Trip Report Our psychic says it'll be great PART THREE ADDED

Disney Shib · Sep 24, 2014

Sounds fantastic. Nothing better than a trip with your partner in crime.

JustBre · Nov 2, 2014

It has been about two weeks back from WDW and the longing to go back is settling in; therefore, it is time to write the trip report.

Necessary details:

Me –Justin, teacher, sixth trip to WDW

Travel Buddy –Angela, event planner, sixth or seventh trip to WDW

Dates –October 15-20

Resort –All Stars Music

Plans –All parks, Food & Wine, and MNSSHP

I should be posting this in several different updates over the coming couple of weeks. Hopefully, it doesn’t take me too long!

PART ONE – IND to MCO to ASM

4:00am Wednesday, October 15 I was jumping out of bed and ready to get going. Things ran wonderfully smoothly that morning –My bags were ready to go, I felt rested, an Uber was easy to snag to get me to Angela’s, and the ride to Angela’s was free of problems. When I got to her place, she was curbside with her luggage and ready to get to the airport. It was a slow morning at the Indianapolis Airport as we expected so we only got there about 45 minutes before boarding started. We did manage to sneak a picture (we were afraid TSA might be mad at us) of this very high-tech, professional-looking “Flu-Defense Station:”

We probably saw one of these in each security area of the airports we stopped in; Indy’s was the saddest looking though.

Our flight out of Indy took us to Detroit that morning. The flight to Detroit was pretty unremarkable –and maybe only thirty minutes long – but I did manage to get this picture of the sun starting to rise:

We had about an hour and a half layover in Detroit that morning. We used that time to catch up on some quick social media and email checking. Here is the first picture we managed to take of us as our travels were commencing:

Our flight from Detroit to MCO was about 2.5 hours long, so it mainly served as a nap opportunity for us. We landed in MCO around 1:30pm, and it was bright, sunny, and warm in Orlando. We hopped on the tram to the main terminal, made the trek to the Magical Express depot, scanned our Magic Bands for the first time (more on this later), and hopped on our DME:

I enjoy the DME ride (this was my second). The coaches are well appointed and comfortable, the video is a nice welcome to WDW, and I love avoiding the hassle of picking up luggage. Our coach made four stops total, and we were the third on the itinerary. The stops did not take much time, and all four resorts are in close proximity. We might have been on the bus for abour 45 minutes before arriving at All Stars Music:

I’ll take some time to just talk about my experience with All Stars Music here. In all of my past trips, I have stayed off-property, WDW Dolphin, and Disney’s Beach Club; I have been a bit spoiled in my accomadations. We opted for a Value Resort for the trip because we decided a bit later in the game to go. I was pleased with my experience at ASM, but I doubt that I will be back there again. We mainly just needed a place to crash, and ASM served that purpose 100%. The rooms were small and not remarkable, but we didn’t need to hang out there very often. The pools were nice and never too busy, but we never found time to swim in them. We actually enjoyed that the food court was closed because it seemed to make the overall resort feel slower and less crowded. We went over to AS Movies to grab breakfast on our departure day, and the place was a zoo. If you need to save some money or are super active tourers then the All Stars Resorts work fine.

As expected we didn't hang out long at the resort upon arrival, we got out groceries put away (yay for gardengrocer.com), changed our shoes, and jumped the bus to our first park this trip: EPCOT. We chose to start with EPCOT for a few reasons: Extra Magic Hours that night, low crowd expectations, and we wanted to preview Food & Wine before our offical visit the next night. We rode the Disney Transportation bus to EPCOT. I will say this about the bus area at the All Stars: they are out in the sun and chained into a queue. I’m use to covered benches for waiting, and here it was not as nice. Perhaps during busier times, the civility at the bus stop goes down? It was unusual that here there is a queue and other resorts do not have that. Also, the buses to the All Stars were always the farthest from the entrances to the parks, so be prepared for more of a walk. Again, we are intrepid tourers, so it got laughed off.

Part Two – EPCOT – should happen this evening as well!

JustBre · Nov 2, 2014

PART TWO – EPCOT

Our first park experience went to EPCOT for this experience. EPCOT was without a doubt my favorite park as a child; I love all of the edutainment themed rides, and visions of the future were enthralling to me. EPCOT has sadly worked its way down to probably my third favorite of the four parks, and if it weren’t for World Showcase, EPCOT might be fourth. Future World is just a mess now –none of the rides are that impressive or they feel woefully dated. Spaceship Earth and Living with the Land are the only two I still truly enjoy.

