Hi
A lot to unpack here
My condolences for your daughter- hopefully you found some of her spirit during the trip
Congratulations on your bday and the engagement and the masters graduation and I am sure I forgot something
Following along
Max
thank you and she will show me her presence later on in the trip
Wed October 12/22 First Park Day – Magic Kingdom
Set alarm for 6:30 as I didn’t want to mess up purchasing Genie + and getting that first ride booked at 7am. I am a planner and have literally been reading trip reports and updating my Disney spreadsheet since our last trip in 2017. I’m not sure how I missed the fact that Genie+ was no longer $15 every day so was shocked when it said $20 (just read that this was announced on our travel day so makes sense now). I had purchased an e-gift card in US funds so that I had almost exactly the right amount for it. I guess my well laid out plans were already being put to the test.
I somehow through all my research also failed to know that this week was Fall Break for a lot of schools and would be quite busy. I believe this is why Genie+ did not work quite as smoothly as it did in all the videos I had watched. I did lose out on a few things by being hesitant or trying to get a better time. So my first Genie pick would be Splash Mountain at 11:30.
This would be L’s first time to Disney and although he was excited, he only operates on 3 speeds – slow, stop and reverse. This would be the one downfall to staying offsite. We couldn’t just leave him behind as we were driving and as a mother I couldn’t just make him find his own way. We didn’t make it into our first line until 10am. Since we were technically on this trip to celebrate my 50th b-day, I figured this pic was appropriate.
Our first stop was Haunted Mansion with a posted wait time of 45 min. Well lo and behold we were on in 20. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. (edit to note this is incorrect as I will mention later)
Next we would mozy on to Jungle Cruise with a posted wait time of 70 min. This was my first Genie oops of the trip. At 7am I had a time for JC (not an early time) and tried for something better and it just kept getting worse and worse so I panicked and took Splash. We would pay for that choice. It was 10:40 so we figured we had plenty of time to get to our Genie slot – once again oh how wrong. We seriously contemplated bailing at one point but we had been in line for so long. We did get a really good Skipper (Cody??) which made for an enjoyable ride through the Jungle but it ended up taking 105 minutes to board and we decided to just plead our case at Splash. I think we must have made it within our 5 minute grace period as they didn’t have to do anything and Mickey lit up all green for us on our first try – phew.
I was excited to ride Splash Mountain as I was concerned it might get shut down prior to our trip. It was a hot day so most of us decided to go sans Poncho and in the end we really didn’t get very wet.
I decided I wanted to try the Spring Roll cart that I had been reading about. They were a delicious snack but others decided they wanted something bigger so off to Casey’s Corner. I mobile ordered for L while S & D got in line as they didn’t buy any gift cards. Everything I had read said that mobile ordering was so much faster so I had encouraged everyone to get gift cards to save the extra fees on our credit cards since we aren’t from the US (but they didn’t listen). Well they stood in line and managed to get their food before we did. Mobile ordering was something that just wouldn’t go smoothly for me this trip.
I believe at this point we made our way to Thunder Mountain for our next LL. I have the oldest phone so had hoped everyone else would take more pics which I don’t think they did and it is like pulling teeth to get them to send me the ones they did take – live and learn I suppose. S & D did not really want to do It’s a Small World but the wait time was posted at 35 minutes and it was L’s first trip so wanted to let him experience stuff even if it wasn’t at the top of our list. We only waited 20 minutes. Next we paid Ariel a visit
Got stuck so this was our view:
Space Mountain is not a favorite of mine but vowed to do it once so L could experience it for himself. I think we got the smoother side as it wasn’t quite as bad as I remember but still not a fan.
Buzz was our next LL. I will not be getting any shooting badges as I am no Galactic Hero. I didn’t take any photographic evidence as I got the worst score. We were all starting to get hungry so grabbed a quick bite next to the Speedway which we were planning on riding (none of us have ever done it). I tried but failed to get a LL although I thought I had but turns out it was for something else we didn’t want.
Looking at my notes we went to Haunted Mansion for a LL at 8:00. I don’t remember riding it twice so this is where my edit comes in. I decided not to drink coffee on this trip as it sometimes makes my stomach upset, especially if I’m not eating enough but maybe this was affecting my brain. I had written down that we rode Haunted Mansion first thing but no we didn’t – it was Pirates of the Caribbean. Doh.
I have no notes after that but I know we watched the fireworks from outside of Thunder Mountain so that must be what we did next.
As we watched the fireworks we could see the lightning and it appeared as though a storm was quickly headed our way. We thought about seeking shelter but figured maybe we could beat it – nope. Also made a poor choice not to put on a poncho when the rain starting lightly falling. We got soaked and it was no longer a warm rain. That was a long wait for the ferry and a wet car ride home but we somewhat successfully survived our first park day. What adventures shall we get into tomorrow.
Thurs. Park day 2 – Epcot
We did not buy Genie+ for this day which I would live to regret but again – live and learn. No sleeping in for this gal though as I was determined to get a Virtual queue for Guardians. I must have done something right as I managed to snag group 50. As I really didn’t know what time we would get called at and knew we wouldn’t get to the Park early (remember slow, stop and reverse), we decided to not try and get to Frozen or Remy’s upon our arrival.
