Oh, has it Been Raining? No, this is Just Sweat. Sept/Oct 2022 Trip Report! (Updated 9/16!!)

[KPeterso]

Happy Saturday everyone! Just popping in with some RL updates.

As many of you know that I have a FARTs trip coming up soon (52 days!!! ), but I have been bad and hadn't booked my flights. I was foolishly hoping the prices would drop, but that ended up being dumb since they just went up, and up and up and up! All this past week round trip was looking to be like $700 for coach, which is stupid since I usually get flights for about $400 round trip AND first class. Well, last night before I went to bed I had this inkling I should take a peak at the prices again, even though I had checked a few hours earlier, and I was shocked to see they had dropped significantly! Wahoo! So I finally got my flights book for my FARTs trip, and I got first class for only $50 more than coach!

On top of that, we also recently booked another F&W trip for September! We originally weren't going to book until (or if) they announced special events for the festival, but with the potential ticket price increase on December 8th, we figured we might as well book now. Plus we have the two unused tickets from hurricane Ian that expire on September 30th, so we figured we were going to go for a quick weekend anyways even if they don't bring back special events.

Then, because apparently we want to give Disney all our money, we're going to for a big trip next December, and just booked those tickets as well, again due to the potential price increase. This is a our crazy big trip, we're doing a triple split stay, starting at the BWI club level, moving to a 2 bedroom suite at the AKL, then moving to a 1 bedroom suite at the BC. We've never stayed club level before so this will be quite the experience! It's also my dad's first trip back to Disney since 2013!

I'm overly excited that after next December I will finally have been to all of Epcot's festivals! Can't wait to compare them all.

Ok, that's it for this morning. Stay tuned for the next TR update! ​

I am playing the airfare game for my March trip right now. Still have not bought. Have been in the $700-800 range which is crazy. At this point, i would buy at $400 in a heartbeat. My mom wants me to try Breeze Airways as they are coming to the closer airport to where I live with a nonstop, but I really like Delta. And the prices are still kind of crazy either way.

 

[VAtink]

Day 4, Part 2: Has it been raining? No, this is just sweat.​

Monday, September 26th, 2022

We last left off with us about to check out the Florida Blue lounge in Morocco! Before getting there we stopped for a quick photopass picture!





We then made our way back to where the lounge was and mom pulled out the passes. The CM working the door studied them for like 2 minutes, I thought he might deny us access! But in the end he ushered us inside after giving us each a cooling towel!

I was shocked to see it was almost empty in there! There was one other family, that was it. When we entered a CM walked us through the drinks available and let us know the henna artist would be coming in shortly if we wanted to do that.

They had water, tea, and iced coffee available. We both ended up getting the iced coffee. Then settled into a booth to cool off and just relax. We loved it in there!



After a while a CM came over to chat, and we told her how great this was. Her response “oh, then you must not have gotten the coffee!” HA!!!!!

Ok, so it wasn’t the best coffee, but it wasn’t THAT bad!

She went on to rave about the tea, and then offered to grab us some ice cold bottles of water to take with us when we left, which we gladly accepted!

We ended up enjoying the lounge until about 12:20, I could have stayed all day in there, it was so relaxing!

Once we left we made our way to France where we had planned to pick up some pastries for breakfast the next day, but the line for Le Halles stretched all the way out the door so we quickly noped out of there! (should have known better than to stop by during the lunch hour!)

At this point we were done for the morning, we were tired and the humidity was kicking our butts, so made our way back to the hotel.

When we got to the elevators at the hotel a Bell Services CM with a cart was also there and asked if we minded if he shared an elevator with us. We didn’t mind at all so we all piled in.

I guess making small talk, the CM looks us over and sees us dripping wet and goes “Oh, has it been raining?” and not even thinking, I respond “nope, this is just sweat.”

The poor CM looked SOOOOOO embarrassed, I felt so bad, but at the same time was struggling to not burst out laughing! When we got the 4th floor we left the CM in the elevator and mom and I just burst out laughing, it was just so awkward, and so funny!

It became a running joke for the rest of the trip, any time either one of us started to get sweaty we’d ask if it had been raining. So of course it seemed like the perfect title for this trip report!

Once back in the room we took turns showering then rested a bit before our big evening plans!

