COMPLETE! Spring Break Shming Break--No Lines for Us! Girls Trip--March 2017 TR

[Araminta18]

Spring Break, Shming Break--No lines for us! Girls Trip--March 2017 TR COMPLETE!

Table of Contents:

• Disney Springs--Tuesday, March 14th
• ALL the Fastpasses (Magic Kingdom)--Wednesday, March 15th (part 1)
• ALL the Fastpasses (Magic Kingdom)--Wednesday, March 15th (part 2)
• Eating Around the World (Epcot)--Thursday, March 16th
• Rope Drop is WHEN?! (Magic Kingdom)--Friday, March 17th 2017 Part 1
• Express Bus is Indeed Amazing (Magic Kingdom...plus quick side trips to Epcot and Hollywood Studios) – Friday, March 17th, 2017 Part 2
• Hello, Animal Kingdom! (Animal Kingdom)—Saturday, March 18th, 2017 Part 1
• Yes, Yes We Can Hit All of Hollywood Studios' Headliners in a Single Day! (Hollywood Studios...plus quick side trip to Magic Kingdom)--Saturday, March 18th, 2017 Part 2
• Departure Day (Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Epcot)-- Sunday, March 19th, 2017
• Final Thoughts

Aloha everyone! I'm Tiffany--a Disney newbie, but an obsessive planner

This is my first Disney trip report, and only my second trip to the World. My first trip to the World was with my husband last year to celebrate our second anniversary; we stayed at POFQ and absolutely loved it. I especially loved being able to let my obsessive trip-planner side have free reign and actually have it work to our advantage in Disney!

So in January, when I found out I’d have a work trip to Orlando in mid-March, I immediately decided I’d have to take a few days and spend time at Disney! Unfortunately my husband couldn’t come with me this time, as he didn’t have enough vacation days, but I decided to make it a girl’s trip and invited one of my good friends—S—to come. She’s not a huge Disney fan, but is always up for a vacation and decided DisneyWorld would be fun. Once she said yes, I was off to the races and began planning excitedly. S was crazy busy with work, and didn’t know much about Disney, so even though I asked her input on everything and sent her links and things to look at, she basically said she trusted my judgement completely. Bwahahaha So I booked about a week before our fastpass window opened up, and was able to book pretty much every fastpass and ADR I wanted. From there, it was re-planning and moving things around and planning some more and stalking the disboards. I finally decided it would be March 15th through the 19th, with Park Hopper tickets, and we'd be staying at Pop Century (a switch from the originally booked All-Star Sports). I'd be flying down on March 14th for work stuff, and then S would fly in the morning of March 15th and I'd join her later, around lunchtime.

All was pretty well set until about Thursday the 9th. That’s when all the forecasts for DC started predicting inches and inches of snow, starting Tuesday the 14th. And when was I supposed to fly out? Tuesday, the 14th, at 8 am. Awesome. Well, forecasts in the DC area are notoriously unreliable, and we’d be just as likely to get no snow at all as to get 18 inches, so I decided to not worry too much.

Except the forecasts got worse and worse as Friday wore on, and finally on Saturday I bit the bullet and changed my flight to 5 pm Monday night. No way was I going to miss a full day of my vacation, and in the sun of Florida no less, when home was supposed to be getting a blizzard! Lucky I changed it when I did—I checked flights out on Sunday and pretty much everything was sold out. Phew!

So Monday I went to work, and got pretty much nothing done as I was focused on tracking my plane to make sure it made it to Dulles on time, and my coworkers were feverishly speculating on the blizzard. But finally (finally) it was time to leave for the airport. My coworker was gracious enough to give me a ride and off we went!

I was expecting crazy waits at the counter and at security, but strangely enough, there was no one there.

It was literally the shortest wait I’ve ever had at Dulles security. An auspicious start! I breezed on through and headed over to my gate—though instead of the underground train, I got to take the lounge bus. It’s this 70s-tastic lounge on wheels that buses you over to your terminal. It feels like it takes forever, but hey, at least it works.

Made it to the gate, started playing on my phone and basically waiting anxiously to get on the plane and get in the air. The sky, which was completely blue and clear when I got dropped off, had clouded up ominously. The storm wasn’t supposed to start until about 8 pm or so, and the flight was supposed to take off at 5:30 pm, but I’m paranoid, and the universe doesn’t like it when you’re too happy, and I was going to Disney so how could I not be too happy?

We boarded on time and everything seemed to go off without a hitch. We pulled back from the gate, waited in the long line of planes waiting to take off, made it to the head of the line for take off, pulled to the top of the runway, and…..taxied off to the side and back into the line of planes waiting to take off?! What?!

According to the captain later, the route that they were going to take from Dulles to Orlando was closed, so ATC put them back in line while they got them a new route. Or something along those lines. All I knew is that we were so close to taking off and then we were back in line. I can’t overstate how anxious I was—seriously, I just wanted to get to Disney and if this flight didn’t happen, the next flight down would probably have been Wednesday afternoon or evening. However. We quickly were back at the top of the runway and this time, we sped up and took off into the cloudy sky. Hooray! We were on our way!

The flight was uneventful, and before I knew it we were touching down in Orlando in a light rain. Hey, it isn’t snow—I’ll take it! It took a little bit for everyone to deplane, and then I was hungry so I stopped at the Panda Express in the food court to get some dinner (lately I’ve become very enamoured of their cream cheese rangoons…yum!) and then caught the shuttle to the La Quinta Inn, my home for the night. The La Quinta Inn shuttle stop was right next to the Magical Express…I kept looking longingly at the Disney buses, but I wouldn’t be on one of them until Wednesday afternoon. But no problem—I was in Florida!

The La Quinta was perfectly serviceable, nothing too interesting. It was a good cheap hotel for the night. I did like their continental breakfast the next morning—double chocolate chip muffins! Yum! Always a great start to the day, double chocolate.

I checked out and headed back to the airport to pick up my rental car. I didn’t have park tickets for today, but that’s ok—I had a Disney agenda anyways: hit both of the Disney outlets, and then Disney Springs!

