Trip Report Trip Report IV: A New Hope ***Completed***

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Trip Report IV: A New Hope

It is a period of domestic unrest. After years of wearing him down BES has won her first victory in getting DH to join her at WDW.

After her last adventure to WDW BES managed to uncover DH’s not so secret plans to see Disney’s ultimate weapon: STAR WARS STUFF.

Pursuant to DH’s hint of interest, BES raced to plan an awesome trip to win her spouse over to the Disney side of THE FORCE and restore freedom to the galaxy...

When: January 31st to February 6th
Where: Port Orleans- Riverside
Who: Just DH and myself (BES)

Here’s the pre-trip report.

I’ll start with something I finished in between trips. I’m not kidding when I say we are a pro-SW household:

 

[Tuvalu]

I’m meh on Dole Whips, FOP and now the Grand Mariner Slush- am I allowed to be a Magician?

Ditto.
You, me and @Loco_driver can start our own club if @Darstarr kicks us out!

 

[Nunu]

Since @Back!Elbow!Shoulders! , @Loco_driver and @Tuvalu are all coming clean...

AK is a half-a-day park for me.

I tried the Grand Marnier Slushie and didn't like it.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 3: February 2nd continued.

More meandering around WS

Stopped for Beef shumai at the food both in China. It was one of DH’s favorite foods of the whole trip.

Time then for a bit of a break watching the Pixar shorts.

Since we were already close we did JII next. I recall having to wait a bit in the standby line. DH liked it more than I figured he would.

I then introduced DH to one of my Epcot favorites- LwtL.

By now it was time for the Soarin’ FP I had managed to get day of. Much like FoP I am pretty meh on Soarin’. But also like FoP I felt obligated to let DH see it.

We were in the front row all the way to the right. DH was a little underwhelmed.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 3: February 2nd continued

Not to repeat the previous day’s mistake we decided to have some dinner at Epcot and not Riverside.

We split sweet and sour chicken at Sunshine Seasons.

Finally back to the resort. On the bus back I checked in at WDWMAGIC and... saw a message from @Tuvalu. She and Em were ending their day at Epcot.

I was kicking myself for not seeing the message earlier but traveling with DH I was trying to minimize my phone use.

We ended the day with some self made decaf mochas in the room. (decaf instant coffee packet + ghirardelli hot chocolate packet)

DH read and I watched the Puppy Bowl. Or more accurately DH attempted to read while I awww’ed at the TV.

This was our lightest park day for walking at 22,588 steps.

We originally had planned for Epcot the next morning. Since we accomplished so much of it already we adjusted plans from international to intergalactic adventures.

 

[Darstarr]

I approve of all of this! Though I have yet to try the Grand Marnier slush, it doesn’t look like my cup of tea so to speak. @Darstarr may seriously disagree with us on at least two of these things though!

Ditto.
You, me and @Loco_driver can start our own club if @Darstarr kicks us out!

Since @Back!Elbow!Shoulders! , @Loco_driver and @Tuvalu are all coming clean...

AK is a half-a-day park for me.

I tried the Grand Marnier Slushie and didn't like it.

Wow!
Them are all fighting words.

 

[Darstarr]

I’m meh on Dole Whips, FOP and now the Grand Mariner Slush- am I allowed to be a Magician?

Wow! (Shock and disbelief)
But....
The thing about us Magicians is we are all different. That’s what makes reading these TR’s so much fun! How boring would they be if everyone’s was the same???
It’s like I always say, “that’s why there are 31 flavors of ice cream.”
(Yes I know there are thousands of flavors but I worked at 31 as a teenager so it’s part of who I am.)
We may enjoy differnt parks or drinks or snacks but we all have something in common; we are all Magicians.
(You made me use italic and bold at the same time!)

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd

We were up at 515 am. Made a room coffee to share and brought some granola bars for breakfast.

Made it to the bus stop about 550am. A very enthusiastic kid with his grandparents informed us we all just missed a DHS bus.

The bus times sign didn’t show a time for DHS for a while.

More and more people arrived to the bus stop.

Then a time appeared.

Then that time passed without said bus arriving.

Then the time disappeared.

Rinse. Repeat.

Until 6:35.

As the bus finally pulled up a dad said that DH and I should go ahead of his family since we had waited longer which was very kind of him. We politely declined telling him that we’d already down RotR once so we weren’t in a rush.

Finally left Riverside at 640. The music on the bus was the Star Trek theme.

At this point I was resigned that we would be late and get a back up group or none at all. The odds did not seem to be in our favor.

The no bag line had no wait. Neither of us had bags this morning so we breezed in.

We got past the tapstiles at 6:58 and minutes later secured BG 32!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd continued

We joined the masses and shuffled towards Batuu. DH’s true goal for this morning was to ride MF:SR.

At 715am we joined the end of the Falcon line. The wait was already listed as 90 minutes.

I forgot why I took this picture. The plants/lights are pretty?

They were selling coffee in the queue so (obviously) DH was buying coffee in the queue.

