Yes, I Really Am Spending All 9 days in Disney - a LIVE October Trip Report - COMPLETE!

[Goof's Girl]

Day 4 - Revisiting a family favorite

Shortly after securing Starbucks, I exited the park and hopped on the resort monorail because I had one goal today and one goal only: getting a table at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto.

This is my FAVORITE bar, probably ever and not just in Disney like…my all time favorite bar ever. I just think it’s so fun and the drinks are delicious. I haven’t been back since my college graduation in 2016. Every trip we kept saying we’d go again and just never planned it well. Then, COVID struck and Trader Sam’s remained closed until only a month or so ago.

When I saw on the Disney Food Blog it was finally open and would be open on our trip, I knew I had to make this a priority! Even if it meant getting in line super early and just waiting around.

So, at around 1:30pm, I made my way to Poly and by 1:45pm I was in line to put my name on the virtual waitlist. Luckily that process started at around 2:08pm and I was the 4th “group” in line. Having secured myself a callback time of 3pm when the bar opens, I was able to get a little relaxation time with my coffee on the beach!

From the beach I monitored my family’s spot in line, as they still hadn’t ridden and waited for them to finish so I could tell them to get moving over to Poly so we were ready once our group was called!

Apparently a fire alarm was going off in Contemporary so they couldn’t take the resort monorail - instead they took the ferry then walked from ticket and transportation. We waited with a huge crowd of people for 15 minutes, at which point they started calling our groups in order of when we put our names in for first come first serve seating. Being group four meant we got an awesome table / booth in the corner!

Honestly I was a bundle of nerves until we sat down because I just really wanted everyone to enjoy this bar as much as I do! So it felt great to get such a good table and finally be able to get a drink…and drink we did!!

Some of the afternoon’s libations included: the Krakatoa, the Hippopotamai-tai, a couple beer flights, the Zombie, the spiced island, and the Tahitian Torch.

DM also got the 50th anniversary Poly cupcake. This thing was GOOD!! Like a very light dole whip cake. Plus it wasn’t overly sweet like so many Disney cupcakes are.

Two hours later, we stepped blinking into the sunlight and immediately split up with DD and DM taking some purchases to the car and me, DC and DCH headed back to the park. We even got a monorail all to ourselves and I was able to quick snap this!

Continued in next post…

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 4 - I just don’t understand how Enchantment is so disappointing

Lines were still pretty long in the app when we got back to MK with the shortest being at Small World. DC really likes the nostalgia of this ride so got in line, while I came to terms with the fact I was now waiting 45 minutes for small world. Turns out the wait was only 15 and we were off and walking to Big Thunder in no time.

We met DD and DM at the end of the line. This is when I realized I was VERY close to the stand that sells bacon on a stick and the line for Big Thunder was VERY long. I took a chance and grabbed the bacon then sprinted back to catch of with the rest of the crew.

Worth. It.

Note - it was a good thing I got this snack as I wouldn’t eat for another 4ish hours, which is exactly what I’m doing right now at 10pm in our room.

Big Thunder was fun as always and also not the quoted wait time of 50 minutes. If I had to guess it was right around 20.

Could we get to another ride before Enchantment??

Turns out we could! And some of us could get to two. The whole group was able to get a ride in on Pirates, which is another fam favorite. Then DC and DCH took off to ride Space Mountain, while DD, DM and I went to Main Street to shop and scope out a spot for fireworks.

I specifically wanted a few shirts from the Vault collection and I’m thrilled I went in today as the things I wanted were really low in stock! With the bag (literally) secured, I found a fireworks spot and stood there while my parents attempted to intercept DC and DCH so we could all be in one spot come the fireworks.

Now…the fireworks. So I watched the livestream of Enchantment a few weeks ago and was incredibly underwhelmed. For a fireworks show that is supposed to celebrate a 50th anniversary, it focuses far too much on the newest movies and shows little appreciation for the music of the past. It still shocks me but, for the first time in forever, I prefer Epcot’s nighttime show!

I watched about 10 minutes before I found my way back to the group and the MK exit. I have to say, it was nice to get to the monorail before the crowd. We were back in the room by 9pm to make snacks and watch tv!

