Who says Disney is just for the kids?! An adults trip (with a little bit of work sprinkled in) - February 2024

[MamaMouse0920]

Saturday, February 24th: Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

We last left off with us getting on Tomorrowland Speedway- me in charge of steering and Matt in charge of the gas/brakes (or lack thereof). Anyone else get awful quad cramps when you're in charge of the gas on this ride?! Again just me?? That's cool.




We enjoyed the ride (particularly the sunshine! Based on when we travel, usually this ride makes you feel like you're trekking across the surface of the sun.. but this trip was so much cooler that we really were thankful for the lack of shade) & snapped this pic as we walked across the bridge thing toward the exit:




It was a little after 11am by this point, and we were getting a little hungry so we decided to make our way back toward Main St. for lunch. We first were going to stop by the Storybook Circus attractions but both Dumbo & Barnstormer had higher wait times than we would have liked (basically anything over 5 mins, ha!) so we skipped them. We did stop inside Big Top Souvenirs briefly (Matt wanted to look for a hat he had been eyeing online, no luck) and then boarded the Walt Disney World Railroad train - a new one for both of us! I'm not sure if it usually works out this way or if it's usually a bit of a wait for the trains to fill up, but pretty much immediately after we boarded we took off (despite it being pretty empty) so that was nice. We enjoyed the short ride (seeing things from another angle/view is always interesting!) and pulled into the Main Street station at 11:20am. We decided to enter the Emporium (again Matt searching for that hat), deciding on the way that we wanted one of Casey's Corner's yummy frozen Mint Juleps! We both wanted different things for lunch (Matt likes spicy, I do not) so while we were waiting for our mint julep I placed a mobile order for Matt at Sleepy Hollow for the Spicy Chicken Waffle Sandwich & decided I'd grab a couple spring rolls from the cart outside Adventureland on our way there. The line for the spring roll cart was long but took no time at all, me snapping these beauties of Matt enjoying the sunshine + his mint julep:




And then this selfie, also in line for the spring rolls:



Spring rolls in hand, I decided it would probably be wiser to divide & conquer here - me heading toward the Hub grass to grab a spot (with a view!) & him going to pick up his mobile order from Sleepy Hollow. I parked myself down & waited for him, snapping a few pics - trying to recreate so many cool Instagram pictures I see..... I did not succeed



Matt eventually found me & we ate our lunch together - enjoying the yummy food (I preferred the Big Mac one over the pizza one, but both were tasty!!!!), our slowly melting drink, the weather, and the view.





We were enjoying our lunch however an extremely chatty CM was posted next to us & would notttttt stop talking, it was literally constant and I could not even get a word in edge-wise so we ended up kind of wolfing down our lunch so we could take off without being terribly rude! She was sweet but goodness did she like to talk, ha!

We had no plans in terms of attractions to visit (no LLs to guide us which direction to go, anyway), and were just kind of moseying around at this point without a real rhyme or reason. For whatever reason we decided to head back toward Fantasyland, taking the side-bridge near Sleepy Hollow where we saw a Photopass CM without a line, so you know we had to stop!

Out of picture space once again

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Saturday, February 24th: Day 1 - Magic Kingdom





I love that last one!

Again without a real plan for where we were going, we eventually found ourselves inside Sir Mickeys where I decided to get a little pixie dust My first time! Matt took a video of the encounter but no photos, so you'll have to use your imagination. We did comment how the "pixie dust" the kids receive at Harmony Barber Shop is more like HUGE glitter vs Sir Mickeys was just regular old small glitter- and also how the stuff from Harmony lasted for dayyyyssssssss despite showering sometimes 2x/day, vs the stuff from Sir Mickeys did not survive the afternoon. No complaints there!

After getting Pixie Dusted & promised my wishes would all come true, It's a Small World was only a 15 minute wait and we didn't have anything else to do so we hopped in line around 12:10pm.



While in line, I decided to book our first LL since the wait times were FINALLY creeping up.


With a pretty much immediate return time (booked at 12:16 for a 12:30 return time- perfect!), we knew we were headed that way after IASW.

We made another pit stop at the Tangled restrooms after our relaxing ride on small world, and scanned in to our first LL of the day at 12:45. As soon as I scanned in, I made another LL for Peter Pan - this time for 2:10pm. Big Thunder was also great as always! One of my absolute favorites (DD5's too!). Now that we had started the LL train, I booked another immediate return time LL for Little Mermaid, and made our way BACK to Fantasyland to hop on that one at 1:15pm. Again after scanning in I made another LL for Pirates, this time for 1:40 so we had a teeensy bit of time to kill, deciding to go inside Tortuga Tavern since we'd never been in there & I had heard it had some fun nods to the Pirate's of the Caribbean movies, obviously one of mine & Matt's faves. We found the fun nods but felt a little weird because we were semi-close to people eating their lunch and didn't want to be disrespectful since we had no real reason to be in there other than to look at the funky little decorations, so we left after only a couple minutes max inside the QS restaurant.

We scanned in to ride Pirates for our second time of the day by 1:35, both of us noting (probably because of the dark/cool temps) that we were feeling sleepy and could go for a nap back at the hotel, agreeing that we would do our Peter Pan LL and then we'd head back to Coronado after that one.

When we made our way to Peter Pan, we noticed the LL line was INSANE! Wrapped around outside AND inside, and since we were already tired & it wasn't high on our priority list, we decided to modify the return time to 8pm and try again later that night. As we departed Fantasyland I happened to notice this little hidden area where Mirabel was doing meet & greets! I snapped a quick far-away picture to show the kids/remind me that this exists for when we go in August:



As we slowly made our way to the park exit, I remembered what the Tron CM had said about stopping somewhere on Main Street to get my missing ride pic, so I stopped another CM to ask for the name of where I was looking for. She told me it was inside/next to Town Square Theater, which is obviously right next to Tony's.

