Trip Report Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Back to the World We Go! *COMPLETED*

Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you prematurely. I am your host ~ your trip report host. Here in the following pages you'll see how the Tuvalu family survived Spring Break 2017. Kindly sit back and relax please, and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now......

Well, that's not exactly true. You are free to FIND YOUR WAY OUT at any time. Although I hope you stick around for the tour. There's bound to be drama.

The deets:
Cast: Moi (Tuvalu), Benevolent Husband (Woody), and the only reason we braved Spring Break madness ~ our Teacher Daughter (Em)
Dates: April 1-8, 2017
Resort: Port Orleans French Quarter

Along the way you'll encounter the slowest cast members ever hired by Disney. Farewell performances of Wishes (were there tears?) The awesome Blue Angels flyover. A Magic meet-up with another mother/daughter pair equally obsessed with WDW as Em and me. And the BEST TRANSPORTATION EVER.

You'll also discover the answers to the following questions: Are Spring Break crowds really that bad? (I'll give you a hint......YES.) What the heck happened to the Trolley? And the flagpole? Is the Red Card really gone? Can you get a same-day ADR for Be Our Guest? What about 'Ohana?

And the most-pressing question of all: Will Woody be doomed to sit on a hard chair in our room chained to his PC and phone all week?

Now as they say, "Look alive" and we'll continue our little tour.

 

[Tuvalu]

Can't help ya there... but @imahistorygeek can, clearly, sympathize ...

View attachment 202022

I already felt a kinship with @imahistorygeek due to our shared Entenmann's love. This merely affirms it.

 

[Tuvalu]

It's probably the very LAST red card in the entire park--and they were saving it for YOU--for nostalgia reasons!!!

Wait.....just wait.....

 

[Tuvalu]

Our FP window for Space Mountain was now open. As soon as we tapped our bands, I logged into MDE to snag a 4th FP. The next available time for any attraction was over two hours away. Yep, it's a busy day at the Magic Kingdom! I booked our 4th for something we don't normally get a FP for.

We waited almost 20 minutes in the FP queue. And just like at 7DMT, we got to sit in the back.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our ride photo ~ the pose christened by the ultimate poser himself, @lostpro9het ~



THE TUVALU

 

[MinnieM123]

Our FP window for Space Mountain was now open. As soon as we tapped our bands, I logged into MDE to snag a 4th FP. The next available time for any attraction was over two hours away. Yep, it's a busy day at the Magic Kingdom! I booked our 4th for something we don't normally get a FP for.

We waited almost 20 minutes in the FP queue. And just like at 7DMT, we got to sit in the back.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our ride photo ~ the pose christened by the ultimate poser himself, @lostpro9het ~



THE TUVALU
View attachment 202032

 

[Tuvalu]

This guy on the right is obviously surprised that anyone would order lunch at Pinocchio's Village Haus.

But we did.

Chicken parm sandwiches, fries, (and for some unknown reason) carrots. Em and I like carrots so we didn't mind. We shared her pack and I saved mine. (And she wouldn't stop kidding me about my "purse carrots." Which I ate eventually......after we were back home in ATL )

I expected the cheese to be on top of the sauce when I snapped this pic. Apologies for the red bun. It did taste better than it looks!

 

[Tuvalu]

Problem: Find a people-eating attraction with a short wait to pass the time until next FP.

Solution: Mickey's Philharmagic

NOT!!!!!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

We shared her pack and I saved mine. (And she wouldn't stop kidding me about my "purse carrots." Which I ate eventually......after we back home in ATL )

*Ahem, I think you also had already saved your grapes from some meal as well. While it is true that Vacation You spends a little more money than Real-Life You, the Scotch You insists on saving uneaten perishable food items in your purse.

 

[Tuvalu]

C'mon @Longers, do you know what time it is??

Can you believe I actually bought ice cream for this ingrate?

I saved my pennies just to see this smile on her face.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

 

[Tuvalu]

Problem: Find another people-eating attraction with a short wait.

Solution: The MPB

This line moved quickly since a train arrives every 7 minutes.

Casey Junior's coming down the track.......

I spy with my little eye..........

Can you see what I'm talking about?

Happy to spend 20 minutes off our feet. (Especially Em....her "toe heartbeat" ever reminding her of her injury.)

Hmmmm, the entrance area is surprisingly light. That's because everyone is already IN the park!

 

[Tuvalu]

Our grand circle tour complete, we headed for our 4th FP.

That's right folks, standby for IASW was 50 minutes!

Suddenly our FP was very valuable.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Something is off with dad in COP. My first thought was the hair. It's just a whole bunch of odd.

 

[Doc Disney]

True confession ~ I have never seen an episode of Phineas and Ferb. I know nothing of their relationship to one another, what they do or what shenanigans they partake in.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?! I watch Phineas and Ferb every night before I go to bed. No lie

We love the pizza at Via Napoli. It's filling without making you feel FULL. (Although we might have been in a full pizza coma had we ordered the Mezzo Metro for the 3 of us, like @Doc Disney, her mom and sister did! )

Fair enough, but it still didn't put us in a coma

The whole thing happened so fast! All of us tried to follow where the jets went and there were murmurings that there would be a second flyover, though no official announcement was made.

They actually did say in the original announcement that there would be 2 pass overs

 

[Tuvalu]

For fun I checked MDE for an additional FP. I am convinced we benefitted from someone's cancellation since there was availability NOW at only one attraction.

One that happens to be a favorite.

The FP queue was a little backed up.

But there were pretty flowers to look at.

After tapping our bands I checked for additional FP availability. Nothing until 9 pm! Well, that pretty much indicated it was time to leave MK. While we may have skirted the worst of the crowds until now, our luck had run out.

We didn't intend to watch Festival of Fantasy but we got trapped.

The sun was so strong at this point that the tops of my feet got sunburned while we stood there.
(Quite the difference from the rain this morning!)

 

[dddisney]

I'm enjoying another one of your great trip reports.

 

[Tuvalu]

Something is off with dad in COP. My first thought was the hair. It's just a whole bunch of odd.

Thank you! Glad someone else thinks so too.

 

[Tuvalu]

I'm enjoying another one of your great trip reports.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Tuvalu]

We had one last stop to make before exiting the park.


PURPLE WALL!!!!!!

Because it's a thing. And I want to be hip.

 

[Tuvalu]

I don't know who Ant and Dec are, but this looks intriguing.

Now that monorail riders are screened before arriving at MK, the barriers are gone and guests can walk straight to the Resort line without having to backtrack ~ the way it used to be!

Did I mention we were taking a little detour before returning to POFQ?

A resort hop shop. (Or a resort shop hop. Whatever suits your fancy.)

Poly security screening

Grand Floridian security screening

We made a big faux pas while at the GF. We never ventured to the lower level. We only shopped in Basin (my DIL adores their vanilla grapefruit body cream, a GF exclusive scent.) Since it was only 10 days until Easter, it's likely the ornate decorated eggs were on display in the lobby. We always make an effort to see the eggs.

Our ride arrived before we remembered.

Em stood in the new open area once we were back at MK.

At the bus stop we experienced our longest wait of the trip ~ 17 minutes. Still within the "approximately every 20 minutes" guideline so we couldn't complain.

There were our purchases:

Minnie outfit for Tuvalette, body cream for DIL and pillow for Em

The backside of pillow

 

[bee]

@Tuvalu, @imahistorygeek, @lostpro9het, and others concerned:

After church this morning I walked down to the bus stop to go home and what did I see sitting on the bench?

A full-but OPENED!-package of chocolate Entenmann's donuts! (And an assortment of other lovely items)