Trip Report WDW Trip #10 - A long awaited return

Hi all

It's been a couple of weeks since my return from my tenth trip to WDW. I've just finished transcribing the notes I made while I was away and now I'm ready to post my trip report for your viewing pleasure. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had experiencing it.

But first, an introduction to the characters in our little story:

• Me - the author of the story and therefore the hero, who has recently celebrated a significant milestone birthday meaning that EPCOT is not the only one seeing in the big 4-0 this year.
• My brother, known throughout this story as R. Organiser of dining reservations and other experiences.
• My mum and dad, known throughout the story as The Folks. Proving that you're never too old to go to WDW with your kids.

Join me as I relive my adventure once again. Featuring stories of food, drink, queues, spaceships (both fictitious and real) and a certain villain named Ian.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Prologue

I remember it very clearly. At the conclusion of our previous trip in 2018, I remember thinking "do we have to wait three years to return?". At that time, a three year interval between Disney trips was normal for us as the previous trips had been in 2015 and then again in 2012.

Fortunately, it wasn't too long before I had my answer. I didn't have to wait three years for the next trip. As a family, we had decided to bring forward the trip by a year. Thus, in April of 2019, we excitedly booked the next Disney trip, which was to begin in September 2020.

Well, we all know what happened next...

Alas, as a result of the global situation, in June 2020, we had to face facts and cancel the proposed 2020 trip. Then, almost a year later, the WDW Travel Company released their offers for their UK customers. To entice us back, they offered many perks, including:

• 14 days ticket for the price of 7
• $200 gift card
• Free photopass
• A dining credit - the value of which depended on your tier of resort. For us, this worked out to be $61 per night
• A gift basket including sweets, treats and other goodies

Naturally, we took them up on their offer and soon had our trip to Disney back in the calendar. This time, booked for September 2022. The date was circled, the countdown had begun. Now, all we had to do was wait.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Thursday, September 22, 2022 (Day 1)

The day that we had been anticipating for many months had finally arrived. And it was going to be a long day. We set the alarm for 0400 as the taxi picked us up from the Folks' house at 0515. It was a short walk from our house to theirs, but still. The journey to London's Heathrow airport was fairly quick and uneventful. We arrived at 0700 and by 0715, we had deposited the bags. Dad had managed to secure us access to an airport lounge, using some vouchers he had earned from another COVID-related cancellation elsewhere. The lounge was fairly impressive, but busy. However, it had unlimited free food and drink, which I happily made use of (although I didn't go overboard as I don't like to eat too much before flying). We stayed in the lounge until about 20 - 30 minutes before our flight was due to board so we could have a quick look at the shops on offer before heading off to the gate and the plane.

Boarding went successfully and we pushed back from the gate in good time. The flight itself was uneventful, though we did fly over the Kennedy Space Center on the way into Florida. I could make out launchpads, the VAB and the runway, but couldn't see anything on the launchpads themselves. We landed a little earlier than scheduled (1500 instead of 1530) and deplaned fairly quickly.

Now, while the Folks are British, R and I were born in the US, so we have dual nationality. This means we have US passports and are therefore entitled to use the US entry desks at immigration. In most cases, this allows us to avoid the large queues at immigration. This time was no exception, and R and I sailed through immigration in a couple of minutes. We then waited at baggage claim, retrieved our bags and the Folks', then all we had to do was wait for them to come through immigration. Unfortunately, their trip through immigration wasn't as smooth as ours. Just a couple of days earlier, MCO had opened a brand new terminal, but had not quite got enough staff to spread across three terminals. Hence, there was a shortage of staff in our terminal, meaning only one or two desks were open for non-US passengers to use. As a result, the Folks did not emerge from the immigration desks until two whole hours had elapsed. By this point, everyone was hot and bothered. We gathered up the bags and made our way as quickly as we could to the ground transportation area, where our private Mears shuttle was waiting.

