The Seebee Clan's Return! EPIC!

Walt Disney World
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Hi everyone, seebee here. You might remember me from such threads as:
“Surprising the kids with the trip”

OR

“Trip Report 11/3-11/8”

Well, we made it back for a 10/31-11/6 epic tour de force. We honed in on what was important to us, and had an absolute blast. We only wound up full out, foot hurtin’ tired one day, but we wouldn’t have traded it for anything. It was worth it. And the effects didn’t carry over to the next day. The feets were not that bad at all. Before I get to the touring deets, I’ll preface.

This trip was kind of a “This is it for WDW!” trip. We’ll probably go back in two years for a quick three day to check out Galaxy’s Edge, and whatever else is new after the SW fanfare dies down, but this trip was planned to be the “we’re done” trip. Not in a bad way, either. We’ve gladly had our fill, and vacations will just be different places going forward. We still have to do Universal - but that’s only a few days, and not as much planning.

So, from the start, this was pretty simple, because, we just needed to pick an appropriate time frame, because we knew where we’d be staying. Swolphin, all the way, baby! Costco makes things so darn easy. Highly recommend you give them a glance if you are members. Jr’s school gave us a four day weekend choice of MLK or Election Day, and early November weather, plus low crowd levels was the easy choice for us. So that was set. Next, airfare. From Chicago, we found round trip for a hair over 200 bux each. No Brainer! We actually wound up booking the flights via Coscto as well. They had the same price we found, PLUS, they had a special offer if we booked with United in a pkg. (we missed the deal by one day, it was a limited supply deal, and their booking agent said it sold out quicker than they thought it would.) Not a big deal, still decent price. So with dates, flights and tickets all in place…the strategy.

Why Swolphin?
My reasons:

  1. Price + Location. Go ahead, price out BC/YC, or BW. Those are my only comps. Don’t you dare tell me CBR is “Epcot Area.” It’s the ONLY “Ep Area” resort that is not on the walking path for Epcot and Hollyweird, so, just save it.

  2. The dining plan does not work for us. At ALL. We just don’t eat that much food, or snack that much. We’re also trying to eat sensibly, even while on vacation. Trust me, we ATE.We pigged out a few times, but the DP would be way too much food for us. Since we don’t need a dining plan, Swolphin is even more attractive for us.

  3. The pools. Just awesome.

  4. Kimonos. We eat sushi. Kimonos is a super value.

  5. Those Heavenly Beds are pretty nice.

  6. We have TSA precheck, so using DME would just tick us off to leave that early for our return flight. Uber is 30-45 bucks each way. NO big deal at all. I actually had a once way rental car set up from Costco for 40 dollars, but decided to cancel it. I could rent a car at MCO, and then return it at Swolphin to the valet, and not be charged for parking. We decided that Uber would probably just be faster than having to go to the rental desk after landing. Uber is our friend, by the way…well, I almost choked one out on the way to Hollyweird for emm - more on that later…

Ok, so back to WDW strategy. We are early risers, and the Costco pkg includes hoppers (you can modify your tickets, too, and take the hoppers off.) So planning park days is simple: Always go to the park with AM EMH, then chill at the pools during the hottest part of the day, then hop to a diff park at night for little while - usually for pre-planned fastpasses, or just to check out shows - low stress stuff. Since these ppl I live with were not that interested in Fantasmic again ( I don’t agree with that one, I like F!) and they were not interested in Illuminations (that I can let slide,) I decided in order to go for big air for the last trip, to do the SW dessert party, and also the HEA Dessert party. This decision also meant that we’d be in bed or the pool earlier on a few nights, since we were skipping two night shows. I learned from our last trip to remember to RELAX where you can. It’s a vacation…CHILL. Don’t rug yourself ragged. Keep your feet happy. I swear, even though on paper, you want to see as much as possible, you gotta prioritize to have time to CHILL, and enjoy the time together. It’s a vacation, and an expensive one at that. ENJOY IT. Ok, so now we have a basic outline of what to accomplish:

  1. Go to each park
  2. SW and HEA dessert parties
  3. No need for illuminations or (sigh) F!

In looking at the EMH patterns, and applying them to our trip dates, FP selection was easy. I was up and at em right when I needed to be, and I got everything pretty much perfectly, except no SLinky.
No worries. We’d RD slinky on HS EMH day, and if the line was too long, screw it. Reports were that TSMM had been walk ons during EMH, and we are TSMMaholics so - all good.

