Oops, We Forgot to Leave Our Weather at Home! A Fantastic Festival of the Arts 2025 TR! (RL Update 5/27!!)

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Day 5, Part 1: A Magic Kingdom Morning!​

We were up nice and early this morning, around 5:30. As we were eating breakfast, we watched the news and they kept talking about how the past few days were record-breaking weather with the cold temps and how it was a historic week! We had to laugh since we seem to be there a lot for record breaking weather. While we were there for Ian we heard a similar thing on the news about how it was record breaking weather with the amount of rain they got. So yeah, maybe avoid the weeks we’re there, there may be some wild weather happening!

Around 6:15 we headed out of the room and over to the bus stop. We ended up catching the first bus at 6:25.

It was a smooth ride over until we were almost at the Magic Kingdom when my mom suddenly realized she had left her mittens in the room. Now, this wasn’t normally a big deal, but she thought she had left them on the bed, and they are white-ish so she was super worried that housekeeping wouldn’t see them and take them with the bedding when they cleaned our room. So yeah, valid concern, I see SO many posts on various Disney Facebook groups about kids losing their toys this exact way. Unsurprisingly, my mom went into panic mode.

Now we had a dilemma, do we head back to the room and miss rope drop at Magic Kingdom or do we hope for the best and go about our morning?

As we were pulling into the Magic Kingdom I had the brilliant idea to call the hotel and request that our room not be serviced this day, and that idea calmed my mom down so as we were making our way in and through security I called them and made the request. Crisis averted! Phew!

We were through security quickly, and made our way to the AP line since it was the shortest. We ended up being second in line, although that quickly turned to first in line when the family ahead of us was selected to be family of the day so got to enter at about 6:45 and get pictures and whatever else those lucky people got!

We ended up chatting with the CM after that family was selected and he made a comment that it should have been us since that family weren’t even APs so were in the wrong line! Great, way to not read signs lucky family!

That CM was great though, we chatted until they opened at 7:00, he was a lot of fun.

Once in we got a quick photopass picture in front of the train station.





We then headed onto Main Street where we of course got more pictures!











We then popped into the Emporium to browse, but there wasn’t anything we really wanted so moved on quickly.

Finally, we found ourselves in front of the castle where we got in line for another photopass picture. This photographer was amazing and soooo sweet! We ended up chatting with her for a while, like 15 minutes.



While chatting she pulls out this little container full of nuts and starts feeding one of the squirrels! OMG it was so funny! She said she always brings in snacks for him and feeds him every day. It was just after 7:30 by the time we stopped talking to her, so we were late for early entry! Bonus, we got a nearly empty park picture since everyone had already gone in!



It looks so weird with Astro Orbiter disassembled!

We decided to rope drop one of our favorite morning rides, Buzz!

We actually ended up riding Buzz three times in a row. The first ride my gun wasn’t working, so that wasn’t acceptable. The second time I came just shy of galactic hero, which was also totally not acceptable. Finally, on the third round, I hit galactic hero!

I also ended up finding a new high point target! Basically you have to spin so you’re facing backwards when exiting the first room and it’s right above you – 100,000 points!







Also, for the first time ever (for me) they actually had the galactic hero stickers, not the “I’m celebrating” button with galactic hero taped on it.

It was about 7:50 at this point, so about 10 minutes left of early entry. We decided we wanted to head over to rope drop Adventureland, so made our way back towards the hub. As we were heading out of Tomorrowland they let all the non-resort guests in and suddenly we had a stampede of people coming at us!

I’m a bit spicy that Disney let the non-resort guests in 10 minutes early. They already reduced the resort guests time from an hour to 30 minutes, and by letting everyone in early that reduced the benefit to only 20 minutes. Not cool Disney, not cool.

Anyways, we made our way through the hub, trying not to get trampled by the people running into Tomorrowland, and over to Adventureland and to Pirates. When we arrived we saw that Pirates was having a late start that morning, so we quickly changed gears and headed to HM instead.

Next up: Old School Rides!​

 

[Wood Nymph]

We actually ended up riding Buzz three times in a row. The first ride my gun wasn’t working, so that wasn’t acceptable.

I think I had that broken gun on our Buzz ride. It is always aggravating to get a gun that doesn't work or doesn't have good range of motion.