Our arrival to EPCOT commenced with some obligatory shots of Spaceship Earth. Tourists –sheesh!

For our very first attraction of the trip we chose something neither of us had done before: Sum of All Thrills. I generally avoid the Innoventions buildings because I never have a clear sense of what I’m getting myself into with any of the attractions in there. I have read enough about Sum of All Thrills to not what’s up with that one.

We designed a roller coaster that went as high and loopy as possible. The creation process is interesting and the ride experience is pretty cool; it’s just extremely short. It was over in seconds. I don’t see myself ever rushing to do it again.

Angela hasn’t been to WDW since about 2002, so she had a lot of catching up to do on this trip. That begin with re-experiencing one of her favorite attractions as a kid in the 90s: Ellen’s Energy Adventure. She loved it so much as a child that she named a pet rat Stupid Judy. While the humor is still intact for fans of Ellen, the ride part is pretty terrible. Also, the animatronic Ellen was not there on our ride, but she definitely was a year ago. Refurb?

We cruised over to Spaceship Earth for our first FastPass+ of the trip. It took us a second to understand the correct alignment for the MagicBand and MagicPlus, but we were off:

I do enjoy some Spaceship Earth still; I thought it was amazing as a kid that we got to go up into “the ball.” The ride is still enjoyable: the smells, the hidden Mickeys, the hip, fro-sporting technologist in the more “modern” section. I am even a fan of the interactive display ending as the cars descend to the exit. I’m probably just easily entertained by the picture incorporation.

After Spaceship Earth we made our way to the Westside for some attractions there. Neither of us actually remembers the original Living Seas attraction, but the Nemo update to it is pretty weak. I go on it each visit because there is never a wait and the “I need to do it all” spirit compels me. It’s meh, but the aquariums after are worth it. I like to see the manatees!

Satisfied with our visit to the Seas, we aimed for the Land –probably my favorite pavilion. We hopped on one of my all-time favorite attractions: Living with the Land. I find this relaxing little boat ride wonderfully enjoyable. The various scenes of “the land,” checking out the various fruits and vegetables in the greenhouses, and the fish growing in the hatcheries as well. It’s great! I was looking forward to our reservation at Garden Grill on Saturday so I could have even more time with the attraction.

Our next FastPass took us to Soarin.’ The wait was currently posted at 55 minutes, so the FastPass was a must. This was my third time on Soarin’ and Angela’s first. I find the attraction to be a solid one; I even get a little anxious upon the initial take-off. However, Angela and I both agreed we would be let down if we had waited 55 minutes for it. The picture is looking a little fuzzy as well.

JustBre · Nov 2, 2014

PART TWO -CONT"D
It was about 6:30, we hadn’t eaten in about seven hours, and we were starting to feel a little worn down. We had dinner reservations at La Hacienda de San Angel for 8pm, and I started to worry we couldn’t hold out that long. We decided to swing by the new Starbucks for a cake pop to eat en route to our last FastPass of the night. We would sustain ourselves on some Disney magic at the EPCOT Character Spot. Lots of pictures to follow here –we weren’t warmed up yet to characters so these were a little awkward. They get better.

We even took a selfie with the big man (it kind of became a thing):

Feeling good after our run-in with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, we made our way to Mexico to see if we could get to eat early. And success! They got us in by about 7:15. La Hacienda del San Angel has some great ambiance and worthwhile dining. Angela enjoy a margarita while I had a beer, and we both decided on the Shrimp Tacos. The tacos were excellent, and I smashed them plus some of Angela’s. Best part of the Dining Plan –dessert is required. We both settled on the Chocolate Mousse; chocolate pretty much always wins out for us. The Mousse is not the standard choice you get at a counter-service thankfully, but is actually excellent. You won’t see many food pics in the trip report because I think it’s kind of weird and I usually can’t wait to dig in.

Dinner was done by around 8pm, so we decided to soak up some World Showcase ambiance.

