I normally hang out on chat, but wanted to try a longer trip report and the Forum is much easier for longer writing. For those who aren’t familiar, the Magic family consists of me, Mrs Magic and DD19 (Emma aka I_Emma_Spook).
I’m going to pay homage to Matthew Berry who just left ESPN recently by stealing his Thoughts, Ramplings, Useless Information and Musings (TRUM) style of reporting. If you are familiar with his TRUM, you’ve been playing fantasy baseball or football too long.
The Poly is growing on me. I typically prefer the Boardwalk (relaxed vibe and better pool/water slide) but the reopening of the monorail station at the Poly made transportation so much easier than the last time we stayed there.
We made one ILL purchase the entire trip and it was for FOP. Purchase was made at the airport waiting to leave NY. Our original plan was to get in line right before park closing, but Disney changed park hours and we had dinner reservations at Boma.
So the people of Pandora call it an Ikran. We call it a banshee. I’ve never seen Avatar so maybe this was explained in the movie, but how egotistical do you have to be to go to another planet, have the people on that planet say, “this is an Ikran” and then decide, “that’s nice, but we’ll call it a banshee?” Why not just call it an Ikran like they do?
We didn’t get park hoppers this trip for “the first time in forever.” We decided to use the savings on the ILL purchase and Genie+ for the days we felt we needed it.
A 19 year old that wants to sleep on the twin sized murphy bed because she likes the Lilo and Stitch artwork behind it is proof that DD has a great love of Disney. I guess she looks at me and figures, if it’s OK for Dad to act like a kid, then it’s OK for me to act like one too.
Extended Evening Hours (EEH) are great for getting things done with minimal to no wait. Space was down for the second half of the day, so that pulled people towards other headliners during EEH.
Our first ever walk through the standby queue at PPF. It was fun. I still can’t justify spending more than 15 minutes in line for a ride that is 3 minutes long so it’ll be LL for us going forward.
We showed up to Mickey’s Philharmagic about 5 minutes after a huge fight broke out. It was all over WDWNT so I’m sure you’re all familiar with the fight. We had no idea the fight took place and CM’s we spoke to as we approached the attraction didn’t even mention what had just happened. Great job by them to keep the focus on the positive.
Liners like to surprise their kids with catching a gem when watching the Philharmagic. I prefer to surprise a stranger who’s reaching for the red gem. Just another way to spread the magic.
MILF is such an underrated attraction. I have never not laughed out loud multiple times watching it.
Grand Floridian Café. Ate there for the first time. Won’t be the last. Great food and amazing service. They have a “blunch” menu. One of the hostesses said they couldn’t use the work “brunch.” Not sure why but we found it odd.
Don’t be afraid to talk to strangers at WDW. We have met so many great people just by starting conversations with them.
An empty Frontierland is kind of creepy. We were on the last BTMRR ride of the night and that was the last attraction open during EEH so we were alone walking through Frontierland.
One of the posters on your way into MK says, Enchantment…You Are the Magic. No…I came to WDW for magic. Otherwise, I’d pay Disney to come see me. Then we watched Enchantment and realized there is no magic in that show. DD, who cried tears of joy EVERY TIME she watched HEA, said she wouldn’t be upset if she never watched Enchantment again.
Mrs Magic is a foodie and tremendous cook. If you seen my “pooh shaped body” you now understand where it came from. She loved F&W. Her favorite was the smoked corned beef from Flavors of Fire (near Test Track exit).
GOTG is an amazing ride. I would say the vehicle rotates rather than spins. Either way, I got off the ride severely nauseous. Could it have been because we ate about 90 minutes before riding? Mrs Magic tested the theory and was fine on ride two a few days later. I didn’t want to attempt it again although I strongly considered riding again. The ride is THAT good.
BG1 is amazing. I’m technologically challenged so I’m not sure what it’s doing, but we got BG1 and BG3 on our two Epcot days. Thanks, Joel.
HS without Genie+ is not that fun. Unless the middle of your day is spent watching Frozen Sing-a-long, BATB and Indiana Jones plus eating lunch, you’re waiting almost an hour for every attraction.
Not sure if it’s common or not, but at the beginning of Indiana Jones the director said that “due to mechanical issues, we can’t show you all three scenes.” They showed the first scene and that was it. Show started at 11:00. At 11:06 we were walking out of the theatre. VERY disappointing to us and the other 2,000 people who wasted time going there.
