Hi guys! I'm so excited to start my very first trip report! My family and I have just gotten back from Disney World about a week ago and we had a fabulous vacation. It was our first trip to Disney since 2008, so there have been a lot of changes since then. This was our first trip since Fast Pass + and Magic Bands and the DDP, so it was a bit of uncharted territory for us. This was also the first trip where I was primarily in control for most of the planning. My Dad insisted on using a AAA travel agent to book the package even though I told him I could have done it. I planned all our meals, booked all our fast passes, and generally mapped out all of our park days. Overall I think it went really well considering I hadn't actually been to the parks in 8 years. Thank God for these forums and You Tube!
Anyway it was a very memorable trip with its highs and lows and I can't wait to share the craziness with all of you. So here is the outline of our vacation to start:
When: Friday Aug 19th- Mon Aug 29th 2016
Where: All Star Movies Resort
Who: Myself (Melissa), my Mom, my Dad, my younger brother Matt. My younger sister Stephanie and her bf Steve (now fiancee but we'll get to that!) arrived on Tues Aug 23rd.
Day 3- Sunday, August 21st- Disney's Hollywood Studios
Today there were EMH at DHS (Spoiler Alert: We didn't make them. This is kind of a recurring theme for us.) I forget when we woke up. Maybe 7ish? Anyway I was sore from all that walking (and my little run in with the wheelchair) so I hobbled towards the shower to try to loosen up those muscles. My heel really hurt whenever a lot of water pressure hit it or when I put all my weight on it. It looked pretty bruised, but otherwise fine and thankfully it did start to feel better once we hit the parks.
We had breakfast in the food court again today and I decided to try something different. The Mickey waffles were good, but I had gotten pretty hungry during the day yesterday. So instead I opted for an egg and cheese croissant sandwich with tater tots.
It was actually really good and would be my go to breakfast meal at the hotel. Those tater tots were everything! I don't remember what everyone else got.
I guess breakfast took a little longer than expected because we didn't wind up getting to DHS until about 10am. I think my Mom got randomly selected today. (She was always randomly selected lol). As we entered the park I was telling everyone how I was so glad that they finally removed the big hat in front of the theater and the rest of my family was like, "REALLY?! We loved the hat!" (Who are these people? lol)
We headed straight to the wheelchair rental station and my Mom went in to prepay for a wheelchair for the rest of our park days. Then they got her set in her wheelchair and off we went! Our first stop of course was for a family photo shoot on Hollywood Boulevard.
I love One Man's Dream and I could spend a lot of time in there if I wanted. I love looking at all the old Disney merchandise and the scale models of all the different parks around the world. I keep hearing rumors that this is going to close, so I kind of wish I'd taken more pictures. Instead I just took this one.
I kind of have a thing for Figment and always have. May be a little obsessed.
I was disappointed that they no longer show the film about Walt afterwards. I really liked all the clips from the old Disney movies and it always made me feel really nostalgic like I needed to go home and binge watch a bunch of Disney animated films. Instead, they were showing an extended trailer for Pete's Dragon. I think it was the last day before they switched it out for something else, but we chose to skip it.
By now it was about time for our Toy Story FP, so we headed over there. I was really excited about this ride because I'd never ridden it before. It had just opened the last time we were down there and we just never made it in time to get a Fast Pass for it and the wait was like 120 minutes. We were going to wait for it, but then we would have missed Fantasmic, so we had no choice to skip it. Needless to say this was one of the first FP's I booked this time around.
I loved the theming on the line and wish I'd taken more pictures. I love vintage toys and things like that. This was one of the rides that I actually think you wait LONGER than the regular line if you are in a wheelchair because there are only like two cars designed for wheelchair accessibility and even though my Mom could transfer we still had to wait for the cars to arrive on the handicap ramp. A little annoying in our case, but there were other rides we were allowed to board first, so it all evens out in the end.
Finally we boarded. I sat with my Dad while Matt sat with my Mom.
I really enjoyed this ride even though I'm not very good at these kind of games. I loved how the games were set up like a carnival. It was a lot of fun! Matt got the highest score (probably all the video games he plays lol) then my Mom, my Dad, and me.
There was a performance of Voyage of The Little Mermaid starting soon so we hopped in line for the next showing. I love The Little Mermaid, but it's very hard to cram the entire story into a 20 minute stage show. My Dad, who I don't know if he's ever seen The Little Mermaid (and if he did it was probably not since I was little) was very confused. Afterwards he was like, "Wait? How did she get her voice back?" because it jumped ahead a bit and left pretty much everything that happened while Ariel was a human. I had to explain to him that a lot happens that they left out and he needs to watch the movie lol. I tried to explain it, but he just seemed so confused!
After that, we decided to head to Star Wars Launch Bay. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but have seen The Force Awakens. I've also seen bits and pieces of the original trilogy and know a lot from just general pop culture knowledge. Matt would like too get into it more and my Mom likes the movies, so we decided to go. We figured we'd see the movie too and get the whole experience. While we were on line they rerouted us to the handicapped entrance just as a Storm Trooper happened to be passing by, so he personally escorted us to where we needed to go a few feet away. How many people can say they got a personal escort from a Storm Trooper. Too bad I missed the photo op.
After we saw the Star Wars movie, we exited the theater and looked at some of the Star Wars props and costumes on display. Matt and my Mom were really into it. There was about a 20 minute wait to meet Chewbacca and my Mom really wanted to do it, so we did. I wasn't very impressed with our Photopass photographer here, He got some really unflattering pictures, but here were some of the better ones.
