Trip Report "It's Not That Kind of Trip" Trip Report

Okay, so here's what it's not...

It's not a "Senior Week" Trip - well, it kind of is. For our daughter and three friends. But we are just going to be there at the same time, in a different resort, as a just in case safety valve (two of the kids are still under 18).

It's not an "Adults Only" Trip - well, it kind of is. Once we get to WDW, we will say farewell to the kids. But we are doing one dinner with them and driving down and back with them. Oh, and we are also meeting up and doing some touring and meals with some friends while down there and they have 10 year old.

It's not a "First Time Since COVID" Trip - well, it kind of is. We've actually been twice since they reopened, last July and November (and @MeffysMom also went in March) - but this is the first time since restrictions have started to be lifted and my first since vaccination.

It's not a "Try New Things" Trip - well, it kind of is. Obviously, there are no new attractions since our last visit - we had been hoping that Remy or the Guardians or possibly Tron and Clu might have showed up early... or maybe Space 220 (ha!). However we are doing some new dining experiences (different meals at familiar restaurants or new restaurants).

It's not a "Last Minute" Trip - well, it kind of is. Our daughter has been talking about and planning her Senior Week trip since Middle School. But, with COVID, and some wary friends, and changes in friend groups - this trip didn't really come together until a few months ago (which for a trip 6+ years in the making creates a kind of last minute feel) and since COVID restrictions are changing literally by the minute the plans are still changing.

It's not a "Crazy Planners" Trip - well, it kind of is. As some of you have read in my previous Trip Reports, we have a history of doing extensive planning. Not so this time. In fact, the only attraction on our plans is getting Rise passes. Otherwise we are playing our attractions by ear. But our meals are definitely planned and reserved and adjusted and re-planned and re-reserved. And, our daughter has been tracking wait times in a VERY detailed manner to make sure that she and her friends maximize their time.

And, as of this afternoon's announcement, it's not a "Fireworks are Back" Trip since our last day is June 26th... close, but no cigar.

Okay, so now you know what this trip isn't. So, what is it going to be? Yeah we really aren't sure either. But that isn't going to stop me from a trip report! @MeffysMom and I are both high school teachers and our last day for this school year is tomorrow so I'm hoping to bring you some Pre-Trip action and also some fun pictures from the past (especially for those who haven't traveled with us before) tomorrow and Thursday before we hit the road on Friday morning. See you soon!

 

[ferbtones]

Yay to @MeffysMom being a Gareth Bale fan. He plays for my fave team Tottenham Hotspur.
Wales are through so hopefully she will get chance to see him again.

Loving the trip report.

 

[Swissmiss]

I must admit that I was watching the other game being played at the same time and was hoping Wales let in more goals than they did…

 

[Bullseye1967]

Following along!!

 

[brifraz]

Yay to @MeffysMom being a Gareth Bale fan. He plays for my fave team Tottenham Hotspur.
Wales are through so hopefully she will get chance to see him again.

Loving the trip report.

Thanks! And COYS. We are both members of the Baltimore Spurs Club. When I was young, I was a big Spurs fan (early 80s), but then moved to being a Newcastle fan - both because of the beer sponsorship in the 90s and them being the closest EPL team to Scotland (Aberdeen FC is my REAL team, but getting to watch them here in the US is a rare pleasure). About 10 years ago we happened upon the Baltimore Spurs folks and fell in with them. But, as my wife will occasionally lament, I never met a soccer game that I won't watch regardless of the teams.

 

[brifraz]

Good (somewhat early again) morning from WDW. Had a good, but VERY long day yesterday. And heading to Magic Kingdom in about an hour, so here we go!

As you might recall, yesterday was an early wake up for the big running. @MeffysMom ran about 8 miles around the Epcot resort complex and I walked about 3. It was actually interesting discovering some of the paths that are a little less traveled.