We headed for Soarin but Turtle Crush was a 5 minute wait so knocked that out quickly. Soarin was a 45 minute wait but on top of the list so “gladly” waited. Now – it was time for Guardians! I was super excited but also super nervous after reading so many horror stories of people that normally don’t get sick on rides having it ruin their day. Man oh man, BEST RIDE EVER!!!! We didn’t try to purchase an ILL as we didn’t know if we would like it and of course they were sold out by this point. I was so darn giddy that I totally didn’t even notice what song we got.
Even after loving Guardians I wasn’t brave enough to try Mission Space Orange. D & L are fearless so we sent them off while myself and S did Green. It really is rather boring so one of these days I will have to try Orange.
Test Track was next at the top of our list but it had a posted wait time of 105 minutes. We tried our luck in the single rider line and were happily surprised when we only waited 20 minutes.
I had wanted to do Frozen as none of us had ever done it but the wait was really long and also wanted to do Remy’s as that was new for us as well. Settled for an Olaf statue pic
This is when I began to rethink not buying Genie and made the decision that we would buy it on all of our remaining Disney days. It was a very, long and hot 100 minute wait. Should have bought something cold for the line but again – live and learn.
We sauntered off to Gran Fiesta which none of us had done before and then ended our night with a trip to the future on Spaceship Earth. The app actually said the ride was down but clearly not and even the cast members were confused.
We called it a day and headed off to Cheesecake Factory for supper.
Friday, Day 3 – Hollywood Studios
Up early again and managed to snag Slinky Dog but not till 1:25.
(I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong at this point as it won't let me add any more pictures). I had written up the ending with pictures so I will revise (maybe try deleting a few earlier pics) and finish up just to say I completed it...
Started our day at Tower of Terror. S does not like this ride so she sat out and watched all of our bags. Posted wait was 45 but we were on in 25. Rock n Roller coaster is/was one of my favorite rides (I think Guardians has taken over that spot) but it was down. We couldn’t book anything else yet and the only thing with a short wait time was Star Tours. It was posted at 25 min but only took 10.
I had read that you should wait to do Mickey and Minnie’s railway until the end of the night but everything had such long waits that we decided to get in line. This felt like one of our hottest days and the wait was posted at 80 min. Well it ended up being almost 120.
We sat down while we decided where to go for lunch and K let me know that she was with us. I looked down and there was a lone dime on the ground. This may not mean anything to most but it meant the world to me. I have a jar at home for this very reason but sadly it fell out of my backpack at some point.
We really needed to get out of the heat so we went to ABC Commissary. Cast member tried to get us to mobile order as again – said it was so much faster. Well I tried and tried but the app wouldn’t recognize my gift card as valid so after wasting a lot of time trying we ended up just waiting in line. She must have felt bad for us as she pixie dusted us with a couple of cupcakes. Not really what I needed at that point but the thought was nice.
It was time to go visit Woody and friends. We had Slinky Dog for 1:25 and I had managed to get Toy Story Mania for 1:45.
I wasn’t able to get any good Genie times and even Swirling Saucers had a long wait time. If I recall correctly RnR was finally up and running so we headed that way with a frozen lemonade for the journey. On our last trip we rode it 7x in one day and we had hoped to beat that record but between it being down on both days we were there and the wait times that would not be achievable. We did ride it 3x that day but the waits weren’t short. Imagine my surprise when I saw this poster – as you can imagine it is not often I see my name on anything (my name is Morag and the poster in RnR queue was for Morag live - a night in Canada). Kind of creepy since I didn't even scan into the ride - someone is watching!!! While waiting in line I refreshed my app over and over and over and over – you get the idea and voila, managed to get ToT for 6:15.
Our last stop of the night would be Galaxy’s Edge which was very confusing when entering for the first time when it is dark. We did Smuggler’s Run where a very nice couple traded spots to allow S & D to be pilots and myself and L were gunners. Next we were off to the coveted Rise of the Resistance. This was my next oops of the trip as I was actually thrown a time to purchase and hesitated and someone else swooped in and grabbed it. In the end it worked out as the time had been for 8pm and that is around when we got in line. We had to wait an hour but figured that wasn’t horrible considering at one point in our trip the wait showed as 420 min (is that even real?).
Saturday October 15 – rest day
I couldn’t believe how sore and tired we all were after only 3 park days. It sucks not knowing if/when we will ever come back so really trying to cram in as much as possible. We sat around the house, tried to nap (unsuccessfully) and then went to play a round of mini-golf. S got two holes in one, D held an alligator and L fed them. We bought steak and other goodies to enjoy the evening at the house.
Sunday Park Day 4 – Animal Kingdom
S was feeling a little sluggish this morning so we left her at home to sleep in. This was the first day that I truly felt Genie was working the way I had expected. I managed to get a safari for 8:35 to see the animals before they retreated from the heat. On the car ride in, I purchased FoP so things were going well today. Knocked off Dinosaur and Tough to be a Bug all with Genie and got Expedition Everest for 12:20. S had said she was ready to be picked up so we went and grabbed her and stopped at Subway for something other than chicken nuggets and fries J
Rode Everest and then had an LL for Lion King – glad to see the tumble monkeys are back. Scored Kali for 2:30 and managed to escape only slightly damp.
