How -you- doin', East Coast? (October 23-25 2020)

[Jaina]

Table of Contents

Introduction
History
Traveling to Orlando from Phoenix
Hollywood Studios (Friday)
Magic Kingdom (Saturday)
Animal Kingdom (Sunday)
Trip Videos

 

[Jaina]

This was supposed to be my year of Disney. My first time (at 37/38) having an annual pass to Disneyland, and going whenever my little heart desired. (Well, and when guiding a microschool in my home, making the 6-7 hour drive from AZ and having 5 busy kids between 3 and 14 permitted...). I was planning to take several solo trips, several trips with friends, and individual trips with each of my kids. So... I got my pass in November, and did some of each of those between November and March, (you can see those trip reports in my signature) fitting in 4 trips during that time. Our last trip was just a few days before Disneyland closed because of covid-19, and I had no clue that it still wouldn't be open almost 7 months later.

For months and months I stalked the news cycles (mostly via these boards) and watched and waited for signs of it re-opening. I was super excited about the July 17th date, and planned to be there day 1, if I could get a reservation. :-/ Now, 3-ish months later, we are still waiting. So a few weeks ago, (at my husband's urging... he gets weary of my no-Disneyland-depression) I finally booked a trip to WDW. I am calling it my quick-and-dirty trip, since it was booked about 5-6 weeks ahead of time, I only have a handful of ADR's, and I'm not even staying onsite or visiting Epcot. (The horror!) But I'm still going, and I'm still very, very excited.

 

[Jaina]

The Cast

Well, it was supposed to be just me. I jokingly (kinda) invited several sisters/sisters-in-law, but everyone is busy, and most of my people aren't quite Disney-obsessed enough to want to blow over a thousand dollars to go to Florida and wear a mask for 4-5 days straight right now instead of just waiting another year or two for Disneyland to be normal-ish. That's me, I'm the crazy one. (My name is actually Sara. It's a long story, involving Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom game, and my avatar, and I DO actually have a Disney-obsessed daughter named Jaina now, 15 years later...)


But my father-in-law's fiancé, N, found out I was going, she got really excited, and asked about maybe accompanying me. She is a fun, positive, lover-of-all-Disney-things person, so I was fine with that. Normally I wouldn't even mind going by myself, but I expect it would be a little more lonely than usual to be solo, what with all the masks and stay-6-feet-away and ride-in-your-own-vehicle stuff that's going on right now. She took a few days to figure it out for sure (she's a school-teacher, and had to look at finances, and see if she could get a few days off) but she is definitely going with me now, and found a flight (different from mine - my Southwest flight was too expensive by the time she was getting onboard) arriving and departing at similar times, bought her ticket (through Undercover Tourist) and reserved her park days. She loves all things Disney, but hasn't been to DLR much because her life has been a little intense, and it's super expensive. She and my FIL have gone a couple times in the last 2 years, but she's never been to California Adventure. I'll have to chat with her over our several days and find out more about her Disneyland history. (This is N with my FIL and a few of our kids several years ago)

The Plan

We are leaving Phoenix on October 22nd at about 1:30 PM, and I have a layover in Denver on the way out. We were able to book my flight with rewards points, which helped me make the decision to go. N and I both arrive around 11 PM local time, (which is only 8 for us on AZ time) and we'll pick up our rental car at the terminal (also through Undercover Tourist) and head to our hotel.

Which is... well, I'm not sure. I just didn't feel excited about paying the extra cost to stay on-site (covid hasn't been nice to small business owners, and things are a little tight, so I'm trying to keep this trip on the low budget end) when I feel like most of the perks of staying on-site aren't so perky right now. So I -think- we're staying at the Delta Hotels Orlando Lake Buena Vista by Marriott. As long as they can add my name to the reservation, since for some reason it automatically used my husband's name when we booked through Southwesthotels. If we can't get it worked out, I had some back up options on booking.com.

