Trip Report No, seriously, we have important meetings... honest! Live reporting.

Hello WDWMagic friends and family. I know, I know... back when we last travelled together in February, the next trip wasn’t supposed to be until December. But then @MeffysMom and I got our new teaching assignments for the upcoming year. And we both are teaching Advanced Placement classes. And the Annual AP National Conference is at the Swan/Dolphin next week. So... we had to add in a trip!

If you’ve followed along with us before, you know that our trio travels every chance we get (and almost always via car). Well, with no Disney planned, we decided to drive cross country this past month with the destination being a Disney cruise to Alaska and most of the drive through Canada. It was 8000 driving miles, plus the cruise of amazing experiences, but also an exhausting 4 weeks. We didn’t expect to be turning around 6 days later for the 900 mile drive to WDW.

We hit the road late tonight after @MeffysMom gets done ushering Hamilton in Baltimore. So a very late night drive! Here’s a brief overview of the plans:

Wednesday- arrive around 4pm and check in to Pop Century. Then DVC bowling at Splitsville and a short evening visit to Magic Kingdom.

Thursday- morning at Epcot, then get checked in for meetings. In the evening we will be going to the DVC Moonlight Magic at Animal Kingdom.

Friday- EMH at Magic Kingdom, then Meffysmom has meetings and our daughter and I will be on our own. The evening will be at Studios.

Saturday- more meetings for Meffysmom, while our daughter and I are going to take a slow tour of Epcot. Then we are all meeting up for more Epcot time.

Sunday- this is my meeting day, so the girls are possibly doing a nuts 4 parks and Disney Springs in one day PLUS moving to Old Key West. For the evening we will head back to Epcot for our final final Illuminations.

Monday- morning at Animal Kingdom and then nice dinner at The Edison.

Tuesday- check out day with a morning at Studios and then maybe stop in Magic Kingdom before the long drive home.

As usual, I’ll try to do live posting throughout the adventure. See you soon!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Good morning again! We don’t have a whole lot of material from yesterday, but here goes!

Once I had gotten Meffysmom to her conference, it was back the room to...wait for our daughter to wake up. So, in the end, about 11am we headed to Disney Springs for a little shopping and some lunch.

Biggest excitement of that was the cupcakes from Sprinkles (2 for 1 special!).
622F3E5D-BDBB-4070-8945-1473F82B8D2C.jpeg


We then headed back to the room and just took a little time to relax. About 3, we headed to Studios and started with checking out Indy - just getting there as it started. Much to our surprise it was packed! Standing room only!! So, we bailed out and did Star Tours with just a 10 minute wait. We actually got a timeline that almost worked - Jakku, Crait, and then Batuu. Then over to Muppetvision (one of my personal favorites). First, with CM permission, we went through the whole side of building weave to look at all the posters. Luckily the Here to There sequence of posters is still there to help us. And some newer ones as well.
2681FC13-9C98-4E69-A661-57C03C651E19.jpeg


And, again, the crowd was very big. Over 2/3 full. As usual, I laughed out loud. But, still a little disappointed that they continue to try to have the smoke effects- the sound with no smoke is just annoying at this point!

We then walked through and watched the short film at One Man’s Dream. Definitely some new things in the ‘museum’ since our last visit. Now it was dinner time so we met up with Meffysmom and off to 50’s Prime Time.

Ended up sitting right next to @Tuvalu !
D1E6873D-A246-410C-BFDA-FC5056BBB6C2.jpeg


And there was a little disagreement over the PB&J shake.
E3602EAE-DD7B-44E6-A984-90EFBAB7863C.jpeg


After dinner it was FP+ time. Star Tours (not to timeline happy - Darth Vader, then Kashyyk , Princess Leia, and ending with Coruscant). Next was Toy Story Midway Mania, which was fun as ever - although still nobody can beat Meffysmom.

Final destination for the night was Fantasmic with FP+. Not a big fan of how they dictate seating by section (we’d rather be on the side, but weren’t allowed as the near middle wasn’t full yet) so maybe next time we wait a little longer to get there. But the show was good!

On the way out, Star Wars projection and fireworks were still going so we had to get a picture.
28EC16E3-38B4-497C-9D71-A54890D38B94.jpeg


I think the Darth Vader coming out of my head is pretty appropriate.

