Trip Report Masksgiving: a daring escape

Okay, maybe the title is a little misleading. It wasn't all that daring...

So, the Brifraz clan made a second trip to WDW since all the re-opening. This time, a little more aware of what to expect but also a little more wary because of what we were expecting. For those who might have missed it, we headed to the World this summer for two weeks in July, just a short time after all four parks had reopened. It was certainly an odd trip - and not just because of the COVID precautions - both @MeffysMom and I had significant amounts of work that we were doing (she was taking an AP teachers course for half the trip and I was writing curriculum for a few days). We found that the limited offerings (no shows and no fireworks) were disappointing, but the limited crowds and lines were pretty refreshing. You can read all about that one if you want - July Trip Report.

As a family with three people in different local high schools, our lives are pretty much dictated by the school calendars, so upon returning from that summer trip, we all were getting ready for the unique situation that has been this school year. At the time, we didn't know whether we would be in-person, virtual, or some hybrid. So there was quite a bit of anguish and frustration in terms of planning (only augmented by the fact that I'm a music teacher and had to have three distinct plans for marching band, which should have started in early August). Eventually, our school board decided that we would be starting the year with virtual learning (our schools start after Labor Day), but moving to a hybrid model October 19th so we were planning basically a month with the virtual approach and then figuring out how to make a hybrid plan work.

Without getting into too much complaining and woe, I'll just say it was tough for all three of us. Teaching music virtually is certainly not an ideal scenario for me, my wife's school administration was changing the rules/guidelines for students on a daily basis, and our daughter was trying to cope with her senior year activities getting cancelled one-by-one. At some point in there, I began having small group/socially distant/masked but in-person marching band activity which was great for the kids but a LOT of additional work to normal for myself (and support staff). Then a couple days before we were supposed to move to the hybrid plan, the Board of Ed decided to stick with virtual for another couple weeks. So, plans all had to be re-made and adjusted and changed. Suffice to say, we were all a little stressed. Which meant, that @MeffysMom started 'relaxing' by shopping online for cheap hotel rooms at Disney so we could escape for a few days.

Now in mid-October, she found a pretty good deal on the Holiday Inn right next to Disney Springs, so we decided to go ahead and book a brief visit - driving down on the night before Thanksgiving and then leaving the Sunday after. Plans were made, ideas hatched, ideas were revised, others recent reports were read. Basically got all our ducks into rows as best we could. Then (much to our surprise), we found ourselves back in school buildings on November 5th in a hybrid model with less than half the students opting to be in the building and those spread out into two groups (so about 20% of students in person on any given day) which lasted a whopping four days. Not going to get into the politics of all of this, but the fact that our local Board of Ed is making decisions that impact over 25,000 students and 2000 teachers just a day or two before implementing them and then reversing those decisions just a day or two later... well, that causes a little stress. Sorry, I've digressed from the topic at hand which is a Disney visit, right? But, I did so for a little perspective - and to explain why, just about 10 days before our trip, we added another day to the visit with the drive now planned for Tuesday before Thanksgiving and not leaving until late Sunday night.

As expected, we now filled every moment that wasn't work (which was not nearly enough moments, for sure) with re-planning, hatching new ideas, and revising the revisions to our plans. The biggest 'concern' was the crowds. We knew it wouldn't be nearly as empty as the summer, but we had been impressed with Disney's COVID precautions at that time so we weren't too worried. So we planned accordingly and tried to figure out ways to avoid the most crowded times and places as best we could.

Tuesday, November 24th finally arrived. I failed to mention earlier that I am still doing all my virtual teaching from my school because there is no high speed internet where we live and having three of us on Google Meet at the same time just doesn't happen successfully. So, I was at my school, but left as quick as I could (my last class of the day got a little extra time to work on their own) and we managed to get ourselves on the road at about 2:30pm which meant a potential arrival in the Orlando area around 6am on Wednesday.

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(notice eyes are still on the road)

See you there!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Alright, what better time than during a horribly rainy Christmas Eve to continue writing about the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Epcot?