Frozen Sing-a-long is such an amazing show. We went to the last showing of the day and the story tellers were in rare form. The show ran a few minutes long because they were ad libbing so much. Our “Sir” Eric was the best performer in that show and I would put him on the same level as Equity Ben from back in the day.
Hate to admit it, but two people working together at TSMM now result in a better score than I can get riding solo. DD beat me all three times we rode it and she beat my Magic Family record with a score of 246,000.
Dark meat turkey at Liberty Tree Tavern. Tremendous.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, we were late for our LL return times. No issues getting a green light, except when we were almost three hours late for PPF. Cast members shrugged at each other and let us go through.
The next day, we knew we were going to be late for a LL window and went to Guest Assistance (blue umbrella) to see if they could switch it. The CM said that if you’re within 90 minutes of the window, you’ll be fine. Otherwise, it’s up to the CM. We were almost four hours late due to a medical issue and told the CM that’s the reason for being late and they let us in.
After using it for two days of our trip, LL has good sides and bad sides to it. I like the ability to have a “fast pass” for attractions with longer waits and bypassing the line. I HATE having to schedule my entire day around booking LL times and arriving to attractions in a certain window. If the 90 minute extension mentioned by the guest assistance CM continues, then that really changes the use of LL.
Genie+ at EP is useless. You can RD Remy, then hit FEA right after that. Do TT and Soarin at night. ILL for GOTG and you’ve hit every headliner with little to no wait.
On days that MK opens earlier than EP, to enter at IG with the RD crowd, get on the first bus from your resort to MK then take the bus from MK to Boardwalk (or Beach Club) and walk to IG. You may not be first at tapstiles, but your wait for Remy will be much shorter than if you enter through FW.
Speaking of busses…in early mornings, they were dropping guests off at the bus stop closest to the park entrance regardless of which resort they were going to next. Often times, they’d drive right past the bus stop for the resort they were going to and leaving people behind. I can think of many reasons why transportation is required to go back to a hotel early in the morning, so this is troublesome for those guests.
Cast member’s attitude reflects the attitude of the guest they’re dealing with. A simple “hi…how are you?” goes a long way.
Stepsisters meet and greet. So much fun. Can you imagine being able to be sarcastic to every person you meet and not get in trouble for it? What a great gig.
Our first time eating at Flying Fish. Amazing food and great service. The three of us shared the Cocoa Breach for dessert. Undoubtedly the best dessert we’ve ever had in WDW. So good that when we decided we needed a snack after HS two days later, we went back specifically for dessert. We got a little pixie dust sprinkled our way and got to sit at the “chef’s table.” Got a quick tour of the kitchen and watched the chefs prepare meals for the entire restaurant. We each got our own dessert because it was so good the first time and we didn’t want to share with each other.
I can waste so much time hanging out the Baseline Taphouse. The music is nice and it’s a great spot for people watching.
HS needs to bring back the Citizens of Hollywood. We told our server at HBD that it would be amazing to see Stone Granite there and she looked at us like we were speaking a foreign language.
HS used to be a single park with the feel of old time Hollywood. Now it’s turned into a park with no central theme but individual lands that have nothing to do with one another. There’s the Sunset Blvd thrill rides, Toy Story Land, Star Wars and a few shows based on other movies. The COH would tie everything other than TSL and Batuu together by being part of the magic.
Touring Plans chat…an invaluable tool to use when travelling to WDW.
We bought a 50th anniversary balloon for our room (Mickey head balloons are out of stock worldwide according to the CM selling the balloons). I don’t know why, but for $15 it made me smile so many times just by seeing it. On our way out of the Poly, we passed a room with the door decorated for a birthday. We wrapped the string from the balloon on the door handle as a birthday gift for whoever was celebrating their birthday. Then I stopped at the front desk and told the manager what we did and ask that he get them a message telling them “Happy birthday from the Magic Family.”
It rained as we entered AK on our first day and it didn’t rain again until we exited MK on our last day. We came full circle, so it was time to go. Thanks for reliving our trip to Disney. Not sure when we’ll be back, but everyone here will be the first to know.
I appreciated the perspective and positive attitude. It was great following along in chat and loved reading it here.