We are completing a trip from 2022 due to an unexpected mid-trip cancellation.
Introduction
2 Park Hopper Days, 2 parks per day. It was our First time at WDW with Christmas Decorations!
- Day 1 Arrive
- Day 2 Hollywood Studios / Epcot
- Day 3 Break day
- Day 4 Magic Kingdom / Animal Kingdom
- Day 5 Depart
Day 1 Arrive Mon 11/27
- Check in at 3.
- Got some Magic at POP Century with an upgrade from Standard to Preferred (first time at Pop and first time upgrade)
- Bus to Disney Springs and completed the Christmas Tree stroll to get the button.
- Dinner at Pepe by José Andrés. Split a sandwich (Pepito de Ternera) So good.
- Bus back to POP and Skyliner to Riviera and Le Petit Café for a dessert.
Day 2 HS/EP Tue 11/28
HS Predicted/Actual CL = 7/4
EP Predicted/Actual CL = 5/2
A bit of a Rise or Die person, so rope dropping is a must, but being at Pop for the first time and using the Skyliner was new. There was quite a line at the Skyliner at POP 20 min before it opened, which delayed us from being in the front of the turnstile crowd at HS. Skyliner moved that crowd surprisingly quick though. We were just in front of the ticket booths while behind the morning turnstile crowd. Here’s the time stamps for our early entry. Was happy to get on and off rise before the end of early entry even though we were behind quite a lot of people.
- 710 join skyliner queue (realized the queue was for both HS and EP, so gave me hope we wouldn’t be too far behind in HS)
- 730 skyliner opens
- 749 arrive off skyliner at HS
- 804 turnstiles open
- 813 enter rise queue
- 817 stop walking
- 820 flight prep room
- 822 medical room
- 823 room before briefing room
- 830 (Early Entry officially starts)
- ? delay in prison (actually moved us out into new cell and rewatched show)
- 847 off of Rise
Rest of the day (utilizing Genie+)
- Falcon SR (walk on)
- Toy Story Mania (LL)
- Alien Saucers (LL)
- Mickey’s Runaway Railway (LL)
- Oga’s Cantina (first time)
- Rise of Resistance ($ ILL)
- Lunch (Docking Bay 7)
- Exploring Shops
Hop to Epcot via Skyliner and arrive at 2pm
- Grabbed a VQ for Guardians for (8pm)
- Meet Daisy at Int’l entrance (first time)
- Remy’s Adventure (LL)
- Boat across lake to Canada
- Test Track (LL)
- Soarin over California (LL)
- Moana Walk through (first time)
- Eat at various food booths
- Frozen (LL)
- Eat at more booths
- American Adventure (walk on) (first time - pleasantly surprised at this, very interesting with the show sets rising from below)
- Christmas Candlelight Processional (stand at back - didn’t wait for seating) (first time)
Very tired and sore feet so didn’t want to walk back to future world for GotG, so we skipped it which was sad)
(Had planned to do Living with the Land (for lights) and Spaceship Earth as well, but skipped) - Skyliner back to Pop
Here’s the interesting part for the day.
At 7am we booked out first LL for Mickey’s RR. At park open we got a message that MRR was down, and we were given a Redemption LL. (First time and I knew what that meant!) Unfortunately, we were hopping to Epcot and couldn’t fully use it. But what it did do, was take some stress off of trying to figure out which LL to get next and avoid walking so much back and forth, so for us that was the main benefit. Before hopping, I went to a blue umbrella to ask if it was possible to move the Redemption to Epcot. She did a lot of typing (a lot) and eventually gave us a little speech about how the Redemption Pass is supposed to be used in HS for MickeyRR or another ride, but went ahead and moved it to Epcot and said it would not be possible to move it next time.
So my questions are, What was the Cast Member looking at and typing? Can she see our LL activity for the day? (we used LL for TSM, AS, and MRR) If not possible, why not just say no? But obviously it is possible as she did it, but why did she say “Next time not possible”? Did she type some notes into some log history for us so a CM can see they already moved a Redemption pass before for us? Or was that all just a speech to discourge us from asking in the future? I am very curious what the CM knows, what they were thinking, what they did, and if there is some kind of log.
