Trip Report Kirk and Connie's Post-COVID(ish) 50th Anniversary Epic Disney World Adventure!

BigDis · Feb 21, 2022

Following along too. Can't wait to read all about your trip!

macefamily · Feb 24, 2022

kirksheppard said:
Has anyone rented a car at MCO lately? Was the wait as bad I've heard it has been? Anyone UBERed from the airport to the resort? Was that easy to do? (I've used UBER a lot in my life, but not from MCO to Disney.). We're having second thoughts about the rental car based on how long I've heard it's been taking people to deal with the rental counter waits and stuff . . .

EDITED: We decided to cancel the car rental and go with a Town Car Service for arrival and use Disney transportation and Uber/Taxis as needed. We're less than a week away!

We Ubered (is that a verb ?) from MCO to Kissimmee which was about a half hour drive down Rte 417. It was around $40.

kirksheppard · Feb 24, 2022

We are so close to this trip! We fly out on Sunday morning!

I managed to score a reservation to Space 220 in the dining room for lunch on Monday. That required a lot of other changes including canceling some of the reservations I had at other places but this does give us more flexibility in how we spend our afternoons and evenings so I think it's for the best. We also booked a Town Car for arrival day and will Uber back on departure day. No rental car, as the reviews scared us off from that process.

All in all, I'm excited to share it all here with you!

kirksheppard · Feb 26, 2022

Leaving tomorrow morning! I don't know if I'll have time to update in real-time but I'll definitely update the trip report with details and photos as soon as possible!

kirksheppard · Feb 27, 2022

I'm on the flight and so far so good. Some near complications at the Long Term Parking lot due to a lack of trams running and a fairly long security line (even in TSA Pre-Check) but the woman running the register at the McDonald's in the food court was phenomenal.

Best new is that I was able to snag an 11:45 - 12:45 Millenium Falcon reservation and a 2:05 - 3:05 Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance. But first - I'm hopeful our Town Car appears without issue at the bottom of the escalator and we can be off to Pop Century!

kirksheppard · Feb 28, 2022

DAY ONE:

We landed a few minutes early and found our driver right where he said he was going to be. The five-star reviews for Orlando on Wheels Town Car service on Yelp! were accurate and totally worth the extra money.

He loaded us in the SUV and we took off for Publix.

We only needed a few things and we were all set for Pop Century. (The driver even put up his shade so we could get better photos and video of the Walt Disney World sign when we drove underneath. Classy service!)

We waited briefly in the check-in line at bell services. Connie wanted to change into shorts (and rightfully so - it was a humid 88-degree day!) so after I dropped off my luggage she came out . . . and that's when I saw that I had a room number assigned. And it was the exact room I requested through TouringPlans.com's Room Request feature. So, we took her bags to my room and I called Bell Services and asked them to bring mine up when they could. They said I didn't need to be present and I left a tip with a note on the back of our Publix receipt so they'd know it was for them.

Off we went to the Skyliner to start our journey to DHS!

kirksheppard · Feb 28, 2022

Guys - I am in LOVE with the Skyliner. I wasn't sure how I'd feel; I have a fear of heights but this was totally fine and it's such a quick and relaxing trip to Caribbean Beach. And a really easy transfer to either park. What a great addition to the transportation lineup and I hope they add more options. I'd love to be able to take it to all the parks and Disney Springs.

The incredible view from the Skyliner Station upon arrival at DHS:

We were hungry, so I mobile ordered from ABC Commissary. Connie had the Chicken Club and I had the Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese. I asked for no avocado ranch on her sandwich, but they put it on anyway. Otherwise, this was quick and efficient and really worked well. They wouldn't let you into the building, though, if you had mobile ordered until your food was ready. This made it hard to see if there was seating or not - so Connie found us a spot outside. This was fine, but trying to manage the tray and get condiments (there is no place to set it while you try to use the ketchup pump, etc.) was a balancing trick. The food was good and I'd definitely eat there again.

