Trip Report This is the End, Beautiful Friend - October 2020 Trip

Ok ok, the title is a bit dramatic, but if you get the music reference, we can be friends. Fun fact: I used to write that on the last page of all my journals in high school I have always been a bit of a drama queen.

I've gone back and forth about even doing this trip report because, as you can probably tell from the title, we were not as happy with the current state of WDW as others are. I'll tell you up front, we don't plan to go back until things are back to semi-normal. I guess we'll use our judgement on how normal it needs to be before we make the effort.

Here we are, well what you can see of us...


I'm in the middle of busy wedding season, but I'll try to get this all written up quickly! Hope you're all doing well, I've enjoyed following along with everyone else's reports, so I hope you'll enjoy mine. The good and the sad We did have TWO magic meetups, which were highlights of the trip!

Let's do this thing!

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 28

I woke up bright and early. Well not so bright...the sun was still in the process of waking up. I made my coffee and headed outside to read.



Really can't beat a Florida sunrise!

The plan was to get going early today so we could make sure we got to Hollywood Studios before they opened the gates. We were ready to head out at 8:15, and I think the park was set to open at 10. I could be remembering wrong, but I know we were trying to get going super early. With the transfer at the Caribbean Beach skyliner station, I didn't want to end up being in transit for an hour.



Wearing a shirt my friend Katie designed! And my trusty Converse from high school. Any Green Day fans? I wrote Dookie on the sole and it's still there





More mural photos, cause we haven't seen them enough.



Think of a wonderful thought! My thought: "I'm gonna get a Rise boarding group"

When we got to the station, there were a few folks lined up. Turns out the first 10 families in line at Riviera get priority boarding for HS once they get to the transfer. We were 8th, I think. SO glad we got there early!! Pretty sure it was about 15 minutes before they started running. When we got to CB, we proceeded over to the HS line and got on quickly.



According to my time stamp, I took this at 8:56 and it was right before we started moving in



Once the line started moving, we got in within 2 minutes. Bag check and all!!!






We hadn't ridden Mickey & Minnie's, so that was my first priority. The line was long, but it moved steadily. I think we waited about 20 minutes.






Either I thought this big leaf was interesting, or I was real bored in line.



Posted 90 minutes by the time we got here! Thank goodness we were early. I know it wouldn't have really been that long, but still.

Up next: more HS

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 28 continued



Started seeing some of the queue elements from the new ride!




We made it!





It was SO cute!!! I loved Great Movie Ride, and I do miss it, but this ride was fun. I did think the story was disjointed and confusing, but I may just need to ride it a few more times to catch everything.

After the ride, it was close enough to 10, that I didn't want to do anything else. We were both hungry, so we decided to get a pretzel. I personally don't love Mickey pretzels, but it does the job if you just need to fuel up, ya know? We found a spot outside ABC Commissary and settled in.



stale carbs

We warmed up our thumbs and got ready. Countdown...3....2....1...



HOT DIGGITY DOG WE DID IT!

I felt a huge weight off my chest after this. We walked over toward Galaxy's Edge to just walk around.





After we looked around a bit, we decided to skip Smuggler's Run since we would just crash anyway with only two of us.

We continued through to Toy Story Land. The Slinky line was SUPER long already, but Toy Story Mania was only like 20 minutes, so we hopped in. It goes by so fast when you're steadily moving through the queue.





I didn't take a picture, but R won as usual. I just cannot beat him at this game.

I took a few pictures to send Katie of me in my shirt from her shop




Up next: back to Galaxy's Edge

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 28 continued

We headed back to GE cause why not







When we came out on the other side, I decided we should do Muppets. We caught it right at the beginning of the show, I guess, so we had to wait a bit. Unfortunately our group got called while we were waiting. Since we were going in within a couple minutes, we just stayed put and waited for the show.




We got out of the show and headed toward Rise.



I love seeing all the Muppet stuff back there.



When we got to Rise, there were a bunch of CMs standing outside the entrance. Never a good sign! Of COURSE it was down. Ugh.

So what next? We decided we should grab a bite.

I placed a mobile order for a ronto wrap, but it took a bit for it to be ready. R waited in line at Doc-Ondar's to pick up something for a friend, but he never moved in the line the whole time I waited for food, so he bailed. A CM saw us trying to find a place to sit and directed us to some tables hidden away outside Docking Bay 7. It was so nice and quiet back there!



I LOVE ronto wraps so much. I wish I could have them at home.



After our wrap, we talked about what to do next. I figured we could just move to another table...this time at Baseline Taphouse.

We had to wait a bit outside, but not long at all. Maybe 10 minutes? Probably not even that long. We got SUPER lucky that a two top table opened up when we got our drinks.





Don't remember what either of us got



Up next: Will we ever get to ride Rise?