I know that weekdays are so much better now, but with both of us teaching (more or less, her more, me less) and my husband's schedule, it just works better for us to do a weekend. Since I have class T-W-Th (I have 9 kinder-2nd graders) I don't even have to miss any days of class, just cut Thursday's class short. So we're doing Hollywood Studios Friday (it's 10 AM official opening gave us west-coasters the best chance to make rope drop after a late night), the Magic Kingdom Saturday (because I need my Disneyland-ish fix) and Animal Kingdom on Sunday. We're going to attempt to be at the parking lot 10-20 minutes before they open it every day if we can make it happen! I have reservations at the Brown Derby for a late lunch Friday, at Be Our Guest (because I may or may not ever make it back!) for a late lunch Saturday, and at Beaches and Cream Sunday evening, so we can check out the Boardwalk, which I remember from my first/only trip over 20 years ago. (More on that later) I also have alerts set for the Sci-Fi Drive In and for a later dinner time for Beaches and Cream, since they changed AK's hours since I booked it... we'll have to see what we can snag or decide on that one. We fly back out Monday mid-morning.

 

[Jaina]

The History (Tiny trip report from 2 decades before)

So, you may have noticed I said that I have been to WDW one other time. I just looked at my scrapbook from that trip (and was thrilled to discover mostly-mint guide maps from the parks I visited saved between pages! Settle in (all .5 of you) for the story.

It was the summer of 1998. I don't remember who was president. (A Bush? Clinton?) And I was totally unaware of the planning/real cost that went into a trip like this (even though I had been fundraising for months) because I wasn't quite 16 yet. One of my best friends and I had both qualified at our state competition to go to F.B.L.A. (Future Business Leaders of America) Nationals, which was held in Orlando, Florida that year. I grew up going to Disneyland about every other year, because my dad loved it, so I was excited for the opportunity to check out Walt Disney World.

We flew out of Tucson, AZ with the rest of the Arizona delegation (27 people) on Friday, July 3rd and arrived in Orlando about 5 PM local time. This was my first experience with real humidity, since I'd never been out of the southwest states, and hadn't flown since my first trip (to L.A., haha) at 9. Our competition was at the WDW Dolphin/Swan, and our rooms were in the Dolphin. I was unimpressed with the giant "Dolphin" statues, and how they looked more like tuna or something, but otherwise the hotel was super awesome for a small-town girl from AZ! (That's my friend in front of it, and the view from our room. Let's all say "yay" for 90's scrapbooking and how it ruined pictures, haha...)

Saturday, July 4th we were at the Magic Kingdom! I actually don't have a lot of super-clear memories from it (because it gets confusing, mixing with my stronger memories of Disneyland during those years), but I remember it was a little lame because we were there on the 4th of July, but the fire danger was so high in Florida that there were no fireworks. Seriously?? We hung out with the other two girls from our school, and our advisor much of the day, but then my friend and I split off from them for the last part of the day, and got ourselves back to the room when we were done. For 15/16-year-olds, that was pretty exciting stuff. I was frustrated, because it felt like I should know where I was going there, because it's so similar to DL, but I kept running into dead ends, and wondering why things were in the wrong place. But the castle was . My favorite!! And the parade was really cool.

According to my map, we did POTC (I was unimpressed), Big Thunder, Splash Mountain (better than Disneyland!), IASW, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Skyway to Tomorrowland (so excited to ride this, since it had been gone from Disneyland for 4 years), the Astro Orbiter, the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (Terrifying!!), Space Mountain (much rougher than DL's), and The Timekeeper(?).

On Sunday, July 5th, we only had part of a day (we had to get back for events by 2 or 3 PM at the Swan) and we decided to do Epcot that day. We spent a lot of the morning in Future World, since the World Showcase didn't open until 11 AM. It was fun to ride the ferry over and back from the Dolphin. We checked out Innoventions, Spaceship Earth, (Test Track was opening later that year), Journey Into Imagination, the Living Seas, and the Land a little bit. By the time the World Showcase opened, we only had time to go all the way around a take a picture in each land. The heat and humidity that day was doing scary things to my 90's-bangs... Our advisor had chosen to come with us that day, so we had a photographer to commemorate it all. I look forward to going back and exploring Epcot in detail on a future trip with my husband, when it's fully functional, but it's not something I chose to do this trip, with only 3 days to spend in the parks.

