(Complete 6/19) Need More Snacks! - a Universal/Disney Jan-Feb 2023 TR

[Araminta18]

Huzzah! All my pictures are back so if you missed my post 3 posts ago...pictures are back!

Also, since we bought an Annual Pass (for our trip in August) we just planned the additional trip so we can see Disney at Christmas!! We'll be staying at Saratoga Springs Resort (we rented points) from Dec 14th through Dec 19th. I'm excited for several things:

• See the Christmas trees at Disney Springs
• Riding the Jingle Cruise!!
• Seeing the wildlife menagerie at Animal Kingdom

I blame Trevor, mr "might as well get annual passes!".

 

[Araminta18]

I'm Not Cut Out to Be a Bounty Hunter! -
Thursday February 2, 2023 (part 1)​

So...this day started *very* early for me. I'm going to apologize in advance for the TMI....skip down to where you see a picture if you want to skip the TMI! But essentially I wasn't sleeping well and woke up at like 2 in the morning just feeling super sick and nauseous and over the next hour or so just basically got rid of everything I had in my body. Thankfully I made it to the bathroom in time! Afterwards, once everything was gone, I did feel a lot better, so I think it really was some kind of food poisoning? No idea what it was since I think most of the stuff I ate Trevor ate too (except maybe the French onion soup at Be Our Guest?), but it was rough. 0/10, do not recommend. Thankfully I didn't wake Trevor up at all, and I was able to sleep a bit before we got up for the day.

So we got up for the day, and Trevor said he felt completely fine, so I decided ('cause I was feeling basically fine...a bit shaky, but fine and also I'm dedicated!) to just do the day as normal. I was up a bit before seven so I was able to get us an ILL for Rise, but also got lucky (I think the universe felt guilty) and got a LL for Slinky that started right at park open! Huzzah! The plan was to meet up with Thad and Erika at 8:30 in the Swan and walk over to Hollywood, so at 8:15 we headed over from the Boardwalk.

Look at that gorgeous view!

After grabbing Thad and Erika, we were walking in to Hollywood Studios at about 8:45. I had to take a picture of this security guard because look at what's on his sign:

It says "this is the way"! Gotta love a sneak Mandalorian reference.

Our first stop was our Slinky fastpass - I love that ride.

Erika and Thad are not big ride people, but they decided to try it. it was about a 5 min wait in the fastpass line.

Not a great picture but it's the only one I was able to grab with Thad making that amazing face there in the back.

As you can tell, we all hated it. So much.

After this, we headed in to Star Wars land! Thad and Erika were excited to see it and the theming. I bought a Galaxy's Edge sprite bottle cause I was still feeling a little bit shaky but was basically fine.

Snack!

Right after we'd tapped in at Slinky, I was playing with the app and got us fastpasses for the Falcon for right away! Yay! So we were meandering over there, but slowly, cause theming! Thad and Erika seemed to enjoy it, which was good. Love Galaxy's Edge. Erika gets motion sick but wanted to give the Falcon a try, cause again - amazing theming. We waited about 10 minutes in the line.

A stranger was nice enough to take a photo of all of us.

We had a great ride! Thad and Trevor were pilots, and Erika and I were gunners. Erika said it started to get to her a little bit but she closed her eyes and was ok.

Trevor trying to get a pic...yay blurry! This is why I take most of the pictures.

At the end a CM was nice enough to take a picture of all of us. I think we even got 2 of the coaxium cables, so booyah.

Afterwards, we wanted to try the whole new bounty hunter thing with our fancy magicbands. Trevor and I both got bounties and then off we went to find them. Trevor found his super easily, but I was on the struggle bus. Like, I didn't like it at all! It's basically you playing hot and cold with your magic band lighting up and vibrating, but 1. in bright sunlight its hard to see your magic band and the color it's lighting up as and 2. IT SEEMED TO MAKE NO SENSE! It would tell me it was close but then abruptly change to me going the wrong way, so I'd retrace my steps back to where it had been saying I was close and it would still say I was far away. SO frustrating. I honestly was like BOO I HATE THIS.

Honestly, do not recommend. Don't buy a magic band plus just for this game. Thad and Erika were just kind of hanging out with Trevor/watching him for a bit while he found his bounties. They also ran into stormtroopers!

After I got my bounty, we decided it was time for food, so Ronto Wrap time!

The Ronto Wrap never disappoints.

We ate on the go 'cause it was time to ride Rise of the Resistance! Erika again was a bit nervous but we'd talked this ride up so much she wanted to ride it. Rise had been down earlier so it took us about 7 minutes to get in to the preshow room, and then we were off. I know Thad and Erika liked the theming cause they had me take a picture of just them in the hangar bay, and they weren't taking many pictures at all.

Group selfie on the ride vehicle!

