July 2024 Trip Report

[Where'sPiglet?]

And hopefully I’m not spoiling the ride for anyone, but we saw the back side of water!



I think my favorite part of this ride is the elephant grotto. They’re so cute!



We then went to use our Lightning Lane for Pirates of the Caribbean. The window lasted longer for this than another ride, but this was on the way.





I liked this lamp in the queue.



I also liked this Pluto in the post-ride gift shop, but I didn’t buy it.



On the way to Big Thunder, we got stopped by the parade.





We made our way through the post-parade crowd over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Although this picture doesn’t show it well, the sky was beginning to look a bit threatening, so we were hoping we’d be able to ride before it stormed.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We were, in fact able to ride Big Thunder. At this point, it was after 3 and we had intended to take an afternoon rest break at around 2.

We did pop into the new Tiana's Critter Co-Op gift shop for a quick browse. I had not looked at any spoilers or researched the new ride much, so I was a little confused by all the characters in the gift shop. They are not in the movie. They had a super cute possum plush that was playing the fiddle, along with a few other characters.









I thought this firefly was so cute, especially after seeing some in Wisconsin, but I didn't buy it. It was more than I wanted to pay for what it was - I think $32?



A friend had told me about a picture she wanted me to get and ship to her, so I wanted to make sure I knew which picture she was talking about, although I waited until later in the trip to purchase it.



By the time we left the store at about 3:30, the sky was looking substantially more threatening. We decided to head to the bus and back to the resort.



I really like all the greenery on the outside of the new ride. I was really hoping we'd be able to get to ride it later in the trip.





I like that the bus says Welcome Home on it. I also liked that because Riviera is a relatively small resort and does not share buses with another resort, the buses were usually not crowded at all. It also made the trip pretty quick, because it's centrally located on property and it only makes one stop. I may have gotten spoiled!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We were going back to the resort for Afternoon Nap Time. Spoiler: we did not nap. Here's some life advice from a Caribou Coffee in the MSP airport:



When we got back to the resort, we decided to ask about the art scavenger hunt, so then we did that. They give you a sheet with a map and a set of stickers. You need to go around the resort and match the stickers with the art. When you finish, you get a small prize. It was fun to do and it helped us navigate the resort and notice the art, which is all over the place at this resort!



There's also a scavenger hunt for Pascal. We learned that every resort has one of these now. There's a foam character and they hide it in a different place each day. When you find the character, you take a picture of it and then go to the designated location to get a pin. Then, for each additional day you find the character, you get a sticker to add to the pin.



They also have a Skyliner scavenger hunt. We picked up the paper for it, but we never got around to doing it.

Pascal was in the gift shop this day.





This resort really is quite pretty. It looks better in person than in pictures.



The prize for finishing the art scavenger hunt was a small print of the resort. It matches one of the pictures that we found on the hunt.



By this point, we'd also picked up a couple more Lightning Lanes. You may notice the time in the corner is past the time of the Winnie the Pooh window. We made an error here that I didn't realize was a thing. It's pretty well known that there is a 15 minute grace period at the end of the window, but apparently the window is actually quite a bit longer than 15 minutes, which I learned from another guest several days later. We skipped Winnie the Pooh because we thought we wouldn't be able to use the LL.

I do not know if the longer grace period is still in effect with the updated Lightning Lane format.



We were entering the park again at 7:52. We had not had a nap, or even very much rest. We did, however, enjoy the activities we did and I believe we also had dinner at the resort quick service, Primo Piatto.



We headed straight to the Haunted Mansion and used our Lightning Lane. The standby wait was posted at 45 minutes, so I was glad to be able to bypass that.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

The Lightning Lane was a bit backed up and we had a short wait. I passed the time by taking some photos. It looks ominous, errrr, haunted.





After the Haunted Mansion, we stopped by the Tangled bathrooms again. We had noticed on our way into the park that people were already staking out spots for the 9:20 fireworks, so we figured we should head over there. I wanted my first-timer friend to see the projections from the hub.



We got this notification; apparently Space Mountain had been having substantial issues during the day. I don't believe it ever came back up that evening. The Peoplemover was also showing as down for a large portion of the day, so it seems like whatever was going on was affecting both rides. I was very glad we'd been able to ride it in the morning, although Space was still on our To Do list.



When we first got to the hub, people were sitting, but right around 8:40 or so, they made people stand up and compress into a smaller area. That meant we were standing for 40 minutes before the show even started. This is not pleasant at the end of a long day of walking. I also happened to be right on the train tracks and near the gutter, so there was a slope to the street and I had to be careful not to twist my ankle. I love this show though, so I was willing to wait.





