Trip Report Dissertation? More Like... Disney Vacation. COMPLETED

My advisor: You should really take this time during Christmas break to plan your dissertation as your proposal will be due when we get back for the spring semester.

Me: Cool, so... I'm going to go to Disney.

Remember in May when I was like " I don't know when I'll next be at Disney, grad school wahhhhh"? Well, I'm still like grad school wahhhhh (I have 4 exams next week and am totally taking a study break to write this right now, everyone, a master's in human anatomy is NOT easy LOLLLLLLL). But I'm coming home to Florida on Christmas Eve (true suffering Christmas Eve!! Think of me on a 8 hour flight, 5 hour layover, and 3 hour flight home as you all are making cookies for Santa Claus etc etc) and my Grandma was like "Soooooooo... Disney?"

In fact, she texted me that right as I was coming out of an embryology lecture, and so I replied "TRICK QUESTION????" and she replied "No..." And lo, reader, I should have bought an annual pass last year even though I'm in Scotland for school because I would have saved money as I just bought a Florida Resident 3 day pass yesterday that cost like $265 including tax and I don't have an income from a job anymore so I cringed while checking out but... I have requested Christmas money to cover the costs so we'll survive... And my grandma is taking care of the hotel - but won't tell me where we're staying LOL. She said off property about a week ago but I keep being like But Where? and she never answers....

Here's a Scotland break

So, January 6th-9th I'll be at WDW! My grandma idly wondered "I wonder how many times we could ride Haunted Mansion in one day..." So... the plan is, a regular MK day on the 6th, Epcot on the 7th, and our experimental MK day on the 8th. I love Star Wars as much as the next person but don't want to deal with the crowds there and also... don't really care about Animal Kingdom at the moment. I think I'd get more of my money's worth at Magic Kingdom since it's my favorite park, and this needs to keep me going through spring semester and dissertation data gathering and writing... I think we could get at LEAST 10 rides of Haunted in...

Our FP plans right now are very not set as I did it this morning half awake and are liable to change. So, for the 6th I've got Space and Big Thunder -- SPLASH IS UNDER REFURBISHMENT, I think??? So my heart is broken. And the 7th is LWTL (LOL) and Soarin', and I haven't done a third. I've done literally nothing for the 7th because.... I don't even know what we're really doing.

So, stick around for the ride if you want, because this trip is going to be... most likely? Wild. I have to survive my finals first LOL.

 

[tonystark]

I was really disappointed with the food at The Riverside Mill this past weekend. They did away with the "make your own" salads & pastas awhile ago which was a bummer. Just recently they got rid of the flatbreads(which were really good) & all they have is that lousy pizza now. It's definitely gone downhill.

Yeah it seemed like a case of you can have this food fast or you can have this food and it will be good... They went for fast. I did wander over to the bakery every morning but I never have much of an appetite until mid-morning early-afternoon... They should have rolled out the red carpet of food if they knew you were coming!

 

[tonystark]

We got closer... and my reaction... was...

How's that for authenticity! It reminded me of my reaction to being forced to see Edna Mode in Tomorrowland.

Apparently these planters were new, so I took a picture.

Ahhh, walls forgotten when I get this view. Can anything beat it? I think not. We had a FP for SSE, but we decided to rope drop something else, since (as you know) we had a goal set and that involved making strategic ride choices.

Ride #12! Single-rider line because, well, we had things to do and wanted to skip the design section... and knew this would be faster anyways... Nothing could beat the monstrosity we had created last time, I knew that. Plus, when we rode, the ride wasn't displaying the stats after each 'level' so it really would have been a waste of time.

We got off of Test Track aaaaaaand... SSE was down, so we had a multi-experience FP. Oh, says I, a ride on Soarin' for number 13, that won't be too bad!

Great, guys... Great, what should I use this FP on, then?

I wouldn't be able to use it on Frozen, anyways, because the ride was down almost up until EMH that night. We decided to hold on to the FP, I think... Or maybe we used it on LIVING with the Land. I don't remember. But it was time for my breakfast, so we headed to Norway.