Funny that we have walked past Town Square Theater so many times and have never been inside other than this time! Anyway the PhotoPass CM that were inside were super helpful and found our picture in no time - basically just needed to know what approximate time we rode & if we had changed outfits or were still wearing what we had on then, and they found our picture in less than a minute. Easy peasy!

We thanked them profusely and made our way to exit the park, hopping on a bus around 2:20pm to take us back to Coronado Springs. My knees were hurting something fierce and I was thankful to have my little "travel pharmacy" with me in my cross body bag- popping some ibuprofen and hoping that between the meds & a midday break I would be up & running soon enough. The plan was to rest for an hour or so and then Uber to Wilderness Lodge for dinner by 5pm.

We made it back to the resort & napped til 4:45 (!!!), oops! At some point while we were napping my 2 hour timer had gone off, so I quick made a LL for Buzz at 6:25pm, and then went back to sleep. When we fully woke up at 4:45 (in a panic thinking we had slept through the rest of the day, ha!) I requested a regular Uber (not a Minnie Van) to take us to Wilderness Lodge so we could try the infamous Geyser Point bison burger and then take the boat back to MK. We grabbed our sweatshirts but stayed in shorts/skirt. Despite it still being 70+ degrees, the wind was picking up and the sun was close to setting, so we figured sweatshirts at the very least were a good idea. I snapped this picture of the beauty that is Gran Destino Tower at 5:15, on our way to the lobby to be picked up:



We had a bit of a tough time finding Geyser Point (I don't think I knew it was outdoors/poolside!), but really enjoyed walking around the resort property while we attempted to locate it. The lobby is stunning! We eventually found the restaurant and tried to be seated but the wait was over 2 hours so yeah, that wasn't happening. The hostess did say I could grab drinks from the bar and order food from their 'to go' station next to the restaurant so that is exactly what we did - I went and grabbed us 2 beers from the bar & Matt got in line for the food. We split the bison burger (requesting all the "extras" on the side, since Matt is so picky. He ended up liking all the "extras" though so it was a moot point! Oh well, better safe than sorry when you're spending $23 on a burger!), here's a copy/paste from the menu of what exactly the 'extras' were:

Bison Cheeseburger​

Served with Bacon, Sweet Crispy Onion Straws, Marionberry Sauce, and Garlic Aïoli



IT WAS SO GOOD. Oh my goodness, did we devour that thing. I'm talking we practically inhaled it. Should not have shared it, basically, and were ready to throw hands over who got the last bite. SO GOOD.



In approximately 2 minutes we had finished our dinner but our beers were pretty much untouched (too focused on that burger!) so we decided to drink them as we walked to find where we needed to be in order to catch the next boat to MK. We were full but not overly-stuffed and were just in such a good mood. I wished I could bottle this feeling as we walked around the beautiful property.



After we found the dock & waited for the boat to return, we speculated out loud that we didn't think they'd let us bring alcohol on the boat. As we were discussing this, a couple of people joined us in line and we asked them if they had been on this boat before (they had) and did they know if we could bring beer onboard (they didn't). Oh well, we'd play it safe & just drink them before the boat returned. FALSE ALARM THE BOAT IS PULLING UP RIGHT NOW. It was like being back in college again, me chanting to Matt: CHUG. CHUG. CHUG. Except it's worth noting that chugging an IPA in your 30s (or in Matt's case, 40s) is not the same as chugging a Natty Light in your 20s, so we were feeling all bloated & gross after

As we boarded the boat we asked the CM just out of curiosity if we could have brought beers on, she said she wasn't 100% sure but "let me ask the captain" who came downstairs and said that we COULD have brought them on, commenting "I watched you guys chug them!", so that's nice. We were sure to let our friends in line behind us know, since they were guests of Wilderness Lodge and would likely be on this boat again another time during their stay. The boat ride was so peaceful, we were thankful for the opportunity to rest, digest, & have our eyes stop watering from chugging the beer! Plus the sun was setting and it was a really beautiful ride over- we really enjoyed the whole ride, as brief as it was (maybe 10 minutes?).



We scanned back in at Magic Kingdom around 6:25 and were in line for Haunted Mansion (2nd time, this time via LL) by 6:30.

Out of space again!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Saturday, February 24th: Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

Oops! I somehow must have missed these photopass pics, maybe on our way to Big Thunder Mountain?? That would make sense based on it being on the bridge but I obviously didn't make a note of it so I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, here they are!






aaaaand I also forgot to add our 2nd Pirates ride photo from right before we exited MK, whoops! Same pose (double thumbs up) and in almost the same row so our two ride photos are basically interchangeable



Now that we're all caught up, back to Haunted Mansion:

Scanned in to our LL around 6:30, and the ride went down briefly riiight before the angled-backwards-moving-down-into-the-graveyard part, Matt & I both commenting that if it had broken down only 5 seconds later we could have enjoyed another brief nap! Oh well.




Matt picked the smooch as the ride photo photo-op

After Haunted Mansion it was reasonably dark out and the temps were dropping by the minute- we scooted over to Tomorrowland because of the ample # of indoor rides that would shield us from the cold/wind and because we had a Buzz LL to redeem! So we scanned in to Buzz at 7:00pm.