The Mears guy was pleased to see us - as he had been waiting as long as we had. Because of the restrictions on using cell phones in the baggage hall, I couldn't contact them to say we were running late. But no harm was done and soon we were on our way to Coronado Springs.

On arrival at Coronado Springs, our two parties checked in at reception. It turned out that even though we made our bookings separately, they had given us adjoining rooms, located in the Cabanas section. We completed the check in process, received our gift baskets and then headed to the rooms to freshen up and change, then head to Magic Kingdom.

Traditionally, our first ride at WDW is nearly always Pirates of the Caribbean and this was no exception. It was this tradition that led to the timing of something we call "Plane to Pirates"; that is, the time from the seatbelt lights on the plane switching off to getting on to the first ride (usually POTC). The unofficial record is just under 3 hours, but wasn't timed properly. The official record is 3 hours and 33 minutes. Sadly, with the shenanigans in the immigration hall, the record was in no danger of being broken this time. In actual fact, the Plane to Pirates time this time around was over 5 hours. Still, despite being tired, we enjoyed the Pirates ride, but then figured it was best to head back to Coronado Springs as the fact that we had been awake for nearly 24 hours straight was beginning to catch up with us. But we didn't go straight back to the rooms - we stopped for a quick bite to eat at El Mercado, picked up the refillable mugs, then returned to the room.

Tune in again soon to find out what we got up to on our first full day...

 

[BigDis]

First!!!!!

 

[Wilsonfamily4]

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Friday, September 23, 2022 (Day 2)

Overnight, unbeknownst to us at the time, the storm system then known as Tropical Depression 9 was forming somewhere in the Caribbean...

Meanwhile, for today we all had Hollywood Studios booked. R and I were looking forward to this, mainly because we'd managed to secure reservations for Savi's Workshop. Because we hadn't adjusted to the time zone yet, we were all able to get up and take advantage of early entry. Rather than make a beeline for Rise of the Resistance, I wanted all four of us to go on Millennium Falcon so at least we could experience it once together. As everyone else headed towards Rise, the queue for Millennium Falcon was only 5 minutes. We got assigned our roles; I was left pilot, R was right pilot and the Folks were gunners. There were no engineers. The ride was a lot of fun and was exactly as chaotic as I thought it would be! We crashed and dented the ship a number of times. I don't think Hondo or Chewie were too pleased, but it was our first time after all!

After our smuggling adventure, we went our separate ways in the park. R and I investigated Galaxy's Edge a bit more and then while we waited for our Workshop slot, we went on Runaway Railway, which we didn't have to wait long for as it had just reopened after a temporary closure. We then did Star Tours and visited a number of sequel trilogy locations. Then, on the way back towards Galaxy's Edge, we took in Muppet Vision to cool down for a little while.

Finally, the Savi's Workshop time came. We turned up and were offered the choice of the four different styles. Two of the styles had missing components, so a duplicate component was put in it's place. In the end, I elected for Power and Control (which was one of the ones that had a duplicated part) and R went for Protection and Defense. We were given our pins, then waited in the outdoor holding area before being let in. When it came to choosing the blade colour, I had been agonising over this choice for a while, but in the end, I went for red as I felt it went best with "Power and Control". It was a fun experience. After building the sabers, we went off in search of lunch. We ended up at the Backlot Express, where I had a pulled pork burger and R had the chicken teriyaki bowl. Then we headed back to Coronado Springs. On the bus back, a fellow guest took interest in our sabers and seemed to be quite impressed/jealous of them!

Later that afternoon, we headed over to EPCOT. First stop was Spaceship Earth. We then headed over to Test Track and made use of the much shorter wait in the single rider line. It had rained heavily earlier in the afternoon and there were signs that more weather was on the way. Hence, there were warnings that the ride might have to close. When our ride vehicle stopped midway through, I thought that this was it and we'd be evac'd, but it was a temporary stoppage and we were soon on our way again. Next stop was one of my favourites - Mission: SPACE (orange edition, of course). After that, we decided to walk around the World Showcase, where we went on the Gran Fiesta Tour. Once we had completed the lap of World Showcase, we headed over to The Land, went on Living with the Land and Soarin' (which despite it's 20 minute posted wait time was essentially a walkon).