It wasn’t too long before I was all set and ready to go in a brand new Chevy Cruze. My favorite part? I could control my music from the steering wheel! (I drive a 2005 Beetle…no fancy steering wheel music controls for me ). So I put on some tunes (Disney, naturally, though of the Broadway variety) and off I went to the outlets.

My first stop was the one by Universal, and here I scored the jackpot. I managed to get all the gifts I needed to get for people back home (and at a discount!): an adorable Eeyore mug for $4, a Captain America Civil War mug for $3, an Olaf pen for $3, plus some others. I found a great t-shirt for my morning-hating husband:

And for me, a $10 magic band. “But Tiffany, you already said you’re staying on site and so must have a magic band already! Why would you want to buy another one?” Good question, reader! For Same Day Fast Passes (SDFP) of course! And I certainly put this one to good use—for $3 cheaper than the plain magic bands, I was very pleased. From here I went to the outlets closer to Disney Springs. This one was much more crowded, and I didn’t end up buying anything. Still fun to look though.

By this point, I was very hungry, and the food court smelled so good…but I was determined to eat at Disney Springs! So I held out a bit longer and drove over—and was rewarded with this lovely sight:

Course, I still had to fight off the crazies circling the parking garage to get a good spot, but I eventually was successful, and pretty soon I had made my way over to Earl of Sandwich.

I’d heard so much about this on the Boards that I really wanted to try it. I was not counting on the line being out the door—it was crazy crowded! But I gamely got in line anyways…and then noticed the little checkout stand that said “online order pick up”. That gave me an idea! So I pulled up my phone, ordered online, and was rewarded with a “Your order will be ready in 7 minutes” message. Huzzah! I quickly left the line and grabbed a seat outside—the weather was sunny and perfectly cool and sitting outside was much more pleasant than the warm and stuffy interior.

I waited my seven minutes, asked a kind grandma and her granddaughter to watch my table, and went inside to grab my food. While I still had to wait about 5 minutes for my sandwich to be ready, it was still quicker than waiting in the original line—the people who were originally in front of me hadn’t even ordered yet!

And my sandwich…yum. I got the original: roast beef, cheddar, and horseradish. It hit the spot perfectly. I can definitely understand the love for it now!

After I finished eating (being once again grateful for ordering online when the grandmother and granddaughter who’d saved my seat had only just gotten their food when I was leaving), I started shopping in earnest, heading over to “Once Upon a Toy”.

I wasn’t expecting to buy anything, but then I saw these shirts:

So, backstory: when my husband and I did our anniversary trip to DW last year (my first trip ever), we wanted to buy these shirts as we’re both huge Star Wars fans and it was our anniversary, but they didn’t have either my or my husband’s size. So, no shirts for us. But when I was talking to my husband on the phone telling him my plans for the day, he told me if I saw those shirts and they had our sizes to be sure and buy them. I laughed and assured him they probably wouldn’t have them anymore and if they did probably not our sizes, but that I would check. Lo and behold, the first store I walk into, there they are. AND in our sizes!! I was so excited—I practically ran to the register.

I meandered through the World of Disney (bought chocolates to take to work) and the Disney Marketplace Co-op, which really sucked me in. I bought silver Castle stud earrings, and a Mary Poppins scarf (because I am indeed practically perfect in every way), and Tower of Terror/Great Movie Ride tumblers for my husband and I because he loves the Great Movie Ride and conquered his fear of heights to ride Tower of Terror once last trip, and I love both rides.

I also made my way over to the D-Living store, currently all Beauty and the Beast-themed. I wanted to buy it all! It all looked so cool, with books as shelves and the table all set with Beauty and the Beast dishes and cutlery, and I can’t even say how much I loved the music of various instrumental versions of Beauty and the Beast songs. I ended up buying the Beauty and the Beast notecard set only, but it required willpower.

By that point, I was hungry again. I thought about doing an actual meal, but the temptation of Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar was too much. And it had the benefit of being happy hour! Though I don’t drink, so that benefit was slightly lost on me. I grabbed a seat on the deck, ordered one of their non-alcoholic drinks, the “Poisonless Dart” (Soda Water with Mint, Simple Syrup, and fresh Lime Juice) and some nachos from their happy hour menu. The nachos were yummy; the drink, not so much. Too bitter/tart for me. But I very much enjoyed watching the boats on the water and getting off my feet for a bit, and eating the nachos. A perfect midafternoon break.

After that, I decided it was time for dessert. And where else to go but Amorette’s? Everything in there looked so good, and they were giving away samples of their key lime pie. But eventually I settled on the “avant-garde”: Chocolate Chiffon Cake, chocolate mousse, and Chocolate Crumble. Oh my gosh, so good. Chocolatey but not too heavy, and just amazing. I highly recommend it.

At that point, I was a bit tired, and it was time for me to head to my hotel for the night (which was a little ways away) and prep for work the next day, so I bid farewell to Disney for the time being. But not to worry, tomorrow starts the time at the Disney parks!

Next: Magic Kingdom! and ALL the fast passes!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Here! But your photos are not visible to me.

 

[Araminta18]

Here! But your photos are not visible to me.

also, dangit! Pictures here are hard. I think I fixed it; can you see them now?

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Yes, thank you.

 

[Araminta18]

Awesome!

 

[amy1115]

Following along from Oklahoma! Sounds like you started your trip off perfectly!

 

[Araminta18]

Following along from Oklahoma! Sounds like you started your trip off perfectly!

I did! Once safely down there, it was a fantastic start. I liked the new Disney Springs a lot more than I expected to. And such gorgeous weather! Sunny but cool and not humid at all.

 

[TexasPete]

Following along from TX.

 

[Araminta18]

Following along from TX.

 

[MarylandMom]

Love it!