Chewbacca was very funny though. He pointed to my pin lanyard and then to himself and the CM with him told me that he wanted to know why I didn't have any Star Wars pins. May have to get a hold of a few just for Chewy!
We decided we might as well also wait to meet Kylo Ren since that line was only about 10 minutes. Kylo Ren actually turned out to be kind of hilariously awkward and I have to give the Photo Pass photographer props for perfectly capturing the strange encounter. It was very weird meeting Kylo Ren because how exactly does one interact with him? We walked in to say hello and he completely in character refused to take my Dad's hand. Then he started blabbering on about "the force being strong on the dark side" and we are all just trying not to laugh. And the more he laughed the more he told us "Silence!" I had such a bad case of the giggles. It was like when someone is yelling in your face and you are trying to be serious, but can't and you are trying so hard to keep it together. These pics were so awkward, but perfect at the same time.
Matt is like "Really? Knock it off! This is serious stuff right here!"
This pic is everything right here! Kudos to the PhotoPass photographer for catching this expression on my face, This is meme worthy.
I definitely recommend meeting Kylo Ren just for the awkwardness alone. C'mon... How can you not laugh, even though its definitely not funny. Afterwards Matt thought the encounter was awesome and said Disney should do more villain meet and greets where they are completely in character and are just mean to you LOL. Somehow I don't know if that would go over too well...
We looked around for a few more minutes and then exited through the gift shop where you too could purchase a life size Storm Trooper just like Barney Stinson for only a few thousand dollars. (What a steal!) I had to remember to mention that to Steph and Steve. Steve is a big Star Wars fan and they both love HIMYM,
After that very serious encounter with Kylo Ren, we needed something much lighter to cleanse our palletes. We still had some time before our Star Tours FP (I want to say it was for like 1:45ish. I wish I remembered to write down all our FP times in my notes!) We stopped for bathrooms at the ABC Comissary and then noticed it was only a 15 min wait to meet Mickey and Minnie so we decided to go for it.
The line turned out to be longer than 15 minutes. We also had a Make a Wish family ahead of us, so the CMs were trying to give them extra time with the characters which we totally understood. First up was Minnie.
I made sure to tell her I loved her dress and she looked fabulous!
Then we waited a bit to meet Mickey. I snapped this selfie because I thought the lighting in the hall looked cool.
Then it was finally our turn to meet Mickey for the first time this trip!
By then it was about time for our FP, so we headed over to Star Tours for some more Star Wars fun. I haven't been on the ride since they added the random event sequences, so it was really cool and now that I've actually seen the latest movie things made a little more sense to me. We got a good laugh because the part where they were saying there was a spy on our ship, the camera panned to this adorable little girl who had to be all of five years old. It was cute and funny!
After Star Tours, we backtracked to The Great Movie ride. I've never waited for this ride longer than 15-20 minutes and the wait time had been at least 30 minutes all day. We were hoping the line would go down a bit, but so far it hadn't so we decided just to wait. Now that it's FP though and they redid the queue from my last visit, a large section of the line was now outside and it was really hot. Not fun.... I remember the line pretty much zigzagging through the lobby of the Chinese theater which was at least in the AC. Somehow while we were on line Matt (he was the guilty party this time) rear ended me in the wheelchair in the VERY same spot my Dad had did a number one yesterday. I may have had a few choice words for him. After that, it was determined that I wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the front of the wheelchair for the remainder of the trip. And if I was in front I had to maintain a lead of at least ten feet lol.
I love The Great Movie ride even though it does badly need an update. I enjoy seeing all the old film scenes and I love the dialogue from the CM who plays the tram driver. The first time I went on it, I thought it was SO cool how we got "hijaked" in the middle of the ride. That being said, I was a little disappointed with this particular ride experience. Is it just me or didn't your tour guide narrate the whole entire ride? Now they had prerecorded bits describing the movie scenes with some CM lines thrown in. When did they change that? Or has it always been that way and I'm just forgetting because its been so long? Also our tour guide was kind of a lousy actress. She said all the lines, but without a lot of intonation. You could tell she'd been doing this all day long. We got the cowboy scene and he was okay, but I've seen better. His Western accent was a bit off in parts. Still a good ride though. I think it just needs some updates.
Next up a late lunch/early dinner (Dunch? Linner?) at Mama Melrose's!
I definitely recommend meeting Kylo Ren just for the awkwardness alone. C'mon... How can you not laugh, even though its definitely not funny. Afterwards Matt thought the encounter was awesome and said Disney should do more villain meet and greets where they are completely in character and are just mean to you LOL. Somehow I don't know if that would go over too well...
We looked around for a few more minutes and then exited through the gift shop where you too could purchase a life size Storm Trooper just like Barney Stinson for only a few thousand dollars. (What a steal!) I had to remember to mention that to Steph and Steve. Steve is a big Star Wars fan and they both love HIMYM,
After that very serious encounter with Kylo Ren, we needed something much lighter to cleanse our palletes. We still had some time before our Star Tours FP (I want to say it was for like 1:45ish. I wish I remembered to write down all our FP times in my notes!) We stopped for bathrooms at the ABC Comissary and then noticed it was only a 15 min wait to meet Mickey and Minnie so we decided to go for it.
The line turned out to be longer than 15 minutes. We also had a Make a Wish family ahead of us, so the CMs were trying to give them extra time with the characters which we totally understood. First up was Minnie.