Trevor's try at a selfie after the ride. Everyone really liked it. I apparently took no notes today, so no idea if we got the A version or the B version, or if we got the version where the AT-AT guns face you...oh well! Still, always awesome.

Next up was Mickey and Minnie's Railway, but we stopped for a bathroom break on our way and saw Powerline Max! nice little bonus sighting.

We also did some shopping in Tatooine Traders (Thad bought some of those Native x Star Wars shoes), and finally made our way and tapped in at Mickey and Minnies at 11:42.

We got in to the pre-show pretty quick, and then it was like 10 minutes in the line after the pre-show. Blech. Do not like.

Thad was very much leaning into the fun faces in our group photos today, clearly.

At this point we were flagging pretty hard, so we decided to do lunch and then head back to the hotel. We had an ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby, because 1. Trevor and I love HBD and 2. Fantasmic Dining package! We were all flagging pretty hard, like I said, but I mean, a bit lunch and then nap? We could do it! I was ready for some real food.

When we checked in we were looking at the guest book and we saw:

The Trackers! They're the only vloggers we watch regularly so it was kind of fun to see their signature here. Also, Tim's handwriting looks like Trevor's handwriting.

We got seated in one of the booths/banquettes along the far wall, which was really nice. It wasn't quite so loud over there, and was just very comfortable. The dining package comes with a non-alcoholic drink, then entree and an appetizer or dessert. I got a Shirley temple with a glow cube - yum.

And then my and Trevor's favorite - the salted butter!

This tells you the kind of sophisticated people we are: I'm like 85% sure that our first time here at the Brown Derby in March 2016 was the first time we'd ever had salted butter and it BLEW our MINDS. So now we're always like HBD salted butter is the best.

I decided to get an appetizer instead of dessert, and I got the burrata - thinking I'd try for something light. It was yummy, but needed more cheese - I like my cheese/tomato ratio to be about equal.

Trevor also got an appetizer: he got the Crab Louie (I think). He said it was good. I think it sounds gross.

My entree was the steak - delicious! HBD always has good steaks. Trevor also got the steak this time - he fulfilled his seafood craving with the appetizer so now he was ready for beef!

Thad and Erika had one of them get the appetizer and the other got dessert: they got the grapefruit cake!

They said it was good, but the one time I had it a few years ago (also as part of the Fantasmic Dining package) I did not like it. So I was good with my appetizer choice.

Overall, we were all really pleased with our food. Delicious. Then it was time to leave, and I (for whatever reason) have pictures of us down by the Tower of Terror gift shop?! I don't remember why...though thinking about it I wonder if I was like "hey, I'm probably going to want something and I should get it now cause we're heading back to the hotel". I did buy a shirt.

But then we really were absolutely ready for a nap. So we started heading out of the park, looking in the shops on the way out. I ended up leaving before the others so I was sitting in the shade near the crossroads of the world, and saw Donald and Daisy out!

I'd never seen characters up on this balcony before!

Eventually we all met up and headed back to the hotel, via the boat. Cause tired. Back at the hotel I was able to get some more toiletries! I just asked for a few more shampoos/conditioner for my long hair and they gave me SO MUCH.

Then we all crashed and took naps. Yay naps! We all slept really good - about 2/2.5 hours. At 5:15 Trevor and I headed over to the Swan to meet up with Thad and Erika again, cause we had an Oga's Cantina reservation at 6 pm.

We took the bus from the Swan over to Hollywood Studios, and slowly meandered back to Oga's. We checked in a bit late, and so got inside at about 6:15. Oh well! We were hoping to get seated, but whomp whomp, nope - standing table for us. That is the one thing I really hate about Oga's--they need more seating!

We were a little bit hungry so we got some of the Batuu Bits--Erika and I demolished those.

No idea which drinks are which, but among the four of us we got Blurggfire, Carbon Freeze, Hyperdrive, and Jabba Juice.

We left after only about half an hour - it was really loud in there and Erika wasn't liking it at all. And we were a bit hungry so we decided to head over to Docking Bay 7 and get some food and then head over to Fantasmic.

Trevor and I got the Peka Tuna Poke to share, while Thad and Erika got the Batuuan Beef and Crispy Topato Stir-fry and the Fried Endorian Chicken Tip Yip.

This is the poke - it was yummy. A bit spicy, but good. Thad and Erika didn't really like their food, sadly. We've always had a good experience at Docking Bay 7, so a bit sad they didn't have a good experience. Oh well. *shrugs*

We meandered over to Fantasmic - I wanted to make sure we were able to get our reserved seats. The show started at 8 pm, so we were aiming for no later than 7:30.

Gorgeous projections on the Tower of Terror! Love it.

We got in and got some great seats in the center (though a bit far back, by Thad's choice) for Fantasmic. I stopped and got a frozen strawberry lemonade, cause why not.

