May Vacay - Let's celebrate the end of the school year. But why is it surface of the sun hot? (Updated 8/5)

[Stacybaeasm]

Mostly a lurker here- but I wanted to let you know how much Im enjoying your trip report.

Im planning my solo trip for Sept (and I appreciate the hot as the sun reference) and I find your adventures very inspiring!

Thank you!!! I enjoy writing them. It keeps the magic going (and gives me something to look back on to remember later!)

Enjoy your solo trip. I've done many over the years. Let me know if you need any advice about doing it alone.

Be sure to put a link in this TR for your next one once started so I won’t miss it.

Will do!!! And thanks for reading!!

I have enjoyed both of your trip reports. I am glad to hear you are going back at Thanksgiving!

The 2 weeks after this trip that I "stuck to my decision" and didn't have Thanksgiving to look forward to were bleak. It took very little to convince me to book that trip. And I'm so happy to have it to look forward to. Fall semester is going to be a witch! And thanks for reading along!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Day Two, Part Two
Let's go get the dinosaur!
​

We left off last time leaving Asia and heading to Dinoworld. Let me just say, with those construction walls up there is almost no shade on that walk. I might have melted into a puddle. However, I finally got over to the Restaurantosarus patio. I refilled my water bottle and found a seat for a minute. There were only a couple of other families on the patio but getting through them to an empty table felt like running an American Ninja course. Hey - I get it, you want to spread out. But maybe don't block ALL the aisles from the entry to the tables. This isn't a private area and others may want to sit. I am happy to be polite and say "excuse me" but rolling your eyes at me isn't going to get you a smile and a thank you.

Anyway, I sat for about 10 minutes (or until the sweat stopped RUNNING off my face, even with the fan blowing on me) and then checked the standby time for Dinosaur. I mean, what were the odds that I could pull an Everest and get 2 rides on it, back to back? Well, turns out, those odds were great! The standby line was only 10 minutes!! So, off I went to get in the standby line. And hey - waiting 10 minutes in that dark, airconditioned room before the pre-show?? That's some Disney magic right there. LOL.

Once through the pre-show, I somehow got behind these 3 late-teen, early 20 something girls. One of them kept chanting "Dino, dino, dino" and giving high 5's to all the workers. I loved it!! As we waiting in the line to be put in our rover, I learned that the group was made up of: 1 girl who's favorite ride is Dinosaur, 1 girl who has never been to Disney before, and 1 girl who is clearly just along for the ride but willing to do anything. The energy of girl 1 was infectious and I loved watching her get super excited for the ride. As we get to the CM, the 3 girls get placed in the front row. There was another family between us who went into a different row. Then me - party of 1. Hey - why don't you join those 3 girls? So, I went up to them and said "Sorry, I guess I'm hitchhiking into your party." And they were THRILLED. We quickly get buckled in and girl 1 yells "Let's go get that dinosaur!!!" Now, I LOVE a person that buys into the ride completely so I was down. We take off and, as the first dino comes at us, she says "Nope. Not that one." I do the same for the next. Pretty soon, the entire rover is playing along!! Then comes the meteor shower. The whole rover is yelling "Right, left, right, left" and of course, as we get closer to the end, everyone is yelling "Abort!! Abort!!" It was the best ride and I was smiling so hard as we finished. Hey girls, if you are out there - Thanks again for making this one of the best rides ever!


I had about 15 minutes until I could scan in for my LL so I waited in the covered area outside the shop. Soon enough, it was time to ride again, probably for my last time. No fun folx on this ride. It was quiet and well, I miss those girls. But goodbye Dino ride. You have been wonderful and will be missed.


I texted Stephen after I finished Dinosaur. He was working today and said he could take lunch soon. I told him I was headed to Flame Tree to put my order in and then I'd get a table down by the water. He said he would meet me there in about 15. It was still pretty early so there wasn't much of a line. I quickly ordered my pulled pork sandwich - no coleslaw and no beans, a diet coke, and water - and headed down to find a table.



Sorry - the plate is a little messy. I had taken the top bun off, added BBQ sauce, and started mixing before I remembered to take the picture. Oh, and here is a better shot of that Frozen water bottle I was bragging about earlier


Stephen joined me soon after and we had a great half hour chatting about life. Soon though, he had to go back to work and I needed to head over to Lion King for the show.