So, about 4pm we headed back to Epcot to get some food and just relax and enjoy World Showcase. It was definitely a bit more crowded than earlier in the day, but not quite painfully so at this point, so we headed toward Mexico to begin our tour around World Showcase. Once again, I must apologize for the lack of food pictures - just not sure what came over us!

At Las Posadas, we got the Giant Tostada with Chorizo, the Dulce de Leche Churros, and the Pumpkin Spice Margarita. The tostada was delicious as were the churros. While the margarita wasn't quite my style, @MeffysMom loved it! Being culturally diverse as we are, as soon as we finished our Mexican food we went in to watch the Reflections of China. Every time we go in to see it, I'm afraid it will be the last! I'm very excited for the new film, but will certainly miss the old. Which is the same thing I've felt about the old Norway film and the original Canada film (I wasn't all that sad to see the Martin Short version go away). Actually, dated as it was (is), I still love the old Norway film and have watched it online a few times!

We decided to divide and conquer to get our next round of food and do some quick shopping and then try to find a place to sit and eat. The girls went to do a little shopping in Germany while I waited in the line for the Cheese Fondue in a Bread Bowl and the Ayinger Doppelbock. Both of these are regular favorites and certainly didn't disappoint. Also, a good funny story from the line at the Bavarian Holiday Kitchen. Directly in front of me in line was a rather older gentleman and in front of him was a group of 6 young ladies in their early 20s who had obviously already been enjoying Epcot for a while. It was quite entertaining to hear their inebriated carrying on followed almost immediately by grumpy mumbling. I was in line for about 10 minutes so I got to hear quite a bit of this. One of the young ladies was having some trouble maintaining verticality which her friends were trying to assist with - and, of course, this kept the older gentlemen full of good material for grumbling. Over the course of the night, we would see this group of young ladies about 3 more times around World Showcase and after I had shared the story with my wife and daughter they were rather entertained upon seeing them.

Next up was a longer pause in the WS tour. The girls grabbed the pumpkin gingerbread cheesecake at the American Holiday Table while I dashed to the Sapphire Kitchen in Morocco and got the Grilled Lamb Kefta and the Poinsettia Cocktail as well as the Potato Latkes at the L'Chaim Kitchen. With my hands full, I headed back to America to meet the girls in the Theater and enjoy our foods while listening to the Voice of Liberty holiday show. Great food and great entertainment.
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After the show, we continued heading around World Showcase and got a couple pictures before hitting the Showplace Pavilion.
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We had originally planned to grab some more food in there, but decided instead to just enjoy the sights - the Frozen display and the DC Mall gingerbread display.
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Believe it or not, it was still only about 7:30pm at this point. We had originally talked about and tentatively planned to stay in Epcot until closing, but between tiredness, the crowd (and alcohol) level, and not a whole lot we really still wanted to do... we headed out. But needed to make a couple of pit stops along the way.

Stop one was Living With the Land. Why do it again? And why at night when it's harder to see things in the greenhouse? Because it has Christmas Lights! If you haven't gotten to enjoy it during the holiday season, I highly recommend it. Okay, I always highly recommend it - I just love me some Living with the Land!! One more stop on the way out for Spaceship Earth. When we rode this almost a year ago, we were sure it would be the last time with this incarnation, but then - well, you know what happened - so we were glad to enjoy it again but hopeful that somehow the refurb/reimagining isn't totally out of the plans. We were happy to see that the facial recognition has gotten much better at dealing with masks since the summer.
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It was about 8:30pm and we were headed back to the room to finish packing and get some sleep! Our final day is up next with a very full day at Magic Kingdom (and a few other spots as well!).
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
I'm so glad to know Voices of Liberty is still performing! I was afraid they'd be nixed! They are one of my favorite things at Disney. I can go for a day at Epcot and just sit and listen to every one of their shows.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Happy Christmas to all who are following along with our Thanksgiving exploits. Hope you are able to enjoy in a safe manner. Lots of Disney gifts here in the Brifraz household - a WDW AP Dooney bag and Crislu Mickey earrings and necklace (I really splurged a bit for the girls this year), a Galaxy's Edge cookbook, the Razor's Edge Lego set, and quite a few Disney Gift Cards just to name a few things from under our tree.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Well, it appears that we have come to the last day of our visit. It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving and sadly we all have realized that we are just too sick to do our remote teaching or learning on Monday (actually, we took personal leave days and scheduled them weeks ago instead of sick days, but it's far funnier to say that we were sick, right?). We were up early and packing up the car a little after 6am and checked out of the hotel by 6:30am.

