Everything I touch turns to broken. A fantastic Festival of the Arts Trip – January 2023 (Updated 6/22!!)

[Wood Nymph]

The CM told me the reason it was showing me as not eligible was because the system was using my leftover tickets from the hurricane in September which already had Genie+ added to them.

Uh oh.

We had planned on using those leftover tickets for our upcoming September trip, I had bought separate tickets for this week, so I of course didn’t want the system to use our leftover tickets, I wanted it to use the tickets connected to this week!

It can be a big mess with their ticket system when you have leftover tickets. I'm glad that they were able to fix it via chat.

I have no idea what set it off this day, my phone was in my hand and the only things in my bag were my ID, credit card, chapstick, and a gift card. I swear it’s totally random!

I discovered that I would set off a bag check if I either had my purse on my hip or was carrying my phone down at my side. This was confirmed by our trip two weeks ago when my sister got pulled over for bag check the one time she had her bag on her hip. Since then, I make sure that my purse in centered on the front of my body and my cell phone is either in the or I am holding it up high, as if it was an umbrella.

The safari today was one of the better ones I’ve ever been on! There were so many animals out and they were all very active! Even the lions were playing around!

We saw the lions playing one time, too. It was really special to see. Our last safari was lacking savanna animals, including giraffes. I don't think I ever had a safari ride before without seeing giraffes.

 

[khertz]

Getting into Epcot was a breeze this morning since the skyliner was down this week for maintenance (YAY!!!!! ) I need to travel to Disney whenever the skyliner is down, the IG is back to it’s former, calm, glory. It’s fabulous. It really made me see what a big impact the skyliner makes on that entrance when it’s up and running, compared to September when there was always a line to get in, this week there was never a line. I loved it!

We were kind of bummed the Skyliner was down this whole week because we have never gotten to ride it, but I NEVER thought about it this way! So I'm glad it worked out for you!! One of the days we went over to have lunch at B&C and the IG entrance was SO quiet, so I guess without even realizing it, this worked in our favor too! I can totally see how busy it would normally be due to the Skyliner guests.

After checking out those art booth I decided to head over to the Odyssey to pick up my popcorn bucket since I was already within my return time. This was super quick and easy, took all of 30 seconds.

After the posts I saw of people waiting hours for Figment buckets, I am SO glad they went this route this year. SO EASY!

The woman at the front desk basically chastised me for not coming to the front desk after getting my room number alert, it was a bit odd. She said that once you get the room alert you need to come to the front desk to get your bands to work,

That is bizarre! Their whole schtick is that you can go straight to your room! I would never have thought to go to the desk first either if there wasn't an issue with the room number.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Ugh. The bus situation can be so frustrating. I love the addition of the screens showing estimated arrival times .... that is, when it is working and accurate. The bag check can also be frustrating, although I appreciate the efforts at keeping us safe. I hold my phone, glasses case and umbrella way out in front of me, wait a beat so I'm not super close to the person in front of me, and keep my arm raised so the guard can look at me after the beep and see what it was. That has - knock on wood- been working for me lately. It took me a ridiculously long time initially to realize that a mini tin of Altoids was setting it off. You lose me on the bird show. I am TERRIFIED. Can't go anywhere near it.

 

[VAtink]

I'll have to come back to catch up, but I'm already laughing at FARTs, my kids called it that all week long and giggled every time!

Haha, it is one the of the better acronyms lately. Up there with Alien Swirling Saucers

We were kind of bummed the Skyliner was down this whole week because we have never gotten to ride it, but I NEVER thought about it this way! So I'm glad it worked out for you!! One of the days we went over to have lunch at B&C and the IG entrance was SO quiet, so I guess without even realizing it, this worked in our favor too! I can totally see how busy it would normally be due to the Skyliner guests.

Oh no, I'm sorry you missed out on riding it, I will admit it is pretty fun to ride. But yeah, love how empty IG was this week with it being down.

After the posts I saw of people waiting hours for Figment buckets, I am SO glad they went this route this year. SO EASY!

Right? It was so easy to do it through the mobile order this year!

That is bizarre! Their whole schtick is that you can go straight to your room! I would never have thought to go to the desk first either if there wasn't an issue with the room number.

Exactly! Such a weird thing for her to say.

 

[VAtink]

I’m pretty sure that if you try to book a G+LL in a park other than the one you have a reservation for, it automatically gives you a return time of 2:00 (or later if return times are already pushed out beyond that).

It used to do that, but I think they changed it a few months ago where it won't do that anymore. (don't quote me on this, but I thought I saw that change posted a while back)

 

[VAtink]

It can be a big mess with their ticket system when you have leftover tickets. I'm glad that they were able to fix it via chat.

