"Enjoy these moments; they are precious"-Lesley's EPIC May TR!-COMPLETED-10/2-Last stops at Flower & Garden and Wrap Up

Just got done reading Su-Lynns TR and the DHS parade........how disappointing. You'rs correct there are so many other characters they could have included.



before my trip I ended up buying a bikini for the first time ever. Obviously, I'm plus size and normally get stuff that hides my stomach, but this Minnie Mouse inspired bathing suit popped up and was too adorable. All my friends encouraged me, so I got it and ended up wearing it to TL. I've never gotten so many compliments before! From random women or little girls or CMs. It really made me feel so awesome!
I'm so glad this swim suit worked out for you and that you didn't end up being self conscious.
tenor%20(2).gif


Love both of those pictures
That was so sweet of them
 
In Showcase Plaza we waited around for a bit, as the Blue Angels were flying overhead. They did 2 flyovers and it was very cool. I think several of us (me included) weren’t super invested in it (and really, it ended up taking some time out of the VIP tour, so we should have just started the tour after the flyover), but I’m really happy we saw it, as it was very neat!
That's a really cool picture of them fanning out over SE, though!!

We also had to make a stop for baby duckies! (While I was taking photos of the baby ducks, apparently Jenny and Joe were taking photos with a legit celebrity! Still haven’t decided who has the better encounter though!)
1. WOW so cute
2. Who was the celebrity??

This was Jenny’s first time on the ride and as the bird flies up to the screen, we just hear a loud “Jesus Christ!” Another hilarious moment and the rest of our row was just laughing the whole time!
:rotfl:

As we drove backstage we weren’t allowed to take photos, but it was sooo cool to see all the food and wine booths and everything else backstage! Also a much closer look at Ratatouille construction.
Neat!!
 
Or after your AP expires, instead of getting the pass immediately, get a park hopper plus ticket and use one water park visit, then upgrade the ticket to an AP? I've never done that though so don't know how it would work!
:worship::worship::worship: What an amazing idea. You are the undisputed queen of Disney Math and Hacks!!!

Still can't believe you all got to do the VIP tour. Though I think I'd take missing the frozen boat over missing the tour :earboy2:

Loving all the ChunkyEmojis. Between these and her gifs I'm pretty sure we could start our own app to market them all.
 
Hi, Lesley! I figured I better officially join in!

The Orlando Informer event at Universal looked awesome! I feel like Universal has some pretty reasonable (or nearly nonexistent) lines if you have Express Pass, but it would be great to have such a run of the park. I don't know if I'd ever be able to take advantage of it, but it was fun to see through your eyes!

Thank you for your incredibly detailed look at Galaxy's Edge! I'm a fair-weather Star Wars fan - I see all the movies in the theatre and enjoy Star Tours at HS, but that's about it. Nonetheless, I loved seeing the details even if they may not mean as much to me as others.

Hooray for the official beginning of the EPIC trip festivities! It looks like you had tons of fun with Caroline and Molly in MK and the dessert party looked very fun. I haven't done a dessert party in 2016 when it was held in the Tomorrowland Terrace - is it still there or have they moved it elsewhere? (Also, aren't there now two different dessert parties at MK?)

I love all your pictures on the VIP Tour! You do such a great job of documenting everything!

I'm looking forward to more of the VIP fun.
 


Poor girls! :laughing:
But it was hilarious!
OMG! This scared the absolute crap out of me!!!!! :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:
I really wish I had been taking video at that moment!
Nice photo!
I didn't have quite as good luck with that.
I think I had it on burst? So I took like 200 photos and just narrowed it down to a couple that were somewhat decent!
Baby ducks trumps celebrities.
Agreed! Especially Disney baby duckies!
Yes! And I kicked my friend in the head in my struggle :rotfl2:
Hahaha! Oh boy!
That would be a fun evac! When I got evaced off Pinocchio at Disneyland they said Peter Pan requires ladders to evac people!
Yeah I think at Disneyland they definitely need ladders (and I've seen a photo of people doing that and then having to walk around the streets of London to get out). I think in WDW there are some "clouds" around the edge of the room which happen to be the right height to step off the boat onto, so I guess they probably have a proper evac path.
But now I hate them again as they're in town for an airshow and have been practicing nonstop and disturbing my sleep. rude.
Oh no! Hopefully they've quieted down?
 