Girls my age went for a cider at 9:20 AM. I guess you have to start early drinking around the world, but I wasn't there for cider...

Nor was I here for him... Though it does look good, I think the Spring Cheesecake was cuter... Also, it was January. Why not a Winter Cheesecake, like... some blues and whites... No?

SCHOOL BREAD. THE EXACT SAME PRICE AS IT HAD BEEN IN MAY, $4.25!! I feel like that's a rarity, so it needed to be said (I still have the receipt from last May, I do not know why...) Anyways, it was delicious, and it would fuel me for the coming madness.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I was really disappointed with the food at The Riverside Mill this past weekend. They did away with the "make your own" salads & pastas awhile ago which was a bummer. Just recently they got rid of the flatbreads(which were really good) & all they have is that lousy pizza now. It's definitely gone downhill.

Nooo! Not the flatbreads!

 

[riverside]

Nooo! Not the flatbreads!

Unfortunately. The food court overall was very disappointing.

 

[tonystark]

We were going to our next ride, but Grandma had a work call to take so I entertained myself while she was a professional.

This would be complete with a monorail passing by in the background.

Passing by this really boring looking Starbucks, but look how many people there are lined up for it... I like iced coffee... but if I'm gonna get one, it's gonna be Dunkin.

I swore I would never be back here, but here I was, for ride #13. Just as bad as it was last time!

While I was coming out of Imagination, there was this nasty spill on the floor that had been remedied by a few white hand towels just left there... Interesting. We moved on to our next ride knowing we had likely not seen the last of Imagination... Though I could only hope it would be...

Ride #14! I can't remember the last time I was here with the water feature actually spraying like that!

This dude was also jutting out like he's supposed to, and the angler fish was working as well, but my picture of him is not great. You'll just have to believe me. After Nemo, we decided to use our multiple experience FP on SSE, because it had opened again.

I wandered to the side of the Seas pavilion to find... more walls. I wasn't even looking for them. While passing through the Innoventions corridor, I noticed that the black contractor bags they'd hung up in the window had a gap in it, so I... took a little look see (through my phone's camera because I was too short to see up into it...) and now you may see what I saw.

IS THIS NOT GRIPPING CONTENT!?

Ride #15.
Are you hungry?

Dang, never mind, looks like that pudding cup is empty :/

 

[mlee10]

Now I want a pudding cup

 

[tonystark]

Now I want a pudding cup

If you tap your heels together three times while in line for SSE and think "There's no snack like a pudding cup", one will appear....

 

[tonystark]

You're on SSE now. Well, about to be.

My favorite mural of all time. If they get rid of this, I'm rioting.
Uh oh, the ride's stopped. Where has it stopped? Where it ALWAYS stops when I ride it. I turn to face the little cinema animatronic girl and I wave... This time, I swear she turns her head to look right back at me...

I do wish they would have put even mannequins in front of the movie screen with wigs on or something, because when you stop even for 10 seconds it becomes incredibly obvious that it's just a wooden slat carved into vague people shapes.

My grandma swears her boots used to be white. Is this true? I do feel like this room was brighter though? Something seemed off.
Afterwards, we were well into our FP window for our next ride.

Some freshly paved concrete OR a triangle for a very important person to stand in. You decide.

This looks like SSE, a little, no? Anyways, it was time to LIVE with the land.

Ride #16 and the house that everyone on this website wants to live in (me included) but I feel like it would get a bit crowded with all of us in there.

WHERE IS THE BREAD(fruit)???

Just to say that I like how they've got their own branded cardboard boxes filled with produce on display. It made me laugh.
Ok, where to next?

Were I a bird, I probably would not chill on the monorail beam. I guess they like to live life on the edge. Oh, and don't worry, I would be seeing the delights of the EPCOT EXPERIENCE later.