We walked back to Galaxy's Edge and honestly, I was underwhelmed. In all fairness, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan (Connie is!) so some of the theming is probably lost on me. But I found it hard to navigate and we actually had to ask someone where the Millenium Falcon was. Perhaps it was the heat already getting to me, but I was just kind of meh on the whole area.

We had a Genie+ reservation for Smuggler's Run and waited maybe 5 minutes, which was awesome. We were pilots! It was fun, but not something I really need to do again. I get motion sick and luckily this didn't do to me what Star Tours does (i.e. ruin my day.

). We got our photos taken by two different Photopass folks and that was a blast.

I bought a themed Star Wars water, which was $4.25 (the regular Dasani bottle at Epcot is $3.50). I was not feeling awesome and I think I might have gotten some a case of heat exhaustion. We found a bench to sit on outside Galaxy's Edge by Muppets to wait for our Rise of the Resistance LL at 2:05. My shoulders were very tight and tense and I really wasn't doing well. But resting helped and we really didn't want to stray too far from our destination.

We got in line at 2:04 and it was backed up to the point where they were cueing out into the area with makeshift supplies. I suspect the ride might have gone down or something caused the backup. But we were in well within 20 minutes and that was still preferable to the 140-minute standby wait.

I LOVED this. The story was well-told, the special effects are amazing, and I would ride this over and over again. In fact, I plan to do it again on Tuesday and would happily pay $15 again to do so. Such a great experience.

(Speaking of paying, I'd say that Genie+ was well worth it, at least for this day. We managed to use it for Smuggler's Run and then later for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and could have used it at least once more had we not called it a night.)

We headed back to the room because at this point I was not well. My back was killing me, I felt lightheaded, and even with more water, I had never felt like this at Disney before. I've gained a few pounds, am working from home at a very sedentary job, and knew I was out of shape - but this is embarrassingly bad shape. A shower and a nap, though, and I was ready to go back out for dinner reservations at Hollywood Brown Derby...

Stay tuned.....

cgersic · Mar 1, 2022

I agree on the Skyliner!! LOVE it! Great start to the report except for the dehydration. It's no joke down here when it's hot and humid at the same time. Following along!

kirksheppard · Mar 2, 2022

Dinner at Brown Derby was great! I had the Burger as well as the crispy potato cakes with goat cheese mousse and my friend had the Cobb Salad minus a few ingredients. I was struck by how little we were rushed out of the restaurant; in trips past, it seemed that they were trying to turn over tables like crazy but we were able to have a relaxed meal and take our time. It was nice! We were too full for dessert.

We headed over to Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, which we had Genie+ reservations for. It stopped twice while we were on it and once was in the Daisy room, which sorta ruined the effect and the momentum of the ride. I need to ride it again someday to have an opinion but Connie wasn't a fan.

I decided I'd had enough as I still wasn't feeling great and this was a rough way to start a trip so I went back to the room via the Skyliner. No hiccups. I did manage to get a few photos taken on my way out of the park. Unfortunately for Connie, she left a couple hours later - and the Skyliner was down. So she had to make her way over the bus stop, wait in a long line, and finally get back to the resort. I'm so glad that wasn't my experience.

Tomorrow: EPCOT, SPACE 220, and who knows what else!

(Thanks for your patience; I'll probably finish the rest when I return home this weekend!)

Zipadeelady · Mar 3, 2022

I love your shirt!!

kirksheppard · Mar 3, 2022

Zipitidoda said:
I love your shirt!!

Thank you!!

kirksheppard · Mar 4, 2022

DAY TWO: EPCOT, SPACE 220, and more!

We were up early again (Connie is usually up at 5:30 am so this is no big deal for her. I, on the other hand, typically start my day around 10:30 at the earliest . . .so . . . yeah . . . ) and headed to the Skyliner around 6:45. EPCOT was opening at 8:30 (which means 8 am for resort guests). What a gorgeous ride, especially that leg from the Riveria to the park. We were held for a bit of time outside the International Gateway, but once the turnstiles opened, we moved fast towards Remy's. Even with a bathroom break (there are restrooms right outside the ride), we walked on. I enjoyed the ride well enough, but Connie LOVED it! She thought it was so much better than Mickey and Minney's Runaway Railway. It did make me mildly motion sick, but I recovered quickly.