Heading to Epcot now and staying for the day. See you soon!!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
So far, we’ve managed to help OWCA (Organization Without a Cool Acronym) save Mexico, China, and Germany. Thank goodness we were there!
225B0B52-341D-4F6E-A1E5-3DD698EDA2C5.jpeg


We also saw Reflections of China and looked through the Shanghai display. And now grabbing a light lunch in France.
1A146DD8-AD46-4B0C-9FF5-D297F2809C2A.jpeg


Next up Impressions de France and then maybe the Awesome Mix concert - if we aren’t too overheated by then.

Side note - at our home 900 miles north of here it is hotter than here (close to 100 in Maryland and just low to mid 90s here).
 

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
So far, we’ve managed to help OWCA (Organization Without a Cool Acronym) save Mexico, China, and Germany. Thank goodness we were there!
View attachment 391714

We also saw Reflections of China and looked through the Shanghai display. And now grabbing a light lunch in France.
View attachment 391713

Next up Impressions de France and then maybe the Awesome Mix concert - if we aren’t too overheated by then.

Side note - at our home 900 miles north of here it is hotter than here (close to 100 in Maryland and just low to mid 90s here).
Ooo what sandwich is that? Does it have apples?
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Yes, you can all now safely travel to France, Japan, and the UK as well. All 6 missions complete, plus France and China films done in about 3 hours. As huge fans of the old Kim Possible version, we appreciated the shout out in the UK mission.
CDDDFFD3-4431-4B14-B0F1-8802A335E67E.jpeg


Missions (and AP meetings) complete, we met up with Meffysmom in Canada for that movie and then headed to the Land for Soarin FP+, then dinner at Sunshine Seasons.

After dinner we had (somewhat pointless) FP+ for Living with the Land. I say somewhat because, while the line was only 2 minutes or so, it did afford us front row seats.
A28A2056-5051-4344-B3C5-24EB136B14E8.jpeg


Now, the girls are doing Test Track single rider and then FP+ for Mission: Space orange while I relax and play the role of older guy who isn’t a huge fan of thrill rides.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Sorry for no posting for 24 hours. We are back in Epcot now waiting for final Illuminations. And, I have a major gripe. I’ll update the last 24 hours soon, but complaining time now.

Small gripe #1: Had Frozen FP+ for 7:35. It went down. Got the generic Epcot FP+ for tonight. But wanted to stake our Illuminations spots, so basically a wasted one. I recall a time when a lost FP+ late in the evening meant one that was good the next day. Guess not anymore.

Big gripe #1: Got to the area around Italy about 7:45 for good seats. One side of Italy’s ‘coast’ was already fenced off for a private party (in addition to the area that is almost always used for parties). So we got a prime spot on the Germany side. Sat down, relaxed, etc. At 8:20pm, CM comes to tell us (and a couple other families) that this area is for a private function tonight. I asked why it wasn’t blocked off like the other side and was told ‘it’s different divisions and our shift just started so we are telling you now.’ We relocated to the Japan side af America, which is fine. But, you can’t tell me they didn’t know about this party in advance enough to block that area off. Or that the CM guarding the area that was blocked off didn’t know that the other area would soon be cleared. And, Epcot knows very well that people stake out spots 1-2 hours before the show. 40 minutes before show time is pretty darn late to close off a prime location and rudely tell people to move.

Rant over. Back to normal TR soon.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
So, last night. After the girls got their thrill ride fix in, we headed back to catch the Guardians show.
5A8A557A-90A1-427E-801B-0D7C51823091.jpeg

The musicians in that show are really high level. In particular the trumpet player
42445A0F-C9D1-44D3-9567-EF96535766B6.jpeg

The guitarist
549BEDF1-7D53-403A-B924-5462A203F710.jpeg

And the lead singer
F5A41C90-6535-4950-9EE6-620433A2EAA2.jpeg


Nice to know that despite the cuts in entertainment, they still get some very high level talent.

We hit the Mexico boat ride on the way out and then got back to our room for good sleep.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Okay! The girls are doing their second (and likely third) ride on Everest so I have some time to catch you up on yesterday’s adventures (no griping, I promise).

So, for Sunday I was in my AP conference from 8-4, so the girls were on their own. And they went full out!