After the exercise, we headed back to Saratoga and cooled off and allowed muscles to relax a bit with time chilling in the pool. Again, we had planned on just making our way to Epcot when we were a bit rejuvenated and didn't expect to be there until afternoon. But... we were ready to get going by 9:30am! Which meant we found ourselves in the line of cars waiting for the parking lots to open. They opened up the parking about 9:45am and then the tapstiles were open a little bit after 10am. And, yes, there was a rope drop on each of the side paths! It dropped a little after 10:30am and we were in one of the first theatres for Soarin'.

And then it was time for one of my all time favorites, Living with the Land. Now, I'm not sure if you all have been following the news about LwtL, but I did find it necessary to take this picture this morning. Please note that no cucumbers were harmed.

It was about 11:20am now and that meant it was time to head into World Showcase and start enjoying some food and drink! I'll share that soon.

 

[brifraz]

Our first stop was at the Honey Bee-stro for the Tupelo Honey and Sweet Corn Spoon Bread and the Lavender Honey Mustard marinated chicken flatbread. Both were delicious. @MeffysMom was pretty sure that she could exist eating solely the spoon bread!

And, where did we eat these delicious dishes? Why, at the Rose and Crown, of course. And we had to wash it down with a Carl's Combo (AKA, a Golden - Bass and Harp).

And we were absolutely delighted to be able to stand at the bar while we ate and drank and catch up with Carl. If you don't know Carl, then you should! He's the weekday bartender there, and often times called the mayor of Epcot - he's be at World Showcase for over 20 years now and we've been visiting and chatting with him for the last 12 years. He likes to recall when our daughter was little and he would amaze her with bar tricks and brain teasers!

Next up was just some walking and touring in World Showcase. Similar to Hollywood Studios, we decided to do the DVC Selfie scavenger hunt activity - and again, I'm going to make you wait a little while for those pictures! But we walked all the way to the American pavilion and then back toward Canada. In Canada, at the Northern Bloom stand, my wife grabbed the Beef Tenderloin Tips with whipped potatoes (still a bit exhausted from running, heavy protein and starch was really appealing to her) and we took that to the World Showplace pavilion where I got the Potato and Cheddar biscuit with salmon tartare.

She really enjoyed the beef tenderloin, but I wasn't totally enamored with the biscuit and salmon (it wasn't bad, just not the best). For drinks, she got the Goose Island Lost Palate Mango Hazy IPA with Cinnamon - which was surprisingly delicious, but definitely a unique flavor.

I had the Samuel Smith's Organic Lager, which I have had many times in the past and it always is satisfying. But, no picture on that one. We then headed back over to Rose and Crown to chat a little more with Carl and say farewell in case we don't see him on Friday. At this point, with well over 11 miles run/walked for @MeffysMom, it was time to head back to Saratoga and get a good nap in.

And, nicely, her nap could coincide with me watching some more from the Euro 2020!

 

[brifraz]

After a healthy hour long nap and happy to see Denmark winning their match (yes, since last week's near tragedy with a player we really like at the first Denmark match, we have become huge supporters of them in this tournament) we decided to get going again for the evening. And, what would you do if you had already walked/run over 11 miles on the day? Yup, walk from Saratoga to Old Key West. Why not!?

Once at OKW, we caught a bus up to the front of the resort so we could get some dinner (yes, and drinks) at the Gurgling Suitcase. And catch up with another friend that we have made over the years at Disney, Lorna the evening bartender there. @MeffysMom also really loves their signature drink, the Turtle Krawl and we were lucky enough to be the only folks in the place so we got the one table that is there right now.

There were some pretty big storms rolling in at this point (about 5pm) so that Turtle Krawl had to step outside for a more exciting picture with the heavy clouds.

For food, they have a simply awesome pulled pork nachos dish that uses thick (house made) potato chips instead of tortilla chips and gouda cheese. Can't recommend it highly enough!

As we ate and drank, it got a little more crowded in there and we invited a couple folks to sit at the table with us, so it was nice to make a couple new friends there! By 6pm or so, we were ready to get back to Epcot and the storm had passed, so we caught a bus over there. Once back in the park, there was zero wait for Spaceship Earth, so of course we had to ride... and plan out our future with Dame Judi Dench.

