Trip Report I Did Something Bad... *Completed*

Hello everyone! My, it has been a long time... You'll have to forgive me, but school is currently eradicating every last drop of happiness and cheer from my soul! To remedy that, I have.... I have come up with a plan that may be insane. Don't worry, I haven't purchased anything non-refundable yet... So far, no one's been able to come up with a compelling argument for me NOT to do this...

Picture this... October 5th and 6th, I have a random "fall break". It seems perfectly placed. A microbiology exam that Tuesday, and then NOTHING until a physiology exam the following Friday... What am I supposed to do with those 2 free days? "Oh, you should study," you say... Dear reader... I fear if I studied those 2 days I may go insane. How about... How about...

Getting on a red eye flight out of Pittsburgh that would involve me leaving for the airport at 3:30am (you cringed, I felt it), arriving in Orlando early Thursday morning, probably conking out in my swanky All Star room for a couple of hours (should Bob Iger allow my room to be ready), and then going to the Halloween party that night? And then... and then getting on a flight back to Pittsburgh the following afternoon?

That's the bare bones of the plan. I've already booked the room (because it's REFUNDABLE and I can CANCEL okay and it SPARKED JOY) and I'm holding off on flight (it's under $100 but it's Spirit and I think you have to sign a waiver saying you are willing and able to pilot the plane when you fly with them) and event tickets until I check with my professor that this fall break is actually legitimate and not a lie (we had class on the 4th of July when no one else did so I've been burned before).

In other news, I saw Taylor Swift in June which was life changing! But now I need something new to look forward to...

Too insane? You tell me.

 

[tonystark]

If R wanted a nap, he was in for a rude awakening.

There are OBJECTIVES to be met. Yes, we were going to go stand at the entrance to Magic Kingdom to be first in line to enter at 4 pm.

Just kidding!!

This is where it sunk in that I was really actually at Magic Kingdom and not studying for 10 hours a day with a 10 hour Magic Kingdom walkthrough on Youtube in the background (yes I sometimes do that when I'm feeling hopeless and yes it does help).

Just in case you were wondering where the new smoking area was.

This security dog DID NOT want to work. It was so cute. He was tugging on the leash and then just rolled onto his back and demanded to be pet.

I wanted to get R a plastic ticket for tonight, because I didn't want the hassle of something going wrong with the mobile ticket, and I also wanted to get him a little plastic souvenir... And something else.

The CM made me get an "I'm celebrating" badge since I was having R wear a 1st time badge (and yes, R did NOT want to wear the badge and even had the audacity to take it off while we were walking out of MK later that night but I made him put it back on lol). R got a nice ticket with Chewbacca on it, which was good because he's a Star Wars fan.

I wanted R to experience the monorail! I had told him the story of how when I was growing up, my parents would always surprise us with trips to Disney beginning with some outlandish story (my favorite is that they were going to "buy a refrigerator" in Orlando and then being like, "well, we're so close, we might as well just stop in and ride the monorail..."). So I wanted him to ride the monorail...

Isn't this more fun than taking a nap?

Monorail Silver was to be our mighty steed.

Soon.

A recurring comment from R is "Disney World is so big." I think he realized this when we got to the TTC and saw not only the amount of people on their way to MK, but the amount of people transferring to Epcot — and that wasn't even the main way to access the park.

Waiting patiently for our new ride. Someone's child was screaming absolute bloody murder over there.

Yay orange! Off to Epcot, so that I can stare at her longingly from the window and R can once again marvel at how big WDW is.

 

[cgersic]

Your humor and wit, and R's Disney naivete is making me smile so hard! It's a bummer this is just a short trip - hoping he'll be back!

 

[tonystark]

Your humor and wit, and R's Disney naivete is making me smile so hard! It's a bummer this is just a short trip - hoping he'll be back!

I asked him as we were walking out if he'd accomplished everything he wanted because I knew I would be back and he said "... maybe we'll be back together" and I said...

 

[tonystark]

My God, there she is....

Epcot Ball...

Construction still looking horrific as ever. I had a delightful time explaining to R how we just finished the 50th anniversary and swan dove into the 100th anniversary. Looking forward to the 568th anniversary next year!

Moana. Looked kind of pointless and like a one and done but what do I know?

Epcot Ball!!! Goodbye, SSE, goodbye Boots! I will see you... one day.

R wanted to know why I was so excited to take this blurry picture and then I had to swallow my pride and explain the whole tram situation. The things Bob Iger reduces me to... Also, R wanted to know why I was taking half the pictures I took, and then I had to explain about the forums and my fellow Magicians. He seemed rather mystified.

