Epic Bucket List/25th Anniversary Trip Report DAS

I agree with both @missoverexcited and @vcka. Definitely jerkier and louder, but less intense since it’s not a coaster.

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I don’t care for Dinosaur and rarely ride it.

I love EE and never miss it.

Similar intensity, way different as far as smoothness (EE way smoother) and loudness (Dino way louder)

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Dino is really uncomfortable for my fat butt. Also it jerks you around a lot and it is soooo loud. Not an enjoyable ride at all for me at least. I had bruises on my thighs from the seat dividers. Once and done for me.

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Thanks. That settles it. I don’t need ANY more bruises!!!

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Listen, Miss I-need-to-be-wrapped-in-bubble-wrap, I’m not sure Dino is the best ride for you! I forsee bruising in your future! :joy:

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I agree it’s tight and jerky but I love it. I love both Dino and EE though. If you’ve not done Dino you should try it… Yes, I "should’ on you :wink: :laughing:

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It is now off the TP!!!

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ok not @LTinNC82 ‘you’ but @mathhound :rofl:

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I don’t think you’re missing much.

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That was the ride that made my DS, 3 at the time, get REALLY mad at DH and call him a “liar!” He told him it wasn’t scary and DS-3 was scared :rofl::rofl::joy: That same DS, now18, is a thrill junky; give him all the roller coasters and scary rides! Maybe we created a monster? :thinking:

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Your pictures are awesome!!! What a fun trip (minus the mishaps). So sorry about the extra pain but you are crushing it anyway!

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Yes, PPE is required for Dinosaur…ear plugs and bubble wrap.

If you have FOMO, just watch a you tube video of it.

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Cheers!

Special thanks to @disney1974 for sourcing the Nomad Lounge rocks glasses for me! :wink:

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I think I shall do exactly that!! Thanks!

We are finally back at the hotel. Yes, we were at the bus stop before 7 pm. Probably 6:45. It was everyone else gets a bus (2 if you are Poly) but not GF night. They had to “find” someone who had “time” in their schedule to go north. :woman_facepalming:

Today was effing HOT :hot_face:!! 91 w/o heat index. Tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be hotter 96 and 95. I’m so glad the only thing on the agenda tomorrow is Kona Cafe for breakfast (10 am) and chatting with the business center to see about shipping things home. Oh and elevating my leg yada yada. Friday is MK and BOG and there is plenty to do inside buildings there!!

Despite the heat we had a great day and I will write things up later tonight.

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Earlier I said I would post about accessibility with HM and what is so wonderful about it, I almost forgot but it really is exceptional.

The DAS process is the same as all the other rides and right now you go through the Fasspass queue like most other rides. However, in addition to the usual “do you feel comfortable transferring “ etc. questions which are important they have a point where we were asked if we wanted to continue in our ECVs or get out and walk a short bit to board. Now, other rides have asked this and sometimes we leave the ECVs if it’s really short, sometimes we decide to keep them. A few times I wish we had kept them but still managed. However, what really set HM apart was how completely normal they made us feel and they told us that they were waiting for a specific buggy. Then they asked if we would like them to stop the walkway!!! :scream::scream::scream: not just slow it down, STOP! Other rides have slowed down the walkways but so far no one else has offered to stop one. And of course some evidently don’t have that ability. If you are completely able-bodied you can’t really appreciate the anxiety of trying to get in a moving “vehicle” while hoping you manage to not trip, fall or not get completely in before your time runs out. To have the luxury to get in so you feel in control and have it be “no big deal” was just an amazing experience. So know that when HM stops and you might be annoyed it’s likely because someone is being treated with dignity.

Also, they remember and stop it when you get out if you need it as well. This is all done in a separate space from the regular loading area so there is no fear of embarrassment. When you get out your ECVs or wheelchairs are right there. That was the problem with POC is that the place you had to leave ECVs was still a long way from where you get out and the CMs kinda rushed the how you get back instructions. I currently have trouble walking distances and not knowing how long I’ll have to walk without an option to sit is very stressful. Fortunately, once we got to a place to sit, DH went and scouted where our ECVs were so I wouldn’t have to “waste” energy walking about. He has his own mobility issues but he usually can walk much longer than I can.

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I really love this point and am so glad you raised it. It’s so easy to get frustrated in the day to day without pausing to think about the good that may be behind a delay or stop. :heart:

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AK
So today we went to AK for the very first time. The last time we were at WDW the “4th” park was Discovery Island. It was new and we skipped it.