Then it was back to World Showcase again for some more walking, shopping, eating, and drinking. Only one last food and drink picture for the night and that's from the Jardin de Fiestas booth near Mexico which had two delicious plates - the Tostada de Conchinita and the Sope de Chorizo (with vegetarian chorizo). And a rather odd and somewhat interesting garden margarita (with lettuce juice, chile liqueur, and agave gin).

We did also grab some drinks around the Showcase in Italy, but it was back to raining a decent bit at that point so we didn't get any pictures. While we toured and enjoyed, there was a LOT of activity going on in the lagoon - six different boats running around to the different platforms (okay, tacos and portal) and lights going on and off regularly.

We headed out a little bit after 10pm and back to our room, but were delighted to get this picture from a little after midnight as our daughter got to watch Harmonious testing from the Boardwalk!!

Well, now it is time to catch the bus to Magic Kingdom, so I will see you all later!

 

[brifraz]

Just here to post a quick tease of today's Magic Kingdom time. Heading to Disney Springs for an early dinner (and some Scotland in the Euros on tv) at CityWorks. All today's details and pictures tonight or maybe tomorrow morning!

 

[brifraz]

Okay, not tonight. Just too tired to write a full post and get all the pictures transferred over to the computer. Sorry! Tomorrow afternoon will likely be when I get today's Magic Kingdom adventures (and lots of rain) sorted through for you. Tomorrow morning is early wake up and get to Animal Kingdom, but then a nice afternoon break should give me time to post!

 

[brifraz]

Once again coming to you from the very early morning. I should be able to at least get half our Magic Kingdom day in here for you. We took our time waking up and getting going and maybe forgot a little bit that MK opened at 8am, but also maybe just decided not to rush in the morning. We got ourselves onto a bus a little before 8am and were headed through the gates at about 8:35am. I can't really ever speak to crowd levels very well and right now I'm definitely bad at it. Most of our trips are peakest of the peak crowds (Christmas week, Easter week, July 4th week, and Princess Half) and our last two trips have been during the pandemic, so all I can say is that the crowds are definitely somewhere between the two! For the day at Magic Kingdom, we never really saw lines going much over an hour.

Our original plan was to head to Jungle Cruise first to see the latest updates, but the wait was already over 30 minutes and we just didn't feel it was worth that today! So, we headed to Pirates first - that's us in the back of the boat.

Next up was the wildest ride in the wilderness. It was showing a 10 minute wait right when we arrived, but almost as soon as we entered the queue it was up to 20 minutes and by the time we were off it was at 35 minutes. I'd say we waited about 15 minutes. We were lucky enough to score the front row, though!

All the while during these adventures, we were finding the DVC Selfie spots and getting those pictures taken (remember, I'm sharing all of them later... it will be an obnoxious post with a ton of selfies). Looking at the lines, we decided to head back to Ariel.

On this one, there were some issues. Again, we got into line when it showed a 10 minutes wait. But, while we were in the queue, the ride evidently went down a few times, so we waited about 30 minutes and when we finally got out of the ride, it was showing 55 minutes - and the exit was through Ariel's Grotto since the queue was now past the normal exit area, which was more than a little odd (seeing the two picture areas for Ariel...hmmm...).

We headed toward Tomorrowland with really only one thing in mind. A ride on a family favorite, the long awaited return of the TTA Peoplemover! It had been showing 'temporarily unavailable' off and on most of the morning, so we were a bit wary, but we did manage to get on after about a 10-15 minutes wait. Pretty early in the ride, we were stuck for a couple minutes near the entrance to Tomorrowland...

...but eventually we got moving again and had to get a picture of the latest progress on what I'm sure will be our daughters favorite ride in the future! As a big Tron fan growing up (and still), I'm pretty excited as well.

We had finished our Selfie Scavenger Hunt by this point, so we stopped at the DVC kiosk in Tomorrowland for our prize (just a cute button, but that's fine by us) and chatted with the DVC folks there who were in great spirits this morning! It was getting pretty warm and we wanted a little down time before our late lunch/early dinner/soccer games at CityWorks, so we started heading out of the park. Took our time and walked through a number of the shops and as we were about to leave we did manage to catch a strange meeting of very different worlds in the Disney universe.