After Soarin' we headed back to the resort and a cheese and pepperoni flatbread each from El Mercado and then on to the Laguna Bar for a beer each before heading back to the room for the night. Before heading to bed, we had a mini lightsaber fight outside our rooms with our brand new lightsabers and a couple of people who had just gotten off the bus saw what we were doing and shouted cheers of encouragement!

Tune in again soon as we continue our adventure to Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs...

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Great start to your report. As we will be there next September it’s good to hear the wait times don’t seem too bad so far. Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Saturday, September 24, 2022 (Day 3)

This morning, we discovered that Tropical Depression 9 is now called Tropical Storm Ian and is on it's way here...

Today, we had park reservations for Magic Kingdom. However, there was quite a long wait for the bus from Coronado. So, we decided to take an alternative route. First, we took a bus from Coronado to EPCOT, then jumped on Monorail Gold to the Transportation and Ticket Center. From there, we intended to take another monorail, but the queue was quite long, so we decided to take the ferryboat instead; something I hadn't done in a very long time. All in all, it didn't take that much longer and was a little more pleasant than being squeezed on to a resort bus. Besides, taking alternative forms of transportation is all part of the fun.

Upon arrival at Magic Kingdom, we went over to Pirates of the Caribbean. There was a posted wait time of 45 minutes, but it only took us 10 to get through. We then headed over to the Cheshire Cafe for a cat tail and some water each, before riding the People Mover, then taking in the Carousel of Progress and the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. After that, we headed down Main Street and ended up the the Confectionary shop, where we both took part in the "Popcorn Experience", located at the back of the shop. I selected a combination of butter popcorn, dark chocolate sauce and pretzel and M&M toppings. It was very messy, very sweet but very nice. We sat on the ground in the corner near some stroller parking and were able to catch part of the parade that was going on. Once we'd finished our popcorn feast, we went to Haunted Mansion, which posted a 45 minute wait, but the actual wait was nearer 60 minutes. Then, we headed back to the resort to chill for a little bit.

That evening, we headed to Disney Springs to look at shops and to claim our gift card. We ended up having food at Chicken Guy, which was quite nice (I do like fried chicken; it also seems to be better in the US!). We later ended up at Paradiso 37 for beers when the Folks joined us. As we were enjoying our drinks, R spotted something in the sky. I looked and I saw the unmistakable signature of a rocket launch. This turned out to be a SpaceX Starlink launch from the KSC. It was pretty amazing to see.

After that excitement, we finished our drinks and we all went in one group back to the resort for the evening.

Tune in next time as our adventure takes us to Animal Kingdom...

 

[Twinglemom]

Really enjoying your trip report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Sunday, September 25, 2022 (Day 4)

Today, we had reservations for Animal Kingdom, so we decided to get up as early as possible so we could get to the park as soon as we could in order to ride Flight of Passage. As Flight of Passage was located in Pandora, we figured we should power walk to Pandora. It would be the quickest way there and we could easily join the queue, right? As it turns out, this theory was flawed, as the queue for Flight of Passage branched out in a different direction to what we were expecting and it transpired that the end of the queue was nearer the Africa part of the park, rather than within Pandora. We eventually did join the queue which was constantly moving towards Pandora. By the time we had joined the posted wait time was 40 minutes. In the end, we ended up waiting about 60 minutes before getting on the ride. The ride was definitely worth the wait, as expected!