Tomorrow is DC and DCH’s last day here so we’ll be headed to Epcot early before we have to take them to the airport in the evening.

Goodnight!

 

[ThePin Princess]

That bacon on a sticks looks soo good, wow my mouth is watering! I haven't been to Trader Sam's yet but it's on my list!

 

[Goof's Girl]

That bacon on a sticks looks soo good, wow my mouth is watering! I haven't been to Trader Sam's yet but it's on my list!

The bacon is SO good! THey’re changed it up a bit from when they first offered it and it’s even better now. I feel like everyone should try Trader Sam’s once

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 5 - The last day for DC and DCH

While today is around the halfway point for DD’s, DM’s and I’s vacation, it is sadly DC and DCH’s last day so we headed back to Epcot to get in a final drink around the world.

DCH really wanted to ride Test Track as that was the only ride he didn’t get to on Saturday so we timed our arrival shortly after early morning entry started and only had to wait around 20 minutes to ride. I love that the pre-show car building screens were back in action! That was a fun surprise I wasn’t expecting.

With our cars built, our party of 5 took up a full car and shot off to our test drive. Everyone enjoyed themselves, even though the car my dad and I designed came in second to DCH and DC’s car.

With our mission accomplished - the group decided to ride a few of the other short rides. I decided to get Starbucks. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, something about Disney Starbucks just hits different.

Having gotten Starbucks for myself and DCH, I met back up with the group getting off Nemo. We downed our drinks and walked right onto living with the land. This ride is so peaceful - I always come off feeling very relaxed, like I just meditated.

Checking off the rides meant it was time to eat! And we ate A LOT!

Continued in next post…

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 5 - How much can we drink before a 9pm flight?

We kicked off our round the world tour up by the booths at Creations including the lobster booth, flavors of the fire, and the donut box.

Apparently no one wanted to wait for me to take photos of their food but here is a shot of my crispy chicken on a sriracha glazed donut. This was HUGE and tasty - a great deal for $8.50.

We started walking toward the middle of world showcase and once again split up with DC and DCH going to Hawaii and myself headed to redeem my Emile’s fromage challenge which you get for free after ordering five specific cheese dishes. Look how cute it was!

DC and DCH’s finds from Hawaii:

Everyone was in the mood for drinks now so while DC went to get beer in Belgium. DM and I got cider flights in Canada!

At this point, everyone was kind of full…which isn’t an ideal start when you have a whole lot of world showcase to go haha

We started meandering in and out of the countries doing some shopping and taking photos. That’s when we stumbled on the old sit down restaurant in Morocco. It was open for air conditioned seating! I’ve never been in here before so it was really cool to just hang out inside.

We finally were feeling hungry again so we grabbed another griddled cheese! Ugh this thing is just so tasty.

Then in America, I was also able to the mini funnel cake I’ve been wanting to try - while this was adorable, it was only ok. I only had a few bites and shared it with the rest of my group. The best part was eating it while listening to the Voices of America.

The Voices of Liberty show was only about 10 minutes and super enjoyable, especially with a snack in hand.

Germany was next, with DC getting a couple souvenirs! I then grabbed by favorite byejoe punch while the group got beers at the India pavilion.

As we walked into Mexico, I noticed there was no line to get into the pavilion. Curious, I ventured inside and saw there was no line for La Cava either!! Considering the line was almost 2 hours on Saturday, this was a rare find.

So despite having one drink in hand, I grabbed the mezcal pineapple marg from here too!

I needed some time to drink these so we stopped for one final snack, the chimichurri beef and corn cakes from Flavors of Fire. OMG THIS WAS SO GOOD!! Def on my top three list.

A little souvenir shopping later and we were on our way to the parking lot.

DC and I spent some time at the pool before she had to get cleaned up and pack for her and DCH’s flight. Once DM and DD drop them off, we’ll likely have a quiet night in as we prepare for the second half of our stay - I have a feeling it will be a lot more chill than the first half!

 

[footballmouse]

Dang, you guys know how to eat & drink!!!!! I want to go on vacation with you!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Excited to hear how the next few days go!