We had nothing else we really wanted to do until FoP at 6:30 so we decided to ride Everest again. S was content to just sit and watch bags so the rest of us tried to conquer it as many times as we could. If we couldn’t break our RnR record then we would try to set a different one. We managed to ride it 9x in a row for a total of 10x in one day. That was about as much as my old body could take and felt bad for leaving S by herself any longer.
We did FoP which was incredible and then our last LL for Nav’vi. Felt like a really successful day and ended the night with supper at the Macaroni Grill – highly recommend for those staying offsite – so yummy
Skip to Tuesday Oct 18th – Hollywood Studios
I don’t have a lot of notes for today but know that at 7am I got Slinky again but not till 1:05. Ah now I remember. I had decided I wanted to rest this morning so texted everyone and they all decided to stay home. We laid around the house for the morning and then made our way to the park at lunchtime. We spent some time in Toy Story Land and then ventured in to Galaxy’s Edge. L is a Star Wars fan and didn’t have much time to look around our first day. We rode Smuggler’s Run a few times and then we decided to leave L there to explore on his own.
I know at some point we did Star Tours and I was/am?? a rebel spy!
We walked over to ToT and the wait was high but as we were standing around contemplating what to do we noticed that people were frantically making their way over to RnR which had been down all day.
We joined them and headed straight for our awaiting limo and got front row seats. I believe we rode it 3 or 4x this day which meant 6 or 7 total for the trip which would have to suffice. I would like to note that not once did I get a good song. They kept playing the same song which I didn’t even recognize. Have they completely changed the soundtrack for this ride? I had not managed to get an LL for ToT today but through all of my refreshing had gotten one for RnR so L was summoned to join us for a few rides. L had been talked out of buying a light saber (or so I thought) but at the last minute decided he wanted to just buy the hilt thinking he could get the rest online. D was in line for RnR using S’s LL and it broke down again so sent Logan off to G. Edge while we waited (remember slow, stop and reverse).
Needless to say even with RnR breaking down we all had to wait for L. We made our way over by M & M’s railway and grabbed a seat to wait. L was informed that you can’t buy the shaft part online so he came sauntering back with a full on light saber. It is his money so he can buy whatever he wants but the concern was getting it home. We had purposely only brought carry-ons and a personal item so our fear
was he was going to be forced to then check his bag. I guess on the way home that wouldn’t have been the end of the world but were concerned this was going to be a hassle. He managed to fit the hilt in it’s case (which is quite large) in his carry on and then just carried the blade or shaft or whatever the technical term is.
My body was starting to rebel and I noticed I was getting the infamous Disney Rash. I had just read how it ruined someone’s trip so was concerned as this had never happened to me before. I’m glad to say it was contained to my lower legs and really was just ugly more than anything.
Other stuff:
That is it for our Disney parks but we also did 3 days at Universal and 1 at Seaworld.
I know this is a Disney forum so won’t give too much detail. We really do love all the big rides so were excited for this. L had never been on a big coaster before so was anxious to see how he faired. He truly was fearless and did everything. S is not a big thrill ride person so we had someone to watch our bags and not try to squish our stuff into the incredibly small lockers.
Seaworld was a first for all of us and definitely had the lowest crowds. It is much less organized and we were quite surprised when we had to organize ourselves into what row we wanted to ride. I’m not sure if we would do it again although Manta is definitely one of my overall favorite rides from the entire trip. Side note – the food was horrible. Maybe it was just our one experience but barely even edible.
Favorite rides at Universal/IOA were Velocicoaster (rode many times) and Hagrid’s. Hagrid’s was our last ride of our entire trip and park was closed once we got off. L decided he wanted to buy a wand but stores were closed and we had a dinner reservation on CityWalk. We made our way out of the park but saw that the big souvenir store was still open so we ducked in. L picked out a wand and went to pay and panic ensued as his wallet was missing. He had been taking way too much stuff to the park, including a full size set of headphones so really struggled with the lockers and was taking stuff out of his backpack to fit it in. I had assumed that he had left it in the locker as we knew he had it right before we headed to the last ride. Sent S & D to our reservation while I waited on a bench as L (in hopefully a slightly faster speed than normal) ran back to the ride even though the park was closed. Turns out his backpack wasn’t closed all the way and it had fallen out and thankfully a good Samaritan had picked it up and handed it to an attendant. They had moved away from the ride but he managed to track them down and retrieve his wallet with nothing missing. We got to our reservation just as our table was ready and had some good food although mine didn’t have a lot of taste which might have been foreshadowing what was to come…
The final piece of drama was all mine – brought back an unwanted souvenir in the way of Covid. Glad to say just a mild case – no fever or shortness of breath, just like a minor cold.
Well that is a wrap on my first trip report. I don’t see any trips in our near future although you never know. I will continue to get my Disney fix through all of you regulars who I love to follow.