And headed to the Contemporary Resort for a 7am ADR at Chef Mickey's. When we were originally making plans, we didn't have this breakfast on the agenda. Once we had seen a few weeks before the trip that they were open again and that the price had been significantly reduced, we decided that a belly full of food would be a good way to start our last day and that being able to park at Contemporary would be a good time saver since we were staying offsite.

We were seated pretty quickly and lucked out with one of the best tables in the place. Here's our view while we ate:
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The serving process is obviously a little different with it not being a buffet and we had a waitress and server taking care of us all morning - and they were very quick and efficient. After ordering drinks, they asked what we would be interested in from the cold materials and breads - so we got a mix of breads, fresh fruit, and some salmon as well as a yogurt parfait. Here's most of that (my salmon didn't get in the shot).
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And then, similarly, they asked what we wanted from the hot items. We pretty much got one of everything and then later got refills on the eggs and the potatoes.
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Quite happy with the amount that was served as it was enough for us to all be quite satisfied (with, as I said, a little extra eggs and potatoes) but it was not so much that we felt that we were really wasting anything. Overall, a nice experience and it got us headed to Magic Kingdom before 8am (official opening was 9am on this day).
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
I'm pretty certain that this was the only day of the trip that we actually waited at the tapstiles, but only for a few minutes as they began letting everyone in at about 8:25am. We headed to Space Mountain first. With a belly full of Chef Mickey goodness and my less than stellar constitution, I decided to let the girls ride this one alone. Which they did with almost no wait at all.
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Meanwhile, I decided to have a little fun and go on a solo tour of Tomorrowland. If you haven't already gotten an idea of my sense of humor from these trip reports, well... I'm a bit silly at times (aren't all dads?) so I decided to take some pictures during my tour. Thus, I welcome you to:

Disney's Early Morning Tomorrowland Festival of Magic (presented by Brifraz)


Good morning! I'm Brifraz and I'm going to be your tour guide around Tomorrowland this morning! Hope you had a great breakfast like I did at Chef Mickey's which conveniently overlooks the Tomorrowland side of the Magic Kingdom. Advanced Dining Reservations are available via your My Disney Experience App. We start our adventure here, just outside of Space Mountain where you can rocket to the stars in this high speed coaster-type attraction. It's a great place for your Tomorrowland adventure to begin!
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The Tomorrowland stage is located conveniently next to Joffrey's Coffee and Tea where you can get refueled for more adventures in Tomorrowland. As you can see, the stage is all decked out in it's finest holiday decorations and if you are lucky you just might get to see Buzz Lightyear or Stitch paying a quick visit to Earth, from a safe distance, on this very stage throughout the day (please note that characters are currently not posing for pictures directly with guests and are unable to sign autograph books).
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What's the classic attraction that has been entertaining guests since the 1964 World's Fair? That's right, it's Carousel of Progress! This is the stage show with the most performance in the history of American Theater and has been making the rounds at Disney World since 1975. Walt Disney himself even called this one of his top two attractions in Walt Disney World for a nap (this information is not considered reliable by the Walt Disney corporation).
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One of the classic attractions of Tomorrowland, the Wedway Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, sponsored by Alamo, is currently being refurbished for your future enjoyment. Who knows what tomorrow will bring to the Peoplemover!
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Now's it's time to report to Star Command Headquarters at Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Join Star Command in the battle against Zurg and his minions. This attraction is really two in one as the queue (which changes configuration on a nearly daily basis) is an adventure in the true nature of humanity (which, evidently is disgusting) followed by your trip around the galaxy blasting Zurg and saving the universe!
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Did you know that the crazy occupants of Monstropolis are now powering their city with humor? Yup, that's right... it's laugher they're after now at the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor! Sadly, due to Covid restrictions, Monstropolis is currently suffering from a horrible 9 month power shortage which has resulted in a return to the older method of gathering power, so make sure that you lock your closet doors tonight!
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Well, friends, that about wraps up our tour of Tomorrowland, so I have you have a great adventure today at Walt Disney World... sing along... There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow...


