Trip Report If you can see the floor, there's room for more- COMPLETED!

Let's see, I figured, I'd at least start updating about the road to Disney since, I'm sure once we actually get to Disney, my brain will explode and I'll forget all about this stuff...

So let's start:

Preface: Who are JZSquared?

I posted my pre-trip report way back in the Stone-age, so to save you all a trip, I'll just reintroduce myself [er ourselves?] to you?

Hi my name is Lyssa.... I'm not a robot without emotions, I'm not what you see... SORRY, 80S ROCK STUCK IN MY HEAD AFTER LISTENING TO IT FOR EIGHT HOURS STRAIGHT.

My better half [though personally I think that's debatable] is Justin.

We're both teachers from Houston, Texas. I teach special ed preschool [I have mainly autistic students] and Justin teaches the other end of the spectrum.... He teaches AP Computer Science and Calculus BC in high school.

This is us:

[though currently my hair is bright Cheshire Cat fuchsia...]

Since we're both teachers, we're really limited in when we can actually visit the world. We're basically limited to school breaks and summer breaks AKA when everybody else in the US also visits Disney, so it's going to be mad crowded whenever we go. We decided to join the craziest of the crazies and travel to Disney during the most-crowded time of year, New Year's Eve... I mean we could've gone over the summer, I suppose, but winter weather > summer weather, especially since it seems Florida is going through a big of a cold front [it is currently 43 degrees in Milton, Florida], which makes me happy [my NJ blood craves the cold... Justin's thin Texas blood, not so much.]

We also decided to road trip there because we both really don't like flying even though it's supposedly one of the safest things you can do... but we also really like road trips and seeing the US [our honeymoon was a road trip up the west coast, and down through the center of the US, so we hit Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Parks] and when we worked out the finances, really flying and driving were about the same price, so we decided to drive to Disney instead, plus that gives me the leniency to buy as many Starbucks mugs as I want and not have to worry about stuffing them in luggage and flying them back in a cargo hold of a plane.

Anyways, welcome to our trip, I hope you enjoy following along. Expect it to be corny and cheesy, hopefully entertaining though [This is my first trip report]!

 

[Tuvalu]

@Tuvalu was this the video you were referring to?

Meet the Muppets at MGM

Indeed it is!

 

[Lyssa]

Indeed it is!

I wish I had seen it in person It looks pretty awesome I may or may not have watched it several times since I found the youtube clip LOL

 

[Songbird76]

I'm late to the party, but I'm here. So...just out of curiosity, being the self-proclaimed nerds (I'm totally with you!) that you are, was this ONLY a Disney trip or did you make time for...say...Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

(Fun note...I live in the Netherlands, but I'm American, so I've always spoken English to my kids, who are learning to speak it pretty well. My DD, 11, said to me the other day when I said "One less thing to worry about", "Mama, shouldn't it be one FEWER thing? Because you can count it....so then it's fewer, not less" So when I saw your "Around the world in less than 80 days" I totally heard my daughter asking me if it shouldn't be "fewer".)

 

[Lyssa]

Chapter 22: And The Rain Comes Down

On Wednesday, our day at the Magic Kingdom, we had the worst weather of the trip. We woke up and it was pouring rain, and it wasn't even a light drizzle, it was fast, and wet, and cold. The temperature was probably in the mid-thirties, and with the rain, it just felt so cold.

[this is my attempt to take a rain picture]

The bus to Magic Kingdom was practically empty when we got on it because nobody in their right mind [obviously, we were not normal people] would purposely choose to go out in that weather if they didn't have to.

But I mean, there was a slight advantage to showing up at the Magic Kingdom [where Mine Train was already reported closed due to the heavy rain], it was pretty much empty, which we were hoping meant that we could get more done.

The first ride we rode was Buzz Lightyear because Justin was still determined to get his Galactic Hero status.

Did he succeed this time?

He didn't even come close and he sulked about it for most of the rest of the day.