Our view for Fantasmic!

We're excited! We all really liked the show - of the 4 of us, I was the only one who'd seen it. So it was brand new for Trevor and Thad and Erika. So I can't really speak to the new stuff (I don't remember what was new or not) but it was lots of fun - great effects and just fun. I'm so glad we did it.

Afterwards, Thad and Erika decided to head back to the hotel, but Trevor and I wanted to get a couple last few rides in!

 

[Araminta18]

Does Trevor Die?! -
Thursday, February 2, 2023 (part 2)​

We ditched Thad and Erika, and headed out of Fantasmic towards Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster, cause we had 30 min before the park closed! But as we exited, photopass photographers!

I was excited for this one, cause it's the Tower of Terror but with the Beacons of Magic projection going! Yay!

We also saw this fun one with the Sorcerer Mickey hat.

Ok, now time for the ride! Trevor was going to give Rockin Roller Coaster a try - for his first time! He was a bit nervous but with it closing, and with him having conquered Flight Force in Disneyland Paris, he figured he'd go for it. We had a fastpass, but even with a fastpass we ended up waiting about 20 minutes to get on. We had a slightly weird experience where a lady in the standby line (which runs parallel to fastpass, separated only by chains) asked to get in to the fastpass line - I don't remember why, she had some weird excuse that didn't make sense so we just told her to talk to the CMs, but she didn't like that answer. Oh well!

Pre-ride selfie!

Trevor's "I'm definitely going to die!" face. Actually, props to the couple behind us too - I always appreciate a good ride photo.
So what did Trevor think? He had fun! He said he'd ride it again, which I wasn't expecting. I will make him into a thrill junkie yet! Bwahahahaha.

The end of the ride was a bit interesting - I really wanted to ride Tower of Terror before the park closed, and we had a fastpass, but with Rockin Roller Coaster taking so long it was going to be close! So Trevor and I gamed it out - as soon as we pulled in to the station I took off running over to Tower of Terror. I made it with like 5 seconds to spare! Right as I was scanning my band for my fastpass, I heard the CMs get the radio message to close it up - I was the last fastpass person!

Grabbed this fun shot.

There was quite the wait - looked like standby was like an hour, and I waited for about 20 minutes to get on.

I got really lucky with a front row seat!

Tried really hard not to Mike Wazowski anybody.

But managed to grab a pic of the creepy ventriloquist dummy afterwards!

It was about 9:30 by the time I got off; the park was closed, so Trevor and I slowly meandered out.

Yes, you need another photo of Tower of Terror with the projections.

Close up because you can almost just see people dancing in the ballroom in the upper right!

They still had photographers out, so of course we had to get a picture.

Overall, despite the rough start to the day, I felt better and better as the day went on, and ended on a high note. Back at the hotel, we ended the day with Gideon's! This was the banana bread cookie, which was yummy but needed fewer nuts.

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 21,486 steps (9.1 miles)
Ride count: 6 (5 for Trevor) - Slinky, Millennium Falcon, Rise of the Resistance, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, Rockin Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror

 

[Dashzap]

Oooh i like the lingonberry icees! Sadly the Ikeas near us are still not doing the icees.

I had my first post-pandemic IKEA lingonberry Icee today. It wasn't very good. Also, they are a lot smaller. Which I didn't mind once I tasted it. I picked up some Lingonberry syrup to try making some at home.

 

[Araminta18]

I had my first post-pandemic IKEA lingonberry Icee today. It wasn't very good. Also, they are a lot smaller. Which I didn't mind once I tasted it. I picked up some Lingonberry syrup to try making some at home.

oooooh I'll have to check next time, see if they've brought them back at my ikea! Bummer it wasn't very good thought

 

[Araminta18]

How many cookies does one couple need? -
Friday, February 3, 2023 (part 1)​

Today our main plan was to rope drop Gideon's! I wanted to get the pride cake that they have every Friday - it looks so good, all rainbow... But Gideon's doesn't open til 10, so we decided to do a bit more time at Hollywood Studios. Thad and Erika had no interest in going to Gideon's again, so they had planned to do Magic Kingdom this morning, but Thad was all tired out so he stayed in the room and Erika decided to go to Magic Kingdom by herself - we did invite her to join us but she preferred to go to MK by herself, which I can totally understand!

Anyways! Hollywood Studios had early entry starting at 8 am, but we slept in (a little bit ) and were walking over at about 8:15 am.

Mini Malificent!

That walk over to Hollywood is so pleasant (when it's not crazy hot and humid. )

We got there and joined the crowds - Trevor and I tried different lines...

I'm pretty sure his line moved faster - never ever let me pick the line!

I'd gotten lucky (again - we had great Genie+ luck this trip!) and we had an immediate use Slinky, so we made our way back there, but had to stop and say hi to Woody first!

Then, Slinky!

