Trip Report Shrouded In A Daft Disguise *COMPLETED*

Two weeks ago today, I returned home from the most surreal Disney vacation I have ever experienced.

During my last visit in February, I couldn’t have imagined having to wear a face mask and have my temperature taken before being allowed into a park. “Social distancing” wasn’t part of my vocabulary. Hand sanitizer was something I carried in a little bottle in my purse, not something in giant containers at the entrance/exit of every attraction.

No park hopping? No Fastpasses? No FIREWORKS :jawdrop: ?!! Not even on my radar screen.

Like a bolt out of the blue, the pandemic struck and life was dramatically altered. For everyone. And there is no Magic Mirror to tell us when it will be over. For me the pandemic has been a reminder to take nothing for granted ~ and that there can still be joy in the darkest days.

My name is Tuvalu and I have been a WDW annual passholder for nearly 25 years. I was raised on Disney and so were my children. The parks have always been my “escape” from real life. Could they still be an “escape” in the midst of a pandemic? After months of quarantine, I was ready to find out.

My daughter Em was my travel buddy. My husband Woody had reservations, but not for our safety. He was concerned we’d struggle with the restrictions and disappointment with all the changes. He wanted us to come back happy and wasn’t sure we would. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure we would either. After much research and due diligence, Em and I felt prepared to embark on a vacation with few expectations.

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Full disclosure ~ I‘ve wrestled with writing a report of our trip. The pandemic and subsequent events have caused much division on this Disney fan forum. I’ve always considered the trip reports section to be a “safe space” and hope it stays that way. My goal is to provide entertainment to the reader, nothing more.

With that in mind.....

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Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
How exciting! Can’t wait to be there tomorrow!
I hope you had a wonderful trip! If you hadn't switched your original Saturday plans, Ryleigh and the Tuva-tinys may have met!

LOVE THIS! I'm so happy you got to experience WDW with your tuvaleen and tuvalette!
Thanks, Amy. In a year full of trials, this was the best unexpected surprise of 2020. ❤️

The wait is finally over! Let the new adventures begin! Hooray!
And what adventures we had!

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

I was convinced Tuvalette and Tuvaleen weren't going this year because of the pandemic, etc but I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy to see I'm wrong. No doubt they learned how to wave to Ariel ala Woody. 😍 😍 😍 :geek: :geek: :geek:
I didn’t expect it to happen either, but so glad it did.

Let me share the Ariel story. The queue stretched all the way to Storybook Circus(!) and then went up to and inside Ariel’s grotto (where her meet and greet was) before continuing to the entrance of Under the Sea. (All totaled it was a 40 minute wait.) Anyway, as we exited the cave from Ariel’s grotto and were once again back outside, Tuvalette turned to me and in a very sad voice said, “But I thought we were going to see Ariel!”

“Oh honey we are!” I promised. “We just haven’t gotten there yet.”

When we got to the load zone, the CM was loading every-other-clamshell regardless of the size of your party. Waving Woody was separated from the girls by several clamshells. I did glance back at him (he rode with Em) and caught him mid-wave. :happy:


MY HEART!!!!!!

As we are both Moira fans.. I can only response with:

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Laurenciaa

Well-Known Member
So happy to hear you got on RoTR and had good luck with mobile ordering.
luke skywalker good luck GIF


Will we get the pleasure of a TR? 🤞


You should have seen my beaming, happy face (rather than my backside ;)) in that next pic I posted. (Even though it was concealed by a mask.) Puts the Ooey Gooey smile to shame!


Yep, my family avoids touching the stuff in interactive queues. Your son is wise!

In regards to your pool story....
no way omg GIF by VTM.be
HAHAHAHA @Tuvalu, the last GIF you used (the elderly woman), is from a Belgian TV series. E P I C :D I already thought I knew that lady from somewhere :joyfull:!
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Next generation magician meetups!
❤️❤️❤️

HAHAHAHA @Tuvalu, the last GIF you used (the elderly woman), is from a Belgian TV series. E P I C :D I already thought I knew that lady from somewhere :joyfull:!
I had no idea!
(Just loved her expression!)

Thank you for sharing!! I hope the girls ended up LOVING WDW!! :geek: :geek: :geek:
Tuvalette: “When can we go back to Disney?”
Mama: “Someday.”
Tuvalette : “We can go back SUNDAY!!!”

If only! :joyfull:

Tu
the little one's are adorable - glad you are having a great time together


But...


View attachment 512624
Uh , no, there actually mice!

Max
We waited 50. Worth it!
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Returning now to August 27.....

Time Travel GIF by Larkins
back to the future GIF


Thursday, con’t

Woody and I remained in Fantasyland after our ride on 7DMT. The following pictures were taken between 9:50-9:55 am. Did we have #ShirleyStatus here or what?!!??

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Although our status would not admit us to The Beast’s castle. The gates were shut tight.

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I am so glad to have these crowd-free shots, as I suspect “empty park” days are over now. I can attest Fantasyland looked nothing like the above at 10 am on 3 different days earlier this month!

It was sure fun to go Under the Sea by ourselves in August though!

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Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thus far we’d had good luck checking rides ☑️ off our list. But what about a Frontierland favorite?

It wasn’t looking good as we approached E-ticket corner.

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Seeing cast members hanging out in front of an attraction is never a good sign.

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My beloved BTMRR was down (and remained so all day.) I guess I just wasn’t supposed to ride it without @Longers. (It was the anniversary of our one and only BTMRR ride together. :inlove:)

With the recent news of the impending re-theme of Splash Mountain, I decided not to waste an opportunity for a Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah time. Woody opted to remain dry so I joined the queue alone.

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The only spot where I stopped walking was to take this photo of the load area.

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Too bad Woody wasn’t with me as I was assigned the back of the log. I rarely get wet when seated here.

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The mist from the waterfall felt good since the temperature was heating up.

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I knew the guys in front of me were preparing to do some antics, though I didn’t know what. But I did want them to know I was on to them as evidenced in our ride photo ~

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Talking into a shoe (and holding a plastic snake)?

Amateurs.

@wdisney9000 poses with a REAL landline phone. 😉

And apparently staring at a cellphone screen is a better choice than witnessing the awesome finale.

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Woody was waiting for me under a tree by the Rivers of America. I thought he was playing a prank....and I really wish I had taken his picture....because one of the lenses in his sunglasses was missing. His right eye was obscured by a dark grey lens; his left eye was fully visible. He looked ridiculous.

I waited for him to speak. When he didn’t, I did.

“What’s going on here?” I said, waving my finger around his eyes.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

I pulled out a mirror to show him. The gasp of “oh no!” affirmed he genuinely did not know he was missing a lens. (He was standing in the shade, after all.)

The story has a happy ending. He found the missing lens in his pocket and was able to pop it back into the frame.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
I was shocked to see Pirates posted at 30 minutes when everything else thus far had been a walk on.

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I was also intrigued by a secret room/area? that was incorporated into the queue. The door below (with mom and toddler) is typically closed. The door beside it is the door leading into the attraction.

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Let’s follow Woody into the entrance of the secret room.

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So here’s where the spare cannon is stored!

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Do we get to join the line now?

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Nope....we are routed back outside.

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The sign didn’t lie. We did wait a full half hour.

Obviously Woody and I didn’t get the memo to make strange hand poses for the ride photo.

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93boomer

Premium Member
Looks like a wonderful day at MK so far and that was quite funny the story of Woody and his sunglasses! 🤣 We never made it on POTC in October because the line always said at least 60 minutes!
When we were there in Sept, it wrapped around forever. Then, right when we reached the boats, it was time to sanitize.🤦🏻‍♀️ I didn’t think we were ever going on.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
We never made it on POTC in October because the line always said at least 60 minutes!

When we were there in Sept, it wrapped around forever. Then, right when we reached the boats, it was time to sanitize.🤦🏻‍♀️ I didn’t think we were ever going on.
When I thought the wait was long in August I was naive! The line was crazy long (and convoluted) both times we waited (more than a half hour) this month. :in pain:
 

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