We were aiming to get there just in time to get in line for the 10:30 FotLK. I talked about our timing etc. earlier today but I didn’t talk about the show. It was delightful! The dancers on stilts were amazing! I really enjoyed this show and being so close to the performers I could see how much they all were putting into this. I’m very glad it came back in time for us to see.

We first went and got a DAS return for Navi River. Next we had lunch at Satuli Canteen. DH had the cheeseburger pods and I had a chicken and beef bowl along with cheese quesadillas. The food was fine. DH enjoyed the novelty of the pods but wouldn’t get them again. My lunch was good but I would have preferred the beef a little more done and that there was an option to not have peppers in the base. The quesadillas were good.

We then crossed Pandora again to ride NRJ and we’re not disappointed. It was so calming and beautiful. We didn’t attempt FOP because I was pretty certain we wouldn’t fit. If I wasn’t all swollen because of the heat and my mishaps I might have tried but with today’s heat it was a definite no go. We wandered about a little and then headed to EE. Wow. Second only to RnRC in intensity! Fortunately, unlike SDD and BTMRR we were seated in the middle of the cars. Considering heat messes with me I did well but wanted something more tame afterwards. We spent several minutes at the photo pass register having them find our picture. It was found and supposedly my MB tapped it just fine, but it hasn’t shown up yet in my app. Dang it I want my evidence that I did that!! Lol.

We then went to It’s Tough to Be A Bug which has the most unnecessarily long winding line. The show was as we remembered (DL) and we were glad we sat in our ECVs.

Next we went to the Sacred Place and were able to be seated inside immediately. We spent a wonderful time there during the worst of the heat.

We then wandered around the Tree a bit on the trails. There were spots that were really very pleasant. Finally we decided to give KS a try. Here there is a special truck that can hold a wheelchair though no one in our group did that. This was one where we could have taken our ECVs a little farther but we chose not to since we needed to stretch our legs a bit.

We saw plenty of animals and our guide was good. Someone did remark afterwards that it was a bumpier ride than usual. The hard part was that since we had a special dock on entering we had to offload only there. So we got a little backstage access. Which unfortunately meant sitting in spots with no airflow. We were done once we got out. We ended our day with a Mickey cinnamon roll from creature comforts.

It was a hot and long day. The heat did not let AK shine as it could. I saw the potential for an amazing day there and we did really enjoy ourselves but I’m going to have to think if we want to go again while it’s this hot. We are supposed to go again on Sunday and we will just have to keep our options open. When we come next, and it’s not a million degrees we will definitely come back!

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Rest day
Today was hard to get up. We went to bed early after yesterday and boy our bodies wanted to stay in bed!

However, we had 9:45 am reservations at Kona Cafe so up we got! After slowly going through a morning routine we were ready to roll! We knew the monorail wasn’t stopping at the Poly so we knew we would need to walk/scooter there. I used the get directions part of the MDE app but it got confusing while on GF property because of all the walkways. Ultimately we turned that off until we got to the wedding pavilion. Then we started it up again. We were moving along for a few minutes when we saw a “the walkway to the poly is temporarily closed” sign. Oh boy. Well we tentatively continued the way the app said to when we got to another sign which side “cast members only beyond this point” :scream:. Shoot!! I know how serious Disney is about keeping backstage stuff backstage. DH and I are generally rule followers but I was ok going beyond the temp closed sign. This was different so I decided we would head back to front desk of GF even though our res time was getting closer.

I mean how can you have the only two public ways to go between your 2 big hotels both closed?!!?! And still let guests make meal reservations between them??!!

So we turned around and then noticed a CM doing grounds keeping and asked him about it. He wasn’t sure but he agreed that if the official app said to go there it should be ok.

So back we went - to the CM only area. :grimacing:. We followed the gps which kept us on paved paths but on the map those paths are not there!! We eventually found ourselves back in guest land and at the Ploy. We made our reservation and had a wonderful breakfast. I had the Tonga Toast and DH has the Macadamia Nut Pancakes. Yummy all around. We found out from our server that at one point there were special busses going between the Poly and other resorts in the morning because of the monorail situation but she didn’t know if they were still running.

You would think they could have that information in the app. Or at least a warning that you will be directed to CM only areas and that’s ok or something.

Now we are getting ready to venture back :crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers: lol.

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That sounds stressful!

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