I love that coaster, honestly. So much fun.

Afterwards, we went to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, since we'd missed it the day before. Who's gonna win?!

Trevor won. 150,900, while I had 125,200. Booooo. One of these days I'll get best in car - that's my goal!

I love this theming on the way out - beware of One Eyed Bart! LOL

We got off at about 9:15, and wanted to head over to Disney Springs pretty soon, but we were hungry, and since we were right next to one of the best breakfast quick service places in the parks, so of course we stopped and got breakfast at Woody's Lunchbox. I was thinking we'd do mobile order but there was no line so we just ordered in person. We decided to split a kid's meal and it was plenty.

Seriously so yummy. Woody's Lunchbox has no right to be as good as it is.

We headed out of the park to catch an uber and head to Disney springs! But we saw a photographer taking pictures of people up on the little platform/cleared area in front of Mickey and Minnies. I've never seen a photographer there before so I made us stop.

Fun shot!

It's quite the walk to the uber stops at Hollywood Studios, good grief. But we made it and were pulling into Disney Springs about 10 minutes before 10. They had this cute photo op up by the Christmas store, but I didn't realize that's what it was by at first and was just like "huh, seems like a long time to have Christmas decorations up!"

Cute though!

Disney Springs was pretty empty, but there was still a line at Gideon's.

This is from the end of the line - the workers said it was probably a 30 min wait. There was a guy behind us in a scooter livestreaming the whole thing - kind of interesting to listen to it "live", even thought it wasn't anyone we recognized.

It ended up being a 40 minute wait, but it wasn't too bad. I remember Trevor was looking for something at one of other stores but I have no memory of what it was lol. Oops! But he made it back in time for us to go into Gideons.

Obligatory picture wall!

So the main thing I wanted was the pride cake, like I said, but then I got inside and noticed/remembered the cookie bites!!!

See them all stacked up there on the counter, all deliciously. Sorry it's blurry.

We were also there early enough to get the coffee cake cookie, which we've never been early enough for:

I was pretty excited for this, not gonna lie.

And the chocolate chip banana bread! So good, though it would be better with less nuts.

MY GLORIOUS PRETTY PRIDE CAKE! YAY!

and bonus cake, Cookies and cream!

Trevor and I split up to do separate transactions and may have gone a little hog wild...we got 6 cookies and cream cookies, a rainbow cake slice, a cookies and cream cake slice, a Gideon's card binder (they've started giving out trading cards, but I actually wanted it for my old Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards!), a Gideon's pin, 2 coffee cake cookies, and 2 banana bread chocolate chip cookies.

Oh, and the cookie bites!

Yay!

From here, I went to the Art of Disney store to pick up a print I wanted and then Trevor went to Amorette's to get one of their petite cakes: they had a Soul one for Black History Month and I was excited! While he was there, Trevor also got a frozen strawberry smoothie/slushie.

By 11:30, we were on an uber and heading back to the Boardwalk to drop off our spoils! And by noon, we were pulling in.

So pretty

That sky was looking pretty threatening though! Our plan was to drop off our spoils and head back to Hollywood Studios, but the rain kicked up right as we got to the hotel, and didn't seem to be letting up as we were ready to leave. But it's me, and I'm crazy, so we broke out our ponchos and off we went!

We took a bit of a break under the bridge - selfie to commemorate one of our pretty rare rainy days at Disney, actually. We've been really lucky over the course of our trips - not that many rainy days.

We found a survey marker!

It was still raining but not as hard as we got closer to Hollywood Studios.

I liked this picture with the threatening cloud over Tower of Terror.

Once inside, we were heading to Mickey and Minnie's!

The lightning lane was a bit backed up.

Such a fun ride! And it worked out with the line being a bit backed up - by the time we got out, the rain had essentially stopped, and the temperature had dropped DRAMATICALLY. Which made our speedwalk over to Tower of Terror pretty pleasant, actually. Trevor waited with me in line and then took the chicken exit, which allowed him to see some fun theming:

I had more fun on the ride itself - that's me in the upper right hand corner, just dropping in.

Next up though was a ride that Trevor was going to ride (somewhat more unexpectedly!)

Rockin Roller Coaster! I was actually really surprised - I thought he'd consider it a "one and done", but he said he was up for riding it again, so off we went! This time we asked to wait for the back room, for that full Rockin Roller Coaster experience.

We got off the ride at about 2 pm, and our plan was to head over to Epcot and eat ALL the food booths - we were hungry!

We got slightly sidetracked by a photo op though:

I figured we needed at least one to commemorate Trevor riding the coaster. He's now ridden ALL the coasters at Disneyworld! I do find it kind of funny that most people ride fewer and fewer thrill rides as they get older, but I've made Trevor ride more and more... what can I say, I'm a giver.