Back to the TTC. Getting close to our reservation, but still had a good hour and change to spare. Also, didn't there used to be wonderful hedges/floral arrangements here? Did I just not see them in my haste to get to the monorail? I swear they were there when I was growing up. Perhaps we are putting all of our money into fashioning the signs and memorabilia for the 568th anniversary.

Trotting with great haste so that we could feel peachy. I thought it would be fun to show R what big girl money could buy (i.e. deluxe resorts) as we are both back on student incomes lol.

First stop!

Ah, but you suspected my true intentions, didn't you?

 

[Minnie1986]

Gotta love Captain Benson!

 

[tonystark]

School is an immediate grind and I would give anything to be back at WDW... Instead... Here we are, virtually.

I should've gotten this as a vanilla-Dole whip swirl to cut a bit of the pineapple but alas. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get one at the party tonight, and what is a Disney trip without it?

R wanted to share... idk why I allowed that.

We took our treat down to the beach, our footsteps dogged by an intrepid TikTok-live influencer who was loudly proclaiming to the microphone somehow attached to his iPhone that these bungalows run 3 grand a night. Is that true? Oh, to have big girl money...

I guess I'll take a picture with you, after having to share my Dole Whip....

Popped into the gift shops to examine the wares. This horrid loungewear set jumped out at me. Similar graphic to grandma's purple jumpsuit impulse buy last year (yes, she wears it), but I guess someone was like "why not do brown tie dye????" and Bob Iger slapped sixty dollars down on the table and then ran to the men's room to change into his new loungewear set.

These were uncanny valley. Did not like.

This was perhaps the most abominable thing I had ever seen. I do not like him!!! Get rid of him!!!

Tempting... But I refrained.

The man in the window scared me so bad I had to pee. I thought that this was very nice and unexpected of WDW. If only that were the case everywhere.

We got stuck on Teal for a while. Due to "traffic". Both at Grand Floridian, and at MK. At MK, I couldn't TAKE IT ANY MORE!!! I'm sure we've discussed this before, but I much prefer moving than sitting around, even if it will take me longer to get where I'm going by moving. R agreed, and so...

We decided to make the trek. No one was lined up, yet... And by the time we had reached our destination, wouldn't you know it, the monorail was just leaving.

 

[Tuvalu]

TikTok “influencer” (I so despise that word) overstated bungalow price by a grand.

Still big rich girl money though.

 

[tonystark]

TikTok “influencer” (I so despise that word) overstated bungalow price by a grand.

Still big rich girl money though.

but a TikTok influencer said it so it must be true!!!!

 

[tonystark]

I come bearing excellent news, my Magicians, I aced my physio exam this morning — though in the moment, I thought she had me... I think my insane study regimen out of guilt for going to WDW served me well... But I'm so tired... So I'm writing this trip report while lying down at 9 pm on a Friday night. The glamor of it all!!!

Where were we? Not even at MK yet? My God.

Now approaching our destination... I have stayed at the Contemporary once in my life, for one night, split with 3 other friends LOL. It was the only way it could be afforded... But one day, oh, one day...

What have they done to you (The Wave)...

We were a few minutes early, so we thought we'd go upstairs and look at the merch (like you do), plus I wanted R to see the interior because he originally thought the Contemporary was just a monorail station and then realized there were rooms in the building.

More horrible merchandise. Bob Iger probs wears these to bed, once he changes out of his brown tie dye loungewear.

Ok, we're back! I enjoyed the historical touches of Steakhouse 71 (if you count framed photographs as historical touches), but my family frequented The Wave. In fact, way back in the day, some of my family had been known to have a lunch reservation at The Wave, eaten, and... oops, left the car parked at the Contemporary! (I would be too afraid to do this and I am a rule follower except for ONE SPECIFIC INSTANCE IN THIS TRIP REPORT!!! do I have your attention now...)

Why is everything SO BRIGHT?

Love some concept art, but tucked away in a nook where no one would ever notice it? sigh.

Seated. We had a lovely waitress named Lorena (I believe). I put in my order for a delectable Diet Coke (I've switched from Coke Zero, I needed something that tasted more like it would cause my insides permanent corrosive damage every time I drink it and DC fit the bill).

You can take The Wave out of The Wave, but you can't take The Wave out of The Wave. R had gone to wash his hands, as I soon would do.

I'm not a graphic designer (I cry every time I have to move an image on a Word document and it destroys the layout no matter what I do). However, this stuck out to me... I'm being trained to be even more detail oriented in school now, but it's really not that hard to shrink the text box they used so that the white fill isn't cutting into the body of the paragraph.... I digress.