BUT THEN, Walt slyly announced EMM on Nov 5th. BONUS! Grabbed that as soon as I heard.

BIG AIR.
All set!

As for ADR’s?

Yeah. I don’t care. Res Finder for the win. All. Day. Long. We don’t play into the ADR game. The restaurants at Swolphin are pretty great, and well priced. No need to play Walt’s games for food. i choose the parks first and foremost, then once those are penciled in, I figure out my TP, and where I’ll be at a time we’ll want food, and go from there. I made adr’s for Tusker House, Teppan Edo, Hoop De Doo, (and the EMM, and two dessert parties if you wanna count those.) Park food was Columbia Harbor House, Flame Tree, Sunshine Seasons, Backlot Express. We turned the Dessert parties into dinners, and it worked out just fine. Completely enough food for us, Both have plenty of savory items to load up on, and we did just that…TRUST ME, we were full.

I’ll post more very soon. We absolutely CRUSHED WDW. I think in 5 days of tickets, no joke, we did TOT (Jr’s new favorite) 14 times. We completely mastered FP hunting, and everyone needs to use mobile ordering at the QS places. I simply couldn’t understand all the lines, but most mobile ordering lines were totally empty. We just walked up, grabbed our stuff, and found a place to sit, easy peasy. Coming up:

Day 1:
Epcot, Thursday, 1, November, AKA - “Test Track and LWTL are STILL DOWN???”

Stay Tuned!

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Thursday, 1 November.

Epcot AM EMH.

Our first day was planned to be 8am to 6:30 in Epcot, then a stop at Ample Hills on the way to the Swolphin Pool complex.We had Epcot totally figured out for what we wanted to do:
Soarin twice
Test Track twice
Mission Space
Livin With The Land
Behind The Seeds Tour
Sunshine Seasons
Spaceship Earth
Grand Fiesta
Sergio
Seveur Amusant
American Adventure
Matsuritza.
Tepan Edo.

Epcot…My Nemesis.

Made it to the IG with plenty of time to spare. Left the room about 7:45, and we were through bag check and tapstiles a few minutes before 8 (Epcot Area Resorts, YASSS!)

Rocked out Soarin twice, no biggie.
Then over to Test Track, and…DOWN. No big deal…but…Mission Space - NOT OPEN FOR EMH!
We hustled back to Soarin (what the hay? I DO like Soarin!) Got in another flight. Walked back across to TT, and the line was almost all the way back to the crosswalk to get to Mission Space. NOTHANKYOU! So, with 15 minutes to wait, we decided to hang out for Mission Space to open. Walked on, and came back out to check TT for our 9am FP. Down Again! So, the plan was to do LWTL just before 10am, to then check in for our 10:30 Behind The Seeds tour. Headed back to the Land Pavillion, and guess what, y’all? LIVIN WITH THE LAND WAS DOWN, TOO!!! Have you ever heard such a thing? Called an audible, and went to the Starbux to regroup (don’t forget about their ice water at their milk/sugar station!) Waited for 15 minutes in that crazy line for a coffee and scone, and a few fills of that delicious ice water.) Then headed back to The Land Pavillion - LWTL still down, but the tour was still gonna happen, so we checked in. The Tour was a gem, as everyone says on these boards. Well worth the 25.00. Do it. Jr was called on to help the tour guide quite a few times, kept him engaged. I kept checking TT and LWTL - STILL DOWN. (We did get an anytime FP replacement for TT, AND…I played the system a little. Since we no longer needed our FP for Mission Space, I modified it to LWTL, hoping that I’d get an anytime replacement for it since it was down…SCORE! So now, two anytime FP’s! After the tour, lunch at Sunshine Seasons.
DW and I shared the Mongolian Beef, and I thought it was a letdown. Didn’t live up to the hype. I expected more. It was mostly fillers of carrots, and uncleaned peapods. It DID have a little spicy kick to it, and that was the nicest thing I could say about it. Jr got the pizza kids meal, and said it wasn’t very good, either.