Dang it, now you know exactly where we're going for our next ride. Suspense KILLED

 

[tonystark]

Ride #17. But you knew this was coming :-(

Omg, guys, a fiesta today! Can you believe my luck?

My favorite part of this ride. I want a balloon.

Remember how I said we had to get more than 80,000 steps this trip? (Thanks grandma...) Well, it was time for our last scheduled FP, so we walked all the way back to...

That concrete/triangle for a special someone now being blocked by two CMs.

Soarin' to tower, please give me a decent seat on this ride.

Boo. We were all the way at the end of the row so we probably had some of the worst seats in the house. Oh well, ride #18 was done. But it was time for lunch.

This is a nice sign on the mosaic that I know has been here but I've never appreciated. YOU ARE A NICE SIGN ON THE MOSAIC!

Oh, peaceful International Gateway... what have they DONE to you...

According to my grandma, a ride on the Skyliner would have counted as an attraction as long as we were riding it to ride it, and not to travel somewhere particular (it would then be transportation). She made a convincing argument, but I won't go on it. I went on a cable car up to the top of Mont Blanc when I studied abroad in undergrad, and paid 60$ for the privilege of feeling like I was going to die.

Here's photo evidence if you don't believe me. But from that day forth (aside from having to take the cable car to go back down) I just won't do it. More power to those who do!

 

[Swissmiss]

According to my grandma, a ride on the Skyliner would have counted as an attraction as long as we were riding it to ride it, and not to travel somewhere particular (it would then be transportation). She made a convincing argument, but I won't go on it. I went on a cable car up to the top of Mont Blanc when I studied abroad in undergrad, and paid 60$ for the privilege of feeling like I was going to die.
View attachment 443518
Here's photo evidence if you don't believe me. But from that day forth (aside from having to take the cable car to go back down) I just won't do it. More power to those who do!

I‘ve been on that cable car and I hear where you are coming from. I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time. But I decided to give the Skyliner a try; it is nothing like the Mont Blanc cable car. If the opportunity presents itself to use it again as transportation, I won’t hesitate.

 

[tonystark]

I‘ve been on that cable car and I hear where you are coming from. I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time. But I decided to give the Skyliner a try; it is nothing like the Mont Blanc cable car. If the opportunity presents itself to use it again as transportation, I won’t hesitate.

Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to give it a go, I do like the designs and they definitely aren't as high up but... I think I'll stay on the ground for now

 

[Swissmiss]

Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to give it a go, I do like the designs and they definitely aren't as high up but... I think I'll stay on the ground for now

I certainly get the fear, as I too have a fear of heights, but for some reason it was not as scary as a mountain cable car.

 

[tonystark]

Our wandering took us to...

The Boardwalk Bakery for lunch. The CMs here were really quite rude, so I guess we caught them on a bad day. I ended up ordering the same thing as my grandma, but I wanted mine cold, she wanted hers hot. This caused great confusion that we both did not want the sandwiches hot or both did not want the sandwiches cold. Which culminated in both sandwiches being put in one box together, and then removed and shoved into individual boxes at checkout.

Anyways... I went for "The Big and Beefy Sandwich" - Focaccia Bread, Roast Beef, Caramelized Fennel and Onions and a Whole Grain Creamy Mustard Sauce served with Chips. For $10.49.
It was good, but I gave my bag of plain Lays potato chips to a nearby family because the sandwich was pretty Big, and I had dessert plans. Of course I did.

I have been wanting to (and threatening to) go to Ample Hills Creamery, since the internet raves about it. It was time.

I got a "small" ice cream cup which was 2 huge scoops for $6.99. What flavors? Well, I got Nonna D's Oatmeal Lace (Dark Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream with House-made Oatmeal Lace Cookies) which was absolutely TO DIE FOR... and, I regret to say this... but AJ from Disney Food Blog lied to me because Ooey Gooey Butter Cake (The creamiest Vanilla Ice Cream made with Cream Cheese and gobs of House-made St. Louis-Style Ooey Gooey Butter Cake) was really just okay... I would have preferred two scoops of oatmeal OR Baked/Unbaked or PB Wins the Cup... You win some you lose some. But I won with the oatmeal flavor!

