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!

 

[fractal]

Day five continued.

We boarded the train back to Harambe. Safaris had an accurate 5 minutes posted wait. We didn’t figure there’d be much to see, but why not?
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It was a scorcher this day.
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Most animals were laying in the shade.
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One more thing at AK we had yet to do since it returned.
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The modified show was very “meh”. I didn’t hate it, but it definitely needs the tumble monkeys and the bird dancers back. At least the fire twirler guy was still awesome. I’m glad the real show is returning soon.
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We felt satisfied with our impromptu visit to DAK. We had dinner plans at Epcot. The bus stop for yacht/beach was full, so we grabbed a riviera bus instead. Shirley status on the charter bus! These were way more comfortable than the Disney buses!
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Funny story time. We shared a skyliner cabin to epcot with a family with two young boys. The youngest was probably four or five. We were making a little small talk and asking the boys about their trip and what they enjoyed the most. The mom was telling us that this was their second trip, but the youngest was still a baby the first time they visited WDW. Then totally unprovoked the youngest boy blurts our “I rode the haunted while drinking my moms booobeeee milk!” We all couldn’t help but burst out laughing!

Anyways we bid our friends goodbye and headed for the Italy pavilion. I’m sure there’s a reason I took this picture.
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Dinner was at Via Napoli. We had the quattro formaggi pizza. We have had this before and enjoyed it. This one was as good as expected. Our server, while not an Italian in any way, was still the best server we’ve probably ever had here.
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We were seated in the main dining room, but had no issues with noise that others have had in the past.
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Overall not a bad meal. We made our way to the front of the park so we could get home with our leftovers.
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Booos & Boooo*s - Lol!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 6. May 6, 2022

Our second DHS day. Which means our last chance to ride rise of the resistance. We had not been on this attraction since last April. Normally we prefer to go to tower of terror for emh, but since we’d done most everything we wanted, we decided to risk it and see if rise would be operating.

Here’s a play by play of how we were able to ride without waiting or paying. We were early enough to be towards the front of the pack at the tapstyles. They began letting us through about 20 minutes before the official early opening time. We walked back to SWL and they had already opened the queue for rise. We walked though the queue without stopping to this point. This was taken at 7:31 am, one minute after early opening.

The line moved quickly and we were here at 7:34

Our entire experience happened without interruption.

This is such a great experience.

I just wish it was more accessible for everyone.

I didn’t notice any missing effects, but I’m no expert on the matter.

The resistance was joined successfully!

By the time we left the attraction early morning entry had ended.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 6 continued.

Millennium Falcon had a 10 minute posted wait. I took this great family photo before we joined the queue.

We didn’t stop walking until we were face to face with R5-P8.

Hondo was unavailable this morning. There is a modified pre show for when the AA is down.

We were assigned pilots! We did surprisingly well.

Our plan was to head to TSMM next. Slinky Dog was down though, driving the wait time for TSMM through the roof. We continued on to one man’s dream to grab some A/C(did I mention the record high temps this day?).

Happening soon(ish)

Mickey and Minnie had a 30 minute posted wait. We didn’t have anywhere to be really, so we hopped in line. The wait ended up being a little shorter at 25 minutes.

Continuing with our Star Wars themed morning.

It was a walk on. We got the same stupid prequel scenes that we got on day one.

Wait times and the temperature were starting to climb. We found refuge in the Mickey shorts theater. How did I not know about the potato land photo op?! That’s my favorite of the new Mickey cartoons!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 6 continued.

They had just reopened the Star Wars launch bay this day. We went to have a look but didn’t bother with any pictures. These guys were having a picnic when we walked by.

What kind of trip to DHS would it be if we didn’t visit the Muppets?

Time to head for the exit for an early lunch.

Wait wait wait! There’s a certain big fuzzy monster that A needed to go hug(and it wasn’t me)! Back over to one man’s dream it is! The CM working the entrance for the M & G quoted us a 30 minute wait, but also advised that it was likely much shorter. He was right!

NOW we can leave for lunch. Look at the two ducks creeping on people trying to use the restroom!

All aboard the riff-raff express for lunch!

Bar Riva is one of the best lounges on property, something we discovered during our stay at riviera back in December. It was good to see our friend Dusty working this day. She took excellent care of us. A had the bacon cheddar burger. I assume it was good since there was nothing left on her plate at the end of the meal.

I had the grilled chicken sandwich. It was most excellent. No drinks for us this time, it was just too dang hot and we needed water. I gave the money saved to Dusty instead.

