Trip Report Completed: March 5-14, 2020: Our Return to WDW and the "Hips and Elbows People, Hips and Elbows!" edition

Hello everyone! It has been one month since we made our return to Walt Disney World, it was 593 days since we had been there. We hadn't been without Disney trips, we were annual passholders of Disneyland during that time. More info in my pre-trip report. Needless to say we were were excited to return. I was a little apprehensive for a few reasons: 1. what if I didn't like WDW as much any more after being away so long and maybe I had fallen too much in love with Disneyland. 2. I was slightly worried about this corona virus thing (maybe I should have been more worried), but I was hopeful we would get through the trip without having to think about it.

In case you don't want to go back to my pre-trip report let me give you a few more details:

Who: Amy and Brad (my husband)
Resort: Pop Century



Let's begin:

March 5, 2020

We had an early morning flight, it is a pain getting up at 3 am but we do like getting to our destination early and being able to spend a lot of our day at our vacation destination. Plus we were early birds so it wasn't too bad. Luckily there wasn't a snow storm and our flight out of Minneapolis was on schedule!

Not much was open so early but Caribou coffee!

Coming up more of our journey and lots of fun, food and beer!

 

[MinnieM123]

And then we hit the Caribbean Beach station and had to switch to the Epcot line and as you can see it was crowded. The line moved fairly fast though, maybe 10-15 minutes. I guess we should have expected it to be crowded to Epcot seeing that it was a weekend and the first fully weekend of Flower and Garden.

So with the Skyliner from your hotel, you then had to make a transfer at Caribbean, to get to Epcot. In comparison with the former bus service from Pop to Epcot, were there any direct service buses from Pop to the parks previously, or did guests have to switch over to the monorail at the T&TC to get to Epcot? (I've never stayed at Pop.)

I'm just curious, as I'm wondering (even with the 2 gondola rides) if the gondola system is quicker, or if the (previous system) bus/monorail was quicker. Or, if you think that they're both probably about the same, time-wise?

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sunday March 8, 2020

While looking around at the shops I saw these cute ornaments and got one for myself and my sister.

Sorry for the one picture post, something seemed to go wrong with the upload of the other pictures.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So with the Skyliner from your hotel, you then had to make a transfer at Caribbean, to get to Epcot. In comparison with the former bus service from Pop to Epcot, were there any direct service buses from Pop to the parks previously, or did guests have to switch over to the monorail at the T&TC to get to Epcot? (I've never stayed at Pop.)

I'm just curious, as I'm wondering (even with the 2 gondola rides) if the gondola system is quicker, or if the (previous system) bus/monorail was quicker. Or, if you think that they're both probably about the same, time-wise?

The Pop has always had direct service to all the parks just like all the other Disney Resorts. The Skyliner has a hub at the Caribbean Beach, that is where the line splits off to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The gondola did seem to go faster or at least just as fast as the bus. Even if the line was long for the Skyliner it was always moving and the gondolas are always there and coming in which makes it seem faster than a bus because sometimes you just don't know when they are coming (even if there is a time board). One good thing about the Skyliner is even if you have to wait in line for awhile you are guaranteed a seat, no standing in the gondolas.

Here is a link to a map of the Skyliner system, I tried to insert the picture here but it didn't work.
https://www.wdwinfo.com/png-image/

 

[Rista1313]

So on your post with the orange bird ornament it has a blurb about the orange bird leggings! I hadn't seen those... so I went to look for them on shopdisney. I love OB, but boy are those leggings busy... I couldn't do it!

 

[MinnieM123]

The Pop has always had direct service to all the parks just like all the other Disney Resorts. The Skyliner has a hub at the Caribbean Beach, that is where the line splits off to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The gondola did seem to go faster or at least just as fast as the bus. Even if the line was long for the Skyliner it was always moving and the gondolas are always there and coming in which makes it seem faster than a bus because sometimes you just don't know when they are coming (even if there is a time board). One good thing about the Skyliner is even if you have to wait in line for awhile you are guaranteed a seat, no standing in the gondolas.

Here is a link to a map of the Skyliner system, I tried to insert the picture here but it didn't work.
https://www.wdwinfo.com/png-image/

Thanks, as that was my hunch that it might be a bit quicker, even with the transfer.

The one thing I can't stand is the (sometimes) erratic bus schedules from the hotels to the parks. Things are a bit better now with the posted "time" boards, so at least you have an idea of how long the wait will be. But I've also seen the information on those boards to be incorrect at times -- and you end up waiting 30 minutes or more. If a large group of people are waiting, it's really an issue.