After lunch, LWTL was back online, we decided to actually use the anytime FP for it, since TT was STILL OFFLINE, and the standby line for LWTL was crazy. Nice little boat ride, but do the tour.

Walked up to spaceship earth, FP’d it, and then saw that TT was back online. TT was to be our last stop in FW before heading to WS for snacks and shows. As we approached TT, we could see the line again. THE FP LINE WAS ALL WAY back to the sign in the circular display. NOPE.

SO, off to FW. We planned to circle back to TT later in the day. So, our Street Show timing was all thrown off. I figured our first stop from TT would be Gran Fiesta to recalculate the rest of the day while on the boat ride.
Guess what…as I was checking mde…
GRAN FIESTA WAS DOWN!
ET TU, GRAN FIESTA???
At this point, i just laughed. We must have brought this bad luck from Chicago, right? So we started walking, and as we passed the Mexico Pavillion, GF came back online. We headed in, and…I gotta say…it was a letdown. It had no real theme to the scenes being played on the tv’s. Nice little break, boa ride in the dark, but, other than that, if I knew, I would have skipped it, 100%. I’ve only heard that it was underrated, but I disagree. Never have to do that one again.

SO…GF out of the way, TP calculated it best for us to hustle all the way to France, then back to Japan, then Sergio. We decided to NIX The American Adventure in favor of our determination to get TT in. We backtracked to WS, and walked on TT before our Teppan Edo Res. I gotta tell ya something about TT - we must have always been in the back seat only on previous visits, because when we got off, we all thought the car had like TWICE the leg room. It is a totally different ride if you’re in the front seat. I’d wait for front seat - totally worth it. Had to walk with a purpose to Teppan Edo for the res, and…WE LOVED IT. Granted, we were tired, hungry, and thirsty, but it was Jr’s first teppanyaki experiencce, and he had a great time. Our chef was very funny, and didn’t take himself too seriously, he had everyone at the table laughing.

WS notes:
The Escargot Croissant was really just…“OK.”
The France Ice cream brioche sandwich was decent.
SERGIO is a riot! DO NOT MISS SERGIO!!
The hummus fries everyone is talking bout are excellent. Surprisingly spicy!
Teppan Edo is a decent value in Disney terms.

After dinner, we stopped at Ample Hills (ALWAYS stop at Ample Hills if you are anywhere near the Boardwalk. Remember this. Always stop at Ample Hills.)

Took a quick dip in the Swolphin pools and hot tubs, and then sleep came early. We criss-crossed, and added far more steps than we planned, and we had to rush a few times, so we were pretty tired. Still a great day. Take that, Epcot! We still crushed you!

Coming up: Day 2 - EMH at Hollyweird and our first ever…Dessert Party!!!

Teppan1
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That was some great thinking on your feet! Glad you come out victorious :slight_smile:

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You had really bad luck with the rides being down! Glad it all worked out.

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Two thoughts.

  1. I absolutely love that you pick your restaurants last. One of my DH’s pet peeves is that the FPP and ADRs rule the day. Your approach is so much better. Thanks for sharing.
  2. Do you scrapbook? Because all of this would be brilliant in a photo book. Just sayin’.
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I’m making a big photo book, and possibly a wall hanging with magicbands, photos, and party passes/lanyards.

The food is not worth stressing over AT ALL, imo. Maybe crt, but we don’t have any princesses here. Res finder has always come through for us.

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Day 2, Friday, 11/2, 2018.

EMH at Hollyweird!

After running around back and forth at Epcot the previous day, we were ready for a relaxed day at Hollywood. I kinda planned this trip as an “on the go” day, followed by a “chill day.” With EMH at Hollyweird, and everyone all clamoring for TSL, my plan for EMH was TOT, RNR and Star Tours, followed by fastpasses and shows. No interest in waiting in line for SDD, since we had EMM to look forward to on Monday, 11/5. We were up early with no issues since we fell asleep early the night before.