Washing my hands, I got to thinking. And perhaps (likely) I am wrong. But I seem to recall... dare I say it, semi-cloth paper towels at the Contemporary? Or at least thicker paper towels than this. This would've been 2014-ish.... Perhaps I am wrong. Love that the mirror is rusting away at a Deluxe resort.

 

[tonystark]

Club sandwich, don't mind if I do... and a pasta salad instead of fries, because #HEALTH!!!! This was to be our main meal for the rest of the day, R ordered the same thing. I did have to pick around the olives in the pasta salad, but it was very good otherwise. At this point, R was dragging. Man had the thousand yard stare going on. So, at the end of our meal, he got himself an iced cold brew (the boy I am dating drinks coffee black. it's horrifying. I can't wrap my head around it. I'm always like "are you SURE you don't want syrup or something???" and then R says no, drinks it, and acts like he's enjoying it).

A closer look at the neglected concept art, and a nice little bit of orchid.

Marching back. I already had to pee, my kidneys remove DC from my bloodstream immediately.

Familiar? I sat on these benches for Boo Bash (remember her...) and we decided we would huddle over here and wait because it was like 3:15 (ughhhhhh not my intention but we couldn't drag out lunch any longer) and there were lunatics packed in the entryway baking in the sun and I couldn't bring myself to have us stand there.

The lunatics in question. It was horrifying tbh. I had to tell R like this is NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR (at least in my experience, I never waited in line to get into a party at 4 pm.)

Another angle. There has to be a better strategy for Disney re this congregation. It kind of felt like a safety concern the more people flocked together. This was about 3:40, at which time I had a realization.

The line was MUCH LARGER than I thought. Muttering curses under my breath, thinking of Bob Iger gleefully rubbing his hands together, I told R we should get in line. He looked at me as though I had suggested we leap off a bridge together (it was sweltering in the sun and standing motionless would not be fun), but I told him it would only get worse the longer we waited.

I don't remember what time the line actually started moving (it was close to 4, not more than a minute or two before), and people were miserable. I picked the wrong line because a group ahead of us had ticket problems. Ughhhh.

4:09, we were finally in. And received cloth bracelets (bring back the plastic hospital bands!!)
They were directing party guests to the right, down the behind-Main-Street alternative entrance/exit, but that's no way for a first timer to be introduced to the Magic Kingdom. So I figured we'd get treat bags later and ignored the directions, until we saw....

R did not shed a tear (nor I). However, Disney sure has capitalized off my childhood nostalgia, because nothing quite beats returning to Main Street after some time away.

 

[tonystark]

A family asked us to take their photograph as we made our way down Main Street, and R leapt into action (after proclaiming how big WDW is) They then asked if we wanted our photo taken, and below is the product.

Keep in mind we got up at 3:59 am!!! Loving my awkward stance. And awkward hand placement. Girlie what were you doing!!!

What ride would I take R on first? You may be surprised by what I wanted to take him on, and then decided against.

I'm entirely too predictable!!!

ATTRACTION ONE (the count begins). So, I actually wanted to go on Carousel of Progress first because I knew it wasn't going to be open during the party (ughhh) but then as we were walking down Main Street I wondered if that would be the first thing I would want to ride if it was my first time at MK and decided mmm perhaps not. So why not my favorite ride instead?

Hello, my friends, I am back...

Splash Mountain construction site looming over us. I will say it not running makes a noticeable difference on that side of the park. It felt really weird bypassing it when I would have ridden it while on that side of the park. It's also kind of empty with just BTMRR over there.

Fumbling with my waist pack (is that word still banned on this site lol) to get my house keys out.

I doff my cap to you, sir...

Excitedly elbowing your boyfriend in the ribs so that he sees an animatronic gravestone blink is a humbling experience. I don't think he saw it.

The stretching room was looking exceptionally pink this trip. Also, I totally lost my ability to see the little lights on the doors to pick the right one. Perhaps the daylight had blinded me, or I've lost my touch. Fortunately, no one obnoxiously spoke over the narration, so R got to experience that unblemished. Oh, I just realized I completely forgot to mention something. In line, I told R that this ride went upside down. He believed me. He spent considerable time in line tightening his hat and securing his belongings in his pockets. I was gleefully texting my friends who told me that I was cruel, but, ahhh I couldn't help myself.

Ahhh, it was good to be home... These ride vehicles certainly look unsafe if they are to go upside down....

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

However, this stuck out to me... I'm being trained to be even more detail oriented in school now, but it's really not that hard to shrink the text box they used so that the white fill isn't cutting into the body of the paragraph.... I digress.

I can’t unsee it!!!

I think your partially right about it being grad school related. I think it’s moreso related to your future profession.