While I was eating my ice cream, I noticed some ~drama~ developing.

All the suits came out while this entire section of the Boardwalk (downstairs, not the rooms upstairs) evacuated because a fire alarm was going off. As we made our way back to Epcot, we passed a huge cluster of CMs enjoying their unexpected breaks as they waited for the fire department to show up. I imagine it was nothing, since nothing was ever reported for the rest of the day.

They didn't want to let me back into Epcot for a couple of seconds at the IG, I kept getting the blue Mickey head. According to the CM, I was pressing my finger down too hard - which is news to me, but can apparently cause issues. Placing my finger down with exactly the same pressure as before, I was issued a green Mickey... Okay, whatever, we were playing FP roulette again.

Making our way to SSE, of course!

Having a ball... ahah... get it... Ride #19

Ooba-day, Ooba-day.... (We stopped here).

Hello again!

 

[tonystark]

It was time for a walk through World Showcase, which we had been largely neglecting. Our walking took us to...

Ride #20. I know I must have seen this as a kid, but I had absolutely no recollection of it. All I remembered was the stairs going up to the theatre (which makes sense, they were probably quite the challenge for little legs) I expected it to be a bit hokey and on the nose, but I really enjoyed it. Ben Franklin and Mark Twain being bffs, what more could you ask for?
An exclusive image of me at the finale of The American Adventure.

AMERICA.... Spread your golden wings....

Walking past an exclusive bird meeting. None of them are spreading their wings.

Back again, Harry? I guess the Land pavilion was my Mirror of Erised this trip.

Soarin' to tower... Better seats this time? Ride #21 brought us incrementally better seats, but... I was in Disney, so I can't complain. The FP gods took us right next door.

Ride #22. It was time to once again LIVE with the land.

This big shrimp was just standing up there, watching us all... Intimidating us...

Every time I LIVE with the land, I am struck by how content potato woman is. This is the best I can do.

Ride #23. Thank you, FP gods, for having it be somewhere close.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I have been wanting to (and threatening to) go to Ample Hills Creamery, since the internet raves about it. It was time.
View attachment 443860

I'm glad you liked the Oatmeal Lace at Ample Hills, that is my favorite too. My husband had some delivered for part of my Christmas present and I'm having a hard time not scarfing it all down.

 

[Rista1313]

I would show up to work 10 minutes early and then just sit there checking email even though my boss didn't care if I was late... But my brain cared... Thanks childhood!

Luckily both my parents were always get there 5-10 minutes early people. If you aren't there early, your late. Shrug... that's who I turned out to be as well.

Why did I take this picture? I don't know... To commemorate these ugly fin things before they hopefully are removed for good at some point? Perhaps.

Oh my.. how can you think this is ugly... I love it!

WHERE IS THE BREAD(fruit)???

It was there in September... SEE!

 

[tonystark]

I'm glad you liked the Oatmeal Lace at Ample Hills, that is my favorite too. My husband had some delivered for part of my Christmas present and I'm having a hard time not scarfing it all down.

If I had that in my freezer right now I would have no willpower and I would eat the entire thing.

It was there in September... SEE!

Alright, I'm willing to accept that breadfruit is a thing... I am going to cross my fingers that it tastes like bread.

 

[Rista1313]

If I had that in my freezer right now I would have no willpower and I would eat the entire thing.

Alright, I'm willing to accept that breadfruit is a thing... I am going to cross my fingers that it tastes like bread.

hmmm well... it doesn't taste like bread really... the one time I had it... it wasn't sweet, but there are sweeter varieties from what I've read.

 

[tonystark]

SEE. I knew I had a picture of the angler fish in here somewhere... Yes, Disney pays me for the quality of my images, I'm glad you asked.