Cool cup:

We both really appreciated the queue. The previous trip I did single rider line and regular queue at close line so this was my first time hearing all of the transport workers’ banter etc.

Both assigned as engineers. We were rushed in holochess room. Why design such a cool thing and then not let people see it?!?

We exited the ride at 810am- way under the posted wait. (This was pre-FP just FYI)

DH loved it! He liked it better than RotR.

We mobile ordered second breakfast from Woody’s lunch box. It took quite a while. I don’t think it saved us a lot of time.

DH got some sort of tater tot bowl. I got a Nutella pop tart. It was just ok- not better than an actual pop tart.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd continued

Next we went from TSL to Star Tours via the Ray Liotta Walk of Fame.

The CM running our Star Tours flight, Matt, was awesome. He was really giving 110%. He enlisted a young Jedi to “help” him open the doors and was super hilarious during loading too. The Force was strong with that CM.

It was 9 something and the BGs had been stuck on 19 for a long time. We made the decision to head back to the room and hope for a 2hr return window.

We were back to Riverside by 10am.
This time we actually napped for an appropriate amount of time. At 11:08 my phone buzzed. Our BG was now open and we got a 2hr return window.

We started back to DHS. On the bus we plotted where to eat lunch. I gave DH our options.

In regards to Docking Bay I may have used a little Jedi Mind Trick on DH. I recounted my meh previous experience and reminded him it was not the SW dining experience he was looking for.

We settled on Fairfax Fare and mobile ordered.

I was pleasantly surprised. My salad was really good. DH enjoyed his unpictured empanadas.

Properly fueled up we made our way to join the Resistance a second time.

 

[rshell68]

Took this for my bro who has a rabbit named.... Bambi. (He thought Thumper would be too obvious )

We have a Daisy for that same reason

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd continued

We scanned into RotR at 1230 and exited by 1310.

Spoiler: RotR pics and story

This ride the First Order CMs, particularly Sebastian and Carlos, were on fire.

When we were lined up to enter the interrogation room Carlos noticed me...

“Your shirt. You knew and you didn’t warn them! You should be ashamed.”

All of the people with us turned to see my “It’s a trap!” shirt.

Well played Carlos. Well played.

Our second RotR ride went well. Everything appeared to be working and this time we each noticed new details we missed in the original ride.

I think I like RotR slightly better than MF:SR.

Back to Black Spire Outpost for a bit. Since it was now sunny and dry I was hoping there would be more... street people out. You know the wandering CMs. The proper term eludes me now.

There was a First Order Officer out that was also

I’d seen him on my last trip too. This time he was harassing a couple for being Resistance sympathizers on the account of their “tactical gear” (the guy had on a camo shirt.)

Didn’t get a pic of him as we didn’t want to draw any attention to ourselves.

There were also a lot of Stormtroopers about. I think it was this Black Spire visit that we saw a little girl in a Mandolorian costume desperately trying to attract the attention of a group of stormtroopers.

Her dad was trailing behind- beaming. In a WDWorld of princesses he had a Mandolorian.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd continued

I asked DH if he wanted to try the blue or green milk. He said not now but that really turned into not ever. No interest.

We took in the Batuu sights. When we came across the collection of Gonk droids DH immediately asked if I wanted my picture taken with them. Of course!

Muppetvision 3-D was being refurbed but we decided to walk around it.

That area of the park which was pretty quiet. Quiet enough where we really heard some of the background music.

DH: “Hey. Are you hearing what I’m hearing?”

BES: “Huh? The music? It does sound... familiar.”

DH: “Cash rules everything around me...”

BES: “C.R.E.A.M.! Get the money. Dollar dollar bill y’all!”

Right by Mama Melrose they were playing either an instrumental version of the Wu Tang Clan’s song C.R.E.A.M. or the original song from which Wu Tang took that very distinct piano hook featured in C.R.E.A.M.

Either way- tip of the hat to whoever was in charge of that selection. For those unfamiliar with the Wu Tang Clan’s work, it is not Disney appropriate. (but in full disclosure 36 Chambers is my rotation of getting hyped up for work music. )

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd continued

DH wanted to see the Indiana Jones show but we still had a bit before the next show.

For now he settled with buying an Indy shirt. DH was quite impressed when the CM asked if he wanted it sent to the resort.

I wanted something to drink. Not coffee. DH got a frozen lemonade and I got a frozen coke... with Jack Daniels.

It was warm and sunny and our cold drinks really hit the spot.

We still had more time to kill. Our drink compartments were full but our snack compartments were empty.

Back to Batuu for some Outpost Mix popcorn. Mmmm.

(Photo from my Nov trip)

We enjoyed our treat while watching the Jedi Training Academy.

Eventually we strolled into Indy a couple of minutes before show time. We ended up standing at the back.

DH enjoyed the show. I mean I did as well but I think after 3 viewings in a year I’m done for a while.


And with that we were done with DHS for the day.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Welp. Being an immunocompromised person at this moment is a little wild.

