Trip Report The cold never bothered me anyway!!!

DISNEYWORLD FIRST TRIP OF 2026!
TRAVEL DAY

Hello all!
It's time to start a TR on the first trip of 2026 (hopefully not the last) that occured in the very brisk month of January.

But,I lie, it was really chilly! Though a cold day at Disney is better than... fill in the blank.

The particulars-
Who-Seth and me.
When-January 13-17th.
Where-Bay Lake. As a DVC member I had originally booked Saratoga as that was all that was available but then wait listed Bay Lake and it came through! It was funny because I got an email from Disney but ignored it as it was right before Christmas and when I logged on to the site for something at the beginning of Jan. it said welcome to Bay Lake, that was a very fun surprise!

Let's get started. I have been avoiding Southwest for a variety of reasons but found they started a direct flight from Sacramento to Orlando once a day, so that was a no brainer. 5-ish hours vs 8 or 9.

Aleisha told me she would take me to the airport, and anyone that read my report from last years March trip and the crazy that occured the morning of that flight, would know I didn't hold out much hope. With that in mind I told her I needed to be picked up earlier than I really needed and jokes on me, she was early and I ended up at the airport with way more time than necessary.

I checked my bag at the curb and breezed through TSA. I went to a restaurant and had a nice breakfast/early lunch as I figured the bag of 6 pretzels we were going to get on board weren't going to tide me over with a 5 hour flight.
I bought a mini package of cheese/pepperoni snacks before boarding and ended up eating that about halfway across the US.

I left Sacramento at 11:50am pacific time and landed in Orlando 7:50pm east coast time after an uneventful flight.
My Uber (Seth) picked me up at the airport and we stopped at a Publix for a few groceries for the room.
Then we were travelling under this wonderful sign, my time stamp says 9:30.

We were pulling into Bay Lake shortly after.
This photo is from a different day, but this the entrance.

My only request for rooms was a high floor and it was so nice we did get that. We were on the 7th floor and interestingly we think it was the same room (but a slightly lower floor) than the one that we stayed in for Gary and my 30th anniversary.

This was the view from this years room and the following photo was from our stay in 2013.

I really like the rooms on this side. You get to watch the marina, and the comings and goings at the Contemporary.
That bridge connects Bay Lake to the Contemporary and is a very nice feature. It ends up on the main floor at the Contemporary where the stores, Contempo Cafe and Chef Mickey's are.

Daytime view.

And a fan favorite, the nightly Electrical Water Pageant!

We have a family joke about this parade that began back in 2013 when every single night, like it or not, the parade hits this part of the lake pretty late, maybe around 10 pm and doors don't matter, you can hear it inside!
Aleisha had headed back to her home a day or two before Seth, Gary and I that trip and we made a short recording of it and sent it to her and her response was from the Jim Carrey Grinch movie, "suffering snorkelblatz, they're relentless!"

So everytime we have an opportunity to send her a clip of the parade, that is her response and tonight was no different!

On the next post I will show some room photos as the resort has been renovated and it is quite nice.

 

[MickeyCB]

I'm definitely going to have to give the Starlight parade another try. I tried to stay near the corner of Main Street by the Confectionery and people were just so rude, I had a hard time making myself even stay for it.

If you get a chance, and they don't start throwing people out of there, the porch was wonderful. We were right at the railing getting there what should have been 20 minutes ahead of the parade start.

 

[MickeyCB]

DAY 2-AK and HS DAY

We woke up and shared a bagel, some fruit and oj again and headed out.
(And I always have a coffee in the room to start the day!)

We decided to drive since we were starting at AK and then switching to HS in the afternoon. We scheduled ourselves this way because we only had 3 full park days. We contemplated busing to AK, busing to Riveria, Skyliner to HS, but it would have definetly taken up a lot of our limited park time.

At 9:30 we were on the parking lot tram, and strolling through the entrance at 9:40.

We were excited to see Kevin!
And we were running into a lot of tour groups and I asked one of these guys where they were from and he looked at me quite suspiciously and said Miami.
I was expecting somewhere exotic.
I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that his parents taught him to not talk to strangers and that he wasn't being rude.

We had time before our LL for FoP and went to see the new Zootopia show.
I haven't been in this queue since Seth was about 4 and we unsuspectingly went to see It's a Bugs Life and he ran screaming out the other doors mid show!

A bunch of tree of life photos.

