Trip Report ** COMPLETED ** You left your babies at HOME? Heck yes we did!

SighI’ve been meaning to start this report for a while! It did happen almost 4 months ago, but with my last trip report dragging on, end of school and an early summer vacation, life had different plans!

Anyway, let’s gooo!

The quick deets:

Who: Me and my wife K

When: February 25 - March 3
Where: GF villas and Wilderness Lodge

As for the why and how we got here: The short story is that we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

There is a lot more to it than that though -

We knew for the last 2 years we wanted to go away for our 10 year, but could not figure out where. We toyed with everything from an all-inclusive beach vacation, to England, to our other favorite Cape May and everything in between. We realized though we are not just sit on the beach people anymore - we are busy, and like to be going and doing things. When the pictures of the Wish came out, it seemed perfect. Romantic and fancy, enough of a Disney touch, and we get to get to the beach too. All of our favorite things! So we booked a 4 day cruise, and since we were traveling to a Florida anyway, we booked a 2 night stay at Grand Floridian by renting DVC points (figuring we would never stay there in the near future with kids).

And then a wrench was thrown - the Wish actually sailed, and reviews were less than ideal.

We tried to ignore them, but so many of the negatives were focused on the adult side of things, with the positives being the kids areas. In the end, we just weren’t excited anymore and with the best parts being the kids areas, it did not seem to be a good way for us to spend our money. So we cancelled, but we still had that 2 night stay at GF, and with it being a point rental, we could not really cancel. Luckily, a Disney+ promotion had just came out, and we were able to score a great deal on a WL room! And so the trip was born!

 

[Spash007]

This morning I awoke early with a mission in mind: get to the Polynesian and get Tonga Toast. I didn’t think of it as much of a mission, but just a quick walk to get my favorite breakfast since we were checking out of GF this day.

First up though, grabbing this guy!

But, that quick walk was quickly ruined by this view.

The normal path closed, I wandered a bit, before resigning myself to taking the monorail. Which seemed to be a huge waste of time. I started walking back to the room, when I figured I would just ask a CM the easiest way to get to the Poly. There was a walkway I found out, but I had to cross the road and walk along by Shades of Green. Ok! I can do this!

I know this path is now closed, and I am honestly surprised it was ever open. Without a bridge over the road, or a light, or even a stop sign, I felt like I was in a game of Frogger!

But at this point, I was determined for my toast, placed my mobile order and trekked on.

It was great to be back at the Polynesian, which although the service isn’t always the greatest, has the perfect vacation feel to it.

And how can you beat this view?

Toast in hand, and something for K (maybe an egg sandwhich?), I made my trek back across the road and made it back. Over an hour after I left!

I took my coveted prize out to the balcony, and ate it while enjoying the view one more time.

K was getting a bit antsy, as it was already 8:30, and the park was opening at 9.

Around 9, we finally left the room, dropped our luggage off to be transferred to Wildnerness lodge, and made our way to the main building to catch the monorail. We had just missed one, but another came quick.

We got a lovely scenic tour of the flower and garden displays starting to be put in (it would be starting officially later in the week).

And some not so scenic views of the never ending construction.

Around 9:30 we were entering the park

We made a rookie mistake - we got right into line for SE. The wait was showing 20 minutes, and with the park just opening at 9, it was just about 20 minutes, if not more.

Next up was to head over to the Land, and hop on Soarin which was showing a 15 minute wait, but was a true walk on.

How did I know that was what we did next you ask. This awesome walking shot I took of the pavilion!

Kidding clearly

 

[Spash007]

No Figment for us this trip

But we stopped for a bit to watch Pooh chasing butterflies

And then we enjoyed some of the displays that were already out.

This by the way, I would absolutely do again. The food for F&G does seem great, and I missed seeing some of the new displays, but seeing the majority of the displays with such lower crowds made it very enjoyable.

We stopped into the Port of Entry store to browse a bit and found this very unrealistic looking Thor

Did anyone else enjoy Love and Thunder? Many parts I was not a fan of, but the Goats and comedy aspect I really enjoyed!