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 28 continued

I was checking the status of Rise every few minutes and it finally showed up as live again! We were almost done, so we finished up and headed that way.

The line was all the way back to the tunnel into the land, but again it was a steady moving line. I didn't even notice how long we were in line, I was just so excited!!

We got scanned in. Thankfully they still let you in if the ride was down during your 1 hr window.



I'll put the rest in a spoiler for those of you who haven't ridden yet. Actually I can't tell if it's working...sorry if it's not!!







I didn't really take any more photos because I wanted to take it all in. OH. MY. WORD. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience!! More than the ride itself, just the way they make you feel like you're actually being captured is just phenomenal. I'm sure it was even better pre-pandemic.

R and I agreed that it was totally worth the effort to get on.



We headed back to Hollywood Blvd and saw a cavalcade





We went to Rock & Roller Coaster, but R convinced me the wait was too long. Oh well. I don't care for it, I just figured he would. Clearly he didn't care that much!



We decided to just head out for the time being.



Where else would we stop but Le Petit Cafe?




I got the harvest blend coffee and it was MUCH better than the stuff from the day before. And this little treat was so good. It was like breading on the outside and chocolate on the inside. I can't remember what it was called, but it was good.




I needed to wash a couple of things, so I visited the laundry room for the first time ever on vacation.



It was so convenient and easy!

It was nice to just relax and read for a bit.

Up next: More HS

 

[Songbird76]

October 28

I woke up bright and early. Well not so bright...the sun was still in the process of waking up. I made my coffee and headed outside to read.



Really can't beat a Florida sunrise!

The plan was to get going early today so we could make sure we got to Hollywood Studios before they opened the gates. We were ready to head out at 8:15, and I think the park was set to open at 10. I could be remembering wrong, but I know we were trying to get going super early. With the transfer at the Caribbean Beach skyliner station, I didn't want to end up being in transit for an hour.



Wearing a shirt my friend Katie designed! And my trusty Converse from high school. Any Green Day fans? I wrote Dookie on the sole and it's still there





More mural photos, cause we haven't seen them enough.



Think of a wonderful thought! My thought: "I'm gonna get a Rise boarding group"

When we got to the station, there were a few folks lined up. Turns out the first 10 families in line at Riviera get priority boarding for HS once they get to the transfer. We were 8th, I think. SO glad we got there early!! Pretty sure it was about 15 minutes before they started running. When we got to CB, we proceeded over to the HS line and got on quickly.



According to my time stamp, I took this at 8:56 and it was right before we started moving in



Once the line started moving, we got in within 2 minutes. Bag check and all!!!






We hadn't ridden Mickey & Minnie's, so that was my first priority. The line was long, but it moved steadily. I think we waited about 20 minutes.






Either I thought this big leaf was interesting, or I was real bored in line.



Posted 90 minutes by the time we got here! Thank goodness we were early. I know it wouldn't have really been that long, but still.

Up next: more HS

I thought the leaves looked a little like a hidden mickey....maybe that's why you took the picture?

 

[MerMom1981]

Super late arrival over here!
I haven't been on the forums much lately, but I'm glad I stopped in and found your TR!
Rivera looks so dreamy!

I've heard the Netflix Rebecca remake was a disappointment. It motivated me to watch the original by Hitchcock, and to read the book though.

Your mention of Green Day is giving me middle school flashbacks!

Looking forward to the rest and your take on the parks in pandemic mode

 

[myhappyplace]

I thought the leaves looked a little like a hidden mickey....maybe that's why you took the picture?

Exactly what I thought!

 

[amjt660]

Great report so far
Love the pic of the sunrise on your HS day

Max

 

[sheriffwoody]

We decided to head back to HS for a little bit since we'd rested for a while.

On the way




My new favorite form of transportation. Even though I was super skeptical at first! It's won me over with its efficiency.



We decided to go ahead and ride Slinky since we had time. The line was much shorter now (mid afternoon) than it was that morning.



In line. I remember the people in front of us being super annoying, but now I can't remember why! I'm pretty sure it was because they weren't using the distance markers. I saw that a LOT and it drove me nuts. Or like a group of 4 would spread out over the whole 6 feet, which kind of defeats the flipping purpose.





First row! It was so fun as usual! For some reason R doesn't love it...something wrong with him obviously.



Debated doing Alien Swirling Saucers, but decided to go for it. It was a walk on.



Wore my Zurg shirt even though it's technically supposed to go with Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. Still on-theme though. I still have some tweaks to make before I sell these, but I figured I'd go ahead and wear one of the test shirts on the trip. I love the color!



We headed back to Galaxy's Edge and waited for Dok Ondar's for R to get something for his friend (something this friend asked for...he's not that thoughtful ) The line actually moved this time, and we were in within a couple of minutes.