Matt's face I gather he figured out where the ride-photo camera is As for me, I'm too focused on scoring points!!

After our second Buzz ride of the day (my score 728,300 & Matt's 34,700) we refilled our popcorn bucket & got on Carousel of Progress.




I'm sure I rode this one as a kid but I don't remember much of it at all (& Matt had never been on it) so it was basically a new experience for both of us. We snacked on our popcorn and chuckled occasionally at the show, and even though I enjoyed it ( "Theeeere's a great big beautiful tomorrrrrooooooow... shining at the end of every day!" stuck in your head now too??) I doubt that it would hold the kids' attention very long, so I'm not sure about doing it when we return in 5 months- I suppose it would be an excellent AC break in the August heat?? We'll see.

After Carousel of Progress (or maybe as we waited for it to begin?) I had booked a LL for Space Mountain for just me (again, Matt does not enjoy this one haha) for 7:45, so that was where I headed next- Matt I think just perusing the after-ride gift shop area, still searching for that hat.

I had no one to ride with me on Space so I was completely solo in my rocket- thinking I'm hilarious with my "Uh... where'd everybody go?!" face for my ride-photo.



I crack myself up.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Saturday, February 24th: Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

Oh one other thing I forgot to mention - as I wove through the winding queue for Space Mountain I really started to limp- curse you knees!! Texting this to Matt as I painfully made my way toward the ride:



Any fans of The Office/Kevin??? Just us? Ok.

After I got off Space Mountain and we were reunited, we briefly discussed what we wanted to do for Fireworks- Matt could really take it or leave it and I was more or less in the same camp but will NEVER turn down Happily Ever After, so if he had shown even just an inkling of wanting to watch them I would have limped my way toward the castle to get a better angle/viewing. He showed no inkling however, so we just watched them as we walked, heading toward our 8:15 LL for Winnie the Pooh- eventually pausing when we got there to watch the rest of the fireworks before hopping on the ride.



Yes, I cried.



After we rode Winnie the Pooh (2nd time!) around 8:15, we wandered aimlessly, stopping eventually at Mickey's Philharmagic since it's a classic and we love it. We got in line right behind a woman on an ECV, I noticed she was wearing an Army Vet hat so I thanked her for her service while we walked behind her in the queue - her family pretty far up ahead of her. While we were making our way toward the theater, she must have tried to take a corner too tight and absolutely rammed herself into a wall, her foot being pushed back at an awful angle. She screamed in pain and I ran forward to toggle the joystick backward into reverse. The poor woman had to be in so much pain! Her son came hustling toward her to see what had happened and the way the two of them conversed told me perhaps this wasn't her first time and the son was getting a little peeved with the poor driving? Obviously just speculation on my part but after enduring our September 2022 trip with my FIL and the scariness of his ECV driving, I can understand. We found our respective seats in the theater & the only other thing to note from this attraction was an adorable moment with a nearby toddler. When the Be Our Guest scene came on and Lumiere says the bit about "While the dining room proudly presents................... your dinner" a kid (maybe 3ish?) loudly goes "MY DINNER?!?!??!?!" in the most incredulous voice- the entire theater busted out laughing! It was seriously so cute and made me miss the kids a ton.

After returning our 3D glasses we made our way to Peter Pan, finally redeeming that LL - getting in line at 8:42pm. The lightning lane line was still long but not nearly as crazy as it was this afternoon so we stuck it out, and timestamps make it look like it was about a 15 minute wait so not terrible. Plus, I found a quarter on our flying ship's seat! Score!

After Peter Pan, we walked toward Adventureland with the plan being to finally redeem our Jungle Cruise LL (you know, the one we made this morning at 7am while I was rolling my ankle in the trolley tracks), after modifying it to a later return time approximately 3 billion times throughout the day. On our way through Frontierland, I remembered something I had read in someone's TR about the Frontierland shooting/arcade thing being free after a certain time so we decided to check it out, and sure enough it was so we stopped and played for a bit- my competitive nature of course needing to take out as many targets as possible compared to Matt

We eventually scanned in to our LL for Jungle Cruise around 9:10pm & had Skipper River who was hilarious (yes I know I say it each time, but this one really was!!!). He kept saying each of the rivers we entered was named after him and had an adorable Australian accent and was just overall super funny.

After Jungle Cruise we decided to call it a day (my knees were hurting SO bad by this point, the limping was constant) & made our way to the park exit, stopping of course in the Confectionary as a last minute "stall" to avoid exiting my favorite park. As bad as my knees hurt, I still didn't want to leave the castle!!

I forgot to mention -- during our September 2023 trip the kids picked out these rainbow Sour Belt candies with Stitch on them as a treat one day in Epcot. Of course they got to enjoy a few during the trip but we ultimately brought most of them home where those bad-boys magically ended up in my work bag & became allllll mine. I seriously loved them! Could not get enough. So in all the gift shops we've been stopping in thus far throughout the trip, we had been looking for them. We found Sour Belts that were only green apple (not rainbow) with Buzz Lightyear on the bag, we'd found sour gummy worms with the girl version of Stitch on the bag, but we could NOT find the regular old rainbow Sour Belts with Stitch. So we figured of all the places, surely the confectionary would have them! Nope. Nada. So we left empty handed, exiting the park around 9:35 (despite the park being open til 11) to hop on a bus back to the resort.

We eventually dragged our sleepy/sore selves to bed around 10:30pm, ready to do it all over again at Hollywood Studios the next morning! Would we have the same stellar luck with crowds? Would we decide to rope drop Rise (we've never seen Star Wars) or stick to what we know, Tower of Terror or Slinky Dog??? Stay tuned!