By then it was about time for our FP, so we headed over to Star Tours for some more Star Wars fun. I haven't been on the ride since they added the random event sequences, so it was really cool and now that I've actually seen the latest movie things made a little more sense to me. We got a good laugh because the part where they were saying there was a spy on our ship, the camera panned to this adorable little girl who had to be all of five years old. It was cute and funny!
After Star Tours, we backtracked to The Great Movie ride. I've never waited for this ride longer than 15-20 minutes and the wait time had been at least 30 minutes all day. We were hoping the line would go down a bit, but so far it hadn't so we decided just to wait. Now that it's FP though and they redid the queue from my last visit, a large section of the line was now outside and it was really hot. Not fun.... I remember the line pretty much zigzagging through the lobby of the Chinese theater which was at least in the AC. Somehow while we were on line Matt (he was the guilty party this time) rear ended me in the wheelchair in the VERY same spot my Dad had did a number one yesterday. I may have had a few choice words for him. After that, it was determined that I wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the front of the wheelchair for the remainder of the trip. And if I was in front I had to maintain a lead of at least ten feet lol.
I love The Great Movie ride even though it does badly need an update. I enjoy seeing all the old film scenes and I love the dialogue from the CM who plays the tram driver. The first time I went on it, I thought it was SO cool how we got "hijaked" in the middle of the ride. That being said, I was a little disappointed with this particular ride experience. Is it just me or didn't your tour guide narrate the whole entire ride? Now they had prerecorded bits describing the movie scenes with some CM lines thrown in. When did they change that? Or has it always been that way and I'm just forgetting because its been so long? Also our tour guide was kind of a lousy actress. She said all the lines, but without a lot of intonation. You could tell she'd been doing this all day long. We got the cowboy scene and he was okay, but I've seen better. His Western accent was a bit off in parts. Still a good ride though. I think it just needs some updates.
Next up a late lunch/early dinner (Dunch? Linner?) at Mama Melrose's!
DS would love the encounter with Kylo Ren. It will be on his birthday and I am sure he would be more than willing to have a 'force' battle with KR. May even bring his light saber just in case KR gets out of hand and he needs to protect the innocent. By the time DS and DD encounter they should both be certified Jedi, as to have completed the Jedi training earlier in the day. We hope and it would be a great disappointment if they are not able to.
Maybe you should get some bumpers for the back of your ankles, if you still have any left. Maybe a pair of knee pads put on backwards. Won't that be fashionable with sandals.
The Great Movie Ride was refurbished about a year ago and TCM came on as a sponsor. That is when the pre-show movie changed and the ride narration incorporated Robert Osborne (from TCM) in addition to the live spiel from the cast member. So you're not crazy!
DS would love the encounter with Kylo Ren. It will be on his birthday and I am sure he would be more than willing to have a 'force' battle with KR. May even bring his light saber just in case KR gets out of hand and he needs to protect the innocent. By the time DS and DD encounter they should both be certified Jedi, as to have completed the Jedi training earlier in the day. We hope and it would be a great disappointment if they are not able to.
Maybe you should get some bumpers for the back of your ankles, if you still have any left. Maybe a pair of knee pads put on backwards. Won't that be fashionable with sandals.
Aww... A light saber battle with Kylo Ren would be very cute! It would definitey make for some cute pictures. Are you guys getting Memory Maker?
LOL I probably should have invested in some ankle pads! Thankfully I didn't have any more run ins with the wheelchair, but I did have some lovely bruises on my ankle!
The Great Movie Ride was refurbished about a year ago and TCM came on as a sponsor. That is when the pre-show movie changed and the ride narration incorporated Robert Osborne (from TCM) in addition to the live spiel from the cast member. So you're not crazy!
We had a 3:50pm reservation for Mama Melrose's so we headed there next. I'd never eaten here, but had heard great things about it. In our past trips, we've always eaten at Sci Fi or 50's Prime Time Cafe and although on our last trip we had an excellent experience at the latter, we were ready for something different. I also wanted to try to include one night where we did Italian food to have more of a variety in our meals. It had been a toss up between Mama's and Tony's Town Square and overwhelmingly anyone I asked said Mama's was better. Then once I learned we could book the Fantasmic Dining Package using one table service credit on the dining plan it was a no brainer.
I loved the theming again. I evidently loved the decorations hanging from the ceiling because I took a picture of it.
We were really excited to find out that since we had booked the Fantasmic Dining Package we were entitled to an appetizer, entree, and a dessert. We kind of had to scramble a bit to decide on an appetizer. I was back and forth between a salad and the tomato and mozzarella with balsamic dressing. This is what I went with.
My parents had salads (which were huge by the way) and Matt also got the tomato and mozzarella, but didn't really like it, so I just had to eat both plates of it. (Did I mention I love tomato and mozzarella with balsamic? The Italian girl in me is very excited every time I have it.)
For our entrees my Mom, Matt, and I ordered the chicken parm. My Dad ordered I think the chicken penne. I do remember they put in the wrong meal for him, but they got us the right on pretty quickly. Here is mine.
The chicken parm was okay. Not the best I've ever had, but certainly not the worst. I feel that it adequately met and maybe even slightly exceeded my expectations. I wasn't expecting it to blow me away, but I'd say it was probably on par with Olive Garden which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd eat there again, but maybe I'd try something else.
Dessert was a pre fix plate with lemon cheesecake, tiramisu, and a sponge cake.