 

[Laurenciaa]

Sunday March 8, 2020

Okay, here's is a blurry picture at the end of the ride, the time stamp on this picture was 7:59am !!! We only had seconds until park opening. Our signal was fairly strong so we were hopeful. Neither one of us remember getting off the ride but we got off the ride and kept walking toward the exit with our eyes glued to our phone. The plan was that both of us would try until one of us got the point to pick guests and whoever made it there first would continue on to making the boarding pass....Oh many talk about anxiety......
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And Brad made it in first! And secured our boarding group! Relief, excitement and more excitement washed over us. We were both prepared for failure, we had alternate plans to try again other days but now we could relax and now process the awesome attraction we had both just experienced for the first time. So after a high five of getting the boarding pass we stopped and chatted for a couple moments of how awesome Mickey's was.

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We looked at the merch for sale. And I basically took pictures of nothing I ended up buying, although B did buy the Goofy conductor ear hat and I bought the whistle toy.
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Then we headed over to the Tower of Terror which is one of my favorite attractions. And it was fun, but after exiting I was also disappointed, it hadn't been a great drop sequence and I was left wishing it was the Guardians attraction (it replaced Tower of Terror) that is at DCA. Guardians is just a little more fun now.
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After Tower we wandered into the shops on Hollywood Blvd for a bit.
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Well... 2 birds one stone kind of type thing! As @riverside mentioned, tension and excitement were definitely present when ready that part! Thanks for sharing and also houray for getting up... in the middle of the night for an attraction . Outside Disney, we would all declare ourselves crazy but for the big cheese..why not?!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

So with the Skyliner from your hotel, you then had to make a transfer at Caribbean, to get to Epcot. In comparison with the former bus service from Pop to Epcot, were there any direct service buses from Pop to the parks previously, or did guests have to switch over to the monorail at the T&TC to get to Epcot? (I've never stayed at Pop.)

I'm just curious, as I'm wondering (even with the 2 gondola rides) if the gondola system is quicker, or if the (previous system) bus/monorail was quicker. Or, if you think that they're both probably about the same, time-wise?

The bus service was/is direct from POP to Epcot. I don’t remember the time difference being significantly different. Both were in regular service when I was there in November. Most transfers I’ve made at CBR had no or a slight wait.

It was never transport time that factored into if I used the Skyliner or bus to from POP to Epcot. I picked solely based on if I wanted to start in WS or FW.

 

[Songbird76]

Thanks, as that was my hunch that it might be a bit quicker, even with the transfer.

The one thing I can't stand is the (sometimes) erratic bus schedules from the hotels to the parks. Things are a bit better now with the posted "time" boards, so at least you have an idea of how long the wait will be. But I've also seen the information on those boards to be incorrect at times -- and you end up waiting 30 minutes or more. If a large group of people are waiting, it's really an issue.

We had that happen a few times where it took nearly an hour before a bus to a particular park came. The time board might start off saying a bus was coming in 10 minutes, but you'd look again and it had been moved back to 20 min. It would just keep rolling back and then disappear altogether so there was no estimate for that bus. It took us over 2 hours to get from CBR to GFR one evening and it took us an hour and a half to get from CBR to MK one evening, and that's with no lines that we had to wait for the next bus/monorail. Getting BACK to the resort sometimes you'd have to wait for 2 or 3 buses because the lines were so long. You could be waiting for more than an hour before boarding a bus. I would think the gondolas would solve that, but I don't think I'll be able to get my son on those, so I'm afraid we're going to have to keep waiting in lines for transportation.

 

[RememberWhen]

We had that happen a few times where it took nearly an hour before a bus to a particular park came. The time board might start off saying a bus was coming in 10 minutes, but you'd look again and it had been moved back to 20 min. It would just keep rolling back and then disappear altogether so there was no estimate for that bus. It took us over 2 hours to get from CBR to GFR one evening and it took us an hour and a half to get from CBR to MK one evening, and that's with no lines that we had to wait for the next bus/monorail. Getting BACK to the resort sometimes you'd have to wait for 2 or 3 buses because the lines were so long. You could be waiting for more than an hour before boarding a bus. I would think the gondolas would solve that, but I don't think I'll be able to get my son on those, so I'm afraid we're going to have to keep waiting in lines for transportation.

Here’s an article from January on AllEars about reduced busses at the skyliner resorts.

 

[InLovew/disney]

Friday March 6, 2020

I finished my breakfast and I still had a little Kona press pot coffee left so I asked for a to go cup and decided to ride the monorail. I knew that B was almost done with his golf round so I didn't have enough time to go into the Magic Kingdom. I figured that I would just loop the monorail a few time and then he would be ready to meet me at the Polynesian for our adventure.

I guess I got a refurnished monorail, it looks nice but the seat looks a little shoddily covered in plastic. It didn't really have that monorail smell. But I was still happy riding the rail. At this station, the GF, I got a text from Brad that he was almost done shopping at the golf course store (he likes Disney golf shirts). I told him I was on the monorail at the GF and I would meet him in the Poly lobby.

