Trip Report Two goofs take a Halloween getaway. Now with bonus Christmas content!

Greetings all! We have recently returned from our short but very busy trip to the world. This trip was much needed for both of us, but especially for A, who has had a very difficult last few months. It was so great to get back to our happy place and see that big smile on her face again. We managed to pack in quite a bit in just four days. Now let’s get to it!

Friday October 25.

We had traveled to some friends of ours house the night before to shorten the drive to the airport. We had a 6 AM flight out of Dallas love field. We were out of bed and on the road to the airport by 4, and through security by 445(we love that airport!). The weather was a little iffy this morning, but our flight boarded and took off without delay. We had a very bumpy flight, including the worst takeoff I’ve ever experienced! Fortunately it’s a quick flight, and two hours later we were in sunny central Florida!

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Getting closer to her happy place!

We made our way over to magical express. It was moderately busy, but we were on a bus as soon as we were scanned in.
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We were staying at pop century! We’d never stayed here before, and were excited to try something new. It was absolutely perfect for this trip, as we didn’t spend as much time at the hotel as we do on longer trips. I really liked the new rooms, they’re very clean feeling, and the Murphy bed makes the room feel very spacious when it’s up. It feels a bit cramped with it down, but still not bad. I got the room ready text the second our bus drove under the welcome sign! We were in the 60s section, building 4 room 4268. Basically the perfect room. A short walk to the food court, bus stations, and skyliner! It’s also right at the hippy dippy pool.

We went straight to our room to put our luggage up and get ready for the parks. There was a bus headed to MK waiting for us when we got to the bus stop. Just after we boarded the skies opened up! Fortunately the rain was over by the time we got to magic kingdom. We were through the gates and on Main Street by 1130, just over 6 hours after we started the day. Not too shabby!

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We took a left at the hub and grabbed some spring rolls at the Adventureland cart. We had an order of hamburger spring rolls and an order of pepperoni. They were really good! I didn’t get a picture of them because at this point we were starving!

We headed to sunshine tree terrace for dessert. We shared a Redds Revenge.

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We both liked it, but agreed that the regular orange swirl float was better, as is the classic citrus swirl.

After dessert it was time for our first ride of the trip. Big thunder mountain! It started lightly raining on our ride, but we had a blast as always! The skies were getting darker as we exited big thunder. I was able to move our next FP for splash up, so we hurried over there, hoping the rain would hold up for us.

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We were successful! We were lucky to get on when we did though, because upon our exit of the gift shop the traditional Florida afternoon monsoon had hit!

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We stood under an awning and watched it rain for about 10 minutes. Eventually we decided to put on our rain ponchos, and make a run for one of my favorite attractions.

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Fun fact time. The voice of Big Al is voiced by Texas native and early country music star Tex Ritter, who grew up not far from where we live. I am related to the Ritter family on my fathers side. This includes deceased actor John Ritter, as well as actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. So basically what I’m saying is that I’m cousins with Big Al!😜

After the show the skies had cleared and the sun was out in full force. It was about 15 minutes before the parade was scheduled to start. We decided to hang around Frontierland and see if the parade would run on time. Unfortunately the announcement came right at 2 that the parade was delayed. No big deal for us! We made a FP for small world that began as soon as we made it over there.
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We used to avoid small world at all costs, because A wasn’t a fan. Fortunately for me, she gave it another chance on our last trip and now it’s one of her favorites! She loves that she finds something new nearly every ride, and has decided the song doesn’t bug her that much anymore! I’ve always been a big fan of the art style, and have always loved the song!
 

Nunu

Wanderluster
Premium Member
Saturday October 26 continued.

It was only around 930 AM and we were all done with DHS. We headed for the exit. We ordered a Lyft to AK, where we’d made fast passes for the day.

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10 AM and we were on our 2nd park of the day!

We had a FP for Navi river journey that would soon be expiring, so we quickly made our way to pandora. View attachment 423194
We enjoyed are gentile ride down the river, and spent a few minutes checking out pandora. I like pandora, but it always feels so cramped and crowded to me. Maybe I’m always getting there at the wrong time? I also think flight of passage is overrated, but I’m clearly in the minority on that.

