Final trip on AP - November 2024

[hes122]

So last November, I upgraded my park ticket to an AP knowing that a) my sister was LIKELY planning a trip during her kids' spring break trip and b) my normal Disney travel buddy & I had been trying to plan a trip for over 2 years and it kept getting cancelled or rescheduled. Those two trips happened in March and August, respectively. In early-September I decided to price out one final trip for just a few days to get one last taste of my AP before it expired as I wasn't planning to renew. I initially booked for two nights at All-Star Movies, but about a week later I changed it to three nights because the timing of potential flights was better for what I wanted to do. I still wasn't 100% convinced this trip was going to happen, but about a week after that I bit the bullet and bought my plane ticket. My original plan was to arrive Monday night, go to EP on Tuesday (we missed F&W by 4 days in August), MK on Wednesday, and then come Thursday morning. About a week after I bought my plane ticket, the airline notified me that my return flight was pushed back to 5:30 PM (it had been like 10:30 am), so that meant I could go to a park on Thursday now as well.

When I first upgraded to the AP, a friend of mine (not my normal Disney travel buddy) and I talked about going, but it ended up not being good timing for her. I mentioned it to my mom who was interested in joining me. Unfortunately the pricing for what days she could do was a little more than she wanted to spend, so she changed her mind and I booked the days that I had been looking at all along. My sister (not the one I traveled with in March) happened to be in town in early October and when I mentioned it to her, she sounded interested so I gave her my flight times and the pricing information. A couple weeks later she told me she wouldn't be able to go, so by that point I was content to travel by myself. A friend who lives in a different state and her mom were going to be there at that time, so we figured we'd just grab a meal or something at some point, but never made concrete plans other than me timing up a few on my MK LLs with hers.

I had pre-booked LLSP for Guardians on Tuesday and LLMP for MK on Wednesday. I was able to time up my HM LL with my friend's LL and also pre-reserved Pirates and Tiana. I also booked the Mears shuttle for my trip to/from MCO.

 

[hes122]

Day 1- Arrival

My flight was scheduled to arrive around 8:45 PM, which is why I didn't bother with trying to do a park that day because everything was closing at 10 or earlier. About two weeks before my trip I noticed that MK was scheduled to be open until 11 that night. I contemplated canceling my shuttle and catching an uber to the hotel, drop my bags and hop on the bus to MK so I could at least knock out 7DMT or Tron before the park closed. I was all set to do that when I noticed that Disney changed the park close time back to 10:00, so I knew there was no way I'd be able to make it.

My flight landed early that day (like 8:05), so there was a chance that I could still make it. I decided to take the shuttle rather than uber, and while we boarded the bus quickly we did not actually pull out of the airport until 8:50 (we had to go pick people up at the other terminal which took time). I didn't anticipate being the last resort on the shuttle run, so it was 9:40ish by the time we got to the hotel. So no MK that night. I was tired anyhow, so it wasn't the end of the world. I stopped by the front desk to get the room balance transferred to my GC from my CC so that took some time. I was just about 10 when I got to my room. I was content to unpack and crawl into bed. My room was located in the Mighty Ducks section on the first floor at the end of my section of the building so that was nice.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[hes122]

Day 2 - Epcot

I got up and was able to secure a boarding group for Guardians, which made me happy because it's my current favorite ride in WDW. I had already purchased the LLSP for it so I had at least two things on the agenda for the day. I left the room around 7:45 but in hindsight I should have left earlier because I had to wait quite a bit for the bus. We didn't pull out of the resort until 8:10 or so, which meant that I was still ahead of the regular RD crowd but behind the other resort guests who came for early entry. I guess I've gotten so spoiled by staying on the Skyliner line recently.

Once I got in the park, I went straight for Frozen Ever After which had a posted wait time of 45 minutes, which was pretty much right on the $$ (the time stamp on my photopass picture was 9:28). I stopped to grab something to eat and then made my way over to Figment and the Pixar Shorts as Soarin and Livin with the Land had higher wait times than I really wanted to deal with at that time. After Pixar Shorts I made my way over to The Seas with Nemo and Mission Space (Green) to kill some time before my boarding group got called. It was called just as I was getting off Mission Space, so that ended up being great timing. The wait time in the VQ was about 40 minutes which is about what I expected it would be. Remy & Spaceship Earth were down intermittently throughout the day so that was causing a bit of a shift in wait times for other things,

After that I headed towards the WS because I was hungry and had about 3 hours or so before it was time to use my LLSP. I stopped in Canada to get the Bacon Cheddar soup, which is one of my favorite F&W eats. I then decided to head towards the American Adventure because I wanted to listen to the Voices of Liberty. While I was in there, I spotted Emma & Sage for All Ears. That was the first time I've ever spotted a Disney content creator while in the parks. As I was leaving the show, I spotted Quincy from AE as well (saw her again later in the day, but I didn't go up and talk to anyone). It was also raining, so I pulled out my umbrella and moved along. I stopped in Germany to get some schinkennudeln (another F&W favorite) and then went to Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour.

