Trip Report Yup, another holiday visit with Brifraz, LIVE!

It’s 11:45am on December 22nd, what have you been doing for the last 24 hours?

Well, if your are the Brifraz clan... you hosted/ran a concert in downtown Baltimore with 220 of your closest low brass friends. Yes, you guessed it, I am one of the coordinators for Merry TubaChristmas TuBaltimore. The event started with us setting things up in our rehearsal area at 1230 and then checking in those 220 friends, a brief rehearsal, and then the concert outside at the Baltimore Inner Harbor. While an obnoxious shot of all those tubas would be interesting for sure, I decided that I like this one of @MeffysMom watching the event.

The concert wrapped up at about 4pm and we hoofed it back to our car and hit the road. Yes, direct from the concert to the road. Which, for those who haven’t followed us before, means about 14 hours of I95 goodness. Despite some really tough traffic (and a couple accidents) in Northern Virginia, we made pretty darn good time and were piling out of the car at Hollywood Studios at 6:15am.

Turnstiles opened at about 6:45am and once inside, we (along with a few thousand new friends) sat on the MDE App waiting for 7am to hit and a chance at Rise of the Resistance boarding groups. Score! Group #28, booked at 7:01am. Heard from others that they were all gone by about 7:20am this morning, but I haven’t corroborated that information with any sources!

Knowing that boarding group would likely be called between 8am and 10am, we decided to stay in Studios. First up, we headed back to Tower of Terror and enjoyed a ride with almost zero wait.

After the ride, we debated doing Rockin Roller Coaster or waiting for something else, but decided food was a priority! In case I haven’t said it before, mobile ordering on MDE is the way to go. We headed to Woody’s Lunchbox, where there was a pretty decent line and since we ordered on the walk, our food was ready to go when we got there and we didn’t have to wait a minute. And we happily shared the holiday ‘pop tart’ and some tater tots.

Now it was time for our first visit to Batuu. We had decided to just try to walk the area this morning and pretty much stuck with that. Get the lay of the land, get a few pictures, walk through some shops, etc. I’m currently reading the Black Spire novel which sets up the land, so it was fun to see a number of connections. And, of course, we had to get the PhotoPass picture.

Oh, yeah. It was raining - not heavy, but consistent annoying drizzle. I’ve got our poncho trio hiding behind my back in this picture. Our boarding group was called at about 8:40am, so off to the ride we went. And, yes, what a ride it is. Pretty amazing stuff and thoroughly enjoyable.

After the ride, we had some FP+ to go enjoy at Animal Kingdom!

FP+ for Expedition Everest was first up at about 10:15am, then we had FP+ (not really needed) for Finding Nemo, which we always love. And, for a change, we sat up toward the front.

And were very pleasantly surprised to realize that the actor doing Bruce and assorted others was one of the old CMs from Adventurers Club, which we truly loved. Glad to see him still entertaining folks at Disney!

So, at 11:30am, we had hit a couple headliners at Hollywood Studios and a headliner and a major show at Animal Kingdom. Must be time to eat! See you soon.

 

[myhappyplace]

Wow, what an amazing report so far! I always look forward to your holiday trip and seeing how much your daughter has grown!

 

[brifraz]

Okay, so it’s been a couple of days. The drive home was a little bit rough, so we kind of lost a day there. And then getting unpacked and back to normal life, except then New Years Eve happened. Anyway, enough with the excuses! Sorry it took some time to get back, but here we are with our last couple days in the World!

Despite my not really sleeping in at all, it was a slower morning as the extended family got all packed and prepared to head back West. By about 11am, they were on their way on the Magical Express and we were heading back over to Epcot for lunch and a good visit to the Rose and Crown with Carl.

On the way in, we grabbed the ‘holiday’ poutine to eat while we had our drinks and our daughter headed to France to grab some lunch. Sadly, the quick service over there no longer carries one of her favorites - the apple, Brie, and cranberry sandwich. So, she grabbed a dessert and then some fish and chips on the way back.

And, of course, with Carl manning the bar, you always get the perfect pour of Guiness.

While we visited and enjoyed our drinks, our daughter headed to Norway to pay a quick visit to Elsa and Anna over there. We headed over shortly after and met up to stop in Odyssey and see the ‘future Epcot’ presentation. While it’s a bit short on any real information or insight, it is really quite beautiful to look at the displays and the effects are very impressive!