Pharmacists tend to fall somewhere on the OCD scale (which is a good thing given the job) so in pharmacy school the best way to see 100 people absolutely lose their minds would be to have a glaring typo or bad formatting problem. I would suspect this would be similar in your future line of work.

And

for your chosen profession.

 

[sheriffwoody]

I took a photo of my oven on the way out. You laugh BUT on summer break I drove up to New York to visit my grandma and halfway through the 7 hour drive I convinced myself I had left the oven on broil after making some toast that morning (I had not but BESIDE THE POINT). Anyways, as you can see, the oven is off.

I do this with my straightener. I have myself convinced I never unplug it!!

I was going to say the same thing It's always my straightener or curling wand!! Used to be the garage door too, but our ring camera shows the garage now, so i can check to make sure I closed it Once time I left a candle burning for an ENTIRE WORK DAY and I still think about it all the time. I stopped burning candles for a long time after that.

Also, loving this report! My good friend just did this for her birthday in September. She flew down one day after she dropped her kids off at school, went to MNSSHP that night, flew back the next afternoon (her husband picked up the kids, don't worry). And on Spirit!

 

[Swissmiss]

The image of R securing everything while in line for HM made me giggle, as that is something we would do. My daughter’s boyfriend gets really nervous about rides and we were recently at DLP for an AP party night and as we were walking through the Pirates queue my daughter was telling her BF the drop is long and steep, etc, and I was trying to reassure him this wasn’t so because I could sense he was thinking about chickening out.

We get down to the loading area and I asked if we could be in the first row and the CM said no problem. My daughter and I start chatting about the time I was on a solo trip and I had the entire boat to myself. The boats come up and the CM says row 3 - WTH? - and then something like I heard you. So there we were alone in the middle of an otherwise empty boat . Poor J was so nervous throughout the ride, waiting for huge drops that never came (there are larger drops than at WDW, but none of them are Splash Mountain drops).

 

[tonystark]

Pharmacists tend to fall somewhere on the OCD scale (which is a good thing given the job) so in pharmacy school the best way to see 100 people absolutely lose their minds would be to have a glaring typo or bad formatting problem.

I told one of my professors that I wanted to wear a GoPro when I gross because I'll get home and start overthinking the cases I worked on LOL

Used to be the garage door too, but our ring camera shows the garage now, so i can check to make sure I closed it

an EXCELLENT use of technology!! I know some people take pictures of their front door when they leave to make sure they locked it, but I just throw myself against the door so hard my shoulder kind of aches and then I have a physical reminder as I walk to the car... I am Normal.

waiting for huge drops that never came

Funnily enough I did tell R while we were in line for Pirates that it was a steep drop LOL. He once again secured his belongings. I'm afraid he may never take me seriously in the future...

 

[tonystark]

R's first words after disembarking
"...It didn't go upside down."

No, silly, did you not see the toddlers on this ride!!! But it did, in fact, go backwards... There is a backwards drop... At a slow rate of speed.

One thing I didn't have time for this trip was shopping. But I did manage to pop into Memento Mori and was not particularly impressed with what I saw.

Who is wearing this? And why?

It was either cooling off a little or it was just an illusion from moving. I informed R about the bear on Tom Sawyer Island story from a few weeks back. He asked me if it was a grizzly bear... In Florida??????

Well, if you can't ride Splash Mountain, you might as well have this as ATTRACTION TWO.

Words to live by... Especially when R asks if we can share a dessert.

I told R that this was the most important decision he would ever make in his life. He chose the right hand side. Which is what I would have chosen. But I'm right handed.

A little bit of a disappointment to get row 1, but there wasn't an opportunity to ask the CM for something different. I just don't think it's very representative of the ride, so I knew that we would be back. R had fun, but I knew he could have MORE fun.

If there's one thing I can be relied upon to do, it's to take the same pictures every single trip.

Attraction 3? No, not yet... But we would be riding IASW. I fear it is a classic that all must endure. I pay my respects every time I go to MK, in fact.

No, my friends, this was to be ATTRACTION THREE. I feel like this is a good enough introduction to MK. I had actually trotted over here with the intention of riding COP. But guess what. It had closed at 5. Why an hour before the party started? I guess because it's used as a trick or treat location. I was actually really disappointed. I suppose there's always next time, but with a ride like COP, you never know what Bob Iger is going to do with it. Fortunately he seems to be currently distracted by raising prices and designing hideous merchandise.

I know where I'd rather be...

 

[tonystark]

School is holding me hostage thus my delays in updating this report but we are getting somewhere...

Oh to be a tiny plastic model person living in Progress City. Would it kill them to (CAREFULLY) dust this from time to time? And maybe straighten up the part of the monorail station that seems perilously close to completely falling over?

The years and years and years the members of this forum spent documenting, painstakingly, the construction progress on this ride. And I'm too afraid to ride it LOL. I tried to get R to ride it (I was ready willing and able to get him a boarding group), but he said he didn't like the corner he could see under the overhang/awning/whatever we are calling it and would prefer not to ride it. I tried to bully him but it didn't work.

This is perhaps the best photograph I have taken of this sign thus far!

I would be able to bully him into riding Space Mountain, however! This ride is probably scarier than Tron lol.

If we must... if we must endure this dreadful queue. Also did the sign always look this washed out and horrible for ATTRACTION FOUR or has Bob fallen on hard times because no one wants to purchase his loungewear and themed blazers?

Excellent theming here now with this wonderful wall! It really does feel like I'm in a prison with the alarms blaring. Excellent.

Buzz has seen better days. An update to his projection mapping would be nice, but it's probably done by the same person who dusts the Progress City model.

This was interesting. For a minute or two, fully occupied ride vehicles filtered through. The mural on the wall that I did not take a proper picture of looks nicely refurbished, however.

Certainly not my worst performance. I can live with this. R cockily proclaimed that he would beat me effortlessly, despite this being his first time riding, and with me in control of the joystick.

Oh, the shame I felt...

 

[tonystark]

I told you I'd get him on it and this would be ATTRACTION FIVE for us.

As you can see by the time, the park had officially closed to non-party guests. The app decided it didn't want to show me wait times anymore as I was trying to chart our next move whilst in line. My phone battery had dipped below the half way mark. Would she make it?

This woman's Tinkerbell wings appeared to be an extreme nuisance to her, especially when she had to wrestle her way out of them to get onto the ride.

Our chariot awaits. They had switched to the whole Halloween overlay thing (I guess that starts at 6???) which I had never experienced before. I kind of prefer the usual Space Mountain music tbh. And I missed the blue light tunnel... and the red light tunnel.

R proclaimed that Space had beaten him up and that he shouldn't have tensed so much. Yes... True... Lesson learned. I myself still get beat up even when I don't tense up. That's half the fun, right? ...Right?

We finally acquired treat bags and did our one and only trick or treat stop of the night. As an aside, I actually like the fudge brownie M&Ms, even though I thought they were going to be horrible. Flavored M&Ms (aside from the peanut butter ones) have never really done anything for me.

I still couldn't see wait times on the app but I was willing to run the risk.

Yes, ATTRACTION SIX, behind a Rocket Raccoon — his mother had sewn the tail onto the costume (I overheard). I guess he just sat on it when on rides? Better than leaving your tail behind, I suppose.

 

[tonystark]

Feeling a little like these guys this weekend. That shadow does not belong to me for I was not wearing ears.

it's the rum they want, dontcha boys??? ayyyyye we wants the rum....

The best dirtiest foot on the 7 seas. Arghhh.

R enjoyed Pirates a lot! When we came out, Powerline was performing, which I guess is a thing, because he was attracting quite the crowd. We had more important matters to attend to. Any guesses?

Oh, for certain.
Me: Do you want to get something?
R: I thought we would share....

I didn't want to share this. But relationships are all about compromises... It had been forever since I had an All-American sundae. However, I recall the ice cream for this one having some ice crystals. Boo!!!

Now without the ice cream... We were all by ourselves back here, which was nice. Horrible music for the party, though, so you don't get the fun little sounds of the singing lessons happening upstairs or anything.

The face of someone who loves sharing like truly really loves sharing. Especially dessert. Especially ice cream. I love sharing.

An aesthetic photo as we were getting our heads back in the game now that the sun was setting.

Got to stay hydrated whilst on the move. Casey's Corner was tonight's water spot, only for us to pass a water station outside of Casey's Corner in that little tunnel-esque area between it and Crystal Palace. Oops. At least there wasn't a line, and we got full sized cups.

 

[tonystark]

It's time for ATTRACTION SEVEN! Look at that girl's ponytail go lol. She was on the move!!! And the wait was not 15 minutes, it was however long it took for my little legs to carry me...

Here.

How happy is this cruise?

This happy!!!

Love how this guy just spins around at high speeds.

Having a ball!!! Right? Right!!!

Ah, there she is... My old friend.

Time to enjoy my favorite attraction for ATTRACTION EIGHT!

I think this is an interesting choice. The actress was funny, but with the amount of times we rode HM, we ended up hearing a few jokes again.

Back in the stretching room... With people speaking over the Ghost Host...