Trip Report This is the End, Beautiful Friend - October 2020 Trip

Ok ok, the title is a bit dramatic, but if you get the music reference, we can be friends. Fun fact: I used to write that on the last page of all my journals in high school I have always been a bit of a drama queen.

I've gone back and forth about even doing this trip report because, as you can probably tell from the title, we were not as happy with the current state of WDW as others are. I'll tell you up front, we don't plan to go back until things are back to semi-normal. I guess we'll use our judgement on how normal it needs to be before we make the effort.

Here we are, well what you can see of us...


I'm in the middle of busy wedding season, but I'll try to get this all written up quickly! Hope you're all doing well, I've enjoyed following along with everyone else's reports, so I hope you'll enjoy mine. The good and the sad We did have TWO magic meetups, which were highlights of the trip!

Let's do this thing!

 

[KellBelle]

October 29 (departure day)

I don't remember exactly when, but sometime after our Epcot day, we decided we didn't need a second Epcot day. So we switched our departure day to Animal Kingdom. I think we did it on the day we went to Magic Kingdom! We both felt really good about the decision, especially since AK opened a couple hours earlier than Epcot anyway!

We got up pretty early and got ready. We'd mostly packed the night before, so made good time. We headed downstairs around 8:30.



We left our checked bag and two carryon bags with Bell Services (really miss that airline bag check!!) and headed to the bus stop. I don't remember if the bus was there or got there shortly after we did, but we didn't wait long! We were here within like 15 minutes.




Neither of us are nuts over Flight of Passage, so we decided to head to the back of the park to ride the safari.






When we got in line, the park wasn't officially open so we didn't move much for a little bit. We ended up waiting about 20 minutes. Not too bad. I assume most of the rides have longer waits first thing since they have been opening the parks earlier to space people out. I'm sure FoP was much longer!




I hate the back...oh well. No one breathing who-knows-what on my back at least. Here are some bad photos of the safari since I'm too lazy to bring a long lens to the parks these days.









Have we figured out what this building is?

Up next: more AK

First off, thank you for another awesome and fun report! I always love your TR's and this one was no different! Regarding the building, I want to say it is for goats. I think I saw something about that recently.

 

[fizzieee]

Thanks for sharing! I loved reading about your experience.... even if it wasn't ideal. You're TR was definitely helpful from an expectations perspective regarding potential future trips.

 

[amjt660]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us

I hope it's been helpful and fun despite me being pretty clear that I don't like Pandemic Disney. Maybe I'm a pessimist, but it took some effort to enjoy anything knowing how many people were suffering. I am pretty good at compartmentalizing, so I still managed to have fun, but overall there was just a cloud over everything (if that makes ANY sense).

and yes, this makes sense to me.

Max

 

[BigDis]

Thanks for providing a great TR. Always sad when they come to an end.

 

[MickeyCB]

We headed toward Asia

I love this photo, and have seen this Mickey in other people's trip reports. I was wondering where that wall is? I would like to try to find it next time.

After the ride we went to order Satuli. Something was going on with the app and it wasn't letting me say we were there, but the CM stationed outside said we were in the system as "preparing" so I was just hoping we would eventually get a text that our food was ready. It took forever, and of course we were standing out in the hot sun.

100% agree on this!! One of my main gripes with our last trip.

And thank you for sharing your trip. I agree it's a very "different way to Disney currently"!

 

[DisneyJeff]

I love this photo, and have seen this Mickey in other people's trip reports. I was wondering where that wall is? I would like to try to find it next time.

That one is right about here:

 

[fractal]

Thanks for the report and pics! Looks like you mostly used the 28mm f2 which seems like a nice carry around kit.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for taking the time to share with us! Happy and healthy 2021 to you and your family.

Thank you both for reading! Hope you're doing well

I love the ("hand") ears you wore in AK!!

As usual, you took some great photos. Regarding your (back seat in vehicle) photos during the safari, you indicated you'd get much better shots with a long lens. I had to chuckle over that, only because your photos were STILL waaaayy better than anything I've ever taken. You see, a long lens is only part of the issue; you just possess the innate ability to capture interesting images, either with. or without. a fancy lens attachment.

By the way, thanks for the hotel photos as well. I've never been to the new Riviera hotel, so it was fun to see all the details.

Thanks for another great TR. I'm sure I left out many other points here, but I enjoyed it all.

Thank you! I treated myself to those from ShopDisney earlier in 2020. I love them! You should definitely visit Riviera even if you don't stay there, it's a great resort to just walk around and explore. Plus it's easy to hop to from HS and Epcot if you need a break.

Thanks for sharing! We’re all hoping things get better and safe quickly so we can go “home.” Our next trip is planned for October, and while I’m not expecting it to be “normal,” I’m hoping it will be more normal. Happy new year!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year! I'm hoping we'll be able to go before fall, but who knows.

First off, thank you for another awesome and fun report! I always love your TR's and this one was no different! Regarding the building, I want to say it is for goats. I think I saw something about that recently.

Thanks for sharing! I loved reading about your experience.... even if it wasn't ideal. You're TR was definitely helpful from an expectations perspective regarding potential future trips.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us


and yes, this makes sense to me.

Max

Thanks for providing a great TR. Always sad when they come to an end.

Thank you all for reading!

I love this photo, and have seen this Mickey in other people's trip reports. I was wondering where that wall is? I would like to try to find it next time.

100% agree on this!! One of my main gripes with our last trip.

And thank you for sharing your trip. I agree it's a very "different way to Disney currently"!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the help pointing out the building @DisneyJeff

Thanks for the report and pics! Looks like you mostly used the 28mm f2 which seems like a nice carry around kit.

Yep! Only lens I brought this trip. Figured I wouldn't need the 85mm much since I wouldn't be shooting any shows or parades. Honestly at this point, I think I'd be fine just taking my phone. ha. I might try taking ONLY my 85mm next time and shooting all my wide stuff with my phone. Hopefully by then I'll have the 12 pro.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! All of your photos are fantastic, but I especially enjoyed the ones from your last day at AK. I love how photogenic that park is! I am very conflicted about the Riviera. Your photos have me intrigued, as it looks beautiful, but I am a Caribbean Beach Resort lover and I hate what it did to the skyline of "my" resort! I will definitely have to visit the Riviera when we are next there, whenever that may be! Thanks again for taking us along with you!

 

[MickeyCB]

That one is right about here:

View attachment 522212

View attachment 522213

Thank you so much! I hardly ever get over to that side of town. I will next time for sure!

 

[krisri18]

Enjoyed your reporting and photos as always! Lets hope your next trip will have a little more of that Disney magic you were looking for (and less mobile ordering )!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

As always, I thoroughly enjoyed your report! And again, I absolutely love your shots of the Riviera! Will definitely have to add it to my resort hop list. Hope y’all are safe and healthy, and have a great start to the year!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I kept waiting for terrible things to happen after reading your intro! Ya did good!

But I understand. I’m glad we went in the Fall (ate at Topolino’s as well!) but I’m not real motivated to go back until things change in the world.

 

[Katiekitten]

Thanks for sharing! Your pictures of the resort are beautiful!