 

[MickeyCB]

Some more Zootopia line photos.

This is a really pretty part of the exit side.
This one is for @Piglet_the_brave and her love of waterfalls.

I enjoyed the show but there were some parts where we had a hard time hearing/understanding what the characters were saying.
After that we headed towards Pandora for both lunch and to ride FoP.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Some more Zootopia line photos.
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This is a really pretty part of the exit side.
This one is for @Piglet_the_brave and her love of waterfalls.
View attachment 907182

I enjoyed the show but there were some parts where we had a hard time hearing/understanding what the characters were saying.
After that we headed towards Pandora for both lunch and to ride FoP.

Love it, so pretty

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

I'm definitely going to have to give the Starlight parade another try. I tried to stay near the corner of Main Street by the Confectionery and people were just so rude, I had a hard time making myself even stay for it.

If you’re already further into the park I found another great place to watch was near the stocks in Liberty Square. There’s a wall to sit on and it’s right near the turning point so you can see the floats coming towards you and from the side

 

[Tuvalu]

We had time before our LL for FoP and went to see the new Zootopia show. I haven't been in this queue since Seth was about 4 and we unsuspectingly went to see It's a Bugs Life and he ran screaming out the other doors mid show!

 

[MickeyCB]

I'm replying to myself.
Does anyone know what the little circular plaque here says?
I tried to enlarge it on my phone but can't read it and while I took the photo I didn't pay attention to this while walking.
Maybe something with Jane Goodall?

 

[MickeyCB]

AK/HS DAY CONTINUES

We exited and headed towards Pandora.
There was a bird show going on as we walked past the tree.

We got us but not the birds.

We mobile ordered for Satu'li Canteen. It has been 9 years and it is still a favorite place for a meal!
Seth ordered the Chili spiced crispy fried tofu bowl.

I had my 9 year usual, chopped wood grilled chicken bowl. Still very tasty.

The blueberry cream cheese mousse, again a 9 year favorite. Don't even think about getting rid of this Disney!
And I say this because they have a new one, mangkwan mousse that is a cinnamon milk chocolate mix that we didn't care for at all.
We bought both so we could try the new one, but have the old favorite if it didn't work out.
It didn't work out, in our opinion anyway.
The good one.

The not so good one.
It did look really cool though.

This was our view from our table. The theming is excellent.
I don't always take the time to look at the details, but it is really amazing when you look around and see the world they created here.

After that we headed for the safari that we had a LL for, but as we walked by a Lion King show was about to start so we hopped in and probably only waited 2 or 3 minutes. Great timing!
I didn't take any photos just enjoyed watching it.

Next up, a great safari ride!

 

[MickeyCB]

AK/HS DAY CONTINUES

We headed for the Safari ride and didn't have to wait long at all.
There were a lot of animals to see and they were fairly active.

I don't know that I have ever seen one of the giraffes lying/sitting down before.

Loved the lions. They were very interested in something!

After that we used our last LL at AK and rode Everest.
It seemed particularly exciting for some reason.
This was our decided upon pose for this ride.
Loved the people behind us. Fun terror and real terror!

A little aside, we kept going past Everest towards Dino Land. There was a huge tour group, maybe 30ish teens, stopped and completely blocking the bridge. As we approached Seth let them know this and in their defense they did move.
Again, I don't think they were being rude just very unaware.

We stopped in the shops on the way out. I think these are some of the best stores on property.
I like V necks, medium length sleeves and loose (and covers the behind) and that combo is hard to find.
I tried this on and Seth vetoed it, it's too big mom, it looks like a sleep shirt.
I only pouted a little as I left it there.

Anyway, we exited the park and headed to HS for our afternoon and evening adventures!
As we were using LL's at AK we were booking ones for HS. We sucked the juice out of the pass that day!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

AK/HS DAY CONTINUES

We headed for the Safari ride and didn't have to wait long at all.
There were a lot of animals to see and they were fairly active.
View attachment 907394

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I don't know that I have ever seen one of the giraffes lying/sitting down before.
View attachment 907397

View attachment 907398

Loved the lions. They were very interested in something!
View attachment 907399

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After that we used our last LL at AK and rode Everest.
It seemed particularly exciting for some reason.
This was our decided upon pose for this ride.
Loved the people behind us. Fun terror and real terror!
View attachment 907401

A little aside, we kept going past Everest towards Dino Land. There was a huge tour group, maybe 30ish teens, stopped and completely blocking the bridge. As we approached Seth let them know this and in their defense they did move.
Again, I don't think they were being rude just very unaware.

