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]

Saturday, con’t

The Dapper Dans were on singing on the trolley. What do we think of the new costumes? These are too blah for me. I prefer the brighter colors and each singer having his own color.

Wait times were still manageable. Compared to earlier in the week they were downright low!! Em and I were not in the mood to "ride pound" (that's apparently a new thing?) - we'd already done that this morning. We opted to pick a few attractions that we really wanted to do.

@amjt660 will not be surprised by our first pick.

Believe it or not, this spin around Tomorrowland made us cold! The breeze was chilly. We followed with an indoor attraction to warm up!

Thankfully we were comfortable on BTMRR. It was getting warmer.

Now we were done. Ten attractions in 3.5 hours on a spring-break Saturday, @amjt660.

The educator needed one last afternoon to relax by the pool. Back to POR we went.

 

[MinnieM123]

The Dapper Dans were on singing on the trolley. What do we think of the new costumes? These are too blah for me. I prefer the brighter colors and each singer having his own color.

The brighter costumes were upbeat, and caught your eye. Although the newer pastels won't affect the quality of their singing, they do soften their stage presence. IMO, bring back the more colorful costumes.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I like the brighter single color costumes as well. I don’t mind the pictures of the new ones and I don’t mind when they wear ones like their 4th of July ones. Maybe they will alternate.

 

[93boomer]

Time out for a twin break. 🩷

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View attachment 782492

 

[93boomer]

Saturday, con’t

The Dapper Dans were on singing on the trolley. What do we think of the new costumes? These are too blah for me. I prefer the brighter colors and each singer having his own color.

View attachment 782688

View attachment 782689

Wait times were still manageable. Compared to earlier in the week they were downright low!! Em and I were not in the mood to "ride pound" (that's apparently a new thing?) - we'd already done that this morning. We opted to pick a few attractions that we really wanted to do.

@amjt660 will not be surprised by our first pick.

View attachment 782690

Believe it or not, this spin around Tomorrowland made us cold! The breeze was chilly. We followed with an indoor attraction to warm up!

View attachment 782691

Thankfully we were comfortable on BTMRR. It was getting warmer.

View attachment 782692

Now we were done. Ten attractions in 3.5 hours on a spring-break Saturday, @amjt660.

The educator needed one last afternoon to relax by the pool. Back to POR we went.

We didn’t care for their costumes either. Like the other ones lots better.

 

[amjt660]

Now we were done. Ten attractions in 3.5 hours on a spring-break Saturday, @amjt660.

Just keep roasting me

Max

 

[Tuvalu]

Saturday, con’t

Em changed and went to the pool as soon as we were back at the resort.

I had a gift card that I wanted to use to pay a portion of our room charges so I took a stroll to the lobby. I always seem to forget how beautiful POR is until I’m staying there. This place holds a lot of family memories, as it was our “go-to” when our kids were young. In fact, it’s the first Disney hotel that Em stayed in - she was 18 months old!

The food court hasn’t changed much in 30 years, and you’ll hear no complaints from me!

Ol’ Man Island is also the same. The Tuva Twins’ daddy went down this slide multiple times in a row at the whopping age of 4, with Woody waiting at the bottom to catch him.

 

[Loco_driver]

POR was the first resort I stayed at WDW. Your right, it hasn’t changed much at all!

 

[pkkurz]

 

[Tuvalu]

Saturday, con’t

While searching for dinner options I found a last minute Fantasmic dining package at Sci-Fi. Em told me to book it. Would we really get to see the show this time?

It’s been ages since we’ve eaten here together. I hoped that having the dining package would give us the front of a car. Nope. We were seated in back of a car behind two rows of teen boys.

DP guests order off the regular menu. We were given both the food and dessert menus at the same time. The package included either an appetizer or a dessert, main and soft drink beverage per person. Em and I decided to be savvy - she ordered the appetizer, I ordered the dessert and we shared.

Em ordered fried pickles as her appetizer. They had a definite kick to them even minus the dipping sauce.

Both of us had the Classic American Burger. It was light years ahead in quality and taste compared to our burgers at Rosie’s. Very good!

I chose the Caramel Brownie Cheesecake for our dessert. Though its presentation was fun, it was difficult to eat as the hard cookie made the cheesecake impenetrable. We liked it though it wasn’t out of this world.

Service was painfully slow. We saw the film loop almost three times! Once again we had nowhere to be, but had the film been longer in length we wouldn’t have minded sitting there. Another negative - there are no discounts (AP or DVC) for dining packages.

After doing the math (@amjt660) we figured the “cost” of our preferred seating for F! was between $11-12 per person. Worth it - as long as we got to see the show!

We had some time to kill before heading to the theater. We chose the 45 minute queue for a favorite.

Although we still really miss the Great Movie Ride.

 

[Minnie1986]

The brighter costumes were upbeat, and caught your eye. Although the newer pastels won't affect the quality of their singing, they do soften their stage presence. IMO, bring back the more colorful costumes.