Part of me finds a little humor in the average person’s new fear of catching something.

Further complicating things is my job. In addition to the recent increased baseline level of work stress we’re all anticipating a good long stretch of extra terrible.

So I’m going to hide out the eye of the storm at work. And hermit myself at home otherwise. For now:

Let’s carry on with the TR and escape to a warmer and more magical times...

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd continued

We took a bus from DHS to POFQ.

Before the trip I told DH that they had live jazz at POFQ so we wanted to confirm what times/evenings it would be.

Also I wanted some of that POFQ smell. We entered the lobby and... no smell.

As we walked through the main building we realized that they were having power issues. The food court and shop were closed.

We were able to confirm the jazz timings though and walked back to our room.

I had kind of figured we would rest for a bit then spend the evening at MK (and potentially see @Tuvalu) and then end the evening at Scat Cat’s.

DH had a different plan in mind. For whatever crazy reason he was hooked on “that place with all of the food” aka Disney Springs. Also tonight would be our one chance to hear the live jazz so DH didn’t want to potentially miss it.

So we boated off to DS again. DH said I should pick the place this time. ☺ I really wanted to do the lounge at Morimoto Asia but the whole place looked pretty crowded so we didn’t even try to go in.

Instead we did the Morimoto street food QS. So so good.

We split a bunch of things: octopus fritters, some sort of pork bun thing, and spicy ramen. I can’t remember exactly and my picture turned out like this:

Cool utensil:

(You can see my hand sanitizer in the above pic. We had clean hands before it was cool. )

Based on how much we liked the QS I can’t wait to try the actual restaurant on a future trip.

We meandered a bit and eventually ended up at Basin and many shampoo bars were purchased.

We split a Starbucks coffee. (I think the only non-airport Starbucks of the trip)

Then we were off to POFQ via boat.

 

[Songbird76]

Ditto.
You, me and @Loco_driver can start our own club if @Darstarr kicks us out!

Add me to that list, though I've never had the grand marnier slushy. But I also don't drink coffee or tea....

 

[Songbird76]

Wow! (Shock and disbelief)
But....
The thing about us Magicians is we are all different. That’s what makes reading these TR’s so much fun! How boring would they be if everyone’s was the same???
It’s like I always say, “that’s why there are 31 flavors of ice cream.”
(Yes I know there are thousands of flavors but I worked at 31 as a teenager so it’s part of who I am.)
We may enjoy differnt parks or drinks or snacks but we all have something in common; we are all Magicians.
(You made me use italic and bold at the same time!)

And that leaves more Dole Whip, FOP Fastpasses, and Grand Marnier slushies for you!!

 

[Songbird76]

Welp. Being an immunocompromised person at this moment is a little wild.

Part of me finds a little humor in the average person’s new fear of catching something.

View attachment 456274

Further complicating things is my job. In addition to the recent increased baseline level of work stress we’re all anticipating a good long stretch of extra terrible.

View attachment 456301

So I’m going to hide out the eye of the storm at work. And hermit myself at home otherwise. For now:

View attachment 456299

Let’s carry on with the TR and escape to a warmer and more magical times...

I'm guessing this has a bit more of a significant impact on you than it does on most. I'm not particularly worried about catching it myself, but we are very careful with my BIL as he has had a kidney transplant and is therefore very high risk. We are staying away from him for now so we don't bring anything unknowingly. Stay safe!!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 4: February 3rd continued

We disembarked the boat at POFQ and headed right for Scat Cat’s. My apologies to the musical act but I forgot to note their name.

DH is a huge music nerd. He thought the music was just ok. I thought the lady singing had a nice voice and was very engaging with the crowd.

He said he could tell they were good musicians that were just doing jazzy covers of songs tourist would know. I guess he was hoping for more Coltrane/ Miles Davis type jazz?

I had a Sazerac. Rye and bitters. Mmm.

DH had some sort of mocktail.

After Scat Cat’s I decided to give the beignets another chance.

Years ago I remember getting the pillow shaped ones and loving them. The Mickey ones I’ve had recently weren’t as good.

Even though DH insisted he didn’t want one I let him share mine.

It was really good. The beignets have been redeemed!

Finally walked back to the room and called it a night. Just over 25,000 steps. Not to shabby. Hopefully that canceled out at least part of that beignet.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Day 5: February 4th

DH slept in. I mobile ordered us breakfast and picked up it while DH showered. Kids meals again.

Our sweet double windows:

View from our room:

An AK bus was pulling away as we neared the bus stop. Another one arrived in less than 5 minutes.

This was DH’s first time at AK- ever!

Bag check and getting in the gate was super smooth.

We had some time before our first FP so we went to Dinosaur first. It ended up being longer than the posted wait.

Something was off with their loading. We ended up seeing the preshow twice as the post show line wasn’t moving.

Once again DH was unfortunate enough to have a screamer right behind him. It was very very loud and fake screaming from a teenage girl.

Since Dinosaur took longer than expected we had to race across the park to get to the end of our first FP window.