 

[Araminta18]

ALL the Fastpasses--Wednesday, March 15th (part 1)

Wednesday I took care of work stuff in the morning, and arrived at the Magical Express at a little before one, for the official start to my DisneyWorld vacation! Now, the original plan was that S would have arrived at about 8 am and would already be in the Magic Kingdom, and I’d meet her there in the early afternoon. However, she was still dealing with the fallout from the storm, and her early flight had been canceled, and she wouldn’t be arriving until 9 pm Wednesday night. So that was a bit of a bummer, especially ‘cause our “Be Our Guest” dinner was that night, at 5:10 pm. But I have to admit, there was a part of me that was excited to have some time on my own in the parks—I’m definitely an introvert!

I got lucky and the Magical Express pulled out about 5 minutes after I hopped on, and soon Gus was explaining the safety features to us and ushering us on our way. Our first stop was Art of Animation, but not too much later I was granted my first view of Pop Century!

My first trip to the World was at French Quarter, but this trip was done on a bit smaller budget, so a value it was. I’d heard lots of good things about Pop, so I was excited! And of course, it didn’t hurt that while I was on the Magical Express, I got the lovely “your room is ready” text. I’d requested room 1213 on Touring Plans (my goal was to be as close to the buses as possible); we got room 1214. I’d call that $12 (or however much it was) well-spent.

I loved seeing the over-the top theming as we pulled in, but I didn’t have time to linger. I had a fastpass for Splash Mountain to get to! The window was from 1:35 to 2:35, and we were pulling in to Pop at about 1:35. So I hopped off the bus, dropped stuff at the room, and turned right around to go to the bus stop for the parks (though I made time to turn the thermostat down in the room—someone had turned off the air conditioning, so the room was very warm and smelled funny…not the best introduction to the room, but I didn’t care, I had to get to Splash!)

There was a surprisingly long line for the bus to the Magic Kingdom for the middle of the afternoon, but a bus pulled up pretty quickly and in no time at all, we were on our way and pulling under this beautiful sight!

I had been really worried I’d miss my fastpass window, but I was having good luck! And at 2:15, I was walking right down the middle of Main Street, USA. A crowded Main Street, but Main Street nonetheless. I love walking up Main Street, crowds or no crowds. It’s just such an exciting, happy atmosphere.

I was gonna run right over to Splash, but I’d made good enough time that I decided to stop at the kiosks by Jungle Cruise and see what Same Day Fast Passes (SDFP) were available for me to take advantage of. I had my husband’s magic band from our last trip, and then the magic band I’d bought the day before, and since S hadn’t arrived yet, I could use both to make SDFP for me. I wasn’t expecting much, ‘cause it was spring break and all, but I’d read the thread on SDFP and was excited to put my newfound knowledge to work. And put it to work I did! I had booked fastpasses in advance for Splash, Seven Dwarves, and Space Mountain, and was able to book SDFP for Jungle Cruise, Winnie the Pooh, Pirates, Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, and others. Definitely a good use of 15 minutes or so.

Feeling energized by my SDFP success, I jogged on over to Splash Mountain, and made it about 5 minutes before my fastpass window closed. I shoved my phone in my fanny pack (where it apparently took pictures on its own of the inside of the bag, which I just discovered now, as I’m writing this report), and without even asking, got put in the front row. I didn’t even get that wet, which was probably a good thing as the weather was slightly chillier than normal for Orlando! I really liked it as my first ride of the trip: an auspicious start. I do like this picture though--I'm trying to be brave and raising my hands in the air, but they're bent and close together...not quite as fearless as I seem!

From there, I made my way through the crowds (seriously, so very very crowded) to Seven Dwarves Mine Train. The cast members were out in the middle of the sidewalks with the "walk right" signs, and everywhere you looked it was just a mass of people.

But I kept pushing on to Seven Dwarves, and more importantly, the fast pass entrance!

The fastpass line ended up being about 10 minutes total, much better than the 2 or 3 hour standby wait. And then we were off to the mine. I’ll echo everyone else’s sentiments: super cute (I love the animatronics of the dwarves in the mine, and the shadows of the dwarves hiking to work as you go up one of the hills is my favorite), but not worth such a crazy long standby wait. I was very grateful I’d been able to get a fastpass for it.

I’d gotten a SDFP for Winnie the Pooh, so I hopped across the way and took a ride in a honeypot. I have an inordinate fondness for this ride—it’s just so cute! I love the way it makes you hop like Tigger. Fastpass wait was about 5 minutes; my first SDFP of the trip. Thank you, disboards!

After such a cute kiddie ride, I decided it was time for some more adventure. Space Mountain, here I come! This fastpass line was a bit longer—about 15/20 minutes. But again, so much better than the 3 hour standby! And I made friends in line, and we chatted about fastpasses and the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor. I love how everyone is a friend at Disney. And then off we blasted! I always forget how jerky and fun this ride is until I’m on it and terrified that I can’t see where I’m going. Absolutely love it. Also, this picture accurately shows just how much of a massive dork I am.

After Space, I had a little bit of extra time. I had a dinner at Be Our Guest at 5:10, and I’d made a fastpass for Mickey’s Philharmagic at 4:35, but it was only about 4:20. So when I saw a photographer on the walkway by Merida’s meet and Greet (the Fantasyland bridge, I think), I made a point to stop.

I was really pleased that I’d decided (last minute) to buy Memory Maker this trip. The photographers were awesome! And this is from someone who hates every picture she's in.

From there it was time for Mickey’s Philharmagic. I’d never done this show before, and was surprised at how cute it was. I was a little creeped out by the odd CGI, but the story is adorable and the fun touches (like the water, or seeing Donald in the wall at the end) were great. A good way to spend some time before my Be Our Guest ADR. I do think my favorite part though was the posters on the wall in the entrance.

Then, Be Our Guest! Since the ADR was so early (5:10 pm), I asked the hostess doing the check-in if I could request a table in the West Wing, and that I’d be happy to wait however long I needed to. She was great—made the request for me and warned me it would probably be about an hour wait. I was fine with that—I browsed in the Beauty and the Beast gift shop and watched Gaston do some of his meet & greets. My dad also called at this point, so I got to talk to him for a bit while relaxing on a bench near Gaston’s Tavern. (also, look at that sky--absolutely gorgeous )

The wait was only half an hour! At 5:40 on the dot, I got the text saying my table was ready. Back over to the restaurant I went, where I was escorted into the West Wing, as requested. Such a treat! Service was a bit slow, but I was in no rush. I just enjoyed sitting in the West Wing. Though, I’d forgotten that when you sit in the West Wing, you don’t get to hear the lovely instrumental arrangements of the Beauty and the Beast songs! My one regret.