Plus, the best part was the great sneak peek at the Guardians coaster!

Okay, maybe not a sneak peek, just a fun photo op. They also have them for Remy and Mary Poppins. We headed back to OKW so that we could be ready for our DVC tour coming up at 3:30pm. We wanted to get a look at the new Riviera Resort (and also score the 3 free FP+!!). It really is a beautiful resort - in particular the tile mosaics near the Skyliner station.

By the way, that is going from the ground to a ceiling about 24ft up - it then crosses the ceiling and turns into another mosaic in the process. If you get a chance to stop by and see them, it’s really neat. Speaking of the Skyliner, our daughter really wanted to ride, so we decided to Skyliner our way to Hollywood Studios for the evening and some dinner.

Once in Studios, the rain was once again coming down pretty good, so we limited our touring a bit. Our first stop was actually at Tatooine Traders (shop outside Star Tours) to look for a shirt that we’ve been trying to find all week. The CMs were entertaining the guests coming off the ride and when we asked them to check for the size, someone had to step in.

Pretty sure they were taking notes on my form so they know what to do when we retire here in a few years and are looking for part time jobs! Next up, we hit one of my favorite attractions, Muppet Vision 3D (with a useless FP+). I always laugh out loud in a couple spots (and cry a little when the steam effect doesn’t work). We took another slow walk through Galaxy’s Edge and also mobile ordered some dinner from Woody’s Lunchbox. We love that you can get the Totchos (tater tot nachos) with vegetarian chili! We then had FP+ for Toy Story and for the first time (yes, in forever), @MeffysMom did not get the high score in our vehicle! Actually, we don’t think it has ever happened - but I did beat her this time and I have to include it in my trip report for posterity. Our final FP+ was for Little Mermaid and we simply tapped in, but then moved on as we didn’t really want to see it!

We squished our way out of the park (yes, still raining) and caught the Friendship boat to Epcot (because, really, what’s a day without visiting three parks - albeit one of them was the same one twice). We didn’t really plan to do much touring, just enjoy a ride or two with our bonus FP+ from the Riviera tour. First up was Soarin’ with the hope that the rain would let up a bit, which it did. So our second stop was Test Track. And, once again, we sported our Rock and Roll poses.

It was right about 9:30pm at this point, so we headed out of the park watching the fireworks back over our shoulders. Caught the bus back to OKW and got some packing done before getting to sleep!

Our last day will be coming soon - hopefully later today!

 

[brifraz]

Once again, my timing is impeccable as it has taken a few more days to finally get to you with our final day. But, here it is! And, I’m sure nobody is surprised to learn that it was another very busy day in the World! After some extended discussion the night before, we decided to do one last early morning trek to Batuu, which meant alarms going off prior to 5am to get us to Studios before the 6am opening.

We found ourselves in line at about 5:20am, the same as the other morning. However, on Saturday, 12/28, the crowd was quite a bit larger than it had been a couple mornings earlier. The line was already almost to the security screening area, so they opened things up right about 5:30am. We had decided that Rise of the Resistance was a lower priority this morning, so at 6am, we weaved our way forward as quick as we could and headed to the Millenium Falcon. Evidently, this was a plan shared by a LOT of other people. Unlike the other morning, we found ourselves taking over an hour to get through the line. And there was one thing that I was disappointed by - they added some weave that actually went backstage while you were outside - in the area where the quick switchbacks normally are (to the right of the Falcon) and where the first section of the line that is undercover turns past a drink stand, they had opened up a section to go backstage. Really not great show, IMHO. I’d rather the line went further or had more switchbacks within Galaxy’s Edge. Plus the continued rain showers that plagued the week and it wasn’t the best line experience I’ve had! But it was all worth it in the end as our daughter and @MeffysMom got to be pilots this time!

After trying to help Hondo out, we headed to the Cantina for some early morning drinks (and the Mustafarian cinnamon roll). It was a delight to find our friend, Arlene (formerly of Old Key West’s Gurgling Suitcase), was working behind the bar. And, while the CMs there are in character and can’t just chat - it was good to see her!