Morimoto:

I loved my meal there and love the decor. My only complaint is the noice level; it's so darned loud. But I enjoyed the food and would go back, but have other places I want to try first.
Yeah, that's the way it is for me at WDW. Unless it is really special, it's hard to get on my repeat visit list!
I wish I could have been around and going when this was still a thing. :( Sad it's just a memory now.
I think they did a whole SEA reunion a couple of days before everyone arrived. WDW NT did a whole 30-year celebration for DHS, Typhoon Lagoon, and Pleasure Island, so they reunited the original members. I didn't have the time/energy to buy a ticket though.
This REALLY makes me want to go there. I love water parks and this is the first time I've really seen a good review with a lot of photos of the theming. Maybe next year I can squeeze it in for a day. :)
Oh definitely you need to visit! Or just make it a day-time thing and then do a park in the evening (or Disney Springs).
Wait a minute! Hold the phone.... ya'll are doing a ChunkyDump before the tour even happened. LOL!!
OMG - I didn't even realize it! @Mollydolly334 and @IowaTater
Oh. My. Gosh!! Are you kiddding me?! I'm dying here!
I think when we pulled away from the dock and left you two, we felt bad then just all started laughing!
I look like I've just walked past someone's Chunky Dump! Or worse. THat is a hiliarious, if altogether unflattering, photo of me.
Aw, it's all about the memories!
That was so sweet of them
Yes, it was!
 
2. Who was the celebrity??
Michael Shannon, from Boardwalk Empire. Jenny has the photo in their TR!
:worship::worship::worship: What an amazing idea. You are the undisputed queen of Disney Math and Hacks!!!
I live to serve!
Loving all the ChunkyEmojis. Between these and her gifs I'm pretty sure we could start our own app to market them all.
Move aside Kim Kardashian with the Kimoji. We have a @chunkymonkey emoji app coming up!
The Orlando Informer event at Universal looked awesome! I feel like Universal has some pretty reasonable (or nearly nonexistent) lines if you have Express Pass, but it would be great to have such a run of the park. I don't know if I'd ever be able to take advantage of it, but it was fun to see through your eyes!
It really is fun! If you ever end up going when they have one I highly recommend it!
Thank you for your incredibly detailed look at Galaxy's Edge! I'm a fair-weather Star Wars fan - I see all the movies in the theatre and enjoy Star Tours at HS, but that's about it. Nonetheless, I loved seeing the details even if they may not mean as much to me as others.
I've been with people that don't really care about SW and they still love the land! So detailed!
Hooray for the official beginning of the EPIC trip festivities! It looks like you had tons of fun with Caroline and Molly in MK and the dessert party looked very fun. I haven't done a dessert party in 2016 when it was held in the Tomorrowland Terrace - is it still there or have they moved it elsewhere? (Also, aren't there now two different dessert parties at MK?)
So basically there are three dessert parties now (though they all have the same food offerings). There is the one at Tomorrowland Terrace, where you sit at tables and remain there during the fireworks; it's $20 more than the others. Then there is the Plaza Garden viewing, where you eat first and then make your way to the gated plaza area to watch the fireworks. And the After-Fireworks one where you watch from the Plaza and then move over to eat afterwards. Each has their pros and cons, though I think the view is better from the Plaza than Tomorrowland Terrace, especailly with the projections!
I love all your pictures on the VIP Tour! You do such a great job of documenting everything!
Thanks! I call it documenting. My family calls it taking too many photos!
 