I got the steak with the garlic and herb butter…so yummy! The butter is amazing. I know a lot of people complain about the food at Be Our Guest, but I’ve always really enjoyed it. No complaints here.

And of course, I got the grey stuff for dessert. Last year it was on a brownie, but now it’s on a white chocolate mousse tart. I liked the old way slightly better, but this was yummy too. I’m just not a huge fan of white chocolate.

I also got the Enchanted Rose Cup tumbler, which really became a pain as the night wore on. The cups are adorable but the light on top turns on randomly and sometimes I couldn’t turn it off—I rode Pirates later that night frantically trying to turn the light out and then finally giving up and settling for trying to cover the light up as best I could! But they are adorable souvenirs.

Anyways, after dinner, it was time to meet the Beast! The line to meet him was about 10 minutes long (though it felt longer—but my pictures say 10 minutes so I guess we should trust the facts and not my clearly skewed perception of time). This Beast was super playful. Everyone was taking pictures of him as he walked in, and he was hamming it up and posing. Then, when it was my turn, I told him that it was my anniversary and I was spending my anniversary with him and not my husband. He seemed to like that—lots of hugs (complete with kissing noises…that was a bit weird). It was a good interaction, especially for someone like me who is always SUPER awkward when meeting characters. A perfect end to dinner.

The "hello" hug, complete with "kiss".

The "you're spending your anniversary with me?!" reaction shot

Next up: I continue my quest to conquer all the big rides of the Magic Kingdom! And to find the photo op with the Tangled lanterns...

 

[Araminta18]

Love it!

 

[wdwnut61]

Hi Tiffany

I made it sorry I'm late. Loving all the trip details and your pictures. I agree about MM it's so great having all the pictures and video's. We love Jock Hanger's the atmosphere is great and so are the
I love the SW shirts you got for you and DH
You certainly made out well with all your FP's
Looking forward to your next installment.

 

[Araminta18]

Hi Tiffany

I made it sorry I'm late. Loving all the trip details and your pictures. I agree about MM it's so great having all the pictures and video's. We love Jock Hanger's the atmosphere is great and so are the
I love the SW shirts you got for you and DH
You certainly made out well with all your FP's
Looking forward to your next installment.

Glad you made it over!

You're right about Jock Hangar's--such great atmosphere.
Aren't the SW shirts great? I was so happy to see them again.
Thanks! The fastpasses were awesome--certainly made high crowds more palatable

 

[MeredithKaye]

LOVED reading about your trip so far! Are you planning on going to Epcot? Your dessert at Disney Springs is making me drool!

 

[Araminta18]

LOVED reading about your trip so far! Are you planning on going to Epcot? Your dessert at Disney Springs is making me drool!

Thanks! Yep, we went to Epcot right after this day at the MK; we eventually hit all four parks.

Amoretto's desserts man--super yummy!

 

[Araminta18]

ALL the Fastpasses--Wednesday, March 15th (part 2)

So, in my last installment, I’d just finished dinner and had my picture taken with the Beast, who was very flattered that I chose to spend my anniversary with him rather than my husband. I was a bit anxious waiting in line for the meet and greet, because I had a fastpass for Haunted Mansion from 6:30 to 7:30, and I was waiting in line for the Beast around 6:35. But of course I was done in plenty of time (in case you haven’t noticed, I get anxious about being late for things/missing windows… ), and was in line for Haunted Mansion at about 6:55 pm.

Haunted Mansion is one of my favorite rides. I love the outside façade, I love all the fun touches (the MS Escher stairs, the ghost shadow playing the piano, the ballroom), and “Grim Grinning Ghosts” is a great song. One of my only memories of Disneyland when I was a kid is the creepy “Hurry baaaaack…be sure to bring your death certificate” from the end of Haunted Mansion—which I thought was so funny and clever, not scary at all. And the scary cast members, of course, are pretty dang awesome. I love it. The hitchhiking ghosts at the end were fun too—I tried to get a picture but didn’t quite make it. Oh well I did get lucky though, finding a photopass photographer at the HM exit, and got my hitchhiking ghost picture there.

Here’s where the dreaded Disney trip amnesia sets in. I left Haunted Mansion at 7:15, and then the next picture on my phone is at 7:48, right by the Carrousel. I must have done something in the interim, as that walk is not anywhere near half an hour, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. Possibly checking SDFPs at the kiosks? Possibly just wandering, but I feel like I did something. Hmmm…maybe it will come to me. Anyways.

My next fastpass was Peter Pan’s Flight, from 7:50 to 8:50. I was super excited when I saw this fastpass pop up on the kiosk earlier in the day, though I wasn’t super happy about the timing. My plan was to camp out for Wishes, hopefully getting a table at Casey’s, and I figured riding the ride at 7:50 would probably put that out of reach. But Peter Pan! I love the dark rides. I had to keep the fastpass. And it was a lovely flight as always—flying over London is my favorite part.

It was a quick flight though, because at 8:15, I was looking for a spot to sit in front of the castle. I did eventually find one, but masses and masses of people....

This was my first time seeing Wishes—last trip I was focused on the rides. And since it was my anniversary after all, I told my husband I’d facetime him and he could virtually experience Wishes with me. But first, some pre-fireworks selfies!

My selfie game is not strong.

Guys, Wishes. I don’t even know what to say. There may have been tears. The songs and the fireworks…Tinkerbell—it was fantastic. I loved it, and am glad I got to see it before it ended. (Also, don’t you love my eloquence? Everything is great and I loved it—no other words. ) I never cease to be impressed by Disney’s willingness to go all out (on certain things, at least!) to make for a good guest experience. What a fantastic show. (No pictures though…I was doing a video hangout with my husband so the phone was busy!)

