So far, Pandora is my least favorite part of AK. I’m just looking at stuff that doesn’t connect with anything I know. My grandniece almost likes Navi as well as FoP. She gets it.
@lizzieanne771 might view the Star Wars area the same way.
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Actually, mine, too. But I still thought it was gorgeous, and I’m glad to have seen it. I’m hoping to get to experience it at night for our upcoming trip. But I don’t care for the movie at all. (Dances With Wolves was better.)
Yeah, at night it might look better. 
Even cities look better at night. 
I would give Pandora another chance after dark . . .
See, everything I’ve seen about Star Wars is BROWN and DRAB. I have no desire to visit the desert anywhere, much less somewhere related to something I have zero interest in. I get that the fanatics love it and cannot fathom anyone not wanting to be there. but for me, life is too short to waste time going through something I have zero interest in. (Similar to how I have no desire to ever visit Las Vegas and how I will not waste time or money on a cruise that goes to Russia. Nothing political there (well, not totally…) - I have just never had any desire to go. More places I want to go than I can ever hope to visit, so why waste the time going somewhere that doesn’t interest me.)
I guess I’m not really being clear. I’m not asking you like Star Wars. I’m not asking you to care about Star Wars one iota!
All I’m saying is that the level of Imagineering that went into SWGE is above and beyond anything else I’ve seen anywhere, including WWOHP at Universal. As such, I think it is worth seeing and admiring not the LAND, per se, but the ARTISTRY of it. To me it is worth strolling through over the course of 15 minutes, whether you care two hoots or not.
Of course, putting on my Star Wars hat for a moment, I’d have to point out that there’s ALL KINDS of environments in Star Wars…brown and drab is only part of that. The lush greenery of the forest moon of Endor (as seen in front of Star Tours), the white snow of Hoth, the airiness of Cloud City, the waters of Naboo, the metropolis of Coruscant, etc. Of course, there is brown and drab of Tatooine and, yes…SWGE! 
Ahem. Hat off.
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Thank you for your opinion.
I will choose to make my own decisions and not allow myself to be made to feel bad about it.
TBH the final day would be a lot easier if Epcot wasn’t opening so stupid late I’d happily go there if I had even an hour more in there - like if it opened at 10. But 11 would not allow me that much time.
We faced this same issue, especially after our flight got moved up. We were going to hit Epcot on our last day, but with it opening so late, it seemed pointless. We ended up switching it out for AK instead so that we could take advantage of the morning hours!
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I’ve contemplated doing AK again since it’s my favorite park - I was just thinking about getting back to Yacht Club for Tragical Express. (My flight’s at 7 so I’m guessing my pick-up could be anywhere from 3:15ish to 4/4:15.)
I was in no way trying to make you feel bad about a decision. I mistook your statement about zero interest to mean apathy rather than disdain for. That’s fine. Just figured if you had time to fill at HS when you only like two things there, it was worth mentioning that SWGE is more than about whether someone likes Star Wars.
Setting that aside, one thing about Toy Story Land that I found most interesting wasn’t actually the movie tie-in really…but it was fun looking at the larger-than-life references to toys from our childhoods, and even how you could imagine that the entire area was actually a playset made by a kid scrounging up all his toys together. Just reminded me so much of my youth.
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Epcot is working rather well for our last park day as we’re checking out of Saratoga and checking in later at Coronado Springs - mostly a place to sleep before a crack of dawn departure on the road home. I was thankful we had the morning available.
In your case I’d switch to AK. Maybe head back to Beach Club for an appetizer at the lounge there while waiting for the airport transfer.
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Had to look it up: Martha’s Vineyard.
I may have to get the calamari and the chowder . . .
May have to do something from the B&C window - I don’t do seafood (outside of very occasional shrimp & grits or scallops).
Oh yeah. That’d work too.
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I have offered the chance to come down to my sister - assuming she’s not back on ship by then. She should be able to get into at least some of the parks - an even better reason to not plan Studios the last day as I’m sure those with CM passes/cards are the first to get shut out of park reservations.