Day 3 Break Day Wed 11/29
- Bus to Magic Kingdom
- Monorail to Poly
- Breakfast at Capt Cooks (first time for breakfast)
- Explore Poly
- Monorail to Grand Floridian and explore
- Boat from GF to Poly and then to MK (First time, fun small boat across the lake)
- Monorail to Comtemporary and explore
Wanted to boat to Wilderness Lodge but boats don’t start until 3pm
(had we known that we would have skipped the Contemporary and just gone directly to WL via boat from MK) - Monorail to TTC
- Change to express monorail
- Monorail back to MK
- Boat to Wilderness Lodge
- Lunch at Roaring Fork (first time)
- Explore WL
- Boat back to MK, bus back to POP
- Take a nap.
- Skyliner to Riviera
- Dinner at Topolino’s Terrace (first time)
(2 appetizers and split entree for dinner, all very good)
Day 4 MK/AK/EP Thu 11/30
MK Predicted/Actual CL = 3/1
AK Predicted/Actual CL = 6/3
EP Predicted/Actual CL = 7/4
- On Bus to MK: Tron VQ (BG1!) & Jingle Cruise LL
- Arrive in time for Turnstile Open behind the crowd.
- Waited near the front of crowd next to Cheshire Café
- 7 Dwarf Minetrain (short wait)
- Winnie the Pooh (walk on)
- Tron just after 8am. (Walk on) - trains were running with only 2-4 people per train. Waited about 3 trains for front. (First time on Tron - wow)
- Buzz (walk on)
- Haunted Mansion (walk on) - Wow → Hat Box Ghost (First time seeing him) (later found out it was his first day!)
- Big Thunder Mountain RR (walk on)
- Pirates of Caribbean (essentially walk on)
- Popcorn (first time) & Explored Hub a bit
- Aladdin Carpets (short wait)
- Jingle Cruise (LL) (first time for christmas overlay)
- Tiki Room (short wait)
- 11 am Jungle Skipper for Lunch (3 appetizers) very good
- Train from Frontier to Fantasy
- Explore Storybook Circus
- Peoplemover (walk on)
- Main Street car (first time)
- Meet Mickey on Main Street (first time) (15 min)
- Stamp some post cards and mail from main street.
(we had a LL for Peter @1pm that we skipped)
Bus to hop to Animal Kingdom
- Arrive at 2pm
- Interact with Christmas Puppet Animals on Discovery Island (First time)
- Train to Conservation station (first time - had never done it so wanted to do it before it closed at 4pm)
- Animation Experience (First time) - drew Valentino from Wish (arrived just in time for start)
- Safari (LL) (walk on, LL unneeded)
- Dinosaur (LL) (walk on, LL unneeded)
- Navi River Journey (LL) (posted 45)
- Flight of Passage (45 posted, about 40 to pre show, but then waited a long time in pre shows so 60 from start to finish)
- Night Blossom from Pongu Pongu
- Expore Glowing Pandora as we walk out
Feeling good energy level so decide to hop to Epcot for dinner
- Moana walkthrough at Night
- Living with the Land (LL) (first time with Christmas Overlay) (posted ~40)
- Crepes for Dinner (First time)
- Remy Adventure (LL) (posted 60)
- Skyliner to Pop (saw Epcot fireworks from gondola)
Day 5 Departure Fri 12/1
- Pack up
- Drive to Hollywood Studios
- Boat to Yacht Club
- Explore Yacht and Beach Club
- Walk to Skyliner and travel to Riviera
- Lunch at Primo Piatto (first time)
- Dessert at Le Petit Café
- Skyliner to Hollywood Studios back to Car.
Summary
In this trip the only lines we waited in was for Rope Drop, transportation, Flight of Passage and Meeting Mickey. A combo of LL, and low crowd walk on rides enabled us to not wait for anything which is pretty amazing. 34 attractions and 2 meet & greets, over 2 days in all 4 parks.
Covid Precautions.
We used hand sanitizer after all rides and washed our hands often at bathrooms we came by, especially before eating.
We wore masks (KN95) in all indoor queue spaces, large group rides (pirates, living with land, dino, etc), crowded shops and all public transport. We’d take off masks for coasters, small group rides (remy, pooh, meeting mickey) and anytime outside. We ate indoor unmasked for Jungle Canteen and Riviera, but they were not full. We were unmasked in Oga’s Cantina which was quite crowded. We ate outside everywhere else. Now 5 days later, still feeling well and have tested negative.