After the show ended, we headed over towards Liberty Square to get out of the crowds and take a picture of the castle reflection.



We didn't really have a game plan at this point. The park closed at 10, so a ton of people from the fireworks viewing were rushing off to do one last ride for the day. We had the extra two hours for deluxe guests, so we had until midnight, although we were starting to fade.

We ended up going to the Country Bears first. It had just reopened with the new show and it also features air conditioning and seats!



I thought the new version was hilarious, although I did miss some aspects from the old version. It felt like someone was trolling us with the songs from various Disney movies matched with these characters.

It reminded me of that time when people were matching We Don't Talk About Bruno up with unrelated images, and Disney posted clips from the Country Bears. It felt like they got inspiration from that and just ran with it for the new show.

After that, we considered doing the Tiki Room but ended up not. It did look amazing with the moon and palm trees at night.



I really like this light and the tiles in the Adventureland bathroom. We had decided to head over to Fantasyland and try to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train during the deluxe hours.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

The walk over to Fantasyland was really pretty. I like the parks at night. I took some pictures on the way.





We ended up doing Winnie the Pooh first. The wait said 25 minutes and it was accurate.



Then, we did Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! I hadn't been on this in quite some time. I enjoy it, but not enough to pay for the Individual Lightning Lane or wait in a long line. I think it was posted at 50 minutes, but we waited around 25 minutes.



I'm not sure I've ever waited in the regular queue. There were some fun interactive elements. There was one area where you could spin some barrels of gems and they made a picture on the ceiling. If the line could get all seven spinning at the same time, all seven dwarfs would show up on the ceiling AND the bonus image of Snow White! That was kind of fun.

After the ride, we decided we were done for the night. There was more we wanted to do, but it was the first day and we needed to pace ourselves. We planned to return to this park on another day.

Our to do list still included:

• eating cinnamon rolls from Gaston's
• eating Tiana's beignets
• riding Tiana's Bayou Adventure
• riding Space Mountain
• riding the Railroad
• watching the birds in the Tiki Room
• buying and shipping that Tiana picture

It wasn't a super long list, so we hoped we would be successful before the trip ended. My friend did have a motto that went something like "You can't do it all, you have to save some things for another trip!"









This shows we were leaving the park at 12:11, so we did end up staying for the full Deluxe Extra Hours. Oops?



Once we got back to the resort, we showered and went to bed. We were hoping to do early entry again the next day.

Here's a clue to where we went:

 

[MommaKetch]

Following along!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Following along!

Yay!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

The next day, July 18th, we were scheduled to go to Epcot! I have an annual pass (well, had, it just expired and I’m not planing to renews ) and was still required to make park reservations. We had daily lunch ADRs, so the two went hand in hand anyway.

The goal was to make it to the park for the 8:30 early entry. We were unsuccessful, although we did make it for the 9:00 general rope drop.

We were at least successful at getting a boarding group for the Guardians virtual queue, so all was not lost. I typically don’t find Genie+ to be worth it at Epcot, but we purchased it this day to hopefully ride Remy and Frozen with minimal waits.



I remembered to take a photo of the art that is visible when the Murphy bed is open. My friend slept on the Murphy bed and we just left it down all week. There was a table with chairs to sit at, so we didn’t really need the couch. We just sat on our beds for the rare times we watched TV.



Also, I just love how the light in the bedroom area throws the light around and it looks like sun rays.



It was my first experience using the Skyliner as actual transportation. A friend and I had taken it from Epcot once on an earlier trip to go take a quick look at Riviera. The wind picked up while we were on it and it paused and it was generally unpleasant while we were bouncing around at a standstill. That experience was what made me hesitant to try Riviera.

This was the view from our room. The lines of the Skyliner are not particularly complicated. The line you can see is going from the Riviera Station over to the Caribbean Beach Station. That station is a transfer station and has the ends of three lines: one going to Pop Century & Art of Animation, the one in the middle going to Hollywood Studios, and the one on the right is the line you see here. It goes to Epcot with a stop at Riviera.



Going from Riviera to Epcot, you have to walk around to the back side of the station, and then it’s a direct line to Epcot. Well, it’s kind of a strange route; there’s a turn at Boardwalk. I believe this has something to do with the route limiting the amount of flying over backstage areas.

There’s a cast member stationed at the end of the covered walkway to the station. Their main job appears to be directional assistance. They seem to swap them out often, because every time we rode the Skyliner, whoever was stationed there asked us where we were going and then guided us up the ramp for Hollywood Studios or directed us around the station for Epcot. What a dull post. Honestly, a lot of cast positions must be somewhat dull….”How many in your party? …How many in your party? …. How many in your party? ….” I appreciate the cast for keeping the magic even when they must be bored stiff sometimes!