Sorry, for the little derailment there. Let's get back to our Trip Report, shall we. At about 8:40am, the girls were done on Space Mountain and we decided to just do as many things as we could before it started getting really crowded. Which meant... 3 more attractions before the official 9am opening. First up was an actual ride on Buzz. Sadly, only one of our ride photos attached to the Photopass, but at least you can see @MeffysMom blasting that darn Zurg!
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Although we considered taking a drive on the Speedway (mainly to get closer views of Tron), there was a little bit of a line and... well... it just isn't that much fun now that our daughter can actually drive and did a couple hours on I95 just a few days earlier. Which meant it was time for a favorite of the girls and for me, another chance to watch (to quote the Barenaked Ladies, "I don't like spinny rides" - and if you have little kids and have never listened to their children's album Snacktime, I highly recommend it).
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One more attraction before official park opening and that was a visit to Mr. Toad... oops, I mean Winnie the Pooh.
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You will notice a couple of scary things in that picture. Of course, the Heffalumps and Woozles... but also the fact that I'm not wearing my hat, which would cause a slight delay as I left it in the honey pot and had to wait for the ride to cycle back through to retrieve it. But, still - 4 good attractions (and a tour) before the 9am opening time. That's a pretty good early morning!
 

RememberWhen

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty certain that this was the only day of the trip that we actually waited at the tapstiles, but only for a few minutes as they began letting everyone in at about 8:25am. We headed to Space Mountain first. With a belly full of Chef Mickey goodness and my less than stellar constitution, I decided to let the girls ride this one alone. Which they did with almost no wait at all.
View attachment 520872

Meanwhile, I decided to have a little fun and go on a solo tour of Tomorrowland. If you haven't already gotten an idea of my sense of humor from these trip reports, well... I'm a bit silly at times (aren't all dads?) so I decided to take some pictures during my tour. Thus, I welcome you to:

Disney's Early Morning Tomorrowland Festival of Magic (presented by Brifraz)


Good morning! I'm Brifraz and I'm going to be your tour guide around Tomorrowland this morning! Hope you had a great breakfast like I did at Chef Mickey's which conveniently overlooks the Tomorrowland side of the Magic Kingdom. Advanced Dining Reservations are available via your My Disney Experience App. We start our adventure here, just outside of Space Mountain where you can rocket to the stars in this high speed coaster-type attraction. It's a great place for your Tomorrowland adventure to begin!
View attachment 520874
The Tomorrowland stage is located conveniently next to Joffrey's Coffee and Tea where you can get refueled for more adventures in Tomorrowland. As you can see, the stage is all decked out in it's finest holiday decorations and if you are lucky you just might get to see Buzz Lightyear or Stitch paying a quick visit to Earth, from a safe distance, on this very stage throughout the day (please note that characters are currently not posing for pictures directly with guests and are unable to sign autograph books).
View attachment 520875
What's the classic attraction that has been entertaining guests since the 1964 World's Fair? That's right, it's Carousel of Progress! This is the stage show with the most performance in the history of American Theater and has been making the rounds at Disney World since 1975. Walt Disney himself even called this one of his top two attractions in Walt Disney World for a nap (this information is not considered reliable by the Walt Disney corporation).
View attachment 520876
One of the classic attractions of Tomorrowland, the Wedway Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, sponsored by Alamo, is currently being refurbished for your future enjoyment. Who knows what tomorrow will bring to the Peoplemover!
View attachment 520877
Now's it's time to report to Star Command Headquarters at Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Join Star Command in the battle against Zurg and his minions. This attraction is really two in one as the queue (which changes configuration on a nearly daily basis) is an adventure in the true nature of humanity (which, evidently is disgusting) followed by your trip around the galaxy blasting Zurg and saving the universe!View attachment 520878
Did you know that the crazy occupants of Monstropolis are now powering their city with humor? Yup, that's right... it's laugher they're after now at the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor! Sadly, due to Covid restrictions, Monstropolis is currently suffering from a horrible 9 month power shortage which has resulted in a return to the older method of gathering power, so make sure that you lock your closet doors tonight!
View attachment 520879
Well, friends, that about wraps up our tour of Tomorrowland, so I have you have a great adventure today at Walt Disney World... sing along... There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow...