Day 6, Part 2 - The origin of a legend...

Onto DHS, where we were headed straight to Toy Story Land (we parked by Tower of Terror where some other guides met us with water bottles and packaged snacks).

ZaLHJUG.jpg
vts3JJK.jpg
C3aEK56.jpg


First priority – Slinky Dog Dash, where we took up a full train, plus one row on another car (Sarah was left out...). Jon (our guide) also pointed out fun details like the Standby Entrance time is actually Buster’s tag, so if you look behind it, Andy’s address is there!

WZPxwTN.jpg
25pwjXM.jpg


As we boarded, I handed my phone to our other tour guide and she was able to take some photos while we were on the ride!

pgmDK5i.jpg
z8tc50B.jpg
OQV8DkG.jpg
005TEW0.jpg
LXJ6S1Z.jpg
3YAoLvV.jpg


(Unfortunately our on-ride photo never showed up; instead everyone in my car ended up getting a second version of Su-Lynn’s car’s photo! Chunky invasion!)

Mg7wLRi.jpg


We got off and considered going on ToT again, but we also were running lower on time (we spent too much time at Epcot), so I suggested – why not just another ride on SDD? Everyone was game for that, so we did another ride! Caroline ended up sitting this one out, so we were all able to go together!

(Does it look like @Pluto0809 is saying a prayer or pointing to the heavens here?)
vctfouc.jpg
qhXoJz4.jpg
9Z1WsOr.jpg


Afterwards, another group photo, where Liesa coined the Chunky Dump pose… See her TR for the fun story!

Msu2sI9.jpg


And for some reason, Jackie and I took this goofy photo in the van…

Xe2xCAe.jpg
 
And onto Animal Kingdom. We all agreed on Satuli for lunch, so Jon instructed us to set up a mobile order and just click “we’re here” once we are done with the ride.

We ended up parking behind Pandora, and you can really hear those animal sounds back there!

GubPc7a.jpg


Another group photo

EutZmoM.jpg


And onto Flight of Passage. Billie, Sarah, and Kari decided to ride NRJ instead, so we ended up being 16 people – perfect for 1 whole pre-show room! The CM was pretty excited they could quickly mark off a room – made their job easier! (oh and funny enough, I was actually the last person to enter the queue, but Jon stopped us and had us enter the standby park briefly in the caves to point out some of the cave drawings (including a life-size Banshee silhouette), before going back to the FP line, so I got switched to the front!

HeQV61X.jpg
Mcf9j2J.jpg


The wait in the pre-show room was pretty long, so we ended up doing the wave…



Of course, this ended up happening to coincide with our ride..

FHmHeLa.jpg


If anyone wasn’t paying attention, for SWGE at Disneyland, they implemented a reservation system for the first month. This really was the best way to control the potentially crazy crowds. I’ve already posted about my actual experiences, so we obviously got a bunch of reservations! But they became available to book while I was on the ride! Literally, as I’m on the Banshee, I’m holding my phone tight to my chest and clicking “refresh-refresh-refresh”. Thankfully I had anticipated this once they announced May 2 would be the day of reservations, so I had sent Dina my username/password and after she got in once using her account, she got in again using my account.

Anyways, we survived our flight, and headed right down to Satuli (I sort of ran ahead to ensure I didn’t lose internet coverage as I was still trying to refresh)!

I got the Shrimp and Noodles (both new things since the last time I visited). Of course I didn’t want to give up my spot in a possible virtual queue – the online reservation system DL was using was not good, so thanks Kara for taking a food photo for me! It was good – had a bit of a kick, but I am so spice sensitive, don’t know if other people would be able to tell!

QwiHaQe.jpg


During lunch, Zach (@AMusicLifeForMe) showed up and got to chat with me and Jackie (he had been at AK that day anyways). [And if you follow along to Zach’s TR you’d know he also had a reservation for SWGE – I had continued to refresh the website and once I got through all our accounts already had reservations, so I let Zach input his info. And then I proceeded to spend several weeks (successfully) convincing him to fly out to CA for a 4-hour time on Batuu!]