Next up: Hold onto those Magicbands!​

 

[VAtink]

I am playing the airfare game for my March trip right now. Still have not bought. Have been in the $700-800 range which is crazy. At this point, i would buy at $400 in a heartbeat. My mom wants me to try Breeze Airways as they are coming to the closer airport to where I live with a nonstop, but I really like Delta. And the prices are still kind of crazy either way.

Ooph, that's a lot for a ticket, I hope the prices drop for you soon!

 

[Wood Nymph]

The Blue lounge looked like a nice place to hang out for awhile. Is it just open for festivals?

I guess making small talk, the CM looks us over and sees us dripping wet and goes “Oh, has it been raining?” and not even thinking, I respond “nope, this is just sweat.”

It makes a great trip report title.

 

[VAtink]

Day 4, Part 3: Hold onto those Magicbands!​

Monday, September 26th, 2022

We last left off heading back to the YC to take a break.

After a short rest, we started to get ready for our evening plans. At around 1:55 I checked the app to see when the next bus to AK would be and saw it was at 2:04, so we quickly finished getting ready, then made our way downstairs.

By the time we got down to the bus stop, the arrival time changed to 2, and the bus was pulling into the bus stop just as we arrived! What amazing timing!

The bus was pretty crowded when we got on since it still had to drop off at BC and BW (surprising to us, we haven’t seen YC/BC share with the BW since like the 90s or maaaybe the early 2000s). Once we hit all the stops though the bus cleared out and it was only us and maybe two other families on our way to AK! While on the bus I booked us a LL for EE with a return time of 2:30. Score!

We ended up arriving at AK around 2:30, and being us stopped at all the photopass photographers on the way in!





Once in, I booked us a day of DAS for FoP to use later, think the return time was around 3:30ish. Then we made our way over to EE for the LL I had booked on the bus.

EE was a complete walk-on with the LL!



When we got off the ride, we saw that kite tales was going on just across the way, so popped over to the upper viewing area to watch some of it.



After watching it for like 5 minutes my mom suddenly realized her magic band had fallen off! And it was the brand new white one I had bought her as a surprise present!

She was pretty upset, understandably so, so I had us retrace our steps, we hadn’t gone very far since she last had it scanning into the EE LL. We searched the ground around where we exited EE, and asked a CM standing there if anyone had turned one in. She didn’t know but recommended going into the store to check in there, so we did just that.

We made our way into the store to find some CMs, but they hadn’t had anyone turn it in, but one of the CMs jumped into action to help us! He took us back into the unload zone from the ride to check with a CM there if they had seen it. They hadn’t but asked if we remembered which row we were in so they could check the trains. We were in row 8 so told them that. Then they brought us back inside the store to wait.

The CM stayed with us for a bit to chat, and we asked him how we would handle DAS now since mom was the one who had it, and we didn’t have the card tickets. This guy was amazing and tells us that he thinks he can do something for us and get us a new magicband for my mom and then heads off to speak with his manager to see what they can do. We were floored, I honestly just expected them to get us those card tickets.

Well, as we’re waiting for him to come back, the CM from the unload zone comes into the store and is holding mom’s magicband!!!!! OMG! I thought my mom was going to cry she was so happy. We thanked her profusely, I have no idea how we got so lucky that it stayed on the train!

We then went to find the other CM who was trying to get us a new magicband to let him know that we found ours so no need to get us a new one.

What a great ending, and the CMs were so fantastic, they seriously were so helpful and really did everything they could to help. We were super grateful! Definitely sent some cast compliments!

By the time this wrapped up we needed something a bit less stressful, so headed over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

The tigers weren’t out this afternoon, which was a bummer, but we still had a great stroll.


Love the shadows in this picture!

As usual, once we got into the aviary we found our bench and just sat and enjoyed the atmosphere and the birds for a while.


You may be wondering where the birds are in this picture. I am as well, I swear there were birds there when I took the picture!

This is definitely one of our favorite traditions.

After a while we finally moved on, it was getting closer to our evening adventure and we wanted to head that way, stopping at photopass photographers on the way!





Next up: Savor the Savanna!​

 

[VAtink]

The Blue lounge looked like a nice place to hang out for awhile. Is it just open for festivals?

I think it's only open during Food and Wine (I could be wrong). I didn't even know prior to this year that you don't even need to be a member to go in, they have free passes online!