I jumped up as soon as it ended and made my way towards Adventureland—I had plans! First up was a fastpass for Pirates (which I surprisingly needed). Pirates is another favorite ride (though let’s be honest, they’re pretty much all favorites ) but this was a bit awkward, cause those dang Enchanted Rose cups from Be Our Guest restaurant would NOT STOP GLOWING! And they’re surprisingly bright in the pitch darkness of Pirates. But my seatmates were awesome about it and finally I just tried to cover my bag with my jacket and focused on enjoying the ride. My one complaint about Pirates is Jack Sparrow all through it (I’m like the one person on the planet who doesn’t care for Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow) but there’s still the redhead and the auction and the dog with the key in his mouth, and the boat battle is pretty awesome too. So yea, definitely a fun ride, even with Jack Sparrow.

After Pirates, I was ready to go on a cruise in the jungle! Ok guys, Jungle Cruise and the horrible jokes are amazing. Please explain to me why I’m like the only person laughing on the boat? I guess I’m just not as sophisticated as I like to think I am. Either way, I had a great time. The rest of y’all can keep your highbrow sense of humor; I’ll keep the stupid jokes.

From my cruise, I decided to fly to Agrabah, and used my fast pass for the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, mostly killing time before my fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! The standby line was still really long at 10 pm, so I was really grateful for the SDFP I’d snagged for BTMRR earlier in the day. BTMRR in the dark is super fun—it changes the ride a bit, and for me makes it a bit more exciting.

So I do have to apologize for the lack of pictures—I was focused on rides, can you tell? But after Big Thunder Mountain, I had a different objective: the lantern photos by the Tangled bathrooms! So I booked it up to the bathrooms and encountered a much longer line than I anticipated. It ended up being about an hour wait, but it was so worth it. One, ‘cause I got these awesome photos:

And two, because I made friends in line. There was a mother and her daughter right ahead of me, and a couple that had gotten engaged on this trip right behind me. We had great fun talking and laughing to pass the time, even coming up with our own inside jokes. See, the Disney bond! Ain’t it great. I didn’t catch anyone’s names, but if you’re reading this report, thank you for passing the time with me, and for not having Aunt Karen join you in the picture!

Anyone remember my friend, S? Her plane landed on time while I was riding Pirates, and she wasn’t entirely sure if she’d be coming to the park that night, or just crash at the hotel. Finally, she texted me while I was waiting for the Tangled picture that she’d take a quick nap and then head over. A nap? At 10:30 pm? You’ll forgive me for thinking that she wouldn’t necessarily bother to wake up from that nap and head over to the park! And I kept thinking I was right, as I finished the Tangled photo op and hadn’t heard anything from her. And since the Extra Magic Hours had started, I decided to just wander around Fantasyland and hit some of the rides I hadn’t done yet.

I hopped on “It’s a Small World”, cause there was no wait (and let’s be honest, it was warm and the night was getting just a tiny bit chilly….) and enjoyed the chance to be off my feet. And then at the end, look what I saw!

I guess they read my magic band, and my husband’s magic band (which I had and was using for SDFP)? It was super cool, though it did make me miss my husband (Trevor, in case you hadn’t figured it out) a bit. But not for long—I was in Disney!

From there I wandered over to Little Mermaid, enjoying the sight of a significantly less crowded Fantasyland.

No line for Little Mermaid, and I enjoyed singing along to all the songs, as the ride was pretty empty. Guys seriously, I love the dark rides. And right as I got off Little Mermaid, I got a text from S that she was at the front gates of the Magic Kingdom! She’d made it up from her nap after all! So we made plans to meet in Tomorrowland, in front of Buzz Lightyear.

When she showed up, in a few more minutes than I was expecting, she showed up with ice cream. Dude, this is why we’re friends—she said she was walking up Main Street and the smell from the ice cream parlor, specifically the waffle cones, sucked her in and she had to stop. Yay for much needed sugar!

Then off to Buzz Lightyear, where I pulled out a win, though she did pretty great for her very first time. She also took a much better picture than me—I’m not even looking at the camera!

After Buzz, we ran over to Pirates and walked on. She loves the new movies so she liked seeing Johnny Depp everywhere. Also, for those of you concerned, my cups stayed in the “not glowing” mode for this trip!

From Pirates, we figured we had time for only one more ride, so Haunted Mansion it was! S didn’t end up liking it quite as much as I do, but that’s ok—she enjoyed it, just doesn’t feel the need to ride it over and over again like me.

We walked out of HM at exactly 1 am, and thus park close. So we meandered our way out, enjoying our glimpse of the Kiss Goodnight, and taking advantage of the photographers in front of the castle.

Then to the buses. Ok guys, I get that Pop is a huge resort, but having to wait for the second bus (both of which were the double/accordion buses) and then having to stand for the 20 minute ride back to Pop—blech. No fun. Next time, I’m going back to POFQ. I finally fell into bed at 2:16 am, per my phone. Exhausted, but happy.

So, ride total: 16—and no standby lines! (Splash, Seven Dwarves, Winnie the Pooh, Space, Philharmagic, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Big Thunder Mountain, Small World, Little Mermaid, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion)

SDFP total:

On one band: Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Jungle Cruise. My first stop off at the kiosk, I’d booked Winnie the Pooh and Jungle Cruise. My second time at the kiosk (I think after Space Mountain), that was when I was able to snag Peter Pan.

On the other band: Philharmagic, Haunted Mansion, and Big Thunder Mountain. I’d originally booked Pirates at an early time, but didn’t make it back over to that side of the park, so let it expire and then booked Philharmagic at my second visit to the kiosk. Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder I grabbed at my first visit to the kiosk.

On my own band, after I’d used up the three FP I’d prebooked, I grabbed Pirates and Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

My first visit to the kiosk was around 2 pm, and my second visit was around 4:30 or so? At that point I’d booked late night fastpasses on both bands, so no real point in checking kiosks again, as I couldn’t book any more til I’d used up all three. You could modify the original three you’d booked, but I wanted all the ones I’d booked.