Next, we took a wander around the rest of the park, including the Maharajah Jungle Trek before heading off to Dinoland USA to ride DINOSAUR. Once we had finished DINOSAUR (a ride that we always ride, despite finding it underwhelming), we went off in search of an early lunch. I ended up at Flame Tree Barbeque and had the pulled pork mac and cheese (which was nice, though I did notice other people seemed to get larger onion rings than I did!). R, not being a fan of the items on offer at Flame Tree, went to a nearby kiosk and ended up with chicken tacos.

After our meal, we took the little train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. After spending a short time there, we took the train back and investigated the safari, which had a really long wait time. So we went around the Gorilla Falls trail. At one point, we saw a couple of gorillas having a mini play-fight before an older gorilla stopped them. By the time we had finished the trail, we were getting a bit tired and hot, so decided to head back to Coronado Springs to chill for a bit.

Once we had relaxed a little bit, we headed over to EPCOT. First stop, almost ritualistic by this point, was of course, Spaceship Earth. The ride did stop briefly just as we turned backwards, but got going again fairly quickly. Next stop was Test Track single rider again, followed by Mission SPACE Orange Team, where R and I were the only ones in our cabin. Then we decided to walk around World Showcase and sample some of the delights of Food and Wine. R had the Schinkennudeln from Germany, which all reviews seemed to rave about, but we both decided it was merely "OK". I had the teriyaki chicken bao from Japan, which was nice. R hit up the Appleseed Orchard and sampled the apple crumble tart and the frozen apple pie drink which got his seal of approval. Meanwhile, I opted for maple popcorn from the nearby Canada popcorn stand.

Following our mini feast around the festival, we then hit up the various rides on the other side of former Future World. Imagination was pretty much a walkon, as was Soarin' to our surprise. Nemo too was a walkon, which is nearly always the case. We then rode Spaceship Earth again on the way out, which seemed to run really slowly in places. Then we returned to Coronado Springs where we met the Folks at the Laguna Bar, then returned to the room for the evening.

Tune in next time as our adventure takes us on an off-campus trip...

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Monday, September 26, 2022 (Day 5)

By this point, Hurricane Ian was definitely on it's way now! Nonetheless, we were determined to continue with our holiday, whatever came our way.

Today was a day we had set aside for a trip to the Vineland Outlet Mall and a Publix so that we can buy a whole bunch of American snack treats that are unavailable to use back home in the UK, as well as other bits and pieces. First off, we decided to have breakfast at El Mercado. Mum, R and I all had pancakes, whilst Dad opted for the Breakfast Bowl containing egg, sausage, bacon and potatoes. After breakfast, we got ourselves sorted then organised a taxi to take us from Coronado Springs to Vineland.

Once we got to Vineland, we headed for the Disney outlet store, which the others wanted to visit. Personally, I wasn't too bothered about the outlet store, or even Vineland in general. We then walked around the mall and investigated the various shops on offer. It turns out that it wasn't quite what we were expecting and aside from R coming away with a good deal on some Levi's jeans (which are a lot cheaper in the US than they are back home), we left empty handed.

The next part of the plan was to walk to the nearby Publix. This was a little more complex than the map suggested due to the lack of crossings but we got there in the end. We purchased some bits and pieces to take home with us as well as some additional stuff just in case the hurricane affected us. We then had to get back to Coronado Springs. The customer service desk at Publix organised a taxi for us, but there was a bit of a backlog and we ended up waiting about 40 minutes for our taxi to show up.

Once we got back to Coronado Springs, we unloaded all our shopping. Later on, R and I headed over to EPCOT, where we rode Mission: SPACE (orange team) and Test Track (single rider as is the custom now). I then wanted to try the Brew-Wing exhibit in the Odyssey building, where I had buffalo chicken wings. We then continued our way around World Showcase where R stopped off for dan-dan noodles at the China kiosk, whilst I went back to Norway to get an Aass Pilsner to share between us. We continued our journey around World Showcase and at the American section, we got a funnel cake to split between us. At this point, it started to rain, so we hurried it over to The Land and went on Soarin'. By the time we'd finished in there, the rain had stopped, and so we headed towards the exit, but not before going on Spaceship Earth. The ride didn't stop at all this time, but was very slow in places. Once we'd finished there, we headed to the park exit, but stopped by a Photopass photographer so we could have our picture taken in front of the brightly lit Spaceship Earth. We then got on the bus back to Coronado Springs and went back to El Mercado for some late night chicken before heading to the room for the night.