On Monday we had competitions all day, but on Tuesday, July 7th, we were able to spend one more day at the parks. We had chosen the brand new Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was so cool!! New, so not a LOT of stuff just yet, but I love animals, so even seeing the lions and giraffes up close-ish was really cool. The Tree of Life was so awesome. The Tree of Life Garden was cool, and we also saw It's Tough to be a Bug! (which I saw again later when it opened in CA), did the Discovery River Boats, rode Countdown to Extinction, Checked out a lot of the other cool Dinoland, USA stuff, saw Journey into Jungle Book at Theater in the Wild, Checked out the Conservation Station, rode the awesome Kilimanjaro Safaris, and did several animal encounters. We also watched the Festival of the Lion King, which blew us away! It had rained on us hard every day, but this day was particularly exciting, as it seemed like it would never stop! Girls from Arizona can do heavy rain, but if it doesn't let up in 5-10 minutes, we start getting concerned... My friend and I finally bought a big poncho to share (because that's how much money we had left, haha) so we could run around and try to do something other than waiting under a little shop. We were so soaked that we were kind of freezing, and found some hot chocolate. I'm so, so excited to see the Animal Kingdom with all the additions and awesome attractions they've added since opening!

After another day of competitions, we managed to sneak away to explore the Boardwalk and find some souvenirs in their shops before we had to head to the airport on the 9th. It was such a lovely little area, and I think the weather was nicer that morning. It was a really fun trip, and I'm so looking forward to revisiting some cool places and things, seeing a bunch of new stuff, and going to Hollywood Studios for the first time!

 

[Heather07438]

This is awesome. Enjoy your return trip!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

 

[Jaina]

This is awesome. Enjoy your return trip!

Following along. Looking forward to reading more

Thank you for following along! I'm excited about this trip!

 

[caylene44]

Following!

I’ve been off the DIS to avoid missing Disney but back on recently because we randomly booked a WDW trip for 12/26 - 12/31. It’s so hard for us DLR APs - sometimes I feel like the parks won’t ever reopen.

hope you have an amazing trip - can’t wait to read more!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hello from a former Tucsonian! I lived there from ages 4 to 14 back in the 70s/80s. Also lived in PHX for a year and a half. We only made one trip to DL, in 1976 during the US Bicentennial. And yes, us desert rats were built for heat but not that humidity - and the monsoon season brought the rain, but it was refreshing in the southwest. Just drenching and hot in FL.

Great look back at your trip to WDW! Glad you got to experience as much as you did given the short/busy timeframe you were there. I was at the Dolphin a year ago and I hear you on the look of the Dolphin statue. And I totally agree on the joy of getting to ride the Skyway - got to experience it at DL but it was gone from MK by the time we made it there. And I agree on your assessments of the ride differences, especially PoTC and SM.

Less than 10 days until you fly - whoohoo! We too are staying off-site, hope it is a great place to stay. I agree that the perks are less right now staying on property. The only downside is the transportation logistics, the family doesn't have as much freedom of movement not being able to walk out and use the Disney busses and so forth.

Have a great day and have fun with the last of the logistics/planning!

 

[Jaina]

Following!

I’ve been off the DIS to avoid missing Disney but back on recently because we randomly booked a WDW trip for 12/26 - 12/31. It’s so hard for us DLR APs - sometimes I feel like the parks won’t ever reopen.

hope you have an amazing trip - can’t wait to read more!

Thanks! I know what you mean! I avoided them a lot on and off too. Your heart can only take so much anticipation. And what an exciting time for a trip! I hope the weather will be beautiful for you!!

