Trip Report Tu in ‘25

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Tu in ‘25

These lyrics came to mind when I thought about my trip reporting. (I also thought, Here we go AGAIN but the above sounds much more poignant.) It’s now that time of year when my Disney trips are frequent. And this Disney Senior loves sharing her visits with y’all because your engagement makes it fun!

Yes, there will be stuff that’s the same. Yes, there will be surprises (too soon for the reveals). And yes, there will be sun rises!

Spring break countdown is at 4 days.

Since this intro needs a picture, here are Tu.

 

[93boomer]

I had what I thought would be a fun idea. We could ride the Skyliner from Epcot to DHS and catch the WL bus there, rather than having to walk all the way back through Epcot and then to the new bus gate. The WL gate at DHS is very close to the Skyliner (thus saving our tired feet some steps).

We boarded at twilight for what we assumed would be a picturesque flight.

View attachment 882617

And it was pretty - thanks to lightning. Halfway to Riviera there was thunder, but no rain. We were forced to disembark at the Riviera and were told, “buses for ALL stops will be there.” There was no further information from the cast members (such as how to find the bus station) so we followed the crowd.

Having stayed at Riviera, we did know the way to the buses, but what about guests who did not? It truly was a “we don’t care, fend for yourselves” situation. As expected, the bus station was chaos - there were no CMs to assist and folks trying to get to Caribbean Beach, Pop and Art of Animation did not know which line to stand in, since there was not a designated “Skyliner Resorts” spot. Buses to MK and Epcot arrived and both filled quickly, but no DHS bus. We waited…and waited…and I became incredibly frustrated, wondering why the Skyliner hadn’t closed earlier with lightning nearby. We never would have boarded had we known there was a good chance it would shut down!

Woody went into “solve the problem with money” mode. He motioned for me to follow him to the front of the resort and ordered a Lyft.

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It was money well spent. We were back at the Lodge in fifteen minutes.

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Way to go Woody!!

 

[lindawdw]

I adored WOM at Epcot and like you, always wanted to ride multiple times while in the park! It was a sad day when they closed it down. I agree with you on the "cookie" cake! The pool picture looks like it was a perfect time spent enjoying the water and low crowds! Great job on acquiring three great MP LL's at MK!!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Wednesday, con’t

LL#7

A better picture of Bill with the Native Americans.

After scanning into Haunted Mansion earlier I was able to score a LL for Pirates. We hustled there next.

Party of 2? Back of the boat. 99.5% of the time.

Parties of 2 don’t fare much better at our final LL(#9) of the day.

Woody and I were crammed into the boat next to the engine. This happens frequently to us. There are grab bars on either side and it is a tight squeeze. It’s also a very warm spot to sit.

Between the foreign language guests constantly chatting around us, the noise of the engine and a quiet mic (or broken speaker) we could not hear Skipper Jason AT ALL. It was by far the worst Jungle Cruise ride I’ve ever had.

I did speak to a JC manager at the exit about the engine noise and mic/speaker issues. She apologized and immediately offered us a re-ride but I explained I was more concerned about other guests having the same experience in that boat. If you can’t hear the commentary/jokes, what’s the point?

She radioed to the load CMs to withhold boarding guests into that boat until the sound could be checked. Again she offered us a re-ride and I declined for a second time, because Woody and I had a place to be.

 

[Swissmiss]

Party of 2? Back of the boat. 99.5% of the time.

The boats must be slightly different shapes between WDW and DLP - I think we are often in the front when it is just two of us.

 

[Tuvalu]

The boats must be slightly different shapes between WDW and DLP - I think we are often in the front when it is just two of us

 

[Tuvalu]

Wednesday, con’t

I was very interested in viewing Starlight, MK’s first nighttime light parade in 9 years, after loving Paint the Night at Disneyland last month. My favorite light parade of the three I have seen (Main Street Electrical Parade, SpectroMagic and PTN) is by far SpectroMagic. I loved everything about that parade and miss it so much!

I had kept myself from all Starlight spoilers (including internet commentary ) and I apologize in advance for the pictures in the next two posts for those also avoiding spoilers. Just keep on scrolling past!

I wanted to watch from Town Square so that we could quickly exit the park once the parade had passed by. Woody and I staked our spot in front of City Hall 45 minutes prior to 9 pm start time. At 8:50 pm there was a park-wide announcement that the entire parade route was at capacity, and guests wishing to watch the parade should see the second performance at 11 pm.

A societal change since we last viewed a light parade at MK is the Cast Members attempt to rile up the pre-parade crowd to CHEER. Cheer for what? Are we watching a parade competition? CMs want us to yell and clap for something we haven’t seen yet?

Sigh.

Trying to manipulate excitement is just sad, in my opinion. And the fact that most people were ignoring the CMs instructions to cheer made it sadder still.

Finally it was showtime. In a nod to Spectro, the Blue Fairy led the way….

….followed by Wish and whatever these performers are?

These were the only street performers (non-float) that we saw. Apparently there is a second set of street performers in the parade that were not present tonight (I read that online afterwards.) Paint the Night street performers are FAR superior in number, props and talent!