Next up was to start touring the World Showcase.

First - Mexico!

It was really nice to actually walk around the booths, go into the glass blowing shop, and just enjoy it without worrying about little hands breaking something and not saying “don’t touch that, put that down, watch where you’re walking” etc.

 

[Spash007]

We skipped the Three Caballeros I believe, and went next door to Norway.

In my determination for all the sweets, I tried a School Bread for the first time.

It was fine. I didn’t love the consistency of the dough, and there was a bit too much cream for my liking.

Once I finished that up, and we drank some water as it was getting a bit toasty, we made our way to Frozen.

We didn’t get Memory Maker this trip, but I had to screen shot my best impression of L on this ride:

L in the past -

Nailed it?

Next up we took some time to explore China a bit, since we tend to hurry through usually.

With the kids we tend to go through the main store once in a while, but spend more than 10 minutes here. This time we explored a bit more before moving on.

It was nice that the back of the pavilion was EMPTY

Crossing the bridge, we noticed a ton of birds in the trees. It’s hard to make out, but all those white dots are cranes. There must have been 30-40 just sitting there.

K had an item on her list next - her beloved bread pudding from Germany. She wasn’t as interested in the stores here, so while she was enjoying her treat, I explored a bit.

 

[Spash007]

Germany has to be one of my favorite pavilions - just between the details, the variance of the different stores, and the Christmas shop in particular.

When I would visit as a kid, we would get my grandmother a souvenir from this store almost every trip. She had a large wall display of all the different bells and clocks we got her next to her front door until the day she passed. My parents also still have a few up in their house.

Snow White and the Dwarves were already out.

With temperatures rising and it approaching noon, we decided to turn around so that we could do a few more rides before heading over to WL.

First up was Test Track

And following that we went to MS green.

L says hi Buzz!

This was the first time either of us went on green (the last time I rode there weren’t options). I was honestly bored. K however did not feel well afterwards.

We headed into Connections for a bit to grab some water and sit in the a/c. First we passed by the true #1

After about 10 minutes, K was feeling a bit better, so we headed to the front of the park.

After about 10 minutes a bus for WL showed up. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we headed straight to Geyser Point for a late lunch.

I would have taken other pictures, but was too hungry at this point.

I had the bison burger (as good as it’s rumored to be!), and K had the BBQ brisket.

My sister stays here often, and raves about Geyser Point. I see why now! It was so relaxing, that it was like we weren’t even at Disney anymore.

 

[Spash007]

As we were finishing up around 3, we got our room ready text.

We had a view of the pool, which at first I was a bit worried about being noisy, but there was enough distance and the trees added a really serene feel to it.

Our Guardians BG was on pace to be called around 5, so around 4:45 we headed down to the buses. I believe this was the time that the screen said a bus wouldn’t come for 20+ minutes, which made us a bit nervous with the BG, but it came only a couple minutes later.

This whole trip it seemed like transportation was much better than advertised.

On the bus our BG was called, so we headed straight over.

This night there were Deluxe evening hours, and with it being 5:15, our concern was the BG drop at 6. The line started in the Galaxarium, so we knew we had some time to wait. But we figured 45 minutes would be more than enough time, right?

5:30 we only made it to here:

At 5:50, we made it into the loading zone. We knew that BG drop tends to last longer, but didn’t want to risk it. We literally watched our clocks the whole time we made it down the ramp.

At 5:58 (no exaggeration). we were the next group to board

At 5:59, our car pulled up.

At 6, while climbing in, I grabbed this:

And I could enjoy the ride. I believe this time we got I Ran. Which was much better than the Holiday song from December.

We exited into a beautiful evening!

K felt a bit woozy (which was odd, but we chalked it up to maybe not recovering fully from MS earlier), but was ok to keep walking.

Between the weather, early sunsets (is there anything more gorgeous at Disney? And yes, I believe I did use that line on K on this trip and said only her. I still got some moves up my sleeve! Lol) and low crowds, this may be my favorite time of year to go now.

The wait for Guardians was a bit longer than we hoped, so we decided to skip Canada this trip.