We planned on walking since the Friendship Boats tend to have haphazard schedules when it comes to early mornings. It was already warm at 7:30 AM, dare I even say a lil sticky. The walking path grew a little annoying with all of the zig-zagging around the construction area, I’d say it was an easy 20 minutes, but the extra steps from the zig zagging were annoying enough for us to nix any further plans for using the walking path for the Epcot resorts again. Made it through the tapstyles right on time, even a tad early. Walked up the street and around the corner to get some early morning, no wait thrills, and…

Guess what?

LOL

ROCKIN COASTER WAS DOWN.

Ok, really? Oh well, we’ll just turn right around, and take a couple of rides on…wait, why is THAT line all the way to the street?

TOWER OF TERROR WAS DOWN, TOO, Y’ALL!!!

Should I just go home?
Should I buy a lottery ticket?

Ok, so, If i go to Star Tours, my luck would be that both would be running as soon as I turned the corner… same with TSMM, so, I asked the CM standing at the entrance to RNR, “Any gut feeling on when it’ll be running?”

“Nope, sorry. You might wanna go check out our new Toy Story Land, it’s really cool!”
Me: “No thanks - that place is probably a bigger mess than this is.”
Passerby: “You’re right, Toy Story Land is a total mess right now, don’t bother.”

Audible: “we’re going to get pictures at the two spots down the street, and then back here at the spot in front of RNR.”

So with that, we stayed in the immediate area, and after the second mem maker picture, TOT was back online. We 5 minuted TOT 3x in a row, and RNR was running. 10 minute wait, all good. RNR wait time jumped up so we left, hopped on TSMM with a 10 minute wait and then used FP 1 at TSMM for a second turn. From there, we grabbed both Pop Tarts flavors (I wouldn’t bother with either ever again, but the raspberry was way better than nutella/bacon. BOTH were far more boring than they should have been. Between the three of us, we didn’t finish either of em.) After Pop Tarts, we exited TSL, stopped at another Mem Maker photo, and then rocked ST with a 10 minute wait. From there, back to RNR for FP#2, along with another go at TOT. Jr was not EVEN going on TOT last trip, even though I tried to tell him he would love it. He braved up, even talked about how he was gonna do it MONTHS before this trip. He absolutely LOVED it, wanted to do it over and over. After this TOT ride, it was time for lunchies. I dropped a 50’s PT, kinda begrudgingly (never been,) because I just couldn’t get a great time. I had a 1pm, and that was the best I could find, and I really wanted to be in the pool by a reasonable afternoon time. So, I dropped it, and we Backlotted. The Galactic Salad was pretty damn good. Jr opted for the bacon cheeseburger. DW and I split the salad and a kids chicken strip meal. We were hungry, every thing tasted great and we finished it ALL. The Galactic Salad tho…highly recommend. The dressing was light, but VERY garlicky, and not sweet (pet peeve of mine with salad dressings - HATE sweet dressings.) After we walked away from Backlot, something stuck in my head…I saw someone eating a Galactic Salad on our way out, and theirs was different…lol - remember to check your order when mobile ordering, folks…our galactic salad had no chicken on it! FKN DISNEY!!! LOL - not a big deal. We were on our way for FP #3 - TOT. As soon as we tapped in, we worked a 4th FP for the Frozen Sing Along. I scored 1, then after refreshing madly, two more after a few minutes, so we were set. Needed to FP it just because we’d be cutting it close if we wanted to make the next show. TOT delivered again (so many variations of drop sequences!)
High tailed it to Frozen Sing Along, and we made it in just before they let the Stand By lines in, after a rushed potty stop.

To anyone who thinks the Frozen Sing Along is for little girls that can’t get enough “frozen:” Please, make an effort to see it. It’s as funny as everyone says it is. It truly is a riot. DW commented that she saw Jr and I laughing pretty hard MULTIPLE times, so she knew we had fun, even if we ever tried to pretend we didn’t, she caught us. Aaaaand guess what? Just before the show started, guess who found two FP’s for TOT, for me and Jr on our way out? THIS GUY! (DW had no interest.)So after the sing along, we rocked ST one more time with a ten minute wait, then, walked right into the start of the March of the 1st Order, got a great viewing spot, contemplated a carrot cake cookie, but with the Dessert Party looming later, thought against it, walked on to TOT, and then hopped on a boat back to Swolphin for some pool time.