TOTAL STEPS: 26,848 (13.7 miles)

Up Next: Sunday, February 25th: Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Your Space Mountain photo

 

[jrmint427]

I took this at 7:20 (I felt like I was being creepy, but I just wanted to capture the crowds! I swear I'm not taking a picture of anyone in particular!)

I do the same thing haha! There's always one or two people looking warily at the camera when I do that, but I like to capture the crowd size at times too.

Oh also, peep the matching Mickey/Minnie socks?! We went all out on the matchy-matchy couple thing today

So cute! I love your outfits!

I never know which one I like better for the ride photos - the B&W one or color. What's your preference??

I always prefer the B&W photos on HM, I love how they fit the theme and look a little eerie.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

We do not! We just share mine (Matt downloaded the app and logged in via my info on his phone). I believe I've heard that it can cause huge issues/glitches/headaches when you try to both have your own account- in fact now that I type this I'm wondering if a CM told me only one person can be in charge of LLs???? I'm honestly not sure. But regardless I would stick to the advice of only using your MDE account and have the others log in if you need them to assist with ILLs/LLs/VQs. It has worked out slick each time we've had to both do something at the same time!

This is so helpful - thank you! I don’t want to mess with our resort reservation or my husband’s ticket, so I think I’ll keep us on the same account for this trip. I can always change it for next time!

Matt eventually found me & we ate our lunch together - enjoying the yummy food (I much preferred the Big Mac one over the pizza one)

Ooooh, I really want to try those spring rolls!

IT WAS SO GOOD. Oh my goodness, did we devour that thing. I'm talking we practically inhaled it. Should not have shared it, basically, and were ready to throw hands over who got the last bite. SO GOOD.

That burger sounds so darn good! I’m sad we likely won’t get a chance to try it this trip, but one day…

After our second Buzz ride of the day (my score 728,300 & Matt's 34,700) we refilled our popcorn bucket & got on Carousel of Progress.

That’s a great score on Buzz!

Ah, I adore the Carousel of Progress! It’s one of my favorite attractions in Disney World. My two kids will have no choice but to go on it (plus it’s a great attraction to hit while my husband rides Space Mountain or TRON). My five-year-old knows all the words to the song as her mother has been singing it to her for years!

(Also, YES, it’s a GREAT attraction for the middle of the afternoon in MK! It never has a wait and the air conditioning is glorious!)

Yes, I cried.

As you should.

You had such a magical day at Magic Kingdom! So many excellent attractions (and low crowds!) with wonderful food mixed in. I hope your knees hold up for your HOllywood Studios day.

 

[footballmouse]

Great day!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

This is so helpful - thank you! I don’t want to mess with our resort reservation or my husband’s ticket, so I think I’ll keep us on the same account for this trip. I can always change it for next time!

Agreed!!

Ooooh, I really want to try those spring rolls!

They were super good and <$10 (I want to say $8?) which is always nice!!

That burger sounds so darn good! I’m sad we likely won’t get a chance to try it this trip, but one day…

I'm telling you I am dreaming about it!! Just hop on that boat over from MK and you'll be back in 30 mins! When is your trip????

That’s a great score on Buzz!

Ah, I adore the Carousel of Progress! It’s one of my favorite attractions in Disney World. My two kids will have no choice but to go on it (plus it’s a great attraction to hit while my husband rides Space Mountain or TRON). My five-year-old knows all the words to the song as her mother has been singing it to her for years!

(Also, YES, it’s a GREAT attraction for the middle of the afternoon in MK! It never has a wait and the air conditioning is glorious!)

I took a leaf out of your book and had Alexa play it (turns out there are 2 versions, the regular & the piano version so I never know which one she is going to surprise us with!) and the kids love it!! So I guess you've convinced us, since now they know the song and all

As you should.

You had such a magical day at Magic Kingdom! So many excellent attractions (and low crowds!) with wonderful food mixed in. I hope your knees hold up for your HOllywood Studios day.

It really was a great day!! I'm still so baffled about the crowds that morning, how bizarre.



I'm hoping to post our DHS day on Monday - thanks for being patient, all!! I am swamped with work + life lately but I will be back next week!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

When is your trip????

We’ll be there at the end of May - just 61 days to go!

I haven’t been to Disney World in eight years (after nearly annual trips between 2012-2016) and it will be my girls’ first time to a Disney park. Thank goodness for these boards and YouTube for getting me back up to date!

I took a leaf out of your book and had Alexa play it (turns out there are 2 versions, the regular & the piano version so I never know which one she is going to surprise us with!) and the kids love it!! So I guess you've convinced us, since now they know the song and all

That’s awesome! That song is super catchy (as are most songs by the Sherman Brothers) and I’m thrilled your kids love it. It’s a must-do for me every trip.

 

[jump00]

Saturday, February 24th: Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

Oops! I somehow must have missed these photopass pics, maybe on our way to Big Thunder Mountain?? That would make sense based on it being on the bridge but I obviously didn't make a note of it so I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, here they are!

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aaaaand I also forgot to add our 2nd Pirates ride photo from right before we exited MK, whoops! Same pose (double thumbs up) and in almost the same row so our two ride photos are basically interchangeable

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Now that we're all caught up, back to Haunted Mansion:

Scanned in to our LL around 6:30, and the ride went down briefly riiight before the angled-backwards-moving-down-into-the-graveyard part, Matt & I both commenting that if it had broken down only 5 seconds later we could have enjoyed another brief nap! Oh well.

