Trip Report Cosmos Rewind (now with completed sweaty summer solo trip!)

Hello, friends! After hiding in shame for a year after failing to complete my first trip report, I’m back to try again, this time with a nice baby sized trip to ease my way (in hindsight, trying to document a 10-day land/sea/Christmas extravaganza was perhaps a bit ambitious on my part lol).

The details:
Who: My mom and me
Where: All Star Music
When: March 20-23, 2025
Why: My mom and I did a mother/daughter trip for Flower & Garden in 2018 and wanted an encore! We’re both big flower people so springtime is our jam.

Here's a picture of us from our 2018 trip:

Time to pack some snacks and make some tracks!

 

[radiorae]

I made a beeline for my first reservation, Peter Pan! I was surprised it had LL availability at such an early time, but I wasn’t about to question it.

Off to Neverland!

Daring sword fight! Swish swish!

Back in the real world (ew) I popped next door for one of my favorites, Philharmagic!

As usual, Maestro Mickey Mouse had an excellent performance.

 

[radiorae]

By this point it was getting close to noon and I hadn’t eaten all day. I heard about a new lunch item at Gaston’s Tavern, so I swung by to give it a try.

I present to you the Ham and Gruyère Sandwich. According to Disney it is: “Crispy Croissant Dough filled with Ham and Gruyère served with Chips.”

I might have wept tears of joy eating this sandwich. What they don’t mention is that the Gruyère is more like a beschamel, so it is both doubly delicious and doubly messy. Bring napkins. I consider it a small miracle my shirt escaped unscathed. But I would gladly sacrifice ten clean shirts in the name of this sandwich. It even made its own small hidden Mickey! It’s that magical!

 

[radiorae]

I headed for my next LL, the ride everyone dreams of riding with a tummy full of hot ham and cheese…

In my quest for cool temps, I ducked into Big Top Treats where I found this funny display:

I know inflation is bad, but I sure hope M&M’s are still under $25!

Cool kid circus was hopping, complete with DJ, Pluto, stilt walker, and those two magician guys that randomly performed at Epcot a few months back.

I took the bypass by Barnstormer to get to Tomorrowland. I needed a little break from the crowds and noise. In no time at all, I was entering the only Mountain currently open in MK

I always forget how fast Space Mountain gets. I couldn’t stop laughing

Back in the space terminal, I debated the merits of a timeshare contract for the first DVC hotel on Mars, Crater Caverns. Reserve your Space Villa today!

Outside, the Lunar Luau was jamming to “APT.” Kudos to Stitch, who had to be melting Or maybe aliens can regulate their temperatures more efficiently?

 

[radiorae]

Lunch was pretty light, which meant I had room for dessert! I had time to burn before my next LL and ice cream sounded fantastic. I stopped in the ice cream parlor on Main Street for an All American Sundae.

Instead of grabbing a table under the umbrellas, I backtracked to Tomorrowland Terrace and had my own dessert party

Being under cover made it instantly 10 degrees cooler. It was fairly quiet too, enough that you could hear the Tomorrowland music loop over the speakers (I know you can hear it in normal Tomorrowland too, but during the day it’s hard to hear it clearly with all the people noise). I spent a good 30 min eating my sundae, relaxing, and catching up on my live posts.

After snack, I headed towards Tomorrowland. There was one more thing I wanted to hit before a mid day break…

But first look at this cool hallway!

 

[radiorae]

I booked an excursion on the world famous Jungle Cruise, famously known for being world famous. Skipper Catherine was at the helm and she was the funniest skipper I’ve had in a long time. It helped that I was sitting right next to her; usually I get stuck back by the engine and can’t hear a thing.

Afterwards, I walked back through Main Street to head back to the resort for a break and to recharge devices. A lot of characters were out!

Raya was greeting adventurers in Adventureland.

Mary and Bert were taking a stroll down Main Street.

It rained on the way back to French Quarter, but it passed through quickly. When we got to the resort, there were 6– SIX— managers standing by the entry doors. No idea what was going on there.