After food and drink were consumed (and some random Oga’s silliness enjoyed) we headed to Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities (AKA, gift shop, but with some cool Star Wars stuff all over the room) and looked around for a bit before heading out so we could get back to the room and pack!

As always, packing is a sad adventure in figuring out how to get everything back into the car when new things have been added. Luckily a lifetime of packing band trucks and busses has made me pretty good at figuring out what things fit in which spaces, and with a very tightly packed trunk, we headed out a few minutes before 11am to get some real food (lunch) and then hit Magic Kingdom one last time.

For lunch, it was one last visit to the Gurgling Suitcase and the fine food and drinks available there. Our daughter decided to get something a little more fun for herself, too.

Happily filled up and ready for some Magic Kingdom time, we were happy to see that the rain had let up quite a bit and was pretty much just the occasional drop or two - not the steady drizzle that had plagued the morning. We had some FP+ to use, so right after arriving we headed to Mine Train for a ride first. And then it was time to meet up with Tiana and Rapunzel.

It was right about parade time at this point, so we decided to watch the holiday parade from a different vantage point - in front of the snack stand by the bridge to Big Thunder Mountain (right near the Tom Sawyer Island boats). As we waited a Photopass photographer came by and got some fun shots of us, which was a nice surprise.

The parade was enjoyable as always and (of course) we took particular note of the small changes from previous years and then mocked the things that never change. As a music teacher, I particularly enjoy that these guys really play.

Next up was our FP+ for Big Thunder Mountain and then we had one last bonus FP+ from our Riviera tour, so the girls went on Space Mountain (two coasters in a row is a bit rough on me, so I sat this one out). As is often the case mid-afternoon, the FP+ line was quite long, but moved very quickly.

And by about 4:30pm, we were out of the park with one last look back!

And heading to dinner at one of our favorite spots on site, Raglan Road. Always good food and drink and great entertainment.

Also stopped by World of Disney for a little last minute shopping (our daughter found a necklace she had seen earlier in the week, but had been unable to track down since) and an exchange (Mickey Hawai’ian shirt for me that was mis-sized). It was getting close to 7pm at this point and that meant it was definitely time to get on the road.

The drive home was much longer than the drive down. If you recall, we had made it the 900 miles south in near record time of 14 hours (including breaks). Driving home was a little over 20 hours. 3 of those extra hours were for an extended nap stop at a rest area, but the other three were much less enjoyable. In the middle of North Carolina, we got a flat tire. And, not the kind that you can fix with that spray goo that most new cars come with instead of a spare tire (can you guess which one my car has?). Luckily AAA came through with a truck pretty quickly and although it took a little bit of a drive to find a tire place open on Sunday morning, we were actually quite lucky to only spend 3 hours with that predicament.

Finally home mid-afternoon on Sunday, we got ourselves unpacked and back to normal somewhat quickly.

Now, usually at this point, I bemoan the fact that we won’t be able to go back for 6 months or a year or something like that. But, this time... well, I can’t do that. We will be back in just about 2 weeks. But with a quite different trip. I will be taking 104 of my favorite teenagers (and 39 parents, staff, and family members) on a trip with my band and orchestra. I’ll likely do a trip report for that one as well, but it will obviously be quite different. And, if you happen to be reading this and planning to be in the World over President’s Day weekend, look for us! My band and orchestra will both be playing at Disney Springs on Saturday, 2/18 and my marching band will head down Main Street in Magic Kingdom on 2/19. Maybe we will see you there!

 

[SharonD]

Enjoyed your report very much! Will look forward to the band TR.

 

[riverside]

Fun TR as always!! As usual, I'm amazed at how much your family accomplishes during your trips!! Enjoy your next one!!

 

[krisri18]

Thank you for sharing the fun and best of luck to your musical menagerie next month!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Thanks for sharing. It looks like you all had a blast.

 

[Darstarr]

Man...(whiney voice) I wish I were going to disneyworld in two weeks
Great TR

 

[Swissmiss]

How exciting about the band playing at WDW - enjoy!

 

[MickeyCB]

Loved your trip report and can't wait to read about your band trip!
My son marched with his high school band at Disney. I teared up as they came down Main Street with their Mickey Ears on!

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

With the holidays, I didn't read this one live but very much enjoyed the binge-reading this morning! Sounds like you all had a wonderful trip! Yes, I agree with @riverside ---it's amazing how much you all get done on these trips! I say I'm only a morning person in Disney but the 5 am wake-up call would be ROUGH.

the I Lava You Float at Sunshine Terrace. Delicious!