Ahh, I learned the hard way. Not something fun to deal with first thing in the morning! I thought since I had to pick which tickets to use when I made the park reservations that they system would use the right ones, but Disney IT strikes again!

I discovered that I would set off a bag check if I either had my purse on my hip or was carrying my phone down at my side. This was confirmed by our trip two weeks ago when my sister got pulled over for bag check the one time she had her bag on her hip. Since then, I make sure that my purse in centered on the front of my body and my cell phone is either in the or I am holding it up high, as if it was an umbrella.

Interesting! I wonder if maybe the way I was carrying the bag is the problem. I thought maybe it's something with the bag itself, I seem to only get pulled aside for the additional screening when I use that one bag, but who knows. It's annoying because I love that bag!

We saw the lions playing one time, too. It was really special to see. Our last safari was lacking savanna animals, including giraffes. I don't think I ever had a safari ride before without seeing giraffes.

Isn't it so cool to see them playing? That's wild you didn't see any giraffes on your safari. Our safaris in September had very few animals, but we at least saw a giraffe or two!

 

[VAtink]

Ugh. The bus situation can be so frustrating. I love the addition of the screens showing estimated arrival times .... that is, when it is working and accurate. The bag check can also be frustrating, although I appreciate the efforts at keeping us safe. I hold my phone, glasses case and umbrella way out in front of me, wait a beat so I'm not super close to the person in front of me, and keep my arm raised so the guard can look at me after the beep and see what it was. That has - knock on wood- been working for me lately. It took me a ridiculously long time initially to realize that a mini tin of Altoids was setting it off. You lose me on the bird show. I am TERRIFIED. Can't go anywhere near it.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the buses. It is definitely nice have the screen showing the arrival times, but so frustrating when the arrival time keeps getting later and later!

I'm still trying to figure out what is setting it off, I asked the security CM that did the additional check and he thought maybe it was my phone, but was also surprised that I set it off with what little I had in my bag.

Oh no on the bird show! I don't mind birds (clearly), but I know so many people who are scared of them! I do worry that the parrots will fly into my head when they leave, but so far they haven't!

 

[VAtink]

Day 2, Part 2: A Perfect Nomad Lunch!​

I was heading into Pandora for some more pictures, but when I passed Nomad I saw a line had already formed, so decided to hop in line instead. It was only 10:20 in the morning! Definitely the earliest I’ve ever seen a line form there!

While waiting I chatted with the people in line ahead of me. They were a super nice couple who also makes a point to go to Nomad as often as possible!

Usually when I go to Nomad, it opens early around 10:50, but today it sadly didn’t. They waited until right at 11:00.

They also did not let us pick our tables this morning, but fortunately I was assigned a great table along the railing.

I settled in and the server came out quickly.



I ordered the leaping lizard and asked if it was possible to get the octopus from the Tiffins menu out there. This has been very hit or miss at Nomad, last time they couldn’t do that, the time before they could, but I figured it didn’t hurt to ask!

Fortunately, this time the server came back and informed me that they could do the octopus for me! Yay!!!!!

The drink came out quickly, and the server told me that it’s supposed to look like a lizard looking at you!



Never noticed this before!

The octopus came out soon after and it was SO good! They changed it once again, this time it had some heat to it, not too spicy, but just the right amount, and definitely spicy per Disney standards! I loved it!



After finishing the octopus I ordered the beef and pork sliders and a glass of pinot grigio (actually ordered the pinot gris off the menu, but they were out so the server suggested the pinot grigio that wasn’t on the menu yet).

This all ended up being very good! I loved the spices on the fries!



While eating the cavalcades floated by a few times.



I love watching them from Nomad.

While eating I booked a LL for MMRR for the early afternoon, even though I wasn’t planning on being at HS until later in the evening, but with the ability to modify I knew I could change it to be later once the return times got to be a bit later in the day.

I finally finished up my meal around 12:45 and headed out and over to Pandora for my ILL for FoP.

It was a great ride once again and I was off the ride at 1:20. Once off I went to try to book a Minnie Van, and was thrilled that I got on immediately and it was supposed to arrive in 5 minutes! Eek!

So I booked it to the front of the park and over to the bus area. I ended up arriving at the Minnie Van stop at the same time as my car, perfect timing!

It was a quick ride back to the YC, and I was super happy to see mousekeeping had already done my room.

I took a quick shower, then tried to take a nap to make up for the lack of sleep the night before.

Next up: More FARTs Food Studios!​

 

[Wood Nymph]

I was heading into Pandora for some more pictures, but when I passed Nomad I saw a line had already formed, so decided to hop in line instead. It was only 10:20 in the morning! Definitely the earliest I’ve ever seen a line form there!