 

[radiorae]

Okay, we’re recharged, slightly less sweaty, and ready to go.

I lucked out on a bus back to/from MK— the buses to French Quarter have not been plentiful. While we ride, here are a couple of things I’ve overheard today:

“You can’t be upset. I’ve never seen an upset kid at Disney in my entire life.”

“Let’s go on the people pusher next!”

And my favorite:

“SIT DAD. SIT. SIT. DAD SIT.” Said in the voice of a small girl having trouble with her S and Sh sounds

 

[radiorae]

I had a LL for Buzz Lightyear. I’m excited for it to get its upgrade; I think I would ride it more if it weren’t so dated.

Me at about 2PM today:

I looked up more tips for what to aim for, since it was so successful at Toy Story This time, I think I did pretty well!

I’m a Space Ace! Pew Pew!

The lines are all pretty long right now so I decided to grab some dinner. At Cosmic Ray’s. And instantly regretted my choice because Cosmic Rays should be a last resort only. It is a cage match of hungry grown adults throwing hands over the last open, ketchup-stained table.

It ain’t pretty.

Neither is this burger, but it’s pretty good!

“Truffle-French Onion Burger: Angus Beef Patty with Braised Beef-Caramelized Onion Confit, Swiss Cheese, Parmesan, Crispy Onions, and Black Garlic-Truffle Aїoli served with French Fries”

It even came with a castle-ish view!

 

[radiorae]

With dinner out of the way, my park commando instincts that I’ve been trying to hold back all day finally took over. It was ride timeeeeeeee.

First, may I present to you the 9th wonder of the world… THE BACK SIDE OF SMALL WORLDDDDDD!

I am forever jealous of Winking Hippo’s immaculate lashes.

The jungle room is my favorite.

Do you think the makers of IaSW went, “We can’t leave Antarctica out. If we throw in some dancing penguins instead of children, do you think they’ll notice?”

I had a little time before my Haunted Mansion LL, so I wandered into Frontierland.

This is probably my last time seeing Tom Sawyer’s Island :/

It will not be my last time visiting these bears though…

 

[radiorae]

Haunted mansion had a lot of playful spooks. Good news is that it made for cool photos!

I did my trademark zig zag maneuver and headed back through Frontierland to get to Adventureland. Pirates was down ALL DAY . I kept hoping it would come back up, but so far no dice.

The Flying Carpets were open though! Did you know friends that it’s possible to get wet on this ride? I sure didn’t until I took a shot of camel spit to the side of the face He must be in cahoots with this guy…

 

[radiorae]

Since I was in the neighborhood, I hit another one of my favorites…

And of course you can’t visit the Enchanted Tiki Room without getting a dole whip afterwards.

While enjoying my snack, I read the Ariel ride was back from refurbishment early! It was closed earlier in the day. But sure enough, it was listed as open in the app. I headed there next.

After my journey under the sea, it was time for a trip to the Grid.

I walked the bajillion miles up the ramp to represent blue team in a lightcycle race. We won!

 

[radiorae]

I’m behind sorry guys, I was so tired last night I was falling asleep trying to write a post and the pictures were taking forever to load. Luckily, there wasn’t too much left.

My plan after Tron was to go ride Tiana’s Bayou and get a parade spot on Frontierland. As I exited, fireworks just started, which meant I had an hour left.

The more I thought about it, however, the more I just wanted to do People Mover, and maybe Space Mountain again. I never got to use my Pirates LL and had a multi-experience pass that had been burning a hole in my pocket and it seemed like a good use of it.

But first, People Mover Pusher!

While on People Mover, the car ahead of me let out a shout— with less than an hour of operations left, Pirates was back open! So I did what any questionably sane park addict would do— haul butt over to the complete opposite side of the park through the crush of post-fireworks people to see swashbucklers I’ve seen many times before.

It was worth it.