We walked through UK and Canada, snapping photos of the topiaries and other sights. We walked around Creations, the store that used to be MouseGear and we were impressed with the openness and selection. Connie had her eye on a couple of things and I went to find a bench while she decided on which shirt(s) she wanted.

We wandered past Test Track and Mission: Space and found the entrance to Space 220. I was hungry, so I got a donut and water at a pretty busy food cart. We walked up to the front of the park and found Club Cool. None of the choices really stood out, though it'd be the raspberry-flavored soda if I had to pick one.

We kept walking to the front of the park and stopped in at Guest Relations to get a birthday button. My back was really starting to kill me again but I powered through as we headed over to Soarin'. Thank goodness for Genie+ as we avoided waiting in lines despite how crowded it was and while we didn't do a ton of attractions, we were satisfied with what we did do.

Soarin' was fun; there was a guy in the front row, though, who tried to hold on to his giant metal water cup throughout the ride. Luckily a cast member saw it and asked him to store it on the ground. People, man . . . just . . . people. After the ride, we walked past Imagination, saw the Jammitors, and then went over to wait for our 11:30 reservation at Space 220.

Space 220 was my Moby Dick for this trip. I had managed to score a reservation for the lounge for dinner on arrival day but thanks to the touringplans.com reservation finder, I got us in for lunch today instead. This was one of the highlights of the trip and definitely our top meal.

Riding the elevator to space was so cool and walking out into the dining room was magical. We had great seats not all the way up against the window but still on the lower level. Our server was phenomenal and offered to take our photo in "the best photo spot" in the place.

We both got the Moon Rocks drink and giggled at the exploding Pop Rocks. THIS is what Star Wars Blue Milk should taste like, by the way. It was really tasty.

I started with the Centauri Caesar Salad and Connie had the Space Greens.

For our entree, we both had the Flat Iron steak. It was cooked perfectly; I loved the coffee rub as it added a nice flavor to the lesser cut of meat. The potatoes were so salty and awesome and I even ate one of the green beans!

We were too full for dessert (it's not included in the lunch menu) but our server brought me a birthday cupcake in a to-go cup anyway. It's these little touches that really make me want to keep coming back year after year.

Overall, this was our favorite meal and probably the second favorite "experience" of the entire trip. It was well worth the trouble to get the reservation and I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty done by this point so we headed to the front of the park, found a fairly unfriendly taxi driver, and hired him to drive us back to Pop Century. I took a nap, got dinner at the food court, and relaxed and rested the rest of the night. Connie went to Animal Kingdom, rode Na'vi River Journey, and took a ton of night photos of the tree and in Pandora. This is why we love traveling together; we can do our own thing and no one gets their feelings hurt!

TOMORROW: DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS PART DEUX!

erstwo · Mar 4, 2022

That is one beautiful birthday cupcake! I love how it seems to be themed to the restaurant too. Not a ‘generic’ cupcake with a Mickey head/ chocolate on the top.
I feel you on the hurting in the parks thing - for me it’s my feet! Is 43 too young for a scooter?? (My kids say yes, but my Disney ride loving heart says no)

.

Also - I would love to know what you do that you can start your day at 10:30! It’s probably something very difficult or very smart and I won’t be able to do it, but 10:30 sounds glorious! Right now, I’m in the 5:30 boat with Connie!

kirksheppard · Mar 4, 2022

erstwo said:
That is one beautiful birthday cupcake! I love how it seems to be themed to the restaurant too. Not a ‘generic’ cupcake with a Mickey head/ chocolate on the top.
I feel you on the hurting in the parks thing - for me it’s my feet! Is 43 too young for a scooter?? (My kids say yes, but my Disney ride loving heart says no) .

Also - I would love to know what you do that you can start your day at 10:30! It’s probably something very difficult or very smart and I won’t be able to do it, but 10:30 sounds glorious! Right now, I’m in the 5:30 boat with Connie!