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Matt picked the smooch as the ride photo photo-op

After Haunted Mansion it was reasonably dark out and the temps were dropping by the minute- we scooted over to Tomorrowland because of the ample # of indoor rides that would shield us from the cold/wind and because we had a Buzz LL to redeem! So we scanned in to Buzz at 7:00pm.

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Matt's face I gather he figured out where the ride-photo camera is As for me, I'm too focused on scoring points!!

After our second Buzz ride of the day (my score 728,300 & Matt's 34,700) we refilled our popcorn bucket & got on Carousel of Progress.

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I'm sure I rode this one as a kid but I don't remember much of it at all (& Matt had never been on it) so it was basically a new experience for both of us. We snacked on our popcorn and chuckled occasionally at the show, and even though I enjoyed it ( "Theeeere's a great big beautiful tomorrrrrooooooow... shining at the end of every day!" stuck in your head now too??) I doubt that it would hold the kids' attention very long, so I'm not sure about doing it when we return in 5 months- I suppose it would be an excellent AC break in the August heat?? We'll see.

After Carousel of Progress (or maybe as we waited for it to begin?) I had booked a LL for Space Mountain for just me (again, Matt does not enjoy this one haha) for 7:45, so that was where I headed next- Matt I think just perusing the after-ride gift shop area, still searching for that hat.

I had no one to ride with me on Space so I was completely solo in my rocket- thinking I'm hilarious with my "Uh... where'd everybody go?!" face for my ride-photo.

View attachment 842932

I crack myself up.

Best ride photo !

 

[Disney102015]

Following along!! Aren’t adult only trips the best?! Looks like you had a great day, hope your knees felt better as the days went on!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Sunday, February 25th: Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

Early Entry for DHS was at 8:30am this day, so my alarm was set for 6:45 with the plan to be in the Minnie Van and driving away by 7:15. Today's outfit theme was Toy Story, with us decided to bring our sweatshirts this time for the cooler morning Matt had switched backpacks during our midday rest yesterday since the Freshly Picked diaper bag we were using (the light brown one) was digging into his shoulders- so instead we switched to the bigger grey backpack he had used as a personal item for his Frontier flight- which had room for both sweatshirts later in the day when it warmed up. Coffee made, Genie+ paid for, sweatshirts on and Minnie Van ordered, we walked down to the meeting point a little after 7am- me first pausing at 6:58 to make my first LL selection - Slinky Dog Dash, which I was able to get at 11:05am... not too shabby! We also had an ADR for The Hollywood Brown Derby at 6:20pm, so those were our only true 'plans' for the day.



The Minnie Van after tax & tip was $35.75, so about $20 cheaper than the day before. I still say it was worth it with the marathon going on (even though we should in theory have been fine since the runners were at MK this day) and we were one of the first people to arrive at DHS, with a few CM stopping us right at the Skyliner station.



We snapped this sunrise-skyliner-selfie at 7:24am:



While we were standing at the imaginary 'rope' near the skyliner, there was a man in a puffy jacket with a backpack who was traveling solo that kept inching closer and closer to us, trying to weasel his way in front of us even though we were literally just behind the CM. It was around 7:30am that they dropped the invisible skyliner rope & let us form the line into the park at the tapstiles. It was in that short walk (what, 100 yards? Tops?) that we noticed another eager-beaver, who we'll call Knee Brace Star Wars girl, absolutely elbowing her way through the crowds to try to get closer in line. Despite our lack of injuring other guests, Matt and I were able to be the first people in line at our tapstile, yahoo!



When the dust had settled, I glanced around and saw Puffy Jacket Backpack guy was first in line at his tapstile a few down to the right and Knee Brace Star Wars girl maybe 3rd in line behind him. Na-na-na-na-boo-boo, sucker!

Feeling triumphant, I parked my rump down, put my hair in my usual park day space buns, popped some preventative ibuprofen (knees were no better, unfortunately) and decided on a little breakfast of champs: leftover popcorn from MK yesterday, Matt snapping this beauty at 7:40am-



The CM nearby had to keep yelling at Puffy Jacket Backpack guy because he kept crossing the line into the park...??? Whaaaa? Why?? Shaking our heads, Matt & I used the time to solidify our Rope Drop plan- agreeing that Rise of the Resistance was worth the gamble, since we didn't have the kids in tow and what else did we have to lose? Even if we weren't able to be among the first or if it went down before park opens, 30 minutes of waiting would be worth it since we didn't pay for the ILL and didn't have the kids whining about the wait.

They let us scan in to the park at 8am precisely, which is when the chaos really ensued. If we thought people were running to 7DMT in MK, that would be considered a light jog compared to a full-blown sprint that people were doing down Hollywood Boulevard. The CM weren't even bothering to yell at them, it was just chaos. We noticed both Puffy Jacket Backpack guy & Star Wars Knee Brace girl among the people running in front of us, however Matt & I and two other guys turned left before Echo Lake (passing Indiana Jones & Star Tours etc. to cut through the tunnel after Muppets)



Us in the blue route & alllll the runners taking the red route. It's bizarre because I though that the Indiana Jones/Star Tours/Muppets route was well-known as the quickest way to get to RoR but I was starting to second-guess myself watching the masses all go straight while we turned left.

Regardless, Matt snapped this picture shortly as we wove through the outdoor portion of the queue at 8:05am --



As we wove, we noticed both Puffy Jacket Backpack guy & Star Wars Knee Brace girl weaving several people behind us-- huzzah!!! It felt amazing to know that we had beat them, without running (me straight up hobbling, to be honest), just by having a bit of knowledge of the park's layout. Even though it's not a race or competition, it still feels good when the people who are respectful & don't break the rules "beat" the bad guys. Ha!