 

[Goof's Girl]

Dang, you guys know how to eat & drink!!!!! I want to go on vacation with you!

HAH! Eating and drinking are basically the focal points of our trips

Excited to hear how the next few days go!

Thank you for following along!

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 6 - Bright eyed and bushy tailed

With DC and DCH safely back home, DD, DM, and I were free to do Disney our way. Which is basically riding a couple rides, walking around, then relaxing in our room before going to a different park at night. But today was actually set to be a pretty busy day, so let’s get started!

Around 8am we headed out to Hollywood Studios, hoping to see the Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad pre-show!! I was so excited to hear it finally started again as we’ve never gotten to see it. We sped through early entry and got right in what was already a pretty long line.

Once the clock hit 8:30, the line started moving and we waited about 20ish minutes as we walked off the ride right around 9am. We hightailed it straight to Toy Story Mania as the line was only clocking in around 10 minutes. Per usual, I won with the best score in the car, with DD second and DM third.

Our main rides completed and, since we got here first thing, we were feeling a bit peckish and decided to try Woody’s lunchbox for the very first time!

We got the breakfast tot bowl, the bbq brisket sandwich, and the seasonal pop tart. Everything was SO GOOD except that pop tart. I should have trusted the reviews that said it wasn’t worth it.

Our bellies full, we walked through Star Wars land just taking in the scenery - and the crowd. The line for Rise was about 110 minutes at this point in the morning and it spread all the way to Muppets 3D!

There were a few things I wanted from the gift shop here - namely the Star Wars Vision shirts so I split from DD and DM while they watched the cavalcade. Afterwards I grabbed my daily dose of Disney Starbucks.

The barista thought he was a comedian - it did make me laugh Also, I didn’t get these but look how cute these seasonal treats are!

Shortly after we were headed to the car as DM and I had quite the task ahead of us: finishing a 10k in the heat of a Florida afternoon.

Continued in next post…

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 6 - Run like the wind…or walk like it

We’re a big RunDisney family having completed numerous challenges - including a Dopey and Castle to Chateau challenge for myself. With runs coming back, DM and I decided to sign up for the virtual Disney Princess weekend 10k. While it’s only October, we knew we wanted to complete our virtual race while here in Disney.

We initially wanted to do this around 6am to beat the sun and the heat, but Hollywood Studios got in the way of that plan. So we braved the heat and headed out! It was pretty brutal doing this with the sun high in the sky but we finished by doing a power walk and had lots of fun!

DM needed some rest time after so DD and I walked to Disney Springs to pick up some Gideon’s and look at other souvenirs. Shockingly Gideon’s had no virtual wait list! We only waited about 15/20 minutes in line.

October at Gideon’s is SUPER fun since it’s kind of their signature month. We got the cookies and cream, Frankenstein, and pistachio chocolate chip. That little cup is full of peanut butter buttercream for DM - she LOVES buttercream!

I had just enough time to shower and change before we were on our way to our highly anticipated dinner at Boma!

Continued in next post…

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 6 - Buffets are back baby!!!

Boma is one of my family’s most favorite restaurants. We love how unique the offerings are and how much variety there is no matter if you want to be adventurous or play it safe. When it finally reopened, I spent 2 hours on hold trying to get a reservation.

So, needless to say, we were incredibly excited for tonight’s dinner. We were thrilled to see so many of our favorites returned, including the lamb stew, butternut soup, pork ribs, prime rib, grapefruit avocado salad, and - of course - zebra domes! Although, I have to say, I much prefer the banana bread pudding with vanilla sauce to the domes.

We had to roll ourselves out of there but so so worth it!

DM really wanted to see the Tree of Life 50th Anniversary light show so we pulled into Animal Kingdom around 7:00pm - just in time to see the tree light up at 7:15!

It really is cool to watch, I wouldn’t call it a must see but since we were around the corner it was worth stopping by.

By 7:35, we were on our way back to the resort after another day well spent!

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 7 - What a difference a half hour makes

Today we had park passes for Magic Kingdom but only had a few items on our to do list. After initially considering Genie+, we decided to just take advantage of the extra 30-minute early entry for deluxe resort guests to get on our rides.