Sorry, for the little derailment there. Let's get back to our Trip Report, shall we. At about 8:40am, the girls were done on Space Mountain and we decided to just do as many things as we could before it started getting really crowded. Which meant... 3 more attractions before the official 9am opening. First up was an actual ride on Buzz. Sadly, only one of our ride photos attached to the Photopass, but at least you can see @MeffysMom blasting that darn Zurg!
View attachment 520882

Although we considered taking a drive on the Speedway (mainly to get closer views of Tron), there was a little bit of a line and... well... it just isn't that much fun now that our daughter can actually drive and did a couple hours on I95 just a few days earlier. Which meant it was time for a favorite of the girls and for me, another chance to watch (to quote the Barenaked Ladies, "I don't like spinny rides" - and if you have little kids and have never listened to their children's album Snacktime, I highly recommend it).
View attachment 520881

One more attraction before official park opening and that was a visit to Mr. Toad... oops, I mean Winnie the Pooh.
View attachment 520873

You will notice a couple of scary things in that picture. Of course, the Heffalumps and Woozles... but also the fact that I'm not wearing my hat, which would cause a slight delay as I left it in the honey pot and had to wait for the ride to cycle back through to retrieve it. But, still - 4 good attractions (and a tour) before the 9am opening time. That's a pretty good early morning!
A most excellent tour of Tomorrowland! I do hope future tours will be available of the other MK lands! Also, Snacktime is a great album. My 8yo loves the ninja song.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
It's 9am and Magic Kingdom is finally open! Wait, didn't we just do 4 attractions and a hat retrieval? Knowing crowd patterns, we figured this was a good time to head to Liberty Square and then Adventureland to hit some of those attractions. Our first stop was the Haunted Mansion - technically it was our second stop because we shopped through Momento Mori for a minute or two first - and for a change of pace, the two girls rode together and I was on my own with the Happy Haunts.
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We were off the Doom Buggies around 9:25am and headed to Jungle Cruise and Pirates. As old as all the puns get and as silly of an attraction as it is, we still enjoy a good ride and especially during the festive Jingle Cruise season. It was also good to see the Skippers have some quality New Years' Resolutions.
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Next up was Pirates, which we all know we would like to see changed back to an older version in a number of different ways (obviously, the auction scene needs to revert back to it's historically accurate sexism, I'd rather get rid of Jack from a couple scenes, and our daughter wants the mermaids back!).
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Both of those attractions showed 25 minute waits and only had about 15 minutes waits which is, of course, a nice plus! It was now about 10:30am and we decided that we would do another mountain before heading out for an afternoon break so we started back toward Frontierland. But we had to pause for a couple minutes as a Character Cavalcade was coming by! Personally, I'm a pretty big fan of the cavalcades - I much prefer a little randomness in my character sightings!
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This got us back to Big Thunder Mountain right around 10:40am and the wait was showing for 40 minutes. Knowing that most of our waits over the past 4 days had been less than posting, we decided to go ahead and wait - and, once again, the actual wait was only about half the listed and we were on the ride by 11am.
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Feeling pretty good about our morning escapades at Magic Kingdom, we decided to heat out to relax a bit for the afternoon... well, after a little more shopping and a quick visit with a couple old furry friends.
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It's kind of odd seeing Sam and Gonzo just kind of hanging out there. They aren't putting on the Muppet Moments in History show or really doing much of anything. There was a CM down on the street who talked to them and they pantomimed responses, but that was about it. Still very glad to see them! And after some quality time in the shops on Main Street, we were at the bus station at just a little before noon. And that is where I will join you next time!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
What a fabulous morning! Sure makes me want to be in the MK right now!

