Trip Report Spring Trip To WDW

Hello Friends,

We are about 24 hours away from flying off to be at the Most Magical Place on Earth.

This was an unplanned trip. After our last WDW trip this past December, we were planning on doing a Disney Eastern Caribbean Cruise in October, and then do our annual trip to WDW in early December. But real life (i.e. work) schedule got in the way and we had to cancel both of them. So in early January, when we realized that we had to cancel those trip, but found that we had a week of free time in April, we made our last-minute plan to go. So here we are!

Unlike our past trips, it won't be a big group going from the Chicagoland area. It will be just the two of us this time, and we are planning on a quiet, relaxing trip, mainly because we both will have some work to do during our vacation. Oh, don't get us wrong, we will still have fastpasses to go on Mine Train, Flight of Passage (twice), Slinky Dog, etc... etc. It is just that I've also planned on a couple of days with no fast passes, no reservations, and just chill out.

On this trip, we have plans to do a DVC Dining Package at The Wave (followed by drinks and desserts at Top of the World Lounge), and we also have accepted the DVC invitation to their reception to look at the Riviera Resort. So we will have at least those to do.

Donald, as always, is already set to go. He did give me a dirty look when I put him on top of the pile in my suitcase. It was him telling me that he's not going into the suitcase. He always travels in my carry-on, and he won't have it any other way.

As always, whenever I have the chance, I'll try to report live from where ever I will be. And now, I only need to survive just one more day at work....

Zz.

 

[MinnieM123]

Glad that you had an enjoyable trip (with a few exceptions only). I hope you have a pleasant and safe trip home tomorrow. Thank you for sharing your vacation with us.

 

[ZapperZ]

Forgot to mention this. All week long, they had reps for Vanuatu Kakaw giving samples of authentic Mexican chocolates at the Mexico pavilion in Epcot. We had a few samples of them yesterday and bought some. They were good and not overly sweet, which is just the way I like ‘em.

So we are bringing these home.

 

[ZapperZ]

Having crawfish etouffee at French Quarter’s Sassagoula.

 

[ZapperZ]

Dusk at SSR The Grandstand. One last look before we say goodbye to it very early tomorrow

 

[Dizknee Gal]

Wishing you a safe journey home! Thanks for sharing your vacation!

 

[GJM724]

Thanks for sharing your trip! Got me so excited for mine coming up.

 

[ZapperZ]

Good morning. We have left our home for the past 9 days and are heading to the airport. Our spring trip is over!

I will have more to report on after I get home and recover a bit, but thanks for following along.

 

[ZapperZ]

It feels so strange not to have another fastpass to look forward to....

We are back home. The flight home was uneventful, but the wait for the luggage at Chicago Midway was ridiculous (45 minutes!).

I hope to collect the videos and photos that I've taken during the trip and do a summary as soon as I can. But first, I need some sleep.

Zz.

 

[MinnieM123]

It feels so strange not to have another fastpass to look forward to....

We are back home. The flight home was uneventful, but the wait for the luggage at Chicago Midway was ridiculous (45 minutes!).

I hope to collect the videos and photos that I've taken during the trip and do a summary as soon as I can. But first, I need some sleep.

Zz.

Glad you made it home safely. Looking forward to the videos & photos.

 

[aliceismad]

Your photos are so lovely and vibrant. Thanks so much for posting them!

 

[Disstevefan1]

Our food have arrived. I mean, seriously, LOOK AT THEM!
View attachment 365269View attachment 365270View attachment 365271

WoW! This looks Great!!

 

[Disstevefan1]

Here are a couple of the items that we bought at the Disney character warehouse store:

This shirt was originally $65, we bought it for $20.
View attachment 365364

This was originally $50. We bought it for $15.
View attachment 365366

Who doesn’t love a bargain?

Zz.

You cant not buy these!!! Great Deals!!!

 

[ZapperZ]

I'm still busy with work, so I don't have time yet to do a recap on the trip. But I did do this one.

I took the data from the Apple Health app on my iPhone, and decided to plot the miles and the number of steps I walked during the 9 full days that we were there. This includes our off-site excursion to the outlet mall and also to restaurants beyond WDW.

So, here are the data.

As expected, I definitely did a lot of walking. On Day 5, which was the Wednesday of the week, it was purposely planned that we did not have any fastpasses, and we were either going to lounge around the resort, or we go outlet mall shopping and then eat off-site. That was the day we went to Moroccan Breeze restaurant and had a terrific meal. So we didn't walk much that day.

We also have a drop in activity during the 2nd half of the trip, and again, it was on purpose because we had done everything that we wanted by then, and we had planned only 2 fastpasses per day by then. We weren't planning on doing much during the 2nd half, more of a "let's sit down and eat ice cream and do people watching" mode.

Still, I think we had a lot of walking exercises.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

I mentioned during the trip that one of my disappointment was going on ToT the second time, and ended up in an elevator shaft where it wasn't completely dark. Turned out that the elevator shaft on the right (when viewed from Sunset Blvd) had problems with one of the sliding doors that opened and closed during the ride. This is what I meant:

The door on the right did not close all the way. So when you get into that elevator shaft for the drop, the daylight streaming through it really ruined the effect. You actually could see that you are going into another "box" instead of in total darkness. This is similar to riding Space Mountain with the lights on. It was not as thrilling.

The curse of being a frequent WDW guest is that one notices things that either are not working, didn't work the way it should, or something that is completely missing.

Zz.

 

[GJM724]

I mentioned during the trip that one of my disappointment was going on ToT the second time, and ended up in an elevator shaft where it wasn't completely dark. Turned out that the elevator shaft on the right (when viewed from Sunset Blvd) had problems with one of the sliding doors that opened and closed during the ride. This is what I meant:

View attachment 367538

The door on the right did not close all the way. So when you get into that elevator shaft for the drop, the daylight streaming through it really ruined the effect. You actually could see that you are going into another "box" instead of in total darkness. This is similar to riding Space Mountain with the lights on. It was not as thrilling.

The curse of being a frequent WDW guest is that one notices things that either are not working, didn't work the way it should, or something that is completely missing.

Zz.

Do you think this was part of the refurbishments going on for the ride?

 

[ZapperZ]

Do you think this was part of the refurbishments going on for the ride?

I didn't know the ride was undergoing a refurbishment. It might explain why one of the elevator for the left shaft was not running. But don't they usually take the entire attraction out when it is undergoing refurbishment?

Zz.

 

[GJM724]

I didn't know the ride was undergoing a refurbishment. It might explain why one of the elevator for the left shaft was not running. But don't they usually take the entire attraction out when it is undergoing refurbishment?

Zz.

Apparently one side is closed. I am having trouble switching my fastpass around for that ride and I am guessing this is the cause.

 

[Rodj]

I mentioned during the trip that one of my disappointment was going on ToT the second time, and ended up in an elevator shaft where it wasn't completely dark. Turned out that the elevator shaft on the right (when viewed from Sunset Blvd) had problems with one of the sliding doors that opened and closed during the ride. This is what I meant:

View attachment 367538

The door on the right did not close all the way. So when you get into that elevator shaft for the drop, the daylight streaming through it really ruined the effect. You actually could see that you are going into another "box" instead of in total darkness. This is similar to riding Space Mountain with the lights on. It was not as thrilling.

The curse of being a frequent WDW guest is that one notices things that either are not working, didn't work the way it should, or something that is completely missing.

Zz.

I was there the day it broke, which was on 3/31/19. The only difference was that the half of the door was stuck closed. When it was working it did look like something was odd with the cables attached to the door mechanism. However even if all of the doors are closed and you are entering the drop shaft, if you look up you can still see some skylight leaking through.

 

[Rista1313]

I was there the day it broke, which was on 3/31/19. The only difference was that the half of the door was stuck closed. When it was working it did look like something was odd with the cables attached to the door mechanism. However even if all of the doors are closed and you are entering the drop shaft, if you look up you can still see some skylight leaking through.

And this is why I won't ride these types of rides!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Amos1784]

Apparently one side is closed. I am having trouble switching my fastpass around for that ride and I am guessing this is the cause.

When we were there in March it had just begun its refurbishment, even with the fast pass we still waited 45 minutes, there was only one elevator loading. They were even making announcements basically saying if you don't have a fastpass expect an extremely long wait time. I would think they have really limited passes going out now.