Trip Report But who's keeping track?

I will make my 43rd (ish) trip to Walt Disney World (still not totally sure how many Florida trips in my youth actually involved WDW)

I will write my 26th Trip Report (re-reading those old ones, what was I thinking?)

We will drive 940 miles, only stopping for quick food and bathrooms (if making good time, maybe a short sleep break)

We will stay in our 21st different WDW resort (depending on how you count DVC vs hotel for some)

We will experience 1 brand new attraction (hopefully more than once)

We will experience 1 favorite attraction that has recently be changed (and are a bit scared by it)

I will experience at least one brand new table service restaurant (and a surprising one, at that)

Our daughter will experience her first true backstage WDW tour (@MeffysMom and I did this one before)

We MAY have our first Genie+ experience (and maybe our last as well??)

But there's really no reason to keep track of all these things. Just join me for a brief pre-trip and then live reporting from WDW.

Couple additional pre-thoughts (that didn't have good Disney pictures to go along)... We will spend far too much money (although we've got quite a bit stored up on Disney Rewards). We will partake in too much food and drink (always claim that I won't, but good luck with that). We will have a heckuva good time despite some obstacles (I think I'm willing to guarantee that, we always do). See you soon!

 

[Dez1978]

That’s so crazy. School schedules here are posted at least 2 academic years in advance! As a parent, I can look online to see when all the various breaks are, as well as start and end dates for the year.

That is awesome. Our school schedule for the next year goes out maybe a month before the end of the current year. So I got it in April for the 22-23 year. I wish ours could do 2 years at a time, or even like a year ahead of time lol

 

[brifraz]

So it’s been an afternoon of enjoying all that Coronado and Chronos Club have to offer. After our club time this afternoon we went down to the pool for a bit and explored. So here are some obligatory resort photos.

Then it was back up to the club for some dinner-ish foods. Not a huge amount of choices, but salads, pasta, meatballs, grouper ceviche, bread, and some veggies. All good. We just hung out and played some games until dessert time. We definitely got a bit more into this spread (and remembered to get pics).

And now for some distance viewing of fireworks at Epcot.

 

[Steve690]

I would take a bag of those M&M’s back to our room every night.

 

[brifraz]

I would take a bag of those M&M’s back to our room every night.

We got a bag and sat and munched on them through the Harmonious viewing. And maybe a glass of port wine was being sipped on as well.

 

[brifraz]

Good morning one and all! It's Animal Kingdom morning, which means an extra early wake up call and some quick breakfast in the room since the Club Level isn't open yet and we don't want any empty stomachs in the park.

I know everyone has been on the edge of their seat wondering about tonight's dinner plan... we are going with Hollywood Brown Derby. Actually managed to move our ADR to a slightly earlier time, which helped in the decision process. I'm definitely looking forward to a new dining experience - the girls both loved it in early April, so I feel pretty good about it!

Also on the docket today is the Moonlight Magic party at Studios. If past events or reports from last month are indication, we are hoping to do pretty much every attraction there, except Rise of the Resistance (which is fine - we've done it quite a few times, so no problem letting others enjoy it tonight). See you in Animal Kingdom!

 

[brifraz]

Only people heading to Everest at first.

Now there’s a small crowd behind us.

 

[RememberWhen]

Looking forward to hearing about moonlight magic! How many Everest runs did you all get in?

 

[brifraz]

Looking forward to hearing about moonlight magic! How many Everest runs did you all get in?

Sadly, Everest is down. Originally they said 10-20 minutes delayed opening. Now it’s an hour or more so we are waiting for the safari!

 

[brifraz]

Safari and Maharaja trek done. Everest is back up and the girls are rocking it.

 

[brifraz]

Excited and scared.

 

[RememberWhen]

Sadly, Everest is down. Originally they said 10-20 minutes delayed opening. Now it’s an hour or more so we are waiting for the safari!

As my 10yo would say, “well, poop.”

Safari is good too though!

 

[brifraz]

Alright, let's get this morning done right! Animal Kingdom opened up for us on-site folks at 7:30am this morning. As the entire mass of guests zigged to the left for Flight of Passage, we went right. The girls have been on a quest to ride in every single line of Everest, so today they were hoping for 6 rides first thing to finish that off. And things looked pretty good as we were the first (and for a little while only) people waiting for Asia to open up.

We were given the warning that the ride might be opening up a bit later, but most likely within a half an hour, so we stuck with it. And were rewarded by being the first at the ropes.

But, alas... then the manager came out and let everyone know that it likely wouldn't be up for at least an hour. After a brief discussion, we headed to the Safari as our plan B. It was a good safari with three cheetahs out and one roaming and all the lions in very plain view. But the best photo of the 2 week safari was of the male elephants.

