Trip Report Cosmos Rewind (now with live sweaty summer solo trip!)

Hello, friends! After hiding in shame for a year after failing to complete my first trip report, I’m back to try again, this time with a nice baby sized trip to ease my way (in hindsight, trying to document a 10-day land/sea/Christmas extravaganza was perhaps a bit ambitious on my part lol).

The details:
Who: My mom and me
Where: All Star Music
When: March 20-23, 2025
Why: My mom and I did a mother/daughter trip for Flower & Garden in 2018 and wanted an encore! We’re both big flower people so springtime is our jam.

Here's a picture of us from our 2018 trip:
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Time to pack some snacks and make some tracks!
 
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radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After zipping to and fro, I finally made it to the pool. I wanted to see if a hot tub was open (I know, insanity when it’s 90 degrees out) just to dip my tired feet and get a jet massage for my calves. It was packed with people and children in life vests. Ah well. I followed the siren honks of the flamingo flamboyance (which I didn’t notice last night includes some grey babies!) around the edge of the pool area and there, just past their enclosure, I found the oasis of my dreams.

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Private shaded jacuzzi plus lounge chair for one? Yes, please!

It was heaven :angelic:

I spent a good 30-40 minutes relaxing. Soothing music was piped in and a slight breeze rolled through. Afterward I debating cooling off in the regular pool, but I wanted to get to Typhoon Lagoon before the storms. So with a heavy heart, I headed back to the lobby.

This snake had a big lunch. Alternately, me after a week of Disney snacks:

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While looking at the elevator buttons it occurred to me that my lobby room was 1 of only 16 non-dvc rooms in the lodge proper. What are the odds that out of the hundreds of rooms, I’d get one?

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I felt grateful. Savannah spectacular it was not, but I loved being able to look down over the balcony into the lobby right outside my door. It reminded me of the rooms in the Contemporary.

I forgot to mention these cool gold discs in the floor. I don’t know the history behind them, but they each told a different story. This was my favorite:

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On the way out, I had to touch the door! The night before I noticed this cool art piece/door and plaque saying that it’s tradition to touch the door for good luck/safe travels on your journey.

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Until next time, Animal Kingdom Lodge! It was a wild stay 🦓🦒🦛
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The bus hop to Disney Springs and then Typhoon Lagoon was painless! There was a bus at the bay, but it was standing room only and I noticed that another Typhoon Lagoon bus was waiting right behind it. So I stepped aside and let all the other sardines do their thing.

The result?

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An additional 3 minute wait and Shirley status 🤩
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The monsoon waves tried to do me in — I’ve swallowed half an oceans worth of water. But I am alive to tell the tale!

I jumped in the lazy river next. Tip, if you want to ride lazy river on a busy day, enter at any other entrance than the one by the wave pool. It was impossible to get a tube; I ended up giving up and walking around the way to the next entry point instead and got a tube almost immediately. I rode the full length of the river, which goes around the entire park. When I first got in it looked too lazy, since I was used to the wave pool rapids. But it turned out to be the perfect speed.

Afterward, I walked around and dried off a bit before grabbing one of my favorite Disney snacks… mini donuts!

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And a drink to go along.

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I found the drink at High and Dry, which is not one of the main bars and seemed to be overlooked by most people.

Julia Roberts Shopping GIF by PeacockTV


It is delicious. I took a picture of the sign cause I knew I’d forget what it was.

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The other bars all had your standard pool bar menu with slightly tweaked titles. This one came with an umbrella! 🍹

I didn’t get a room ready text but I do have a room number in the app, and according to my air tag my luggage is at POFQ! I think I may do one more round of wave pool (gentle this time!) and head over.
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It got real hot, real fast 🥵

The nice waves weren’t scheduled to return until 3:30 and I didn’t want to have to dry off again. I could also see the storm rolling in and didn’t want to be caught in a crush for the bus.

So I took some photos and took my leave. Which seemed great until a family piled on the bus last minute and a still soaking wet teen double fisting a pretzel and a foot long hot dog plopped next to me and proceeded to inhale food in between snorts and sniffles 🤢

Anywho, here are those pictures:

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I didn’t know Lagoona Gator’s house was right smack dab in the middle of the park. I’m guessing it used to be a meet and greet?

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I love that everything leans like it’s about to be blown over.

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radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Took a bus to Hollywood for the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach. I had a brief crisis thinking I was going to miss my reservation window, but it turns out I had my times mixed up. I got there right on the dot!

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The inside is clean and coastal (think any beach reno episode you’ve ever seen on HGTV). I like that it’s bright and airy, but I’m torn because it’s Sebastian’s bistro and he doesn’t show up much except in two photos and to sing Bob Marley covers over the speakers. To be clear, I do like the restaurant and the look. I just think it’s an interesting case in the “generic vs themed” debate we see happen in a lot of of the renovation threads. Is it enough? Is it too generic? Who knows!

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I’m a fan of the chandeliers.

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And I got a perfect window seat :)

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radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Moving onto the food — it was fantastic! The reviews were not wrong about this place.