Just a little bit odd... Back to Saratoga Springs we went for a quick nap and I'll be back with dinner and then back at the Magic Kingdom after/during lots of storms.

 

[cgersic]

I've wanted to go to Saratoga just to eat/drink at the Gurgling Suitcase just from your trip reports! I really need to get it on my Stacey's Must Do List!

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

We are up really early this morning because @MeffysMom began training for a full marathon a couple months ago and despite our 6-10 miles of walking each day, she has a regimen to at least stay close to.

So impressive that @MeffysMom is staying so focused on training!

But, as my wife will occasionally lament, I never met a soccer game that I won't watch regardless of the teams.

This is my problem with women's college/WNBA basketball. My hubby knows all the teams and remembers a LOT of names from the past....he's sweet to indulge/humor me.

And then it was time for one of my all time favorites, Living with the Land. Now, I'm not sure if you all have been following the news about LwtL, but I did find it necessary to take this picture this morning. Please note that no cucumbers were harmed.

So glad they didn't have to make any serious changes to the LAND after somebody's VERY POOR Decision!

And we were absolutely delighted to be able to stand at the bar while we ate and drank and catch up with Carl. If you don't know Carl, then you should! He's the weekday bartender there, and often times called the mayor of Epcot - he's be at World Showcase for over 20 years now and we've been visiting and chatting with him for the last 12 years. He likes to recall when our daughter was little and he would amaze her with bar tricks and brain teasers!

Aaaaaaawwwwwwwww...happy you got to see him! I'll be looking for two of my favorite CM's while there--Brian at Beaches and Cream and Howard the Photographer at HS!

And, what would you do if you had already walked/run over 11 miles on the day? Yup, walk from Saratoga to Old Key West. Why not!?

At the end of the trip, can you give us a mile count of how many miles you walked? We always love looking at our mile count each day were in Disney and are usually surprised to see what the longest day of walking was.

Next up was the wildest ride in the wilderness. It was showing a 10 minute wait right when we arrived, but almost as soon as we entered the queue it was up to 20 minutes and by the time we were off it was at 35 minutes. I'd say we waited about 15 minutes. We were lucky enough to score the front row, though!

I LOVE The FRONT ROW... it's just as exciting as the back for me! I am really curious: Is the plexiglass still covering the windows inside the line queue?? Cause that crossbreeze is a lifesaver!

 

[brifraz]

I've wanted to go to Saratoga just to eat/drink at the Gurgling Suitcase just from your trip reports! I really need to get it on my Stacey's Must Do List!

Careful there! Gurgling Suitcase is at Old Key West, not SSR. I wouldn't call it some amazing pub or anything, but the staff are wonderful, they have some great signature drinks (that are not elsewhere at WDW), and full access to the menu from Olivia's (plus the pulled pork nachos) certainly are big plusses.

 

[brifraz]

So impressive that @MeffysMom is staying so focused on training!

It is definitely impressive, but also a necessity - if you skip a week with preparing for a marathon, you basically regress about two weeks which make it very tough to run the marathon that she is planning to!

At the end of the trip, can you give us a mile count of how many miles you walked? We always love looking at our mile count each day were in Disney and are usually surprised to see what the longest day of walking was.

I'll try to remember! We tend to average about 6-7 miles a day on most trips. This trip will likely be a little under that, although Monday's 11 miles for me (and 16 for my wife) might keep our average up.

I LOVE The FRONT ROW... it's just as exciting as the back for me! I am really curious: Is the plexiglass still covering the windows inside the line queue?? Cause that crossbreeze is a lifesaver!

Most of the plexiglass has been removed everywhere. I can't remember for sure on BTM, but I don't think there was any in the queue. The Pirates queue still has quite a bit, but most places it is disappearing.