Anyone who was around that Friday knows that pool time was cut short due to rain.
It rained. HARD. For a few hours.
We got a lil quality pool time in, but the skies opened up. Heavy wind, heavy rain. We monitored the weather closely, snacked up in the room with some sandwiches and chips / hummus. The dessert party was definitely safe, should be all clear by then, but after chilling in the room, we decided to get in the park a little while before the dessert party since we figured the park would be cleared out. The rides were still showing that they were running. SOOOO… about 30 min before the rain was sposed to stop for good, we got the backpack ready - ponchos and umbrellas, and hopped on a boat. We rnr’d, tot’d and St’d again before the party. Only a slight drizzle during the whole time, and it all but stopped just before the party.

The party was pretty darned nice.
Storm Troopers roaming around were a riot. basically pictures whenever you wanted if you asked.
The food was decent. We easily made a meal out of it. I made hummus and capicolla sammiches with the capicolla cubes (which were NICELY SPICY!) and pita. I lined a plate with pita, daubed some hummus on top, and piled the capicolla cubes on top of that. Made a few plates of those before I got my sweet tooth taken care of. Also had a few beers and my new favorite juice - Jettison Juice (Pog Juice) - love that stuff.

No wait pix with Chewie and Kylo, several pix with Storm Troopers, pigged out on the food, chilled out a little at the table, and it was time to get to the viewing area. It’s a different show when nobody’s in front of you. I’ll just say that. It was worth it for us. Had to wait one boat, but it was a short wait. We were back in the room a little after 9-ish, and ready to sleep after getting clothes out for the am. The next day was gonna be chill, but long. AK emh, plus afternoon fp’s at MK with the HEA dessert party.

Let’s do this!

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Fantastic day!

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Day 3, AK EMH, and MK Afternoon + HEA Dessert Party, Saturday 11/3/2018

BIG DAY ON TAP.

I let the fam know that today would be long, but not rushed. I let them know my vote was to take a bus from AK to MK, and not stop at the hotel for a break, and it was a good call.

We Ubered to AK. The first bus was packed full, we didn’t make it on, and the next bus was showing to be 10 minutes. No biggie, Uber was there in 2 minutes (as usual.) Uber drop off is pretty close to the main gate for AK. Again, Uber is our friend at WDW. So much less stress for a 7 dollar ride.

Anyway, we were there 30 minutes early before 8am emh, and it was as if there was nobody holding anyone back. We tapped in at 7:35, no line, no nothing, and people were already heading in well before us, it seemed. The wait for FOP was posted at an hour already, but I hoped it was Wally trying to keep peeps away, so we followed the herd. The line was back to the walkway by the river-y thing and that snack cart already. I was hoping that maybe they were not letting ppl on the ride yet? We stuck it out. Took about 35 minutes. Worth it. Jr LOVED IT. I thought it was really decent - I would have liked a few more big drops, but I can’t knock it. We walked on to Navi after that. I wouldn’t wait more than say…20 minutes for Na’vi. FOP, maybe 40 minutes (and that’s saying a lot for me.) I’m guessing most ppl are one and done for Na’vi. It was darn cool, but one time’s enough.

After Pandora, on to Everest x 3 Dinosaur! x 3 Primevil, and Kali x 2.

Everest was a lil better than I remembered. Front row - do the front row. It’s always cool to see your hotel on a ride. Also, anyone notice the 1000’s of hair ties thrown about on the rocks next to the “broken track?” We front rowed 3x in a row. It’s a cool view when you get up to that broken track part. You can see Swan/Dolphin, TOT, and you can make out Spaceship Earth.

Dinosaur was down for refurb on our last trip, so we loved being able to do it several times in a row with no waits. Actually, all of AK seems less crowded now since everybody’s all PAndora drunk. I’m ok with that.