I didn't care for the lemon cheesecake. It was too sour for my liking. The tiramisu was the best. The sponge cake wasn't too bad either. All in all I thought it was a ton of food and well worth the one dining credit when you factor in the FP's for Fantasmic. Speaking of they were presented to us with our meal with instructions to arrive for Fantasmic between 8:25-8:45. They also said that they were good for I think a 5 day period, so if you couldn't make that night's performance you could come back one another evening.
I had made our next FP for 5:30 and it was a questionable one especially considering all the food we just ate. So needless to say we took our time heading towards the Hollywood Tower of Terror. We stopped to browse in some of the shops on Hollywood Boulevard (and for me to get a new Fuel Rod). My Mom and I checked out the Disney Vera Bradly bags and were a little shocked at the prices. We buy all our Vera stuff from the outlet and usually pay at least 50%, so we'd been spoiled and forgotten how much they actually go for at full price. I also checked out the Disney Alex and Ani bracelets and realized I had a problem because I liked them all!
Once we felt pretty confident that our food had properly digested we headed towards the Hollywood Hotel. We stopped to pose for some pictures on the way.
Of course once we got on the FP line we heard an announcement that due to technical difficulties they were only operating one elevator so we wound up waiting probably about 20 minutes. It wasn't a tragedy because it gave us more time to digest our big meal. We joked around how the real "terror" would be the meal we just ate attacking everyone else in the elevator. (I know, gross... Puke jokes never get old).
I don't know why I look like I'm about to cry in our on ride photo. I really was enjoying myself LOL. Instead I look terrified. I promise I wasn't as scared as I look.
After Tower of Terror we figured we might as well go ahead and ride Rock n Roller Coaster since we were already there!
On our way to Rock n Roller Coaster we stopped for another photo shoot.
If we were a rock band, this would so be our album cover. Although I think my Dad is looking more like Spiderman than a rock star.
I think the wait said 30 minutes, but it turned out to be maybe 15-20. Not too bad at all. Even my Mom decided to do this one which I found weird because she won't do Everest. Supposedly she says its because of the height on Everest. I'm usually pretty bad at staging on ride photos, but I think I nailed this one! (Well, sort of.)
I thought that this coaster felt a little rougher in the beginning than I remembered. We got "Walk This Way" in our limo, so once the song kicked in I really enjoyed it and started singing along. My Mom didn't have such a good ride though. She said her head kept knocking from side to side. I think her Rock n Roller Coaster days may be over. I was still proud of her for trying though!
I forgot that while we were on line for Rock n Roller coaster I realized that we could technically book another fast pass if we wanted to. We saw there was an 8:00 slot for Toy Story Mania and we kind of wanted to re-ride it. It would be tight, to make Fantasmic, but we figured we could do it, so we booked it.
In the mean time we decided we had just enough time to catch the last Frozen Sing a Long for the night. Being a Pre-K teacher I've had no choice but to be sucked into "Frozen Fever." Sometimes as a reward for good behavior, we'll let the kids watch the video for "Let it Go" on the Smartboard and it amazes me how both boys and girls alike just are mesmerized by it and know (and sing) every word to the song perfectly. In fact, I actually had a boy two years ago who was obsessed with Frozen and literally wanted to be Elsa. Like he legit had a meltdown because he wanted to know why he couldn't have a "long yellow braid like Elsa." But that's another story... Anyway needless to say I know every song like the back of my hand and I've learned to love the movie, so I may have been a little excited about this.
I really enjoyed this show! There was something in it for everyone. Even Matt who had never seen Frozen and had no intention of ever doing so, found himself laughing at all the jokes. My Dad stayed awake which is a plus because he fell asleep when my Mom and I tried to make him watch the movie before our trip. And I of course was that embarrassing person singing all the songs even though I'm a grown adult. I actually found myself missing some of my coworkers who I know would be singing right along with me. (Frozen karaoke?) Also there was one guy a few rows ahead belting out Let it Go with his hands in the air and I was like Yessss.... I've found my spirit animal LOL.
We did of course encounter one of our first rude guests (not to us though). We were sitting in the handicapped section and this family comes and plops down in the row ahead of us (also handicapped seating). A CM came over and explained that they would have to move because they needed to keep the seats empty in case a handicapped person came in before the show started. The Dad was like, "We're not moving! We've had to move three times already, so where the hell do you expect us to move to?" He carried on so much the CM said, "Forget it sir. You can stay where you are." (I kind of wanted her to tell him to have a "magical day" but she didn't). I felt really bad for her. They eventually moved though.
After Frozen was over we ran towards Toy Strory Mania to squeeze in our second ride of the day. Normally we wouldn't have waited very long at all, but I already explained that there were only two wheelchair accessible cars and one was just boarding as we got to the wheelchair entrance. Then the same Make a Wish kid from earlier when we were meeting Mickey and Minnie was in front of us and he couldn't transfer. So when it was his turn to board it took time for them to get him situated. By the time we boarded it was already 8:25 and we were supposed to be getting seated for Fantasmic. Matt informed us that we weren't going to make it.
Toy Story was just as good the second time around. I think I beat my Dad that time. Matt won again and kept bragging how he was the "two time Toy Story Mania Champion." We then rushed as fast as we could towards the Fantasmic arena, but were informed that it was too late to use our FP's, but we could sit in the regular section if we wanted to. It seemed a little dumb to sit in the Standby section when our FP's stated that they could be used on another night, so we decided we'd come back the next night.
We debated hanging around for the Star Wars fireworks to start, but we were tired and my Dad wanted to see if we could fit a swim in. I also wasn't too keen in being caught up in another mass exodus after the night before, so we decided to call it a night and go back to the hotel.