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My server substituted the fish out with more of the other stuff after I asked to leave it off. I would have rather not gotten the extras as it’s already so much food, but maybe they have some required protocol with it being a pre fixe meal? A mystery for another day, I guess.

The pork was my favorite, both with the mango salsa and leftover bacon jam from the rolls (what can I say, I like to experiment 🤷‍♀️ The guava butter was good on the hot steak too lol ). The bread pudding was so, so good with that hot salted caramel. If you do not like the texture of shredded coconut, I will warn you that you likely will not like it. The texture is prominent; you WILL know you’re eating coconut grass. But if you’re a coconut fan like me, you’re in the clear!
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yeehaw Bob!!

Happy Season 5 GIF by The Office


I’ve heard about Yeehaw Bob. And I’ve seen multiple trip reports that include him. But the stars have never aligned for me to see him myself until now! He was a spectacular showman.

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I was so impressed! He’s got a chaotic charisma when performing that just works, and he’s talented to boot— not only with piano but with singing too! Sometimes singers’ voices don’t age very well, but that’s not the case with Bob. It was also cool to see him go table to table interacting with his fans; you can tell they genuinely care about him and that he cares about them too. I’m glad I finally got the chance to see him!

Unfortunately, I had to leave a little early to walk back to French Quarter. I have an early morning tomorrow and I didn’t sleep enough last night so it seemed wise to be responsible. Ew.

The walk was peaceful. I saw not one, but two carriage horses! I forgot they do carriage rides at Riverside.

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The path wasn’t short, but it also wasn’t as long as I was anticipating. I was worried it might be a little much to end the night with, but it was the perfect way to unwind and find some zen.

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Good night! 🌙
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am at Epcot!

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My plan was head to test track for early entry and just deal with the wait. Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered early entry has a single rider lane!

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(Photo was taken at 8:10— the corral in front of the marquee quickly filled too 😱). I was on and off in 10 minutes, so of course I did it again! I’m glad it back. That half of future world/world celebration/whatever we’re calling it today has felt a bit dead without it.

Spoiler pictures below!
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Ten minutes left in early entry. Where to next?
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I peeked at the Gaurdians line, but it was out the door. So I changed course and was almost stampeded to death by the opening mob 😱

I ducked into Connections to avoid the frenzy.

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I decided to see a man about some Phoenicians!

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Caveman faces his biggest enemy yet— blank white screen!

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Starving artist contemplates the many wrong choices he’s made in life and reflects that maybe that his mom was right in saying he shouldn’t go to art school.

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Boots is looking flawless as always.

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A new record for the collection. I have no clue what it is but I’ll find out! (I still am searching for your last one, @Tuvalu . I will not give up— I’m pretty sure the Epcot records in the moon landing scene have become my Roman Empire 😅

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(Update: It’s Pinocchio!)

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radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This is going to sound crazy, but I went to Nemo next 😅

Stay With Me Professor GIF


I bought lightning lane for the day since my time is limited, and I started in Epcot with the hopes that I could get a test track LL. I was trying to find an early return time because once you use one, you can switch parks for all the others once you tap in. The earliest test track was 7:30pm, but the earliest Nemo was 9:15. So I grabbed it.

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Using my lightning fast reflexes I rearranged all of my other LLs to Magic Kingdom while walking the queue. Then it was off to the big blue world!

Peach informed me that starfish can turn their stomachs inside out. Add it to the weird column!

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After the ride I walked over to the manatees; they are my favorite exhibit at the Seas. I was in for a rare treat!!

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Two divers and two manatees! This is Mermaid (the mermaid shape tail) and Tanimura (the orphan baby!)

The Seas lady said they almost never have the divers in the tank at the same time as the manatees since they want to limit human contact but Cider, the third manatee, was having a procedure done in the other holding area and they didn’t have a third area they could put the manatees while the divers cleaned the tank. So one diver vacuumed lettuce while the other was on manatee watch, discouraging them from coming over to investigate.
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After my detour to the Seas, it was time for Guardians!

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The queue is cool as ever.

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The song?

agt GIF by America's Got Talent


Found this cool sweatshirt in the gift shop on the way out:

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I do have to wonder how many sweatshirts/jackets they sell when it’s 100 degrees out. I think it would be the last think I’d want to buy 🥵 and is it me or is there a weird ratio of shirts to jackets these days? I see so many designs on jackets that I wish were on shirts but nope! Ah well. This is probably better for my wallet anyway lol
 

radiorae

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Time to switch gears! Thanks for a good morning, Epcot!

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Monorail Gold just pulled into the station. I hopped on and then we were off the Magic Kingdom!

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I was going to take the monorail from TTC but I changed my mind last minute and made a beeline for the ferry instead.

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The breeze felt great on such a hot day. And it is HOT. My neck fan ran out of battery around 10AM 😭 I think I’ve sweat through my shirt, dried off in AC, and immediately sweat through my shirt again like… 5 times already (TMI? Hazards of reading a live report I guess lol). But I’m holding up and ducking into every air conditioned store I can find as I make my way.

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!

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