QrW5hdE.jpg
 
Anyways, post-lunch we decided to head up and take a little safari. Jon was even able to get us to skip past some of the FP line backup, though it did still take a while to board due to the backup!

1lzSyDI.jpg
f6n4xzC.jpg

While in line, I explained how much I prefer the left/drivers side of the car so always request it – I ask for the “lion side” from CMs, though its more because of the hippos, but don’t want to confuse them… Liesa agreed with me, but Kelly said she likes the right side because it gives a better view of the baobob tree!

uZZJ2wR.jpg
91iI6JV.jpg

More safari photos (though Liesa’s are sooo much better)

39p3BHP.jpg
hUjCMZV.jpg
dOMGzqy.jpg


Augustus!

Uvi7gBt.jpg


jqSvUYD.jpg
dTvacQl.jpg


Sleepy doggies

tDU9GpQ.jpg


Giraffes up in the bushes

OlOyo1L.jpg


4W85Ban.jpg
g3ezsjf.jpg


The white rhinos were chilling up among the trees too – I’ve never seen them up there before!

dz6CEu9.jpg


Can you find the cheetah?

tqTGoNl.jpg


I think this may have been the new male rhino?

Po1bsc2.jpg


No good lion views today – they were hanging under a rock

SDXAiQq.jpg


And we headed out of AK and off to MK! We were running pretty late on time, so had very limited time with our guides remaining!

Before officially entering backstage, I took some photos of the construction around the railroad

wGDdH9W.jpg


One last group photo

Qr26caj.jpg


And our final ride, 7DMT.

tYHWqPe.jpg


We said goodbye to Jon and our other guide (I forgot her name!) and they gave us fun VIP tour pins!

ZklenYk.jpg


We took up a full train on this one too!

Pr6JCHs.jpg
Ci7JI7U.jpg
FtGuUAL.jpg
wK124Kc.jpg
4i8r808.jpg
xIopAcI.jpg
Cb12UA0.jpg


Afterwards, we were all free to go our own ways. Su-Lynn: “now, we’re like regular people – what do we do now?”

Coming up - A sweet evening!
 
I did stop for Photopass

zJBNFLH.jpg
I like this, the best 30 year souveigner.

Yum

ad requested to be near my friend Ariella’s room, and they got the one with the yellow arrow. Yeah – pretty much opposite side of the resort! Though our most important request was the 3 beds, so that was met.

AoveMTf.png
Sorry... But I guess the 3 beds was the most important thing. And we enjoyed our room location. It was a water view room. I am sure we will be out in no mans land for our August trip, as we are in a standard room.

On our way out, a lovely placed rainbow!

ORxdds6.jpg
Great Photo

Though Skuttle was missing and we walked too fast to see the crabs.
What is up with Skuttle being missing? He was missing for us one day in Feb.

One of my favorite photos from the trip:

zCnFLqg.jpg
Love it!

You guys all look so happy!!!

Such a nice and good idea.

Caroline also gave us some Minnesota goodies
What are Minnesota goodies?

We headed out to the Showcase plaza, and on the way I saw Pascal invading the Toy Story 4 topiary (i.e. a lizard was on the sheep’s head)

PKCW7Q5.jpg
Ha!

Great picture!

We also had to make a stop for baby duckies! (While I was taking photos of the baby ducks, apparently Jenny and Joe were taking photos with a legit celebrity! Still haven’t decided who has the better encounter though!)

DKPt0TL.jpg
The duckies are pretty cute.

I love the action shot!

And the feet shot.

Standby Entrance time is actually Buster’s tag, so if you look behind it, Andy’s address is there!
Oh! I will have to try and remember that one!

I like the 3rd person shot.

That looks really good! Man, now I have 2 things I need to try!