We did wind up changing into our bathing suits and going for a night swim at the Duck Pond pool, It had been so hot that the water literally felt like a hot tub, but it was still refreshing when you got out. Even my Mom went in and she very rarely goes in the water. Matt and I played a little volleyball. We stayed for maybe an hour or so and then went back to the room to get changed. We then got our resort mugs and decided to head to the food court for sodas and snacks. I got a Mickey Ear Rice Krispy Treat.
I also snapped a picture of my poor ankle. It's just starting to bruise in this picture. I should have taken another one a few days later, but it was purple within the next day or two.
Then it was back to the room and off to bed. We had walked 6.9 miles today. So pretty much 17 miles in two days!
The next day was Epcot, lunch in Mexico, and hopefully making it back to DHS for Fantasmic!
Wanted to chime in on your Mom's issue with RnRC- her head banging side to side...that used to happen to me, but now instead of holding the handles, I put my arms up over the restraint and place them on the restraint on either side of my head (where the banging would take place)...does that make sense?
It's my favorite ride, but this move has become a real headache prevention move for me!
Aww... A light saber battle with Kylo Ren would be very cute! It would definitey make for some cute pictures. Are you guys getting Memory Maker?
LOL I probably should have invested in some ankle pads! Thankfully I didn't have any more run ins with the wheelchair, but I did have some lovely bruises on my ankle!
Thanks for the clarification! I knew I wasn't crazy! I'm not entirely sure I like the TCM narration, but it is what is!
If we were a rock band, this would so be our album cover. Although I think my Dad is looking more like Spiderman than a rock star. View attachment 160895
I think the wait said 30 minutes, but it turned out to be maybe 15-20. Not too bad at all. Even my Mom decided to do this one which I found weird because she won't do Everest. Supposedly she says its because of the height on Everest. I'm usually pretty bad at staging on ride photos, but I think I nailed this one! (Well, sort of.)
I thought that this coaster felt a little rougher in the beginning than I remembered. We got "Walk This Way" in our limo, so once the song kicked in I really enjoyed it and started singing along. My Mom didn't have such a good ride though. She said her head kept knocking from side to side. I think her Rock n Roller Coaster days may be over. I was still proud of her for trying though!
I forgot that while we were on line for Rock n Roller coaster I realized that we could technically book another fast pass if we wanted to. We saw there was an 8:00 slot for Toy Story Mania and we kind of wanted to re-ride it. It would be tight, to make Fantasmic, but we figured we could do it, so we booked it.
In the mean time we decided we had just enough time to catch the last Frozen Sing a Long for the night. Being a Pre-K teacher I've had no choice but to be sucked into "Frozen Fever." Sometimes as a reward for good behavior, we'll let the kids watch the video for "Let it Go" on the Smartboard and it amazes me how both boys and girls alike just are mesmerized by it and know (and sing) every word to the song perfectly. In fact, I actually had a boy two years ago who was obsessed with Frozen and literally wanted to be Elsa. Like he legit had a meltdown because he wanted to know why he couldn't have a "long yellow braid like Elsa." But that's another story... Anyway needless to say I know every song like the back of my hand and I've learned to love the movie, so I may have been a little excited about this.
I really enjoyed this show! There was something in it for everyone. Even Matt who had never seen Frozen and had no intention of ever doing so, found himself laughing at all the jokes. My Dad stayed awake which is a plus because he fell asleep when my Mom and I tried to make him watch the movie before our trip. And I of course was that embarrassing person singing all the songs even though I'm a grown adult. I actually found myself missing some of my coworkers who I know would be singing right along with me. (Frozen karaoke?) Also there was one guy a few rows ahead belting out Let it Go with his hands in the air and I was like Yessss.... I've found my spirit animal LOL.
We did of course encounter one of our first rude guests (not to us though). We were sitting in the handicapped section and this family comes and plops down in the row ahead of us (also handicapped seating). A CM came over and explained that they would have to move because they needed to keep the seats empty in case a handicapped person came in before the show started. The Dad was like, "We're not moving! We've had to move three times already, so where the hell do you expect us to move to?" He carried on so much the CM said, "Forget it sir. You can stay where you are." (I kind of wanted her to tell him to have a "magical day" but she didn't). I felt really bad for her. They eventually moved though.
After Frozen was over we ran towards Toy Strory Mania to squeeze in our second ride of the day. Normally we wouldn't have waited very long at all, but I already explained that there were only two wheelchair accessible cars and one was just boarding as we got to the wheelchair entrance. Then the same Make a Wish kid from earlier when we were meeting Mickey and Minnie was in front of us and he couldn't transfer. So when it was his turn to board it took time for them to get him situated. By the time we boarded it was already 8:25 and we were supposed to be getting seated for Fantasmic. Matt informed us that we weren't going to make it.
Toy Story was just as good the second time around. I think I beat my Dad that time. Matt won again and kept bragging how he was the "two time Toy Story Mania Champion." We then rushed as fast as we could towards the Fantasmic arena, but were informed that it was too late to use our FP's, but we could sit in the regular section if we wanted to. It seemed a little dumb to sit in the Standby section when our FP's stated that they could be used on another night, so we decided we'd come back the next night.
We debated hanging around for the Star Wars fireworks to start, but we were tired and my Dad wanted to see if we could fit a swim in. I also wasn't too keen in being caught up in another mass exodus after the night before, so we decided to call it a night and go back to the hotel.