 

[Spash007]

But we had to explore UK a bit more, and stopped in most of the shops and did a bit of shopping.

How cute is this little royal family?

At 7, we headed for our dinner at:

We had such a great meal at Yorkshire on our last trip, we decided to sit down this time. And K used to go here as a kid, and has some great memories.

Unfortunately, her old favorite, the Scorch Barley soup is no longer on the menu. So we each got fish and chips. K had a beer and I had an Iced Tea (no surprise this was the best of the trip).

Overall the meal was great, but we both said that if we are just going to get Fish and Chips, we’d rather not spend an hour on the meal and get them from next door.

After finishing around 8, we headed to France to join in on Rat.

It really surprises me how much I like this ride. I had super low expectations going on it in December.

Afterwards, we spent time exploring the shops. I wanted to get an ice cream sandwich, but that was the one line that was HUGE this trip. It was pretty much either we keep exploring the countries before closing, or I get ice cream. So we carried on to Morocco.

This is probably my favorite pavilion, and I really wanted to spend time here exploring.

This fountain always reminds me of trips as a kid. We used to always go in July, so I would dip my hat in this fountain and place it on my head to cool off. The funny part is that I don’t think I would let L do that!

It was a shame that all of the stores were closed, but at least we were able to get pictures like this-

 

[fractal]

Nice photos!

 

[k8einwdw]

And I could enjoy the ride. I believe this time we got I Ran. Which was much better than the Holiday song from December.

ANYTHING is better than the awful holiday song!

 

[lindawdw]

Just found your TR and am so enjoying following along on your Anniversary trip! It sounds like the parks have been a lot less crowded for you on this particular week and much of the trip has been seamless! So happy that you got away as a couple to celebrate the big 10! We own at GFV and always enjoy our stays there and we are staying at WL in January for the first time in about 5 years, so we are really looking forward to that! Your meal at Topolino's looked amazing and I love that you had your room decorated to surprise your wife!!! BTW, I agree that men should take their baseball caps off at a sit-down restaurant!

 

[joshsprincess921]

No Figment for us this trip

View attachment 735521

But we stopped for a bit to watch Pooh chasing butterflies

View attachment 735522

And then we enjoyed some of the displays that were already out.

View attachment 735523

View attachment 735524

View attachment 735525

View attachment 735526

This by the way, I would absolutely do again. The food for F&G does seem great, and I missed seeing some of the new displays, but seeing the majority of the displays with such lower crowds made it very enjoyable.

We stopped into the Port of Entry store to browse a bit and found this very unrealistic looking Thor

View attachment 735527

Did anyone else enjoy Love and Thunder? Many parts I was not a fan of, but the Goats and comedy aspect I really enjoyed!

Next up was to start touring the World Showcase.

View attachment 735528

First - Mexico!

It was really nice to actually walk around the booths, go into the glass blowing shop, and just enjoy it without worrying about little hands breaking something and not saying “don’t touch that, put that down, watch where you’re walking” etc.

View attachment 735529

We did not enjoy Love and Thunder. Was a real bummer b/c Thor is my favorite.

 

[Spash007]

Nice photos!

Thank you! That means a lot, especially from you!

ANYTHING is better than the awful holiday song!

Back when I had nothing to compare it to, I didn’t realize how bad it was. Now I’m really hoping they don’t bring it back!

Just found your TR and am so enjoying following along on your Anniversary trip! It sounds like the parks have been a lot less crowded for you on this particular week and much of the trip has been seamless! So happy that you got away as a couple to celebrate the big 10! We own at GFV and always enjoy our stays there and we are staying at WL in January for the first time in about 5 years, so we are really looking forward to that! Your meal at Topolino's looked amazing and I love that you had your room decorated to surprise your wife!!! BTW, I agree that men should take their baseball caps off at a sit-down restaurant!

Thanks for reading! I wish we would have enjoyed the grounds at GF a bit more, because other than that first day, we never went by the pool or even Gasparilla’s!

We did not enjoy Love and Thunder. Was a real bummer b/c Thor is my favorite.