Our next fastpass was for Everest, so we started the long trek across the park. We saw a PP photographer in front of the tree of life with no line, so we stopped for a picture.

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This picture is a perfect summary of much of WDW right now. Beauty, with construction walls in front.

Anyways, moving along past the tree of life we saw a short line to meet Russell and Dug, I knew there was no way we were passing that up.

Dug and Russell were so excited about A’s bag!
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Dug needed to pet it! 🤣

We did finally make it to Everest
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After Everest we decided to check out maharajah jungle trek. It’d been about 3 years since we’d done the trek. A used the play Disney parks app here, and it was pretty neat, it gave some extra info about the animals and displays.
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Maharajah jungle trek has some of the best theming on property!

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I loved checking out all the murals.

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It was nice to escape the crowds take it slow for a bit.

Up next: The new wildest ride in the wilderness!
Your interactions with Chewie and Dug were funny and cute.
Both are brown and furry! 😄
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They're too cute! :inlove:
Thanks! The two on the outside we found abandoned and hungry on the side of the road. They both decided to adopt us. The middle one was abandoned by her owner at a vet clinic that one of A’s friends was working at. We just had to go get her!
Oh, it’s got to be hard to leave them, even if it is to go to WDW!
Yes it is! They’re very well cared for when we’re gone though, so it is of some comfort.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday October 26 continued.

We had a fastpass for safaris coming up, so we started the hike over to Africa. We grabbed a few pictures of the tree of life along the way.

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We finally made it over to the safaris. This had to have been the worst safari experience we’ve ever had. It had nothing to do with the animals.

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Our driver was horrible! As soon as we loaded up she hammered on the gas and we went flying. This was the pattern throughout the entire ride. When and if we bothered to stop to look at wildlife, it lasted about 5 seconds and we were back to full throttle racing!
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The second issue was that she mumbled the entire time, so we had no idea what she was pointing out to us as we went flying by!
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It was the fastest safari we’ve ever done that’s for sure. As we disembarked the CM working the unloading dock had to literally yell at our driver to stop at the dock.

We made a FP for Everest while waiting for the safari, so we headed back across the park. We took a few PP pictures near Everest.
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The snow magic shot finally worked!

We had another fun time on Everest before finally looking for lunch.
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We decided on flame tree for lunch.
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We had the pulled pork Mac and cheese. Super good!

After lunch we browsed the gift shops out front for a bit before heading for the exit. A bus to pop quickly arrived and we were headed back to the hotel in no time. It was after 3 when we got back to our room, and it still hadn’t been cleaned. We put the do not disturb sign up and took a much needed nap.

Coming up: A third park and a few new experiences.
 
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Swissmiss

Premium Member
Thanks! The two on the outside we found abandoned and hungry on the side of the road. They both decided to adopt us. The middle one was abandoned by her owner at a vet clinic that one of A’s friends was working at. We just had to go get her!

Yes it is! They’re very well cared for when we’re gone though, so it is of some comfort.

I have a hard time understanding how someone can abandon a pet - geez people, bring it to a shelter at least! So I’m glad that there are people like the two of you to take them in. I’m waiting for my retirement to be able to get a dog; it wouldn’t be fair before that time as I wouldn’t be able to devote enough time to it and you don’t get a dog to leave it alone all day long...
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I have a hard time understanding how someone can abandon a pet - geez people, bring it to a shelter at least! So I’m glad that there are people like the two of you to take them in. I’m waiting for my retirement to be able to get a dog; it wouldn’t be fair before that time as I wouldn’t be able to devote enough time to it and you don’t get a dog to leave it alone all day long...
It’s a big problem here for sure. People will breed dogs for hunting, and if they can’t prove themselves to be good hunting dogs, people will simply abandon them instead of finding them a good home. People also will let their dogs run around free, without spaying or neutering. We always encourage our friends and family to adopt a shelter dog instead of buying a dog.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday October 26 continued.

We napped for about an hour and woke up feeling refreshed. We took a right out of our room and jumped on the skyliner.
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We were at international gateway within 20 minutes. We didn’t enter Epcot though, we were in the mood for ice cream.

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I’d heard so much about this place from various people, I knew I had to give it a try. We somehow never made it over here this summer when we were staying over at yacht club.