I didn't fare much better, as my score was way lower than it had been a few nights prior:

After BL, we saw that Space Mountain had a really short wait, and when I say short, I mean like 45 minutes, I think that's the lowest I've ever seen SM at in all the parks that I've been too, not that that I have too many to compare it to. Though we didn't wait 45 minutes, I'd say maybe at the most, it was maybe 25-30 minutes.

I mean, seriously, who would've known a dark mouse-coaster, with glow-in-the-dark stars, and bad 80s techno music would've been practically the most popular ride at Disney World when it was first made.

We got to ride a different side than we had ridden the night before, I don't know, which is which, so we went to the left this time instead of going to the right, and once again, being only a party of two people helped us cut a decent majority of the final section of the line.

The two sides seem mostly identical to me, but I enjoy the one on the right more for some reason, though I couldn't actually tell you why I did.

I enjoy the queue at the end of the ride:

There are a lot of shout-outs to Horizons within that queue, which I vaguely remember from going to Epcot with my grandparents. My papa really loved that ride. I'm sure most of you know about all of them, so they're not new to you, but for those who are curious, these are them:

• One of the bags in the baggage claim (located on visitors' left at the start of the exit moving sidewalk) features the words "Mesa Verde" written on it.
• The undersea post-show scene after the desert scene is reminiscent of a scene in Horizons. This scene was the only new scene added to the post-show in the refurbishment – all of the other scenes were tweaked or redressed. The flat-screen display in the new scene describes the scene as "20,000 Light-Years under the Sea," a pun on "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", which is a reference to both the original 70s post-show scene depicting a futuristic family watching the Disney movie of the same name, as well as to the defunct Magic Kingdom attraction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage
• The robot valet and futuristic city skyline, which is the last post-show diorama, are similar to a scene in Horizons and to the lounge that Disney used to operate in LAX.

[I copied those from Wikipedia, I was too young to remember most of those things]

And if you want a trip down memory-lane, or are just curious, here's a link to a video of that ride Horizons that I found on YouTube
Horizons: The Ride and here's an interesting article that talks about two uberfans of the ride, who literally broke onto the ride Horizons documentation

I really love reading about older rides and I love looking up YouTube videos of them, technology is pretty awesome when it comes to things like that.

I really wish I could experience all the defunct attractions from when I was little now. I understand that there are newer rides and newer sorts of technologies, also the younger generation of today is so fast-passed and doesn't have the patience for a fifteen minute ride like Horizons or a 20 minute ride like Ellen's Energy Adventure was, and people have different expectations for what a ride should be, but there's still something to be said about rides like Horizons, The World of Motion, and the Wonders of Life [which I probably remember most vividly out of all the attractions on this list]

I also really wish we had gotten a chance to see what was left of River Country, if anything was left, on this trip, by taking a boat from the Wilderness Lodge because I have an obsession with abandoned amusement parks, but we didn't nearly have enough time to accomplish all this.



Anyhow, I digress...

After SM, Justin really wanted to ride the Tomorrowland Speedway, and I have no idea why. I think he just wanted a reason to make car sounds without people looking at him funny, and there only a ten minute wait for Tomorrowland Speedway, so I can't really say no.

It was freezing and pouring and the cars were soaking wet. Justin enjoyed the ride [and was surprised by how long it was for a Disney ride] and making his car noises, but I was soaked and shivering.

We had a fast pass for Mine Train next, but since it was wet and pouring and cold, as you can guess Mine Train was closed, so it was finally time to ride Pooh

[and for some reason I took way too many pictures of Pooh, so I'll write about that in another entry]

 

[Lyssa]

I'm late to the party, but I'm here. So...just out of curiosity, being the self-proclaimed nerds (I'm totally with you!) that you are, was this ONLY a Disney trip or did you make time for...say...Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

Of course I went to Harry Potter land @Songbird76 we went there the day after the current day I'm writing actually we even got a VIP tour at Universal and Harry Potter land was amazing since I know so many Disney fans are Potter Fans, I was going to write about that too

 

[Lyssa]

Chapter 23: I took how many pictures of Pooh?

