Trip Report This all seems very familiar. The loco spring 22’ TR! - COMPLETE

Well the laundry is done the yard tended to and my visit with my sweet mother is complete. Time to start our TR.

When.
May 1-7

Who.
The loco and the wife, A. A handful of other wonderful people will be making appearances also!

Where
OKW. Just look at those well-themed trash cans. So immersive, so magical.

I didn’t take very many notes, and I have a pretty horrible memory(must’ve bumped my head on too many things), but I will try to recall as much as I can!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Dry rolls at the Boathouse!!!! I'm glad you were able to get some good ones instead.

 

[lindawdw]

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Boathouse along with the service! It sounds like a sweet breakfast was waiting for you the next morning too!

 

[Loco_driver]

Dry rolls at the Boathouse!!!! I'm glad you were able to get some good ones instead.

You know that was the primary reason we were there!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day four. May 4, 2022.

After some much needed rest we were up plenty early to make Epcot early entry. First it was time for some sugar!

A had a cookies and cream donut.

I had a chocolate.

We always plan to be at the bus stop around an hour before park opening(we don’t always succeed). We arrived exactly an hour before park opening this day and had a bus arrive very quickly.

We were stop number three of five at OKW and were the first people on the bus. We would ended up having it all to ourselves!

Shirley status for park opening?!

I guess not many people were interested in being at Epcot for RD.

We were first in line at the AP tapstyle.

Epcot was a little slow to get going that morning and they didn’t let anyone in the park until 15 minutes before early entry. Wasn’t really a problem since the crowd was so small. Our plan was to use our extra time to ride test track. Unfortunately test track had other plans and was unavailable.

Time for plan B. We were treated to two rides in B1!

We had the second boat all to ourselves on living with the land.

The extra touches for F&G were nice.

50th decor.

 

[lindawdw]

I can't get over how empty Epcot looked! I love how Disney changes up LWTL for each seasonal festival. Before you know it, we'll be seeing pumpkin/harvest decor in there!

 

[Loco_driver]

I can't get over how empty Epcot looked! I love how Disney changes up LWTL for each seasonal festival. Before you know it, we'll be seeing pumpkin/harvest decor in there!

It was probably as empty as we’ve ever seen it that day!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 4 continued.

one more from lwttl before we move on.

We planned to mostly admire the F&G decorations in WS this morning. We couldn’t resist a stop on the way over though.

It was already hot enough that I was tempted to jump in.

There was a PPP hiding out in the shade. We put him to work for a few minutes.

This area was really cool.

I tried to get a better blanket picture. I’ll be glad when those stupid walls finally come down some day.

This display was impressive, but hard to photograph.

Callan? Is that you?

 

[MickeyCB]

I feel like I have enough fur and fat to give me a general idea!

Nah, you just got that large teddy bear thing going! (I'm assuming A agrees with that?!).

 

[Loco_driver]

Nah, you just got that large teddy bear thing going! (I'm assuming A agrees with that?!).

Most of the time.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day four continued.

More gems from Callan #2.

Continuing towards WS.

The Three Caballeros song always gets stuck in my head when I see these.

Speaking of Three Caballeros(and A/C).

I have been to Epcot countless times, and I think this was the first time I’d ever been down the pathway next to the pyramid.

There were some beautiful orchids back here.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day four continued.

Next up was “Norway”.

We got to chat with a CM from the horticulture team who was working on this display. You could tell she really enjoyed what she was doing and took great pride in her work(as she should)!

Thumbs up if you’re in the China pavilion sweating out chocolate donut!

Dishonor on your cow!

My animal.

These were really cool!

We caught a showing of the best circle vision show at Epcot before saying goodbye to China. Seriously, where are the people?

Snow White and one dwarf.

The rest are located next to them.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day four continued.

The real stars of the show.

This PPP was much better than fake Callan.

Sweat check. Yep, it was hot.

The dog lady had to get her picture taken here of course.

This little lemon tree was doing its best to block the ugliness. Sadly the mistake on the lake is too large to hide.

The next showing of American Adventure was too far off for us to wait. We pressed on.

This angle is much better than the straight on angle of this beautiful landmark, but is stilled marred by tacos.

This used to be a great photo spot.

Not anymore.