Anyways! We headed out of the park and rather than walk over, we decided to take the skyliner.

It actually got a bit cold in there, with the temperature drop and the moving air. Not a feeling I expected to have!

Next up: food booths!!

 

[Counting Stars]

Love your trip reports! Also great pictures! And you get so much done on your trips- I am jealous Is rope drop part of your strategy for every trip? I may have to try that... Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

[erinch]

In your last report, they are all red Xs for me. What is going on with this photo system??
Great words!

 

[Araminta18]

Love your trip reports! Also great pictures! And you get so much done on your trips- I am jealous Is rope drop part of your strategy for every trip? I may have to try that... Thanks for taking the time to share!

Thank you! We don't rope drop every time, now that we've been a bit, but especially on the first couple trips we did rope drop all the time - you can get SO MUCH done! If you do rope drop, definitely make time for naps later in the day.

In your last report, they are all red Xs for me. What is going on with this photo system??
Great words!

Oh dang it. I use imgur for my pictures and there's been something going on with the dis and imgur for the last little bit - it was fixed but I guess it's broken again. There's a thread on the technical forum about it I'll post again when the pics come back! I'm sorry!!

 

[erinch]

Every time I see your name, I remember reading The Borrowers over and over again

 

[Araminta18]

For whatever reason imgur and the disboards are back to not playing nice! There's a thread on the technical forum about it but in the meantime, I'm back to uploading them directly here...sorry for so many posts!

 

[Araminta18]

(Ok, the imgur thing still isn't fixed, so expect a bunch of posts with 10 pictures a piece to finish out the day...sorry about that!)

FARTS Food and Decorations -
Friday, February 3, 2023 (part 2)​

We made it over to Epcot, freezing a little bit. I love the skyliner views, especially the bit where you see France right before getting to Epcot.

Love it!

Once we were out of the skyliner and moving around, it didn't feel quite as cold and we were ready to hit the food booths!

Well, we were, until we turned right towards England and Canada and I wanted us to go shopping!

Also look at that adorable Peter Pan shadow.

We ducked into the shop and I found this *adorable* Mary Poppins skirt that I had to have. They didn't have a dressing room so I ended up buying two in different sizes so I could try them on and then return the one that didn't fit. I really really miss package delivery to the hotel or the front of the park...with that still not being a thing I had to carry the bag the rest of the day. Boooooooo. Theoretically I could have left them and bought them on our way out of the park but I think we all know that if you don't buy the souvenir when you see it it may *poof* disappear.


Also Robin Hood!

Souvenirs acquired, it was time (finally!) for food booths! We ran into the Gourmet Landscapes booth first, and went all out:

First up - bone marrow! Roasted Bone Marrow with onion marmalade, pickled mushrooms, and petite lettuce

This was our first time having bone marrow, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It was hard to get the marrow out of the bone, and the texture was a bit odd, but the taste was really good. Not a bad first experience

We also got the Wild Mushroom Risotto with aged Parmesan, truffle shavings and zinfandel reduction

I really liked this too, except for the mushrooms. It was very cheesy.

Next up, Deconstructed Dish! We had chosen a good day (if a bit chilly) for food booths - look at this line!

Nothing - bwahahahaha!

We (I) went a little hog wild at this booth. First, Deconstructed BLT: Pork belly, soft-poached egg, onion bread pudding, watercress espuma, and tomato jam

This was good - I liked it a lot. Trevor says deconstructed food is too much work, but I like being able to mix and match the flavors.

Deconstructed Apple Pie à la Mode: Apple-cinnamon gelato, cinnamon apple cider, apple pie filling, and streusel

This was great - I liked this a lot. Basically a float, as the gelato melted.

Deconstructed French Onion Soup: Beef broth ravioli, gruyère cream, onion bread pudding, and onion textures

This was good too! All the soup was inside that large ravioli thing, so when you cut it open it rushed out. Also, I'm not a huge soup fan so this was just the right amount of soup.

Next up, we needed dessert, so we went right next door to the Deco Delights booth. We also went a little hog wild here too....
Orange Mousse with Lemon Cake and Raspberry Meringues (Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine Item)

This was gorgeous but not my favorite. I don't really like meringue though.

brb with more food booths!

 

[Araminta18]

Trevor Gets to Ride the Best Ride at Epcot
Friday February 3, 2023 (part 3)​

Ok still at the Deco Delights booth - we also got Dulce Chocolate Mousse with chocolate crémeux and dark chocolate truffle

This was good, but there was a caramel taste in there I didn't love.

Finally, we got the Decadent Valrhona Chocolate with dark chocolate mousse, chocolate brownie, and cassis mousse

I liked the ice cream here, but the purple thing on the chocolate/brownie was not great. Personally, I think all of these suffered by us getting all three and at the end of getting a bunch of other dishes. Probably would have been better to just get one - they were kind of large portion sizes too!