Thoroughly agree

 

[93boomer]

Saturday, con’t

While searching for dinner options I found a last minute Fantasmic dining package at Sci-Fi. Em told me to book it. Would we really get to see the show this time?

It’s been ages since we’ve eaten here together. I hoped that having the dining package would give us the front of a car. Nope. We were seated in back of a car behind two rows of teen boys.

View attachment 782947

DP guests order off the regular menu. We were given both the food and dessert menus at the same time. The package included either an appetizer or a dessert, main and soft drink beverage per person. Em and I decided to be savvy - she ordered the appetizer, I ordered the dessert and we shared.

View attachment 782948

View attachment 782949

Em ordered fried pickles as her appetizer. They had a definite kick to them even minus the dipping sauce.

View attachment 782950

Both of us had the Classic American Burger. It was light years ahead in quality and taste compared to our burgers at Rosie’s. Very good!

View attachment 782951

I chose the Caramel Brownie Cheesecake for our dessert. Though its presentation was fun, it was difficult to eat as the hard cookie made the cheesecake impenetrable. We liked it though it wasn’t out of this world.

View attachment 782952

Service was painfully slow. We saw the film loop almost three times! Once again we had nowhere to be, but had the film been longer in length we wouldn’t have minded sitting there. Another negative - there are no discounts (AP or DVC) for dining packages.

After doing the math (@amjt660) we figured the “cost” of our preferred seating for F! was between $11-12 per person. Worth it - as long as we got to see the show!

We had some time to kill before heading to the theater. We chose the 45 minute queue for a favorite.

View attachment 782953

Although we still really miss the Great Movie Ride.

Great food but our service was also slow last year. May be awhile before we try it again.

 

[lindawdw]

Your meal at Crystal Palace looked delicious, and of course, Pooh and his friends are the BEST when it comes to character fun. I love that you got so much done after breakfast too. What a difference in the crowd level from the beginning of your vacation!!! We experienced the low crowd levels the week following your vacation! I agree on the new costumes for the Dapper Dans. The bright colors definitely were more fun! I have only ever stayed at PORFQ side, but the pool does look so much more relaxing at Riverside and the grounds are beautiful there.

 

[amjt660]

.. said Max never!!!!


Glad to see you are using math is your daily routine

We found the food at sci fi to be sub standard and have not ventured back

Glad you and Em enjoyed your meal

Max

 

[Zipadeelady]

Saturday, con’t

Em changed and went to the pool as soon as we were back at the resort.

View attachment 782879

I had a gift card that I wanted to use to pay a portion of our room charges so I took a stroll to the lobby. I always seem to forget how beautiful POR is until I’m staying there. This place holds a lot of family memories, as it was our “go-to” when our kids were young. In fact, it’s the first Disney hotel that Em stayed in - she was 18 months old!

View attachment 782880

The food court hasn’t changed much in 30 years, and you’ll hear no complaints from me!

View attachment 782881

View attachment 782882

Ol’ Man Island is also the same. The Tuva Twins’ daddy went down this slide multiple times in a row at the whopping age of 4, with Woody waiting at the bottom to catch him.

View attachment 782883

Riverside was also our first resort stay in 2006! I hoping to stay there again very soon.

 

[Tuvalu]

Saturday, con’t

We killed enough time that there was no F! line on Sunset and we were able to walk right into the theater. Em chose the same section that we were in Thursday night but a few rows higher.

We did not participate in the Wave tonight, as we had done more than our share of waving two nights earlier.

I am happy to report that the performance went off without a hitch and played in its entirety!

Some imagination, huh?

Our only criticism of Fantasmic is that too much time is devoted to the projections on the fountains. The show felt sluggish at times. Otherwise we were very glad we finally got to see it in person!

Well this TR turned out to be a bit more than “highlights” from Easter week! I appreciate all the comments and am thankful that you followed along!

 

[Swissmiss]

Finished just in time for the next trip

Glad you and Em had such a good time and were finally able to enjoy Fantasmic!

 

[Wrangler-Rick]

@Tuvalu Thank you so much for taking us on vacation with you again!!!!

 

[RememberWhen]

Love the highlights! Thanks for bringing us along.
Totally agree about Fantasmic. I saw it in January for the first time in years and I think I’m all set for another few years.

 

[Songbird76]

From HM we briskly walked to Adventureland, using the shortcut by the restrooms.

As we joined the line for Jungle Cruise, a CM handed us each one of these -

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We did not have a long wait.

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In fact we boarded the next boat! What attraction number is this, Em?

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We had a great skipper right from the start.

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“My name is Skipper Brett. It’s just spelled a little differently today.”

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He made sure we knew the “Jungle” Book isn’t very valuable.

“It’s not a first edition. It’s not a Baloo.”

His puns were fast and furious. I was chuckling constantly and the two I mentioned are the only two I remember!

Ha, I wonder if he forgot his name badge that day. I read or heard from a CM that if they forget their name badge, there's a bin with name badges they can grab, because they HAVE to have a name badge. So you end up being someone else for a day. And that would be the perfect joke on the JC!