We made it to the first pre-show with BB8 & Rey at 8:10am, and the CM informed us as we boarded the transport vessel (sorry I'm not a Star Wars fan so I don't know all the jargon) that we were the first cadets of the day!! Wow, what luck! We rode & were off by 8:25am- 5 minutes before the park was even technically supposed to open for Early Entry. What!??!

Matt enjoyed the ride, said it was super fun and that even though he doesn't know anything about Star Wars he still really appreciated the theming and intricate details. We share similar thoughts/opinions that we would Rope Drop it again, sure, but would not likely pay $20/person via ILL since we aren't big Star Wars fans.

Anyway after Rise, we were initially going to head toward Tower of Terror but according to MDE it was down so we decided to go check out Slinky to see if the line was insane or manageable. It. Was. INSANE. AND- to make matters worse, it wasn't even running!! They were running empty cars, so I'm not sure if it was down or if the SDD cast members were just being true sticklers since it was technically 8:28 by this point (EE technically starting at 8:30). The line stretched allll the way down past Roundup Rodeo, so we obviously skidded to a halt and decided instead on Toy Story Mania since it was a 5 minute standby.



Matt was SO THRILLED to have beat me this time, his score 117,100, and mine 113,500. Waaah! I swear he rode that high all morning, and even rubbed it in several days later. This guy.

We got off TSM around 8:45 and decided that we needed more coffee- Matt went to get in line at Joffreys however realized they didn't open til the park did at 9am- whoops! Tower of Terror was still down at this point, so we made our way to Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway to knock out another (semi) heavy-hitter before the park opened to the public. We entered the queue at 8:50 (standby said 10 minutes) & wove through until we came to a stop just before entering the pre-show area. We assumed the ride was down since we stood there for maybe 5ish minutes- me using the time to place a mobile order for breakfast at Woody's Lunchbox- a kids breakfast bowl with OJ & two orders of tots instead of a cutie/yogurt, with a 9:25 pick up time which was the earliest I could do-- unfortunate cause I was starving. The last 3 times I had been to DHS I had every intention of ordering a Ronto Wrap (they look so good!) but never got around to it, so this time I placed a mobile order well in advance (for 11:30am) so I would be forced to eat one. Genius, if you ask me!

The pre-show where they play one of my faves "Nothing Can Stop Us Nooooooow!" was down, so we just walked right through the hole in the screen & were seated in our train around 9:05am- & off the ride by 9:11am. It was a great ride as usual! I love how every single time I ride I pick up on more and more details/aspects of the ride I hadn't noticed before. Truly a marvelous ride!

We made our way back toward Toy Story Land, stopping at the Joffreys outside Municiberg since they were finally open & we were in serious need of more caffeine. It was a hefty line, so I used the time to go to the bathroom while Matt ordered & picked up our coffees. He happened to be next in line with our friends from the boat from Wilderness Lodge > MK the night before, one of the ladies saying "Oh I thought of you guys this morning when we entered DHS since they have beer here!"

When Matt told me that I was like "Oh that's funn- wait, what?" hahahaha feeling like she thought we were a bunch of alcoholics or something but he followed it up with "well but then the other person she was with said "I've had every craft beer they sell at this park" so he didn't feel so judged anymore

We picked up our breakfast from Woody's Lunchbox but weren't able to grab a seat so we stood at one of the high tops and wolfed it down.



For a guy who doesn't eat breakfast, he sure ate plenty of mine We didn't have much of a game plan since we'd already knocked out Rise of the Resistance, Toy Story Mania, and Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway all in 1 hour (only 30 minutes of true 'park open' if you want to be technical!), so we decided we'd figure out our next steps near Tower of Terror- that way if it came back up, we'd at least be in a prime location to hop in line.

Wouldn't you know it, that is EXACTLY what happened. We made our way down Sunset Boulevard LITERALLY as Tower opened and the wait time showed 13 minutes. What?! We could not BELIEVE our luck!!



We were among the first to scurry through the queue (I LOVE this ride- everything from the theming to the pre-show, I love it all! Absolutely one of my all-time favorites) and were thrilled to be in the first elevator of the day since it had been down all morning. Wow!


I'm out of picture space so please hold

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Sunday, February 25th: Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

The picture above was time-stamped 9:49 & the one below 9:55 (taken right before we got on the elevator) so truly a walk on.



I just LOVE this ride -- and especially love this ride photo!! Everyone is so happy, and look at that cute mom & dad looking at each other with their little kids between them, so sweet!!




We were off the ride by 10:05 and as we exited the attraction the wait time was already up to 90 minutes We were grinning from ear to ear and could not believe our luck with both yesterday and this morning.

At this point we had no idea what to do next, and decided to just mosey around. Our Slinky Dog Dash lightning lane wasn't for another hour, but in true DHS fashion the wait times were intense so we couldn't do much in terms of rides. We decided to kill time by checking out Walt Disney Presents since we hadn't really had a good look in there. So we poked around, really enjoying looking at everything. I love Disney history- it's all so fascinating to me. We spent a good chunk of time in this little quasi-museum, eventually heading back toward Toy Story Land slowly making our way toward our first LL of the day. We stopped for a PhotoPass picture in front of the giant Woody before we entered Andy's Backyard.






