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]

Thursday, con’t

We moseyed to Norway to pick up one of these little beauties.

Now don’t throw shade - yes, we had Gideon’s cookies back in the room - but Kringla Bakery’s chocolate chip cookie far surpasses Gideon’s.

Em put it in her sling pack and we would share it later.

She then asked if we could backtrack to Mexico for a margarita.

You already know we rope dropped the kiosk. What you don’t know is that she made another purchase.

She returned with a margarita and elote.

She’s a huge fan of elote and wanted me to try it. But I was sweating from the humidity and a hot ear of corn covered in cheese and spice was - at that moment - not appealing to me.

I promised her I would try it someday in a climate-controlled Mexican restaurant!

 

[Minnie1986]

Thursday, con’t

I posted earlier that the last of the walls around the center of (the former) Future World had been taken down and we were able to walk straight across after leaving the Land pavilion. On the right is the new Communicore Hall and while we were taken with the mural on the side, we were appalled to see that it is the outdoor queue to meet Mickey! So, Innoventions (with an indoor character queue) was demolished and — five years later - is replaced by a building with an outdoor queue?!!

View attachment 796729
Rocket science imagineering at its finest, from those who work in California.

I guess we should be grateful the queue is covered.

Walls down also means a quicker walk to SSE.

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Which was a walk on.

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Our first of several stoppages.

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In the future Em must be in witness protection.

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At least she’s not an open target in the woods.

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Replacing an indoor queue with an outdoor one in central FL has got to be the most nonsensical thing I've ever heard of!

 

[Tuvalu]

Thursday, con’t

When Em finished we didn’t feel like backtracking again so we began touring World Showcase counter-clockwise.

This is one of our favorite gift stores.

Love these books.

Took the obligatory Canada pic for a special friend.

As we crossed the bridge to France we noticed the Luminous barges in the lagoon. Unlike Harmonius, we thought the Luminous barges went backstage at night and were brought out late afternoon.

Turns out what we saw was an anomaly - the barges needed some repair work. I happened to catch some of the crew in the pontoon boat.

We trudged through humidity soup as we browsed the countries. It honestly wasn’t very pleasant. We planned to have an early lunch at Regal Eagle and discovered it did not open until 11:45 am. We ended up hanging around America until it did.

The chicken and brisket were delicious as always.

We lingered at lunch for the cool a/c. There weren’t any attractions we wanted to wait for. Em wasn’t interested in riding Guardians again (with our VQ) right after eating.

Today was the first day of AP previews for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. To join the 7am VQ, Passholders needed to have a MK reservation, which we obviously did not. (I have been grumbling lately about APs still needing park reservations .) However we were eligible to join at 1 pm. We wanted to be in a spot with good cell service so we left Regal Eagle in time to get to the front of the park.

 

[Zipadeelady]

View attachment 796837

And she ran
She ran so far away
And declared it the BEST song with which to ride the coaster, @Zipadeelady!

I love it when others agree with me!

 

[Tuvalu]

We opted to check out Communicore Hall, figuring we could wait in a/c (the walk from Regal Eagle was brutal!) for the 1 pm drop.

This would be the “behind the stage” area. Meet Mickey to the far right and a snack shop in the middle - with a very limited, 3 item menu.

The covered stage and the open air - oh what to call this? - viewing area?

(Summon the Brady Bunch - they’re fans of playing on Astroturf.)

Here’s where the space connects to Imagination.

Your Disney dollars at work, folks!

But wait - there’s more. The woefully bland, utilitarian, could-be-anywhere Communicore Hall. Only Epcot geeks would know the symbols on the pennants - the only decor in the entire place.

A better name would have been “Inclimate Weather Hall.” A place to escape the rain or the heat. The a/c was icy cold and we were able to secure a table. That’s the only positive I can say.

Everyone around us was glued to their phones waiting for 1 pm VQ drop, although most were likely trying for GotG.

Thanks to @gerarar ‘s tracking, we knew Tiana’s 7 am drop had lasted 2 hours and 2 minutes. We were fairly confident we would get a boarding group.