I wanted to walk across that little bridge at some point, but we never got around to it. Oh well.



We were entering the Epcot side of the Skyliner station at 8:35. Oops…didn’t quite make it to the park by 8:30. Oh well.





We got distracted by the gift shop at the park entrance. The time stamp on this is 8:27, so it took only 12 minutes to get to Epcot and clear security and the entrance points. Not bad!



We stopped in the UK pavilion to use the restroom, because coffee. Too much coffee.
I like how every bathroom has a themed entrance sign.



We decided to save the headliners for later and go do Living with the Land, which was on of my friend’s must do rides. We got on at 9:01 and we had an entire boat to ourselves and got the front seat. The boats both in front and behind us were also empty.
This is…not a common rope drop ride.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We started our day with Living with the Land. The last time I rode this, it was dark, so it was really nice to see the greenhouse in the day. It’s so pretty.



We tried to stop at the tour desk to see if they had any spots for the Behind the Seeds tour, but the desk was not staffed, so I don’t know if they weren’t doing the tours or what.

After this ride, we decided to do Soarin’ since it was right there.



After Soarin’, we needed to go see Figment. I miss the original version of this ride, but I enjoyed this version more than I remember. It’s definitely better than the second iteration of the ride, which I remember very little about except how painfully slow the cars moved.



It was 10:00 when we got to the ride. I think we had taken a quick break in Sunshine Seasons to have a snack or hydrate or ???. I remember sitting at a table, but I don’t remember why.

I love these glass pyramids! This pavilion is so visually interesting, especially with the upside down fountain and the jumping water.



I was wearing my Figment ears on this day. They are from a few years ago. The current version is slightly different, and I prefer these and how they are a bit iridescent.



After the ride, we had more fun than you’d expect playing in the ImageWorks “What If” Labs. Our favorite part was the area where you jumped on the lighted squares on the floor and they would play instruments. We were having so much fun that I don’t even have a photo of this.

Figment was doing a meet and greet nearby, and I did a stealth photo from the side, between guests. Given the pose and direction he was looking, I might not have been very stealthy.



Shortly after, he left to the Dreamport.



We of course checked out the merchandise, but I don’t think we bought anything. It was a little disappointing that the DVC Lounge was closed for renovations on this trip, but we needed to start heading off toward lunch anyway.



The popcorn stand by this pavilion had a super cool popcorn bucket. I wanted it, but I didn’t buy it because I wasn’t sure how well it would travel home, and I also didn’t know what I could use it for once I got it home.

Part of me now wishes I was a bit less responsible and just bought it anyways, but oh well.



We started heading over to Italy for our lunch reservation. We were hoping to catch Matsuriza, the drummers in Japan, and Voices of Liberty, the singers in the United States pavilion, on our way.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We stopped along the way in the Morocco pavilion for an air conditioning break. They have a mini-museum right at the front of the pavilion. I’ve never seen it crowded in there, and it has a bench and also beautiful tile work inside.











We continued into the outoor courtyard area. This area usually feels cool to me, coming in from the general outside, but it didn’t this day, probably because we entered it directly from the air-conditioned inside.



This pavilion is gorgeous but under-utilized at the moment. It’s a shame it isn’t more lively. The table service restaurant in the back of the pavilion is currently housing the Kidcot station.

I’ve also seen live entertainment in this pavilion - a band with a belly dancer - but I didn’t see them listed on this trip. They may be only playing during festivals, and we were there during “Diet Epcot” with no active festival. It was kind of strange to see the festival booths all boarded up. It was nice that it was less crowded, but it also lacked a certain energy.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We continued over to the Japan pavilion next door, and browsed the gift shop for a few minutes before we headed outside to watch Matsuriza, the drummers.



The pavilion was really uncrowded, and we browsed around a bit and enjoyed the grounds while listening to the drumming. It was really pleasant, especially watching the koi pond and then listening to the waterfall.









It was then time to head over to enjoy Voices of Liberty. They are genuinely amazing. Their clothes have changed since the last time I’ve seen them. They had been wearing period clothing and now they have contemporary red and blue outfits.

They recommend you sit on the floor under the rotunda dome. It helps with the acoustics. Also, the floor is nice and cool to the touch.



After their performance, we could have watched the show they have in the theater here, but we didn’t have enough time before our lunch reservation.

We did see some characters in the path near Regal Eagle that goes backstage. I overheard someone mention (so this may or may not be true, although it sounds plausible) that they do pop-up character meets there for friends of characters who are earning their ears. We saw Gepetto and this penguin, but they were just heading out, so we only got some fly-by photos.



We were heading into Italy right at 11:33.



We were headed to one of my favorite restaurants on property - Via Napoli! I try to go at least once each trip.



A couple years ago, a different friend and I were going here. Somehow we were not together but she was closer to the restaurant than me and I was channeling my inner White Rabbit running late (per usual). I had sent her the screenshot of the reservation and she was able to sign in. She let me know that she was seated near the white rabbit. I had no idea what she was talking about, despite multiple visits to this restaurant.

It turns out that there are several statues along a wall of windows near the back of the restaurant, across from the three giant ovens that are named after Italian volcanoes.

What luck! We got seated along this wall on this day, but next to a different statue, a rather dapper ….creature with human hands?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Just a little bit down the way, there was another dapper creature. This one apparently is an aviator.



Also, this business fish is supervising the restaurant.



As for the food, it was delicious. I always get the same thing, an individual pepperoni pizza. I mean, look at this beauty. The crust is perfection!





My friend got a Margarita pizza.



More cool lights!



We walked around the pavilion a bit, enjoying the details.





This door handle is amazing!



We went into the store where the Venetian masks are. The detail in the pavilion is amazing, but the masks are just incredible.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We had a cool experience in the mask store. A cast member was working on a mask, and he was very knowledgeable and took the time to give us lots of information about Venice and the history of mask making and the traditions around it and Carnival and the elaborate costumes people wear. We put in a cast compliment for Matteo as soon as we left the store. We also planned to come back and buy a small mask to take home, but we didn't want to carry it around all day, especially since we'd be riding Guardians!

He said I could take his picture.









We continued on; I think at this point our boarding group had been called and we needed to head off in that direction. I could watch this train village for a long time. I took a short video and sent it to my brother so he could show my 4-year old nephew. He absolutely loves trains and any unique vehicle.

One fun memory from my time in Wisconsin was when we went to the park one morning and they were installing sidewalks and doing some road repair at the curbs. They had a cement mixer, a road roller, and all sorts of smaller hand tools as well. I think we watched them work for almost an hour.



Here's another cast member with incredible craftsmanship. We weren't able to stay and chat, but we watched him work for a bit. If I attempted this, I would have a shredded stick and an injury!

I have purchased a giraffe and elephant from this kiosk in the past, and I just love them. I considered getting another one, but again, maybe at another time.



At some point, we also stopped at a little shop to buy the Epcot Kidcot passports. They had recently returned and I don't think I'd done one since I was a kid. My friend also needed a glasses strap before the roller coaster. We fortunately found both at a gift shop in this area. Oddly, the receipt indicated it was a festival gift shop. I guess they weren't all closed.

Of course I had to take a photograph of the monorail overhead.



Ta daaaa! It was time! I was hoping for the song Conga; it's my favorite for this ride. We didn't get it, although I can't remember what we did get. It was still a fun ride. This one is my current favorite in all of Disney World.



Funny story: I mentioned that I had avoided spoilers for Tiana and was a little confused by the random band characters in the gift shop outside the ride. I sometimes am too good at avoiding spoilers for new rides. I love the anticipation of riding something for the first time. As often as I've gone, that is rare now.

The first time I went on Guardians was a few trips ago. I had gotten a virtual queue and it was the end of the day and the line was around an hour long - it was spilling out the door. The nice thing about the long line was that I could really absorb the details in the queue.

I got through both pre-shows - the second one is incredible with the effects - and then went with the crowd into the next area. It wasn't until the viewing window above the loading platform that I realized it was a roller coaster!

I like these lights too.



We'd been stacking some lightning lanes throughout the day. We made the Spaceship Earth one when the line was 25 minutes long, but when we went to ride it, the line was only 5 minutes. Oh well.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

It was pretty hot this day, which we expected, going to Florida in mid-July, but it still just sucks the life right out of you.



It was time for Spaceship Earth! My friend really wanted to do the ride in "the ball" and she loves a good dark ride.

Does anyone else think this mural looks like it's on an 8-track cassette? Just me? Am I dating myself?



We walked past 8-Track Space Jesus and had a near walk-on for the ride. We enjoyed the ride and the air-conditioning.

When we exited, we were making the trek back towards the International Gateway. We stopped to watch the Jammitors.



We found the new Walt statue:



I do like the new area they put in, although I miss the fountain that danced to music.



They had an Encanto dance party, which had great energy. I wanted to join in, but at this point my Crocs were sticking to the pavement. I don't know if they were melting or if I had just stepped in spilled soda or something. Hard to say in July.