Tune in next time as new experiences await...

 

[Twinglemom]

I have to say I am jealous of the length of your trip - 14 days is a wonderful length of stay. No need to feel rushed.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Tuesday, September 27, 2022 (Day 6)

As we had EPCOT reservations for today as well, I decided that I would try and get R and I a virtual queue entry for Guardians of the Galaxy. At 0700 I frantically hit the join queue button and was rewarded for my efforts with a berth for us both in Group 11, with an estimated boarding time of 0930. We then headed to the bus stop and boarded a bus to EPCOT. As it turned out, our timing was pretty good. We managed to get to EPCOT in time for our first actual rope drop (normally we arrive at the parks just after rope drop or get there just as the rope is being dropped). The rope was located just before the Land pavilion and we were released into the park a few minutes before the scheduled opening time. As we had plenty of time before our boarding group, we followed the mass of people towards Ratatouille - another ride we had not experienced yet. Once we joined the queue for Ratatouille, there was a 25 minute wait. As we were in the queue, our boarding group for Guardians was called already. Ratatouille ended up only being a 10 minute wait and I thought the ride was really good and fun.

After Ratatouille, as our boarding group for Guardians had been called, we power-walked over to the former Universe of Energy pavilion and arrived with plenty of time left in our window. As well as Ratatouille, I hadn't seen any ride POV videos before experiencing the ride, out of choice, so I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was a roller coaster, though. After riding Guardians, R and I both agreed that it was absolutely fantastic and described it as "Space Mountain on steroids". After that excitement, we headed over to Test Track again and as is the custom, went on Single Rider. Once we got off the ride, R headed over to the design station in the post-show to design a new ridiculous looking car. As he was progressing with his design, I noticed that it had gotten really quiet and nobody had passed through for a while. Emerging from the gift shop, we realised that Test Track had gone into extended downtime. There was even a car full of people stopped on the outer banking. They didn't seem too bothered by their experience and appeared to be laughing and waving at a friend of theirs who was waving at them back from the ground. Next, we hit up Mission: SPACE orange team and I think this was the first time we'd been sent into room 4.

After Mission: SPACE, we'd had plenty of excitement for the morning, so we decided about having some food. I wanted to try the Connections Eatery, but it wasn't open yet, so we went to the Creations shop, then over to the Mexico pavilion. Once the Connections Eatery opened, we went over there and I had the pepperoni pizza whilst R had the meatball pizza. Since we were heading back to EPCOT later on for a dining reservation, we thought we'd take a leisurely walk out of the International Gateway, then along the Boardwalk, then on the path towards Hollywood Studios. Once we got to Hollywood Studios, we took the bus back to Coronado from there. When we got back to Coronado, we relaxed in El Centro for a bit with some drinks.

Later that afternoon, we caught up with the Folks and then headed over to EPCOT for our dining reservation at Teppan Edo. The first thing we did was go to Spaceship Earth and then after that, we went on the Nemo ride. As we were about to board the Nemo ride, everyone's phone started alerting with an emergency notification about the impending Hurricane Ian. We didn't let this disrupt us too much, though when we emerged from the Nemo ride, we noticed it was getting cloudy already. So we went over to the World Showcase and towards the Japan pavilion. We were a bit early for our dining reservation at Teppan Edo so we went through the shop in the Japan pavilion and then returned to Teppan Edo about 15 minutes before our reservation time. Eventually we were called, and our party of four were seated along with two parties of two. Teppan Edo was a lot of fun - especially as we don't have many places like that here in the UK. R and I had the chicken and steak combo, Mum had the shrimps and Dad had steak and shrimp. The food was great and everyone had a good time.