Hello from a former Tucsonian! I lived there from ages 4 to 14 back in the 70s/80s. Also lived in PHX for a year and a half. We only made one trip to DL, in 1976 during the US Bicentennial. And yes, us desert rats were built for heat but not that humidity - and the monsoon season brought the rain, but it was refreshing in the southwest. Just drenching and hot in FL.

Great look back at your trip to WDW! Glad you got to experience as much as you did given the short/busy timeframe you were there. I was at the Dolphin a year ago and I hear you on the look of the Dolphin statue. And I totally agree on the joy of getting to ride the Skyway - got to experience it at DL but it was gone from MK by the time we made it there. And I agree on your assessments of the ride differences, especially PoTC and SM.

Less than 10 days until you fly - whoohoo! We too are staying off-site, hope it is a great place to stay. I agree that the perks are less right now staying on property. The only downside is the transportation logistics, the family doesn't have as much freedom of movement not being able to walk out and use the Disney busses and so forth.

Have a great day and have fun with the last of the logistics/planning!

It's nice to see you on here again!
We are off in less than a week now, and I'm pretty excited! You didn't say when you're going. When are you booked for? The whole family? I'm excited you're going!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Following along. I hope you enjoy getting back to WDW! We were supposed to do DLR for the first time this year but life had other plans clearly.

 

[kclark9830]

I love the mini TR! How cool . Hope your trip is fabulous!

 

[Jaina]

Thanks to everyone following along!! Today I have been reading through the more recent trip experiences, and I am having a hard time not feeling stressed about the crowds WDW has had on the weekends. :-o I'm sure that I will buck up and just be excited when it gets closer, but right now I am just praying for decent weather that's not tooo hot, haha. And I'm going to try to remember that no matter what I'm getting to check out all these fun parks that I have either not seen in 20 years, or have never seen, and that I get a break from my regular work/life and get to do something fun!

I'm having a hard time deciding what to wear in the parks, which I usually have totally figured out. I do know we are going to wear these shirts on our MK day, and they just arrived today!

 

[mnmrmustard]

It's nice to see you on here again!
We are off in less than a week now, and I'm pretty excited! You didn't say when you're going. When are you booked for? The whole family? I'm excited you're going!

It has been waaayyy too long, last trip was back in 2012. I thought I remembered you from past TRs, but my brain is mashed potatoes right now, sorry As far as the trip, it is indeed the whole family - we're celebrating DS's 21st birthday and will be in the parks (WDW & US) December 2nd thru the 10th! We did something similar 3 years ago when DD turned 21 except that trip was to DLR. PTR going in here too if you have the time, but with your trip coming up so quick I'm sure you have your hands full!

Thanks to everyone following along!! Today I have been reading through the more recent trip experiences, and I am having a hard time not feeling stressed about the crowds WDW has had on the weekends. :-o I'm sure that I will buck up and just be excited when it gets closer, but right now I am just praying for decent weather that's not tooo hot, haha. And I'm going to try to remember that no matter what I'm getting to check out all these fun parks that I have either not seen in 20 years, or have never seen, and that I get a break from my regular work/life and get to do something fun!

I'm having a hard time deciding what to wear in the parks, which I usually have totally figured out. I do know we are going to wear these shirts on our MK day, and they just arrived today!

Well at least Bob Chapek had finally confirmed that they have set the capacity limit at 25%, which equates to the amount of people let in for the after hours parties such as Very Merry Christmas. So that's something to go on. I think it really just comes down to how you navigate the park and having the patience to wait for larger groups to go by before moving.

Good luck with the weather! And even if its hot it'll be worth it just to have that escape from the complex quagmire that is daily life right now. Just to walk down Main Street and hear the music of the park is worth it. Good call on shorts and T-shirts! We're figuring out our what to wear too, always a dice roll in early December.

Are there any dining reservations you are still trying to wrangle? I'm interested in the kind of luck one can expect as the trip gets closer and parkgoers start changing things around and open up opportunities for us waiting in the wings.