The timing worked out great, I made it to the lobby about 2 minutes before he did. Since the BouTiki shop was going to open in a few minutes we waited around and browsed there. We like looking at the Hawaiian type stuff offered at the store.

Soon we headed out to our first park, but which park. It is a non-Disney park....
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So we hopped in the rental car and drove to Bok Tower. It is about a 40-50 minute drive from WDW and it is a botanical garden. We are members of the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and our membership grants us admission to many botanical gardens around the country (and a few in Canada). So we thought since we had a car for once we would check out Bok Tower. We like historic things and nature so it was a win win.

Here is a short little description from the internet: Bok Tower Gardens is a contemplative garden, and bird sanctuary located north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It consists of a 250-acre garden, the 205-foot tall Singing Tower with its carillon bells, Pine Ridge Trail, Pinewood Estate, and a visitor center.

Driving up to the main area we passed an orange grove. It was lovely to see all the oranges.
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Bok Tower. It is known as the singing tower and there are concerts 2 times a day with the bells. But it does chime often and we were able to hear it go a few times, but we didn't stick around for the first full concert which wasn't until 1pm. We were there around 10:30-ish.
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The area was very pretty and it wasn't very crowded in this area, yet. There were a lot of people and some school groups but they were in other areas of the grounds.
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A closer look
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Sundial on the side of the tower.
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The tower is on a hill and it was nice to sit on the benches and enjoy the overlook.
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More orange groves.
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A closer look at the top of the tower.
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In their retirement, my parents volunteered at Bok Tower Gardens for many years; my; my dad as a garden tour guide and my mom worked in the gift shop. Attended Easter sunrise service one year, which was held at the base of the tower. A beautiful service in a gorgeous setting.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

In their retirement, my parents volunteered at Bok Tower Gardens for many years; my; my dad as a garden tour guide and my mom worked in the gift shop. Attended Easter sunrise service one year, which was held at the base of the tower. A beautiful service in a gorgeous setting.

Sounds like a nice retirement job. and I'm sure that Easter service would have been lovely.

 

[JosieBee]

That Villian's Party look so much fun! It is definitely on my Disney Bucket List! I agree that I think the price point is a bit high for those parties, but I also would be willing to pay it at least once just so I can check it out. Loved your outfit!

 

[Songbird76]

Here’s an article from January on AllEars about reduced busses at the skyliner resorts.

We were there BEFORE the skyliner opened, so there was no reduced bus service at that time. We were there in July.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sunday March 8, 2020

We were hoping with a boarding group of 9 that we would be called sometime soon, so Brad went to check out something in a shop, I think it was the Mickey's Runaway Railway stuff and I just hung out by the Chinese Theater.

And then it was time!

We had debated on which entrance we wanted to use for our first entrance into this Galaxy's Edge. At Disneyland we didn't have a choice we were led into an entrance at our reservation time, luckily that entrance was the one we had taken pictures in front of many times while they were building the land. So we went with the entrance that we had taken pictures in front of while they were building SWGE here too.

And soon we were in the queue for Rise of the Resistance. So a lot of queue pictures coming up. We think that the ride had gone down at some point before we got called because the queue was really backed up and it took us about 40 minutes. We were okay with the back up and the longer wait though because we hadn't ever been in this queue and we both wanted to check out the details. The outside portion is pretty.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sunday March 8, 2020

Spoiler alert this post and the next will contain pictures and some detail/impressions of the attraction. Feel free to skip if you don’t want the attraction spoiled.

A few more queue pictures first.

I had purposely avoided any posts and really any pictures to go with this attraction. There was some pictures I couldn't avoid but for the most part I was unaware of anything plot line to the story so when we entered this room I was a little unaware that it was the pre-show but really the start of the attraction. I guess I was just Disney dumb at that moment, so I was a little bewildered when after this we were being rushed out onto the transport. I think I was expecting another line, but nope we were now a part of the plot.

Attraction pictures:
I took a few pictures on while experiencing the attraction because B decided he just wanted the first time to be a "pure" experience. I didn't know if we would be able to experience again this trip so I didn't mind being the picture taker.

Getting our instructions from Rey

I think B said this was Poe's X-wing. He was pretty excited to see it. At this point we were being rushed unto our transport.

On the transport.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sunday March 8, 2020

Spoiler Alert: More Rise of the Resistance attraction pictures. And apparently I took more pictures than I thought I did so there will be one more post after this with attraction pictures.

And then we entered the room which has been all over in promotions. It was really cool to see and impressive.

Brad did take two pictures in here one of the troopers on their own and one of me. I can tell he was excited because of the quality of the picture he took of me. He just snapped it and rushed off to look at something else before they moved us along. Thanks Brad!