Once we finished at Teppan Edo, we headed back to Coronado Springs. Upon returning to our rooms, we learned that the parks would be closed for the next two days due to Hurricane Ian. None of us were entirely sure what to expect over the next couple of days, but fortunately we had adjoining rooms so we could still do things together.

Tune in next time as we deal with Hurricane Ian...

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Wednesday, September 28, 2022 (Day 7)

By this time, Hurricane Ian was definitely on it's way now. With the parks closed, our options for activities today were limited to what was available at Coronado Springs. We managed to get into Rix Sports Bar and Grill for a late breakfast, where I had pancakes with chocolate chips and bacon, R and pancakes and bacon, Mum had an omelette with mushrooms and onion and Dad had the "all-American" breakfast. Once we had finished breakfast, we noticed that the queue to get into El Mercado stretched all the way back towards the conference centre. It was in El Mercado where the resort were offering hurricane food packs for a small price. We already had stashes of snacks and stuff in our room from our Publix trip the other day, as well as other snack treats we had picked up from El Mercado the pervious night. As a result, we didn't partake in the food packs. However, on our way back to the room, a Cast Member randomly handed us a small bag each containing apple slices and a bag of crisps, all free of charge.

Once we got back to the rooms, we opened up the adjoining door. We played games, taught Mum how to duel with a lightsaber, did some quizzes and had the TV on in the background, which featured The Matrix and Shrek. As the evening went on, we could hear the storm gathering intensity. By 2000, most of the TV channels had gone out. I took a look out of the window and saw that it had gotten very wet and windy. Disney issued a "stay-in-place" order from 2100 that evening, but looking outside, you wouldn't have wanted to go outside anyway. The centre of the storm was due to pass overhead during the night.

Tune in next time to see the aftermath...

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Thursday, September 29, 2022 (Day 8)

Once I woke up, the first thing I did was look outside to see the effects of the hurricane. It looked like that where we were had gotten off lightly. There were some large puddles in the car park and various tree fragments in places, but no major damage as far as I could see, though I understand that some of the surrounding areas were not so lucky.

By lunchtime, the rain and wind had calmed down enough so that we figured we could go out and about. We walked around the resort and found more large puddles and tree branches, but again no major damage as far as I could tell. We headed over to the Destino Tower and went up to the top floor to take in the views. The Toledo restaurant was running a buffet service at lunch and dinner today, so we thought we'd return for dinner later on. The Dahlia Lounge however was closed all day.

We went back to the ground floor and went to El Mercado for some lunch. The queue was long to get it, but not as long as it was the previous day. Mum, R and I opted for the chicken tenders, whilst Dad picked up a turkey sandwich lunch pack (he was impressed with the value of this lunch pack - a fact he consistently reminded us of throughout the rest of the trip!). After lunch, we took another walk around the resort and then went back to the rooms again to relax for a bit.

Later on, as we planned, we went back to the Destino Tower to attempt to get into Toledo for the dinner buffet. However, even at 1730, the lobby was already full, so we tried Rix Bar and Grill instead. But even by this time, they were completely full for walkups. Feeling disappointed, we ended up having dinner at El Mercado again since that was our only option. I had the burger, Dad had the chicken tenders this time and Mum and R had the meatball pasta. Once we'd finished at El Mercado, we went to Panchito's where Mum bought a bottle of wine for us all to share, then we went back to the room, drank wine, had snacks and watched Finding Nemo. During this, we learned that there would be a phased reopening of the parks tomorrow, which was welcome news.

Tune in next time to see our return to normality...