No matter how it goes, its Disney and we need that magic more than ever - so excited for you guys!!!

 

[Jaina]

You're good - I find the older I get and the more people I meet and interact with, the harder it is for me to keep people straight! Were instagram friends too, but my name there is Sara, so it gets confusing. I joined the DISboards when I was looking for some answers on an online Disney game, (Virtual Magic Kingdom) and my avatar's name was Jaina. That was several years before I had a daughter named Jaina.

I got mostly packed yesterday, which was exciting, and I'm trying to just be so excited that it's happening! Where is that confirmation about 25%? Yes, it would make me feel better to know that. We did a Halloween Party at Disneyland once, and it was so fun, and most lines were pretty short! (Except for a Peter Pan one that said 20 min and ended up being 35 ) Of course, there are also all the party-limited characters and treats to suck of some of the crowds there, haha... One week from today we'll be at the Animal Kingdom, and this morning, 2 hours after opening, the only lines that look bad there are Mickey & Minnie's and Slinky Dog.

I have 3 reservations, but my last one (Sunday evening at 6) is at Beaches and Cream and I keep looking for a later reservation to switch that to if possible, since AK's hours used to be 5 PM but are now through 6 PM. I hate leaving a park before it closes when it's that early!

 

[mnmrmustard]

You're good - I find the older I get and the more people I meet and interact with, the harder it is for me to keep people straight! Were instagram friends too, but my name there is Sara, so it gets confusing. I joined the DISboards when I was looking for some answers on an online Disney game, (Virtual Magic Kingdom) and my avatar's name was Jaina. That was several years before I had a daughter named Jaina.

Yes indeed, especially since I hadn't been on here in 3 years for the DLR TR and not in the WDW TR threads in 8! I re-found your Instagram ...so hard to keep up on the social media. My own fault as I am involved in a bunch of different things and have 6K followers on IG and 5K on FB. My wife just rolls her eyes and shakes her head at it all

I got mostly packed yesterday, which was exciting, and I'm trying to just be so excited that it's happening! Where is that confirmation about 25%?

Yay for being mostly packed! There are several articles about it, you can just google "bob chapek confirms 25%" and you'll see them. What it really means is that there will still be "choke point" crowds, but the majority of park navigation should be pretty good.

Yes, it would make me feel better to know that. We did a Halloween Party at Disneyland once, and it was so fun, and most lines were pretty short! (Except for a Peter Pan one that said 20 min and ended up being 35 ) Of course, there are also all the party-limited characters and treats to suck of some of the crowds there, haha... One week from today we'll be at the Animal Kingdom, and this morning, 2 hours after opening, the only lines that look bad there are Mickey & Minnie's and Slinky Dog.

I have 3 reservations, but my last one (Sunday evening at 6) is at Beaches and Cream and I keep looking for a later reservation to switch that to if possible, since AK's hours used to be 5 PM but are now through 6 PM. I hate leaving a park before it closes when it's that early!

That sounds like the ride waits I've seen on YouTube VLOGS with the parkgoers that I follow (mostly Tim & Jen AKA Timtracker and Molly from Allears). One week - whoohoo! I'm totally on board with not leaving the parks early, especially with the limited hours they are open. We've only committed to one so far - The Wave at the Contemporary a half hour after MK closes on our first MK day. Good luck getting that later time for Beaches! Have you been in there since the remodel?

 

[Jaina]

Yes indeed, especially since I hadn't been on here in 3 years for the DLR TR and not in the WDW TR threads in 8! I re-found your Instagram ...so hard to keep up on the social media. My own fault as I am involved in a bunch of different things and have 6K followers on IG and 5K on FB. My wife just rolls her eyes and shakes her head at it all



Yay for being mostly packed! There are several articles about it, you can just google "bob chapek confirms 25%" and you'll see them. What it really means is that there will still be "choke point" crowds, but the majority of park navigation should be pretty good.