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A had peanut butter cup, and another flavor I can’t remember.

I had the boardwalk exclusive flavor sally sells sea shells, and a scoop of peanut butter cup. We grabbed a nice seat by the water to enjoy our treat.

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We enjoyed it. I’m not really sure it lives up to the hype, but we do live in the heart of blue bell country, so we may be a bit spoiled. I’d definitely stop at ample hills again though! I’ve yet to find ice cream that I wouldn’t eat!

A little rain shower moved in just as we finished our ice cream, so we went up to the boardwalk lobby to wait it out. The boardwalk employees were having a pumpkin decorating contest, there were some really good entries!

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The skyliner one was pretty creative.

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There were several well done haunted mansion ones.
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I really liked this one.

After we placed our votes in the pumpkin contest we walked over to yacht and beach club. A had been on a search for the Halloween resort mug, but had been unsuccessful so far.

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We found one at beach club market place, and made good use of it right away!

We made it back to international gateway, and entered epcot.

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Food and Wine on a Saturday. It was packed. We made a beeline for future world in an attempt to escape the sea of humanity.
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All dried up.

Up next: More Epcot.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday October 26 continued.

We paid our favorite purple dragon a visit. It was a walk on of course.

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We decided to do go to mouse gear next. A was looking for a particular bracelet she wanted. But we didn’t find it here.

Mission Space was next. We only do green side now, we’re too chicken for orange!

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I miss Lieutenant Dan. But I kinda like the new version too.

We had a FP for spaceship earth next.

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Hello beautiful(and construction walls)!

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The line stopped moving right here, does anyone else think it smells like crayons right here? Anyways we stood for about 10 minutes before checking the app and discovering that the ride was broken. We had plans to attend the dessert party that night, so we bailed. No big deal, we had plans to ride it the next day.

We stopped for some pics going into world showcase.

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Notice were standing to the side, so you can see the nice food and wine sign? Yeah we put ourselves there for that very reason. Our photographer the insisted we stand DIRECTLY in front of the sign.

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:banghead: Also I just realized my shirt has a giant wet spot on it. I had to try and remove an ice cream stain from earlier!

We made our way over to Norway for the party, which turned out to be a wise decision, because world showcase was absolutely mobbed with people, and finding a spot for the fireworks would’ve been quite difficult.

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We mostly ate breads and cheeses. And drank plenty of drinks. I had the bar tender trained up on how I like them by the end. Because Epcot Forever didn’t start until 10 that night, the party was about 30 minutes longer than usual, allowing for many extra drinks!

We eventually made our way down to world showcase lagoon for the show. I must say I liked it more than I thought. I have no real emotional attachment to the original Epcot center, but I know enough to understand and appreciate the different songs and references. The lighted kites were a highlight for me. Overall pretty good for a temporary show, although I missed illuminations more than I thought I would.

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A final selfie from a very long day.

We went back to Norway for our ride on frozen ever after, and exited to a peaceful and empty world showcase.

According to my watch we walked 35,000 steps and 17.1 miles that day. We exited through international gateway, and took a Lyft back to Pop century, since the skyliner was closed for the night.
 

Laurenciaa

Well-Known Member
3617D396-50B8-461B-9191-43B9D9B4D316.jpeg

:banghead: Also I just realized my shirt has a giant wet spot on it. I had to try and remove an ice cream stain from earlier!

Oh how I know the feeling of that ! Whenever I eat spaghetti, something remotely red from tomatoes, I spill it all over my shirts. It's like karma keeps on coming at me! :devilish:

Thank you for sharing your adventures together!
Btw, did you guys already wear " matching" t-shirts this trip? :eek::eek:
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh how I know the feeling of that ! Whenever I eat spaghetti, something remotely red from tomatoes, I spill it all over my shirts. It's like karma keeps on coming at me! :devilish:

Thank you for sharing your adventures together!
Btw, did you guys already wear " matching" t-shirts this trip? :eek::eek:
Yeah I manage to wear my food pretty often. To be fair my ice cream was very messy, because the cone fell apart in my hand, I’ll have to just get a bowl next time. Thanks for following along. We didn’t do any matching shirts this trip. It was a pretty last minute trip. A made a few fall shirts for herself, but I declined her offer and just took a few shirts from previous trips.
@Loco_driver , I love the photos of your dogs!!! 🐶 ❤ (I've only had shelter dogs, too.)