Ride #24. I think I can safely say that we didn't go back to Imagination after this. Otherwise I would have lost my mind.

Where did we go next? You already know.

We ended up stuck here for about 15 minutes with a motionless line. I got to thinking what would happen, would they issue us a new useless multi-experience FP if we had already scanned our FP in for this ride but never ended up on it? Eventually, we did get ride #25 after being patient. It was on this go round of SSE that I was distracted by the small flashing green lights in the ceilings. I think they are probably smoke detectors, but I started counting them. My max is 8. See how many you can spot next time! Also, my grandma put eye drops in right before the ride photo was taken, and it was the funniest thing I've ever seen because she's got tears running down her face and made herself look incredibly sad. Out of respect for her ~internet privacy~ I'm not going to post it, but believe me, it was hilarious.

He'd been suffering a broken arm all day and just laid motionless up there. Dead, or taking a nap, whichever you prefer to believe.

This woman is going to think I'm stalking her.

The most peaceful part of SSE, but now I'm distracted by that random red light in the picture. What the heck!

After SSE, we decided to peruse some merchandise. Below, the new-temporary Mousegear(s?).

Wow, really set the bar high for theming here! I get it's temporary but... yikes.

 

[tonystark]

In May, I was able to get much closer to this to express my disapproval to no one, but it was blocked off from my judgment this time.

We were going to do single rider for Test Track, but as you can see by my thumbs down, something kept us off. I believe that something was a single rider wait of 50 minutes. No thanks!

Well... I don't know what I want for Epcot in the future - or even if there is any alternative to this plan, but... This ~Epcot Experience~ didn't inspire any enthusiasm in me. In fact, it made me depressed with how everyone got excited for the GOTG segment. I liked GOTG when it came out (back when I was in my Marvel phase, as you can tell by my user name, that has ended thanks to the events of Endgame) but now I'm like :/

I did like these posters, though. See, there's some positivity! I would buy them, I remember when they were all over the internet with D23, but Bob Iger apparently doesn't want my money for these. Fine.

An opening day map... Oh, to shatter the glass and reach in and take it... But I didn't...

All I could think about looking at this Remy in a jar is how he has air holes in it in the movie, but I CHECKED in this display, and the lid does not have air holes. You can see my reaction to that in the glass, totally unintentional, but... I was disturbed, I guess.

It was time to go get something for dinner, and that something was in Morocco, so we swung around through World Showcase. It was the time (golden hour) when everything looks gorgeous in Epcot. Our legs took us to Tangierine Cafe, where ACTUAL drama ensued. To the point where I was uncomfortable. Why do people act so weird at Disney???

I unintentionally captured the culprit with this picture that I took to remind myself that I went here for dinner. The woman in the red jacket. I had already placed my order and it was moving down the line (I watched the ticket go) so I was walking down to pick it up. The woman in the red jacket was taking forever to check out, specifying that she COULD NOT EAT GARLIC OR ONION, so whatever she got needed to not have that. I ordered my Mediterranean Chicken Wrap (served with Hummus, Marinated Red Onions, Lettuce, Tomatoes topped with Taziki Sauce... $13.95) without the lentils or couscous that comes on the side (not a fan of either) and got fries instead. The CM handed me my tray which was exactly that, and the woman in the red jacket came up to me and shouted "THAT'S MINE" and physically grabbed the tray and wrenched it out of my hands. I was speechless, actually. The CM was bewildered, and made the next order.

This is what I ended up with. No onions, tzatziki, hummus, or tomatoes. Just lettuce. PLAIN. I am 100% positive she snatched my actual order out of my hands, which would have had her dreaded onions on it. I didn't want to deal with it, so I just ate my (not going to lie) bland chicken wrap. She probably went back to the counter and made a scene about having onions on the wrap.

Our shadows... Making our way through Epcot to resume our ride-journey, before we had to find somewhere to sit for Epcot Forever. They took away my precious Illuminations, so I had to see my temporary replacement...