At this point we were quite full, and were heading over to the Land pavilion, but we passed the Pop Eats booth and I couldn't *not* stop and get grilled cheese! I *love* grilled cheese.

This was really good, and it was kind of nice to actually get the "can" of soup. Though the proportions were off - needed less soup or more grilled cheese. But the grilled cheese itself was DELISH.

We kept moving towards the Land pavilion. We saw Pooh out there catching butterflies!

And there was a photographer out by the fountain by Journey to Imagination!

So of course we had to stop and get pictures. Also, you can *kind* of see Mickey there in the corner on the wall by the fountain!


My own Figment wings!

Heading into the pavilion we saw another character on the wall - kind of hard to see here but it's one of the "Strange World" characters. I really like how they have characters all around during Festival of the Arts.

Now, you might think that with us going into the Land pavilion we'd be heading to Soarin, but you'd be wrong! We were heading to the real headliner of the pavilion:

If you can believe it, Trevor had never ever ridden Living with the Land! The other time we were going to, I didn't realize that Living with the Land would close before Soarin so we did Soarin first and then LwtL was closed by the time we got out. But this time we went in the afternoon to avoid that - I was determined that Trevor should ride it!

Selfie!

It was a great ride, obviously. I love Living with the Land. Trevor liked it too. But the BEST part is that the sign under "today's research" was different - I didn't think it was real or that it ever changed (every time before it was always Venus Fly Trap that they were studying), but today it was orchid, rose and strawberry.

Huzzah!

 

[Araminta18]

Lies, This is ACTUALLY the best ride in Epcot -
Friday, February 3, 2023 (part 4)​

After Living with the Land though, then we had to ride Soarin. Who doesn't love Soarin?

Up next though, it was time to ride Guardians! So off we headed.

Had to take a picture of this set up - look how the yellow flowers are coming out of the yellow paint tube!

We passed the Craftsman's Courtyard and they had the beef wellington, so I stopped and made us grab that. Beef Wellington is one of those things that for whatever reason I always think I'm going to love.

This one however was GROSS. Neither Trevor nor I liked it, and we didn't finish it. Bummer.

At least we were heading to Guardians and that never disappoints! We even splurged today and bought Lightning Lane. 15 minutes later, we were in the preshow room:

So cool!

Selfie! This time, we got "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" - YAY! That was the one we'd been wanting to get and it didn't disappoint. Definitely awesome.

Afterwards, we went right back around for round 2 in the virtual queue. Well, not *quite* right back around - we spent some quality time in the gift shop, where we bought some magnets and because it was getting cold, I talked Trevor into getting the Guardians of the Galaxy jacket.

Looking fly! This time around we waited for the last car, but it was only an extra minute or two. I'm not sure if I prefer the front or the back - it's just awesome no matter what. And this time, we got Conga! I think we've gotten 5 of the 6 songs - the only one we're missing is One Way or Another. When we go in August, that'll be the goal!

After Guardians, it was about 6:00, and I wanted to make it back to the America pavilion for the 6:45 Broadway concert. So we started heading back that way, but I made us duck into Connections gift shop cause I wanted a jacket of some sort (cold!). I ended up getting the pink fuzzy spirit jersey...so soft! Then we detoured into the Odyssey pavilion and ended up buying a bunch of postcard art...so THEN it was time to book it back to America! But first, look at this gorgeous sunset.

So nice.

Trevor and I split up at Germany - I continued on to get a seat at the concert and Trevor stopped to get a big pretzel and also pick up a sipping chocolate flight. I got the sipping chocolate in 2019 and it wasn't great, but it was hot then, and I thought since it was cold now, the sipping chocolate might be good. And Trevor is a sweetheart and was happy to pick them up.

I got to the concert about 5 minutes earlier and got this seat - not too shabby!

The singers tonight were Patti Murin and Robert Creighton, both of whom were in Frozen. I didn't know them very well, but I was excited.

 

[Araminta18]

Our last night! -
Friday, February 3, 2023 (part 5)​

The concert started well when they sang one of my favorite songs from "Freaky Friday" the musical. Disney premiered "Freaky Friday" the musical here in Arlington, VA a few years ago and Trevor and I really liked it, so super fun to hear them start with a song from there.

Then Trevor showed up with the chocolate!

This was...not good. Every year I have hope but every year this is just too thick and just...not good. Oh well. I did like dipping some of Trevor's pretzel in it though!

The rest of the concert was great - very funny, great songs, just a fun time. I'm glad we got to see it.

After the show, we were going to take advantage of our Remy fastpass and then head back to the hotel. I had to look in the American Adventure gift shop - they had a bunch of art for FARTS, but by far the coolest part was these African-inspired redesigns of the princesses! Super cool.