Not great about your safari driver, but you did get a very good photo of the 3 giraffes. That one's a keeper! :)
Thanks, they’re spoiled rotten little things, but we love them! We figure there’s no point in paying somebody hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a dog, when there’s plenty down at the shelter that would love to go home with us! I think the giraffes picture was taken during our only decent stop, another animal had walked into the road so we had to stop for a minute.
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
Saturday October 26 continued.

We paid our favorite purple dragon a visit. It was a walk on of course.

View attachment 423520

We decided to do go to mouse gear next. A was looking for a particular bracelet she wanted. But we didn’t find it here.

Mission Space was next. We only do green side now, we’re too chicken for orange!

View attachment 423521
I miss Lieutenant Dan. But I kinda like the new version too.

We had a FP for spaceship earth next.

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Hello beautiful(and construction walls)!

View attachment 423523
The line stopped moving right here, does anyone else think it smells like crayons right here? Anyways we stood for about 10 minutes before checking the app and discovering that the ride was broken. We had plans to attend the dessert party that night, so we bailed. No big deal, we had plans to ride it the next day.

We stopped for some pics going into world showcase.

View attachment 423524
Notice were standing to the side, so you can see the nice food and wine sign? Yeah we put ourselves there for that very reason. Our photographer the insisted we stand DIRECTLY in front of the sign.

View attachment 423525
:banghead: Also I just realized my shirt has a giant wet spot on it. I had to try and remove an ice cream stain from earlier!

We made our way over to Norway for the party, which turned out to be a wise decision, because world showcase was absolutely mobbed with people, and finding a spot for the fireworks would’ve been quite difficult.

View attachment 423534
We mostly ate breads and cheeses. And drank plenty of drinks. I had the bar tender trained up on how I like them by the end. Because Epcot Forever didn’t start until 10 that night, the party was about 30 minutes longer than usual, allowing for many extra drinks!

We eventually made our way down to world showcase lagoon for the show. I must say I liked it more than I thought. I have no real emotional attachment to the original Epcot center, but I know enough to understand and appreciate the different songs and references. The lighted kites were a highlight for me. Overall pretty good for a temporary show, although I missed illuminations more than I thought I would.

View attachment 423537
A final selfie from a very long day.

We went back to Norway for our ride on frozen ever after, and exited to a peaceful and empty world showcase.

According to my watch we walked 35,000 steps and 17.1 miles that day. We exited through international gateway, and took a Lyft back to Pop century, since the skyliner was closed for the night.
Have you guys considered a RunDisney event? Cuz if my math is correct, you did a half marathon plus a 5k that day! Lol
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday October 27.

We were so impressed with Star Wars land that we decided to do morning extra magic hours at DHS again. We decided we’d shoot for 7 instead of 6, to sleep a little. We woke around 6 and made it through the gates around 7. We did ToT first, our photo never showed up, but my notes say we did it twice, then headed to Star Wars land.

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We were feeling much more cheery this morning.

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Crowds were light again.

Smugglers run had a 40 minute posted wait. The light crowds around the land made me doubt this number was true, so we got in line.

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We were in the room with the awesome animatronic character that’s not from the movies in 15 minutes. We were given our boarding passes, engineer again.

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We had a slightly better experience on the ride this time, thanks to two pilots who knew what they were doing.

After smugglers run we decided to get breakfast at docking bay 7. The place was empty. I’m thinking breakfast may not be an option much longer.

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We both had the bright suns breakfast platter. Three cheese egg bite, pork sausage, potato hash, and a mustafarian lava roll. Everything was great except the weird spicy cinnamon roll thing, which was just odd. The eggs are actually much better than they looked.

We wandered around Galaxys Edge for a little while longer.
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This girl was a lot of fun, and recruited some kids to join her.

We headed to the front of the park to look for the bracelet A had been searching everywhere for.

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We finally found it at Legends of Hollywood! A had a gift card from some friends of ours that she was dying to use on this.

We were out of the park around 0845. We took the skyliner to Epcot, which took about 15 minutes. We were through international gateway right around 0915.
 

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