It makes a great trip report title.

Haha, it's probably one of my favorites!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

The addition of bus arrival times to the app is one of the better things they've added in the last few years. So helpful to know if you have time to sip your coffee or need to get a move on. HATE the bus sharing -- really hope that's not back. I lost my magic band once on Mine Train and remember how stressful it was and I don't even have DAS. Similarly, they thankfully found it quickly in the ride vehicle and were so nice about it. Phew! Can't believe you voluntarily sit in the aviary. I am terrified of birds and was pooped on one of the only times I was in there so no thank you!

 

[Wood Nymph]

The bus was pretty crowded when we got on since it still had to drop off at BC and BW (surprising to us, we haven’t seen YC/BC share with the BW since like the 90s or maaaybe the early 2000s). Once we hit all the stops though the bus cleared out and it was only us and maybe two other families on our way to AK! While on the bus I booked us a LL for EE with a return time of 2:30. Score!

They started sharing the bus route with BC/YC and BWI sometime in 2022. The sharing doesn't begin until 11am, according to one of the bus drivers we spoke to.

After watching it for like 5 minutes my mom suddenly realized her magic band had fallen off! And it was the brand new white one I had bought her as a surprise present!

Was it the white 50th Anniversary band?
It was very lucky that the band was found while you were still in the area. You did a good job of contacting the right CM's. They can find out who owns the band by running the number on the band, but finding the owner is tougher.

The addition of bus arrival times to the app is one of the better things they've added in the last few years.

I really like having the bus times listed. I have even used the feature when we are in the park and are waiting for the bus to arrive to return us to the resort. The app will tell you when a bus is expected to arrive at the park.

 

[VAtink]

The addition of bus arrival times to the app is one of the better things they've added in the last few years. So helpful to know if you have time to sip your coffee or need to get a move on. HATE the bus sharing -- really hope that's not back. I lost my magic band once on Mine Train and remember how stressful it was and I don't even have DAS. Similarly, they thankfully found it quickly in the ride vehicle and were so nice about it. Phew! Can't believe you voluntarily sit in the aviary. I am terrified of birds and was pooped on one of the only times I was in there so no thank you!

Totally agree, love being able to pull it up while in the room and see how long we have until the next bus!

Losing the magicband was definitely not fun! My mom was in complete panic, I felt so bad. The CMs were amazing though, so happy they found it!

Haha, it's funny you say that, last year I got pooped on in that exact aviary! I still love it, just try to avoid sitting under birds now.

 

[VAtink]

They started sharing the bus route with BC/YC and BWI sometime in 2022. The sharing doesn't begin until 11am, according to one of the bus drivers we spoke to.

Ohhh, I did not know that. I gotta say, I preferred when they didn't share, especially leaving the park and having the choice of two buses to take back!

Was it the white 50th Anniversary band?

Nope, just the white regular one. Nothing special, but my mom had wanted a white one for years, but they never had them on MDE at the free, or pre-trip price, so she never got one until now.

It was very lucky that the band was found while you were still in the area. You did a good job of contacting the right CM's. They can find out who owns the band by running the number on the band, but finding the owner is tougher.

Seriously, I can't believe they found it! I'm impressed!

I really like having the bus times listed. I have even used the feature when we are in the park and are waiting for the bus to arrive to return us to the resort. The app will tell you when a bus is expected to arrive at the park.

I didn't know it also showed when the bus would arrive at the park! I need to check this out!

 

[VAtink]

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is having a great start to the week.

This week has been nuts, and it's only Tuesday. Work has been annoyingly busy, I was in six hours of meetings today, and then my boss wonders why I didn't get much done. (He also told my female coworker and I today that he's waiting for our male counterpart to get back from vacation to answer a technical question he asked of us because he will "have the correct answer". Really dude???? )

Then there is the cleaning for the holidays. Oh my goodness. So. Much. Cleaning. Having people stay with me is always fun, but I don't realize how much I need to tidy up until I start getting ready for guests!

It doesn't help that my dog has apparently figured out how to get things from the middle of the counter (like a 4 ft deep counter!), and managed to grab a bag of cosequin while I was at work today and ate ALL OF IT. Seriously, what the actual *** Dug?!?! So now he's been getting sick all over the house.

I of course called the vet in a panic when I got home and saw what he had done, and they assured me he'll be fine, just will have some tummy issues (vomiting and diarrhea) for the next day or so. Unfortunately, he's having these inside my house. (my fault, I was in the stupid office today). So yeah, cleaning is going great!

And even though the vet assured me he'll be fine, I'm still worried about him. I hate that he's not feeling well, I'm watching him like a hawk for now just in case he gets worse. I just hope he starts to feel better before I go to bed, otherwise sleeping will not come easy!

Other than that things are going well-ish. Only a few more weeks before my first FARTs trip! That's exciting, but with the holidays between now and then it still seems soooooo far away! I realize after the holidays the trip is going to come up super fast, but for now it seems so far away.

So fingers crossed things will get easier/better this week, I think I've had enough drama for the entire month just today alone! If I don't get another post in before this weekend, Happy Holidays everyone! ​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hope Dug is okay. I'm so lucky that my dog is not a counter surfer. Cleaning is just never ending ... sometimes adulthood stinks! And *** with your boss - that's horrible! How exciting to be anticipating your first visit for Festival of the Arts. I'll there a few times in January so maybe I'll run into you and be able to say a quick hello. Happy Holidays!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

There is nothing like having house guests to motivate a person to get things done.

I'm sorry to hear about your dog. I hope Dug feels better soon.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Poor Dug! Hope the furry friend gets better soon!

 

[VAtink]

Hope Dug is okay. I'm so lucky that my dog is not a counter surfer. Cleaning is just never ending ... sometimes adulthood stinks! And *** with your boss - that's horrible! How exciting to be anticipating your first visit for Festival of the Arts. I'll there a few times in January so maybe I'll run into you and be able to say a quick hello. Happy Holidays!!

You are so lucky your dog isn't a counter surfer! My dog didn't used to be, but he figured out he can reach up there, so now I need to be very careful what I leave up there!

Haha, totally agree, sometimes adulthood really does stink. And yes, my boss is a moron. No one likes him, and he is constantly doing things that skirt legal boundaries. It's ridiculous. He does seem overly stressed in his role though, so we're all crossing our fingers he'll quit one of these days!

I am sooo excited for FARTs! I can't believe how quickly it's coming up, only a few more weeks! If you're there the same time as me it would be great to meet up, I'll be there the last week of January!

Happy holidays, and happy New Year!

 

[VAtink]

There is nothing like having house guests to motivate a person to get things done.

Haha, right? All guests are gone now, so now I have the post guest cleanup to do. At least now it's mostly just laundry!

I'm sorry to hear about your dog. I hope Dug feels better soon.

Thank you! He's doing much better, basically back to his old self.

 

[VAtink]

Poor Dug! Hope the furry friend gets better soon!

Thanks! He is much better now, although probably a bit upset the treats aren't kept on the counter anymore!

 

[VAtink]

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had fantastic holidays! ​

Day 4, Part 4: Savor the Savanna!​

Monday, September 26th, 2022

We last left off heading out of the Maharajah Jungle trek. We made our way over to Africa to check in to our tour, Savor the Savanna!

We arrived at the check in at 3:45, about 30 minutes prior to the start, but I wanted to verify we had the right location for check in. So we asked the CM at the booth if it was the right place, and it was, and she was ready to check us in already! So we got checked in and filled out the waivers.

Since we still had about 25 minutes until our tour left, she recommended we go walk the Gorilla Falls trail, which we happily did!



The baby gorillas were sooooo stinking cute! I could have watched them for ages, but we had food to get to!

When we wrapped up our trail walk and got back to the check in area a crowd had gathered. So we hung out off to the side to let everyone else check in. While there our guide, Kayla, came up to chat, and she was awesome. We, and another mother/daughter duo who was on our tour, ended up chatting with Kayla for about 10 minutes while we waited for everyone else to check in. We all bonded over our love of our dogs! Her dog’s name was Rhode after Joe Rohde, which on it’s own I thought was awesome, but to make it even better, it’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback, so it works on multiple levels! Haha!

The group we were waiting on to check in was a larger one, well not too large, there were only 12 on the tour, but there were 8 of them! The one guy in it was a bit rude, like pushed his way to the front to get “the best seat” on the truck (he actually said this), but we forgave him since he was about to propose to his GF while on the tour (way to take away my birthday thunder dude! (kidding kidding!)) and figured he was probably just nervous and needed everything to be perfect.