We were stunned to immediately receive “this VQ is closed.” We would later learn the ride had been down for three hours prior to the drop and all 1 pm VQs were gone in 2.480 seconds.

Dejected, sweaty and tired we returned to WL for showers and naps.

 

[Tuvalu]

Turns out not getting a Tiana VQ was a blessing in disguise.

After waking from our naps a thunderstorm rolled in. This and the not-quite-right feeling I had in my stomach quenched any desire to leave the resort. Having a VQ would have caused FOMO stress and pressure my body didn’t need.

A timely notification reminded me all was not lost.

We’d have two more chances tomorrow.

Em was hungry and I thought I probably should eat something as well. We took the elevator down to Roaring Fork to check out our options.

Em went with a smoked turkey sandwich on a French roll (she swapped out the nine grain bread) and house-made chips.

I ordered the same but deconstructed my sandwich and passed on the chips.

The turkey flavor was fantastic and it was the perfect choice to settle my tummy.

 

[Tuvalu]

Friday, June 14

I woke early and enjoyed another balcony sunrise. I also got a better picture of the walkway - the turn that leads directly to the lodge is more noticeable in this one.

Which path would you take to get to the boat launch?

Em did her thing!

While excited, we knew we weren’t guaranteed to ride. The attraction had a lot of downtime yesterday.

We got ourselves ready and took the (correct) path to the dock.

Made it inside for early entry.

 

[Tuvalu]

Arty Pan.

And so glad we did, because we recently learned Peter Pan will be closed for refurbishment on our next visit. Here’s hoping the cannon (“Fire, Mr. Smee!”) gets repaired. It has not fired in months.

Proximity dictated our next attraction.

Ok, maybe not just proximity….

There’s always his way out. (Do not recommend.)

Another nailed it for me! Em was really off her game this week.

 

[Tuvalu]

We did know the Shootin’ Gallery was closing and Em suggested one last round for nostalgia’s sake.

I noticed the sign says Shootin’ Arcade. I can attest this was not its original name. It was (and will always be to our family) the Shootin’ Gallery.

I’d forgotten how fun it was!

Another oldie for the memory book now.

 

[Tuvalu]

The wildest ride in the wilderness was a walk on. (That’s a wicked lot of ws!)

Jungle Cruise was posted at 30 minutes and since the park wasn’t very busy I thought 30 minutes would be wrong.

I was right. It was wrong.

Thanks to a couple VIP tours (who loaded at the exit) and a few families that required the disability boat (who also loaded at the exit), our actual wait was 45 minutes. Not sure we would have gotten in line at 45 minutes as the outdoor queue was quite toasty.

Our skipper was punny and we heard some new jokes so the cruise was amusing.

Wondering if Mother-in-Law elephant is ever going to return?

 

[Tiggerish]

The wildest ride in the wilderness was a walk on. (That’s a wicked lot of ws!)

I adore alliteration.

 

[Tuvalu]

The delays we’d encountered on Jungle Cruise actually worked in our favor. Our VQ had been called so we didn’t have far to go to get to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure!

All morning I had been keeping tabs on group progression. A neat feature on the app is that more critters are added to the log the closer you get to boarding time.

I took screenshots of each. I missed the second addition but got the others.

Louis says it’s go time!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Preamble - Splash Mountain was a great attraction. Whether or not we agree with the decision to close it is irrelevant. Splash remains a fond memory like other attractions which no longer exist at WDW. Our goal was to be completely neutral on our first Tiana ride, making no comparisons with Splash because what’s the point? Splash is not coming back. Why not just enjoy a new attraction without prejudice the first time?

We did not view any POVs nor read any spoilers. That said I apologize in advance for not putting my pictures behind a spoiler tag. (Guys, I have tried and I just can’t do it.) I took no photos inside the ride because I wanted to see with my eyes and not through a lens.

I took pictures of the queue and a few while riding outside. Scroll quickly by if you’d rather not see them.

