Wednesday, October 26 - my birthday!
HS and California Grill… and… MK…?
Wesley asked at the front desk for a birthday button for me, but they were all out. We took the bus to HS, and Woodrow asked at guest services for a birthday button for me… but they were all out, too. Huh.
We were in great position for the tap stiles to open; great position for the rope drop to Rise of the Resistance… but when we got there, it was down and CM’s were yelling at us to just keep going to Toy Story Land, “THERE IS NO PLACE TO WAIT HERE!” Wow. OK. So we hiked through Toy Story Land and allllll the way down the hill to end of the line for Slinky Dog Dash. The day was wrecked already.
Twenty minutes to ride Slinky. It was a zippy little roller coaster! Enjoyable!
Wesley had been checking the app to see if Rise was open yet. Yes. Of course. By the time we got back to it, the wait was 75 minutes. I said no, still limping on my stupid foot.
Ronto Roasters: It was fine. Wesley and I split a wrap; Woodrow had a wrap of his own. Someone had left their refillable popcorn bucket on the table. We left it there in the hope that its owner would come back for it.
I can’t remember the exact order, but after food, we did Muppets, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Vacation Shorts, and Star Tours.
Before Star Tours, I stopped in the ladies’ room near Baseline, and the line went out the door. OK, Disney, build more ladies’ rooms! A woman and a very small girl got in line behind me, and within a minute or two, the tot was dancing like crazy – she needed to go. I conceded my spot to the woman and her child, and then the two women in front of me let them go in front of them, so soon the desperate little girl was in a stall. Of course, we all ran into each other again when washing our hands, and we asked the mama if they made it in time, so we all celebrated her success. ROFL!!! But… Disney! Build more ladies’ rooms!!!
Hard on the heels of obviously good line behavior, I had this unpleasant thing at Star Tours.
At a small break in the Star Tours chain, some horrible people jumped in line in front of us (3 adults and 2 children) and then turned around and started waving for more people to come with them. After four more people/children pushed their way in, they were still waving at someone outside the queue, and I asked, “How many more people are we expecting?!” They got mad. Finally, one of them said, “FINE. You go on ahead SINCE IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO YOU.” I sang, “Thank you,” breezily, and we went ahead of the toxic line jumpers.
Now, Woodrow said that CM’s lets parties who get separated stay together. But those people weren’t accidentally separated. They jumped in at a vulnerable spot and they knew their whole party wasn’t there and wasn’t ready to get in line. They were just snot wads.
Slinky Dog: Awesome!!
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway: Love it!!
Vacation Shorts: So love it!! Love Potato Land photo op!!!
Muppets: Adorable!!
Star Tours: Still love it!!
And this is where it goes really wrong. Rock’n’Roller Coaster had a 50-minute wait, and I thought I could do 50 minutes. It’s never really as long as Disney says, is it? It never is. Let’s get in line!
So 40 minutes in, something broke down and the line stopped moving. There was an announcement for people in the single riders line to stop getting into the Lightning Lane line. … There was an announcement that the line was really long or something like that. There was never an announcement that it was going to be another 45 or 50 minutes.
…
OK, I’m dwelling, so let me move on.
Woodrow’s MagicBand kept pinging on the interactive elements of the rides. He was paged or something at Star Tours. He was gonna be in concert on one of the posters in the hot room that we were stuck in for 20 minutes. I got bad pics.
When the standby line converged with the LL and the single riders lines, we watched 3 people in our line – the standby line – get admitted to the inner sanctum, and then at least 40 people from the other lines were admitted. Then the 3 of us were admitted last. I couldn’t see Ileana Douglas in the pre-show, dammit.
So. Anyway. This is bumming me out all over again.
Rock’n’Roller Coaster: Much, much rougher than I remember it being, but I was already all tense and unhappy, so that probably didn’t help.
And Rise of the Resistance standby just kept getting longer and longer, and there were never any ILL’s available that late in the morning.
Shopping: Still no Moana playset; still couldn’t find the right pink ears; but did find a Snow White Disney-bounding outfit – yellow wide-leg pants and a bright blue blouse with embroidered Peter Pan collar – so cute! Didn’t buy. Chickened out.
And so we left HS very hot, foot sore, and rather unhappy.
MAJOR nap at POFQ. Split chicken fingers from Sassagoula with Woodrow. Ate a cupcake!!! Had a cocktail from the pool bar!
Dressed for dinner and headed to the Contemporary where… the self-parking was full. LOL!!! What’s up with Wednesday being all crazy? Whatevs. We parked next to BLT and went in through there. Pretty lobby! Took the elevator up to the floor that connects – I think it’s 5, not 4? Great views up there. Walked over to the Contemp, shopped a little.
Shopping: Great shops here, great CM interaction. Found a $300 Tinker Bell watch that I seriously considered (since Woodrow’s 40% off would have vastly improved that price tag), but eventually passed. No Moana playset in the Fantasia shop on the concourse. (I have never truly approved of the Fantasia shop. The concourse is supposed to be spacious, and this joint makes it feel crowded.)
Headed down to 2nd floor to check in in person. We were called very quickly for our 5:30 ADR.
We headed directly to the express elevator and a CM ran after us to check to ensure that we had really gotten the text message. Sigh.
We were upstairs in no time flat and seated at a table near the window, where the shades were pulled down because the sun was shining directly in on us. At 5:30, this was pretty darn bright.
Our server was Michael, and he was lovely.
California Grill Review: Practically perfect in every way. I got the duck a l’orange flatbread and filet; Woodrow got sushi and chicken; Wesley got soup and one of the fish dishes. Everything was just… perfect. The pacing was perfect. After a bit, they raised the blinds so we could see the spectacular sunset. Michael brought me a slice of confetti birthday cake, even though I didn’t have a birthday button. I love this restaurant.
After dinner, we were s’posed to go to the Magic Kingdom and catch an attraction or two and then watch the fireworks from behind the castle. I find behind-the-castle fireworks to be especially magical. And I haven’t experience that in… let’s see, 2006… or maybe 2004… yeah, I think it was 2004 – 18 years. Yeah. Whew. I still hadn’t seen the latest fireworks display from in front of the castle. I saw it from the Contemporary in April, and it did not send me. I’ve watched videos online. Not really one of the better fireworks displays, IMHO. But I thought watching it from behind would be nice…
… Except I had had a cruddy day, and I just didn’t want to risk having a crowd-induced disappointment after such a nice dinner.
We decided to just ride the monorail and do a little resort hopping and shopping.
That was a good idea! First stop at the Poly, I finally found the Moana figures I’d been searching for! Eeeee! And we just enjoyed the resort in general. I still can’t believe how much it’s changed. I miss the parrots and the waterfall. Sniffle!
Time flew. Decided to skip the Grand Floridian because fireworks were gonna start, so we were soon back at the Contemp and wending our way to our far-away car. Just as we pulled out of the lot, the fireworks started. Woo hoo!
Shopped a little at the POFQ gift shop. It really didn’t make an impression that night. Woodrow went back to his apartment, and we went to sleep early. Alarm clock set for Stupid:Early again! Gotta rope drop MK the next morning; need to figure out Genie+ and ILL’s! :::gag::: 