That sounds like the ride waits I've seen on YouTube VLOGS with the parkgoers that I follow (mostly Tim & Jen AKA Timtracker and Molly from Allears). One week - whoohoo! I'm totally on board with not leaving the parks early, especially with the limited hours they are open. We've only committed to one so far - The Wave at the Contemporary a half hour after MK closes on our first MK day. Good luck getting that later time for Beaches! Have you been in there since the remodel?

Social media is a strange beast. I get more positive than negative from it, so I stay involved. I have never been to Beaches. It sent me several notifications about canceled bookings, but even the few times I was holding my phone and clicked on it immediately, it was already gone. C'est la vie.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Loving your IG pics from "The World"!!!

 

[Jaina]

DAY 1: TRAVELING TO FLORIDA

I released my class 2 hours early, dropped the 4-year-old off at her pre-school class, and my husband and 6-year-old drove me the 20 minutes to the airport. They are so sweet.

I don’t remember seeing anyone without a mask on at the Phoenix airport. (I actually don’t care about people wearing masks or not, especially if they’re not within a couple feet of me, or if they aren’t coughing or sneezing, but I know some people are more worried about it, so I tried to pay attention during my trip so I could report.)

I was so excited to be heading off on a trip! My flight departed from Phoenix to Denver at 1 PM. I really enjoyed being able to look at the changing scenery, and for this reason, I always try to get a window seat. (That and my avoidance of airplane bathrooms except in extreme circumstances, haha) It was so nice that Southwest still has the middle seats open. Just nice to have room and nice to not be in close quarters like that with someone for so long. Denver was completely covered in clouds, and it was fun to go down into them and see how different the light was under the clouds. Also, shorts made way more sense when departing Phoenix and thinking about arriving in Florida, than they did in CO, where it was 40 degrees. I seriously forget that other places actually have fall weather this month…

I had almost a 2 hours layover, which I mostly spent reading a book, hiding far away from other people, and eating sunflower seeds so I could have a mask break. I’m not used to wearing it all day, so it felt nice to take a 30 minute break before my 3.5 hour flight. Even with my microschool, it’s only 5 hours a day, and I don’t have to wear a mask unless we can’t be distanced while inside, so it’s about ⅔ of the time. Thankfully everywhere I was Thursday was pretty air-conditioned, so it was a gentle intro to the next 3 days, haha.

Coming up out of the clouds in Denver was super cool, because sunset was approaching, and the sun was so orange and pretty! My second flight didn’t get into Orlando until 11 PM local time, and baggage claim didn’t take overly long. My friend, N, had landed as well, so she started trying to find her way to me from a different terminal. Then things went a little south. I had booked a Budget car rental through UC, and guess how many other people were also trying to get a metal car at 11:30 at night? This many:

It took N a while to find me, but she made it over and just hung out while I waited in line (because they didn’t want any extra people in line.) We didn’t get a rental car until an hour later, and I spent most of that hour stressing slightly because I didn’t bring the credit card I had paid for the car with (I just traveled with Disney Visa and a debit card back up) and ALSO I had (not thinking) grabbed my “extra” license that I usually travel with instead of my completely current one. All the info on it is the same, but I didn’t know if they’d have to scan it and in the system it would come up as old or what… (In AZ our licenses don’t expire until we hit 65, and I must have misplaced this one at some point and ordered another one). I was kicking myself for not having both of the best documents, and wondering if it was going to work out. Spoiler: they didn’t have any issue with the credit card I’d brought, and my license seemed fine to them. But then driving to Kissimmee on the toll roads was more stressful than I anticipated. I had plenty of quarters, and a passenger to count out change for me, but still I didn’t enjoy it, worrying about exiting in the right spots. There may have been a few feet of grass driving at the first almost-missed toll pull out. I was just grateful it was late at night with few other people on the road. It would be worth it to just turn on the transponder next time even if it was more cost.