I got to the Lion King fast pass line, scanned in, and walked up close to the front. I found a spot right under one of the fans and was happy to wait for about 10 minutes until the door opened. Every time the announcement played to fill in all space, I just let people go in front of me. I know I'll get a seat and I am not moving from this fan until it is time to go into the AC. Because - surface of the sun hot. Soon enough, I see the previous show let out. The people in front of me on the other side of the little wall start trying to gather their kids and are saying "hurry. Hurry." I mention to one that it will still be a few minutes because they have to reset before they let us in. "Oh, have you seen this before?" Yes, yes I have. And I also work in theatre so I know what they have to do between shows. That got a conversation started about the show, about where to sit (umm...just go where the CM tells you to), and about what else they should do during their trip. I really do think I should become a Disney travel planner as a side hustle

Soon enough, we are let in and I'm directed to the Lion section instead of the elephants. Ok, that's new but I'm fine with it. And again, lucky party of 1 - there was an end spot only a couple of rows up. Now, Lion King is my favorite day show in all of Disney. I just love the entire thing!!! This particular show was just a bit "off". I don't know if it was just an off day, if they were putting new people in, or what but, while it was good, it wasn't "perfect." And hey - I work in live theatre so I know - it's live theatre. It can't be perfect every time. For instance, the birds missed one of their lifts. She did the approach correctly, but he caught her weird and almost dropped her. They quickly pivoted to what I assume is their backup move but I have to be honest, I was worried for every lift after that. I also noticed that the 4 singers weren't at their best. The "young male" just didn't have a great voice and he didn't blend well with the other 3. The harmonies were off a bit and it was always his part that felt wrong. Oh well. I still loved the show!!

It was 2:30 when I came out of the show. The only thing I had wanted to do but hadn't was go see Bakso. But the thought of walking over to Maharajah trail and then walking THROUGH the trail was not appealing. It was time to head back to Pop for some pool time. As I walked to the front, I hit the stores on the other side but nothing appealed to me. I headed out to the buses and was soon headed back to the room.

Up next: Pool and chocolate cake!

 

[VAtink]

That first ride on Dinosaur sounded like so much fun! I love when everyone joins in on the fun!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’m really happy you are able to make a Thanksgiving trip work yay!
This will be the first Christmas season in the last 5 years I won’t be at Disney, boo Never say never! I may work something out!
I love the Lion King and my last visit was in the Lion section.
What a great Dinosaur ride! I love girl #1 and don’t even know her, haha
True dinosaur fans need to bond! I think you may get one more ride in at Thanksgiving. I think it will still be open until the end of 2025.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

That first ride on Dinosaur sounded like so much fun! I love when everyone joins in on the fun!

It was so much fun! It reminded me of riding with my friend, Rob, back in the day. He was fully into EVERY ride all the time. I mean, if you can't have fun at Disney, what's the point?

This will be the first Christmas season in the last 5 years I won’t be at Disney, boo Never say never! I may work something out!

I bet you will!!! First - Holiday season at Disney. Second - get out of Minnesota in December/January. Wins all around!!

What a great Dinosaur ride! I love girl #1 and don’t even know her, haha
True dinosaur fans need to bond! I think you may get one more ride in at Thanksgiving. I think it will still be open until the end of 2025.

Actually, I did remember thinking "I bet Caroline and this girl together would be a blast on this ride!!" And yay if I can ride at Thanksgiving. I thought it was closing in September. Now I will have to do FP$$ for Animal Kingdom. Who am I kidding? I was going to anyway.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Day Two, Part Three
Chocolate Cake!!!
​

We left off headed back to Pop for some relaxing time. Look at me - day 2 and still sticking to pool/relaxing time. I could learn to like this. Once in the room, I quickly changed, packed my pool bag with the essentials - extra water, snacks, a book, and some sunscreen - and headed out to start the great search for a chair. I decided to head back to the Bowling Pin pool. The few times I've done pool time on past vacations, I have always headed to the Hippie Dippie, but I stuck with bowling pin for the entire vacation. It's quieter and less busy. Sure, it doesn't have Petals, but I can always walk over to the bar later.

The pool experience was completely different than yesterday. Maybe everyone left after Memorial Day. I was at the pool at pretty much the same time as I was on Monday but there was almost no one there! Not only was it easy to find a chair, I got a chair under an umbrella so I could stay longer. Score!!! I stayed for a couple of hours and then headed back to the room to shower and change because it was Steakhouse 71 night!!

