option since my time is valuable on these things. Unfortunately, being a foreigner on US soil creates a lot of issues with communication, but since I get texts on my phone when at the hotel (they do NOT arrive at parks for some reason), and WiFi means I can get emails, I set up a deal with them to email me on arrival for the test.

UNFORTUNATELY, despite me having sent an email and receiving confirmation that they WOULD email me when the nurse arrived for the test... they did not. In fact, despite me pathologically checking over and over again, NOTHING happened. I saw nobody come to Art of Animation, saw no emails, nothing. Not even a text. So for an hour or so I was in a blind panic- I assumed they maybe got held up or something, so was ready to be patient, but I was completely stressed out after ages of getting nothing. Frustrated and wondering WHAT I was going to do now, I ultimately had to leave the resort empty-handed- I had a dinner reservation that would cost a fortune to miss, and I needed "Be Our Guest", especially now.

I sent a pretty dramatic (but no swearing!) email to BeeperMD and bailed to the Magic Kingdom again. It was only when I arrived back at the park when I checked my junk email (which I totally should have checked earlier, obviously, just in case), and found a random BeeperMD person emailing me saying "The nurse has been attempting to call your number, to no avail. If you cannot respond, then the test may not take place". So they IGNORED MY INSTRUCTIONS and that got lost somewhere along the way. Obviously I didn't have my phone set up to take international calls while at the hotel- I was expecting at LEAST a text! In any case, I received no responses from BeeperMD after that, but they did send an email that my fee had been refunded, so that was nice.

THANKFULLY, I made mention of this on the Disboards forum about COVID tests, and while I was doing something else, somebody else on the forum had managed to do a quick check and found a pharmacy in Windemere, FL (close to MK) that had an open slot for a drive-through test the next day! So, annoyed I blew two hours doing NOTHING and was gonna have to blow an hour or two the next day AS WELL, I thanked the poster profusely and set up an apppointment... while I was waiting for food at Be Our Guest, lol.

While missing out on park time sucked (this actually kept me from going to Tom Sawyer's Island OR Country Bears Jamboree, as I just never quite found the time to set aside while rides were available now), by the end of this day my feet were ANNIHILATED and I was physically pretty wiped out from either heat or exhaustion. In retrospect the 20+ minute air-conditioned bus ride to and from the resort might have been ideal, given how beat I already was. So on the bright side, there's that.

OTHER PARK STUFF:
-I don't really remember what I did on each of the three MK days, but it was probably a lot of "ride X, then Y, then Z" as I rode almost everything at least once a day. Genie+ meant I usually got on the Jingle Cruise once each day, because the line was "Mine Train"-tier the whole time otherwise. It's kind of funny how nearly everyone seems to prepare properly for these things and knows what the popular rides are, because everyone I know finds my "Disney Planning" stories to be terrifying and too complicated.

Funnily enough, I was recognized AGAIN, this time by Tiana, then Cinderella! I actually didn't recognize Cinderella since, like, the costume is pretty big and it could be ANY 20-something in there since faces have to be kept pretty similar, so I wasn't sure it was the same one until she recognized me. Tiana scolded me for not going to her restaurant, which she'd insisted on last time, so I know it was the same girl and she remembered our last convesration! She was straight up going "MMM-HMMMM" when I tried to explain! I did mention having gone to "Be Our Guest" and we ended up talking about food again, haha.