I couldn’t help but think of my grandmother and how much she would have loved to see F&G. She had a real green thumb that I did not inherit.

 

[lindawdw]

I'm so glad you were able to accomplish so much at Epcot on this hot morning!!! Tell A that I love her shirt!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day four continued.

We stopped and drank some water in the back of the Morocco pavilion and I handled a situation at work on my phone. There was a PPP near the front as we left.

RIP Gilbert.

This area between Morocco and France was really nice.

I was too hungry to make it to lunch. Time to stop for Arepas. These were good but nothing spectacular.

Beauty and the beast. A constant theme in my life(and one that will come up later on the trip)!

They have this listed as a F&G topiary. Isn’t this always here though? Sounds like someone’s trying to pad the numbers!

“Artsy-fartsy” shot?

We explored the back of the UK pavilion and found a friend all by her lonesome. The beauty(ies?) and the beast theme arises again.

It was finally time for lunch at beaches and cream. I inquired at the check in if our friend Herlina was working. The hostess told me she was and would assign me to her table. We had a wonderful time visiting with her. Of course we were here for dessert mostly. Someone couldn’t finish theirs.

I had no such issue. Also there were 5(!) kitchen sink orders while we were there. I’m guessing some vlogger or something must’ve been harping on this recently. It was kind of annoying.

 

[lindawdw]

How fun that you were able to get a picture with Mary Poppins! Your sundaes look sooo good!

 

[fractal]

Day four continued.

More gems from Callan #2.
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Continuing towards WS.
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View attachment 640431

The Three Caballeros song always gets stuck in my head when I see these.
View attachment 640432

Speaking of Three Caballeros(and A/C).
View attachment 640434
View attachment 640433

I have been to Epcot countless times, and I think this was the first time I’d ever been down the pathway next to the pyramid.
View attachment 640435

There were some beautiful orchids back here.
View attachment 640436

Didn't he have a flash? What is up with these PP Photographers?

 

[Loco_driver]

How fun that you were able to get a picture with Mary Poppins! Your sundaes look sooo good!

They were delicious as expected!

Didn't he have a flash? What is up with these PP Photographers?

They need to go to the @fractal school of photography l!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day four continued.

Something about eating a half gallon of ice cream makes me want to take a nap. So that’s exactly what we did. We planned on a long night and knew we’d never make it without taking the afternoon off.

We did squeeze in a little pool time that evening before getting ready for the nights activities. Our plans were for a night of fun at MK. Bur first, a stop at goods food for dinner. These nachos were big enough to share.

MK was pretty crowded when we arrived. wait times were high across the board.

I know just the solution for a crowded MK.

Every time I see Big Al I think about Tex Ritter(a relative on my fathers side and voice of big Al). Then I think about @Darstarr husband Tone, who referred to me as “the John Ritter Guy”.

A rootin tootin good time was had by all(well at least by me).

Next up was one we often miss, but had time to do this night. The speech By Abraham Lincoln is definitely my favorite part of this show.

I still enjoy it, but the last few versions have really seemed lacking. Even more so now that Morgan Freeman is no longer the narrator. I know it’s the times we live in, but it feels like they are trying too hard to play it safe. The last scene with all the presidents is still impressive though.

Darkness was quickly descending on us as we wandered back out into Frontierland.

Storms were in the area but never reached us.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day four continued.

A night ride on big thunder sounded like fun. Fireworks were two minutes away and we decided to watch from the Frontierland bridge since there was nobody around.

It was better from here because it was uncrwoded, but I’m still not a fan of Enchantment. It has some nice pyro in it, but it’s just sort of boring. There’s no real soul to it.

We walked on Big Thunder as soon as boring enchantment ended. It was wildly entertaining.

No wet clothes for me this night.

The fireworks were at 9 that night, but park closing wasn’t until 11. The crowds had found us as we left BTMRR. It was time to try to zig when everyone was zagging. We made our way towards Tomorrowland via Adventureland.

The PPP here was cracking us up. Every time he snapped a picture he would say “yesssss” like Napoleon Dynamite’s brother Kip!

This may be the best magic shot of all time.

The hub had emptied out a bit, but was still pretty crowded.

 

[MickeyCB]

Storms were in the area but never reached us.

This is a crazy beautiful photo!!