Afterwards, we were all free to go our own ways. Su-Lynn: “now, we’re like regular people – what do we do now?”
Ha! Welcome back to being normal!
 
You are cranking out these updates!

I didn't quote!

What a sweet thing to get the flowers!

VIP day seems amazing, i would have been majorly stressing out the reservation too. Isn't it always like that, the things is released when you 100% know you will be doing something else!

But you were able to score the reservations in the end so it all worked out!

So fun taking up a whole train, pre-show room and another train!

Overall seems like a fabulous day!
 
Yeah, that's the way it is for me at WDW. Unless it is really special, it's hard to get on my repeat visit list!

Now you've got me to thinking about my Repeat List. I think it's a little longer than yours:

CS: Caseys, Satuli, and 8 Spoons
TS: Tiffins/Nomad, Terralina, Mr. Paul, Sanaa, and if and when money is less tight, V&As.

I think they did a whole SEA reunion a couple of days before everyone arrived. WDW NT did a whole 30-year celebration for DHS, Typhoon Lagoon, and Pleasure Island, so they reunited the original members. I didn't have the time/energy to buy a ticket though.

Aw I love so have loved that.

Oh definitely you need to visit! Or just make it a day-time thing and then do a park in the evening (or Disney Springs).

Okay, after my Sept trip (already planned with no more room) I'll make it a plan.

OMG - I didn't even realize it! @Mollydolly334 and @IowaTater

See?!! Now, I expect both of them (@Mollydolly334 and @IowaTater ) to strike their pose and post them on my thread.

I think when we pulled away from the dock and left you two, we felt bad then just all started laughing!

Of course you did!! LOLOLOL!!!

Aw, it's all about the memories!

It certainly is. And I still giggle at all of our ridiculousness.

pointed out fun details like the Standby Entrance time is actually Buster’s tag, so if you look behind it, Andy’s address is there!

I didn't hear that!! How cool. Totally going to look for that next time.

but we also were running lower on time (we spent too much time at Epcot),

Sorry, Lesley, that was my fault.

where Liesa coined the Chunky Dump pose… See her TR for the fun story!

Another hilarious memory from that trip! I am still waiting for everyone to take their commemorative Chunky Dump and post it on my thread.

Thankfully I had anticipated this once they announced May 2 would be the day of reservations, so I had sent Dina my username/password and after she got in once using her account, she got in again using my account.

SCORE!!!! I clearly remember that as you were giving us live updates.

Liesa agreed with me, but Kelly said she likes the right side because it gives a better view of the baobob tree!

I was about dying at that point. That whole thing was hilarious!

More safari photos (though Liesa’s are sooo much better)

AW, thanks, Lesley!


I LOVE that one!
 
Slinky Dog Dash, where we took up a full train, plus one row on another car (Sarah was left out...).
Poor Sarah...
Jon (our guide) also pointed out fun details like the Standby Entrance time is actually Buster’s tag, so if you look behind it, Andy’s address is there!
Really! How cool is that!
(Unfortunately our on-ride photo never showed up;
Yeah... although I think it's gotten better.
instead everyone in my car ended up getting a second version of Su-Lynn’s car’s photo! Chunky invasion!)
:lmao:
(Does it look like @Pluto0809 is saying a prayer or pointing to the heavens here?)
Two rides on SDD? This is a blessed event!
Afterwards, another group photo, where Liesa coined the Chunky Dump pose… See her TR for the fun story!
::yes::
We ended up parking behind Pandora, and you can really hear those animal sounds back there!
Yep. Just read that on Ariana's TR.
Jon stopped us and had us enter the standby park briefly in the caves to point out some of the cave drawings (including a life-size Banshee silhouette)
Huh. Didn't know that... then again I've never been in the standby queue and may never be in it. :laughing:
The wait in the pre-show room was pretty long, so we ended up doing the wave…
:laughing:
Literally, as I’m on the Banshee, I’m holding my phone tight to my chest and clicking “refresh-refresh-refresh”.
OMG. You could've lost control of your banshee!
While in line, I explained how much I prefer the left/drivers side of the car so always request it – I ask for the “lion side” from CMs, though its more because of the hippos, but don’t want to confuse them… Liesa agreed with me, but Kelly said she likes the right side because it gives a better view of the baobob tree!
::yes:: Heard that a few times now... and it's pretty funny. :)
Kelly's tree!
 