I almost bought something there for my step-dad. I get him a Star Wars related Christmas gift every year. I ended up getting him something on Etsy, which I'm glad about. Trying to support small businesses even more than normal now!



Aaaand this is all we did. We were going to go ride Rock N Roller Coaster, but meh. Decided it wasn't worth waiting for, so we headed out.




Back at the Riviera




I think at least 50% of my pictures from this trip are of the resort



Up next: DS and a meetup!

 

[sheriffwoody]

We took our HS purchase up to the room, then headed to the bus stop. We had a looooong wait for a DS bus. I'm pretty sure this was the time there was a bus there when we walked up, but it was full. The two ladies before us weren't able to get on, but chatted with the bus driver as he was waiting for everyone to get seated. Well 20-30 minutes later, the SAME BUS was back. He was surprised to still see us there. Clearly they were just running one bus back and forth. Thanks for cuts, Disney

OH. Speaking of cuts. This was the day that so many of the Equity CMs were let go, and I felt a huge weight about it for the rest of the trip. It was hard to enjoy the parks knowing how many people were now out of a job, plus the shows included in the cuts were some of my favorite things to do in the parks. Just a bummer of a situation.

Anyway, we finally made it to Disney Springs and decided to try out Chicken Guy.



The line was out the door with the spacing, but we got in and ordered within about 10-15 minutes. We got really lucky and found a table outside, it was PERFECT! I didn't take food pictures because it's just chicken tenders...you've all seen chicken tenders.

I'd been texting with @riverside because we were planning to meet up. We decided on Dockside (mainly because I'd been there with Brittany a few days ago, so I knew where it was...)

I was going to try to run in World of Disney on our way over there to get something for LP, but the line. Y'ALL. I think it was like an hour wait...?! Why why why. No way I'm waiting an hour to get into a store, then have to wait who knows how long in a checkout line. Unless you're giving me stuff for free, no thanks.



We had such a nice time chatting by the water! I hope our paths cross again in the future, maybe when we have LP with us so her and J can meet! Although J is quite a bit older so he may not care much to play with her

After we parted ways, I checked out WoD again, and the line was still long. Oh well. We had one more day, so I could get something for LP tomorrow.

Up next: Last day

 

[LisaBelle]

I'm super late to the report, but all caught up now. The Riviera looks beautiful. I'd like to stay there some day. I hate heights and swore I would never ride the Skyliner, but the more I see it in TRs the more I want to try it. That gingerbread caramel cookie sounds like my dream come true! So glad it was as tasty as it looked. Your family photos are beautiful! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[sheriffwoody]

I'm super late to the report, but all caught up now. The Riviera looks beautiful. I'd like to stay there some day. I hate heights and swore I would never ride the Skyliner, but the more I see it in TRs the more I want to try it. That gingerbread caramel cookie sounds like my dream come true! So glad it was as tasty as it looked. Your family photos are beautiful! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Thanks for reading along! I don't like heights either, but feel secure enough in the Skyliner that it doesn't bother me. If I get to thinking about it, I might freak out, but I just keep my mind off of where I am And that cookie,AHHH I want one right now. I may try to make a copycat someday.

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 29 (departure day)

I don't remember exactly when, but sometime after our Epcot day, we decided we didn't need a second Epcot day. So we switched our departure day to Animal Kingdom. I think we did it on the day we went to Magic Kingdom! We both felt really good about the decision, especially since AK opened a couple hours earlier than Epcot anyway!

We got up pretty early and got ready. We'd mostly packed the night before, so made good time. We headed downstairs around 8:30.



We left our checked bag and two carryon bags with Bell Services (really miss that airline bag check!!) and headed to the bus stop. I don't remember if the bus was there or got there shortly after we did, but we didn't wait long! We were here within like 15 minutes.




Neither of us are nuts over Flight of Passage, so we decided to head to the back of the park to ride the safari.






When we got in line, the park wasn't officially open so we didn't move much for a little bit. We ended up waiting about 20 minutes. Not too bad. I assume most of the rides have longer waits first thing since they have been opening the parks earlier to space people out. I'm sure FoP was much longer!




I hate the back...oh well. No one breathing who-knows-what on my back at least. Here are some bad photos of the safari since I'm too lazy to bring a long lens to the parks these days.









Have we figured out what this building is?

Up next: more AK

 

[sheriffwoody]

Oct 29 continued

We headed toward Asia








I think we waited about 15 minutes for Everest.



If you're wondering why we don't have ride photos, it's because we had cancelled our passes and just had regular tickets for this trip. I didn't want to pay for Memory Maker knowing there were less photo pass spots plus getting R to do photos is like pulling teeth. It's just not worth it.



RIP! I was still salty about the layoffs, and couldn't stop thinking about that sweet woman who played Dory and was in one of the "One Day at Disney" shorts.