After the safari, Everest was still down so we 'rope dropped' the Maharajah Jungle Trek to check out our good friends the tigers. Those tigers are good friends and we remember the birth of the two cubs very well - and seeing them play quite a bit in their youth. Today, momma was out and they were in the process of getting her to move from one enclosure to the other so we got to talk with the tiger 'wranglers' for a bit. And momma was feeling quite photogenic.

As we left, we debated going on Kali or maybe heading elsewhere, but then... Everest opened up! It was about 9:15am, so the opening delay had been almost two hours. It might be kind of hard to tell from this picture, but the girls were pretty happy to ride!

And I'm positive that the reason they were so happy was that our good friend, Mr. Bird-on-a-Stick, was out and taking visitors.

After their visit with the bird... oh, and the yeti... we still had some time to kill before Finding Nemo the Musical at 11:30am. So, we headed over to Dino Land and grabbed a table in the shade by the Dino Diner and when they opened at 10:30, we grabbed the 50th Celebration Ice Cream Sandwich, which was very enjoyable.

Now, on to the Nemo show. It's shorter, obviously. The cast is smaller, by quite a bit. Some of what they trimmed is fluff, but having seen the original most likely about 50 times, we missed all of that stuff. Big things missing were the final 'we swim together' reprise in Sydney Harbour (with all the other fish, where Nemo gets a bit squished), the entire jellyfish sequence (which meant the 'just keep swimming' reprise, which we really like), and all the things done with the fly system (Dori/Marlin duet, and Squirt). Most of the dialogue not in songs was shortened or cut as well. Had I not seen the original so many times, it would have been fine... but it was definitely a bit disappointing to us. I know we will keep seeing it, and still enjoy it, but it was definitely lacking some depth (get it... fish, ocean, depth?).

The back wall now being a full graphics display was pretty cool, though.

After Nemo, we headed out and back to Coronado to relax in the club. Which is now where we sit and I click on 'Post' for this segment of our trip report. Coming up next for us - a nap. And then Hollywood Studios for dinner and then Moonlight Magic.

Oh, I forgot initially - I wanted to leave you with a brief advertisement from our friends at AK. But this one only applies to those of you who are humans out there.

 

[brifraz]

Gonna post a lot of quickie updates from Moonlight Magic so I don’t forget anything!

We got in at 5pm for our dinner at Brown Derby. I’ll cover that later. At 8:45 we grabbed some snacks at ABC with our first couple snack coupons.

Right at 9:30 and we are waiting for Mickey Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Sign said 35 minutes but I’m thinking 10 to the pre show at most.

 

[brifraz]

23 minutes total, including our visit here:

Heading down Sunset Blvd now.

 

[brifraz]

Arrived at Rockin Roller Coaster at 10;06pm. It’s 10:12 and we are here:

Should be in a limo in another 3-4 minutes.

 

[brifraz]

Done RnRC at 10:20 and now in line for Tower. It’s been down most of the evening and just reopened a couple minutes ago. Wait is showing as 90, but looks like about 20. We shall see!

 

[brifraz]

The Tower wait was a bit over 20 total, but not much.

Only 1 of the lift elevators was running at all so 30 minutes from in line to done is fine by us. Grabbed some popsicles on the way to Toy Story Land. Slinky is now down so we are in the supposed 40 minute wait for Midway Mania.

 

[brifraz]

Wait ended up just under 30 minutes before hoping into our vehicle like these friends:

After the ride, Slinky was back up but we were tired and hot and just bailed out. It was about midnight and we grabbed some waters and a pop tart (for later) at Andy’s Lunch Box and then headed out.

 

[brifraz]

Good morning one and all. After the late night last night, we are taking things slow this morning. Got Guardians virtual queue at 7am (BG 63) and grabbed some breakfast up in the Chronos Club. Now, just relaxing a little bit and getting packed up since we are moving to Saratoga this afternoon. In just a bit, I'll load up the car and we will head to Epcot. Might try to do Frozen and/or Remy or just continue the slow pace of the day and relax around World Showcase a bit. We shall see!

The final tally from last night for Moonlight Magic was...

7:30ish Muppet Vision
8:15pm Star Tours
8:45pm ABC Commissary for cupcake and frozen lemonade
9:30 Mickey Minnie's Runaway Railway
10pm Rockin Roller Coaster
10:30ish Tower of Terror
11pm Midway Mania
11:40 Andy's Lunch Box
12pm Headed out of the park

We certainly could have done Slinky at the end, but we were hot and tired and tired of being hot and tired! See you later today.

 

[brifraz]

Where am I?