It was quite a good one! We always say that we are going to 'take it easy' on the day before we drive home, but we always end up with a full day and lots of adventures. The rest of the day was pretty good as well and I'll have that all posted in the next couple days.
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
Great trip report; makes me want to go to WDW. but husband doesn't want to just yet:(
I agree with you about returning POC to it's original scenes, complete with Red at the auction.
My kids and grandkids have seen this old version many times, and none of them has become pirates who auction off people. Whew! I was so worried. Honestly, at a young age, they understood that it was a RIDE featuring POC. Anyway, your report keeps me sane at this time................. 🥴 😧
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Great trip report; makes me want to go to WDW. but husband doesn't want to just yet:(
I agree with you about returning POC to it's original scenes, complete with Red at the auction.
My kids and grandkids have seen this old version many times, and none of them has become pirates who auction off people. Whew! I was so worried. Honestly, at a young age, they understood that it was a RIDE featuring POC. Anyway, your report keeps me sane at this time................. 🥴 😧

And it is certainly a difficult time to keep sane! Writing the report is doing so for me. Thus, I've been trying to spread it out a little bit. :)
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
So I finally was able to sit down and enjoy your TR! So glad you got away again! I'm a teacher, too and I agree, the districts need to announce plans and stick with them for at least a week or two. Changing everything last minute really throws all of us for a loop. Adjusting is a challenge enough, but trying to prep for changes that will be different in two days and change again is maddening!
we were ready for the usual agony of DC to Richmond, which technically is about 100 miles but can take anywhere from 1.5 hours to 4 hours to drive
YES< the traffic of DC/Richmond can be rough. I dealt with that about 10 years ago for a year or so and there was never a rhyme or reason to the madness, but I'm glad you sailed through!

And heading toward Test Track. We were in line at 10:55am and the wait was already listed as 90 minutes. But, in fact it only took about 45 minutes - yeah, wait times throughout the trip ranged from half the time listed to pretty accurate -
This was our case, too. Most of the wait times were pretty accurate. We were there Thanksgiving week, as well. Some waits were about 10-20 minutes shorter than posted, which was a treat.

Speaking of animals who were awake and active, the lions!
That's about as active as I've ever seen the lions!
So as we traveled from Africa to Asia, a drive-by concert was happening so we paused to enjoy the percussion!
I LOVE the Riverboat Cavalcades, there really isn't a crowd and it's just fun to see them!

And, when we enjoyed our Grogu, while we felt a little guilty we did enjoy him!
Grogu looks AMAZING! I guess the freshness of the cake lasts for a couple of days? What was on the inside of Grogu? (frogs, I'm assuming). :jawdrop: :jawdrop:
And, it was actually about a 30 minute wait. Less than half the listed wait time is always a nice thing. And the ride with or escape from the Yeti was exciting as always (okay, maybe not quite as exciting as it was in 2006...).
Yes, the Yeti escape is always a fun ride...why was it more exciting in 2006? Guess I need to look up that trip report...