She said she wants to think about it - and also she’s not sure what her schedule will be. But she keeps saying she’s bored at home (I get it!!) so I thought it would be a good distraction.
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So - surprise, surprise - made a few changes. LOL. (This is par for the course for me.)
I was feeling very iffy about JetBlue and my flights. I’d changed my initial flight back to return into Newark so I could just take the train into Manhattan and I’m “coming from New Jersey”, but then when they came up with the test before coming home and test in 3 days thing (actually I had heard they were doing rapid tests at JFK and LGA and maybe EWR…but clearly that was not correct) I switched back to JFK. Had to call to do that as my reservation on JetBlue’s site was showing “No Ticket Issued” and I could do nothing to it. Well, that never changed. It would look normal - flights out and into JFK - but when I clicked on details it showed the one into EWR again and still no way to do anything to it - not even look at seats. Ditto on the app. The girl I spoke with mid-week said it did show the correct flights on her end and there were “probably glitches with the website and app because of all the changes going on” (never mind that much larger airlines like American and United have lots of changes too and their websites are not glitching with reservations). I decided to look at options and got round-trip on United in and out of EWR for $76!! Bought that and cancelled JetBlue without a second thought. Only now my flight back is about 2 hours earlier.
PLUS this week’s WDW Radio podcast started looking at the music of Epcot and the thought of going in the International Gateway and not the real (IMHO) entrance - even with all the walls - just seemed like it was going to be too…not Epcot-like. I fully recognize that I’m a total weirdo in that respect.
Looked at my options, and decided that my best was Contemporary Garden Wing! I can walk to MK and do a second partial day there on my final day, giving me more park time than budgeting for busses before Tragical Express, and I can bus to Epcot (assuming monorail is still not going in January). I was never fully sold on Studios anyway.
So that meant some tweaking…
Now have
1/7 - Animal Kingdom
Breakfast - probably Contempo Cafe, maybe just coffee from Contemporary Grounds
Lunch - Satu’li
Dinner - The Wave or Boathouse (TBD - I adore Boathouse, but I’d have to budget a little more time to get there whereas I’ve heard great things about The Wave and I’d just have the time to get back “home”.)
1/8 - Epcot
Breakfast - Topolino’s Terrace
Lunch - snacking at FOTA booths hopefully
Dinner - La Hacienda
1/9 - Animal Kingdom
Breakfast - Contempo or Contemporary Grounds
Lunch - Satu’li (maybe)
Dinner - Tiffins (it’s 4:45 since the park is closing at 5…so that is why Satu’li is iffy - I don’t want to be stuffed…if I get just coffee for breakfast, I could do an early lunch at Satu’li)
1/10 - Magic Kingdom
Breakfast - Chef Mickey’s
Lunch - probably nothing
Dinner - Be Our Guest
1/11 - Magic Kingdom
Breakfast - probably The Wave
Lunch - Skipper Canteen
It’s feeling about as solid as a trip really ever does for me right now…
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I totally agree with you on this. That background music as you walk into EP really sets the tone of the day. I was watching the Mickey Views YouTube channel yesterday and Braden said that the walls around the fountain at the front entrance should be coming down soon, which would be nice for a January trip. There are still walls on the other side of spaceship earth of course, but not having the ones at the grand entrance will be awesome.
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Someone suggested that to me as well, but I’m on the east end of LI so it would be a 2 hr drive (instead of 30 min from ISP) on top of a 2 hr flight, which doesn’t make sense. I thought I read somewhere that the tristate governors are going to talk to “coordinate their efforts” this week? Hopefully they don’t close that loophole on you!
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Thanks!! When I’d brought it up in other places everyone seemed to think I was nuts for not wanting the “private entrance” feel of the IG.
Theoretically they have been all along, though enforcement in Jersey and Connecticut has been different than Cuomo’s fist. Of course, if the city gets and stays over 3% it’s kind of moot point as I’d be having to do remote teaching. We’ll see what happens.
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