 

[brifraz]

Alright, if I recall correctly, we were napping in the room when I left you. But... not quite yet. Since we had eaten very little all day at this point, we dove into our gift from the moms of the other kids down here with our daughter. Sort of a thanks for scoring the DVC rooms and playing chaperone. And it was excellent - what a great idea for a delivery gift, Charcuterie tray definitely beats out a flower bouquet or desserts.

Then it was time for some serious napping, or maybe I watched some soccer while @MeffysMom was napping. As it was getting close to time for the big matches, we headed to our early dinner at CityWorks which has become a favorite over the past couple years.

Started off with somewhat familiar brews, the Take and Release brown ale and the Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat along with the buffalo chicken dip (and, yes, both the happily successful England game and the horribly tragic Scotland game were on those big screens). While we ate, drank, cheered, and maybe cried a little, the first round of storms came through. Tons of wind (blew over the security scanners at the entrance near Cirque du Soleil) and about 10 minutes of incredibly hard rain. And even a second more brief round of heavy rain. For us, the second round was the flight that they are currently offering.

After that (and some popcorn chicken), we headed back to Saratoga Springs between rain storms. Back at the room we prepared to head back to Magic Kingdom for the evening, but decided it was necessary to wait out round three of VERY heavy rain and wind.

Not all that much worse than the usual crazy Florida thunderstorms, but getting three that all had the crazy heavy wind was a surprise. It was close to 7pm when we finally got back to Magic Kingdom and the vast majority of guests were heading out as we went in. First up, we headed to Pan for a quick flight (after about 20 minutes in line) followed by It's a Small World with absolutely zero wait and nobody in the boat behind us (or even a boat visibly behind us at any point in the ride) which allowed for some cool photos from the back of our boat.

And at the end, it was very nice to see that the stalker technology... oh, I mean Magic Bands, allowed the ride to bid me a fond farewell.

We then headed to Adventureland to try to catch Jungle Cruise before the next round of storms that had now appeared on the radar. The listed wait time was still 35 minutes, so we hopped in line. Only to have a VERY obnoxious family with pretty out-of-control kids come in behind us. We just didn't want to ride Jungle Cruise enough to wait that long in line with those people so we bailed out and headed back to Pirates again. It was a 50/50 decision in hindsight, as we had no wait for Pirates and the storms arrived sooner than we would have gotten on Jungle (and it was down for the storms the entire rest of the night)... but, we ended up with another crew of obnoxious folks behind us on Pirates. Luckily we hadn't already become so annoyed as not to make a fun pose for the picture.

Anyway, that trio behind us found it necessary to yell to each and every animatronic like it was alive and they were somehow chatting with it (for example - 'hey Jack Sparrow, which of those dresses do you like better... yeah, that one looks great on you') which was very annoying and they knew it. Ugh, people.

As we were exiting the ride, we saw that it was another huge downpour outside, so we were just going to wait it out a little bit in the shop when @MeffysMom said... 'if we are waiting around for 15 minutes I'd much rather do it on a ride than in a shop' and back onto Pirates we went! This time was much better, but I think we might have really been getting tired.

Upon exiting that time, the rain had subsided a bit (still a steady drizzle) and it was just about 9pm and closing time so we headed out. Here are the masses heading for the exit (with a little water on the lens).

We hopped onto the ferry boat and headed out - back to the room before 10pm and asleep very soon after that! Today was Animal Kingdom this morning and right now we are about to prepare for our Cali Grill dinner with the kids. See you later, friends.

 

[brifraz]

And, before I forget to mention it - fun to meet @ajrwdwgirl this morning in Animal Kingdom! That's my third random WDWMagic meet-up while here over the years. Thanks for coming over and saying hello!!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

And, before I forget to mention it - fun to meet @ajrwdwgirl this morning in Animal Kingdom! That's my third random WDWMagic meet-up while here over the years. Thanks for coming over and saying hello!!!

It was nice to see you as well! I hope you had a good time at the Nomad Lounge!