So we finally found the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the ride I was oh so eager to ride two nights ago, that we never found.

I guess I like Winnie the Pooh so much because when I was little my dad used to read me the book "Winnie the Pooh" every night before I went to bed. I even still have the book. It's old, the pages are yellowed, and the brown book binding is falling apart, but it's the same book that my dad and I would read every night, and I'll just always treasure those moments, and when I'm lucky enough to have a kid, I hope I can find a book [though knowing me it'll probably be Harry Potter] that I can read to him or her every night before they go to bed.

Really this is just a lot of picture spam for the ride, and not much dialogue

I thought the interactive playing area was really cute, I think they should include more things like that for rides in the future. Just sure seemed to enjoy it.

When I was little, my dad I would go hiking a lot, in fact, I really miss hiking, it's REALLY impossible to hike in Houston, for one thing, we don't exactly have woods near us, and secondly, it's freaking hot here, summers swelter in the 100s, and the humidity is suffocating, and even our winters aren't all that cold [the exception being this year] with temperature averaging between the 50s and 80s.

And anyhow, my dad and I would always play Pooh-sticks, whenever we went hiking and we saw a bridge. A few years back, my dad and I went hiking in the snow, and we found a stream that wasn't frozen over... and what did we do... we played pooh-sticks, yes a grown man, and his grown-up daughter played pooh-sticks and loved every second of it.

I think the whole queue is probably one of the best-themed ones out of all the rides. There's just so much detail, and so much to see, and so much to do, I really enjoy the immersive experience of it.

Everytime I see this picture, I get the song in my head and start singing it..

"A heffalump or woozle is very confusel, the heffalump or woozle is very sly, sly, sly, sly"

and you know you want to sing along

[This and Dumbo's Elephants on Parade are two of my favorite songs... not so sure what that says about me... but man would I love to know what the animators were thinking when they made those parts of the movies...]

And just because here's elephants on parade

After the ride, I checked the lines app to see what ride we should ride next, and Mine Train had reopened, so it was time to cash that FP in.

 

[LadyBelle]

We got to ride a different side than we had ridden the night before, I don't know, which is which, so we went to the left this time instead of going to the right, and once again, being only a party of two people helped us cut a decent majority of the final section of the line.

I believe Left is Alpha and Right is...Omega (Did I get that right @Tuvalu?).

 

[Songbird76]

Chapter 22: And The Rain Comes Down

On Wednesday, our day at the Magic Kingdom, we had the worst weather of the trip. We woke up and it was pouring rain, and it wasn't even a light drizzle, it was fast, and wet, and cold. The temperature was probably in the mid-thirties, and with the rain, it just felt so cold.

[this is my attempt to take a rain picture]

The bus to Magic Kingdom was practically empty when we got on it because nobody in their right mind [obviously, we were not normal people] would purposely choose to go out in that weather if they didn't have to.

But I mean, there was a slight advantage to showing up at the Magic Kingdom [where Mine Train was already reported closed due to the heavy rain], it was pretty much empty, which we were hoping meant that we could get more done.

The first ride we rode was Buzz Lightyear because Justin was still determined to get his Galactic Hero status.

Did he succeed this time?

He didn't even come close and he sulked about it for most of the rest of the day.

I didn't fare much better, as my score was way lower than it had been a few nights prior:

After BL, we saw that Space Mountain had a really short wait, and when I say short, I mean like 45 minutes, I think that's the lowest I've ever seen SM at in all the parks that I've been too, not that that I have too many to compare it to. Though we didn't wait 45 minutes, I'd say maybe at the most, it was maybe 25-30 minutes.

I mean, seriously, who would've known a dark mouse-coaster, with glow-in-the-dark stars, and bad 80s techno music would've been practically the most popular ride at Disney World when it was first made.

We got to ride a different side than we had ridden the night before, I don't know, which is which, so we went to the left this time instead of going to the right, and once again, being only a party of two people helped us cut a decent majority of the final section of the line.