8am EMH at Studios for Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.
4C18EC49-E12A-4498-98B0-D7AD39E20661.jpeg


About 9:30am at Magic Kingdom for FP+ for Rapunzel/Tiana, Big Thunder, and Space - plus a ride on Haunted Mansion.
A8829CC7-68D2-4851-9564-3F9C40398601.jpeg


A little after noon to Disney Springs for lunch at Blaze and ice cream at Sprinkles.
ADF6E31D-2C8E-454A-9C12-C398117B5A06.jpeg

C8A92B58-DAF2-445E-A2CD-44A40EA3E081.jpeg


Stop #4 was Animal Kingdom
7CD8F59E-E07D-40B6-A06C-11638283DC44.jpeg

for Everest...nope, down again. For Safari- and the rain storm meant some happily active animals.
F5100C2C-AD28-4EAE-828A-B4666F3246DA.jpeg

15334E08-5D6F-4041-AFE2-83B22D6F6E81.jpeg


It was about 4pm, I finally get to join the fun! (Stop #5)
C08699B9-4F0E-4BAA-A699-85CF8CAC652A.jpeg


Over to Old Key West to get checked in to our new room at ‘home’ and dinner at the Gurgling Suitcase.
0E0285A4-4630-44E5-A361-24679BCE54DE.jpeg


And, the final stop of the day was #7 which you already know is at Epcot for Frozen (or maybe not) and Illuminations from Italy (or maybe US/Japan).
442AB78B-47DE-4C50-8596-CCCED6F6CA52.jpeg


The girls logged about 10 miles of walking over the course of the day, but loved it!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
And now, we find ourselves back at Animal Kingdom and they are about to ride for the third time (and it’s just 8:30).

In the interest of not spreading misinformation, I missed them getting off the second time. They rode it 4 times between 8am and 8:34am. Yup, average of 8.5 minutes for each line and ride combined. Keep the crowds over at Pandora, that’s awesome.
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
I know I still need to fill you all in on yesterday’s activity, but wanted to brag about Meffysmom and her FP+ manipulation.

It’s 10:45am. We got into Studios at 9am. We have done Toy Story (standby), Alien Saucers (standby), Slinky Dog (FP+ at 9:40), met Edna Mode, Star Tours (FP+ started at 9:45, we went on at 10:05, and MuppetVision (FP+ started at 10:05, we went on at 10:25). Once we tap in, she moves things up with great skill. Plus, we now have FP+ for 2pm for Splash Mountain that we may or may not use.
 

Janir

Well-Known Member
Sorry for no posting for 24 hours. We are back in Epcot now waiting for final Illuminations. And, I have a major gripe. I’ll update the last 24 hours soon, but complaining time now.

Small gripe #1: Had Frozen FP+ for 7:35. It went down. Got the generic Epcot FP+ for tonight. But wanted to stake our Illuminations spots, so basically a wasted one. I recall a time when a lost FP+ late in the evening meant one that was good the next day. Guess not anymore.

Big gripe #1: Got to the area around Italy about 7:45 for good seats. One side of Italy’s ‘coast’ was already fenced off for a private party (in addition to the area that is almost always used for parties). So we got a prime spot on the Germany side. Sat down, relaxed, etc. At 8:20pm, CM comes to tell us (and a couple other families) that this area is for a private function tonight. I asked why it wasn’t blocked off like the other side and was told ‘it’s different divisions and our shift just started so we are telling you now.’ We relocated to the Japan side af America, which is fine. But, you can’t tell me they didn’t know about this party in advance enough to block that area off. Or that the CM guarding the area that was blocked off didn’t know that the other area would soon be cleared. And, Epcot knows very well that people stake out spots 1-2 hours before the show. 40 minutes before show time is pretty darn late to close off a prime location and rudely tell people to move.

Rant over. Back to normal TR soon.
That bites. You stake out a spot and then you get moved out of it last minute is just not fair to you guys. They do know when the special event parties are and where they are setting up. Someone screwed up and forgot a party.
Not to be the one demanding things in general but they should have offered those of you displaced something. Even a FP good the next day anywhere or something.
 

Janir

Well-Known Member
I know I still need to fill you all in on yesterday’s activity, but wanted to brag about Meffysmom and her FP+ manipulation.

It’s 10:45am. We got into Studios at 9am. We have done Toy Story (standby), Alien Saucers (standby), Slinky Dog (FP+ at 9:40), met Edna Mode, Star Tours (FP+ started at 9:45, we went on at 10:05, and MuppetVision (FP+ started at 10:05, we went on at 10:25). Once we tap in, she moves things up with great skill. Plus, we now have FP+ for 2pm for Splash Mountain that we may or may not use.
CAn you explain how or point to a resource that explains what she did to optimize FP's once you tapped in?
 

DryerLintFan

Premium Member
I know I still need to fill you all in on yesterday’s activity, but wanted to brag about Meffysmom and her FP+ manipulation.