We arrived at the TTC bright and early around 7:45 and parked in Zurg 007 - that is the CLOSEST parking spot we’ve ever gotten in MK. It was super weird but also very nice for when we decided to leave later in the day.

We literally walked right onto a monorail, with very few other people and headed into the park. All of Main Street, up to the castle was open for those without early entry. But for those with early entry, you could go to the Tomorrowland side of the hub and either wait at a rope in front of Tomorrowland or the side entrance to Fantasyland by the teacups.

We still had about a half hour until early entry even started so I split with my parents and grabbed Starbucks. It only took about 10 minutes!

Starbucks is my pixie dust

We made some friends while waiting in line and before we knew it the rope was dropped and we were off! It was QUITE the crowd to wade through and 90% of them were headed to 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. Once we passed that line, it was pretty smooth sailing to our first stop: Peter Pan.

I think we waited a grand total of 15 minutes - such a great feeling to basically walk on a ride that’s usually over an hour wait.

Our next goal was to ride my favorite, Haunted Mansion, but it didn’t open until the park did at 9am. Which gave me about 12 minutes to take these AWESOME castle shots with no people in them!!

Then a little Disney magic happened: we were the FIRST RIDERS OF THE DAY ON HAUNTED MANSION!!! I do credit this to knowing where the door is in the stretching room but still - that’s never happened before. I’m still thrilled!

Hall of Presidents was next, that’s always a great show and a chance to rest your feet. Plus I love the exhibits in the waiting area.

It was around 10am at this point and it was time for a morning snack. All I wanted today was the hand dipped corn dog from Sleepy Hallow. So I got in line and, it turns out, they don’t serve corn dogs until 11! No matter, I grabbed a Mickey waffle for my dad and I to share as well as the specialty Doom Berry drink while my mom was first in line to snag the coveted spring rolls!

Today they had cheeseburger and the celebration pastrami rolls. We’ve been wanting to try these for a long time and they were certainly a satisfying snack. I don’t know if I’d need to get them again but I certainly enjoyed them today.

Up next was the ultimate MK family favorite: Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin! I didn’t hit galactic hero last time so I was on a mission.

Mission success!

We still had some time to kill before corn dog hour so up next was the Peoplemover! I love this view of the castle.

It was finally corn dog hour and it was SO WORTH THE WAIT!! There are very few things quite like a hand dipped corn dog.

With our final mission complete, we got some teas at Starbucks, did a little shopping and headed out to try the walking path back to the TTC!

In total, the walk was about 1.5 miles and took us through the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian resorts. This is when that close parking spot came in handy as the sun was beating down and all of us wanted to take a seat with air conditioning.

It was time to head back to the resort for some relaxation time before Epcot tonight!

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 7 - Sometimes all you need is a little R&R

Whoops got a little behind! Resuming the TR from yesterday afternoon.

We spent several hours escaping the Florida heat in our cool room. It’s college admission season so I spent some time helping my cousin with her essay and writing up this TR! The rest of the time was just spent laying down, watching Netflix, and enjoying doing absolutely nothing.

I mentioned before how much we loved Harmonious so we figured we’d catch another chance to see it tonight. However, we all forgot the show as at 9:45pm. Considering how early we get up as a family, we’re the farthest thing from night owls and all the walking, heat, and early wake up call was definitely getting to us.

We decided to stick around Epcot as long as we could before getting exhausted. We started with Living with the Land - love this ride, especially as it’s just getting dark when you’re in the greenhouse.

From there, we figured the best way to stay awake was by eating and drinking so…Mexico it was with a quick stop in Brazil for cheese bread. This time I got a passion fruit marg - I think the pineapple is still my favorite. I even make a version of it at home.

While sipping on our margs, we walked toward Kenya to try one of the remaining items on DD and I’s must do lists: the coffee-rubbed beef. This one was def worth the wait - we really enjoyed it!

I also decided to grab more of the raclette - this time without the ham. The whole reason I love this is the warm potatoes covered in cheese.

We threw in another lobster roll for good measure too These can be found in the America pavilion.