We stopped in the shops on the way out. I think these are some of the best stores on property.
I like V necks, medium length sleeves and loose (and covers the behind) and that combo is hard to find.
I tried this on and Seth vetoed it, it's too big mom, it looks like a sleep shirt.
I only pouted a little as I left it there.
View attachment 907402

Anyway, we exited the park and headed to HS for our afternoon and evening adventures!
As we were using LL's at AK we were booking ones for HS. We sucked the juice out of the pass that

We actually bought four of those tops between us as we also like V neck ones. Also like to cover our behinds as well.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

AK/HS DAY CONTINUES

We headed for the Safari ride and didn't have to wait long at all.
There were a lot of animals to see and they were fairly active.
View attachment 907394

View attachment 907395

View attachment 907396

I don't know that I have ever seen one of the giraffes lying/sitting down before.
View attachment 907397

View attachment 907398

Loved the lions. They were very interested in something!
View attachment 907399

View attachment 907400

After that we used our last LL at AK and rode Everest.
It seemed particularly exciting for some reason.
This was our decided upon pose for this ride.
Loved the people behind us. Fun terror and real terror!
View attachment 907401

A little aside, we kept going past Everest towards Dino Land. There was a huge tour group, maybe 30ish teens, stopped and completely blocking the bridge. As we approached Seth let them know this and in their defense they did move.
Again, I don't think they were being rude just very unaware.

We stopped in the shops on the way out. I think these are some of the best stores on property.
I like V necks, medium length sleeves and loose (and covers the behind) and that combo is hard to find.
I tried this on and Seth vetoed it, it's too big mom, it looks like a sleep shirt.
I only pouted a little as I left it there.
View attachment 907402

Anyway, we exited the park and headed to HS for our afternoon and evening adventures!
As we were using LL's at AK we were booking ones for HS. We sucked the juice out of the pass that day!

I like those type of tee shirts too, and that one looks great on you. I hope you didn't let your son stop you from buying it, lol....
I wouldnt take my grown son's advice on clothes at all

 

[MickeyCB]

We actually bought four of those tops between us as we also like V neck ones. Also like to cover our behinds as well.

I like those type of tee shirts too, and that one looks great on you. I hope you didn't let your son stop you from buying it, lol....
I wouldnt take my grown son's advice on clothes at all

He actually has pretty good taste.
When he picks something up for me he always makes sure it doesn't have any flaws, good placement of graphics etc.
And I did end up getting a few before the end of the trip anyway!

 

[MickeyCB]

AK/HS DAY CONTINUES

We drove into the HS parking area and Seth and I had a small tiff because they were insisting despite a completely open parking lot that time of day that we go literally to the very end. Has to be at least a quarter mile, and you can't tell me different.
I asked Seth to pull over, there were no cars coming, and drop me at the tram area to wait for him to park. He threw a hiss fit saying he wasn't allowed, would get into trouble etc. and made me walk the entire way back. To say I was steaming was an understatement. But since I'm rarely a grudge holder I had cooled off literally and figuratively by the time I made it to the tram area.
There is very little chance he is ever going to get in trouble with the law because he neither breaks nor bends rules, ever.

Anyway, I took a pic of our parking row because when we came out I figured it would circumvent another argument on what row we were parked in (a half mile away.)
Do you see the empty parking lot? It was that way on both sides.

As we entered I grabbed a few photos of the decorations that remained up.

We stopped and got a photo in from of the Chinese Theatre.

And then after that decided to go see the Villians show that was to start shortly.
As we were walking there I saw my favorite guy.

We had a short wait to enter the theater and once again I lucked out on a seat without an obstructed view.

I thought the show was pretty good but maybe would have picked a few different villians.
She was excellent!

After that we started to make our way back to Galaxy's Edge and I grabbed a Mickey bar on the way.

Another Christmas decoration still up. Love these cuties. I have some (miniature) ones of these somewhere in my Christmas stash.

And as we made our way back I took this for my Baseline buddies!

We didn't stop as we had an early dinner reservation coming up. We wandered the shops in GE and then headed for Rise as our ride time was approaching.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Just one question: Why in the world would they have you park way out in no man's land when you could have parked clo

ser?????? I don't get it - it's crazy!