We 10:30 early lunched at Tusker House, which was decent. Just decent. Sneakily, the salmon and the roasted chicken (the chick on the adult side) were REALLY good. The chicken was the clear standout of the meal. Also drank myself silly with Jungle Juice (pog juice) - have I mentioned I’m in love with that stuff?

OK, so…AK DONE for the day. Quick, easy, low crowds, (early bird ALWAYS gets the worm here. AL. WAYS!)

Off to MK, and a whirlwind of Fastpasses. Got there just before the parade started, and we grabbed a spot in the circle with the xmas tree on the side facing the train station. A cm waved us over, I guess the keep it closed until probably the Tony’s Viewing people are done filling in, I guess? Anyway, great spot, Just hung out on the curb, with about 6 other people with room for about 20 more. Really chill. Great parade, but really missed the dragon. Whoever the big tall fat guy is. Whenever he dances, you MUST watch. It is riot. I’ll post a pic of him later. Not sure who it is, but I do remember him from a show or movie or whatever. He has some SERIOUS moves even though that costume is massive.

FRom there, we started our fastpass rally. We had our three scheduled, and I just crushed the system. Tapped in for one, then moved the next one up, refresh, refresh, grab, refresh, refresh, move, refresh, refresh, refresh, modify, refresh,refresh. I cannot scream enough about how well it works if your are diligent. We did splash 3x, BTMR 3x, Space 2x, Speedway 3x, on top of what our regular TP was. I didn’t really even try for SDMT. We did a snack at CHH, and the upstairs was basically empty, but the downstairs was packed (like everyone always says.) MObile order for the win, yet again. Mobile order was just awesome.

Also - the walkway by the river in Adventureland? USE IT!!!

We checkin in a little late for the Dessert party, because while DW an JR took a spin on Astro Orbiter (which was gonna be our last stop before checking in to the party, I scored another Splash, even though I said I would stop looking - tee hee) We had to. Splash is awesome.

High tailed it back to the party, and checked in. The hosts were great, but they didn’t understand that we just wanted to be shown to our table so we could start CRUSHING the food. The one who seated us walked us to the buffet, and showed us each thing and tried to give us a description, then took us over to the table with the sparkling cider, and asked if we’d like to grab a glass now, or if we;d like him to show us the ice cream…DUDE. I am sorry but, anyone who looks at me for .000000001 of a millisecond knows I can figure out a BUFFET!. STFU, and let us be. Well, what started it was that the hostess asked my name, and started looking for the wrong letter in the alphabet. Took her three tries, and on the fourth try, I just showed her my name on the paper so she could match it in the computer. Grrrrr.
All good tho.
WE ATE.
WE ATE GOOD.
WE ATE REAL GOOD.
AND…MORE POG JUICE FOR ME!!!

Those cheeseburger egg rolls. And the sauce for them. HELL YEAH.
And I ate 20 chocolate covered strawberries.
(I have no shame when it comes to getting my money’s worth out of Walt.)

The view was spectacular. I’d do it again, in a heartbeat. Worth it. WORTH IT!

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Yo, I like your style. Keep the reports coming

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So impressed. Wanna be you when I grow…oh wait I am already older than you

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I think we’re up to Day 4. Sunday, 4 November. Chill day at AK.

Since there were no EMH to take advantage this day, I opted for the “Previous day EMH Park” method. I should backtrack, and show my park Strategy for our trip:

Day 1: Am Emh at Epcot, early dinner, Ice cream, pool. (no Illuminations)

Day 2: Am Emh at Hollyweird, afternoon Pool Break, back to dhs for a few rides, SW Dessert Party

Day 3: (Long day) Am EMH at AK, big meal at Tusker, hop to MK for FP whirlwind, and HEA Dessert Party

Day 4: (short day) Ak RD (Ak had am EMH the day before) 3fp, and then work the system for more FP, Flame Tree for lunch, then whatever we wanted to do, but my vote was to be in the pool by early after noon. Dinner at Kimonos at hotel.

Day 5: EMM at Hollyweird, followed by MK Fastpass Bonanaza and HDDR.

