Trip Report Shortest Retirement in History?

Justin Bieber lasted 2 weeks.

Tom Brady lasted 40 days.

I, Tuvalu, outlasted them both. Not by much, mind you. Yet if not for the encouragement of some forum friends - along with some unusual circumstances - you wouldn’t be reading this.

Unusual circumstances, you say?

Around Thanksgiving my beloved Woody learned his presence was required at a work conference. In Orlando. At Universal.
Just down the road from Walt Disney World.

Woody said I could accompany him if he drove (rather than flew) to Florida. And that we could leave a couple days early and have some Disney time together.

Well you don’t have to ask me twice!

I’d be on my own during the conference. Since the majority of Universal’s attractions don’t appeal to me, it didn’t make sense for me to buy Uni tickets when I could visit WDW for free with my AP. Being solo, I thought it might be fun to do a live trip report so y’all could be my virtual companions!

Turns out I won’t be alone while Woody is occupied after all. Some friends that you have seen in my previous TRs (and one you haven’t) have offered to play with me. I can’t wait!

 

[Tuvalu]

Tuesday, con’t

Next we headed to The Emporium to warm up. I loved this display.

Then we popped outside to catch some of the Festival of Fantasy parade.

At its conclusion we crossed over to the other side of Main Street and spent time in the shops there. Woody really liked the engraved MNSSHP glass I’d given him after my October trip, so we browsed Arribas Brothers and found two other engraved glasses - Mickey and the Annual Passholder Mickey - which I bought to give him for Christmas. He was happy to add two more to his juice glass collection.

A couple of interesting items we saw in Arribas.

Our last stop was the Confectionery for our usual take home treats.

Goodbye for 2024, Magic Kingdom.

 

[Tinkwings]

Tuesday, con’t

Even with our later start, the park was considerably more crowded than we expected - especially for a party day. Attractions that we’d walked on Sunday morning now boasted lengthy waits.

With the exception of the 13 minute posted wait at our fave.

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We didn’t get too far into the queue when we realized we’d been duped by playful spooks. The extended queue was open and full of guests at a standstill. We didn’t move for awhile and once we did, it was mere inches at a time.

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Additionally, a noisy gas-powered leaf blower sure ruined the aura as we were waiting to tour a spooky haunted house!

Thirty minutes later we finally boarded our doom buggy.

It was a rough ride with lots of stops and starts. Our longest stop was here - so close to the end!

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It was an unfortunate delay for us and the surrounding doom buggies. Behind us was a terrified little kid crying and screaming, “Get me out!” over and over until we began to move.

(I’m sure it wasn’t Lincoln, @k8einwdw. )

OH I LOVE Em's hoodie!!! Where did she get that?

 

[lindawdw]

It's always a little sad walking under the railroad tunnels on your last day but knowing that you have another trip on the horizon always makes it a bit better! Thanks again for sharing your girl's adventure with us!!!

 

[Tuvalu]

OH I LOVE Em's hoodie!!! Where did she get that?

You must have missed this:

I'm in love with Em's sweatshirt! @TrolleyFollower91 where did you get it!?

I have a really good gift-giving Santa!

 

[Tuvalu]

It's always a little sad walking under the railroad tunnels on your last day but knowing that you have another trip on the horizon always makes it a bit better! Thanks again for sharing your girl's adventure with us!!!

There’s a little more from this trip yet to come.

Stay tuned.