We were pretty hopeful that the queue would follow the same pattern as Everest, but sadly it did not. A full 70 minutes in line before flying through the Pandora wilderness
Yes, the sad thing is that the 70 minute wait for Pandora was the shortest it's been since it opened, really. Save for maybe July and August when @Tuvalu was breezing through the lines!
I hadn't mentioned yet, but we were celebrating @MeffysMom's birthday during this trip (even though it was a few days before we arrived) and this was the day that we had actually put that information into the reservation, so we got a little treat at the end of the meal.
AAAAaaaaaawwwwwwwww so glad she was able to celebrate in WDW!
We headed straight to Mickey's Runaway Railway as soon as we got inside the park (much to our surprise the majority of the early morning crowd headed toward Slinky Dog) and were on the ride by 9:15am with no wait at all.
SMART!!!!!!! To go to MMRR instead of Slinky! I also loved your parking strategy. I'm happy to know Trattoria is a great breakfast. I've booked reservations there, only to cancel last-minute.
By the way, now that we have ridden a few times with just the three of us (or with another family who knows what they are doing) we pretty much always manage to get the second container of coaxium and almost every time have a brief visit to the asteroids for extended flying.
I have no idea how to get the second container of Coaxium.....I pretty much just crash everything on this ride....:banghead::banghead::facepalm::facepalm:o_Oo_O:geek::geek: but have a lot of fun doing it!

Having witnessed the insanity there four days earlier, we knew that we were going to be dealing with some lines (just hopefully not still out of the pavilion). Much to our delighted surprise, at 10:50am - no lines!
YES! We noticed a couple of times the lines were out of the pavilion. You were smart to go there first!
the Poinsettia Cocktail
LOOKS AMAZING!
We had originally planned to grab some more food in there, but decided instead to just enjoy the sights - the Frozen display and the DC Mall gingerbread display.
I'm so impressed they were able to make giant gingerbreads for this festival. Way to go, Disney for being able to pull off such a project with little time and resources!
Because it has Christmas Lights! If you haven't gotten to enjoy it during the holiday season, I highly recommend it.
The only reason we ride LWTL at night!
One of the classic attractions of Tomorrowland, the Wedway Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, sponsored by Alamo, is currently being refurbished for your future enjoyment. Who knows what tomorrow will bring to the Peoplemover!
I miss the Peoplemover!! I am so glad your Chef Mickey's Breakfast was good. We went there in 2014 and I wasn't sold on it, but I'm willing to give it another try!
. Of course, the Heffalumps and Woozles... but also the fact that I'm not wearing my hat, which would cause a slight delay as I left it in the honey pot and had to wait for the ride to cycle back through to retrieve it.
That's awesome that the hat managed not to get lost!

I enjoyed reading about your adventures and I look forward to your next report!! :geek::geek::geek:
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Grogu looks AMAZING! I guess the freshness of the cake lasts for a couple of days? What was on the inside of Grogu? (frogs, I'm assuming). :jawdrop: :jawdrop:

Yes, the Yeti escape is always a fun ride...why was it more exciting in 2006? Guess I need to look up that trip report...

Yes, the sad thing is that the 70 minute wait for Pandora was the shortest it's been since it opened, really. Save for maybe July and August when @Tuvalu was breezing through the lines!

I have no idea how to get the second container of Coaxium.....I pretty much just crash everything on this ride....:banghead::banghead::facepalm::facepalm:o_Oo_O:geek::geek: but have a lot of fun doing it!

I miss the Peoplemover!! I am so glad your Chef Mickey's Breakfast was good. We went there in 2014 and I wasn't sold on it, but I'm willing to give it another try!

If I recall correctly, Grogu was chocolate cake inside - no frogs!

Sadly, 2006 is before I started Trip Reporting so I just have to relate the info here! We were lucky enough to be able to enjoy Everest back when the Yeti still actually took a swipe at you. It was incredibly cool and I'm so glad that we had a trip so soon after it opened since that effect didn't last long... :cry:

Our trip this summer started on July 12 and the lines were astonishing short for everything, including Flight of Passage and Na'avi River Journey (I think we waited for maybe 15 minutes for Flight - guess I need to re-read that trip report!). Pretty much every other trip since it's been open we have either had FP+ or opened the morning with Flight, so I don't think we've ever waited more than 30 minutes (except one time we were just trying to see the full queue and waited 60 minutes only to have the lab section closed off when we got to it).

For Smuggler's Run, the key to getting to retrieve a second coaxium (or, if you are really fast, get to the asteroid belt chase) is how fast you get the first one. Luckily we have gotten pretty good at piloting because that is key.

