Trip Report Our quickest trip plan to execution....7 hours !

OK, maybe not total. But our daughter who lives in Jacksonville was planning to head down to the parks on MLK weekend. We were floundering on it, but on Friday, 1/15, 6:30 PM my wife and I fully committed and booked a flight from PHI to MCO. Got up Saturday at 1:00 AM, got ready, finished packing and set off for Philly by 2:15 AM. Our flight left at 6:00 AM and we were in Orlando by 8:30 AM with our daughter waiting for us with her dog Bean. We knew the ensuing day would be long, but we were really psyched to do the International Arts Festival at Epcot and try the new menu items, so no breakfast. We wanted empty bellies. I will continue to document this mini-trip as soon as I get my photos arranged.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As I said in my opening, I placed the order for the airfare around 6:00PM and we woke up to get ready at 1:00AM. Our two year old Boston, Buzz, was not used to this type of schedule.

IMG_0747.JPG
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yea, it was a poor first day for pictures. I must say that we really enjoyed the menu this year. The tomato soup with french onion and bacon grilled cheese seemed to be the hit; always a huge line. I like raw food so I really liked the steak tartare in the Events Pavilion.
Day 2 was our last day at the parks so we were going to take advantage of the reopened park hopping. We started off heading to Disney Springs for a reservation for brunch at House of Blues for 11:00AM. After House of Blues we would be heading to Magic Kingdom and hopping to Hollywood Studios. If we had enough time left, we were going to hop back to Epcot for a light dinner. We
had to be at the Disney Best Friends Kennel to pick up my daughter's dog at 9:00.

had to be at the Disney
IMG_0749.JPG
IMG_0751.JPG
IMG_0752.JPG
IMG_0753.JPG
IMG_0755.JPG
IMG_0756.JPG
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After an average brunch at House of Blues, we headed on our way to Magic Kingdom. Let me just say that we've had three brunches at Disney Springs and our rankings are: 3. House of Blues - 2. City Works Brewing Co. - 1. Art Smith's Homecomin'. We'll drop my daughter's dog off at the Disney kennel and get to the park. I was very surprised at the new internal configuration of the monorail cars.
Disney continues to make things safer.

IMG_0757.JPG
IMG_0759.JPG
IMG_0761.JPG
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The crowds weren't too bad at midday, and the weather was around 64 degrees. I thought it felt great, but my daughter was wearing layers. It was odd not seeing the Christmas decorations and no Christmas tree. I didn't immediately notice it, but the top of the train station is wrapped in a faux exterior canvas. We were lucky enough to get there right in time to see them harnessing the horse for a character parade.
IMG_0762.JPG
IMG_0763.JPG
IMG_0764.JPG
IMG_0765.JPG
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I only took one window pic, but I didn't notice during our last visit how nicely the shop windows were decorated along Main Street
with different displays. Not sure if these are holdovers from Christmas or new.
My favorite MK quick service place is still not open. Casey, we miss you......😪


IMG_0767.JPG
IMG_0768.JPG
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Main Street wasn't as crowded as I've seen it on some recent pics. We made our way up to the Castle, and there were quite a few people taking pics. We checked the wait times to see where we were headed, and the consensus was Haunted Mansion, so off we were. We saw some interesting things along the way. There seemed to be some type of parade every half hour or so.


IMG_0769.JPG
IMG_3440.JPEG
IMG_0770.JPG
IMG_0771.JPG
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When we made it to the Haunted Mansion after watching the parade, and of course, going to Ye Olde Christmas Shop where my wife Kelly must always buy a new ornament, we came upon an astonishing sight. The queue for the Haunted Mansion snaked back all the way to the Splash Mountain walkway along the river. It ran all the way up the walkway and through the River Boat queue. You would have thought it was a two hour wait. Social distancing was practiced and the line moved in big jumps. It turned out to be about a 35 minute wait. I was intrigued by the empty river and seeing the inner workings of the ride.

IMG_0774.JPG
IMG_0777.JPG
IMG_0778.JPG
 

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

Back
Top Bottom