 

[MickeyCB]

Just one question: Why in the world would they have you park way out in no man's land when you could have parked clo

ser?????? I don't get it - it's crazy!

We were at that unlucky moment when they start filling the next row, allllll the way at the end. We missed the filling up near the tram by about 2 cars.

 

[MickeyCB]

AK/HS DAY CONTINUES

We got to Rise and we had a LL and got shuffled past all of the pre shows, through the CM, janitor and I don't know who else's empty hallway, but did get dumped out into this!!
It was great fun, especially because we got held up here and were able to take a few unhurried photos!

You know, a very random thought I had.
I wonder if someone has to dust these guys?

And then something that was so fun for me!
This guy was messing around with us and I asked if we could do a selfie, and after a moments pause with a stern face he nodded yes!
I think the people behind us were jealous!

We had so much fun despite missing the preshows.
After that we headed towards Toy Story Land to round us up some barbecue!

 

[Tuvalu]

One (or both) of the preshows were down which is why - with a LL - you were directed to the side entrance and bypassed the normal LL queue.

While I appreciate Disney still accommodating guests when part of the ride is not operational, you did not get the full ride experience that you paid extra to see. You and Seth could have chosen the single rider option and did what you did for FREE. Single riders use that backstage entrance and always miss the preshows. We’ve done it several times and it’s great to have a much shorter wait (we don’t mind missing the preshows.)

If you buy a Rise LL in the future and the same scenario occurs, go to Guest Services and request a refund. They will oblige.

 

[MickeyCB]

One (or both) of the preshows were down which is why - with a LL - you were directed to the side entrance and bypassed the normal LL queue.

While I appreciate Disney still accommodating guests when part of the ride is not operational, you did not get the full ride experience that you paid extra to see. You and Seth could have chosen the single rider option and did what you did for FREE. Single riders use that backstage entrance and always miss the preshows. We’ve done it several times and it’s great to have a much shorter wait (we don’t mind missing the preshows.)

If you buy a Rise LL in the future and the same scenario occurs, go to Guest Services and request a refund. They will oblige.

We were aware they occasionally use the bypass route.
If you were a first time rider or wouldn't be there again for a long time it would be annoying to miss the entire experience, and I agree they should have a discussion with guest services.

In our case we've done it enough times, and glass half full, it was wonderful to be delayed in the big room with the CM's interacting with everyone.

 

[MickeyCB]

AK/HS DAY CONTINUES

We checked into Roundup Rodeo and were seated fairly promptly.
This CM who seated us was also a SCAD graduate!

We were seated in the first section which has A LOT to look at!

Our waitress was excellent and came out to our table quickly.
We started with the watermelon and cucumber dishes, and I love both of these. Very refreshing!

Then the multiple number of sides came next.

Seth and I had a little discussion about the quality of the mac n cheese. He said he's always liked it and I said it has finally improved without the weird fish crackers and stuff they used to put in.
I tried all of the sides and liked them all.

I was really pleased when I asked if she could please not send out all of the meat they normally do because I knew I wouldn't eat it all. It was great because I got just the sausage and chicken that I did enjoy.

And Seth gets the vegetarian verson. He likes it but maybe if I was blindfolded I couldn't tell the difference, but each item I try, I don't get it. The pretend meat doesn't cut it.

After that she brought out a tray of desserts. I thought in the past you ordered one and that was what you got. But it was nice to get to try a bite or two of the different ones.

After that we wandered over to Toy Story Mania as Seth had secretly managed to grab a LL! It was a nice surprise.
I love love the strings of Christmas lights. When I had our very large tree back home I used the colored C 7"s to decorate it and Aleisha uses the C 9's on the outside of her house each year.
These must be C 39's!

We then headed back towards the front of the park to use our Runaway Railway LL.

 

[riverside]

Then the multiple number of sides came next.

I only ate there once but I swear we only had a choice of maybe 3 sides for the whole table?

After that she brought out a tray of desserts. I thought in the past you ordered one and that was what you got. But it was nice to get to try a bite or two of the different ones.

And I definitely remember we each got to order one-there was no tray of them!!

When I had our very large tree back home I used the colored C 7"s to decorate it and Aleisha uses the C 9's on the outside of her house each year.
These must be C 39's!

My aunt still puts up those lights every year. They are my absolute favorite!! I refer to them as the “old fashioned Christmas lights”. I love them so much & you don’t really see them as often anymore!!