Trip Report Cosmos Rewind: A Quick F&G Festival Trip Redo

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:

Time to pack some snacks and make some tracks!

 

[radiorae]

Thursday, March 20th

I had to work a half day Thursday, but my flight wasn't until 3:30 so I was good on time. The airport isn't too far from me, but getting to the actual gate requires approximately 6 buses, a train, 3 moving walkways, and a razor scooter so I always give myself extra time.

The flight was pretty uneventful, and soon enough we were landing in Orlando! I had to triple check my area to make sure I didn't forget anything while leaving the plane; this was my first time going carry-on only and I was so afraid of forgetting it in the overhead bin since I never put anything up there. Luggage obtained, I set off. On the way, I saw this cool thing:

My mom's a librarian so the book cart immediately caught my eye. I didn't have any books to leave behind, but I thought it was a cool idea.

Soon I was on the Buddy-Mobile (Dwyorail? BuddyBus? We'll workshop it.) I could already tell it was warmer, but it looked soooo dreary.

I got a text from my mom; she had just landed as well. I had booked us both Mears Connect, but I knew it was going to be tricky, as my mom was getting into Terminal C and I was flying into Terminal A/B. There's an airport shuttle that runs between the two but I didn't want to take a shuttle just to take another shuttle. So I rolled the dice and hoped my Mears bus would scoop her up when it stopped at C before heading to Disney. Worst case scenario, I reasoned, I'd meet her at the resort. Plan made, I checked into Mears and hopped aboard -- and got a cruise bus!

I only had to wait a few minutes before we were heading over to Terminal C. Would my mom make it to the bus?!

Nope! Something something best laid plans something something...

Not a huge deal though -- my mom hopped on the next one. Meanwhile, our driver announced we'd be making 5 stops -- Yacht Club, Coronado, Sports, Music, then Movies. I joked to my mom that she'd likely make it to the hotel before me.

Somewhere between MCO and WDW it started raining, but nothing too bad. It wasn't long before I was through the Mickey gates and rolling past the backside of Galaxy's Edge -- or as I like to call this particular view, Butt-tu.

Many silly bus cartoons later, I finally arrived at All-Star Music. And guess who pulled up right behind my bus...

Perfect timing!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

F&G is on my bucket list! Happy to read about this year’s festival!

Also -

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures.

 

[mpaulam]

I’m in for the fun!

 

[radiorae]

F&G is on my bucket list! Happy to read about this year’s festival!

Also -

I hope you get to see it one day, especially if you like gardening. It’s such a pretty time of year with all the flowers, and the temperature isn’t “surface of the sun” levels yet.

 

[radiorae]

Thursday, March 20th
All-Star Music & Disney Springs

We stayed at All-Star Music. I don't have any DVC membership or AP discounts, and I can't justify the rack rate for a lot of the resorts, so I'm more of a Value girlie lol I do think the All-Stars get a bad rap for being tacky, but I recognize everyone's taste is different. I will say, if you're looking for the least tacky, Music is your way to go. I have pictures later, but the landscaping just felt more full and there were nice pockets of quiet area to relax in.

NOW LOOK AT THESE GIANT TACKY MARACAS THAT DEFEAT MY POINT

We were staying right up front in the Calypso area! If you're thinking of staying at All-Star Music, definitely consider a Preferred Room as the resort is laid out differently than the other All-Stars. At Movies and Sports you never have to walk past more than one building to get to yours, regardless of room type. At Music, you have to walk in a straight line past both preferred buildings before getting to the standard buildings. And if you're in the Country Fair section, you have to walk past both preferred buildings AND all the way around the second pool, which might as well be another building's length of walk. It's not a huge deal, but as we know every foot can feel like a mile at the end of the night.

Here's an obligatory picture of our room that has been posted a thousand times before!

We took some time to unpack our things, and then it was off to Disney Springs for dinner!

Do you guys ever pay attention to the different music on the buses? I wonder sometimes if the driver's get tired of the same five songs on loop, or if they have a favorite resort bus soundtrack. I don't know if I have a favorite, but I do know my LEAST favorite is All-Star Sports. It's a full 30 min loop of bombastic cymbal crashing and high energy band music, which is great when you're in the mood, but a little jarring first thing in the morning, or last thing at night when you're dead tired-- you know, the times when you're most likely riding the bus

Disney Springs was packed and COLD. There was a completely unnecessary breeze rolling through making it about 10 degrees cooler than it would have been otherwise. We didn't have any reservations and it was already getting close to 8:30 so we hopped place to place to try and find food. Gideons? Line closed for the day. Morimoto Asia Street Food? Closing early because they were sold out. Swirls on the Water? Out of the flavor my mom wanted. In the end, we went with Ol' Faithful...

The Earl did not disappoint. DO YOU SEE THAT CHEESE PULL??? *chef's kiss*

Now that we were no longer starving, we bounced into a couple shops before closing time. My mom got some cute mini cards from LovePop -- they sell these tiny packs of 3 for $15 in different themes; she likes to get them for coworker birthdays or "thinking of you" type gifts. We also stopped in Uniqlo -- I like the designs but their clothes never fit me right. My mom did score this super cute mickey shirt -- it's dark blue with coral on the pocket, and on the back is a mickey head made out of moon jellies!

We wandered over to World of Disney next but didn't go in. I noticed this cool detail on the columns I never noticed before --

We went next door to get some treats from Amorette's since Gideons was a bust. I got the Mini Easter Croquembouche.

I also waved to Shelly while I was in line.

Treats secured we headed back to the room to get some sleep; it was going to be an early morning tomorrow!