It was at this point we started to get really tired. Our long trips are always like this, especially when the first half is so busy. We just can’t stay awake as late. We still had some countries to go so we kept plugging along. This most consisted of walking in and out of gift shops for the air conditioning.

By the time we had come full circle, we were really questioning if it was worth staying. It was only 8:15 at this point, still an hour and a half until fireworks. We decided to give the new Club Cool a try to kill some time. Passed this adorable Figment statue on the way!

I have to say - I miss the old Club Cool. It was just so well themed and less streamlined than this one. I even miss the sticky floors. I will say, I do like the new flavors though! Joy, the apple and lychee juice, is my absolute favorite!

We exited the club around 8:45 and decided to call it a night, we couldn’t kill another hour. We got back to our room around 9:10…a whole 35 minutes before the fireworks even started. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was fast asleep by 9:45!

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 8 - We may like the zoo too much

Annnnnnd we’re once again behind haha trying to fit too much into the last couple days. Starting this post from first thing yesterday morning.

Today was my last full day is Disney - I know I’ve been here a long time and I’m super grateful for the wonderful vacation we’ve had but the last day is always a little bittersweet.

Anyways, we decided to make our park passes for Animal Kingdom today. We like this park because we don’t feel obligated to stay for a super long time and we can get there nice and early! Plus DD and DM are huge proponents of shows like Secrets of the Zoo and anything that shows them the behind the scenes of AK.

While watching these shows, DM got super excited about a babirusa pig named Mentari so we were on a quest to find him. And find him we did!! We called his name and he even responded - it was a pretty cool animal interaction.

After chatting with Mentari, we power walked back to the safari ride and had one of the BEST safaris I’ve been on in a long time. The animals we so active and close to the truck.

That’s a BABY zebra in that one picture. I didn’t even know they had a young zebra - so cute!

If you’ve been reading this report, you know what’s next…CREATURE COMFORTS!!!! The best time to hit Starbucks is either during early entry or around an hour after opening when everyone is busy trying to get on rides. With coffee in hand, it was time to hit the trails.

As you can now tell, rides were not our goal today, but animals were. We started with the jungle trek in Asia and, once again, the animals were active!

We also saw the flying of the blue throated macaws! Now, I am not a bird person but seeing these macaws fly down from the tree of life and just have the freedom to fly around is so incredible. I highly recommend checking it out next time you’re in AK…I even teared up a bit.

Around 11 it was time to say goodbye to AK - we made sure to say bye to Mentari as well on our way out!

We headed to straight to the grocery store for lunch and then back to the room for more R&R.

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 8 - The one where no one really wants to go back to the parks

We all did our own thing for relaxation time - I mostly stayed in bed and read some articles, wrote some of this TR and looked up recipes so I could write my grocery list.

At one point we debated going to Hollywood Studios to see things lit up at night but it had gotten hot and muggy and no one was really in the mood. But we wanted to do something! So Disney Springs it was.

The best part of SSR is the ability to walk to Disney Springs - a few short minutes later we were there! I was finally able to find a 50th anniversary pass holder pin (yay!) and some really cool limited edition villains pins as well. I used to be a big pin trader but now I keep them on my bulletin board in my office. A nice thing to pass by on my way to my desk every day


From there, we were headed to my second favorite bar on property: Jock Lindsey’s! I am a HUGE Indiana Jones fan so when this bar opened I knew it would be right up my alley. Boy was I right. Plus the drinks and food are really good so when you add in the atmosphere, it really is the whole package.

My favorite drink is the cool-headed monkey so I ordered one of those while DM got their version of a Long Island and DD got a bourbon and gin-based drink. All of them were quite tasty!

We decided on a second round with myself and DD getting the same drink and my mom trying a spiced gin drink that was SO good! We also got some queso. The queso was ok and did hit the spot but I would probably get something different on my next visit.

After Jock’s I stopped by Pandora to get one of their newest releases: keychains!! You can now add charms to these keychain loops. I was super excited since I’ve been searching for a keychain for my new car this whole trip. I already had some charms I love but don’t wear as much anymore so putting them on the keychain was the perfect solution.