Having the SDFP made the crazy crazy crowds so much more palatable. They were nuts while walking around but at least I could avoid them in lines for the most part.

Walking count: 15,970 steps aka 6.4 miles. Not bad!

Next up: Epcot! And rope drop! ‘Cause I’m insane, apparently.

 

[Araminta18]

Eating Around the World -- Thursday, March 16th

So, back when I was in the planning stages, I was eagerly awaiting Disney’s release of the updated park hours, and then they did. Wednesday’s MK hours went from 8 am to 8 pm (with EMH to 10) to 8 am to 11 pm, with EMH to 1 am. Epcot stayed the same though—EMH from 8 am to 9 am, and park close at 9 pm. The “problem”, if it can be called that when one is talking about enjoying one’s self at Disney, is that I planned to be at MK until 1 am on Wednesday, and then do rope drop at Epcot the next morning. I’m a big believer in rope drop, and figured hey, I can sleep when I’m dead, right?

If you’ll remember, I fell into bed a little after 2 am. What time did I get up? 6:30 am. EWW—so early. Both S and I were groggy, but she had faith in my planning and I had faith in the powers of rope drop to get things done. We had a fastpass for Frozen Ever After that afternoon, but I wanted to get in Test Track and Soarin’ during rope drop, since crowd calendars were predicting Epcot as an 8 and like most people, I hate lines.

So we made it out to the bus stop at Pop at about 7:00, with a much longer line than I expected for the bus. But we made it on the first bus (some others weren’t so lucky) and arrived at Epcot around 7:30 or so. This was my first rope drop at Epcot, so I wasn’t really prepared or knowledgeable for how it would work, and we waited in long lines for security, which made me paranoid that it would be super super crowded. But once past security, they held us all in front of Spaceship Earth, and there couldn’t have been that many people, maybe a couple hundred? I guess it was just a bunch of epic bottlenecks at security. And one benefit of waiting for security is that we only had to wait about 5 minutes once through security.

My selfie game is not strong, but you can see S is way more perky this morning than I am.

And then, all of a sudden, the crowd started moving! We followed the substantial part of the crowd heading off to the right, though I was hoping that most of them would peel off towards Frozen, which many of them did. The rest of us kept powerwalking towards Test Track—we got there pretty quick but the line was already out past the tapstiles. I’d planned on doing single rider, but as we were getting in line it looked like someone went up to the single rider entrance and was turned away. Still, I’m nothing if not persistent, so S stayed in line (just in case) and I went up and asked about single rider, and was told “yep, it’s open, go right ahead”. Huzzah! I motioned to S and we entered through single rider. We didn’t see anyone else in the queue (either side) and when we got to the front of the line, no other riders were there! So we got a car all to ourselves. I’m not sure what was going on, but it looked like we were the first ride of the day, and we even stopped for a few seconds to make our own cars.

The ride dried our hair, so that was nice. And a good adrenaline rush to wake us up first thing in the morning! And of course my car won everything except efficiency. Though guys, seriously—single rider is your best friend. We were off the ride by 8:15.

We thought about riding Test Track again, but while S liked it, she didn’t feel like it was worth going on again, and when we got off, the line had turned into a real line (if it had been a walk on again, we might have tried it one more time), so off we went across the park to Soarin’!

Soarin’ was closed for renovations during my trip last year, so I’d heard lots about how great a ride it was but had yet to experience it myself. That walk to Soarin’ from Test Track though—good grief it’s quite a hike, especially first thing in the morning. But we made it and were very pleased to find it practically a walk on. The one thing I knew was to request first row center, and while the cast members were probably as tired as we were (at least, it seemed that way based on the slightly terse attitudes we encountered), they were kind enough to give us front row and as close to the center as possible. And it was AWESOME! We both loved it. I was slightly glad that my husband, with his fear of heights, hadn’t come with us, ‘cause it felt so real at times! And then we saw the crooked Taj Mahal and that kind of killed the illusion, but it was still really neat. I liked the “savannah” smell better than the ocean scent—the ocean scent smelled kind of like what Bath and Body Works thought the ocean smelled like. Still, awesome. Soarin’, we rode again.

It was about 8:40 or so when we got off the ride, so S popped over to Sunshine Seasons and got a croissant (super yummy, and after we had croissants in France later in the day, we decided the one from Sunshine Seasons was better), and then back in line we went. Still practically a walk on, and once again front row center. I think Soarin’ was one of S’s favorite rides. I liked it a lot, but I’m a Magic Kingdom gal at heart, so I’d probably call it one of my favorites at Epcot.

And then the park opened! We decided to take advantage of proximity and ride Living with the Land. I’d never ridden it before, but I knew S would love seeing the greenhouses. And it was listed as 10 minutes, but as we could see the people getting on the boats, we knew that 10 minutes was a lie. We walked right on, and I was right, S loved the greenhouses. I was surprised though at how much I liked them! (I’m not a gardener or anything even resembling it). The innovative ways they’re growing the vegetables and fruits, and just the sheer variety—it was neat. And it was kind of cool at the beginning looking up and seeing the Garden Grill tables.

From there we were planning to go to Club Cool, another place I’d missed when doing Epcot last year. My touringplan said it should open at 9, but when we got there at 9:15 or so, the sign on the door said it didn’t open until 10 am. No biggie! We took some Flower and Garden pics:

Then we headed over and did Journey Into Imagination with Figment (5 minute wait, why not). Dude, that is a trippy ride. Still not quite sure what the point is, and that skunk smell is NASTY. But the Figment song is a fav, so I still count it a win. I think my favorite part was seeing the fun little Flubber/Honey I Shrunk the Kids shoutouts in the queue.

After Journey into Imagination, we decided to kill some more time by doing the Pixar Short Film Festival. Gosh, guys, I forgot how much I love Pixar. The first film we saw was “Get a Horse”, which starts as an old black and white Mickey Mouse cartoon, but then they break through the screen and into the “real” world. Hilarious—S really liked it. Then it was “La Luna” and “For the Birds”, both of which I love. “La Luna” is just so pretty! We both liked this more than we expected to.

