Trip Report Sorta, kinda live report. Yahooo!! we're retired celebration.

lol, my goal was to actually begin this trip report as a live and in living color report but well good intentions fell by the way side.
This is a weird trip for me, first it's 2 week long, I've never stayed at the mouse world that long. The reason is I've got 3 different groups coming in to hang with me at the world.

Arrival day: friday September 3rd

On with the celebration. After 30 years in Research with various Chemical and Petroleum companies, I've decided to hang up the old safety googles and white lab coat. While I have not loved every day on the job, I have been blessed to work with some really great people. I will miss many of them but it was time. Companies change and for 30 years I was doing a 48 mile commute each way. lol, what you do at 20 is not so much fun at 60. :p what better way to celebrate but with a trip to the mouse world.

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The word got out that I was planning a retirement trip and everyone and their mother wanted to come. Instead of doing one big bash with a bunch of folks, decided to go with a longer trip with different folks coming on different days. Up first was my girlfriend Kelley. now she too retired this year and this is her first trip to Disney. hummm this should be interesting. she joined me for 4 nights/ 5 days. I always, always have apprehensions when going with a newbie. first I never know if the person shares the same "enthusiasm" for wdw that I do. Disney is my happy place but I realize some people just aren't into it. Kelley though said she wanted to go since I always talk about how great a place it is.

We had an early flight out of Philadelphia (as in 6:45 am,) and although every thing was easy peasy, never again will I travel that early. I'm simply not built for getting up to be some where at 4:45 am, flight was rather routine, took off on time and by 9:30 wheels were touching down in mco . picked up the rental car without any problems and we were on our way.

First up: Animal kingdom lodge. this is one of my favorite resorts. I've said this before but this is bold, in your face theming. My jaw drops whenever I walk into the lobby. We stayed in a 1 bedroom savannah view villa

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We decided to skip the parks on our first day, between the very long morning and the surface of the sun temperatures. I also knew our room would not be ready so early in the afternoon so we decided previously to chill at Disney springs. I made an early dinner/ more like a late lunch reservation at City works.

Next up: let the fun begin..... Animal kingdom
 
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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Happy retirement!! I don't know how anyone does live TRs, though I don't use my phone for this website, so doing a live trip would be rather difficult. But thank you for sharing after the fact...some of us still aren't allowed into the US, so we have to live vicariously!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Congrats on your retirement!!!
I too retired this past year, was an Internist for 30 years, and literally every morning I am so grateful to not have to be somewhere!
Occasionally on a nasty rainy or snowy day I send a picture of my Mickey mug full of coffee with myself still in bed to my partners to just aggravate the you know what out of them!! 🤣 🤣 🤣
Very excited to follow along on your retirement trip!
 

eliza61nyc

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2: Animal Kingdom or "lions, Tigers and cleanup on FOP

First, thanks all for the warm wishes on my retirement 😀 funny some times I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

So I chose Animal kingdom for our first park, with a bit of trepidation for some reason it always feels 10° hotter than the rest of the world and the temperature is already set at "Hell". Not sure how great of a choice that is for a first timer. I'm happy to say the old gal was her usual impressive, immersive self. First up pandora land. oh-oh Kelley has never seen or even heard of this movie, lol and truthfully explaining the plot sounds weird even to me...

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kelley
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unbeknownst to me Kelley has also never done a theme park type virtual ride soooo when flight of passage started, she tried to stand up and began screaming which in turn scared the poor kid next to her who immediately started screaming also and then scared his little sister. note to self: all first timers must start with "its tough to be a bug" in order to gauge their reaction. 😲
at the end of the ride I quickly hustled her out (keep walking, don't look back) before the mom lady could find us.

Needless to say we skipped Expedition Everest. We did manage Dinosaurs, it's tough to be a bug, kilomanjaro and kali river. We had lunch at Pizzafari. in a word, skip it at all cost, lol.

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It's really wet bread disguising itself with tomato sauce. lol, not the first time I've eaten bad pizz.
All and all we had a wonderful time, Animal kingdom is a wonderful park. I know many say it's a 1/2 day park but after catching festival of the line king, doing the rides and lunch we were pretty much wiped out.