I'm not sure how long we waited for Dinosaur, but I'm pretty sure it was about 10 minutes. I was trying so hard not to hold onto the hand rail in front of me, but it's hard not to on this ride! Oh well, just washed my hands after.



We headed back across the park to Mr. Kamal's for some food. I wanted to have the seasoned fries. They were pretty good! Not like incredible...but good. It curbed my hunger at least.



I'd been checking the FoP wait times, and it was a bit lower than it had been so far that morning, so we headed that way.






The line was way outside the queue, but we hopped in anyway.







It seemed like the line moved slowest through the boring bits of the queue and we flew through the cool parts! So I didn't get a lot of pictures of the interesting stuff.

I was bad and didn't take photos to timestamp this journey...so I don't know how long we were in line. Maybe like 40 minutes?

After the ride we went to order Satuli. Something was going on with the app and it wasn't letting me say we were there, but the CM stationed outside said we were in the system as "preparing" so I was just hoping we would eventually get a text that our food was ready. It took forever, and of course we were standing out in the hot sun. I hate this process and it's one of the reasons I don't care to go back until the pandemic is over.

We finally got our food and sat down. Got our drinks and I felt like I was at a bar...the CM doing drinks kept getting people on the other side and completely ignored me for a bit. Finally got his attention and got my water.

Up next: Wrapping up

 

[sheriffwoody]

October 29 (continued)

I'm cloudy about what we did next, but at some point we'd gotten in a virtual queue for Nomad Lounge. We got called and headed over there. I was SO IRRITATED they put us at the bar when there were tables outside. I definitely let it get to me and ended the trip on a sour note, but I know I was just being a baby.




After this we were headed out. I made a few pin trades while we were there, by the way. AK was the only place I saw multiple pin boards out.




Back at the resort. Headed to the lobby to get our bags.

We had some time to kill, so I got another coffee (can't remember what I got!) and this pumpkin mousse thing




Our ME bus arrived a few minutes early and we hopped on. We were the last stop, so we headed straight to the airport.

When we got to the airport, we had over 2 hours to kill, so we wandered a bit and say at that bar for a while. Cask and Larder? I think that's what it's called. I got some fried green tomatoes...it was too much, I did not need more food But they were good.



And that's the end!

Thanks for following along!! I hope it's been helpful and fun despite me being pretty clear that I don't like Pandemic Disney. Maybe I'm a pessimist, but it took some effort to enjoy anything knowing how many people were suffering. I am pretty good at compartmentalizing, so I still managed to have fun, but overall there was just a cloud over everything (if that makes ANY sense).

I guess I'll end on that. Happy new year, everyone! Hope you're all staying safe and finding peace in your lives!

 

[Tuvalu]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Swissmiss]

Thanks for taking the time to share with us! Happy and healthy 2021 to you and your family.

 

[Kiwiduck]

October 29 (departure day)

I don't remember exactly when, but sometime after our Epcot day, we decided we didn't need a second Epcot day. So we switched our departure day to Animal Kingdom. I think we did it on the day we went to Magic Kingdom! We both felt really good about the decision, especially since AK opened a couple hours earlier than Epcot anyway!

We got up pretty early and got ready. We'd mostly packed the night before, so made good time. We headed downstairs around 8:30.



We left our checked bag and two carryon bags with Bell Services (really miss that airline bag check!!) and headed to the bus stop. I don't remember if the bus was there or got there shortly after we did, but we didn't wait long! We were here within like 15 minutes.




Neither of us are nuts over Flight of Passage, so we decided to head to the back of the park to ride the safari.






When we got in line, the park wasn't officially open so we didn't move much for a little bit. We ended up waiting about 20 minutes. Not too bad. I assume most of the rides have longer waits first thing since they have been opening the parks earlier to space people out. I'm sure FoP was much longer!




I hate the back...oh well. No one breathing who-knows-what on my back at least. Here are some bad photos of the safari since I'm too lazy to bring a long lens to the parks these days.









Have we figured out what this building is?

Up next: more AK

I believe this new building is for a new goat exhibit.

 

[MinnieM123]

I love the ("hand") ears you wore in AK!!

As usual, you took some great photos. Regarding your (back seat in vehicle) photos during the safari, you indicated you'd get much better shots with a long lens. I had to chuckle over that, only because your photos were STILL waaaayy better than anything I've ever taken. You see, a long lens is only part of the issue; you just possess the innate ability to capture interesting images, either with. or without. a fancy lens attachment.

By the way, thanks for the hotel photos as well. I've never been to the new Riviera hotel, so it was fun to see all the details.

Thanks for another great TR. I'm sure I left out many other points here, but I enjoyed it all.

 

[RememberWhen]

Thanks for sharing! We’re all hoping things get better and safe quickly so we can go “home.” Our next trip is planned for October, and while I’m not expecting it to be “normal,” I’m hoping it will be more normal. Happy new year!