Trip Report Completed: March 5-14, 2020: Our Return to WDW and the "Hips and Elbows People, Hips and Elbows!" edition

Hello everyone! It has been one month since we made our return to Walt Disney World, it was 593 days since we had been there. We hadn't been without Disney trips, we were annual passholders of Disneyland during that time. More info in my pre-trip report. Needless to say we were were excited to return. I was a little apprehensive for a few reasons: 1. what if I didn't like WDW as much any more after being away so long and maybe I had fallen too much in love with Disneyland. 2. I was slightly worried about this corona virus thing (maybe I should have been more worried), but I was hopeful we would get through the trip without having to think about it.

In case you don't want to go back to my pre-trip report let me give you a few more details:

Who: Amy and Brad (my husband)
Resort: Pop Century



Let's begin:

March 5, 2020

We had an early morning flight, it is a pain getting up at 3 am but we do like getting to our destination early and being able to spend a lot of our day at our vacation destination. Plus we were early birds so it wasn't too bad. Luckily there wasn't a snow storm and our flight out of Minneapolis was on schedule!

Not much was open so early but Caribou coffee!

Coming up more of our journey and lots of fun, food and beer!

 

[Songbird76]

Monday March 9, 2020

After our late afternoon nap we took a Lyft to Animal Kingdom Lodge to have dinner at Boma. This was a decision we made earlier in the day. We haven't eaten dinner there in since maybe 2017 and we planned to head back to Animal Kingdom for the evening so it seemed like a good plan. Luckily there were reservations open and now thinking back on it this might be the last buffet we eat at like this for a long time.

We started with drinks at Victoria Falls lounge. I got the Victoria Falls Mist (green drink) which is no longer on the menu but they still made it for me with club soda instead of 7-Up. And I guess I didn't write down what Brad had so it will remain a mystery unless one of you recognizes it. My drink was okay but even with the club soda it was still sweeter than I would have liked. B enjoyed his drink.
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Our food from Boma. We were hoping there would be ribs because I had read that they were really good but no ribs. The food was fine and I'm glad we ate there but it just wasn't as outstanding as I had remembered. The carved meats and the Boma mustard sauce was worth it though. I just don't think it will go back into the rotation for awhile, except maybe for breakfast. I remember breakfast was good.
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Looking inside Boma
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Desserts. They were just okay, I'm not a fan of the zebra domes. The white chocolate and the alcohol in it just turn me off, but I hadn't had it in awhile so I thought I'd try them again. The bread pudding in the upper right was good and the little tart next to was good too. The rest were just average.
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In the lodge lobby.
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Cool light feature
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The lobby is very impressive and I like to look at the art work.
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Time to head over to Animal Kingdom and we have a sweet ride!
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Question: Does the mustard sauce come on the meat or is it something you can add optionally? We did the breakfast at Boma and it was amazing....I want to do both a breakfast and a dinner next time we go, but I can't even stand the smell of mustard. It nauseates me and I certainly can't eat it. If they have the meats sitting in a dish with Mustard sauce, that would be a big no for me.

And zebra domes....are they coffee flavored?

 

[Songbird76]

Tuesday March 10, 2020

Time to head over for our Spaceship Earth fast pass and some construction on the way.
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Hello Beautiful! I love Cinderella castle but Spaceship Earth is just fascinating to look at . We are definitely ball people, just like @JenniferS and her husband!
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In our time machine!
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Did you lose your glass slipper when you left "the ball" ?

 

[MinnieM123]

@ajrwdwgirl , gotta say, your photos are OUTSTANDING!! You really have an "eye" for photography.

Reading your most recent pages here this morning, really reminded me of how much I miss Flower & Garden Festival, the parks, resorts, etc.

 

[Tuvalu]

Really appreciate the virtual tour of Flower and Garden. ❤

I am super bummed that I missed BOTH my opportunities to attend this year. F&G is my favorite time at Epcot and this was the first Festival I’ve missed in over 20 years.

 

[Spash007]

Sorry for the like overload! I have quite a bit of catching up to do on these boards, but am enjoying all your photos and adventures!