Ok, back to Day 4:

Again, we Ubered to AK. The bus board said it would be 10 minutes or so, and for real - Uber was there for us in 2 minutes yet again. The ride was like $7.50. as you know my mantra is: Uber is your friend. Simple, quick, cheap.

We were there for the official rope drop - waited in line for the tapstyles to open. Not a big crowd, but maybe because we concentrated on the right side (non-pandora.) We did the official walk up the pathway behind the cm, and she held us at the entrance to Asia for a while, then walked the group up to Everest. We Everested 3x in a row. 1st row each time. (I’m still gonna throw some pix in here when I d/l the mem maker stuff. Jr and I had some good poses since we knew when the pics were taken.) From Everest, we rocked out Primevil once, and Dinosaur 3x, then back to Kali Rapids 2x, maybe 3. When meandering through the park (we took a wrong turn) we saw that duck pilot guy with the massive head (Launchpad?) being led to his meet/greet spot, so we followed him there, and got a pic since there was only one group in front of us. He was pretty funny, but, his head was just massive. On to FOP with our Fp, and from there, we hit up Kali again. From Kali - Flame Tree Lunchies!

I really like Flame Tree’s ribs.

They are not earth shattering, they are not the best you’ll ever have, but they are pretty decent, and not crazy overpriced for the quality consider the “Walt Premium.” Dw, Jr, and I split the spare rib platter, and an order of rings and none of us left hungry. I planned to ask what the price was without the sides to see how much (the slaw and beans are not good, imo,) but in my hungercitement, I just ordered the full platter, and an extra side of rings. Those Onion Rings at Flame Tree, y’all - you need these o-rings in your life. Hidden Gem alert right there.

During Flame Tree, I hunted down some Fastpasses for Lion King (again, time would be tight to make the next show - plus, I was kinda hoping to get a dole whip at Tamu Tamu, and well, priorities, folks :slight_smile:

So, after scoring fp’s for Lion King, Dole Whips in hand to queue up to Lion King.
Lion King was a definite. Always will be. Do not pass go. Always, do Lion King.
As we sat down for lion king, I started hunting. Refresh, refresh, rerfesh, grab Everest. Modify, refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh, Navi - grab. modify, modify, modify, Kali - grab, refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh…wait, wait, is it? I had to stop my fingers from hitting a different time slot, and it sounded like a screeching car brake in my mind. Wait, it can’t be. TAP ON IT, TAP on it, TAP. ON. IT NOWWWWW!!!

SAME DAY, FOP, Y’all, in 25 minutes from right now!!!

ahem…

BLAM!!!

WHO’S YO DADDY, MDE???

And FOP ended our AK day. Pool time was AWESOME!!!
Kimonos for dinner? AWESOME.
I will say this about Kimonos:

Some of the stuff is “hotel” priced, but some of it is NOT. Order freely the stuff that is NOT hotel priced, because it is that good. The quality will be on par with one of your decent neighborhood spots, and it will be the same price, therefore, in the realm of hotel / WDW sushi, Kimonos is a decent value, imo.

It was a great day at AK.

Coming up:
Day 5, emm at Hollyweird, and how I thought about how to dispose of an Uber driver’s body at 7am in Orlando.

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:rofl: That’s going to be my new favorite word!

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Seebee, I think I want to be you when I grow up.

15

Love how you are taking us along and sharing in all of the excitement!!!

16

I honestly think, on a lower crowd day, I could go to a park, and have an absolute blast just hunting for fastpasses. If i were a disney planner, i’d be sitting at home just hunting fp’s for my clients, and telling them where to go next. I’d be a freekin telecommuting “plaid”

I wish i knew how to hunt fp’s last trip. It was an absolute riot. The downside, is that you have to have someone else lead the pack, at times, if you are hunting, or, while you are waiting in a queue after you tap in, you have bury yourself in your phone while you hunt. If you’re lucky, you can snag em quick, but sometimes it takes a few min.

1 Like
17

That’s amazingly awesome!

18

Do you know if you can do the mobile ordering at the Starbucks in the parks?

19

They’re not listed on MDE when you look on Order Food.

20

I mean through the Starbucks app