Oh no clue. I don’t do Starbucks, I didn’t even know they had an app.
“dispose of body” 
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I use the Starbucks app at home. The WDW Starbucks location is NOT available on the Starbucks app. I tried when we were there in October.
He’s from Tangled. Also steels the movie!
Ok, 5th and final day: Monday, 5 November 2018…an Uber ride that will go down in infamy.
Emm at Hollyweird, hop to MK for fastpasses, Hoop De Doo 6:30 show.
Long day, but chill. Last day in WallyWorld, wanted to go out with a bang.
So, we love TSMM.
Slinky was sposed to be a step up from SDMT (confirmed.)
We also like food.
We also do not enjoy waiting in lines.
EMM - worth it to us.
We actually did EMM at Hollyweird a few years back when it was Star Tours and Toy Story, and a meet and greet with a bfast buffet at The Commissary, and loved it. I had an inkling of what to expect, and since it fit into our plans, it was kind of a no brainer when it was announced. Though we could have walked from our hotel room to DHS in about 20 minutes, we decided to Uber to save steps on the day. We were in the car 6:45ish. EMM start time was 7:30. I heard there was a chance the gates would be opened earlier so we headed out with AMPLE time to spare. 10 minute car ride…EASILY. Our driver had a Jamaican accent, sweet dreads, and was cool as a cucumber. Very friendly, young, nice guy. Luckily we had AMPLE time to spare when he missed the first exit. All good, he knew a super fast way to get back to DHS, no problem. (I should also state that there was lots of construction on the roads - probably still is.) Anyway, no big deal, we’d be there pretty quick.
And then he missed the other exit.
Quick turn around to get back on track - the construction was throwing him off. DW and I both watched the road after he missed the first exit - we saw him drive right by the second exit clearly labeled, “Hollywood Studios - NEW ENTRANCE HERE.” DW probably sensed my blood pressure rising, and calmly said, “You were supposed to take that exit,” to take my mind off of wondering how to fashion a weapon out of an empty altoid box. We seriously still had ample time, to spare, tho the clock had struck 7am on the nose my mind started calculating walk time to the bag check, bag check itself, tapstyles, getting checked in for the wristband…but what if they actually start letting people IN before 7:30???
My thoughts started turning very violent. VERY violent. I’m one of the quiet ones in situations where I ponder violence. I start calculating the best way to get him to pull over safely, either while choking him, or I’d probably have to create some diversion to get him to pull over safely, and get the car into “park” before applying the patented Rick Flair sleeper hold. It would be pretty easy, too. I was sitting directly behind him. All of the leverage advantage was mine. He probably wouldn’t even know what happened. I could then move him over, drive right into the drop off area, and leave him in the car. He’d wake up sometime around our 2nd go on Slinky, perhaps. Maybe too embarrassed to report me? Would DS9 tell this story to his kids as a badge of honor that his dad was a badass? Maybe…I think so. He’d “get it” after he grew up.
And then he missed the exit a third time.
This was in slow motion.
We were 200 yds from the sign, and he drove right past it, it happened in slow motion. There was NO WAY this was actually happening. Was he a spy and had mistaken me for some other undercover spy taking his fam to Disney??? Where was he taking us? Obviously to some lair tucked into Everest via secret door?
DW spoke much louder as we passed the sign. IT’S RIGHT THERE!! IT’S THERE! YOU’RE SPOSED TO TURN!
I took this as my cue to let our friendly driver know that I might contemplate offering to pay his medical bills because the satisfaction would be worth it. I bellowed, “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?”
I’m pretty sure he went into some form of shock. He slammed on the brakes, and went into reverse while asking over and over, "Here? This one? Here? This one? Here? This one?
We were yelling YES!! YES!! YES!! YES11
Sheer lunacy, imo.
I didn’t feel bad at all though. Now thinking about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be illiterate. There were big signs for th exits, and new entrance routes. We clearly saw them all, and we have never driven around there, much less tried to make money driving around there in an efficient manner.
He dropped us off, finally, and we had 15 minutes to spare. He mumbled something about the fare which was not fully audible because of his accent and squirrely tone. He was obviously sorry.
I tapped on his window when I got out, and offered a firm handshake. I told him not to worry about it, and that I hope he has a great day. Made sure DS saw and heard everything. Pretty sure we were not charged for that ride. I did give him a 5 star - everyone has “a day,” right?
ANYWAY…
We brought the pain to EMM. This HAD to be our fault since everywhere we wnet, a headliner was down. SDD was downalmost the entire freekin time. We got two rides in before it tanked, and I will say, it’s a decent coaster. Much better than SDMT overall. The doghead in front kinda sucks. If you take the front, you can’t see over that stupid thing. I’d be surprised if they don’t re-do that after a while. I can see people saying “I’ll wait to NOT be in front.”
So, we TSMM’d a few three /four times, and jr wanted to try the saucers. Yawn. One cool thing about EMM, was they had a table set up outside with coffee and ice water for everyone. (You know, since they only have ONE entrance/exit to TSL?? Can’t just kinda "head over to the commissary to grab a cuppa joe, that would be a whole “thing.”) We grabbed a few pics in an Empty TS land, some with characters, and made do. There was a CM in front of Slinky explaining the protocol:
2 anytime FP’s for the day, just needed to let her scan our bands and they’d hit our acct. Fair enough. We all got scanned. Stopped for pix with buzz and a MM guy, and headed out to jockey into position for the dash to RNR. This actually turned out to be pretty cool.