Of course, when it was time to leave to head to the Contemporary, it was storming again. These weren't the typical afternoon storms. Nope, this storm was going to last pretty much the rest of the night. Oh well. I jumped in my car and headed to the Contemporary. Checking in at the guard house, the guard asked if I had been to Steakhouse 71 before. I replied "Oh yeah. Gotta have that cake." He laughed and said, "Well, I guess you know where to park then" and just waved me through. I then had to circle the lot about 3 times before I found a parking spot. I was actually considering paying for valet at that point but finally found a spot. Maybe next time I'll Uber or something.

I headed in and checked in for the table. Scotty was joining me and he texted he was on his way. We were seated right on time. Now, Scotty and Stephen have been on a fitness journey for the last year. And they are doing great!!! I am always cautious about suggesting apps, etc because while I am on vacation, they are not and I don't want to derail them. We did decide to get that potato bread (so good!!!) but then Scotty looked up his macros and found a steak and vegetables that worked. For Scotty to not get mashed potatoes is HUGE!!! So proud of him. Meanwhile, I got a steak and mashed potatoes because I AM on vacation and calories don't count. We had a great time catching up even though his head was buried in his work phone for a good portion of dinner. See, we were having dinner the night Disney was releasing details about the new nighttime parade in the media event. And Scotty has been spending the last year working on the new parade. It kind of became his baby. So he wanted to know what was actually being released and how people were responding. We also talked about the workload parades in general has been under for the last couple of months - they were, of course, running Festival of Fantasy every day, in rehearsals for the new parade, in rehearsals for Boo to You, AND starting rehearsals for the Christmas parade. It was so funny to watch Scotty field requests for costume fittings for Christmas Elves in May.

Anyway, we were soon wrapping up dinner. I got a piece of chocolate cake to go because a) didn't want to tempt Scotty to eat it and b) couldn't eat the entire thing by myself. This would give me a little treat for a few nights!! I had mentioned staying to watch Happily Ever After and Scotty was game. But, as we left the restaurant, we realized it was hard core storming. We decided to kill time to see if it stopped but also, neither of us wanted to walk to our cars in the pouring rain. We went up to the shops to explore. And, of course, I found those bracelets that had been looking at day 1 in Magic Kingdom. And, of course, I decided to buy them. I mean, if you find them on 2 separate days and you still want them, you really want them.

After some more shopping, we realized it was almost 9pm and it was still storming. No way were the fireworks happening tonight. We walked down and out under the covered area outside the hotel. A break came in the rain and we ran to our cars. We JUST made it before the downpour started again. The drive back to Pop was...interesting because once again, raining so hard I can't see the front of my car. It was insane!!! But, I made it back, found a parking spot, and quickly headed up to my room. Once inside, I ate part of my chocolate cake, scrolled social media, and then headed to bed.
So, how did I do with today's goals? Our goals were: Animal Kingdom for early entry until I was done, lunch at Flame Tree with Stephen, pool and relax time, Steakhouse 71 for dinner with Scotty, watch Happily Ever After from the Contemporary 4th floor walkway.

Accomplished: Animal Kingdom, lunch at Flame Tree with Stephen, pool time, Steakhouse 71 with Scotty
Not accomplished: early entry and fireworks

Hmm...not too bad at all.

Up next: After Hours at Hollywood Studios

 

[disneyAndi14]

Crazy storms! I’m excited to see the nighttime parade with Andi.
I still need to eat at Steakhouse 71. I really liked the Wave and ate breakfast and dinner back when it was the Wave.
I have seen pictures of the cake and it looks amazing
Not like poor Bruce from the movie Matilda. I love this movie

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Crazy storms! I’m excited to see the nighttime parade with Andi.
I still need to eat at Steakhouse 71. I really liked the Wave and ate breakfast and dinner back when it was the Wave.
I have seen pictures of the cake and it looks amazing
Not like poor Bruce from the movie Matilda. I love this movie
View attachment 987543

I'm so excited for the evening parade! But, I'm also glad I am waiting until Thanksgiving. I want to give them time to settle in and get all the kinks worked out.

And yes - go to Steakhouse 71! The chocolate cake alone is worth it but I have never had a bad meal there.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Day Three, Part One
Is this what relaxation feels like?
​

Today was After Hours at Hollywood Studios. If you followed along on my Thanksgiving trip report, you know that I debated for awhile about getting a ticket to this. I wasn't sure if I would really enjoy it by myself and if I would stay for the whole time (and thus make it worth the extra money). A few of you had really good reasons to go so I bought a ticket. However, I learned my lesson at Thanksgiving about going too hard in the parks on the day you have a hard ticket event so I planned a little differently for this one. No park during the day - sleep in and relax at the resort - and then head to Studios late afternoon. Did it work??