What's in this? I haven't heard of it before and It looks yummy!

The rest of us just took our leisurely time getting around World Showcase - shopping here and there and grabbing a couple drinks with lots of sharing

Taking my time around World Showcase is always one of my favorite parts of the trip. I tend to do most of my Christmas/Birthday shopping for others at the pavillions. My family lived in Japan for three years, so I go a bit crazy in the Mitsukoshi pavilion, grabbing things for my parents.

As a music teacher, I certainly have a lot of respect for the quality of the show - especially considering that they are performing it 2-3 times daily for a few weeks

We love how they bring in choirs from around the country and uphold the Disney standard of quality. Who was your narrator for the CP?

And, don’t ask me why (because I really don’t know), but I always win at Whack-a-Moletypecreature. So, we have a new friend.

I've never played these games, but they look like fun! I should take advantage this year!

we have alarms set for 4:30am so we can be at DHS pre-rope drop (which is at 6am)

For RothR, I MIGHT be able to get up this early, only with an insane amount of coffee! Sounds like it was worth it!

Major issues this morning. 3 of our group got into boarding group 31. Other 3 are showing as not in park.
By about 6:50am, we were finally all together in group #31. By this point, I think that every Guest Relations CM within a 20 minute drive had been called in because there was more blue/red plaid on display than I have ever seen in a park. And TONS of managers and other higher ups. It was pretty impressive. Hopefully whatever glitch happened can be resolved!

OH MY HEAVENS! I would not be a happy camper! And you said the same snaffu happened the next day, as well! It's great that so many CM's were there to help, but obviously, Disney knows that struggle can't continue long-term!

My daughter and I tried to replicate our pose from Rockin’ Roller Coaster earlier in the day and I’d say we pulled it off pretty well (scroll up a post to see the earlier one).

I'm still trying to figure out where the photos are on Pirates and HM! I could tell you now, as I sit at home; but I always seem to forget once I'm actually on the ride!

It’s like they were designed to be viewed over the Speedway and TTA! And, the combination of the Christmas ‘rock’ being played at the Speedway with the fireworks music coming from the rest of Tomorrowland was...let’s just say unique.

I love it when I come out of Space Mountain or another ride and see the fireworks from another location instead of the front of the castle! It makes for extra-special viewing!

So our second stop was Test Track. And, once again, we sported our Rock and Roll poses.

Yay! The rain stopped! We've had a couple of rainy days at Epcot, which would have been fine except for the fact they close Test Track in the rain!

As we waited a Photopass photographer came by and got some fun shots of us, which was a nice surprise.
. As a music teacher, I particularly enjoy that these guys really play.

WOW! The photopass person coming by to take some random shots is a little bit of extra fun magic!
I didn't know the soldiers really played! But then again, I'd never thought about it! That's awesome!

Sorry about the difficulties on your trip home. Happy it was able to be fixed in a day!

On another note, how do you all like Old Key West? We are thinking about staying there next year...

 

[LisaBelle]

Thanks for sharing another report with us! As a former band member I am very much looking forward to your next TR!

 

[KellBelle]

Thanks for taking me along! Always a good time. Looking forward to your next set of adventures!

 

[Loco_driver]

Thank you for sharing. Hope everything goes well with your band trip. Have fun!

 

[brifraz]

What's in this? I haven't heard of it before and It looks yummy!


On another note, how do you all like Old Key West? We are thinking about staying there next year...

The I Lava You float appears to be just at Sunshine Terrace and is orange dole whip with raspberry Fanta and raspberry puree with pop rocks on top. It was pretty good and certainly fun (can't remember the last time I had pop rocks!).

We love Old Key West. It is our home resort. It's much more laid back than most of the resorts, which we certainly like. You definitely still feel like you are at Disney, but the pace just seems slower than most other resorts. I think not having a huge main building/lobby really helps with this. Unless you actually need to go to the lobby, you never pass through it and the Hospitality House area is spread out enough that it doesn't quite get as hustle/bustle as most resort lobbies. Also, because of the size of the buildings, they tend to be pretty quiet, which makes for a much more relaxed time when you are in your room.