What makes Nomad so popular that people are willing to line up for it?

 

[Araminta18]

Following! We did a FARTS trip the week after you, so it's fun reading your experiences. Also Nomad is the best!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Nothing like an afternoon at Nomad! I both love and hate that they're always tweaking the menu and the dishes. Those yuca fries are soooo good. The Minnie vans are $$$ but such a delight and so worth it when you want to get somewhere quickly ... time is money, especially at WDW!

 

[erinch]

On your list of broken things from the first day, you forgot to include SLEEP!

For just a moment, I was sitting at Nomad, and then was startled to realize I have to go get ready for work!

 

[khertz]

The drink is so cute! Glad you got to enjoy a nice meal at Nomad. That view!! How nice getting to watch the floatillas go by.

 

[Joy1127]

Were you using a magicband+? Those do seem super finnicky with rooms! Although Ive had bad luck with the old ones too LOL

also I was constantly getting pulled aside for secondary checks in disney and I tested out a theory that maybe my major RBF was causing it. I always make sure to smile now and ever since I havent been pulled aside! its probably random and not even a thing but it does seem weird! lol

 

[suse66]

Sure enough, the ride was a walk on, so I ended up riding it four times in a row!

So fun! Love EE in the early morning!

The safari today was one of the better ones I’ve ever been on! There were so many animals out and they were all very active! Even the lions were playing around!

Nothing better than a great safari.

This is such a cute show, although I always feel like the birds are going to fly into my head when the leave!

I have never seen the bitd show at the front of the park but I adore the one back in Asia.

I ordered the leaping lizard and asked if it was possible to get the octopus from the Tiffins menu out there. This has been very hit or miss at Nomad, last time they couldn’t do that, the time before they could, but I figured it didn’t hurt to ask!

Fortunately, this time the server came back and informed me that they could do the octopus for me! Yay!!!!!

The drink came out quickly, and the server told me that it’s supposed to look like a lizard looking at you!

Nomads is always such a treat.

I love watching them from Nomad.

I finally finished up my meal around 12:45 and headed out and over to Pandora for my ILL for FoP.

It was a great ride once again and I was off the ride at 1:20. Once off I went to try to book a Minnie Van, and was thrilled that I got on immediately and it was supposed to arrive in 5 minutes! Eek!

So I booked it to the front of the park and over to the bus area. I ended up arriving at the Minnie Van stop at the same time as my car, perfect timing!

It was a quick ride back to the YC, and I was super happy to see mousekeeping had already done my room.

I took a quick shower, then tried to take a nap to make up for the lack of sleep the night before.

Next up: More FARTs Food Studios!

What a fabulous morning! Nothing like leaving the park with a full rest of the day planned!

 

[BLTFrank]

Following!

 

[VAtink]

What makes Nomad so popular that people are willing to line up for it?

Pretty sure its the atmosphere. The food is great, but at least for me being able to sit out on the side patio in the shade with a nice breeze while overlooking the river and the cavalcades is the best (especially with a good drink)! I do miss the days when it was kind of a secret, we used to be able to walk in and grab a seat and be like one of two parties there. But now that various vloggers have started to rave about how great it is the secret is out!

 

[VAtink]

Following! We did a FARTS trip the week after you, so it's fun reading your experiences. Also Nomad is the best!!

I hope you had a fantastic trip! And yes, Nomad is 100% the best. I could spend my entire AK day just sitting at Nomad!

 

[VAtink]

Nothing like an afternoon at Nomad! I both love and hate that they're always tweaking the menu and the dishes. Those yuca fries are soooo good. The Minnie vans are $$$ but such a delight and so worth it when you want to get somewhere quickly ... time is money, especially at WDW!

Right? I still think if they set up hammocks on the patio there they could sell them for like $100/hr. I would definitely pay that!

I hear you on the menu changes. I don't think I've ever had the same menu there. Remember when they used to have poutine on the menu?!? I did really like the menu this time around, the food was a lot more seasoned than in the past, everything had some pretty decent spices on them!

Minnie vans are so awesome, but yeah, so expensive. I just love the door to door service, especially when traveling to/from the MK!

 

[VAtink]

On your list of broken things from the first day, you forgot to include SLEEP!

HAAA!!! You are 100% correct, I totally forgot that. Will add that to the remaining days of the trip.

For just a moment, I was sitting at Nomad, and then was startled to realize I have to go get ready for work!

Ugh, I hate when that happens. And now I'm wondering if I can maybe convince my boss to let me work remotely from Nomad for like a month...hmmm....