JustBre · Nov 2, 2014

PART TWO CONT'D
We grabbed a couple of beers and made our way to the balcony of the Matsukoshi store in Japan to watch Illuminations. On the way to Japan, we got pulled in by the sweet sounds of Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen.” He sounded amazing! The man looks like he might be 70, but he was singing and dancing like crazy. We danced a bit to the song as it was his last of the night, and then we settled into our spot to view IllumiNations.

I love IllumiNations!

We then got caught up in some World Showcase lighting!

And trolls!

At that time, we were into EMH. They were a bit lax in checking –two CMs just asked what resort hotel we were staying at. We strolled into the Imagination Pavilion –my absolute favorite as a kid. We rode Journey into Imagination with Figment –again, my absolute favorite as a kid. I even had a figment hat with the horns; I wanted it more than I wanted Ears. I have experienced the terror that is Journey before, but the current state still makes me sad.

We cruised into Captain EO next.

The 80s were truly something! Angela and I kind of loved the camp factor to this, and we walked out smiling. We were probably also a little buzzed from a few beers.

At this point, our Future World tour was almost complete. We just wanted to do Test Track; it had a 55 minute wait! We decided to just do the single-ride line to avoid the wait, and we were both glad we did. We both agree that the original crash-test dummy set-up worked better for us; we liked that it didn’t take itself too seriously. This new version just feels “meh.” The outside Speed portion is a nice thrill, but everything before is lacking.

It was about 10:15pm at this point, and we decided we had had enough for the day. We trudged down to our bus stop, didn’t wait long, and we were in bed by 11:15. We even made plans to be up at 6:45 for a quick fitness run.

Day Two would bring rope drop at Disney Hollywood Studios and then an evening at the Food & Wine Festival. This will again be segmented into two parts! Look for them soon…

JustBre · Nov 16, 2014

PART THREE – DHS

Everyone will be proud to know that we decided to get our butts out of bed and work out this morning. We created, what we would dub, “Justin’s Magical Boot Camp;” it basically just meant running around ASM, stopping at each building, and doing some sort of exercise: squats, lunges, push-ups, etc. It was a nice fifteen minute start to our morning; we even managed to beat the sun rise! We quickly enjoyed our Garden Grocer supplied breakfast, got cute, and headed to Disney Hollywood Studios.

I definitely did things a bit out of order this trip. Normally I go in historical order: MK, EPCOT, DHS, and AK; also, this was my order of favorites. It shifted quite a bit this trip. It was a beautiful morning for Disney Hollywood Studios. We got there about five minutes prior to rope drop and we managed to snap a few pics in line.

Once the gates were open, we watched everyone head to the left for TSMM, and we headed to the right. We started our morning with a ride on Aerosmith’s Rock N Roller Coaster. You got to get the blood really pumping from the start, and there is nothing at WDW like that initial “take-off” to get you going.

We walked basically onto the ride, truly enjoyed ourselves – screamed – and then we walked right on over to the Tower of Terror.

ToT is truly one of the best Disney experiences possible from the queue to the final moments. See, we even took pictures with some rando bust because the ambience insisted upon it!

On this particular ride, there was one cast member that was working some serious Disney magic; I wish I had her name! A detached sense of self pervaded her delivery as if she were crossed over from some actual Twilight Zone. She even had crazy hand motions to explain the seatbelt procedure that we would go onto imitate for basically every experience. She was perfect!

We walked ourselves back over to RnR Coaster for another ride –only about a 15 minute wait to hop on. We managed to get the front row on this ride, and it was even better that way! We then walked back to Tot, used our FastPass to bypass the now 30 minute wait, and had another wonderful drop (minus the great CM from before)!

We managed to experience all of this in about the first hour and a half of our visit, so we had another hour to kill before our Star Tours FastPass was up. Angela most remembers a love for the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre from her last experience, so we thought we would check to see if we could get in. They had just opened the hostess stand and told us no “reservations” were available, but we could get in as a “walk-in” right at 11. We added our names, did a little shopping, around, and managed a picture of course!

This was my first time at Sci-Fi, and I would go back again conditionally. We were seated as “hitchhikers” in a car which basically means that in a car of three rows the first two rows are full and your party is seated in the last one. It’s pretty awk-sauce. We were seated with a family of five, and you are legit right in the midst of their lives. Angela and I have a tendency for bawdy or inappropriate talk at times (I know you’re thinking how could these jewels ever be less than perfect). We definitely had to censor ourselves. Also, one of the kids was obsessed with just turning around to stare at us. To make things even more awkward, the family kept getting up to take pictures of themselves or the kids in the car. Angela and I would try to duck down, so there weren’t random people photobombing their nice family vacation. This was the only downside to the experience at Sci-Fi. Angela and I both had great burgers and milkshakes, and the ambience/theming is pretty spectacular. We even managed to get a pretty good picture.