Afterwards, I grabbed a spot for Starlight Parade I’ll post some photos later and thoughts (under a spoiler tag) when I have more time today, but I’ll just say now it was really pretty and the music is so, so catchy.

Once the parade passed by, it was time to trudge to the front of the park. I spent a few minutes taking in the castle. I always feel sad leaving, but then I tell myself I’ll be back sometime, so really it’s just goodbye for now.

Goodnight, Magic Kingdom!

 

[radiorae]

And Good Morning, Friends!

It’s another day for Hollywood I quickly decided to skip early hours and start the day at a more relaxed pace. Jeremy was out greeting people in fancy Mardi Gras gear.

On my way out the door, I grabbed some breakfast to go!

I underestimated the mess lol

 

[radiorae]

It quickly became evident that eating on the go would have been disastrous. So I held off a little longer. Now I can enjoy coffee and donuts with a Gertie view

 

[radiorae]

My first stop was Batuu. The resistance needed all the help it could get.

By sheer luck, I scored an LL for Slinky Dog at 9:45. To Andy’s shadeless backyard we go!

Along the way I spotted some soldiers doing recon. Maybe they’re part of the resistance too

Let’s goooooooooo!

 

[radiorae]

It is already approximately a million degrees out, so it was time for a show… luckily there was one right around the corner!

Verdict?

The projected mermaid characters are not the most technologically advanced looking, and Ariel swimming can be strange at points, but watching the awkward first date between Eric and Ariel was worth the price of admission Our Ariel was fantastic, lots of projected emotion and personality. Eric was… from Brooklyn, for some reason?

When we exited into the courtyard, a magician was doing his magic with a side of dad jokes.

The magician also had some assistants!

Daisy was wandering too, but I didn’t get a picture. I’ve been surprised by all the roaming characters this trip. I know these guys are part of cool kid summer, but I was expecting them stationed at meet and greet spots, not out roaming. Also part of cool kid summer…

Disney has really thought this whole thing out.

 

[radiorae]

How about another show?

I love the Frozen show. Yes, it is a sing along at its core, but the royal historians are hilarious every time. The Frozen characters may be for the kids, but the historians are 100% there for the adult’s entertainment. Give it a try sometime!

When the show was over I did some math-ing to determine my next move. It looks like Sunset Boulevard is the play!

The natatorium is unfortunately closed, but the rest of the hotel is open for business.

 

[radiorae]

Cobweb appreciation post!

 

[radiorae]

My original plan was lunch next but beauty and the Beast show was starting in 20 min and that’s one that doesn’t have as many shows as the others in Hollywood Studios. I took advantage of the good timing and got a spot pretty close to the front!

Gaston was doing full on villain cackles, which got pretty funny. My Loungefly is Green Enchantress themed so I got a bunch of pictures of her.

I also am a fan of dessert/parfait lady. I accidentally got a picture where it looks like she’s giving someone the bird

Bravo!

 

[radiorae]

I didn’t go far for lunch, just right across the way to Rosie’s. It was packed but I found a nice little ledge in a sliver of shade. Shout out to this lone palm tree who gave me shelter from the sun:

Lunch was a Hot Honey Buffalo Chicken Chef Salad: “Hot Honey Buffalo Chicken, Romaine Lettuce, Carrots, Red Cabbage, Celery, Cucumber, Avocado, Peppadew Peppers, and Green Onion with Sriracha-Ranch Dressing”

Light and refreshing, it was great for a hot day. It had a little too much dressing, but I much prefer that to dry salad. The diced veggies were crunchy and fresh, and the chicken wasn’t cold or tough. My favorite component was the pepper; they were spicy and sweet, not vinegar-y like normal pickled peppers. A solid pick!

After demolishing nearly the whole thing, I found myself next door in time for the next Villains show!

Maleficent was our chosen villain

And then, after Villains… another show! (are you noticing a theme?)

 

[radiorae]

I have taken refuge behind a prop cart while I plot my next move. Despite being wildly hot, it’s still a very pretty day. I guess they call Florida the Sunshine State for a reason!