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Friday, September 30, 2022 (Day 9)

The phased reopening of the parks meant that the different parks opened at different times. We had EPCOT reservations today as we had a dining reservation for Garden Grill later that day. Our bus stop at Coronado Springs was really busy. It seemed like each bus that showed up was one heading for Magic Kingdom (apparently, there had been five MK buses in a row). When an EPCOT bus finally showed up, it was full so did not stop - one of the disadvantages of being the last stop! So, we decided to take the next Magic Kingdom bus. Once we got to Magic Kingdom, we went on Monorail Peach to the Transportation and Ticket Centre and then got on Monorail Red to EPCOT.

When we finally got to EPCOT, we figured we'd try and get on Ratatouille again, since the Folks hadn't been on there yet. By the time we reached Ratatouille, it had a 70 minute wait. Neither of us were fussed about waiting that long, so at that point we went our separate ways. We couldn't go all the way through the World Showcase as it wasn't fully open at this point, so we retraced our steps back through the United Kingdom and Canada and then back into old Future World where we went on Test Track and Mission: SPACE orange team. I then stopped for the cowboy mac and cheese at Mac and Eats. While we were there, we learned that Ratatouille had gone down, so it was a good job we didn't wait for 70 minutes! After my mac and cheese, we went to Mexico for the Three Caballeros ride which was a walkon. We continued around World Showcase and R had the carrot cake from the location not too far from the American Adventure. In Japan, R also had a strawberry and mango shaved ice. While he was enjoying his drink, I looked at the Disney app again and Ratatouille had just come back online and only had a short wait. I pointed this out to R and as soon as he finished his drink, we high-tailed it over to France and joined the Ratatouille queue. I messaged the Folks to let them know that Ratatouille was back online too. For us, Ratatouille had a 30 minute posted wait time, but we only waited 10 minutes. Once we emerged from the ride, we saw the Folks in the queue. Evidentally, they had gotten the message!

We continued walking around World Showcase and I stopped off at Saucy Swine for some of the pork rinds and then we went to The Land where we went on Soarin' again. We actually got split into two single riders to fill in space, but it meant we got on a little quicker. After that, we did Living with the Land and then headed back to Coronado Springs. We were the only people on the bus and we had a nice chatty bus driver.

Later on, we all returned to EPCOT as we had our dining reservation at Garden Grill to go to. Before that, we all went on Spaceship Earth, Nemo and Imagination. Our Garden Grill reservation was at 1730 and we got in there a few minutes beforehand. We had only sat down for a few minutes before we were bombarded by the characters. We met Pluto (Mum's favourite!), Chip & Dale and Mickey himself. The food was good and the experience was fun.

After the dinner adventure, the four of us headed out of the International Gateway. The Folks decided to take a boat from Boardwalk presumably to Hollywood Studios, whilst R and I decided to walk off the big dinner. Once we got to Hollywood Studios, we went over to Galaxy's Edge. As Millennium Falcon only had a 35 minute wait time, we decided to take part again. We were originally set to become pilots again, but the group behind us had never been pilots before and since their role of gunner was one we hadn't done before, we decided to swap. Like last time, it was a lot of fun.

Once we'd finished on Millennium Falcon, we headed towards the park exit, where we waited a while for a bus. There wasn't enough space for us on the first bus that showed up, so we had to wait for another one, though we were front of the queue for it. We passed the time by chatting with the young Canadian couple who were next to us in the queue, which was quite nice and fun.

When we finally returned to Coronado Springs, we headed back to the room for the night.

Tune in next time to witness our return to the Magic Kingdom...