The two sides seem mostly identical to me, but I enjoy the one on the right more for some reason, though I couldn't actually tell you why I did.

I enjoy the queue at the end of the ride:

There are a lot of shout-outs to Horizons within that queue, which I vaguely remember from going to Epcot with my grandparents. My papa really loved that ride. I'm sure most of you know about all of them, so they're not new to you, but for those who are curious, these are them:

• One of the bags in the baggage claim (located on visitors' left at the start of the exit moving sidewalk) features the words "Mesa Verde" written on it.
• The undersea post-show scene after the desert scene is reminiscent of a scene in Horizons. This scene was the only new scene added to the post-show in the refurbishment – all of the other scenes were tweaked or redressed. The flat-screen display in the new scene describes the scene as "20,000 Light-Years under the Sea," a pun on "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", which is a reference to both the original 70s post-show scene depicting a futuristic family watching the Disney movie of the same name, as well as to the defunct Magic Kingdom attraction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage
• The robot valet and futuristic city skyline, which is the last post-show diorama, are similar to a scene in Horizons and to the lounge that Disney used to operate in LAX.

[I copied those from Wikipedia, I was too young to remember most of those things]

And if you want a trip down memory-lane, or are just curious, here's a link to a video of that ride Horizons that I found on YouTube
Horizons: The Ride and here's an interesting article that talks about two uberfans of the ride, who literally broke onto the ride Horizons documentation

I really love reading about older rides and I love looking up YouTube videos of them, technology is pretty awesome when it comes to things like that.

I really wish I could experience all the defunct attractions from when I was little now. I understand that there are newer rides and newer sorts of technologies, also the younger generation of today is so fast-passed and doesn't have the patience for a fifteen minute ride like Horizons or a 20 minute ride like Ellen's Energy Adventure was, and people have different expectations for what a ride should be, but there's still something to be said about rides like Horizons, The World of Motion, and the Wonders of Life [which I probably remember most vividly out of all the attractions on this list]

I also really wish we had gotten a chance to see what was left of River Country, if anything was left, on this trip, by taking a boat from the Wilderness Lodge because I have an obsession with abandoned amusement parks, but we didn't nearly have enough time to accomplish all this.



Anyhow, I digress...

After SM, Justin really wanted to ride the Tomorrowland Speedway, and I have no idea why. I think he just wanted a reason to make car sounds without people looking at him funny, and there only a ten minute wait for Tomorrowland Speedway, so I can't really say no.

It was freezing and pouring and the cars were soaking wet. Justin enjoyed the ride [and was surprised by how long it was for a Disney ride] and making his car noises, but I was soaked and shivering.

We had a fast pass for Mine Train next, but since it was wet and pouring and cold, as you can guess Mine Train was closed, so it was finally time to ride Pooh

[and for some reason I took way too many pictures of Pooh, so I'll write about that in another entry]

You might be surprised about the patience/attention span of kids today...my kids LOVED Ellen's energy adventure when we went in 2016...DS was 8 and DD had just turned 10. DD also LOVES Carousel of Progress. And they really liked Spaceship Earth, though DD got tired of it after the 4th or 5h time we rode it because it kept stopping and then our pictures at the end didn't work. But I think both my kids would have LOVED World of Motion and Horizons. I don't remember the Wonders of Life...I'll have to look that up on youtube. But my kids are both super into educational things. I think we often underestimate kids today, thinking they don't want to learn, but that's what I LOVE about Epcot....it's my favorite park because it made learning so much fun.

 

[Songbird76]

Of course I went to Harry Potter land @Songbird76 we went there the day after the current day I'm writing actually we even got a VIP tour at Universal and Harry Potter land was amazing since I know so many Disney fans are Potter Fans, I was going to write about that too

Yay!!! I'm a huge Potterhead. I can't wait!!