Red arrow is our YC room. Pink is our eventual BC room (pretty far from each other). I also had requested to be near my friend Ariella’s room, and they got the one with the yellow arrow. Yeah – pretty much opposite side of the resort! Though our most important request was the 3 beds, so that was met.

At least you got your main request met! Looks like everyone was pretty far apart based on your arrows!

I prefer the hand-dipped corn dogs at Disneyland though!

I think I do too. I've only had the nuggets once, but DL corn dogs rock. Corn Dog Palace is my favorite.

Molly didn’t have a FP, the CMs let her through with us because I asked nicely (honestly we did this all the time during the trip, and as long as you aren’t pushy or act entitled or trying to get 10 people on with 2 people’s FPs, then it works out fine.

That's good to know! I'll keep that in mind.

The ride did stop as we were above London, so I tried to take more photos, but my phone isn’t the best in the dark.

I barely got photos with my good DSLR, but that's for the next update.

And since we were there, why not Under the Sea?

I've never been on that ride at MK, only DCA.

And at the end, the CMs told us all to grab some of the coffee cups and fill up with whatever we wanted to go! Um, yes please… so I filled up with cheese and crackers (this comes into play later).

That sounds like an awesome trade. We will have to do that cause Fran would love taking leftovers if they are available!

Anyways, back to the resort, where I had a lovely surprise and some of the ladies had a gorgeous bouquet sent to the room!

I saw that on Su-Lynn's TR too. How sweet of them to send flowers, as long as you are not allergic!
 
Unfortunately, it was pretty much the lamest celebration parade ever. First, they had a red convertible drive down, however it was totally empty. Turns out Mickey and Minnie were in that car and got out at the main stage, about 1/3 of the way through the parade. Everything interesting happened at that stage, which was 50% blocked off for TV cameras, 25% blocked out for VIPs, and the remainder was snatched up by people who got there at park open. So the vast majority of people there for the "parade" ended up missing almost all of the interesting parts, which was pretty lame.

Oh, yikes. That was a pretty lame parade!

Since I was near an entrance, I hopped into the Lazy River. It was pretty empty, so I ended up getting 2 things – a tube and a water chair. I was able to lean fully backward with my head in the water and use the chair to protect my head from hitting things! It was soooo relaxing and I just closed my eyes and floated around for a while – ending up doing 1.5 loops. It was great because they have fun music and everything!

What a fun day at Typhoon Lagoon!

Oh, and I’d like to introduce you to Little Steve. I had hoped to bring him out more, but ended up forgetting! He has a magnet in "America's A**", so he can latch onto your shoulder with a metal plate under a shirt - basically I used the same idea as the Shoulder Groot's at DCA.

I love it!!!


Little one in the front row is NOT happy with Pirates


This is such a nice photo!

I also was a bad TRer at this time because I forgot to take photos of the whole spread, but I was busy enjoying the company!

ju44zoJ.jpg
bICyoQE.jpg
dZpVsXk.jpg
vLYkj02.jpg

Everything you did take a photo of looks delicious!


So glad you guys had a great VIP tour experience, what a fun thing to do with such a big group!!!
 
I'm still following along, even though I've been a lousy commenter! Just know I'm still reading and enjoying all your stories and reviews. I'm so envious of your VIP tour day, how much you accomplished, and how much fun you all must have had as a massive group!
 
I've enjoyed your trip report! I really liked all the posts about SWGE. I can't wait to see it in Disney World.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top