I had some time to kill before my LLSP so I stopped in the Creation Shops to look around. I didn't really see anything I needed so I moved along. I went to Guardians for my second time that day. I ended up getting September BOTH times. It's my favorite, but I still haven't gotten One Way or Another and was hoping to knock that off my list this trip. It was barely 3:30 and I was tired so I decided to go back to the room and take a cat nap before heading back to the park later. I arrived back in the park around 6:30 or so. Spaceship Earth was still down, so I went to Soarin which had a MUCH more reasonable wait time than it was earlier in the day.

At that point Remy still had a long wait so I decided to hop on the boat over to Hollywood Studios and knock a few things out to decrease the amount of things I might want to do on Thursday. The wait for Rise of the Resistance at 25 minutes and I walked straight through to the pre-show with Rey. It was 8:25 when I was off and headed towards Toy Story Land. Toy Story Mania had a 5 minute wait so I did that and then hopped in line for Slinky Dog Dash by 8:50. The time stamp on my photopass picture was 9:13 so the fact that I knocked out 3 big rides in the span of 75 minutes was a huge win IMO. I could've stayed for the 9:30 Fantasmic but decided to head back to the resort for the evening.

 

[Tina1]

Can’t wait to hear more

 

[hes122]

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

I woke up to rain - yay (insert sarcasm font here). Even though I already a LL for Tiana, I grabbed a BG via the virtual queue. I didn't really NEED to ride it twice (I went on it in June during passholder previews), so I swapped my LL for Peter Pan's Flight, which mean I now had LLs for HM, POTC & PP. My umbrella & I made our way to MK and as I was getting off the bus I ran into my friend & her mom so we walked to the entrance together. Her mom ended up having to go through extra security so my friend & I found a place to stand (somewhat out of the rain) while we waited on her. At that point the rain was really coming down so I put on my poncho.

Once her mom got through the security line, we made our way into the park. We were still within the early entry window, so we had time to spend before our HM LLs. We went on Buzz and then the Carousel of Progress. The rain died down enough that I was able to ditch the poncho (still needed the umbrella though), so we started making our way over to HM. I booked Space Mountain as my next LL. After HM, we went our separate ways because their next LL was for Winne the Pooh, while mine was for Pirates. I was early for my Pirates LL, so I went to the Tiki room.

There was a live pirate in the queue at POTC which was fun (I've only ever seen that during MNSSHP). I booked Jingle Cruise for later in the evening as my 5th LL. I was getting close to my BG callback so I didn't want to stray too far. I got in line for BTMRR (I think the standby wait was 25 minutes; I can't recall for certain). I had hoped my BG would get called while I was in line there, but that didn't happen so I went over the Columbia Harbour House and got something to eat.

My BG got called while I was eating, so after I finished that I went over to Tiana. I expected the VQ line to be longer than it actually was which surprised me. I guess my expectations were that of how it is/was at Guardians and Tron. After Tiana I took the train over to the Fantasyland station as it was getting close to my LL for Space Mountain. Once I tapped in at Space, I booked a LL over at Animal Kingdom for Kilimanjaro Safaris. After I finished up at Space, it was getting close to my time for PP, so I ventured over to Fantasyland. I was early, so I hopped in line at the carousel. Once I was done there, it was time for PP. I booked a LL for Everest and then made my way to the exit to hop on the bus to Animal Kingdom.

While on the bus to AK (it's probably 2:00ish at this point), I (and the group sitting across from me) noticed that the standby wait for Flight of Passage was 20 minutes. Surely that couldn't be accurate, right? Once I got to AK, I checked again and it was still showing that wait so I headed straight there. That wait time was pretty close to being correct. I couldn't believe it. I then made my way to Africa for my KS LL (booked Small World back at MK for later). It was one of my favorite safaris ever. We had zebras and a giraffe right up next to our vehicle! I then headed towards Everest. I rode twice (once using my LL and once using the single rider line). I booked another LL for Little Mermaid at MK for later in the evening.