I certainly wouldn't call the Chef Mickey's food anything special. The characters are obviously what makes it a fun time - but with the price pretty darn low and still being all-you-can-eat and allowing us to park for the day at Contemporary, it worked very well with our plans!
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
If I recall correctly, Grogu was chocolate cake inside - no frogs!
:geek: :geek: :jawdrop: :jawdrop:
For Smuggler's Run, the key to getting to retrieve a second coaxium (or, if you are really fast, get to the asteroid belt chase) is how fast you get the first one. Luckily we have gotten pretty good at piloting because that is key.


Thanks for the tip!! Here's to at least a Quarter of School without plans changing dramatically! :geek:
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Happy New Year all my WDWMagic friends! I hope that you are welcoming the new year by sleeping in much later than I - but that's just the way Brifraz works, so why not post the next part of our final day?

I believe I left you as we were about to leave the Magic Kingdom just a bit before 12pm on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The initial plan had been to leave MK at around noon and take a bus to Old Key West (our usual home resort) and relax by the pool and grab some lunch. You might have missed the detail that I've been carrying around a backpack all morning in the Magic Kingdom that contained our bathing suits and flip flops (and, really, how would you have noticed since it wasn't in any of the pictures and I didn't mention it). But as we headed to the busses, the idea of another visit to Disney Springs for a few last minute purchases was put forward... AKA, we didn't find what we wanted in the Emporium as we left Magic Kingdom, so time for plan B.

But, as you may know, busses direct to and from Disney Springs aren't currently a thing at Magic Kingdom, so now it was time for plan C - as an addendum to plan B. Lots of ideas were floated, but the final answer that seemed the best was to catch a bus to Saratoga Springs, get off at Congress Park and then walk over to DS. Obviously, our ideal solution would've been the boat from Old Key West (honestly, it's one of my favorite things to do in WDW), but the boats are still a Covid-casualty, so we hopped on the bus and headed out. And it was a good plan! Got to Disney Springs somewhat quickly and headed to the shops. And the shopping went very quickly as well. Of course, during all of this, our Chef Mickey's full stomachs had started to fade and we had been tracking some of our favorite English Premier League teams on our phones (yes, we are a family of huge soccer fans). Thus, the decision was made to grab our lunch at City Works, which we had really enjoyed a couple times on our summer trip.

So, over to City Works for a couple beers and some food and some soccer on the big screens (well, actually just a couple of the big screens since NFL seems to be a little more popular around here). And, once again, we really enjoyed the food and the beers, too. Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of them!! Total slackers, I know. From there, we caught the bus over to Old Key West to still get in some rest and relaxation time.

Grabbed a trio of seats right by the pool and just laid out, taking in some last Florida sun and heat before the trip back north into the cold! After about an hour of R&R, our daughter brought up the fact that she was very interested in the holiday macron tree at Gaston's in MK and that Gaston's was closing at 5pm, so we got changed back into park clothes, grabbed a quick drink at the Gurgling Suitcase - and a quick hello and chat with Lorna, one of the regular bartenders there, and then headed back to MK. And, that means that it is finally time for the only picture in this morning's trip report installment (but what a beautiful picture it is).

IMG_0454.JPG


Ahh, the Turtle Krawl in all it's beautiful splendor. I'll catch back up with you at the Magic Kingdom soon!
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
So, over to City Works for a couple beers and some food and some soccer on the big screens (well, actually just a couple of the big screens since NFL seems to be a little more popular around here). And, once again, we really enjoyed the food and the beers, too. Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of them!! Total slackers, I know
Yes, when the Emporium doesn't have it, my fingers are crossed that World of Disney will! I actually had the best luck in Island Traders at AK this year! Anyway, glad you got in a pop at CityWorks again, it seems to be your family's new favorite!!

Uuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm Macroon Tree??? Sounds delish!! :geek: :geek: :geek:

Also, Happy New Year to you and your family. I'm hoping things get easier in school for you soon!
 

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