Our rope drop craziness was vindicated when we got out though, and found that Journey into Imagination had a 45 minute wait. 45 minutes!! Wow. I’d decided I’d planned really well—our first fastpass window started about now (10:10), and apparently now was when the lines made fastpasses necessary! But we had a stop to make first: Club Cool!

Beverly—blech. I didn’t get any photos (cause it felt like everything in there was sticky), but blech. Actually, the only soda I liked was the Guarana, though I think that’s ‘cause I lived in Brazil for a year and a half and already knew and liked Guarana! The rest were just too odd for me, even the pineapple Fanta. But it was a fun break as we headed over to Mission Space.

And of course, when we found a Photopass photographer, we had to get a photo taken with Buzz!

Mission Space! So, last year, when I rode it, the fastpass line was longer, and the constant “If you have any medical condition, including hangnails, you probably don’t wanna ride” freaked me out. But I was determined to ride it, even though by the time I finally made it to the capsule I was super keyed up and anxious. This time around, the fastpass line wasn’t very long, so we didn’t have as much time to be freaked out by the warnings, so I was much more excited for the ride than anxious! S is a much cooler customer than me, and wasn’t freaked out by it at all. The other two girls in our capsule were also super excited, so we had a really fun mission to Mars.

From there, we made our way over to Spaceship Earth for our fastpass there. Guys, the lines! The standby line was, as expected, super crazy—about an hour or so? But even the fastpass line was using the entire queue and was way outside the tapstiles. It only turned out to be about a 10 minute wait, but wow. We did make friends in line though—a cute couple and their little boy. The wife and I had fun talking about how we’re both crazy planners, and about the people who walk up to the cast member at the ride entrances and ask “what’s fastpass? How do we get it?” And then we got to continue our conversation a bit as the ride stopped for a good 10 minutes or so right as we started our ascent.

Once the ride started going again, we realized that we’d gotten a car with broken speakers, so I got to do fake narration for my friend. But at least the cameras were working!

We got to go around again, in a car with a working speaker this time, so S got to hear Judy Dench narrate the history of the world for us. This time, we did funny faces for the camera.

We played a little bit in the games area afterwards, and discovered that I’m a way better surgeon than S is. Too bad I’m so squeamish!

By that point, it was 12:30, and we were hungry! Initially I’d made a reservation at Tokyo Dining, ‘cause S likes sushi, but after looking at the map and not wanting to walk all the way around World Showcase twice (since we had a Frozen fastpass at 2 pm), we scrapped that and decided to Eat our Way Around the World at the Flower and Garden Festival Outdoor Kitchens. First, I bought my Easter Egg Hunt, and then the Showcase Plaza to start our tour around the world!

First up: the Berry Basket, where we got the Field Greens salad to share. We liked this one a lot with the blue cheese and the strawberries—S really liked the spiced pecans with the cheese. We hit Isla Fresca at the same time, and got the Jamaican-braised beef to share, while S got the Sugar Cane Rice Skewer. Also yummy—the beef was really soft. I apologize for the lack of pictures—we were really hungry and I completely forgot to take pictures.

S also got the Tres Leches cake from Jardin de Fiestas, and by that time, the edge was taken off our hunger a bit. S went inside the pyramid to look around and I commenced my Easter Egg hunt, though I quickly had to google for some hints. The hint for the Mexico egg directed me indoors, so I met up with S and we decided to ride the Gran Fiesta tour. I’d thought about getting a SDFP for this ride earlier in the day, and then discovered that there are no fastpasses for this ride. Oh well—the wait was pretty quick—maybe 5 or 10 minutes? And then we were off to find Donald.

S ended up buying a cool skull here, but we didn’t spend too long, as we were off to Norway and our Frozen fast pass! We found a photographer on the way though, so we took some pictures with Anna and Elsa. The photographer tried to make us do cute poses, but we’re just awkward. Still fun though! We also enjoyed watching the family before us take their pictures—the dad was holding a 2 or 3 year old girl who was insistent on looking back at Anna/Elsa and not at the photographer. So the dad kept spinning back and forth trying to get it so she would face the photographer, but she determinedly kept turning her head around. It was super adorable.

Then, Frozen! I woke up at 7 am on a Saturday to book this fastpass at exactly 60 days out, and I was so glad I did, especially when I saw the 95 minute standby wait. This was my first time riding Frozen, and I’d never gotten to ride Maelstrom either, so I was excited for another completely new ride. The queue was so cute!

Also guys, this ride was adorable. There was a mom and her two daughters on the row behind us (we scored front row!) and we basically turned it into a sing-along. The animatronics were amazing, and of course who doesn’t love belting out “Let It Go”?

I knew about the backwards slide, but I did not know about the drop at the end and that that’s where the picture was! So when that drop happened I was startled and threw my hand up to hold on to my hair ribbon, and that’s exactly when the flash went off. I was super worried that my hand would be covering my face and that I’d have a crappy Frozen picture, but all was well. Phew.

We enjoyed looking at the giftshop, and S made a new friend.

From there, S and I split up, though I don’t quite remember why. I think maybe she was heading on to China and I was getting a cup of water and looking for the Norway Easter Egg? Don’t remember, but I did run into another photographer, who took pictures of me in front of the waterfall there in Norway, where I was also made a new friend.

I met back up with S, and found yet another photographer! Can you tell I was determined to make the most of my Memory Maker purchase?

We continued our wanderings, buying the Spicy Lettuce Chicken Wrap (indeed, very spicy, but yummy!), the vegetable spring rolls (which came with an AWESOME sauce), and the candied strawberries at the Lotus House outdoor kitchen. We then wandered through China, enjoying the shade and the benches, and finally making it inside to see the “Reflections of China” movie, which fooled us ‘cause we thought we’d be sitting down, but nope. Standing. Our feet were hurting by this time too, so we weren’t super happy about standing through the movie. I also just now realized I never made it back to look at the Shanghai Disneyland exhibit! Dangit. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to plan another Disney trip.