After browsing in there for a while, we headed over to Remys! Had to get a picture with it all lit up at night, both Trevor and I wearing our new jacket/spirit jersey.

I liked this shot I took, where you can see the whole Ratatouille sign.

This was me trying to get the Gusteau's sign in there too, but it didn't quite work.

Ride selfie!

We had a great ride, and aftewards, it was only about 8:15, so we stopped and got some bread and brie from the France booth.

DELISH. Highly recommend.

We made our way back to the hotel, where I tried on my skirts and figured out which size I needed to return. I do appreciate Disney's policy that you can return anything to anywhere, so I headed down to the Boardwalk gift shop to return it. While I was there though, I saw they had some pins out for trade, including one that was part of the Beauty and the Beast stained glass window set, but I'd left my pins in my room! So I talked with the CM who agreed to hold that pin for me and I ran back to the room to get my pins and then back to trade for it. Success! We also ended up buying some Boardwalk souvenirs too (a magnet, Trevor got a tumblr that he's using right now, actually). Then finally back to bed! I noticed this picture by the elevators...those are some large shrimp!

I also noticed for the first time this "hidden" mickey on the lamps in the hallway - adorbs.

All in all, a great day. Even if we did have to leave tomorrow.

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 24232 steps (10.1 miles)
Rides: 10 for me, 9 for Trevor (Slinky, Toy Story Mania, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, Tower of Terror (me), Rockin Roller Coaster, Living with the Land, Soarin, Guardians x2, Remy)

 

[Araminta18]

Imgur still seems to be broken, so I apologize in advance for breaking this into like a billion parts since I'm uploading pictures directly to disboards.

Saturday, February 4, 2023 (part 1) -
Adventures in RopeDropping​

Our last day! Sadness. Thad and Erika were tired out and didn't want to do a park today, so Trevor and I decided to head over to Magic Kingdom. But first we had to pack up and get all ready to go. We packed up pretty quickly and then dropped our stuff off at the lobby of the Boardwalk. While we were waiting at Bell Services, I finally noticed the pictures above the check in desk -


It's of all the castles! Seriously, I'm so great at paying attention lol. But I spent a fun few minutes looking at them all while Trevor dropped our stuff off.

Then it was time to head to Magic Kingdom! We were on the bus by 8:30 am and got there just in time to rope drop Adventureland/Frontierland. I'd bought Genie+ that morning and tried to get a Jungle Cruise fastpass right away, but I had my first real bad luck of the week cause it was already at 11:35 am! Bonkers. I had been trying to modify it earlier and got lucky with 10:20, so we decided to just take advantage of rope drop before that, and the best place to start? Big Thunder! We waited at the Adventureland gate, managing to get pretty close to the front.


Not too bad of crowd!

When it hit 9 am, they started walking us through Adventureland, with some people peeling off for Jungle Cruise, and then we ducked through the little gateway and I guess the Adventureland walk is a shorter walk because we ended up joining the *very front* of the rope drop crowd for Frontierland.

Like literally - we were right behind the CMs,

We ended up being first on Big Thunder!

So pretty this morning - not a cloud in the sky.

This is the only time we ever walk through the Big Thunder queue, so had to get a picture of this map. I like maps.

We waited for the back row, and were on the first train out!

Best way to start a Magic Kingdom morning. 10 out of 10, would recommend.

Next up, we decided to head to Haunted Mansion and get an early ride in on that. I mean, we had to - we were all decked out in our Haunted Mansion gear. On our way, we saw some CMs cleaning the water fountain, and I realize it's weird that I took a picture but I so appreciate the work that they do to make it all pretty and clean. Thank you CMs!

 

[Araminta18]

Saturday February 4, 2023 (part 2) -
When is 40 minutes not 40 minutes?​

Ok, back to Haunted Mansion! It was a walk on (at about 9:15).

Love this queue...I'm just never willing to actually wait in it! If they had it open this morning I totally would have wandered through and played with it, but oh well.

I took various video clips over the days and put them all together-

Also fun fact - the magic band+ lights up red in the entrance and exit - like the bride's beating heart. Neat!

As we exited they had a photographer there, so of course we had to stop.

At this point it was about 9:30, so we decided to wander up through Fantasyland. First a stop at the Tangled toilets. I've never really noticed all the details in there, so yes, I did have to stop and take a picture.


So cute!

We kept moving on, and as we passed Peter Pan, it said 40 minute wait but we couldn't see anyone in the queue, and I was like...no way it's 40 minutes if we can't see anyone in the queue. So we decided to jump in line, just to see the nursery really. But as we got in there was NO ONE in the queue until we got to the nursery, so I was taking my time taking pictures of the paintings they have in the hallway.


I love this Second Star to the Right picture.


Also London!

The line ending was in the middle of the nursery, so we had fun looking and playing around in there for 5 min or so - so many fun details, like Tink getting caught in the drawer!