I’m pretty sure we stopped at all the stores on the way back to the SSR walkway haha with our final stop being Goofy’s candy co!! Always lots of fun stuff here but I do miss the make your own chocolate covered treats. My favorite was the giant oreo! I would always get the peanut butter filling, covered in chocolate with more crushed Oreos and peanut butter chips sprinkled on top.

But since that is no longer an option, we got this caramel chocolate popcorn! It was super tasty and the perfect midnight (well 10:30pm) snack.

We made it back to the room where I had to take a late shower and organize my room as much as I could since my flight was the following day.

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 9 - The final chapter!

Waking up today was not fun knowing I had a flight to catch. But at least the flight is in the afternoon so I still had the morning to spend with my parents.

Magic Kingdom was our choice for the day and we figured early entry was our best bet - even if it just meant walking around and enjoying the castle. We rolled into the parking lot around 7:50, once again parking in Zurg and walking right onto a monorail. Which put us in MK a little after 8am!

We really didn’t have much of a goal here - but we did want Starbucks so I got in line, hoping it wouldn’t take long. Things were a little slow though and it took 10-15 minutes to get a coffee for me and tea for DM.

We then walked around taking photos and just enjoying the magic. We finally checked in through early entry at 8:40, hoping to ride Buzz but it was down with an unknown wait time - darn!

Now, if you didn’t know, MK early entry only gets you into Tomorrowland and Fantasyland - so if you want to ride anything in Frontierland or Adventureland you need to wait until 9.

After finding out Buzz was closed, our choice for first ride of the day was Jungle Cruise! Since this one is in Adventureland, we got in line with the crowd waiting at the big sign and waited to be let in. We were probably 35th in line and only took us about 8 minutes to board. They had a ton of boats running and were boarding them pretty fast.

To our surprise there were a ton of great new details on Jungle Cruise! There are now two sunken boats with hippos and monkeys causing mischief and of course we saw the new Trader Sam’s gift shop at the end of the ride. The best part of going early was some really gorgeous pictures.

Pirates was next on our list and, to our delight was another walk on! We were really getting lucky. We exited the ride at about 10 and gave Buzz another try. Score - we only waited 10 minutes before getting on our space ships and attempting to defeat Zurg. No galactic hero today but my score still beat DD and DM!

We also were able to walk on the Peoplemover for a leisurely ride around Tomorrowland. We had time for one more ride before lunch so we chose our last walk-on - Voyage of the Little Mermaid!

At this point I was craving something cold and sweet so LeFou’s brew it was! They must have changed the recipe up a bit though. It just wasn’t the same and the foam on top is no longer white so it doesn’t have that same cool affect as it used to when it looked like a real pint of beer.

Finally it was lunch time and that meant corn dogs!!

 

[Goof's Girl]

Day 9 - See ya real soon!

We tried to hit Sleepy Hallow right as it turned over for lunch at 11 and something about this day but they just were not ready! I felt bad for the cast members trying to fill orders but I was also a little surprised they didn’t have more of the food ready once the clock struck 11.

Either way we got the corn dogs and DM’s chicken and waffle sandwich and lunched over by the Christmas store.

We walked around the castle a bit after lunch to take it all in but eventually it was time to head out - I had a flight to catch after all.

I had two flights to get home - both were pretty uneventful. But both were also PACKED flights. Everyone seems to be hitting the skies again. I think all of my flights were completely full this trip.

It was super sad leaving DD and DM as they still had a couple days left in their trip. Although they did let me know it poured today so maybe my timing was perfect haha

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who joined my first trip report! I hope you enjoyed it!!

 

[David G Farr]

The bacon is SO good! THey’re changed it up a bit from when they first offered it and it’s even better now. I feel like everyone should try Trader Sam’s once

That was my favorite snack from my last trip 2 years ago with my then gf, now wife. It does look different. When I had it there was just a hunk of meat with a stick in it and not the curved bacon piece.

 

[Hubie]

Never been to Trader Sam's. We have a 5 PM res at KCafe. Do you recommend heading to the Poly around 1:30 - 2 PM or can we wait until around 4:00 to try and make a res for after our dinner.