We did wind up changing into our bathing suits and going for a night swim at the Duck Pond pool, It had been so hot that the water literally felt like a hot tub, but it was still refreshing when you got out. Even my Mom went in and she very rarely goes in the water. Matt and I played a little volleyball. We stayed for maybe an hour or so and then went back to the room to get changed. We then got our resort mugs and decided to head to the food court for sodas and snacks. I got a Mickey Ear Rice Krispy Treat.
I also snapped a picture of my poor ankle. It's just starting to bruise in this picture. I should have taken another one a few days later, but it was purple within the next day or two. View attachment 160938
Then it was back to the room and off to bed. We had walked 6.9 miles today. So pretty much 17 miles in two days!
The next day was Epcot, lunch in Mexico, and hopefully making it back to DHS for Fantasmic!
I believe the correct term used by CMs if they don't like someone is, 'Have a Disney day'. Something DS found while we were researching together for next years trip.
Wanted to chime in on your Mom's issue with RnRC- her head banging side to side...that used to happen to me, but now instead of holding the handles, I put my arms up over the restraint and place them on the restraint on either side of my head (where the banging would take place)...does that make sense?
It's my favorite ride, but this move has become a real headache prevention move for me!
I'll have to keep that tip in mind the next time I ride it. Even I had a little of the headbanging, but mostly at the beginning. Towards the end I was fine. I don't remember ever having that though. The coaster is getting up there in age though. Maybe the track needs to be redone.
Today it was off to the first day at what is probably my favorite park, Epcot. We decided today since we had another late lunch ADR that instead of getting an entire QS meal for breakfast we should use a snack credit to get something small to eat. If we got hungry later on, we could always grab a QS meal later somewhere. I grabbed a chocolate muffin from the food court. I wish I'd taken a picture of it. It turned out to be more than enough for me and I couldn't even finish it. Again, I don't recall exactly what everyone else had. I think Matt probably just had a bagel and my Dad might have had one as well. My Mom had a pastry.
We got to the park close to 10am, but I think it had only opened at 9 that morning. We wound up parking close enough that we could walk to the bus entrance and then across to the front gates. The line for bag check was a bit long, but I got into a conversation with a little girl and her brother who were eyeing my Disney pins. I showed them my lanyard and told them a little about my pins. In hindsight I probably should have traded something with them because they were so sweet, but I'm very attached to my pins. Almost each one has a special reasoning why I bought it or meaning to me and some of them I've had since 2003-2004 when I started collecting.
Because of Epcot's annoying tiered FP system, I had to choose between a Soarin or a Test Track FP. I had chosen Soarin, but looking back I probably should have gone with Test Track. We tried to rush towards Test Track before the standby line got too long, but by the time we entered the park, gotten my Mom her wheelchair, and reached Test Track the line already was at a 50 minute wait. We figured it was either now or never, so we hopped on. The line went by pretty quickly especially because my sister Face Timed me and wanted to double check that she was all prepared for her flight down the next night.
I haven't done Test Track since it's been majorly refurbed, so I was excited to see how it had changed. Stupid me, wasn't paying full attention during the pre-show video, so when we were in the design studio we thought we could only design one car per two people. So Matt and I spent a really long time making one awesome car. Then when we saved it for some reason it didn't include our sweet rainbow decal LOL.
Here is our totally awesome car:
My on ride photo is apparently so awkward that it's not letting me post it here. (For real... It's telling me there is a security issue). It was really bad though. Somehow the camera managed to catch me right when I was tucking my hair behind my ears or something and you can't see my face.
I felt like there were a few more performance tests that they used to do. Like wouldn't they put you in a room with all these heat lamps and then another that was ice cold? I missed that. The best part is still the speed test when you go flying outside. We joked how the whole entire ride was like going for a drive with my sister because she drives like a maniac.
Afterwards, I of course wanted to linger and check out the brand new cars in the show room. I'm definitely not in the right place to be buying a brand new car and I'm not a fan of Chevy's after I had nothing but problems with my last car which was a Chevy, but it's fun to dream. I took pics at one of those camera kiosks where you can pose with a car and they e-mail them to you, but I looked awful, so I will not be sharing those with you guys lol.
After a bathroom break, it was time for our first FP which was Spaceship Earth. I've never had to wait more than maybe 15-20 min for this attraction, but most of the Tier 2 FP options are kind of a joke. I decided to book it just for the reason that pretty much everyone heads to it first. We pretty much walked on, but we got to go through the wheelchair entrance off the exit of the ride, so that was pretty cool. I still can't get over how that ride is actually in that giant geo-sphere you see at the front of the park.
After Spaceship Earth, my Mom wanted to see Ellen's Energy Adventure. I only learned afterwards of its rumored closure in the fall, but I think its time. It's a good attraction in the sense that there is never a line and can accommodate so many people at once, but it is a bit dated. I don't exactly think anything Guardians of Galaxy would fit in there though, but we will see. Anyway, Ellen was Ellen. A few funny parts, but a good excuse to sit in the AC for 45 minutes.
By then it was almost time to head across Future World to the Land Pavillion for our Soarin FP. We stopped mid way when we saw a PhotoPass photographer who literally had no one near him.
First he got this shot of my Mom and Dad that I absolutely love.
Then it was me and Matt's turn. the first try was a bit off center, but the next one was better.
Then it was time for a family shot.