Spoiler alert: I ended up renting a scooter every day for the rest of the trip. It just seemed that I spent an extraordinary amount of money to not be able to enjoy my time - and there's no way I could keep going the way I was feeling. So, 43 might be too young, but 45 (46 tomorrow LOL) is apparently not.

I'm a mental health counselor and am in private practice so my days start late and end late as I try to be available when my clients are. I tend to start around 11, take a long break from 2-4 most days, and then work until 9 or 10 at night. But I'm the boss and set my own schedule. And I work from home doing all telehealth, so it's a pretty good gig! But that is also why I was so run down and in pain so quickly... I've gained some weight with COVID and since I'm home all the time, I'm not moving or exercising regularly . . . and so while I am a little embarrassed about it, the scooter was really useful - and gave me empathy for those who need them, which I'll talk about a little more later!

kirksheppard · Mar 5, 2022

We were up and at 'em and headed to the Skyliner station around 7:30 - and the line was already stretched wayyyyy back. Connie hopped in line and I stayed put and then joined her when she caught up to me, because my goal was to reduce the number of steps I took today. Once the station opened, the line moved remarkably fast but the line had gone all the way back to the 50s section, which is amazing to me.

I scored LL for Rise of the Resistance again, this time for around 12:50 pm. I also got a LL for Tower of Terror for mid-morning. This process was straightforward and easy to do, but I did notice that having the iPhone 13 Pro Max's speedy processor probably gave me a leg up on those whose phones weren't as new or fast.

The morning plan was that once we arrived at the Studios, Connie would go straight to Slinky Dog to ride and I would go rent an ECV and meet up with her after her ride. The process to rent a scooter is very straightforward and easy; they don't ask for ID. Just a credit card where they charge $70, and you'll get $20 of that back when you return the ECV. You sign a small waiver and they provide brief instructions and you're on your way. Renting this scooter was the greatest decision of my trip; I was initially embarrassed about it and found myself justifying it to people but the reality is I paid a lot of money for the trip and there was no way I was going to be able to enjoy myself without some help. And this was the perfect kind of help. It also gave me insight into several things; I'm not a lot less judgmental of other people who are using ECVs. Two, I'm much more patient with those folks who get to board the bus first because they're using one. And finally, Disney does a remarkable job of accommodating people with mobility issues.

I tooled back to Toy Story Land, and it took me a minute because the Disney ECVs don't go real fast. It made me giggle how slowly it moved, but I appreciate that it would have been hard for me to run anyone over with it. Connie was still in the line way back by the giant Woody as they hadn't opened the ride yet and so I was able to join her. And I was amazed that I could take the ECV into the line - and make all those tight turns. This was by far our longest line of the trip, taking about 40 minutes but that's because they opened the park before they opened the rides. It is such a fun roller coaster and it makes us laugh and scream and I'm glad I got to join her for the ride. We look pretty happy in the photo!

We hung out around the area looking for the gold statues and I was really enjoying driving the ECV.

We got hungry early since we didn't have a "real" breakfast any of the days so I put in a mobile order at the ABC Commissary again as their menu was more our speed than anything back in Galaxy's Edge. I got the Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese again; the fries are great and the sandwich very tasty. We hung around the center of the park and waited for the restaurant to open.

After lunch, we were right by the Mickey and Minnie photo op; the line was about 20 minutes and that was accurate. I was disappointed that there was not a Disney Photopass person inside and had to rely on the cast member character attendant to take a photos with our phones. I'd gotten use to not having to hand my phone over to a stranger!

We headed over to Sunset Boulevard and got our photos taken by a few different photographers. These were some of the most fun photos we had taken!

We rode Tower of Terror and it was a pretty wild drop sequence! There was a crying kid in the front row, and he was so scared but also kinda funny. His family - especially his Dad and male siblings - were encouraging him and not at all shaming him for his fear, which was refreshing to see.

We then made our way back to Galaxy's Edge and took some photos and explored a bit. We were wearing matching Star Wars shirts from RSVLTS and so we thought we should get a couple Star Wars photos together. This turned out great!