 

[Lyssa]

You might be surprised about the patience/attention span of kids today...my kids LOVED Ellen's energy adventure when we went in 2016...DS was 8 and DD had just turned 10. DD also LOVES Carousel of Progress. And they really liked Spaceship Earth, though DD got tired of it after the 4th or 5h time we rode it because it kept stopping and then our pictures at the end didn't work. But I think both my kids would have LOVED World of Motion and Horizons. I don't remember the Wonders of Life...I'll have to look that up on youtube. But my kids are both super into educational things. I think we often underestimate kids today, thinking they don't want to learn, but that's what I LOVE about Epcot....it's my favorite park because it made learning so much fun.

It's my favorite park too @Songbird76 I wish Justin liked it as much of me. I know as a kid, I loved rides like Horizons and I still love Carousel of Progress, and I know other kids do, I just think society, as a whole, sort of underestimates kids, and I think that's a lot of the reasons that more classic and longer rides get refurbished

Yay!!! I'm a huge Potterhead. I can't wait!!

Potterland is amazing

 

[21stamps]

Chapter Five: And we're rolling, rolling, rolling on a river

I hated the movie Avatar.

I saw it on Valentine's Day, with a friend, and we saw it in IMAX, and I actually had to leave before the movie ended because the movie was making me sick and giving me a migraine.

I did eventually finish the movie, and I still hated it.

That being said,I still went to Pandora with an open-mind, and the pictures all made it look so pretty.

The line for Flight of Passage was so long that while walking to Pandora, we actually had to be rerouted to another entrance. The standby wait for FoP was three-hundred something minutes.

The line for Na'Vi River Journey wasn't really much better... I think it was something like 120 minutes.

I do give Pandora this, it really is a visually splendid place.

[I swear this looks like Treebeard from Lord of the Rings about to wreck some havoc on Orcs]

Now what to say about Na'Vi River Journey? I wish the 120 minutes I wasted waiting on that line could be given back to me. Though, at one point, a couple in front of gave up on waiting, and the cast member, who was working the line, jokingly said to us "That's three less minutes off your wait," which I suppose would make it 117 minutes, we waited.

The queue itself was visually stunning, and for some reason I took like 100 pictures of this lamp, so I must've really liked this lamp.

The sort of represented some sort of time-line? I don't quite remember the description of it aside from it being some sort of time-net, which totally sounds like something that belongs on Doctor Who. Though I don't think the fan was invented on Pandora, nor do I think the Na'vi would have had any interest in a ceiling fan.

The wait said 120 minutes, but I swear it was much longer. We even missed our KS fast pass and I couldn't rebook it because there were none left, so I guess it was a good thing that we had ridden it earlier.

I played a lot of gameboy on that line. My fire emblem awakening team was seriously almost where I wanted them to be by the time we finished that ride.

Eventually we got on the ride.

This is my ONLY picture from the ride that actually came out.

My verdict: DO NOT WAIT LONGER THAN MAYBE 30 MINUTES FOR THIS RIDE, maybe even fifteen.

It just was not worth the wait. It's basically a Na'Vi Pirates of the Caribbean, only it's starring the Shaman of Songs instead of Johnny Depp. The coolest part was probably the Shaman of Songs. But the ride itself was only maybe 3 minutes long, and while it's sort of visually appealing, you can have the same visual appeal, if you just walk in Pandora, at night. The ride just wasn't anything special. It was super short, and I waited over two hours for it, and it just was not worth it to me. I just had no interest in the ride. There was no story, and by the time I got on the ride, I was just ****ed I had waited for two hours, and the ride was nothing special, at all. I didn't feel emotionally invested in it, I wasn't impressed with anything.

And that has NOTHING to do with my lack of love for Avatar because I loved Flight of Passage. Def choose a FoP fastpass over Na'Vi River Journey, that's two hours you could be spending on good rides, instead of waiting for a boat ride that looks like it belongs on a black light poster in a college dorm room.

That's just my opinion though, I'm not trying to offend anyone, just giving my two-cents. After all I absolutely love Journey into Imagination, and I'm sure people feel the way about that ride that I did about Na'Vi River Journey.

After the boat ride of disappointment, I was thirsty [maybe from waiting in line for over two hours]. Justin and I decided to try some of the Pandora themed drinks from Pongu Pongu Lounge.