We headed over to The Land Pavilion and were glad to make it back inside. It was a hot one! We had to find the elevator to head downstairs to the Soarin' entrance. I was kind of excited to see the new film. I'd gotten to experience the original Soarin' only once on our last trip and my whole family agreed that it was amazing. I figured it had to be even more amazing with some of the most famous landmarks in the world. I'll include my specific thoughts under the spoiler tab just in case someone hasn't seen it yet and wants to be surprised. It was amazing though! Did not disappoint!
The images blew me away. In the first scene when the orca jumps out of the water it was so surprising that I almost jumped a mile and I expected to be sprayed with water. In the African safari scene I thought the grass scent was cool and when you are right over the elephant's back I felt like if I dangled my feet a little I could almost touch it. I also liked the beachy smell in the Hawaiian scene. I think I liked it better than the original because I could identify more of the landmarks.
After, Soarin' we decided to do my Mom's favorite ride Living With the Land. LWTL has kind of been a big joke in my family because as kids we found the ride pretty boring and tame, but my Mom loved it because it was "just her speed." We would always joke about "the Land ride" being the most boring ride in Disney for some reason. As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate it more and I don't actually mind riding it. Plus, you get that wonderful "Disney water" smell that you only get on Disney dark boat rides. Anyway on this particular ride through Matt and I were almost totally sold on booking the Behind the Seeds tour. I think I might try to do it on my next trip actually. It would be kind of cool. I'd actually almost booked it for my parent's as an anniversary gift (their anniversary was a week prior to the trip) but had decided not to since I wasn't sure if they'd like it.
Anyway afterwards I texted these two pics to my other brother Sammy who was back at home asking him to guess where I was.
His reply? "Mom's favorite ride?" Then he wanted to know if it had been a 3 hour wait lol
After we rode LWTL we decided we might as well knock off the last attraction in the Land Pavilion and watch the Circle of Life movie.
After the movie which hadn't changed at all, we decided to catch a ride on The Seas with Nemo. I don't have it in my notes, but I think I booked a FP for it while we were in the park because earlier I'd seen something crazy on my Lines App like a 40 min wait, so I decided to book them just to be safe. As it turns out by our FP return time the line was maybe a 10 min wait if that, but I guess better be safe than sorry.
We rode through it and for some reason I thought I remembered more projection of the characters into the actual tanks. It was an okay ride. Nothing spectacular, but if you want to go in to view the fish, you may as well do it.
Afterwards, I kind of wanted to explore some of the fish tanks. I at least wanted to check out the dolphins and manatees, but my parents wanted to do Turtle Talk with Crush which I could take or leave. Of course, there was a bit of a wait before the next show. I took the opportunity to snap a picture with my Mom near the jelly fish.
Turtle Talk was cute, but I think it's more geared towards younger kids. It can be funny depending on what kind of questions the kids ask. It got a few laughs out of me, but I probably could have skipped it. Unfortunately, by the time we got out of Turtle Talk we only had about 10 minutes to book it towards Mexico for our 3:50pm ADR at San Angel Inn, so there would be no fishy exploring today.
Next up lunch at San Angel Inn where I realized I'd forgotten something very important...
We wound up being almost 10 minutes late to our late lunch reservation at San Angel Inn. First we had to reach the Mexican Pavilion from the Seas Pavilion and then we had to find the wheelchair ramp into the Mexican building. We had finally gotten a chance to eat here on our last trip after at least two or three other occasions where we've come very close, but never actually got to do it for various reasons. We were glad to be back and just as I hoped we were given a table overlooking the boat ride.
I had been looking forward to ordering a margarita from here all day long. I kept telling my Mom that it was "Margarita Monday at San Angel Inn." So, our waitress comes over and my Mom and I order our margaritas, but of course she IDs me. No problem,,, I'm totally used to getting IDed since I look like I'm 12. I go into my backpack and fish out my wristlet and OH NO! No ID! Immediately I know what happened. The last time I had my ID was at the airport and after I went through security I remember shoving it into one of the inside pockets of my purse and forgetting to put it back into my wristlet. Since we were in the parks, I'd switched from my purse to my Mickey Mouse drawstring backpack, so my ID was sitting in my purse back at my hotel room. So, no margarita for me. I was super bummed, but I understood that the waitress was just doing her job. I was really mad at myself though. I REALLY wanted that margarita!
My Mom still got hers though. (Hey, they didn't ID her!) And of course had to show it off!
I tried to make the best of it though. At least I had the Aztec temple behind me (along with the best smell in the world, Disney water!)
Matt and my Dad were enjoying the romantic atmosphere as well!
You would think with all the pre food pics I'd snapped, I would have taken some food pics as well, but of course I didn't. (Sorry, I really slacked this trip and I know how some people love the food pics!) I ordered the enchiladas, but asked if they could do cheese only instead of chicken (not a fan of the pulled chicken). Matt asked if he could just have a cheese quesadilla. My Mom had the "Pollo a las Rajas" and my Dad ordered the "Puntas Motulenas."
At first glance I was disappointed with my enchiladas because they looked pretty small and it appeared that I only had two, but once I dug in I found a third (it was hiding under one of the others). They were also very filling, so don't let the size fool you!
For dessert my Mom and I got the caramel cheesecake and my Dad and brother got the caramel ice cream. The cheesecake was really good and I actually ate most of it. All in all, it was an excellent meal with great atmosphere, but we think next time we come we may skip it and try somewhere else. There are just too many restaurants in Epcot that I'm dying to try.
Since we were literally right there and the wait was practically a walk on we decided to go on the Grand Fiesta Tour. We made sure to wave to the people who had taken over the table we were just at from our boat.