 

[cgersic]

Careful there! Gurgling Suitcase is at Old Key West, not SSR. I wouldn't call it some amazing pub or anything, but the staff are wonderful, they have some great signature drinks (that are not elsewhere at WDW), and full access to the menu from Olivia's (plus the pulled pork nachos) certainly are big plusses.

Whoops! Good thing you corrected me - that could have been a long walk!

 

[brifraz]

It's mid-afternoon on Thursday, so about time I get you caught up on Wednesday and some Animal Kingdom adventures as well as a nice dinner at California Grill! As is always the case, an Animal Kingdom morning starts early with driving to the park and getting into the lot as soon as we can. Since, also as usual, we were up early it was no problem at all and we were parked and heading into Animal Kingdom by 7:15am on an 8am opening morning. Everything was opened up (no rope drop) as we went in, more than 30 minutes before official opening and started off with the obligatory picture in front of the Tree of Life.

As we then headed to Everest we learned that they were not starting the rides until right at 8am (not sure if this was everywhere or just at Everest). So, we decided to wander around a bit to get some of the DVC selfies for this park. Again, it's just a silly way to explore some different parts of the park and get some fun pictures in different places. We did all of the pictures except the one in Pandora and then headed back to the line for Everest, which was still quite short. Right at 8am they opened up and we were on the second train of the day.

Next up was the Safari. It was already getting a decent line, which meant we actually got to do some weave areas that we had not done before (at the beginning of the line), but the wait still only ended up being about 30 minutes. BTW, not sure if it is the 'regular' approach now, but the current dropping off of strollers is... well, just not right - those with strollers leave the line at the 'usual' place where cast used to take the strollers, but now the entire family with the stroller exits the queue and then re-enters at the next spot where they can and they stroller families utilize the Fastpass line for the rest of the way. Which basically results (at least at the time we were there) in them bypassing about 20 other parties. Little frustrating, but it is what it is, eh? Luckily we then were on the Safari which rarely disappoints.

Giraffes, young and old, getting some breakfast.

Mother and very recent baby zebra just relaxing on the savannah.

VERY new baby flamingo (evidently born between close Wednesday and open on Thursday).

No mandrills, just one elephant and not in a very good spot to see, and no lions at all (not just hiding from cameras, not even mentioned in the driver spiel). Still a lot of fun! After our Safari, we headed over to Pandora to get our last DVC selfie and then crossed the park for a ride to the past to pick up some dinosaur. Imagine my surprise when we almost got stuck with a Carnotaurus!

Then back into Asia to check out our tiger friends. If you need some history on our tiger relationship, please check out some old trip reports, I'm not going to rehash here - just suffice to say we have a bond with the two little ones from a few years back. On this trip, just one was to be seen and that was sound asleep next to the temple building so not a really good spot again for a picture. We then crossed back again, but took the lesser traveled path behind the tree of life (right behind it, not across the river from it). And, we were pleasantly surprised to find a Photopass back there doing one of the cool 360 pictures. Check it out!

Also checked out the tortoises back there and then headed in on the little trail on the side (and then in front) of the Tree of Life to see if any kangaroos were to be seen. And this one was posing quite nicely for us!

Sorry, I didn't edit that one to get close-up yet, but you can at least see him! We also walked through the Otter Grotto for at least the 50th time in our lives and I don't think we've ever seen an otter once...

It was about 10:15am at this point and rather than wait in any lines for anything, we just wanted to relax a bit and were hoping to go to the Nomad Lounge for lunch. So, we just parked ourselves there and were the third party in line. About 10:50am, they started letting people in (there were about 10 parties waiting by then) and we got the nice couch and chairs right by the entrance (with our friends from home). Here's our Annapurna Zing and the Boto-rita. Both delicious.

We also split the Tiffin's bread service and the Impossible Sliders. Both delicious as always. After our food and drinks, we were tired and ready for a break from the heat so back to the resort we went for some relaxation for the afternoon. Be back later with the afternoon and evening!

 

[ferbtones]

Your face on Dinosaur - priceless.

Sorry about Scotland, I had hoped for the treble with England and Wales. But still @MeffysMom gets extra Gareth.

Very much enjoying your report.