As their prisoners now we moved towards our cell area. It was all very impressive and the cast members were definitely doing a great job of playing their role as members of the First Order. Very scary!

In our "cell".

and now we are making our escape.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sunday March 8, 2020

Spoiler Alert: last post of Rise of the Resistance attraction pictures and story

We look pretty happy to be prisoners of the 1st Order!

Getting ready to escape.

And this was a wow moment! I remember peering into the construction area and seeing the skeletons of these from afar, so exciting to see the finished AT-AT's.

After the AT-AT's there were a few more surprises in the ride which I won't spoil here.

Oh, it's Kylo....will he catch us!!!

He spotted us! (sorry for the blur)

Again he caught us....oh no we are doomed!

Quick, he's distracted let's make our escape!

Oh great! Looks like we made it! Safely back to the Resistance base.

Review of the attraction:

Amy's impression: I can see why people say it is Disney's best attraction. There is a fantastic storyline, the attention to detail is tremendous and the use of technology and story telling devices is top notch. Plus there was so much detail as we talked about it later and when we did go on again another day we noticed things we hadn't seen before. I think it helps to have a little knowledge of the characters and story of Star Wars to fully appreciate it though. I think in comparing it to Flights of Passage, with that attraction you really don't need any background information about Pandora/Avatar to understand the story, a rider can get that all in the pre-show but that is not true with Rise. I think with Rise it helps to know who Kylo Ren and Rey/resistance people are, not that people can't enjoy it if they don't know but it helps. I most certainly wanted and still wanted to go on it again, but if I had to pick to ride Rise or Mickey's Runaway Railway again that day I would have picked Mickey's.

Brad's Impression: He is still speechless! He loved it and would ride it all day if they would let him. If he had to give it a score where 10 is the best he would give it a 20.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sunday March 8, 2020

After we got done with Rise of the Resistance and Brad's pulse rate had returned to somewhat normal we decided to check out the rest of the land. It was fun to see the slight differences between this version and Disneyland's. Most of the differences was in the color scheme. But there were a few others. At one point in the 1st Order area I was genuinely confused on why they had close up one of the entrances to the land, and then after about 30 seconds of confusion I remembered that entrance is in Disneyland NOT Hollywood Studios.

And we exited into Toy Story which seemed a little abrupt and a cheerful/colorful way to leave SWGE. But we went off to ride Toy Story Mania.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sunday March 8, 2020

After Mania we headed back into Star Wars Galaxy's Edge to use our fast pass for the Falcon ride. And we got to be pilots. I let Brad decide which side he wanted the Han or Chewy side. He picked Chewy's spot because he wanted to be the one to pull the light speed level.

After Smuggler's Run we were feeling very hungry, and I was hangry. The only thing we had eaten today was a Kind bar at about 5:30am and it was now noonish. We had a quite a journey to find food. We first tried the Brown Derby Lounge but it was full. Prime Time Lounge was full too. So we decided that we would go to the Baseline Taphouse and I would hold a table while Brad first got me a beer (I let him be the one to get us to light speed after all) and then he would run over to PizzaRizzo and bring back pizzas to eat at the Baseline. We didn't think it would take that long to get a beer so I mobile ordered and within 2 minutes I got the alert that the food was ready. Brad texted that he would be at least 10-15 minutes because it was a long line and there was a large group that didn't know what they wanted. Since we barely got a spot to sit outside at the Baseline I just told him to forget the beer. I just wanted food, plus my blood sugar was dangerously low so food was more important than beer at that moment.

So we ended up with no beer but the pizza at Pizza Rizzo really seemed super tasty at that moment. Which I don't usually mind the pizza here, sure it isn't the world's best but not the worst I've ever had. I jazz it up with red pepper and lots of Parmesan.

After Pizza Rizzo we made our way out of the park. I was feeling bummed I didn't get my beer at the Baseline and Brad offered to stop again on the way out. But I was also jonesing for something non-alcoholic, so we stopped at the Prime Time at the Tune in lounge and we got chocolate peanut butter milkshakes. We were going to get them to go but two spots opened at the bar so we enjoyed them there.

Then it was time to hit the Skyliner back to the Pop for a nap.

It was a little windy in the Skyliner.

And back at the Pop.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

March 8, 2020

At the Pop!!!!

After our nap we got into some nice clothes and headed to our dinner reservation at the Riviera. We had originally planned to eat at Toledo at Coronado Springs tonight but Brad kept referring to it at Topolino that I started thinking that we should have gone to Topolino instead especially since we were on the Skyliner and it would be easier to get to. So the previous night I looked and there was a reservation open at Topolino at the time we had Toledo so it seemed like fate.

It was cool to check out the special murals at the Riviera. I like the Tangled one the best but Peter Pan is cool Does anyone know why these two were chosen? I like them but it doesn't exactly scream Riviera to me.