 

[lindawdw]

It certainly paid off getting to DHS early in order to basically walk on ROTR!!! You accomplished quite a lot before heading over to your fabulous looking lunch! We will have to check out Bar Riva on our next trip so thanks for the tip!

 

[Loco_driver]

It certainly paid off getting to DHS early in order to basically walk on ROTR!!! You accomplished quite a lot before heading over to your fabulous looking lunch! We will have to check out Bar Riva on our next trip so thanks for the tip!

We had pretty good luck in all the parks this trip(or maybe we’re just really good planners)! Bar Riva is a great place to grab a meal without needing a reservation.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 6 continued.

Let’s fast forward a bit shall we? After lunch we headed back to the room for a siesta and some pool time before getting ready for dinner at Epcot.

We arrived a few hours before dinner. SSE it is.

We wandered around just enjoying the evening.

We met joy.

She got a little excited.

Sorcerer Mickey display was well done.

Gross.

We went to Mexico to look for @Tuvalu who was in The land pavilion looking for us!

Oh thank goodness they turned the fountains on. Now it looks much better!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 6 continued.

It was finally time for dinner at Garden Grill.

I’m not a fan of whatever dressing they put on the salad. The rolls were actually warm, so that’s a plus.

The main platter. Both meats and the stuffing were outstanding. The vegetables were pretty bland. Mashed potatoes were also very good.

Mac and cheese comes in a separate dish.

Apparently I wasn’t excited to see Chip.

A was much happier to see him.

Dale was curious about our meal.

He decided he might join us.

Chip would return for a better picture! What’s he doing to my ear?!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 6 continued.

Time for a visit from the main mouse.

He seemed exceptionally short. Of course, he is a mouse.

So there was a CM who apparently is some sort of Disney Ambassador walking around the restaurant. He took our picture with Pluto for us. He was so enthusiastic about his job and Disney, it was a little unsettling.

We had at least three visits from each character. By the end of the meal Dale was like an old friend!

A had to have a selfie with her favorite.

Dessert was a berry shortcake. It was sweet without feeling too heavy. A perfect ending to the meal.

I had been messaging with @krisri18 throughout the evening. I knew her and her husband P were in WS. I let her know we were about to walk WS so she could look for us. She immediately found us on the bridge between UK and France! It was so great meeting them! We talked like we were old friends about our trips, Disney, and life in general. Before we knew it half an hour had passed. K and P were wanting to get a spot for harmonious, so we bid them farewell. For the moment anyways.

We continued toward France where we ended up watching Harmonious since it was starting immediately.

Still not a fan.

As we started toward the front of the park A talked about how it was nice to meet our new friends, but we forgot to get a picture with them(pics or it didn’t happen right?).

Look who we ran into on the way out though!

We continued our conversations from earlier and walked together toward the front of the park where we said our goodbyes.

Sadly we had to do a little packing before bed for our last day.

 

[krisri18]

Day 6 continued.

Time for a visit from the main mouse.
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He seemed exceptionally short. Of course, he is a mouse.
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So there was a CM who apparently is some sort of Disney Ambassador walking around the restaurant. He took our picture with Pluto for us. He was so enthusiastic about his job and Disney, it was a little unsettling.
View attachment 641862

We had at least three visits from each character. By the end of the meal Dale was like an old friend!
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A had to have a selfie with her favorite.
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Dessert was a berry shortcake. It was sweet without feeling too heavy. A perfect ending to the meal.
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I had been messaging with @krisri18 throughout the evening. I knew her and her husband P were in WS. I let her know we were about to walk WS so she could look for us. She immediately found us on the bridge between UK and France! It was so great meeting them! We talked like we were old friends about our trips, Disney, and life in general. Before we knew it half an hour had passed. K and P were wanting to get a spot for harmonious, so we bid the farewell. For the moment anyways.

We continued toward France where we ended up watching Harmonious since it was starting immediately.
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Still not a fan.
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As we started toward the from of the park A talked about how it was nice to meet our new friends, but we forgot to get a picture with them(pics or it didn’t happen right?).

Look who we ran into on the way out though!
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We continued our conversations from earlier and walked together toward the front of the park where we said our goodbyes.

Sadly we had to do a little packing before bed for our last day.

It was great meeting you both! Hope to bump into you guys again on a fall foliage trip to New England!

 

[Loco_driver]

It was great meeting you both! Hope to bump into you guys again on a fall foliage trip to New England!

That seems like a real possibility. Maybe 2023?