I was starting to get a little tired, so I left AK and went back to the room for a rest. Around 6:00ish, I headed back to MK for the evening. I had modified my LL for Small World a few times, but I headed straight there when I got arrived back in the park. It was around 7 when I got off Small World (I booked another LL for Mad Tea Party). My LL for Jingle Cruise wasn't until 7:50 so I started looking at what I could do before then, when I noticed that the standby line for 7DMT was 40 minutes. I jumped in that line hoping I could knock that and Jingle Cruise out before fireworks at 8:30 (I also booked a LL at Dumbo). I managed to get BOTH done AND grab some spring rolls by 8:15! I didn't get the best spot for HEA, but that's ok - I was still in front of the castle (would've been a great spot except I a lamppost in my vantage point).

After fireworks I went back to Fantasyland (park close was at 10, so I was working on borrowed time at this point). I used my LLs at LM and Mad Tea Party. I looked at the wait time for Tron and saw that it was 70 minutes (ugghhhh...my feet were really tired, but I'd push through for that) so I decided to skip my Dumbo LL and head to Tron. I got to the queue and saw that it was DEFINITELY not a 70 minute wait based on my previous experiences in that queue. It was 9:56 when I was walking out of the locker room area. I could've gotten back in line, but I was tired and didn't have the energy. I made my way towards the exit, but stopped and sat in the Hub for about 10ish minutes and played on my phone while the crowds dissipated some. I also walked through the Main Street shops. I got back to the hotel, packed a few things and then fell into bed. I had logged almost 21,000 steps that day alone.

 

[DisDreaming4116]

Enjoying your trip report. What a MK, AK, MK day! Awesome!

 

[hes122]

Day 4 - Hollywood Studios & Departure

I was up and moving early this morning because I wanted to get to HS in time for early entry, which meant I had to drop my bags at bell services before I got on the bus since it was my last day and my shuttle was picking me up at 1:55. I was planning to be in HS most of my park time that day, but I love Guardians so I made my park reservation for Epcot and got a BG right at 7 and then promptly switched my reservation to HS. I'd had success with that strategy back in March, so I was comfortable taking the risk in not being able to do that because I didn't want to pay for another LLSP.

I got to HS and was walking down Sunset Boulevard around 8:40. It didn't appear that Tower of Tower was up and running yet, so i went to Rock N Roller Coaster, which was basically a walk on. We were still in the early entry time period when I got off and Tower was now up and running so I went and did that. After that I went to Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, which had a posted wait of about 40 minutes (very accurate posted wait). I then decided to go over to Star Tours since it was posted at 5 minutes.

After that I had done everything that I'd wanted to accomplish in HS for that trip since I had knocked out Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land on day 2, so I decided to head to Epcot in preparation for my Guardians BG. I didn't feel like waiting for the boat (or walking) so I hopped on the Skyliner and took the long way. I had contemplated stopping at Pop and the Boardwalk to see if they had resort magnets in stock (they didn't in March or August), but I just didn't have the energy (I hadn't slept well the night before, and let's be real - I did a decent amount this trip). So I went into Epcot and went to Guardians with a stop in a gift shop to waste a few minutes. While I was in line at Guardians (not even 11 at this point) I thought about going over to the Grand Floridian to see the gingerbread house and having lunch, but ultimately decided that I was done and headed back to the resort. This time I got Disco Inferno, so I still am missing One Way or Another. I was going to ride Spaceship Earth on the way out, but line was longer than I wanted to deal with so I left.

I got back to the resort and got something to eat. I then took another look around the gift shop and found a resort magnet, so I picked that up. I still had about 90 minutes before the shuttle was coming so I went to the main pool at took some pictures as Sorcerer Mickey is one of my favorites. I sat at one of the pool chairs and read for a bit and then went and got my bags and changed into my travel clothes for the trip home.

The ride to the airport and flight home were uneventful. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, my plans once I got back home got changed around. I should've gotten home on Thursday, but I didn't actually get home until Sunday. I ended up having to drive to Michigan from Pennsylvania (luckily I didn't do most of the actual driving) for a funeral on Saturday. So it was a long, exhausting trip. At one point, I slept in a different bed 5 nights in a row.

I'll upload and do an overall review of some things in a day or two.

 

[Pollies]

It's great that you were flexible with booking and adjusted your itinerary as needed. Since you mentioned considering travel options, I’d recommend checking out Travelocity for your future trips. It's a useful site for finding deals on flights and accommodations, with plenty of options. Make sure to read user reviews to make the most informed choices about services like flight schedules, shuttle services, and hotels to ensure your next trip goes smoothly.