[This looks like a sad transformer to me]

I got the Night Blossom and Justin got the Mo’Ara Margarita.

First of all, I consider myself to be a Boba connoisseur, and I am sad to say that this boba was unlike any other boba and not in a good way. It basically popped in your mouth, sort of like gusher's fruit snacks, if anyone remembers those, and I really like chewy boba.

But boba woes aside, I enjoyed my Night Blossom. It sort of tasted like rainbow sherbet. I like rainbow sherbet. Justin enjoyed his margarita too, but he said it wasn't very strong.

While sipping my wannabe unicorn frappuccino, I got this notification on my phone:

Well, I guess it was good thing I wasn't planning on going there.

Then it was onwards to Dinoland for our fast pass for Dinosaur...

The first thing I thought when I saw this photo- “kinda looks like a unicorn Frappuccino”... then I read your ‘wannabe’ line.. perfect description!

 

[Lyssa]

The first thing I thought when I saw this photo- “kinda looks like a unicorn Frappuccino”... then I read your ‘wannabe’ line.. perfect description!

That's really what it was, LOL, I never tried to Unicorn Frappuccinno, but I imagine it probably tasted something like that

 

[21stamps]

That's really what it was, LOL, I never tried to Unicorn Frappuccinno, but I imagine it probably tasted something like that

I never had one either.. drinking a sweet tart just didn’t sound appetizing to me. My kid kept asking for one though, tried twice to get it for him, but both times were in the evening and they were already sold out for the day.
Not too terribly upset about missing out on that craze

 

[Lyssa]

I never had one either.. drinking a sweet tart just didn’t sound appetizing to me. My kid kept asking for one though, tried twice to get it for him, but both times were in the evening and they were already sold out for the day.
Not too terribly upset about missing out on that craze

Same, my husband tried to get me one because I love unicorns and starbucks, and he said they were sold out at all of the four Starbucks near us, it was pretty crazy, but I'm really not that upset about not drinking it

 

[Songbird76]

It's my favorite park too @Songbird76 I wish Justin liked it as much of me. I know as a kid, I loved rides like Horizons and I still love Carousel of Progress, and I know other kids do, I just think society, as a whole, sort of underestimates kids, and I think that's a lot of the reasons that more classic and longer rides get refurbished



Potterland is amazing

I went when Hogsmeade first opened in 2010...it opened in June and we went in July. HUGE mistake. It was so packed we couldn't DO anything....there were wait times up to an hour just to get into the STORES. It was insane. I soooo want to go back now that they've added Diagon Alley and it's not so incredibly busy.

I think it's so sad that EPCOT isn't what it used to be. We LOVED the educational aspect of it. I don't know how many times we went on World of Motion when I was a kid. It was one of our favorites. And I'm pretty sure we loved horizons too...I know there was one that the end creeped me out, but I don't remember which it was...it was a class taking a field trip, and I want to say it was either in space or under water, but it terrified me as I didn't want to do that and I was scared they would come up with this technology in a few months and I'd have to do it. I think it was probably under water and I was terrified of sharks.

 

[Lyssa]

Chapter 24: Try the gray stuff it's delicious

As soon as we finished Pooh, Mine Train was open according to the Lines app, and it just so happened to be directly across from Pooh, so we cashed in our fast pass, and headed towards the ride.

Already when the ride had probably been open for less than twenty minutes, the standby wait was already at about an hour, even with our FP, we still had to wait about twenty minutes, but there was a really nice heated rock in the waiting queue, and I was freezing so I tried to warm myself up via the rock.

Justin and I somehow lucked out and were in the very back row for the ride.

I don't really have anything bad to say about the ride. I read in a lot of places that it was short, granted it wasn't the 15 minute long Horizons or the 20 minute Ellen's Energy Ride, but I didn't think it was that short.