Even though I don't love Morgan Wallen in terms of who he is as a person, I reeeeeeally love all of his music (literally every single song he makes I love haha) so I was excited to find this shirt on Etsy (Long Live Cowgirls with a picture of Jessie & Bullseye). I was going for the "oversize tee & biker shorts" that all the cool kids are wearing these days but I'm usually a size small & didn't know what size I needed to get that 'oversized' look.. and ended up drowning in it haha I had to tuck it into my biker shorts or it would have looked like I had no pants on at all, ha!

Saying goodbye to Woody, we stopped for a bathroom break near Toy Story Mania and sat on those benches (my knees were REALLY hurting) until closer to 11am when we could finally scan in. We just sat there & people watched, which is always entertaining at Disney.

We scanned in at 11am precisely (thankful for that 5 minute rule!), taking these at 11:03--



& were on the ride by 11:05. I love when Lightning Lanes work out this beautifully!



Slinky Dog has some of the worst/unflattering ride photos in all of WDW, if you ask me.



Even though we are grown a--- adults, we were giggling and squealing that entire ride. It is short, but fun!



We happened to be exiting the ride as the Green Army Men were doing a performance so we stopped briefly to dance along with their drums- they are so talented! Plus you figure they just have to be melting in that plastic-y army outfit with the boots & helmet etc- plus the weight of the drums... blah! Clapping enthusiastically, we kept walking toward the edge of Andy's backyard and entered Batuu instead since our mobile order pickup window was approaching. We walked around Galaxie's Edge for a bit til it was closer to 11:30 and then picked up our light lunch - the Ronto Wrap that we planned to share. I've mentioned Matt is picky so I asked for all the "fixins" on the side (slaw and the sauce).



It was....... not what I expected haha the slaw was good and the pita/sausage was fine but the sauce + everything all put together and I just really was not a huge fan. We both ate our halves because we're not big on food waste but I will not be ordering it again. After our quick (light) lunch, we went over to Baseline Tap house deciding 11:45 was an acceptable time to order our first beers, and grabbed two craft beers (Stone Delicious IPA) to go, with the intent to drink them as we watched the 12oclock showing of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. So that's where we headed next!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Sunday, February 25th: Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

We had refilled our popcorn bucket at some point prior to the show and were enjoying the salty popcorn and our delicious beer as we waited for the show to start.

As the show started and Indy is avoiding the giant boulder, I lean over to Matt and go "I just LOVE Indiana Jones" and Matt whispers back "I've never seen it". Uh...............

Someone please explain to me how you can be with someone for 12 years, married for almost 10, and not know this about the person you're with. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I muttered something about "you think you know a guy" and brought my attention back to Indy.



It was a great show as always, the weather was absolutely perfect and it felt nice to rest my knees (except not really, because sitting with them bent was almost more painful than walking-- a different kind of painful, I guess?). I was so content to be here in my happy place with my favorite (grown up) person!

After Indiana Jones was done, we went next door (along with everyone else, I imagine) to get on Star Tours since the standby said 15 minutes. We were on by 12:40 so the masses once again seemed to join the line AFTER us, not before us! Our luck continues!

Matt & his photography skills, I tell ya:






We knew we had dinner reservations at 6:20 but were feeling pretty hungry after our super small shared lunch so we stopped into PizzeRizzo around 1:15pm to share a pepperoni pizza with a side Caesar salad.



We had been warned about PizzeRizzo being probably the worst pizza on property & holy moly did this live up to the name, haha!! When we'd heard that in the past I'd thought to myself "okay but how bad can it be? How bad can PIZZA be?" thinking that I'd never had bad pizza, just had pizza that I liked more than others....................... well, this one takes the prize for worst pizza I'd ever had! Still, it's pizza, so I'm not going to say it was "disgusting" or anything like that, just certainly not great The salad was good though!

I didn't make a note of it, but after we scanned in to SDD I must have made my next LL, my best guess being that it was for Tower of Terror since we KNEW we wanted to ride that one again. So when my 2 hour alarm went off while in line for PizzeRizzo, I made another LL for Toy Story Mania for 3:25pm.

Saying goodbye to one of our favorite rats, we roamed around Sunset Boulevard, stopping occasionally inside the shops to look for 1) Matt's hat and 2) my Stitch Rainbow Sour Belts. No luck, and eventually as we exited the shops we decided we were ready for our next beers so I went to the bathroom while Matt got in line for Sunshine Day Bar. Speaking of sunshine, it was BEAUTIFUL out. The sun was shining but it wasn't overly hot, it was just the perfect temp- mid 70s without a cloud in the sky. We cheers-ed our beers and made our way toward Beauty & the Beast so we could sit down and enjoy them at the 2pm show. While waiting for the show to start, we were seated next to several marathon runners & enjoyed chatting with them about the marathon. Things they liked about doing it, things they wished they could change, drama that had happened (they ran out of medals!), how much they trained (or lack there of). As the show began, we both agreed that after this we'd head back to the resort for our mid-afternoon nap, returning before our 6:20pm dinner reservations at The Hollywood Brown Derby.

Beauty and the Beast was great, as always (yes I cried), and after it ended we stopped for a PhotoPass photographer on our way toward the exit.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I can't believe I just found this. I love your reports. And I'm caught up so hopefully, I won't spend an hour reading again (a well-spent hour but I SHOULD have been grading.) I'm so sorry about your knees. I am off to the World in 2 weeks and both of my knees are bothering me from various injuries and a really long car ride from Virginia to Mobile, AL and back. I have the Tylenol and the Icy Hot all ready to go. I'm also thinking about bringing some big ziplocks so I can ice them at night.