We arrived at our hotel, the Delta by Marriott, (just northeast of Disney Springs area) at 1 am, and check in was quick. The room was very nice, but we didn’t get to sleep until after 2 local time after getting settled in and our parks bags ready for the next day. It’s always hard to get to/stay asleep the first night before hitting the parks!

 

[Jaina]

DAY TWO: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS - Friday, Oct 23rd

(disclaimer: There will be a few pictures of me without a mask in here while at the Parks. They were only taken while I was sitting down, about to eat or had just finished eating, or while I was at least 12-50 feet from anyone else, and took it off for literally 5-10 seconds, snapped the picture and put it back on. Even though I'm not a bit mask fan, I did my best to follow the rules and be respectful of those around me)

With the three hour time difference, and getting to sleep late the night before, it was hard to get up at 7:30-ish the next morning. I took advice from these boards, and we got a Lyft to the Speedway and walked over to Hollywood Studios via the Boardwalk resort. (By the way, that cute black and white ShopDisney mask? SO hard to breathe in in the humidity for us! We only wore them a bit in the first hour or two, and then switched exclusively to homemade lightweight cotton ones. I didn't ever try the disposable ones I had while I was there.)

I got a little confused about which way was which, which is never fun. Having lived in AZ most of my life, and living in the Phoenix Valley with lots of gridded streets and visible landmarks, I generally have a good sense of direction! We finally got headed the right way, and arrived at the lineup outside HS at 8:35 (for a 10 AM official opening) and after being dropped off at the Speedway at 8:18. There were plenty of people in line already, but I still felt like we were early to the game. The line started moving towards the tents at 8:45. We went left at the fork (towards more tents) and would have been through the gates just before 9 am if we hadn’t had to stop and exchange our UT vouchers for RFID cards at the ticket booths. So it was 9:08 when we scanned through the gates.

We made it to Toy Story land by 9:15 am and headed for Slinky Dog Dash. Very fun little coaster, that I would have liked to have tried again. It took us 10 minutes from entering the line to being in a vehicle. (9:27 AM)

We took a few fun pictures in TSL and then I made the executive experience to jump on TSMM with no line before trekking to the other end of the park. The line is so super cute, and we were grateful for the a/c, since we were all drippy with wet masks after walking with purpose for most of the last hour. It took us 3 minutes to walk in through the line, and we rode at 9:36.

I just loved TSL! My favorite part of A Bug's Land was always the side perspective, so it was un to experience it again here, and with all the nostalgic toys.

When we walked by the Slinky Dog “end of the line” at 9:49, it said 90 minutes already. It was time to head towards the Tower of Terror!

We got in line for it at 9:53 and the wait said 25 minutes. I really enjoyed the line for this one. The building and grounds are so elaborate, and it was so fun to notice all the details! I love Guardians with all my heart (and don’t enjoy spooky rides that much) but the look of the ToT buildings is so amazing, and I do miss ours for that.

We had been unsuccessful at becoming friends? On WDE (at DLR you can just scan your tickets into each other’s apps) but a CM told us is we couldn’t do it in time and one of us got it and one didn’t, guest services could help us. N and I both tried right at 10 am (watching the second hand on my smart watch) and mine said “Something went wrong!” Augh!!! I was really hoping for a boarding pass for ROTR, since N had never ridden it, and since there aren’t that many attractions at HS.

I went back and tried again and got the same error. THEN I went back and tried again and got the blessed “You are already in a boarding group!” message!!! My daughter, DD12 (he Disney-obsessed one) had been riding the bus to her junior high, and we had installed the app on the teen phone and I showed her how to get one if she wanted to try that morning. I knew she would enjoy it, and thought she might have luck. And she did! She tested me and was SO excited to be the one who had gotten us Boarding Group 38! Well, me. We’d have to tackle that in a bit, but I knew if we couldn’t get it worked out, I’d just send N, since I’ve ridden ROTR 3 times at Disneyland already.