 

[Rista1313]

Monday March 9

After Gorilla Falls it was time for our Flights of Passage fast pass. We were both a little nervous for this ride. Not because of the ride itself, I've been on it quite a few times and like it. Although the smell emitted during the ride makes me a little nauseous, I never get motion sick on rides but I am sensitive to smells. Anyway, Brad has not been able to ride this attraction. He has tried twice, once the back thing wouldn't lock and then the second time it wouldn't lock around his legs. Very frustrating for him and yes he felt embarrassment when he had to walk out of those rooms. It always put a little cloud over him the rest of the day. But this time he was coming to this attraction at least 80 pounds lighter. He was still nervous that he wouldn't fit and be embarrassed again. I knew how hard he had been working and I was 100% sure he would be fine now, but I knew if for some reason those restraints wouldn't lock he would feel like had failed somehow when clearly he had been working so hard.
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And the pre-show...
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Ummm yeah, Sivako! The moment of truth came after this and Brad was able to ride!!!! With plenty of room in those restraints to spare!
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When the ride was done we needed to get a picture of him in the attraction. On the way out, I asked him how he enjoyed it and he said, "It was pretty good, I could ride it again sometime!" He does get a little motion sick and he left feeling a bit queasy. He did admit it was very well done and because it actually did feel like flying that's why he felt a little ill. He appreciated the beauty and detail and agreed with me that the smell was a little to sickeningly sweet.
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I noticed that it looked like you two had been losing some weight. Good going! My calves are bigger, so they always have a hard time snapping shut, however they finally told me last trip to lift them a little, and they were able to snap them no problem! I get being embarrassed =(

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We had the rose and crown fireworks package booked for our July trip, but it was canceled.
Looks great though! Maybe when things are back to “normal” we’ll try again. Thanks for all the awesome pics!

Bummer about the cancellation. Hopefully you'll be able to get a reservation the next time you go.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Question: Does the mustard sauce come on the meat or is it something you can add optionally? We did the breakfast at Boma and it was amazing....I want to do both a breakfast and a dinner next time we go, but I can't even stand the smell of mustard. It nauseates me and I certainly can't eat it. If they have the meats sitting in a dish with Mustard sauce, that would be a big no for me.

And zebra domes....are they coffee flavored?

No the mustard sauce isn't on the meat. The sauces are all separate. The mustard sauce doesn't really taste that mustard-like but maybe you'll have to give it a pass. The zebra domes didn't taste like coffee, there is some sort of liqueur in it. I guess I can't really describe the taste but not one that I particularly like, it isn't horrid but there is other stuff I'd rather eat.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

@ajrwdwgirl , gotta say, your photos are OUTSTANDING!! You really have an "eye" for photography.

Reading your most recent pages here this morning, really reminded me of how much I miss Flower & Garden Festival, the parks, resorts, etc.

Thanks so much. Flower and Garden is the best of the festivals in my opinion. I just love all the pretty plants.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Really appreciate the virtual tour of Flower and Garden. ❤

I am super bummed that I missed BOTH my opportunities to attend this year. F&G is my favorite time at Epcot and this was the first Festival I’ve missed in over 20 years.

So sorry you had to cancel it it is a pretty time of year at Epcot. I hope we can all get back soon.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sorry for the like overload! I have quite a bit of catching up to do on these boards, but am enjoying all your photos and adventures!

No problem about the like overload, I'm glad you are enjoying the report.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I noticed that it looked like you two had been losing some weight. Good going! My calves are bigger, so they always have a hard time snapping shut, however they finally told me last trip to lift them a little, and they were able to snap them no problem! I get being embarrassed =(

Good tip about the leg restraints. Thanks for the compliment too, Brad's done a better job than I have especially lately. There is something about warmer weather and ice cream ....

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

Early morning wake up. Brad wanted to get to Hollywood Studios again and get in line right away (when we could) for Mickey's Runaway Railway . So we headed out and got our Lyft to the Studios. This picture was taken at 5:21 am so we were getting there early.

But I got us a 1st place spot right at the tapstile.

5:58 am

The crowd behind us at about 6:47 am

And again we walked "hips and elbows style" and stayed toward the front of the people heading to Mickey's Runaway Railway. Now if they opened the doors 15 minutes early again today we would be in a better position and not have to worry about being off in time for trying for a boarding pass.