After we had visited Donald and his friends there was still one more very important person we still needed to see... Figment! So, we headed over to the Imagination Pavilion to visit him. (I think I mentioned how much I love Figment right? Even if the ride is not the best anymore, I still love my cute little purple dragon friend and I always find myself singing at the end of the ride much to my family's embarrassment lol.
I was hoping to find some good Figment merchandise in the gift shop outside of Journey Into Imagination, but I was pretty disappointed in their selection. I thought I remembered a lot more Figment. Now they just had one little display for his merchandise. Despite my limited choices I still walked out with this t shirt. (Not my pic. I forgot to take one.)
I may have been drawn to the fact that it said "Established in 1983" because 1983 may or may not be a pretty special year for me...
I really wanted to check out Club Cool after that because I'd never been in there before and I was dying to try and get my family to try Beverly, so I could take some embarrassing reaction pics for my own amusement. Unfortunately, Matt got the sense something was up, but my parents fell for it hook, line, and sinker and the pictures are priceless!
I'm really proud of my Dad's reaction. He's usually the one who will eat or drink anything without a complaint, so it must have been bad! Side Note: When I was trying to get my parents to try it I was like "You have to try the Beverly. It's from Italy and I hear it's REALLY good!" and this guy looked over at me and smirked and I looked back and gave him a smirk back like, "Shh... I'm trying to prank my parents here! I know it's terrible!"
After our Club Cool visit we decided we better head out if we wanted to make it to DHS for Fantasmic tonight. We also wanted to head back to the hotel to freshen up a bit in between parks. It had been really hot and I was feeling a little nasty, so I at least wanted to change and now I was all paranoid about not having my ID on me, so I wanted to go back and get it. (Plus, I kind of wanted a drink to make up for the one I was gypped out of at lunch).
We had one more last stop to make on our way out of Epcot. We of course needed some family pictures outside of Spaceship Earth to complete or Epcot day.
I thought this was a pretty creative shot even though the back of my hair looks like a wreck at this point!
Then we were finally ready to make a stop back at All Star Movies! Once we got back to the resort the first thing I did was get my ID out of my purse where it was sitting as expected. I unfortunately didn't have time for another shower, but I changed my top, fixed my hair, and was able to put some light makeup on.
Matt proposed the idea of taking the bus to DHS instead of driving, so we wouldn't have to waste time parking and with the tram. Plus after Fantasmic we could just hop on the bus versus competing with a whole bunch of other people for a seat on the tram. After our first night in MK I was all about this plan. So we went out to get the bus around 7pm and luckily we didn't have to wait longer than 5 minutes. The bus was also pretty empty which was nice.
See I cleaned up pretty nice
Mom and Dad aren't too bad either.
We got to DHS just around 7:30. I thought we had a lot of extra time so we took our time coming in... We even stopped for some more pics on Hollywood Boulevard.
We thought we were early and we didn't have to be on line for Fantasmic until 8:25. Luckily we decided to just walk down that way anyway, so we were on the vicinity when our FP window opened up. Then we heard an announcement. Silly me had totally forgotten that the hours had changed since yesterday and now DHS was only open until 9 instead of 9:30pm. This meant that instead of Fantasmic being at 9pm, it was actually 8:30 today. We practically ran the rest of the way! That would be something if we missed it once again!
Luckily they still accepted our passes and we made it inside, but it was already packed. Also almost all the handicapped seating in the FP was already taken, so we did wind up sitting one section over which I think was technically stand by. Whatever... The seats were fine. Anyway once we got settled I reminded my Dad that he had offered to buy me a beer the night before and I had gotten gypped out of my margarita... So, he gave me some money and my Mom asked me to get her a water while Matt wanted a Coke. I went ahead and stood on the refreshment line with my ID already out and ready to go.
Well, wouldn't you know it? They didn't even bat an eyelash or ask for my ID or anything when I ordered my beer. Go figure! (But I bet you if we never would have stopped at our room and gotten it they would have wanted it of course!) The timing worked out perfectly because just as my order was completed, the show started. I found my seat and sat back with my beer (which was also my first alcoholic Disney drink of the trip) and enjoyed the show!
The show was great as always! The only issue was I guess since the park was closing so early, they started the Star Wars fireworks at 8:45 which I felt having both go off at once kind of was a bot distracting. (Maybe it's just my attention span). A few people actually got up and left when the fireworks started to I guess try and see some of them which to me made no sense at all.
It was a hot night and that cold beer really hit the spot! I must have gulped it down a little faster than I realized because when I stood up I definitely felt a little light headed. Also I hadn't ate since like 4:30pm. I now remember why drinking at amusement parks isn't the best idea. Another beer in that heat and I'd have been done. It definitely made the walk out of the park easier though. (Maybe they need to have a beer cart outside of MK on crowded evenings lol jk).
We found our bus stop pretty easily and even though the queue for the bus was nearly full, we managed to squeeze on the next bus that came. Again it was no more than a 5 minute wait probably and at least the bus was air conditioned.
So we hopped on the bus and it wasn't too long of a ride back to our resort. We were probably back at the resort before 10pm. We sent Matt to get us sodas, I took a shower, watched some TV, and then fell asleep. We had a big day ahead of us the next day that included breakfast at O'Hana, the Magic Kingdom, and the arrival of my sister and her bf who would totally turn the course of our peaceful vacation upside down.
After that, it was determined that I wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the front of the wheelchair for the remainder of the trip. And if I was in front I had to maintain a lead of at least ten feet lol.