I think the Encanto float is very pretty.

The Prince and Princess float is very long and changes colors along the way.

 

[Tuvalu]

The float I liked best is Coco. Pepita actually flies, which is cool!

Make way!

The Peter Pan float was uninspiring and dark. I read later that lighting and special effects were broken in the performance we watched.

The train carrying classic characters is the finale. It also changes colors.

Technically this is the last float. Because it makes sense to have the parade name at its end.

“How long is the parade?” Woody had asked me as we waited for Starlight to start. I told him I had no idea.

When the name banner float passed, he looked at his watch and said, “Eleven minutes.”

Yes, at 11 minutes Starlight is short when compared with 17 minutes for Paint the Night and 20 minutes for SpectroMagic and Main Street Electrical Parade. But crowds (and necessary crowd control measures) have greatly changed in the past decade so I understand the need to truncate.

The light technology is Spectro-esque while the music (when we could hear it) leans toward MSEP. The parade is fine for what it is (and will delight families who have limited or no experience with Disney light parades) but it won’t be a must-do for us on future trips.

 

[Tuvalu]

Later Woody and I learned that we lucked out in seeing Starlight tonight. With MNSSHP on three of our seven WL nights and heavy rain canceling the 9 pm Starlight performance on three other nights, it had been our only opportunity to see the parade. (The was no way I was leaving that PIT TPV room our first night! )

We took the ferry to WL. Bye, MK!

We caught the Electrical Water Pageant while onboard. The dragon float at the beginning was missing.

Woody and I grabbed some mini cupcakes from the dessert spread in the lounge and enjoyed them during Happily Ever After.

 

[Tuvalu]

Thursday, August 21

I slept in until 7:15 - late for me! Woody and I had a leisurely breakfast and then I headed for the pool where we would spent the next 5 hours lounging, reading and enjoying the water.

When I first arrived it was very quiet, since there were few people and the resort music had not yet begun to play.

There was a boy about six years old in the shallow end of the pool playing with a rubber ducky. He began squeezing it over and over, making it squeak.

This quickly annoyed his slightly older sister who retorted: “STOP squeaking the duck! This is the QUIET pool!”

The exchange made me chuckle inside.

Woody joined me shortly thereafter. He was my cabana boy for the day, retrieving lunch from Roaring Fork and keeping my refillable mug full.

Just another day for me in Paradise!

 

[luvinthemajik]

Thursday, August 21

I slept in until 7:15 - late for me! Woody and I had a leisurely breakfast and then I headed for the pool where we would spent the next 5 hours lounging, reading and enjoying the water.

View attachment 884033

When I first arrived it was very quiet, since there were few people and the resort music had not yet begun to play.

There was a boy about six years old in the shallow end of the pool playing with a rubber ducky. He began squeezing it over and over, making it squeak.

This quickly annoyed his slightly older sister who retorted: “STOP squeaking the duck! This is the QUIET pool!”

The exchange made me chuckle inside.

View attachment 884032

Woody joined me shortly thereafter. He was my cabana boy for the day, retrieving lunch from Roaring Fork and keeping my refillable mug full.

View attachment 884034

Just another day for me in Paradise!

Well done!! 5 hours,I thought surely you'd say the lifeguards blew a whistle, or clouds ominously appeared from nowhere, happy for your lovely time at ' the quiet, except for a rubber ducky squeaking,pool".

 

[lindawdw]

It sounds like you accomplished a lot at MK with your MP LL's although the JC experience was certainly lacking! We've had the same seat many times and it is almost impossible to hear the Skipper's jokes. I loved your commentary on the Starlight Parade which I have to catch for the first time during our October trip! Seeing your relaxing pool pictures made me wish we were sitting right next to you both again!

 

[Tuvalu]

Thursday, con’t

None of you should be surprised that Animal Kingdom was not in our plans this week. It’s the last place Woody wants to be in August.

Disney released a new Passholder magnet featuring Crush. And despite Crush having his attraction in Epcot - where AP magnets are typically distributed - this magnet could only be picked up at AK.

Em has a nice collection of AP magnets on her fridge. She loves Crush. She is taking care of our cats this week.

Well, you do the math.

I told Woody that since we planned on driving to dinner, we could detour to AK first and run in to pick up our two magnets. He loves making Em happy so he willingly agreed to the stop.

However that was before the pop-up thunderstorm which began after we’d parked in the AK lot and were walking towards the entrance. Our umbrellas (which we had to close going through security) did not do well with the sideways rain. We took shelter by the restrooms outside the tapstiles. Though the rain isn’t visible in the next two pics, the mass exodus from the park is my evidence!

Ten minutes passed before the rain lessened (but the big red blobs on the radar did not look promising!) We used the opportunity to tap into the park and dash to Discovery Trading Company, hoping to make it back to our car before the next round of storms.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. Magnets in hand, we turned to see this….

While there was blue sky beyond the Tree of Life, it was POURING where we were - sheltered outside the exit door of Discovery Trading Company.

Our current situation did not make AK any more favorable to us.

The minutes ticked by as the rain intensity stayed steady. We finally decided we had to power through the yuck so we wouldn’t miss our ADR. It was a long, wet walk to our vehicle.

Em was happy (and appreciative!) when I texted her this:

Poor visibility made driving to dinner a little scary!

 

[Tuvalu]

By the time we arrived at Old Key West the rain was over.

Though I worried we might be late we were right on time. And the restaurant had plenty of open tables so we would have been accommodated had we been tardy.

Our server brought bread to our table right away. We must have looked hungry, haha.

I was a tad crispy after my day at the pool and a piña colada was a wonderful antidote.

Speaking of crispy, Woody had requested Olivia’s for their famous Southernmost Buttermilk Chicken. (I ordered the same.)

The food was good as always. Our server was not as attentive as he should have been, considering he only had two tables.

We were able to make it back home before the next thunderstorm.

Dessert….

….followed by fireworks.

 

[RememberWhen]

Em’s a lucky gal!

 

[lindawdw]

I love the Crush magnet and you're great parents for enduring the rainstorms in order to get it for Em! We haven't eaten at Olivia's in a few years since they changed their menu but I think we'll have to visit it in 2026!

 

[Tuvalu]

Friday, August 22

Today did not work out exactly as planned, but we made lemonade from the lemons. After a nice breakfast we were on the DHS bus at 8 am. I wanted to take advantage of early entry since I did not fork overfor LLMP (which I sometimes do for this park.)

I wanted to hit RnRC first for Woody, but a CM at the intersection of Sunset Blvd. said the coaster was down. I was thankful we didn’t have to walk the length of Sunset to discover that for ourselves, since early entry time is at a premium. I suggested we pivot to Slinky Dog. While walking, an older CM stopped Woody to comment on his Great Movie Ride tee. The CM was very chatty and we did not want to be rude, so we were delayed getting to the line for Slinky.

Yeah it was already pretty far back but we got in line anyway, figuring it would move steadily before LL peeps arrived. We were in constant motion up to the right turn by the umbrellas, where I watched a mother and her preteen daughter - both wearing First Visit buttons - intentionally cut the line. Way to role model there, Mom.

The wait was longer than I hoped it would be, clocking in at 45 minutes. I did request the front so our ride was really fun!

 

[Tuvalu]

Woody in his retro shirt joining the queue for its replacement.

Just a ten minute wait!

So long, Goofy!

 

[Tuvalu]

Friday, con’t

Woody had not seen either of the new shows. Villains was a must for me and I knew he would enjoy it more than Little Mermaid. We decided to catch the first show of the day, but we had a little time to kill so we browsed the stores on Hollywood and Sunset.

RnRC had yet to open, and Woody would not get his ride this trip.

The Villains courtyard was roped off when we got there, so we joined about a dozen others waiting for the rope to drop!

When it did - about 15 minutes prior to showtime - we were some of the first in line.

 

[Tuvalu]

We got good seats.

Cruella was my favorite when I saw the show in June. This Cruella did not capture me the same way.

On the other hand, Captain Hook was fantastic!

I don’t understand the love for Maleficient. She was fine in both shows I have seen, but not worthy of winning the title like she did both times. I think the show is rigged!

Woody thought the show was very well done and reminded him of the Studios’ shows back in the day. He said it was fun and would definitely see it again.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Thursday, con’t

None of you should be surprised that Animal Kingdom was not in our plans this week. It’s the last place Woody wants to be in August.

Disney released a new Passholder magnet featuring Crush. And despite Crush having his attraction in Epcot - where AP magnets are typically distributed - this magnet could only be picked up at AK.

Em has a nice collection of AP magnets on her fridge. She loves Crush. She is taking care of our cats this week.

Well, you do the math.

I told Woody that since we planned on driving to dinner, we could detour to AK first and run in to pick up our two magnets. He loves making Em happy so he willingly agreed to the stop.

However that was before the pop-up thunderstorm which began after we’d parked in the AK lot and were walking towards the entrance. Our umbrellas (which we had to close going through security) did not do well with the sideways rain. We took shelter by the restrooms outside the tapstiles. Though the rain isn’t visible in the next two pics, the mass exodus from the park is my evidence!

View attachment 884133

View attachment 884134

Ten minutes passed before the rain lessened (but the big red blobs on the radar did not look promising!) We used the opportunity to tap into the park and dash to Discovery Trading Company, hoping to make it back to our car before the next round of storms.

View attachment 884135

View attachment 884136

Yeah, that didn’t happen. Magnets in hand, we turned to see this….

View attachment 884137

View attachment 884138
While there was blue sky beyond the Tree of Life, it was POURING where we were - sheltered outside the exit door of Discovery Trading Company.

Our current situation did not make AK any more favorable to us.

The minutes ticked by as the rain intensity stayed steady. We finally decided we had to power through the yuck so we wouldn’t miss our ADR. It was a long, wet walk to our vehicle.

Just when I think AK has started to warm your heart....Back to square one.