Also - PizzaRizzo - sure, it's not great pizza - but it is a tradition. I eat there every trip. I just can't quit that rat. And I applaud you waiting until so long for a beer. When I'm at Studios - we usually have an Oga's ressie for first thing in the am. Nothing like kicking off your day at 9:30am or so with a couple of space drinks! Speaking of, I really want that Dole Whip drink you had on night one. I'll have to head over there and get one (or maybe they have it at Animal Kingdom as well??). Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!! Oh, and I hope you didn't get all the snow they were predicting for MN this week. I spoke with my parents yesterday and they were all bundled in with the requisite groceries to last a week.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I can't believe I just found this. I love your reports. And I'm caught up so hopefully, I won't spend an hour reading again (a well-spent hour but I SHOULD have been grading.) I'm so sorry about your knees. I am off to the World in 2 weeks and both of my knees are bothering me from various injuries and a really long car ride from Virginia to Mobile, AL and back. I have the Tylenol and the Icy Hot all ready to go. I'm also thinking about bringing some big ziplocks so I can ice them at night.

Oh I forgot to add - I DID have Icy Hot and was using it every night before bed but I found it did literally zero to help me. Ziplocks of ice would have been genius!!

Also - PizzaRizzo - sure, it's not great pizza - but it is a tradition. I eat there every trip. I just can't quit that rat. And I applaud you waiting until so long for a beer. When I'm at Studios - we usually have an Oga's ressie for first thing in the am. Nothing like kicking off your day at 9:30am or so with a couple of space drinks! Speaking of, I really want that Dole Whip drink you had on night one. I'll have to head over there and get one (or maybe they have it at Animal Kingdom as well??). Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!! Oh, and I hope you didn't get all the snow they were predicting for MN this week. I spoke with my parents yesterday and they were all bundled in with the requisite groceries to last a week.

I can get behind that tradition (both PizzeRizzo for the plentiful AC/indoors seating & the theming - I too love that rat! as well as the morning Oga's reservation!!!)!

As for the snow, we (down in the cities) got about 6 inches overnight but it turned into rain at about 5am and has not stopped (4pm now) so it's all slowly melting away..... We too made sure we went grocery shopping on Saturday and thankfully plan to work from home the rest of the week so even when it all turns to ice (because you know it will, supposed to drop to the 20s overnight tonight- ugh!) we will be safe & sound at home! Hopefully your parents as well, I heard there were some 400+ accidents overnight/this morning!

 

[jrmint427]

Despite our lack of injuring other guests, Matt and I were able to be the first people in line at our tapstile, yahoo!

Woohoo! It's so fun to see empty park photos!

We made it to the first pre-show with BB8 & Rey at 8:10am, and the CM informed us as we boarded the transport vessel (sorry I'm not a Star Wars fan so I don't know all the jargon) that we were the first cadets of the day!! Wow, what luck! We rode & were off by 8:25am- 5 minutes before the park was even technically supposed to open for Early Entry. What!??!

How cool!! That's amazing timing. You really had the perfect morning/half day at HS!

Even though I don't love Morgan Wallen in terms of who he is as a person, I reeeeeeally love all of his music (literally every single song he makes I love haha) so I was excited to find this shirt on Etsy (Long Live Cowgirls with a picture of Jessie & Bullseye).

This is too funny, I also bought a Long Live Cowgirls shirt on Etsy for our Toy Story day, but I had NO idea what the reference was to! I don't know Morgan Wallen's music at all, I only know him from his SNL appearance I wonder if others saw my shirt and thought of him...

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Wow you guys totally crushed Hollywood Studios! What a perfect day!

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Sunday, February 25th: Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

Aaaaaand as we were just about to exit the park we noticed another PhotoPass CM without a line so you know we had to stop again, less than 2 minutes later!











It was about 2:40 by that point so after exiting the park we hopped on our bus back to Coronado (getting back to the room around 3:05) where we napped until about 4:45. It was a glorious rest and I swear by these midday breaks, even without littles! Actually it's kind of funny, we took more naps on this kid-free trip than we do with the kids.... probably because 1. they can (& do) nap in the stroller, 2. It's a pain lugging them & all our gear in/out of the parks and messing with the double stroller & car seats etc. Our next trip we're staying onsite so won't have to deal with car seats but the stroller obviously remains. They're a little bit older & handle staying up later better these days so I think we will definitely plan on Rope Drop + midday rest @ resort + staying later (10pm?).

Anyway, as we got ready to head back to the park we decided last minute to change into pants & wrap our sweatshirts around our waist since the temps were only going to drop as time went on. We were back at the bus stop waiting for the next bus to DHS by 5pm, and a bus arrived shortly after that. The overhead music on this bus was playing the Halloween theme song...... ????? Like as in the Michael Myers movie?????? In February, on a Disney World bus on its way to Hollywood Studios..............I was so baffled!

We entered the park and stopped in the shops on Hollywood Boulevard that we hadn't hit that morning and wouldn't you believe it- at the very end of the very last shop on the very last wall.... I FOUND MY SOUR BELTS!!! I was so happy! I only bought two packages but we just finished the first one last night (I've been rationing them, ha!) so I'm wishing I would have grabbed more! We will be in Disney Springs for a day in May (not a Disney vacation, but I'll go into more detail on this later) so I'm hoping I'll be able to find them at Disney Springs & bring more home!

Anyway, thrilled by our purchase (still no hat for Matt though), we had time to kill before our ADR (we stopped in asking if we could be seated early but they said no, earliest we could be seated is 20 mins before) so we stopped at another PhotoPass CM.




Aaaaaand, another one!





I've got a few more to attach but that darn 10 photo limit - please hold!