There was a super short “backstage” portion, but it was literally just a boardwalk to the Safari load zone to catch our truck so we were allowed to take pictures/film. I of course did neither. I’m really great at recording info for these TRs.

Once we were all loaded onto the truck we headed off on our safari!

It was kind of lacking this afternoon, which was surprising since it was super cloudy and cooling off, but there were very few animals out and about.



We did still stop to the side while out on the savanna and had one of the animal keepers come join us to talk about his job and the animals and answer any questions. We had a pretty quiet group and it was mostly just my mom and myself and the other mother/daughter duo that was asking any questions.

Eventually we moved on from the savanna and made our way to the Boma for our meal!

The meal here was served family style, and at first it didn’t look like it would be enough food for our entire group. It was one small table with some small dishes of shrimp, curry chicken, some fruit, cheese, hummus, and bread. It did however end up being enough, although I know I personally took very small helpings since I didn’t want anyone else in the group to miss out, so maybe we were all doing this!

I snapped some pictures before they went over the food items with us.


My mom and I grabbed one of the tables and then got our food. I thought I got pictures of the offerings, but the only pictures I took were our nearly empty plates after eating...I really failed at documentation for this TR this afternoon

Before eating, I also got myself a glass of one of the red wines.

It was all delicious, I especially loved the curry chicken and the hummus!

While eating it began to rain, and it was coming down hard! It was actually super relaxing sitting there watching the rain fall out over the savanna. Toto was playing in my head the whole time!

A giraffe decided to come visit while we were eating, so I braved the rain to get some pictures.



One benefit to the rain was once it started raining, the CMs pulled out free ponchos for everyone, and not the cheap thin ones we’ve gotten at Disney events before, but the same ponchos they sell in the stores! This was very fortunate since I ripped a hole in my old poncho a while back, so it was great to get a brand new one!

While the rest of us were eating, the large group with the guy who was about to propose were out on the back overlook to watch the proposal, and she said yes!

I was actually kind of impressed the CMs didn’t make a big deal of it, or even act like it happened at all. Like as exciting as it was for the couple, they weren’t the only ones celebrating something, so I think the CMs handled it very well by not making the rest of the tour all about that one group.

We ended up hanging out at the Boma for about an hour enjoying the views and the food. At one point I went up to get a second glass of wine, and Kayla was working the bar this time so she poured me a glass. As I was stepping away she called me back and ended up pouring the remainder of the bottle into my glass! HA!!!!!



It was a very very full pour!

Eventually the CMs brought out the desserts. They had a few options like a s’mores pot, a chocolate cake pop, a fruity bar thing, and I think brownie thing?

Since I’m not a huge fan of sweets I let mom go up and grab us some. She ended up getting the s’mores pot and the chocolate cake bar for us to share.



I absolutely LOVED the chocolate cake pop, it wasn’t very sweet at all, but very decadent. The s’mores pot was good, but was a bit too sweet for me.

After we finished up there were still I think three desserts left, and one was the chocolate cake pop, so I gladly took that off their hands!

Once we finished all the desserts we piled back into the truck to finish the safari and the tour. At the very end before we parted ways, Kayla handed out coasters so we could “have a drink on Disney” HA!!!!!!


Sorry for the water rings, clearly I've been using this a lot!

The tour wrapped up at 6:40, so just over two hours. We loved it and would absolutely do it again!

After the tour we headed to FoP to use the DAS we had booked earlier.

Once off FoP we headed to the buses to head home. We got back to the YC around 7:45 and quickly ran upstairs to drop off our new ponchos before heading out again!

Next up: Second Dinner!​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Happy New Year! Isn't this a great tour? We did it last year as well and absolutely loved it. I had the same initial thought re: volume of food (but it was enough for all) and we also had a second dinner. I found that curried chicken salad recipe online and have been meaning to make it -- so good. Honestly, I could just live in Animal Kingdom and keep taking tours and talking about the animals. LOVE it. Those baby gorillas are adorable!! Here's to a happy and healthy 2023, more Disney trips, and hopefully the return of F&W events, LOL.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Your safari adventure sounds really nice. There is something about watching the rain while you stay dry that is very appealing. And maybe the new ponchos might play a role in the next few days.