It’s 10:45am. We got into Studios at 9am. We have done Toy Story (standby), Alien Saucers (standby), Slinky Dog (FP+ at 9:40), met Edna Mode, Star Tours (FP+ started at 9:45, we went on at 10:05, and MuppetVision (FP+ started at 10:05, we went on at 10:25). Once we tap in, she moves things up with great skill. Plus, we now have FP+ for 2pm for Splash Mountain that we may or may not use.

Well, that's brilliant!! I'll have to remember that for our trip!!
 

jlag1006

Well-Known Member
I know I still need to fill you all in on yesterday’s activity, but wanted to brag about Meffysmom and her FP+ manipulation.

It’s 10:45am. We got into Studios at 9am. We have done Toy Story (standby), Alien Saucers (standby), Slinky Dog (FP+ at 9:40), met Edna Mode, Star Tours (FP+ started at 9:45, we went on at 10:05, and MuppetVision (FP+ started at 10:05, we went on at 10:25). Once we tap in, she moves things up with great skill. Plus, we now have FP+ for 2pm for Splash Mountain that we may or may not use.
My mouth dropped when I read this! Why oh why have I never thought of this. I'll be trying it out in September, for sure!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
CAn you explain how or point to a resource that explains what she did to optimize FP's once you tapped in?
Well, that's brilliant!! I'll have to remember that for our trip!!
My mouth dropped when I read this! Why oh why have I never thought of this. I'll be trying it out in September, for sure!

Here’s the full play by play of FP+ today.
Had booked Slinky for 9:35, Muppets 10:35, and Little Mermaid for 11:35. As soon as we tapped at the second kiosk for Slinky, she was on the App to move things up. Star Tours was available, so she booked that to start pretty much immediately, then switched the Mermaid to Muppets. Soon as we tapped in to Star Tours, she moved up Muppets.

Once we got into Muppets, during the pre-show, she was checking MK and managed to get Splash for 2:20.

After Muppets, we sat and relaxed for a couple minutes and Splash came up for 12:10, so moved that on up!! We drove to MK and as soon as we tapped In to that, she was checking and got Haunted Mansion for 12:45. AND, when we got into that line, she got Tinkerbell meet for us to hit on the way out (1pm time).

So, 6 FP+ in 2 parks in under 4 hours in two separate parks. You have to keep a pretty good eye on the app and be willing to keep checking and changing. She is a master at it. I try to help, but never manage to get the success rate that she does!!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Original Poster
Now... back to yesterday. I left you after the girls had done Everest 4 times. Next up was the obligatory ride on Dinosaur. I say that because I don’t think any of us really enjoy it but we feel like we need to do it at least every couple visits. After that we crossed the park for our Safari FP+. Another good ride with ALL the giraffes out and about - had no idea there were so many!

Then we crossed half the park again to get a quick check on the tigers - sleeping in the heat, but the older female did a super cute roll over while we watched. Back across again to get the train to Conservation Station for...
59CDAE08-9619-41ED-9886-D1B889587CCD.jpeg


We drew Timon and also got some quality time with Swan, the goat. And...yeah, I got silly with the elephants.
22AAE9AC-4010-4D14-BFA6-7DD65606BFF2.jpeg


Our third FP+ was later, so we cross crossed again for the 12pm Finding Nemo show. Do love that show!!
9817892F-6D9C-45C8-AB46-CC08F49D9AC8.jpeg


After the show it was about 12:30 so we headed to Pandora for our Flight FP+. And, as always, loved the ride! Of course, as we exited Animal Kingdom, Meffysmom was checking FP and got us 9pm for Peter Pan.

But first it was back to the room for a few minutes of pool time and then a nap. And at 5:25, we were headed to Disney Springs for a quick spot of shopping and then dinner at The Edison. Along with shopping, we stopped at the Photopass studio and had a little fun.
7569AE04-57C8-4716-AAE8-60643A52A8FD.jpeg


I had no idea they did green screen free pics there (if you have Photopass or whatever it is now called).

Dinner st The Edison was very nice, but I’ll admit I shed a few tears looking around and remembering the Adventurers Club which was a favorite haunt for quite a few years.
7687DAE8-E9DD-4E3A-98F8-2A31A8AD9140.jpeg


After dinner, we headed to MK to catch the fireworks and our Pan FP+. And to hit the Mine Train standby line just before closing.
BEC27CD2-43DE-4CA6-8357-9D80644A2427.jpeg


Which meant we were walking out right as the Goodnight Kiss happened.

You’ve already kind of heard today’s adventure via the FP+ info, but I’ll update with pics later!!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom