Trip Report The Story Comes ALIVE! *COMPLETED*

Hello again, my friends.

For nearly a decade it has been such a joy for me to write about 50 (yes, 50!) different trips that I have taken to WDW - including one that was virtual. ;)

The reason? You, the reader.

I don’t do trip reports for my own documentation. I have journals for that. I write because I love interacting with y’all. Your encouragement, humor, curiosity and even snark (*ahem* @amjt660) assure me that I am not alone in my crazy affection for Disney parks. A big thanks to each of you!

I am very fortunate to be a frequent visitor to WDW (despite what @Mr Ferret 88 believes, I do not live there!) and am entering a season of monthly visits. Trip reporting is time consuming (as those of you who’ve written can attest) but I’m not ready to completely give it up - yet.

What I’d like to do is keep this as an ongoing TR for the rest of 2023. It will be highlights and moments, with live posting as the goal. My story coming alive, so to speak.

First up is spring break with my favorite girl.

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Followed closely by a getaway with my favorite guy.

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There will be Magician meets. New experiences. And (as always) the unexpected.

I hope you’ll join the fun!
 
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BwlrBry212

BwlrBry212

Well-Known Member
Tuvalu said:
She’s a solo traveler from Buffalo whose flight was canceled yesterday. She lives alone and was concerned about her mail piling up; about missing a doctor’s appointment; about her elderly mother falling “because she bends when she shouldn’t be bending”; about the airline charging her for more luggage because she had bought stuff to tide her through the storm and wasn’t leaving it at WDW; and so on and so on and so on.
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I can assure you that Sharky was likely very disappointed when she got to the airport because she definitely got charged if her suitcase was overweight.

My mom and I went to Nashville this summer and the airline (Spirit, no shock there) lost out bag for half of our trip so we had to buy clothes to get us through the week which caused our bag to be overweight. When I tried to argue with the people at the counter that my bag was overweight because of their ineptitude, I was shot down and told that no airline is able to waive that fee. So I was forced to carry two pairs of shoes through the airport instead of paying the crazy fees they charge.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Songbird76 said:
I'm really late, but is there any Tuvalu location there besides Beaches and Cream? That would be MY pick. Mmmm...and now I want a grilled cheese and a No Way, José!!
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In my defense I have eaten at Cape May Café a few times; Yachtsman twice; and Ale & Compass when it was Captain’s Grille.

But in your defense none of those have been featured in recent trip reports!

BwlrBry212 said:
I can assure you that Sharky was likely very disappointed when she got to the airport because she definitely got charged if her suitcase was overweight.

My mom and I went to Nashville this summer and the airline (Spirit, no shock there) lost out bag for half of our trip so we had to buy clothes to get us through the week which caused our bag to be overweight. When I tried to argue with the people at the counter that my bag was overweight because of their ineptitude, I was shot down and told that no airline is able to waive that fee. So I was forced to carry two pairs of shoes through the airport instead of paying the crazy fees they charge.
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What a prime example of what Woody calls “customer NO service.”

Fees are waived all the time at places that value customer service.

How unfair that you and your mom had to pay the price for the airline’s screw up.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, con’t

Early this morning Em had secured this little beauty for us.

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Clearly we were well-past the return time for our Boarding Group. But having had past success being a late arrival, we had nothing to lose by trying now. When we tapped in the light turned blue, but the CM immediately pushed a button that turned the light green. No words were spoken by us or him.

The queue was EMPTY. We didn’t stop walking until we reached the first holding area. It was only a couple minutes until the doors for the preshow opened.

I snapped a picture of the elusive Cosmic Generator.

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“Jump point to where?”

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Better go find out!

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Well one of us went to find out. I had no FOMO today and happily took the 🐔exit. My mistake was forgetting to give Woody my MagicBand to capture his ride photo for this TR.

I needn’t have worried about it.

My phone buzzed as I was waiting for him at the exit. I received this:

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IYKYK 🤣

Em had come through again! (And for the record she had no idea we were at GotG at that precise moment.)
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Next we went to Connections Café. I had read online that the “croissant donut” (aka “cronut”) had returned to Epcot after a many year absence. I had missed the (hyped) cronut the first go round, and had told Woody I wanted to try one.

After a short wait I was handed the pastry in a paper wrapper. I expected it to be warm and it wasn’t. Since it wasn’t - and I’d already had my sweet tooth satisfied with a treat from the club lounge earlier - I decided to save it for breakfast. (Review to come.)

We were going to visit Nemo, but thanks to those stupid walls with bad directional signage we ended up nearer to Figment.

It too was a walk-on.

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Our tiny Figment friend. A mischievous, child-like, small purple dragon.

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He used to be accompanied by The Dreamfinder. Figment was cute and non-threatening. Who wouldn’t want to get close to him?

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But now? He’s “Honey, I Blew Up The Dragon!”

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This is horrifying. Figment should not be towering over a full-grown man! Better that he should be a rodent or snowman-sized character that would be more lovable for children (and children-at-heart).

Another Disney fail. 🤦🏻‍♀️
 
Tiggerish

Tiggerish

Resident Redhead
Premium Member
💯

Not meaning to hijack your report, but here’s one of my all time favorite WDW character interactions, from back in the late 90s (very pre-Photopass) when a very playful Figment on the arm of a playful yet deadpan Dreamfinder, pulled my sunglasses off just as the shutter was snapping.

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I believe this one also included the line, "you've got Pooh all over your shirt!" (you can't really see the embroidered Winnie behind my flailing hand).

This is what we need again.
 
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BwlrBry212

BwlrBry212

Well-Known Member
Tuvalu said:
How unfair that you and your mom had to pay the price for the airline’s screw up.
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We did get the last laugh though. Since we had no idea how long our suitcase was going to be lost, we had to buy enough clothes at Target for the rest of the trip, but we only ended up needed one outfit. So after submitting the full receipt for reimbursement and having it approved, we returned all of the unused stuff that we bought to Target back home so we got to double dip on Spirit's dime.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, con’t

The Farm Ride also had an empty queue. We were directed to board a waiting boat. I wanted a few pictures of the new Food & Wine Festival displays. When I last rode Flower & Garden was the theme.

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(Yes, Woody’s Food & Wine Festival shirt is 10 years old. And he wears it all the time. Shows how much better the quality of Disney clothing used to be!!)

Sunflowers for Em!

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Ironically it was here that we discovered two things:
1. It had begun raining outside. HARD.
2. The greenhouse has a leaky ceiling. Dozens of water droplets began bouncing off the roof of our boat!

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For all you tomato tree worriers, it is now in prolific bloom.

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Tiggerish

Tiggerish

Resident Redhead
Premium Member
Tuvalu said:
Yes, Woody’s Food & Wine Festival shirt is 10 years old. And he wears it all the time. Shows how much better the quality of Disney clothing used to be!!
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In total agreement once again. My sweetie has a polo shirt from 2009 that's much loved and still going strong, plus several other shirts of the same era from both festivals. I feel like the quality started going down after about 2015.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tiggerish said:
In total agreement once again. My sweetie has a polo shirt from 2009 that's much loved and still going strong, plus several other shirts of the same era from both festivals. I feel like the quality started going down after about 2015.
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Woody has a few polos too from that era that he still wears. They were pricey at the time but their longevity has made them a great investment, especially when compared to the carp that is for sale now.
 
Minnie1986

Minnie1986

Well-Known Member
12in12

12in12

Well-Known Member
Tuvalu said:
Woody and I had no desire to head out into the deluge so we decided to soar instead.

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There were so few people in the queue that only Gate B - the center - was being used. Which meant no bendy Eiffel Tower!

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Not gonna lie - we hope that the returning OG Soarin’ continues to play into 2024 so that we can see it again!
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I'm hoping for the same. I'll finally be back the last two weeks of January after 6 long years and having the original Soaring would really be the icing on the cake.
 
lindawdw

lindawdw

Well-Known Member
I really love how they decorate LWTL for all the seasons! I hope we get to see the old Soarin in October and December as I feel it's just so superior to the new one. Totally agree on the quality of the clothing from the earlier days. I used to work at a local Disney Store near us and would buy my DH the T-shirts when they went on sale because I'd get my discount on top of the sale price which made them so inexpensive and most of those shirts have stood the test of time!!!
 
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MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Tuvalu said:
Woody has a few polos too from that era that he still wears. They were pricey at the time but their longevity has made them a great investment, especially when compared to the carp that is for sale now.
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Another old t-shirt fan here! My favorite one is over 15 years old at this point, and still looks good. It's navy blue, with one small pocket on the front. There's a little embroidered red Mickey on the pocket. I remember buying it in EPCOT at Mouse Gear. Wish I had bought a few more back then.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
12in12 said:
I'm hoping for the same. I'll finally be back the last two weeks of January after 6 long years and having the original Soaring would really be the icing on the cake.
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Agree - as I will also be there at the end of January.

Songbird76 said:
I never saw the california film, but I'm not fussed. I LOVE the around the world version and I've actually been to a few of the places. I LOVE Neuschwanstein castle. It's so beautiful.
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I loved around the world the first few times I saw it. But then the obvious CGI began to bother me, esp the fake Taj Mahal. And the original film never had the distortions (e.g. bent Eiffel Tower) that the new one suffers from.

Thematically, around the world is a better fit for Epcot. It just needs some adjustments.

Can’t beat the soundtrack of the OG. (Although props to ATW for capturing the “essence” of the OG.)

lindawdw said:
I really love how they decorate LWTL for all the seasons!
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Me too!! :happy:

MinnieM123 said:
Another old t-shirt fan here! My favorite one is over 15 years old at this point, and still looks good. It's navy blue, with one small pocket on the front. There's a little embroidered red Mickey on the pocket. I remember buying it in EPCOT at Mouse Gear. Wish I had bought a few more back then.
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The only positive from the new merchandise? It has allowed me to save a TON of money!
 

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