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 7.

We got up early and called bell services to come store our luggage for the day. We still made it to MK in time for early entry.

Time for arty Pooh.

One more ride during early entry.

See you guys next time!

First ride during regular hours, of course.

We got stopped in the attic for several minutes.

My favorite bear was waving hello to guests.

One more ride in the wilderness.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 7 continued.

Pirates was next. This would be our last ride of the trip.

We spent the rest of the morning just soaking up the atmosphere as best we could. And taking pictures with singing bears.

The back of the castle doesn’t get enough love.

We had our traditional last day cat tail.

It was getting really hot and really crowded. After a week straight we were a little burned out on the parks, especially A, who doesn’t always deal with crowds very well(especially late into a weeklong trip). Time to make that last walk down Main Street.

So schweaty.

We did stop in the emporium to grab a few gifts to bring home before saying goodby to MK.

A few pictures from outside the berm.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 7 - the end.

I had been messaging @Darstarr all morning as she and X made their way around the monorail lounges. She was gracious enough to invite us to meet up with her and a few other magicians. A just wasn’t feeling up to it. Too much heat and too many people, and probably too much me. She told me to go ahead and have fun, she would be taking the bus back to OKW to relax in the lobby with her resort mug. We said our temporary goodbyes and I headed for the WL boat launch.

Look who I found on the boat! It was great too see my friend once again and to meet her son X, who did a good job pretending to not be weirded out by meeting total strangers.

A had her own bus back to OKW and sent me this to brag.

@Tuvalu amd woody were waiting on us at WL and we were joined soon after by @lindawdw and her husband P. We had a great visit while waiting for a table(which would take way too long)!

Many beauties and one beast.

We waited and waited for a table, before I finally decided to go see what the heck was going on. Apparently they forgot about us. @Darstarr bid us goodbye just before our table was ready. I enjoyed my lunch with Tuvalu, Linda and company before saying goodbye to meet back up with A at DS, where she had made it to after having a little rest and recovery. She had been sending me all the things she was buying.

We met up at the DS bus drop off and wandered for a bit on our way to the boats.

We took the boat back to OKW and had drinks at gurgling suitcase to kill some time. Eventually it was time to call an Uber for our trip to the airport.

Our ride back to TX.

The flight had enough empty seats that we had plenty of space.

We took off on time and landed a little early. Unfortunately our driver at DAL(our friend C) was stuck in traffic and it was quite a wait for him to arrive. We were among the last people to leave the airport that night.

The rest of our trip home was uneventful and we pulled into the driveway just before 3 AM. Another great trip was over before we knew it.

 

[Loco_driver]

Final thoughts.

I don’t really have a lot to say that hasn’t already been said by many on here, but I’ll try.

Parks - I have seen many reports about huge crowds and long lines all throughout the parks. For the most part we managed to avoid this. The key is to get there early, leave midday, then stay late at night. The parks didn’t feel any more busy to me than they did in the past. It was great to be mask free and to be able to hug characters!

Genie+ - We never used Genie+ and don’t have any plans to use it in the future. I just don’t want to spend the entire day fighting with the system all day. Most people I saw using it were not happy about their experience, so why bother? It kinda drives me crazy to see so many people complain about the system while also pouring their money into it. Clearly the recent announcement by Disney about limiting availability means they know the system doesn’t work at WDW.

Resorts- No real issue here. Probably the best CMs on property are found at the resorts. Housekeeping does leave a little to be desired. Staying on DVC points we should’ve gotten full housekeeping on our 4th night. That never happened. We got mostly lucky with bus transportation, but that varies from trip to trip and really is just luck.

Dining - We didn’t have a bad meal. Our servers were among the best we’ve had at every location we ate at this trip, and it’s good to see things like buffets and regular character meals return!

Overall we had a really nice trip. Of course the highlights were the people we met along the way, and the friends I got to see again. I never thought I’d get to know so many great people through a little Internet forum!

Up next- we’ll be taking the summer off from most traveling until September, when we’ll head out west to Walt’s park for our first visit! Until then I’ll be enjoying reading about everyone else’s adventures, and contributing when I can. See you guys soon!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Sad to see this TR come to an end. Will be looking forward to reading about your adventures in DLR

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! I can't wait to hear about Disneyland!!

 

[Bullseye1967]

Thanks for sharing such a great TR!

 

[Swissmiss]

that it is over. (But thanks for sharing with us all the same )

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Great pics and commentary as usual. Thanks for sharing!