Snow White's Scary Adventures had always been one of my favorite rides to ride with my grandparents, so I sort of missed that a little, but it is in Disneyland along with Mr. Toad's Wild Ride [which was one of Justin's favorite rides], so it's not like I can never ride it again [and I did in 2015 when we were in DL], so I'm okay with "New Fantasyland." To be honest, I was so young last time I went to DW, I don't really remember "old Fantasyland."

Justin and I enjoyed Mine Train. It's not a ride I'd probably wait very long for, but if the opportunity arose, I'd ride it, I'd love to ride it at night, roller coasters are more fun at night to me.

After Mine train, we didn't have a lot of time before our ADR at Be Our Guest, but we had some time, however, it wasn't really enough time to actually really ride anything we wanted to ride, so we decided it was time to warm up and wound up at:

It it hadn't been so wet and cold, I might've actually tried LeFou's brew though frozen apple juice with marshmallow- not sure what I would think of that- I like both of those items separately, but not sure how they'd blend together.

But we were freezing, so instead we each bought a coffee and split a cinnamon roll.

The coffee was coffee, but the cinnamon roll was delicious. And it was the perfect place to sit in for like twenty minutes, warm up, check our gameboy streetpass, and kill time before lunch.

Finally it was time for lunch at the hardest to get ADR ever, Be Our Guest:

I had preordered because on all the trip reports I read here, it was the suggested thing to do, and considering the long line of people, who need to order, it was definitely the right choice.

However, the one thing I didn't like, and it was probably because it was literally the day of, or maybe it was because I was using the Disney app on my phone, I couldn't adjust or tweak my order after I had made it because I was freezing cold and wet and really wanted to add French onion soup to my order, but couldn't find an easy way to do it, so I just gave up. I guess next time, I'll just over-order, in case it's rainy and miserable again.

Anyhow I was happy that we had found seating in the West Wing, which is really the only dining room I wanted to eat in.

[I was very happy with how my pictures of the rose came out]

Not that that prevented me from exploring the other dining rooms:

Justin and I had almost the exact same thing:

We each had the french dip and french fries. The French dip was really good. Justin's only complaint was that they didn't give him enough dip, so he kept on staring at me as I ate, hoping I'd leave some of my dip for him to finish off his sandwich with [I did, he was happy]. My complaint was their french fries. Their french fries were awful, it tasted like I eating sticks of salt, and not enough ketchup in the world could save me from the awfulness of those fries.

For desert I had the Master's cupcake because I really wanted to try "the gray stuff." It was delicious. I thought it just really tasted like very whipped vanilla frosting to me. I know I've read it's cookies & cream, but I tasted more vanilla than anything. And my cupcake was mostly frosting. It was hardly any cake, and like 80% frosting, but I'm not complaining, I LOVE FROSTING, when I was younger, I'd literally buy tubs of frosting and eat them by themselves. It was a good cupcake though.

Justin had the chocolate cupcake. He said it wasn't anything amazing, but it was tasty.

We both liked Be Our Guest a lot, Justin said it was his 2nd favorite restaurant of the trip [his first was beaches & cream], and we probably will go back there again, when we go back to Disney [which realistically won't be till 2021, after the new lands are open, as well as the Light Cycle Power Run], but Justin was thinking of switching it up and going there for dinner instead of lunch, but we have plenty of time to plan all that out

After lunch, it was time to hit up more rides.

 

[Lyssa]

I went when Hogsmeade first opened in 2010...it opened in June and we went in July. HUGE mistake. It was so packed we couldn't DO anything....there were wait times up to an hour just to get into the STORES. It was insane. I soooo want to go back now that they've added Diagon Alley and it's not so incredibly busy.

I think it's so sad that EPCOT isn't what it used to be. We LOVED the educational aspect of it. I don't know how many times we went on World of Motion when I was a kid. It was one of our favorites. And I'm pretty sure we loved horizons too...I know there was one that the end creeped me out, but I don't remember which it was...it was a class taking a field trip, and I want to say it was either in space or under water, but it terrified me as I didn't want to do that and I was scared they would come up with this technology in a few months and I'd have to do it. I think it was probably under water and I was terrified of sharks.