It was about 7:50 at this point, so about 10 minutes left of early entry. We decided we wanted to head over to rope drop Adventureland, so made our way back towards the hub. As we were heading out of Tomorrowland they let all the non-resort guests in and suddenly we had a stampede of people coming at us!

We made the mistake of trying to get to Adventure land from Fantasyland land before early entry was over. But it wasn't worth the trouble because of the huge mobs of people everywhere.

 

[vamassey1]

So glad you averted the mitten anxiety. Calling to stop the room cleaning was a good call.

Great empty park photos. The crowds don't look too bad.

My DH always likes to start with Buzz, we have to over rule him so we can ride something else. Congrats on Galactic Hero! I wonder what the secrets are going to be after they revamp the ride. I'm looking forward to better blasters.

 

[VAtink]

I think I had that broken gun on our Buzz ride. It is always aggravating to get a gun that doesn't work or doesn't have good range of motion.

It is so frustrating when the gun doesn't work! I'm excited for the refurb, it'll be so nice to have a much larger range of motion with the guns.

We made the mistake of trying to get to Adventure land from Fantasyland land before early entry was over. But it wasn't worth the trouble because of the huge mobs of people everywhere.

Yeah, definitely not the best plan! Would have been a bit easier if they didn't let everyone in 10 minutes earlier, but oh well, we still made it across!

 

[VAtink]

So glad you averted the mitten anxiety. Calling to stop the room cleaning was a good call.

Me too! Definitely one of my more brilliant ideas of the trip!

Great empty park photos. The crowds don't look too bad.

At this point in the morning the crowds were great!

My DH always likes to start with Buzz, we have to over rule him so we can ride something else. Congrats on Galactic Hero! I wonder what the secrets are going to be after they revamp the ride. I'm looking forward to better blasters.

Haha, I mean Buzz is a great starting point! And thanks! I am so curious to see what changes they make to the higher point targets, if any, with the refurb. It could be fun to try to find the new high point ones!

 

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Day 5, Part 2: Old School Rides!​

We last left off heading to HM since Pirates was down. The park was still gloriously empty!



HM was fortunately open, and a total walk-on still!



After HM, we of course stopped for the photopass picture.




Pirates was still down after we wrapped up with the pictures, so we headed to JC. I was surprised to see JC was still a walk-on.

It was a great ride, our skipper was so funny!



Pirates was still down after getting off of the JC, so we decided to do something we haven’t done in years….visit the Tiki Room!



My mom loves this show, and I love the history of the place, so a nice filler attraction for this morning.

As we were leaving the Tiki Room I saw that Pirates had just opened, so we rushed over there and luckily it was still a complete walk-on!



This morning we had a LLSP for 7DMT, but it was down all morning, so while waiting for that we made a DAS for PPF. I was surprised the return time was in only about 10 minutes, so we made our way over there.

PPF was fun, we don’t do this one often, so it’s nice to get on every now and then!

7DMT was still down after PPF, so we hopped over to small world to get that song stuck in our heads.



Love drunk hippo.

It was about 10:10 after Small World, and 7DMT was still down. We decided to head over there though to see if they were testing/running trains to get an idea if they might open soon. They were running the occasional train, so we stopped to watch and wait for a bit, hoping it would open.

While waiting I saw a photopass photographer come out, so we headed there for some pictures!!!!





Finally, at about 10:30, we gave up on 7DMT so made our way to the GET umbrella to get our LLSP refunded. They were able to quickly do that, which was good since we had plans we wanted to get to!

Next up: A Few More Food Booths!​

 

[Simba's Mom]

You're so fortunate that JC was a walk-on. I think that's one of my favorite rides in the MK. I laugh at every one of the Skipper's Jokes, even though I've heard it so many times.

 

[VAtink]

You're so fortunate that JC was a walk-on. I think that's one of my favorite rides in the MK. I laugh at every one of the Skipper's Jokes, even though I've heard it so many times.

I was shocked it still was! Usually that line builds super fast in the morning. We really did get lucky with that one!

 

[VAtink]

Oh my goodness, only four weeks until we're back at Disney! I need to get this and my other TR wrapped up quickly, there is no way I'm going to be able to keep up three TRs at once!

I'm so excited for this trip, it's going to be a very different one for us. For the first time since I think 2000 we're not staying at least part of the trip at an Epcot resort. I'll be at CSR the first night, then we'll be at WL for the rest of the trip. The biggest difference though is we'll see Epcot light for the first time since 2013! What on earth will we eat there without a festival going on?!?!