When I think of the wasted potential, I do get upset. It was a funny movie which I enjoyed, but I think it could have been great had they not relied on the humor so much. They really didn’t do Christian Bale justice in my opinion

 

[Spash007]

We walked around Japan a bit, but since it was getting close to 9, decided not to stop anywhere

We had planned on making it around WS, go to Frozen, and then hit Guardians on the way out, but this changed things a bit since we didn’t know how long that would all take. So instead we decided to just walk up to the front while Harmonious was going off.

We wandered slightly into Italy but decided not to go into any stores

Our return time for Guardians was still over an hour away, or so we thought. As soon as the clock hit 9, we got called to return.

We had planned on making it around WS, go to Frozen, and then hit Guardians on the way out, but this changed things a bit since we didn’t know how long that would all take. So instead we decided to just walk up to the front while Harmonious was going off. We hadn’t planned on watching Harmonious, so we were ok to just catch it while walking.

The good part of this change of plans was we did get to see most of the show. When we got to Mexico, we stopped and watched it a bit.

As glad as I am to lose the tacos, I did enjoy the soundtrack. But losing the tacos was definitely a win.

When Tiana’s part was finishing, we decided to head to Guardians, as we figured a lot of people would be heading over after the show finished.

This method seemed to work, as it was less than a 20 minute wait this time

This time our song was Conga (I Ran was better, even though Conga was more fun). K though was not doing well at all. We made it out, but she had to sit on a bench for awhile.

This was very odd for her, as she has never had issues with rides before, and this was now seemingly getting worse which each ride. This one we thought could just have been tiredness, but were wondering whether something else was up.

 

[fractal]

We walked around Japan a bit, but since it was getting close to 9, decided not to stop anywhere
View attachment 736574

View attachment 736575

We had planned on making it around WS, go to Frozen, and then hit Guardians on the way out, but this changed things a bit since we didn’t know how long that would all take. So instead we decided to just walk up to the front while Harmonious was going off.

View attachment 736591

We wandered slightly into Italy but decided not to go into any stores

View attachment 736601

View attachment 736602

View attachment 736603

Our return time for Guardians was still over an hour away, or so we thought. As soon as the clock hit 9, we got called to return.

We had planned on making it around WS, go to Frozen, and then hit Guardians on the way out, but this changed things a bit since we didn’t know how long that would all take. So instead we decided to just walk up to the front while Harmonious was going off. We hadn’t planned on watching Harmonious, so we were ok to just catch it while walking.

The good part of this change of plans was we did get to see most of the show. When we got to Mexico, we stopped and watched it a bit.

View attachment 736606

View attachment 736607

As glad as I am to lose the tacos, I did enjoy the soundtrack. But losing the tacos was definitely a win.

When Tiana’s part was finishing, we decided to head to Guardians, as we figured a lot of people would be heading over after the show finished.

View attachment 736610

This method seemed to work, as it was less than a 20 minute wait this time

This time our song was Conga (I Ran was better, even though Conga was more fun). K though was not doing well at all. We made it out, but she had to sit on a bench for awhile.

This was very odd for her, as she has never had issues with rides before, and this was now seemingly getting worse which each ride. This one we thought could just have been tiredness, but were wondering whether something else was up.

We Conga fans must stick together against the likes of @Darstarr and @Zipadeelady !

 

[Zipadeelady]

We Conga fans must stick together against the likes of @Darstarr and @Zipadeelady !

Noooo! Fractal is a Conga fan? Say it isn't so!!

 

[Darstarr]

Did anyone else enjoy Love and Thunder?

 

[Darstarr]

Noooo! Fractal is a Conga fan? Say it isn't so!!

 

[fractal]

Noooo! Fractal is a Conga fan? Say it isn't so!!

It's the only one I've heard so far (3 times in a row).

 

[Zipadeelady]

It's the only one I've heard so far (3 times in a row).

I knew there had to be a reason!

 

[lindawdw]

I hope K was just feeling a bit under the weather from GOTG and not getting sick!

 

[fractal]