JustBre · Nov 16, 2014

PART THREE CONT"D
After the visit to Sci-Fi, Angela insisted on stopping at the gift shop just behind it –struggling on the name. When she was a kid, she remembers getting a peanut butter cookie from there that was amazing. They got it after a dinner at Sci-Fi, she saved it for later, and when she went to eat it, the cookie was a big oily mess but still good. To our surprise, they still had the PB cookie –and it was great!

We popped over to do our FastPass for Star Tours. It was my second time on the “new” experience, and I feel like I got exactly the same last time! Angela and I always call it the mall simulator ride because that’s what it looks like from the outside. Does anyone else remember those simulators they had in malls in the early 90s?

From there we moseyed around the Streets of America section. We stopped into the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground. It was a zoo, but we snapped a quick picture.

I introduced Angela to the Singing in the Rain umbrella, and we both got pictures under it.

You may notice at this point, and you’ll see this in other pictures throughout, that Angela and I have tendency to match outfits. This was not then, and is never, a conscious decision. We put things, and then we see that we are practically matching. Luckily. DHS was the biggest matching moment of the trip.

We still had some time to kill before our TSMM FastPast, so we slid into line for MuppetVision 3D. I got a picture of me checking out the key under the mat.

MuppetVision is another reliable, quick-wait experience. Very cute pre-show waiting area, maybe better than the actual show! Angela was excited to see Pizza Planet on the way out, so she snapped a picture. Neither of us have ever been in there. I would experience some counter-service pizza later in the trip that will probably keep me from ever going into Pizza Planet.

While walking about, we saw that Mike and Sulley were emerging for photos and there was a short line. At this point, we were feeling more confident in our character meeting skills, and after meeting Mike and Sulley we were ready to meet any character out there. Even the queue for just a meet has amazing details.

Sulley is a great character to meet –super huggable and funny. He waltzed with Angela for a bit even. Mike Wazowski, though, is not the most engaging; that costume has a lot of limitations. I tried to, awkwardly, include him in our picture. Sorry, little buddy!

We thought we should at least peek into Wandering Oaken's area. We thought it was “cute,” took a picture of the “sauna,” and moved on.

JustBre · Nov 16, 2014

PART THREE CONCLUDED
It was time for our final FastPass of the day: Toy Story Midway Mania. Now, I have been to WDW two times before while TSMM has been around, and yet I have never experienced it. My brother and niece waited in line 1.5 hours after it first opened, and they said it was just okay. All the blogs rate it a bit ho-hum. I did not have the highest expectations going into it, but it must be experienced!

Angela and I loved it! It’s simple – I love the way the ride cars move – but it’s wildly addictive. As soon as it was over, we were mad that we couldn’t just jump right back on. It might have been because Angela trounced me at the game.

We wanted desperately to make it back to TSMM to go again, but sadly it never happened for us this trip.

We took stock in the rest of DHS, but we decided there wasn’t anything else we really wanted to do. We skipped Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular; Lights, Motors, Action; Voyage of the Little Mermaid; and The Great Movie Ride. These are all pretty stale for me at this point; nothing has really changed about these since the last couple of times I’ve experienced them. Rumors are abound about changes coming to DHS, and I hope they are true. ToT, RnR, and TSMM are some great attractions, but they can’t justify me making extra visits to DHS during a stay, like MK or even EPCOT can. If you want to call 9:00am to 2:30pm a half day, then, yeah DHS is a half-day park.

Stay tuned for PART FOUR – FOOD and WINE

officialtom · Nov 16, 2014

Reading this is doing nothing to quell my need to get back to WDW. Looking hopefully at February or March 2015...fingers crossed. Keep the pics coming!

FlaggNL · Nov 17, 2014

Great TR! Maybe we find ourselfes on the pics.. we had some overlap with our trip

Thanks for sharing!!

Trip Report Our psychic says it'll be great PART THREE ADDED

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