In other less fun news, my mom just hurt herself (again). She twisted her foot weird and it's all swollen and bruised now, so not ideal just four weeks from our trip, but hopefully it's just a sprain or a strain and not broken. Whatever it is, we'll still go, we've done wheelchairs for her before, we can do it again if needed! This is also a more laid back trip, we're planning a lot more down time and relaxing at the resort, so probably the best trip to have coming up while injured!

Also in other annoying news, it looks like they FINALLY opened up Celebration at the Top for our week, I guess yesterday, and of course yesterday was the first day in over a month I didn't bother checking and now it's showing no availability. Ugh. I'm hoping it's not actually sold out, I mean I can't imagine enough people would randomly check yesterday to fill up the four dates that are currently able to be selected, but who knows, there have been youtube videos on it lately so maybe others have been checking daily for it to open like I had. I'm so mad at myself for skipping checking it yesterday! Anyways, fingers crossed we can get it, if not we'll just have to try again another trip!

 

[buzzrelly]

Looks like you had a perfect morning at MK!

Oh my goodness, only four weeks until we're back at Disney!

Yay!

The biggest difference though is we'll see Epcot light for the first time since 2013! What on earth will we eat there without a festival going on?!?!

That's the only drawback of staying at an EP resort...never getting to see the front of the park lit up! I mean, technically, you can but we just never seem to want to walk the opposite way of our resort after a long day.

Sunshine seasons has yummy food...my DH and I have been getting breakfast there for the last couple trips!

In other less fun news, my mom just hurt herself (again). She twisted her foot weird and it's all swollen and bruised now, so not ideal just four weeks from our trip, but hopefully it's just a sprain or a strain and not broken

Oh no! I hope she feels better soon!

Also in other annoying news, it looks like they FINALLY opened up Celebration at the Top for our week, I guess yesterday, and of course yesterday was the first day in over a month I didn't bother checking and now it's showing no availability. Ugh.

No! Well keep checking!, something will open up! Or are you going to be there for when the new Geo82 lounge opens? That fireworks party has me seriously considering...

 

[Stacybaeasm]

What a great morning in MK. And I'm glad you were able to get a refund for 7 dwarves.

Sorry to hear about your mom's foot. I hope she heals quickly! But you are a good daughter to offer to push her around. Every once in a while when my knee is acting up, Scotty suggests I get a wheelchair and he will push. Each time I'm like - I know you are working out a lot these days but pushing my fluffy behind up those hills is too much to ask of anyone!

 

[vamassey1]

MK really was great this morning. You really got a lot of rides in before you left. I'm sorry 7 Dwarfs wasn't running.

Your next trip is coming up fast. I hope your Mom's ankle heals fast. WL is a great resort to send your downtime. It's our favorite resort so far.

 

[Wood Nymph]

In other less fun news, my mom just hurt herself (again). She twisted her foot weird and it's all swollen and bruised now, so not ideal just four weeks from our trip, but hopefully it's just a sprain or a strain and not broken. Whatever it is, we'll still go, we've done wheelchairs for her before, we can do it again if needed! This is also a more laid back trip, we're planning a lot more down time and relaxing at the resort, so probably the best trip to have coming up while injured!

I hope your mom is able to recover in time. At least she is willing to use a wheelchair if needed. We will be in WDW the week after you and my husband is still recovering from abdominal surgery. He refuses to consider renting an ECV.

Are you doing club level? We did the CL add-on when we stayed at WL in February. We had planned to take a laid back trip but it just didn't happen. We were busy as usual.

 

[GGOOFY1]

Love your TR! Count down to summer!! We are scheduled for September. Waiting for the F&W dates to be released.

 

[VAtink]

Popping in for a real quick RL update! In some fun luck, we ended up snagging reservations for Celebration at the Top today! This was a fun series of events too. So on Sunday when I saw they had "opened" the booking for the first week of June I was super upset I had missed it since I had been checking daily except for the day it opened. So I signed up for one of those free Disney dining watches and hoped for the best.