Now onto a couple of criticism, my heart is pretty much mickey shaped so I love the mouse world and maybe it's because it's not operating at full strength yet but have to give them 10 wacks with a wet pixie stick for....
No tram to the parking lot?? after a long hot day at the park to then force your guest to march out to their cars is cruel. I hope this isn't some thing permanent.
changes to Kilimanjaro safari. not sure when they stopped with the storyline about poachers but it was fun. Our guide while knowledgeable was dull as tumbleweed. 😁
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Day 2: Animal Kingdom or "lions, Tigers and cleanup on FOP

First, thanks all for the warm wishes on my retirement 😀 funny some times I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

So I chose Animal kingdom for our first park, with a bit of trepidation for some reason it always feels 10° hotter than the rest of the world and the temperature is already set at "Hell". Not sure how great of a choice that is for a first timer. I'm happy to say the old gal was her usual impressive, immersive self. First up pandora land. oh-oh Kelley has never seen or even heard of this movie, lol and truthfully explaining the plot sounds weird even to me...

View attachment 586205

View attachment 586207

kelley
View attachment 586208b

unbeknownst to me Kelley has also never done a theme park type virtual ride soooo when flight of passage started, she tried to stand up and began screaming which in turn scared the poor kid next to her who immediately started screaming also and then scared his little sister. note to self: all first timers must start with "its tough to be a bug" in order to gauge their reaction. 😲
at the end of the ride I quickly hustled her out (keep walking, don't look back) before the mom lady could find us.

Needless to say we skipped Expedition Everest. We did manage Dinosaurs, it's tough to be a bug, kilomanjaro and kali river. We had lunch at Pizzafari. in a word, skip it at all cost, lol.

View attachment 586209

It's really wet bread disguising itself with tomato sauce. lol, not the first time I've eaten bad pizz.
All and all we had a wonderful time, Animal kingdom is a wonderful park. I know many say it's a 1/2 day park but after catching festival of the line king, doing the rides and lunch we were pretty much wiped out.

Now onto a couple of criticism, my heart is pretty much mickey shaped so I love the mouse world and maybe it's because it's not operating at full strength yet but have to give them 10 wacks with a wet pixie stick for....
No tram to the parking lot?? after a long hot day at the park to then force your guest to march out to their cars is cruel. I hope this isn't some thing permanent.
changes to Kilimanjaro safari. not sure when they stopped with the storyline about poachers but it was fun. Our guide while knowledgeable was dull as tumbleweed. 😁
What was it that scared Kelley on FoP? You are pretty well buckled in, right?

I don't ever remember a storyline about poachers on the safari....I've always just had guides who tell you about the animals.
 

eliza61nyc

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What was it that scared Kelley on FoP? You are pretty well buckled in, right?

I don't ever remember a storyline about poachers on the safari....I've always just had guides who tell you about the animals.
I think it was a combo, first time with a virtual reality type ride (this is a women that probably never did a video game) and the ride itself. It was a hoot listening to her holler.

Yep, not sure how long ago but the story line went that you first were on a normal tour then your car was called in to assist the park rangers because poachers were trying to steal a baby elephant
 

eliza61nyc

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Epcot and Hollywood Studios

Apologies for the delay in updating. I was trying to end each day with a little blurb but yeesh wifi in the resorts is S-L-O-W lol or it maybe that there are 60,000 people trying to sign on all at the same time.
Some random thoughts.

LOL, taking a first timer is always a tricky affair especially taking someone that doesn't have any idea of how extensive wdw can be. I think a lot of folks think they are like 6 flags so by day three poor Kelley's energy is lagging but she is a trooper and is truly enjoying herself. luckily I anticipated this and our next day is Epcot and since it doesn't open until 11 we can sleep in a bit and have a nice breakfast.
While we did have a car, I decided to try my "little known secret" Olivia's cafe at OKW and see if I could do a walk up. Jackpot!! after a brief wait (about 20 minutes) they were able to seat us.
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Old key west is a pretty resort and I think the fact that it's not attached to a "park" makes it a little known surprise. probably more popular with the dvc crowd. Breakfast was delicious.

EPCOT
Got to Epcot around noon and it was in full swing. this is my first time during food and wine festival and not sure how I felt about the crowds. I did have to laugh about the number of folks walking around with Beer or other adult beverages. It was 90 degrees and humid, it took all of one second for your beer to become warm and flat.

Also massive amounts of construction going on. walls up around the entire fountain in future world which was a bummer. LOL space ship earth is always a favorite because I get to see myself in all my 1970's glory. Talk about a bad fashion decade. Like many teenagers in NYC I tried to grow a massive afro. lol
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Spaceship Earth and Soarin were massive hits and we opted to skip Test track all together. Unfortunately the cultural exchange folks aren't back yet, I really miss them, they add so much to their respective pavilions.

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Here is my only complaint with Epcot. The interim night time firework show. OMG it's disappointing, especially after the masterpiece that was Illuminations. Here's hoping the new Horizons will take over the mantle.
 
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