Then we were on the ride! It was a 16 minute wait, including 5 minutes of us putzing around in the nursery. So......a 10 minute wait. For Peter Pan! Crazy!

 

[Araminta18]

Saturday, February 4, 2023 (part 3) -
From the Most Popular Ride to the Least​

High off our Peter Pan good fortune, we kept going and decided to hop on the Carousel, since it was a walkon and I love the Carousel.

I love the Carousel music!

At this point it was a little after 10, so we decided to start heading back for our Jungle Cruise fastpass. But we saw a photographer in front of the sword in the stone, so decided to try our luck!




We were not lucky...not the queen or king of fantasyland for us today!

We took that little side path by Sleepy Hollow and got some more pictures with the castle.

And with Orange Bird right by the Adventureland sign!

Then it was time for Jungle Cruise! We got a seat right up front, and had a great skipper.

I also snagged a picture of the gift shop.

Love Jungle Cruise so much.

Afterwards I think I snagged a Space Mountain fastpass? I didn't take good notes, but something over there. But first, breakfast! We stopped at the Friar's Nook and got the Breakfast Sandwich: Bacon, Egg, and Cheddar served on a Multigrain Croissant with Tots and the Wild Ride slushie: Frozen Wild Sour Cherry, Blue Raspberry, and Sour Apple topped with Whipped Cream and a Black Licorice Wheel

We sat out on one of the short walls and just ate our breakfast, and it was awesome. I love just sitting and watching the Magic Kingdom go by around me. The food was surprisingly good - Friar's Nook is a hidden gem! The slushie was fun too, except for the black licorice. Gross.

Afterwards, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! I must have bought the lightning lane, but I don't have an email receipt for it...so that's weird. Anyways, we rode it, and had a great time. We waited for the back row, cause that's the best.

Then, you'd think we'd be full, but we weren't too full for a cinnamon roll as big as your head! Over to Gaston's we went and got the cinnamon roll I'd been waiting for.

Including the extra frosting, cause that's important.

While we were eating, we saw Belle in her town dress out wandering around, which was fun.

 

[Araminta18]

Saturday, February 4, 2023 (part 4) -
Last Few Hours in the Magic Kingdom!​

Pleasantly full, we headed over to Space Mountain!


We had a great ride.

Then we were going to to Buzz Lightyear again, but we saw the man himself on the way over to our ride!!

Looking very dapper and cool.

So our goal here was for me to get galactic hero...we started with such optimism!!


This is my "intense" face.

And the final score...I got 823100, Trevor got 344100. So close! but no cigar. I'll just have to try again next time!

We got off a little after 12, so it was time to head back to the resort and then to the airport. So we slowly made our way to the front of the park, though of course stopping for pictures.


We ran into the parade as we headed out, so that was fun. It's a cute parade.



We essentially walked with the parade all down Main Street. A nice send off!

 

[Araminta18]

Saturday, February 4, 2023 (part 5) -
Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig​

We headed out of the park, but I had to get one last shot of the train station. It's so pretty!

We got lucky - a bus was there waiting for us right as we got up to the bus stop. Huzzah! We were back at the Boardwalk picking up our stuff by 12:45. I took more pictures of the castles for you, since they're awesome!



Trevor waiting for our bags and expressing his opinion of how we tour.

We got our bags and walked over to the Swan to meet up with Thad and Erika and get picked up for our ride back to the airport. Away We Go was great - they were prompt and we were on our way by 1:20.

Poor Trevor, all tuckered out. Something about cars and sun makes him very sleepy. Nothing at all to do with the exhaustion of a Disney vacation.

The security lines were long, but we had a bit of good luck getting pulled into newly-open lines, and they didn't even check all my treats that I was bringing back as a carryon (cake, cookies, etc). We were all through by 2:45. Huzzah!

Our flight was at 4:30, and we left on time. I even got a picture of one of our bags being loaded onto the plane!

It's that black one in the center...I recognized the "mine mine mine" luggage tag on it.

The flight home was uneventful, but back at our home airport we realized one of Thad and Erika's bags had gotten lost! The baggage drop off at MCO was crazy (like instead of handing them over the counter and them getting put on the belt, we had to take them to a little room off to the side? it was weird), and this was the casualty. Bummer. They did get it delivered the next day, but still, no fun.

We got home, and despite being tired, we still had some work to do -

prep the Gideons cookies! Wrapped them all up in foil and put them in bags for freezing. We had to label which ones were which.


Our haul!

And we treated ourselves to the coffee cake cookie as a a reward.

Ending the day with a Gideon's cookie is the best way to end a travel day.

One more post to show our souvenir haul and do a final wrap up!

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 13616 steps (5.9 miles)
Rides: 8 (Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Carousel, Jungle Cruise, Seven Dwarfs, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear)