Magic Still Exists! Our Family Jan 9-15, 2021 Trip Report

[tundra1]

Loving your TR so far! We were there in November and the parks were more crowded. You picked a good time to go!
Thanks for sharing your adventures with your beautiful family!

 

[EMHDad]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom: Part 2​

When we got off of HM it was 10:09am and I checked MDE. At this point Splash Mountain was up and running. BTMR still had a 50 minute wait, but Splash was only 15 minutes. I knew they was going to change fast, but we decided to jump on the opportunity. Normally, I am not a fan of bouncing all over the park like a pinball. Still, we decided it was best. It we were in Fantasyland or Tomorrowland, we probably would have chosen different. We again walked with purpose, using the wooded walkway bridge to bypass the crowds. We got to Splash at 10:17am and the posted time was now 25 minutes. It was quite interesting to see which rides had the easiest adaptation for COVID. Splash's line seem to work well for extending the line without having to stretch far away from the ride, unlike HM or BTMR which seem to stretch quite a distance away sometimes.

The wait time for Splash was only 18 minutes. We got on the ride at 10:35am and were off by 10:50am. I am glad we did jump into the line when we did. About a half hour after we rode Splash, it shut down again and was down for most of the day. It was a reminder, if there is a ride you MUST do, don't wait until the end of the day, just in case. You are taking a big gamble.

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I know it was still morning, but after waking up so early, we were hungry and ordered Lunch from Pecos Bill. I am a fan of the mobile order. It is easy. The only complaint I have is that if you have to add your Disney Gift Card number every time if your want to use that instead of your credit card. It is annoying that it cannot be saved. The food was ordered by 11am and ready at 11:15am. I got the chicken fajitas.

(Internet Pic)​

DW got the beef nachos. Kids got at 1/3lb bacon burger, kids mac & cheese, and kids cheeseburger. I was not impressed. I think the toppings bar made this please better in the past, but my suggestion is to skip. The food was subpar. It wasn't bad, but blah.

We took about a half hour for lunch and then walked to POTC at 11:47am. It had a 40 minute posted time, and we got to the ride in 37 minutes. Right when we got in line Jack Sparrow was outside greeting guests and taking pictures. Again, it is not ideal, and I miss traditional meet and greets, but the interaction was awesome and we still got a picture!

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This was the second longest line of the day. POTC has a certain magic than only some of the old school attractions have. I do love that the line splits in two and is more a passage way for a large part. It was great for social distancing.

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So, what is your favorite POTC room/part? Without a doubt, nothing beats the battle scene for me. Seeing the fort and ship creates a larger than life feel that immediately puts me into the story. I miss the mist though. I wish they had kept it, but just continually changed the visual on it. At 12:33pm we were off the ride and walking through the gift shop. We were officially into the afternoon.

For the first time the part was feeling pretty crowded. Most big rides had a wait time of 40+ minutes. 7DMT was at 70 minutes. JC was long. However, Aladdin was running a 5 minute wait time. We have never rideen it, because it is basically Dumbo knockoff, but we decided to just enjoy it and jumped in line. We go tin line at 12:39pm; on the ride at 12:42pm and done at 12:46pm. Highlight of the ride... If you are a family I would recommend putting the kids in the front seat and sitting in the back seat with your significant other and just relaxing for 4 minutes and taking in that Disney feel. The ride is not impressive itself. However, it does give the opportunity to take in Adventureland and your kids' experiences and that is worth it!

(Accidently turned on the filter on the phone. lol)​

After Aladdin, we had a bathroom break and then took the shortcut by Aloha Isle back into Frontierland/LibertySquare. We are strolling, enjoying the sites and were headed to Fantasyland, but taking the scenic route through Liberty Square and past the Castle. We got some great Photopass pictures along the way. The bridge by Liberty Square is a great spot for Photopass.

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This was our second pass at the Castle, and we had more time to take in the view and majesty of it. As we walked, as if on cue, another calvacade went right passed us. We got to 'greet' some of the gang from the Hundred Acres Woods. Rabbit, Piglet, and Eeyore rode by on a trolley.

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After walking through the castle, the kids tested their potential to reign as king or queen. None of them succeeded thought. lol

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So, no my kids will not be monarchs, but its ok, because if Monty Python as taught me anything, its this...

“King Arthur: I am your king.
Peasant Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.
King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Peasant Woman: Well, how'd you become king, then?
[Angelic music plays... ]
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake,
her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite,
held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water,
signifying by divine providence that I,
Arthur, was to carry Excalibur.
That is why I am your king.
Dennis the Peasant: Listen.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords
is no basis for a system of government.
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses,
not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis the Peasant: You can't expect to wield supreme power
just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!” ​

(Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
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It's 1pm. We have been in the park for a little over 4 hours and having a magical time. I'll stop here for now, but there is more to share, so stay tuned...

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[footballmouse]

Great report so far. Your little girl is cracking me up how she poses for the pictures. What a ham!

 

[EMHDad]

Great report so far. Your little girl is cracking me up how she poses for the pictures. What a ham!

Thank you so much. Its such a hoot watching her really just go into diva mode for the pics. lol

 

[DLo]

Just found your TR. looks like a great start ! YC is my favorite resort - two parks in walking distance. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

 

[EMHDad]

Just found your TR. looks like a great start ! YC is my favorite resort - two parks in walking distance. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

Thank you! That is why we picked YC. Walking distance to EP & HS is priceless in value.

 

[EMHDad]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom: Part 3

First, I apologize for the delay. This latest update has taken longer than I thought to get back to.​

It is a little after 1pm and many of the rides had 45+ minute waits. Mickey's Philharmagic had a 10 minute wait and it is a show we love. We got in line and the line was slower than expected. It took us about 20 minutes to make it to the giant room outside the theatre.

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Then we wait another 17 minutes, standing and waiting. I love the movie and and the B&B scene is a Disney must for me. The smells! However, with a 47 minute wait time, this was the LONGEST line of the day. I know that you must adapt at Disney, but it is annoying when the expected short line turns into the longest. We left the show around 2:02pm.

Our destination was Tomorrowland, but we had our first unexpected detour of the day. One of the kids spilled their drink all over their lap. IT was a complete accident, but a testimony to Murphy's law. So, our journey to Tomorrowland went through the Main Street stores. After 15 minutes and a new pair of Disney gym shorts, we were back on track. While over on Main Street we took the opportunity to get some Castle pics.

We decided the Mask Rule was not going to stop us from getting a good picture in front of the Castle with our faces. It is important to stay safe and vigilant right now, but a little creativity and forethought can go a long way!
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Our main destination was Space Mountain. None of our children had ridden SM and this would be their inaugural ride. We got in line at 2:35pm with a posted 25 minute wait time, but we were sitting in the seats by 2:50pm. I love the retro future feel of SM. The thrills are just enough to create excitement, but not so much as to ruin a day for a kid (at least our kids). I love the space station with the upside down astronauts. SM is Disney Imagineering at its very best! The kids had so much fun, we jumped back in line and rode again. The wait time said 40 minutes. We got in line at 3:03pm and we were ridding through space by 3:30pm. I must admit, the second time was much more boring, because we completely fell asleep during the journey. lol

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After riding SM a second time, we needed a break and a great Disney worthy treat. If you are looking for a treat during COVID, I recommend Auntie Gravity's Galactic Goodies. I looked everywhere, all day for good ice cream and I could not find anything but prepackaged stuff until Auntie Gravity's. They have huge Brownie Sundaes. The kids were in sugar heaven.

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After our afternoon treat beak, we started walking over to Buzz. The Real Buzz Lightyear standing on the stage and we grabbed a couple of pictures with him. Again, thankful for Disney in adapting to COVID for M&Gs. We got in line for Buzz Lightyear at 4:11pm with a 25 minute wait time, but we were on the ride in 4:25pm with only a 14 minute wait. Did not get the score I wanted, but ds11 & I did make it to Ranger 1st class, so, Yaye! Curious, did his sorcerer's hat give him magical aim??

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At 4:30pm we begin to leave Tomorrowland, walking pass the Speedway. (Why are the cars not electric yet??) We passed the Teacups and headed towards Storybook Circus. If you have not been, look down at the ground when you go. There are peanut shells embedded in the ground. Dumbo may not have the thrills of the other rides, but it is the PINNACLE of Disney nostalgia. We got in line at 4:42pm with a 10 minute wait, but were in the air at 4:48pm. 6 minute wait. (I miss the playground inside the tent.)

I think the kids are prepping an aerial invasion of the Magic Kingdom!
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After Dumbo, we walked right around the corner and got onto Goofy's Barnstormer at 4:55pm. Again, posted wait time was 10 minutes, but the wait was only 5pm and we were on the coaster at 5:00pm. This was the first coaster for ds14 & ds11 when they were MUCH younger.

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[EMHDad]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom: Part 4​

After Barnstormer we continued walking through the back part of Fantasyland and got into the Journey of the Little Mermaid ride at 5:06pm. I was underwhelmed the first time I rode this ride 7 years ago, but this time I found it quiant. Travelling from the beach and into the sea is so immersive and fun! The ride itself is adorable, but the ride kept stopping. At one point, we stopped for 10 minutes. We were next to the dancing Ariel with all of the dancing fish. The music kept going but the animatronics were stropped. It was fine. The funniest part was that every time the ride stopped, you heard Sebastian tell us the Sea Witch was up to her tricks. Then shortly later, you would hear Sebastian say, "Good News! The ride will resume immediately!" For the rest of the trip, the kids could repeat the message by heart and dd6 was so annoyed with the Sea Witch. lol

Outside Ariel is a great spot for Photopass!

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We got off the ride after almost 20 minutes and after the Photopass, it was passed 5:30pm. The park closed at 7pm, but we were exhausted. We decided as a family to have one more ride, Winnie the Pooh. This was a childhood classic of the boys and a Disney must for us. We got into the line at 5:38pm and were in the honeypots at 5:49pm.
(If you did not know, look on the left in the portrait room and you will see Mr. Toad handing the deed over to Owl. Before Winnie the Pooh, the ride was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.)

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It is almost 6pm and our MK day was done. Now was time for the trek back to the buses. We got to travel through the Castle once more, and the sun is dropping fast. The colors on the Castle are coming out.

DS11's name was inspired by Walt Disney and picked while on our first Dis trip when dw was 8 months pregnant.


I know Christmas is over after New Years for many. For us, Christ ends right after Epiphany. However, after 2020, we are thankful for a little bit more Christmas magic. We loved seeing the decorations and the sights.
DIsney+Christmas=Magic Explosion!


Before we left, we got one more picture in front of the Castle.
This is one of my favorites because of the colors of the Castle and the nighttime backdrop.

(dd6 directed the pose of the family.)

After walking Main Street and taking pictures, it was about 6:25pm. We were very tired! We skipped shopping and walked to the Bus Stop. We rode the bus back to YC and while on the bus, I ordered Sandwiches at YC marketplace for dinner. We ate in the room, and got ready for bed. Our whole family were asleep back 9:30pm. lol It was a long day, but a priceless and magical MK day. This concludes our third day of the trip, but we are just getting going! Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios!

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[sparkle78]

Following, was curious to see how January crowds were

 

[EMHDad]

Day 4: Hollywood Studios: Part 1

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Today was the day! Today was HS, and Galaxy's Edge. Today had the one ride that required prep work and practice. I got up at 6am (CST) no less than 10 times over the course of a couple of months. I practiced at (1pm & then 12pm) no less than 30 times. I practiced techniques and tips to get passes for RotR. I had faced problems and fails on the last couple of days leading up to Tuesday. This was now the moment of truth!

We woke up at 6:30am and started getting ready. The kids ate breakfast in the room and we got dressed. My alarm with off at 6:53am. Myself, dw, and ds14 pulled up the app on our phones. We started testing the join process and with about 2 minutes to go, my phone was acting clunky and slow. I made a quick decision and switched phones with dw. (they had practiced once or twice, but not like me.) I had time.gov pulled up on Ipad and hit the button exactly when it hit 7am (not when my phone hit 7am.) I had the screen lined up and hit the buttons as fast as i could. By 7:00:10 the whole thing was over.

Boarding Group 4! The stressed washed away and the kids cheered out loud! Today was going to be a great day. We left YC around 7:05am and begin the long hike to HS. It was pretty cool outside and come. We only saw a few people out. We had a mile walk, but loved not having to wait for a bus or Skyliner. After about 20 minutes, we got to HS about 7:25am and there where only 22 people already lined up for the day. I loved the social distance markers. We were second in line on the far left side. By 7:35 there were about 40 people. About 7:50am it was double that. by 8:00am, there had to be a few hundred people and the Skyliner was running, but no cars or buses.

At exactly 8:10am the CM opened up and we quickly went through the security and health checks. We did not run, but we walked fast and the excitement in the air was electrifying. It took us about 5 minutes, but we walked straight to MMRR.

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We were second in line and got stopped right before loading onto the vehicles at 8:15am. Fortunately, it was only a 5 minute wait before the ride started and we were loaded on at 8:20am in the first group on people. This was our first trackless ride and we ended up going from spot 2 to spot 1 early on. Wow! it took almost 70 years, but the first Mickey ride was worthy of the character. This is not a ride to be missed. Take the time, plan, and go on it. I don't think I would wait 90 minutes, but it is an amazing ride.

It is now 8:25am and we are done with the first major ride of the day. People are still streaming in, but its not that crowded it. We started walking towards Toy Story land and I saw the SDD line markers outside of Toy Story Land. Wow! Unfortunately, when we got to SDD it was down and not running yet. Instead of waiting and losing precious time, we decided to leave Earth and head to Galaxy's Edge. I am a HUGE Star Wars fan, and Galaxy's Edge may be my favorite part of the entire Disney World complex. We tried to take every site and sound in that we could, but we kept moving fast. Time was our most valuable commodity at this point. At 8:36am we were in line for MFSR. By 8:44am we were on the Millennium Falcon and in the main room were we got to quickly sit at the table and imagine sitting next to Chewy!

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At 8:49am we were in the cockpit and ready to go.
DS14 & DD6 were the pilots. DS11 & myself were gunners. DW was the engineer. Thankfully, with there being 5 of us, we had the room to ourselves. BTW, my kids favorite moment BY FAR was pulling the lever and punching it into Hyperdrive. The entire cockpit screamed out loud in cheers! MFSR is interactive and your participation on the ride will affect your experience in small ways.

Always remember to sanitize!​

While in line foe MFSR we got the alert that our BG was up for RotR. So, when we got off of MFSR we hiked over to RotR. Actually, with RotR having no real line and a BG pass, we took a few minutes to get pictures in front of the fast ship in the Galaxy. Well done Disney! Two generations feeling the same magic!

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(Two quick thoughts. First, there is little to no signage in Galaxy's Edge that I saw, so it can be a little confusing finding things. However, I am honestly ok with that, because the ambience is SOOO important to me.) We got into line at RotR at 8:56am and we were beginning the experience (I say that instead of getting on the ride, because it is so much more than a ride.)

Poe's X-Wing
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At 9:00am sharp. RotR is now my favorite attraction at all of Disney World. It is the most immersive experience.

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You experience like 4 rides in 1. It has multiple moments that inspire Awe and is Disney at their absolute best.

Around 9:20am the park had officially been opened for 20 minutes and we were done with 3 of the major attractions at HS! By this point MFSR was up to a 60 min wait time, as was most of the rides. Star Tours was still reasonable, so we headed out of Galaxy's Edge and towards ST. First, we got to see a Star Wars favorite!

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Star Tours had a 20 posted wait time, and we got into line at 9:27am, but only waited 14 minutes. We were on the ride at 9:41am. There are 54 possible combinations for Star Tours. For our run, we got to travel to Jakku first, and then the Battle of Crait (from Force Awakens & Last Jedi).

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At this point it is 9:48am. We are 4 rides in and have taken several wonderful pictures. We will be returning to Galaxy's Edge later in the day, but at this point we decided to head to Toy Story Land.

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[sparkle78]

Great summary of rise of the resistance. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a pass the 2 days we tried this past thanksgiving week. But were able to ride it the 2nd day it opended on our dec 2019 trip. Everyone loved it .
I’m curious to see if you rode Star Tours again. We sometimes hit in 3 or 4 times, to get several different combinations.

 

[EMHDad]

Great summary of rise of the resistance. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a pass the 2 days we tried this past thanksgiving week. But were able to ride it the 2nd day it opended on our dec 2019 trip. Everyone loved it .
I’m curious to see if you rode Star Tours again. We sometimes hit in 3 or 4 times, to get several different combinations.

Unfortunately, no. Only once. I'll go into more detail later, but we only hit every ride once except MFSR. Still, love the ride though!

 

[Tasmen]

"walking with purpose" is my new favorite phrase for Disney.

 

[EMHDad]

"walking with purpose" is my new favorite phrase for Disney.

LOL. Thank you!

 

[Avery&Todd]

what a great TR!!! getting me ready for our trip next week!

and I'm totally stealing your phrase....."walking with purpose"!

 

[poohfriend77]

Great report so far! Our planning/touring styles are very similar. My DH also says “walk with purpose” in the parks.
I LOVE the printed faces in the castle photo too! Brilliant!

 

[Handykapper]

Following. Wonderful pics. Thanks

 

[nascargirl]

Loving the report. Makes me miss home even more.

 

[Jerzetta]

Love reading abt your trip

 

[Tasmen]

Btw, I wanted to ask. You mentioned in a post that you practiced and practiced before trying to get a Rise boarding group. How did you do that? Just log onto the app from home each day and hit the 'join' button? Paranoia rising about our chances of getting a group when we head there in April.