Goals for today - breakfast at Pop, pool and relaxing time, the new Villains Show, say goodbye to the Muppets, dinner at Pizzarizzo, Fantasmic with Danielle (VAmassey's daughter), After Hours with priorities being Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster.

I slept in until about 9am. I could have rolled over and gone back to sleep, but a Mickey waffle was calling and I didn't want to miss breakfast. I quickly got ready by just throwing on some clothes (why bother with anything else when I was going to the pool later) and headed up to Everything Pop. Hello breakfast bounty platter and a beautiful Diet Coke.

I took my time since the food court wasn't too busy. There was a large family at a table by mine. First - they had a really cute baby with them who kept flirting with me so I played peek a boo for a minute. Then, they started singing happy birthday to one of the teens with them. As they were leaving, I wished the teen a happy birthday and he actually stopped to tell me all about their plans for the day. Now, I know teen boys. They don't generally do that. But this one was not only chatty and friendly, but he had been helping a lot with the baby and some of the younger kids. Great big brother (or cousin).

After finishing up, I decided to shop for a bit. I sometimes find things in the Pop Century shop that I don't see in the parks. I debated a new beach towel (I have an older one from years ago when it was the purchase with a purchase thing). I really wanted a towel but just couldn't convince myself to pay that much. I honestly regret not getting one now. Every time I went to the pool for the rest of the summer (and that was pretty much every day), I said "Wow. I wish I had that towel." Lesson learned. Anyway, I DID find one of those vintage looking Mickey t-shirts and they had it in pink!!! Come to mama. I also grabbed a couple more Diet cokes for the room. At checkout, I made sure to tell the lovely CM that I had an annual pass and I pulled it up on my phone. However, once I got back to the room and looked at the receipt, I realized she didn't give me the discount. Another lesson learned, always check while you are there!

Back at the room, I quickly got ready for the pool, packed snacks, water, books, extra sunscreen and set off to claim a chair for a few hours. And I was lucky to get a chair under an umbrella! I don't think I would have survived in the sun for very long. Here's my view for the morning


It was quiet and I enjoyed my time! I think I was out there for close to 3 hours. After relaxing and getting some quality reading and swimming time in, I headed back to the room to shower, rest a little, and get ready for the evening. I was a little worried because the forecast wasn't looking very good. Lots and lots of storms heading in. And many of them looked to hit about Fantasmic time. Hmm...well, I made sure to pack several rain ponchos because I knew After Hours would happen regardless.

About 4pm, I headed out to the Skyliner. I wanted to be sure I got a chance to see the new Villains show and I wasn't sure how busy it was going to be since it was only 2 or 3 days old at this point. I figured I better not put all my money on getting in to the last show time, so I left early enough to get in to either of the last 2 shows of the day.


Here's my daily selfie (a little late in the day) on the skyliner!! Oh, and that's the new t-shirt from this morning. I think I have a better picture of it later. I didn't wear my visor for tonight because all I was thinking about was After Hours. It will be dark, hopefully cooler - I won't need it. Dear Stacy - the sun doesn't go down until much later. Boy did I miss that visor for most of the afternoon (and when the storms hit later.)


View from the Skyliner. Soon, I was in Studios. The plan was to head right to the Villains show. I THOUGHT I knew where it was located but I decided to ask someone, just in case. The directions the CM gave me were very confusing and made me think I was wrong about where it was. I started wandering in the direction the CM told me, but it just felt wrong so I stopped a different CM and asked again. THIS time, the directions pointed me to where I thought the show was and off I went.

I got to the show as they were finishing seating a performance. I could hear the CM saying "We can't guarantee you will get a seat to this performance." "Just because you are in this line right now doesn't mean you will get in." Ok, I pulled back and sat across from Rockin Roller coaster to wait until this performance closed and they were starting the line for the next show. I also wandered over to the pictures on the wall to get a selfie with my favorite villain.


Gosh I suck at taking selfies. Anyway, the CM at the entrance saw me and came over to take another picture for me.


My students would probably sarcastically say "I can't tell which one is you and which is the evil queen." LOL. I thanked the nice CM and then went to get in line for the next show. Yes, there was still about 45 minutes until the show, but I was going to be at the front of the line and get in! Plus, there were sun umbrellas down there and I could sit on the ground in the shade to wait.

Up next: villains, goodbye muppets, and storms

 

[Paulaparm]

Just got all caught up! Love your new shirt!