This was our spot that we stood at from 7:16 am until they opened the attraction at 7:45 am

Some pictures from the pre-show room and movie.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

Scenes from the pre-show and some scenes from the ride coming up too. I don't think the pictures are too big of spoilers, just giving a warning in case anyone is trying to avoid. The last two pictures in this post are not about Mickey's.

I will say we really enjoyed this attraction immensely. It is just good fun! And we didn't have to worry about making it off in time to try for a boarding pass, we were on the first ride of the day.

We got off Mickey's and got to a spot with good coverage. Again we both tried for a boarding pass, and once one of us hit the screen to choose people the other would stop. Well 8am came and we couldn't get in, the button wouldn't let us click. We started to hear cheers around us and yet we couldn't even get anything to work. Then I was able to get in and we got boarding group 89. Good news we got a boarding group. Bad news if groups ran like that day before we might not get in or it would be called during our dessert party and with the price of the dessert party we didn't want to miss out on time there.

Today was our big Star Wars day: Brad was building his light saber, we had Oga's, fast pass for Star Tours, plans for single rider in Smuggler's Run, and Star Wars dessert party. The cherry on top was a boarding group (and ride) on Rise of the Resistance, well we had a chance. We tried to stay positive with the fact we had gotten to ride it this trip but we were a little disappointed. But hope fuels the Resistance right?

Well Mickey's was done (for now) and boarding group secured so it was time to head to the hotel. The Hollywood Tower Hotel that is!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

After dropping in at the "hotel" we decided to see what was going on in Toy Storyland. Everything had over a 30 minute wait so I suggested we head to SWGE to get a bite of breakfast. Brad was game, any excuse to go into SWGE and he's up for it.

We ended up at Ronto Roasters. We had eaten the lunch/dinner version at Disneyland and it was okay. It had too much slaw for me. But we hadn't gotten the breakfast one.

Here's is the breakfast version and my space coffee. The breakfast roaster is really good, a lot better than the other one.

When B was done with his Roaster he was anxious to go into a few shops but my coffee was finally getting to the perfect temperature. So I sent him off to do his Star Wars shopping and I relaxed in the almost empty area and enjoyed my coffee. It was a nice zen moment.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

Still relaxing with my coffee and saw this nice light feature and thought that @Doc Disney would like it. There is another one in this post she might like too.

I like this entrance/exit the best of the two at HS for Galaxy's Edge, it has more of a transition to it than the other that seems to just dump you at Toy Storyland.

We wandered back to Mickey's for our fast pass but had some time to kill so we wandered Hollywood Blvd.

These are cute, but I don't need any more plushies.

Cool light inside. Was this inside when it was still the Great Movie Ride? I can't remember.

Tried to get a picture of Chuubie but it turned out blurry.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

Leaving MMRR

We already did rope drop to get into the park, but I had another important rope drop....Baseline Taphouse. I got a Lagunitas. It was yummy.

A nice nod to the Red Car Trolleys, and it made me miss DCA.

It was time for Brad's appointment at Savi's. We checked in and then sat around in the outside area for what seemed forever.

So I took some pictures to amuse myself.

I wish we could go in that door because I'm bored out here.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

There was a case outside to look at the saber building options.

Are they looking for me?!?

Now Brad gets to pay, I thought this was a cool shot though.

Interesting space junk

Now he's paid and got a card. Can we go in now?! Nope more waiting but in a special area off to the side.

Soon we get to go in?

More waiting

Are we going in now? Nope more instructions.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

While Brad gets his instructions I decided to admire my shoes.

Yay! We are finally going in now.

He's an excited boy about to make his light saber or if I want to tick him off I call it his Star Tours light sword.

The presentation and building process we cool and a nice experience. It meant a lot to Brad.

At the station

Assembly. No offense to my husband but he isn't the most handy of guys so I was hoping he wouldn't have difficulty (he did with the droids). But he was fine.

And the light up step.

May the Force be with you!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wednesday March 11, 2020

He was very happy with the saber he'd built.

We had a photo session around the land.

And for this shot I pulled out my "light saber". I had gotten a Cinderella coach light up bubble wand as a gag gift so I brought it along as my "light saber". Princess Power!!!