Well, today I was stuck in the office, and using personal phones is strongly frowned upon, so I rarely check my personal email while there. But today, just before 3:30, there was a helicopter circling super low over our building (thankfully I have a window seat so I could see this), so of course I was curious to know why. Our city has a system you can sign up for where it emails when there is stuff happening, fun or dangerous, to keep us informed. So I figured that checking to see if that helicopter circling us was something to worry about was enough reason to check my phone while in the office. About 10 seconds after opening my email to check, an email from the reservation finder came in showing that spots were open for Celebration at the Top! I couldn't believe it! So of course I immediately went to MDE and looked and sure enough, there was availability! I was so excited I almost screamed!

Now I realize that it probably wasn't actually open for booking when the dates first turned blue, since now I see plenty of availability, but still, I was so psyched to get this!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Now I realize that it probably wasn't actually open for booking when the dates first turned blue, since now I see plenty of availability, but still, I was so psyched to get this!

There are often restaurants that don't open for reservations right at 60 days. I think you are right about what happened for this booking.

 

[VAtink]

Looks like you had a perfect morning at MK!

It was a great morning. As much as I hate getting up early, it is SO nice to be in the parks before the crowds arrive!

Yay!

I know, I can't believe this trip is coming up so fast!

That's the only drawback of staying at an EP resort...never getting to see the front of the park lit up! I mean, technically, you can but we just never seem to want to walk the opposite way of our resort after a long day.

Haha, right? Every trip we say we're going to make a point to watch the shows on SE, but we never end up making it over there!

Sunshine seasons has yummy food...my DH and I have been getting breakfast there for the last couple trips!

Ohhh, I always forget about this place!

Oh no! I hope she feels better soon!

Thanks! Good news is it's not broken, but she's waiting on an MRI to see how bad it is. She's feeling a lot better, but her doctor is being cautious.

No! Well keep checking!, something will open up! Or are you going to be there for when the new Geo82 lounge opens? That fireworks party has me seriously considering...

We ended up getting it, YAY!!!!!! We are there when Geo 82 opens, and I tried to get that, but Disney IT foiled my plans. I didn't get the reservation button to show up until 6:17 the morning reservations opened and of course by then it was fully booked for our trip. Oh well, we got Celebration at the Top which I'm super excited about!

 

[VAtink]

What a great morning in MK. And I'm glad you were able to get a refund for 7 dwarves.

Yeah, I'm glad the GET makes it easy to get refunds when the rides are down!

Sorry to hear about your mom's foot. I hope she heals quickly! But you are a good daughter to offer to push her around. Every once in a while when my knee is acting up, Scotty suggests I get a wheelchair and he will push. Each time I'm like - I know you are working out a lot these days but pushing my fluffy behind up those hills is too much to ask of anyone!

Thanks! She is feeling better, thankfully! Thank goodness this is a more laid back trip, I don't mind pushing her around, but a long park day in heat we're not acclimated to doesn't sound like the most fun!

 

[VAtink]

MK really was great this morning. You really got a lot of rides in before you left. I'm sorry 7 Dwarfs wasn't running.

Yeah, we got really lucky with the lack of crowds early that morning. We left just in time!

Your next trip is coming up fast. I hope your Mom's ankle heals fast. WL is a great resort to send your downtime. It's our favorite resort so far.

It is coming up so fast, I can't believe it! And thanks, her foot is getting better by the day, so hopefully it is 100% for the trip! I'm so excited to finally stay at WL. We've been talking about it for years, and I keep hearing such great things!

 

[VAtink]

I hope your mom is able to recover in time. At least she is willing to use a wheelchair if needed. We will be in WDW the week after you and my husband is still recovering from abdominal surgery. He refuses to consider renting an ECV.

I hope so too! She is doing better, thankfully! She also refuses to use an ECV, but will use a wheelchair if needed.

Are you doing club level? We did the CL add-on when we stayed at WL in February. We had planned to take a laid back trip but it just didn't happen. We were busy as usual.

We are! We're slowly making our way through our goal of trying every CL on property. I think we'll have three left to check out after this trip.

There are often restaurants that don't open for reservations right at 60 days. I think you are right about what happened for this booking.

Yeah, this didn't open until like 29 days before! Yikes! I was so upset this weekend when the dates finally turned blue so it looked like they were open for booking and we missed out, but at the same time I couldn't believe that the four days that had "opened" had sold out in a single day, it's not like people were booking these dates at their 60 day mark, we were under 30 days at that point! I'm so happy we got it, it looks like a really cool event!