The sky was looking threatening, and we didn't want to walk all the way out to the Skyliner at the back of the park to find out it was down for weather, so we started walking that way with a bit more purpose.



I did get distracted by the maple popcorn in Canada. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but it was still pretty good.



Success!



We got back to the resort at about 4:15 and just chilled in the room for a bit. I don't think we napped, but I think we just relaxed with our feet up for a bit in the air conditioning, which was exactly what we needed. We needed to head back to Epcot later to use our Remy and Frozen Lightning Lanes.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

We went to Primo Piatto, the Riviera quick service, around 6:10. I like that they have glass candle holders on all the tables, although the candles are battery-operated. It's still a nice little touch for a quick service. They also serve the food on ceramic plates with real silverware if you order from the counter. I think we had done a mobile order because the line was long. Those always came in the cardboard box in the paper bag. At least you can unfold the corners of the box to make it a flat "plate".



I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries. I think I had had this the day before also, but for some reason I was really just hankering for it again. I had gotten the Parmesan fries as the side the day before, but I got regular fries this time.

I don't know what was different about the burger this day, but it was sooooo delicious and absolutely hit the spot.



We were heading back to Epcot; this picture above the France pavilion is from 6:54.



Our Remy window closed at 7:05, so we were cutting it a bit close, although I was glad to know we had the bonus 15 minutes. I think the food had taken way longer to receive than we were anticipating.

I think this was the Skyliner ride where we were assigned a carriage with a mother and daughter who were going to the After Hours event that evening with the goal of doing nothing but repeatedly riding Guardians. I hope they were wildly successful. They were telling us about a strategy they used for Lightning Lanes where you could rapidly stack them - faster than the official window - and it was a bit complicated but they had used it with resounding success at Hollywood Studios and gotten on basically all the headliners by midday! This strategy may not work anymore with the updated Lightning Lane format.

They also told us that the window for the Lightning Lane return is actually longer than the pretty well-known fifteen minutes. Apparently it's actually 119 minutes, so she said we didn't need to stress about getting to Remy in time. My friend said that this was not information that I needed to know, since I was already often pushing to the end of the LL hour.



I had taken Dramamine for this ride. The last time I went on it, I had gotten quite queasy. The medication was a big help this time; I felt fine! Oddly, that same day I'd gotten queasy on Remy, I also got queasy from the Canada movie, but I'm fine on Guardians.

Something that was weird on the ride was that there was one spot where we were hurtling around and I told my friend something about this is why the ride had made me feel sick. The weird thing is that it seemed to amplify my voice. It sounded like I was speaking into a microphone.

After Remy, right as we were exiting, the traditional France movie was about to start, so we popped in to watch it. I thought it was about 12 minutes, but it's more like 20. I like the music and the scenes, although they are very dated at this point.



We headed over to Frozen to use our Lightning Lane. I like this well enough, but I still miss Maelstrom and I still miss that they sealed up the hole above the waterfall where the boat would peek out.



At this point, it was 8:35 or so, but there was some visible lightning. We decided to stay for the fireworks. There were a ton of birds all taking flight at once!



I'm so glad they still have the fire posts around the lake and that they light them before the night show. I miss the part at the beginning of Illuminations where they did the spiel about gathering around the fire and then made the sound of blowing out candles and they'd all go dark.



Another cool light - this time in the China pavilion area.



So the new show. My friend really liked it - more than Happily Ever After, even!

I have mixed feelings. I liked it well enough. It was a much more pensive and thoughtful show than Harmonious. I actually really liked Harmonious for the music, although I didn't like that you really needed to be seeing it straight on to fully experience it. This show can be seen from many more vantage points, and I did enjoy it, but some parts were intentionally very slow and quiet. Also, the I don't like the post-show music as much as Illuminations.



We headed back to the resort after this. We experienced a pretty long line for the Skyliner, but it wasn't horrible. It was the longest line we encountered for it the whole trip.

Ugh. This 10 image limit.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I had gotten one of the plush key chains of Pluto. I took it off the key chain part and it makes a great pet for my Stitch Nuimo.



We showered and got ready to bed and I am pretty sure I fell asleep quickly. It was a good day, but also a long day of walking around a large, hot park.

We needed to rest up for tomorrow's plans. Here's a clue:

 

[footballmouse]

 

[Jsharp13]

Enjoying your report! Beautiful pictures! We love Via Napoli too!

 

[cheryllarsen]

What a great photographer you are!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Thanks so much for sharing! Really enjoyed the trip report!