They held us a few 20 yards up the street from the turn to go to RNR and TOT from the entrance.
There was a GANG of rope droppers being held before the turn. The cm’s in front of us let us know the deal: "You will follow me, for TOT, or you will follow her for RNR. Do not dash past either of us. Please walk behind us. You will be first in line for whichever you choose. We will start walking ahead of the rope drop crowd being held. We will start walking as soon as they turn the corner. So, we had a healthy lead on the rope drop crowd, and jr and I were on the second run of RNR of the day, only because we wanted to wait for the front car. From there, we hopped across the walkway and TOT’d twice. I checked MDE, and…“Houston, we have a problem.”
When the cm scanned out bands for the anytime fp’s, I got the alert on my phone, and thought nothing of it. We each had her scan our bands, and she confirmed after each one. DW and I both had the fp’s, but jr didn’t. Let’s see now, that altoid box still in the backpack??? DW offered up her MB for JR to do a TOT FP with me while she went to guest services. I was actually the one who said we could let it slide, and deal with it after breakfast, but she was not having it. I fear for people when she is determined…
She came back and said they would add them. But they didn’t. however, it was kinda fine. We were all happily gobbling down the food at the breakfast. The Shrimp N Grits was the clear standout of the meal. WAAAAAAY better than I thought it would be. The chicken tenders and donuts were a close 2nd place. This was not cold, left out food - (even though it WAS pre-made at the counter) everything was hot and very fresh tasting. WE. PIGGED. OUT. The avocado toast was very decent, but the egg served with it was cooked to death. The Chilaquiles was mostly filler of tortilla strips, and powdered egg, and we didn’t try the charcuterie plate - not big fans of the salted, cured meats (gratuitous Seinfeld reference.) We truly stuffed ourselves, and we were very happy with the meal. Lingered over coffee and trying to tamp down shards of chorizo and random pastry parts into our gullets, we came up with our exit strategy. Star Tours, and letting Jr pick some stuff out at the SW shop, and then the bus to MK. All good. We’d deal with “The case of EMM price, Slinky down, and the missing fastpasses” via email after the trip.
We were on Main street in MK right around noon, and had our 3 fp’s set up perfectly timed. This day was a 4pm closure day for a cast party. I was betting that it would be a low crowd day, who’d pay a hundred bones for a park closing at 4? We just killed fastpasses for the entire time. BTMR, SPLASH, Speedway, HM. At one point, we were just ping ponging in Adventureland BTMR to Splash, back to BTMR. Cool view - Parade procession on Splash. That was pretty cool, if only for a few seconds. Anyway, it was another whirlwind of FP’s that day - 9, 10, not sure. Snack was the spicy chicken waffle at Sleepy Hollow - way spicier than I thought it would be. REALLY liked it, but the slaw was sugary garbage. And of course, Dole Whips (duh.) The only thing we didn’t get to do was see the Dapper Dans. Wanted DW to check them out, she loves that sorta thing. The FP system started failing us at about 3:30. DW and DS ended the trip with two spins on Buzz while I sat out (I think Buzz is one of the worst rides in all of history) and hunted fastpasses. Zilch. End. 4pm. DONE.
Hopped on a boat over to HDDR. Had to wait for one boat, kinda got on my nerves the way it’s set up. For the Fort, there are two diff lines set up, but they both get on the same boat. Grrrr. so you think you’re gonna be golden, but actually, the line is TWICE what you think it is.
Cool boat ride though.
HDDR is an absolute MUST. I ate myself silly on that fried chicken, cornbread, and mashed taters. The ribs were just ok - totally edible, but that damn fried chicken… I honestly laughed at myself because of how much I ate. The rest of the food was borderline trash, but that fried chicken…One of the servers asked me if I wanted another loaf of cornbread as he walked by. I greedily said sure, and he SLAMMED it down with metal tongs on the metal plate, and it made a loud CLANG. DS almost fell out of his chair laughing. That was close to worth the price of admission alone. DW loved the corny show. HDDR IS A MUST.
We absolutely CRUSHED WDW this go-round. Even with the outages, we rolled with it, and didn’t skip too big of a beat, really. It really pays to chill, and stay energized. We were tired a few times, but nowhere remotely close to the previous trip. This was a true, joyous vacation. As always, thanks to all who helped with planning. And to those who might be planning a first trip, heed the warning that plenty of folks on the boards give: Don’t try to do everything. Don’t run yourselves ragged trying to fit as much as you can in. You HAVE to relax, and just enjoy chilling with the fam, or whoever you are with.
I finally carted off an email to Guest Relations just few days ago about the EMM gone awry. I’ve been reading accounts of full refunds, partial refunds, and people have stated that they were allowed SDD fastpass rights all day with the EMM wristband!! In the email, I didn’t even ask for a full refund. I said I’d be happy with 50% back, because the food was so good.
Hope you enjoyed this report. It’s kinda fun to try to relive the memories.
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Wow - great report! Thanks for sharing.
This was such a great trip,report!!! We hope to have the same type of trip soon!
wondering how to fashion a weapon out of an empty altoid box.