The wrought iron railing and stone pavers give a New Orleans vibe. But it’s only at the start of the queue.

The rest looks leftover from Splash. Likely a cost savings.

 

[Tuvalu]

A nice improvement is that the majority of the queue is now enclosed and air conditioned. The queue remains split for standby (currently VQ) and Lightning Lane (currently Genie+).

The peek-a-boo windows have glass now.

The load zone is still outdoors and uncovered.

 

[Tuvalu]

Here we go!

I was surprised our ride photo wasn’t watermarked. A nice gift for a AP preview.

 

[Tuvalu]

Opinion - The scenery is breathtaking in parts. The new AA technology continues to amaze and impress us. The story was a little hard to follow but may become more clear on subsequent rides. The screens did not bother us. The mechanics of the ride (lift hills, splash downs, coaster part) are still exhilarating. Would have liked a little “fear factor” before the big drop but it is what it is. The finale scene is incredible.

While we got wet it wasn’t the drenching of Splash and for that we are thankful!

A few days ago I read this site’s review and agree with its assessment.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure Review: A Mixed Bag of Magic and Missed Opportunities

Tiana's Bayou Adventure Review: A Mixed Bag of Magic and Missed Opportunities

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[Tuvalu]

With faces still smiling after riding Tiana we went in search of lunch.

Flatbreads and fries from the Village Haus hit the spot!

We realized we had not yet ridden the MPB and intended to take the grand circle tour after boarding at the Fantasyland Station.

But for some reason the train was moving unusually slow (resulting in no breeze), so we disembarked at Main Street Station because it was TOO HOT to remain onboard.

We browsed the shops and Em got an All American Sundae from the ice cream parlor. I didn’t plan on ordering anything but caved when I saw the new featured item.

I am a sucker for a s’mores anything. Let me tell you - the shake was amazing!

We waddled our way back down Main Street and picked up a treat for Woody from the Confectionery before departing.

 

[Tuvalu]

Friday, con’t

The sun was still blazing when we got back to the room.

“I’m going to the pool!” I announced to Em.

“I’ll go with you,” she replied. We changed, sunscreened, and spent a glorious hour relaxing in the water. (There may have been a catnap or two.)

Then there was the screech of a lifeguard whistle announcing the pool was closing due to lightning in the area. There was no thunder and the sun shone brightly.

I took this picture from our balcony fifteen minutes later.

I was back inside when a visitor arrived. Apparently I had dropped a couple cereal kernels this morning.

Then he chilled for awhile.

 

[lindawdw]

Loving your TR!!! We rarely ride JC anymore because it's just become so popular in the last few years that we don't want to wait in that line which can be a scorcher during the warm months! I hope to eventually get the opportunity to ride it during the Christmas season when it becomes the Jingle Cruise! It is sad about the Shootin Gallery which I remember from the old days also and being a DVC member, I will take advantage of the new DVC Lounge when it eventually opens there. So happy to see that you were able to snag a VQ for Tiana's Bayou Adventure this morning. That Smores Shake looks rich and delicious! Glad you got some pool time in before the clouds rolled through. The squirrel seemed to be enjoying the shade your chair offered!

 

[Tuvalu]

Friday, con’t

Eventually rain did arrive. Monsoon rain. (@TheMouseFan Em and I were thinking of your family’s TL AH plans - glad the storm cleared for you!)

It was our last evening and the weather dampened our desire to head out to a park. It was also Em’s turn for a little tummy trouble and she thought a deconstructed turkey sandwich would work for her as it did me.

My comfort food meal was delicious although I could only eat half of it.

You may recall that I watched HEA every night on my last trip with Woody. This week we had yet to see fireworks, thanks to evening rain. We decided to go down to the dock hoping to see them.

The view wasn’t great (thanks to Shipwreck Island) but we could hear the soundtrack from resort speakers.

To Em’s delight our spot on the dock afforded a perfect view of the Electrical Water Pageant, which began immediately after HEA’s finale.

So our trip ended on a good note. And in less than 48 hours, we’ll be heading home again.