Don't go during Christmas/NYE either @Songbird76 We went to Universal the day after we went to Magic Kingdom, so it was Jan 4th, and luckily we had a VIP tour of Universal so we actually got to ride all the rides, but Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade were so crowded that we couldn't even do most of the stuff there after our tour, the line for butterbeer alone was about 1.5 hours, and there were so many people in those tiny sections that we couldn't even get through the crowds. I was so sad it was so busy and we really didn't get to enjoy it at all

Also, I think the ride that creeped you out was Horizons because there was a scene where they went on a field trip under water

 

[Songbird76]

Don't go during Christmas/NYE either @Songbird76 We went to Universal the day after we went to Magic Kingdom, so it was Jan 4th, and luckily we had a VIP tour of Universal so we actually got to ride all the rides, but Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade were so crowded that we couldn't even do most of the stuff there after our tour, the line for butterbeer alone was about 1.5 hours, and there were so many people in those tiny sections that we couldn't even get through the crowds. I was so sad it was so busy and we really didn't get to enjoy it at all

Also, I think the ride that creeped you out was Horizons because there was a scene where they went on a field trip under water

That's EXACTLY what happened with us in Hogsmeade...it was like closing time at Disney, where everyone is trying to leave the park at once and you can hardly walk, only no one was leaving....they were just trying to move around within Hogsmeade. I waited almost an hour to get into the shop with the wands, and then totally got clobbered once I made it to the wand section. It was so packed, you couldn't actually get up to the wands and people behind you would see the wand they wanted and try to reach above your head to get to it...it was awful. And then there was the line to pay if you actually wanted to buy something, which I gave up...my husband was outside waiting with the kids, who were 2 and 4. I didn't have another 30-45 minutes to wait in line to pay. So I gave up and we left. We were with friends who lived there in Kissimmee and my Friend's husband called universal to complain that we had come all the way from the Netherlands just to see Hogsmeade and I couldn't even get a freaking wand because it was so packed. They met with him and gave him a free wand for me, so that was nice. But we wouldn't be able to go over Christmas/NYE anyway...the break is only 2 weeks and if the kids aren't in school when it's in session you get in big trouble and get all sorts of fines, etc. We just transferred my son to a different school because he was being bullied so badly that it wasn't safe to send him to school and we had to get special permission to keep him home until we found a new school for him. It's really strict here. So that wouldn't be an option for us anyway, but it makes me sad that anyone else has that experience...you pay so much to go there and then to not be able to really experience it is such a shame!!

 

[Lyssa]

But we wouldn't be able to go over Christmas/NYE anyway...the break is only 2 weeks and if the kids aren't in school when it's in session you get in big trouble and get all sorts of fines, etc. We just transferred my son to a different school because he was being bullied so badly that it wasn't safe to send him to school and we had to get special permission to keep him home until we found a new school for him. It's really strict here. So that wouldn't be an option for us anyway, but it makes me sad that anyone else has that experience...you pay so much to go there and then to not be able to really experience it is such a shame!!

J and I are both teachers, so we're very limited to when we can actually go, and we only have two weeks too, but it was really the only time we could go even though we knew it would be super crowded. It stinks having to go when everyone else has off too, LOL.

Sorry about your son getting bullied

 

[Songbird76]

For us, coming from overseas, if we're going to pay for flights, we're going to make it a nice long trip, and then we need to have a week to get de-jetlagged. So we need a few weeks vacation time. But yes, it DOES stink having to go when everyone else goes! I'm trying to convince my husband we need to go for our 25th anniversary when the kids are grown, just the two of us so we can go for food and wine festival. It's only 9 years away....
I take it this was your first trip to WWoHP?? Will you plan to go back sometime in the summer?

As for my son, it all worked out for the best. He has autism and he now goes to a special education school that is exclusively for kids with Autism, ADHD, or Oppositional disorder and it's AMAZING. He's so much better off. Not that I'm grateful he was bullied, but we're in a much better place about it now that he's happy and where he belongs.