We pretty quickly worked our way through Germany (enjoying the pretty crystal gift shop) and then to Italy, where it was time to eat again! Here we got the Meatball Parmagiana and the Strawberry Tiramisu. The Meatball Parmagiana was more substantial than we were expecting, but then we had the lightness of the strawberry tiramisu. Very enjoyable! We staked out a spot on one of the steps of the bridge to eat, and then this very drunk, very large family decided to take a picture on top of the bridge but there were so many of them they were basically standing on us. It was kind of awkward, but being drunk they didn’t seem to mind. And we weren’t giving up our spot—we were enjoying our food and being able to sit down! Ah, drunk people at Epcot. Never change.

I also got a picture with Snow White, though unfortunately I didn’t realize the photographer had me stand right in front of Doc or whichever dwarf it is right there.

We didn’t linger in Italy, and instead kept going on to The American Experience and more food! Though I did stop for a quick picture (or two) on the way.

At the Smokehouse, I got the pulled pig slider and S got the Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Hash, and then we split the frozen lemonade. The slider was much bigger than I was expecting—I couldn’t finish it all! S loved the brisket though, and we both enjoyed the tartness of the lemonade.

We didn’t linger in America though, made our way on to Japan and then to Morocco (where S bought an awesome bracelet) skipping both kitchens (Japan didn’t look yummy and we were having dinner at Spice Road Table later so we figured we didn’t need to stop at the kitchen), but stopping at the Florida Fresh kitchen. We got the Carne Asada (which was awesome but needed more sour cream) and the Watermelon Juice (not my favorite). I’ll be honest, at this point we were still munching cause stuff looked good, but also enjoying the opportunities to sit down! Such exhausted feet…so much walking…

Then on to France! S got a crepe, I got ice cream, and she also waited in the crazy line at the bakery for a macaron and some croissants. I still wanted to sample the Onion Tart from the outdoor kitchen, which was a bit greasy for me, but still yummy. Loved all the topiaries here though:

We sat and rested for a bit, but then moved on to the UK. We liked looking in the gift shops, but didn’t linger here too much (after taking some pictures at least).

Instead choosing to move on to Canada where S wanted to get the Seared Scallops from the outdoor kitchen. I thought they smelled gross but she said they were wonderful and I hate seafood anyways, so my opinion is suspect.

That pretty much concluded our World Showcase tour, mostly cause feet were hurting. We looked a little bit at the Flower and Garden Festival merchandise, and I redeemed my Easter Egg Hunt map for my egg (I got “Lady”), but we grabbed a seat on the Friendship Boat to go back to Morocco, and then chilled on a bench right by Spice Road Table until it was time for our reservation. I really like just sitting and people-watching in the parks, even when it’s forced rest time due to feet hurting.

Also, apparently I stopped taking pictures here. I’m gonna blame that one on exhaustion! We loved our dinner at Spice Road Table; we got a seat on the outdoor terrace/patio, right at the fence, all prepped for a perfect view of Illuminations. Our reservation was at 6:30 (yes, I know, a bit early for Illuminations) but our plan was to order our entrees, eat and then keep ordering small plates until Illuminations. I got the Mixed Grill Skewers, and S got the Coriandor-crusted rack of lamb, both of which were excellent. We only got to try one small plate, due to an extraordinarily slow server (seriously—we didn’t see him from 20 minutes before Illuminations until 15 minutes after it finished), but the one we got was the Brie Fondue and it was super yummy. Highly recommend Spice Road Table; just hope you don’t get our server unless you enjoy really really slow service.

It was a fantastic place to watch Illuminations from as well—we had great views of everything and no one in front to block the view. I’d definitely watch it here again.

After Illuminations and after we (finally) got our check, we said goodbye to Epcot, got on the crazy crowded bus to Pop, and headed back for the night. Thankfully tonight was an earlier night—in bed at 11:15pm! Good thing too, cause MK was up next, and EMH started at 7 am.

For those of you keeping track of our eating around the world, the breakdown is below. The bolded ones S and I split; for the others there’s a “S” or “T” to indicate who got it, and then the total for each of us. All in all, not a horrible price for lunch, especially considering that’s all food and no taxes/tip required.

Eating Around the World Tally:

Field Greens salad/Berry Basket: $4.75
Jamaican-braised beef/Isla Fresca: $6.00
Sugar Cane Rice Skewer/Isla Fresca: $6.50 (S)
Tres Leches cake/Jardin de Fiestas: $3.95 (S)
Spicy Lettuce Chicken Wrap/Lotus House: $5.95 (T)
Vegetable Spring Rolls/Lotus House: $4.50
Candied Strawberries/Lotus House: $5.50 (S)
Meatball Parmigiana/Primavera Kitchen: $7.00
Strawberry Tiramisu/Primavera Kitchen: $5.50
Pulled Pig Slider/ Smokehouse: $6.50 (T)
Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Hash/Smokehouse: $6.25 (S)
Frozen Lemonade/Smokehouse: $3.25
Carne Asada/Florida Fresh: $6.50
Watermelon Juice/Florida Fresh: $3.25
Onion Tart/Fleur de Lys: $4.75 (T)
Seared Scallops/Northern Bloom: $6.25 (S)

Total cost for me: $37.58
Total cost for S: $48.83

Steps Walked: 26,552/10.6 miles

SDFP: You may have noticed the complete lack of mention of SDFP today. Mostly cause we didn’t use them. Everything we wanted to ride we rode during EMH, or using our regular fastpasses, and then the afternoon and evening we focused on the World Showcase. I’m sure if our feet hadn’t hurt so much we might have tried a Soarin’ SDFP, but that didn’t happen.

UP NEXT: Back to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[Glam]

Great report

 

[wdwnut61]

I am amazed how much you got done your first day at MK
Wow those xtra bands worked well with all your fp's
Love all the pics I agree with the MM I wanted to stop at everyone I saw. Now getting DD to stop was another story
My favorites are the HM and Tangled pics