We rode Rise of the Resistance and walked straight on thanks to our LL. Totally worth the $15! I was able to drive the ECV all the way into the part of the ride where

you are captured by the Order. The cast member was quiet as to not break character for everyone else and said he'd drive the ECV to the end of the ride.

I loved this ride, even more, the second time. So much to watch and experience and enjoy. We were delayed momentarily at the end and the audio extends without repeating, which is a really small detail but an immersive way to maintain the story when there are technical issues. I think this whole experience is remarkable is by far my new favorite theme park attraction ever.

We decided it was time for a break so we took the Skyliner back to Pop after I dropped off the ECV at the garage. They refunded the $20 deposit to my credit card and said that I could get another scooter at Magic Kingdom IF there were any available (unlikely, unfortunately) with another $20 deposit.

We spent a couple of hours at the hotel, napped in our rooms, and agreed to meet at the bus station to go to the Magic Kingdom for a little bit of evening fun around 3:30 PM.

NEXT: A brief jaunt to the Magic Kingdom...

erstwo · Mar 5, 2022

Okay - I think I’ll keep my day job

because I would need another degree and a lot of training to do what you do. But what wonderful, important work you do - and bonus (to my night owl self anyways!) on the schedule!
As mentioned, I’m right there with you on the scooter. Hate that I might need one, but also don’t want to miss out on all the fun because I just can’t go another step. Counting the days to 45.

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

amjt660 · Mar 5, 2022

I am glad you went for the scooter - it obvious after your first 2 days that you were not able to keep up the pace you wanted to.

Still following and looking forward to more!

Max

kirksheppard · Mar 6, 2022

We met at the bus stop around 3 and headed to Magic Kingdom. There were no ECVs available but I did add myself to the waitlist, just in case. (I finally got a text at 8 pm once I was already back in the hotel room.)

Usually, I try to make this my first stop on a Disney trip, so it was unusual that we'd been there almost three days before I made my way to the castle. It is gorgeous, all decked out for the 50th.

We were hungry so we made our way back to Pecos Bill's for dinner. I had the bacon cheeseburger, which has a taco seasoning overlay that I enjoyed. Connie had a kid's meal cheeseburger. We talked with Noah, a CM out front, who attends the University of Cincinnati and that was a lot of fun. So many great interactions with cast members this trip and I can't think of any overtly bad ones. Most of the guests were friendly and kind, which made the overwhelming crowd levels bearable.

After dinner, we made our way to Peter Pan, for which I had a LL. A young differently-abled woman almost fell getting in her pirate ship and they had to stop the belt for her - almost too late. It was kind of scary to watch. The ride is gorgeous and one of my favorites, but so glad we had the LL as I would never wait in that long line to ride it.

We walked into Philharmagic, which had no wait, and enjoyed the new remastering and addition of Coco to the film. The water effects were gone, though, and I did miss that.

We walked back through Liberty Square so Connie could look for the 50th Anniversary Christmas ornament for her brother. They were sold out of all of them except the magnificently ugly Animal Kingdom ones. We headed down the Emporium to see if by chance they had any available - and they did not. I waited outside the store at the very end by the fire station and we called it a night. Mickey and Minnie and friends were waving to us from the train station.

We had an unpleasant bus ride next to a family with a very tired two-year-old who screamed, cried, and eventually spit on his grandma and then very jarringly, but sweetly told his mom how sorry he was. We weren't upset about it; just empathetically frustrated for the family who couldn't do anything to soothe him because he was just done. We had a nice conversation reassuring the Mom that we understood (as much as two childless adults can) and that we all just needed to go to bed.

And that's what I did, with a plan to meet Connie at the bus stop in the morning at 7:15 for Animal Kingdom!

TOMORROW: ANIMAL KINGDOM, EPCOT, and LE CREPERIE!

Darstarr · Mar 6, 2022

kirksheppard said:
I got the Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese again;

I totally love that sandwich! I have been trying to make them at home but can not get it quite right. Yet.
Loving the trip report btw!

Bullseye1967 · Mar 6, 2022

All caught up. Great TR so far!

Trip Report Kirk and Connie's Post-COVID(ish) 50th Anniversary Epic Disney World Adventure!

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