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Saturday, October 1, 2022 (Day 10)

We reserved the Magic Kingdom today, so that's where we headed to this morning. First stop was Buzz Lightyear, where I managed to rack up a massive score, although this was helped by the fact that the ride had stopped for a short time and I managed to identify a high scoring target. We then rode the Tomorrowland Speedway, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion and then Splash Mountain. After that, I stopped by the spring roll kiosk just outside Adventureland to pick up some cheeseburger spring rolls. My folks just happened to be wandering past at that point too so asked me to pick some up for them too. After that, R and I went to the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, then we had an ice cream float at Auntie Gravity's. We then took in Mickey's Philharmagic which I'd never seen before and I found it quite entertaining. We then headed back to Coronado Springs afterwards, as I was starting to get headachey and I was feeling a bit stuffed up.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to Disney Springs. We went to D-Luxe burger where I had the barbeque burger and R had the cheeseburger. We looked at some of the shops on offer, including World of Disney, Star Wars Trading Post and the M&Ms shop, where I bought a selection of M&Ms to bring home with me. I still wasn't feeling 100%, so we stopped off at Sunshine Churros to get a churro each (I had salted caramel, R had apple pie) and then we headed back to Coronado Springs, where we had a game of chess (that I won). We then headed back to the room and watched Rogue One.

Tune in next time to see if we can get on Rise of the Resistance...

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Sunday, October 2, 2022 (Day 11)

This morning, we headed over to Hollywood Studios first thing so we'd have a chance to get on Rise of the Resistance. We waited about 40 minutes or so and it was worth the wait. Like the other new rides, I had intentionally stayed away from any POV videos, though I still had a rough idea of what to expect. It was a really great ride and experience, right from the pre-shows all the way to the finale. After Rise of the Resistance, we went on Millennium Falcon again. This time, we were pilots again, but we swapped over our roles, so I was right pilot and R was left pilot. There was a family of three as well on our ride, plus a single rider. At one point, R's piloting skills resulted in him letting out a mild swear word, which caused him instant embarrassment when he realised the young kid sitting behind him. I found it really rather funny and the key thing was nobody was offended.

After that adventure, we went on Toy Story Midway Mania. I was still feeling a bit under the weather, so was unable to do tremendously well in the games, though the final score was a lot closer than I was expecting. After that, we went to Woody's lunchbox and split an order ot Totchos between us. However, after having that, I started to feel dizzy and my vision started blurring. I found somewhere to sit and cool down and I was OK again a couple of minutes later (which felt like much longer!). I thought it best to sit down for an extended period of time, so we went into One Man's Dream. Afterwards, we grabbed a Mickey ice cream sandwich from a nearby cart and I started to feel a little better. So much so that I mustered up enough energy to go on Star Tours and then we looked around at the various shops in the park before heading back to Coronado Springs to rest a little while. When we got back to the resort, we had some drinks at El Mercado then R challenged me to a chess rematch, which he won this time.

After relaxing for a little while, we met the Folks and we all went to EPCOT, where we rode Spaceship Earth and Nemo, then had a look around the Creations shop. Later on, we sampled more delights from the Food and Wine festival. Mum tried some yucca fries from the Fry Basket, R had the tostada de barbacoa from Mexico, I had the chicken dumplings from China and then Mum had the pina colada funnel cake. After we'd had our fill, Dad and R took the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios then caught the bus back to Coronado Springs from there, whilst Mum and I just went straight back to the resort from EPCOT. We all met up in the Barcelona Lounge and as it turned out, we all arrived at pretty much the same time. R and I had a beer each, whilst the Folks had a cocktail each, then we headed back to the rooms and watched some of Rise of Skywalker whilst enjoying some snacks.

Tune in next time to see how we spent our last full day...

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Hi, really enjoying your report. We are booked for next year from the UK and have also got the offers for UK travellers. As we are staying at the POFQ we have the $1000 dining credit. How do we get this? Is it put onto our account to then use for food. As you said, we will go to Disney Springs to claim our $200 Gift Card. Thanks.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Hi, really enjoying your report. We are booked for next year from the UK and have also got the offers for UK travellers. As we are staying at the POFQ we have the $1000 dining credit. How do we get this? Is it put onto our account to then use for food. As you said, we will go to Disney Springs to claim our $200 Gift Card. Thanks.

The dining credit is sent to you via email when you check in. The email contains a link which you can use to add it to your Apple Pay or Google Wallet, which makes it easier to use.