Trip Report - January 2017

Day 4 was Monday – Hollywood Studios. We had originally planned to have an early night at the resort but we had already done that, which meant that we now had no ADR and we needed to use our DP credits. The kids voted to go to the Rainforest Café at DS and we were able to get reservations. They were earlier than we would have liked – 4pm – but the kids were excited.

Just a quick comment about fireworks. We’ve already seen Fantasmic several times so I didn’t plan for it. And I wasn’t expecting them to still be doing the Star Wars show so I didn’t plan for it. I was pushing to stay in HS, eat, and catch the show, but I was outvoted. This was surprising, as all of us are big Star Wars fans, and also I figured that my husband and son would have preferred to stay in HS than do DS. But I didn’t push for it and we all started the day on the same page.

Our FPs for the day were Toy Story @ 10:25, Star Tours @ 12, and ToT @1:10. We got to the park early and were all on Hollywood Boulevard when they opened the rest of the park. But we were spread out a bit. Three of us were planning to do RnRR and Tot first thing. One was planning a peaceful walk to soak up the MGM-feels. And one – me! – was planning a relaxed, solitary breakfast at Starring Rolls. I did some people watching – always a pleasure at WDW – and felt really glad to be there!

We had plans to meet at the Great Movie Ride @10, but we were all early and got on line by 9:45. The line was very short and we had a great time. We had front row seats – first time! – and it was so much better up front! We could really see the guide and gangster up close, which made it all funnier. After the ride we needed to kill some time before our TSM FP, so we went to One Man’s Dream. We hadn’t been for several years so we felt like it was all new. We especially liked the models that Walt had built. But we didn’t stay for the film, as it was Toy Story Time!! This ride is always fun. Since we are a group of 5, someone has to ride alone for this kind of ride. I volunteered as I am not particularly competitive (iow, I stink!) so I just relaxed and had fun.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Star Wars Launch Bay. My husband and I had been there last year, but the kids were so psyched, all wearing Star Wars shirts. The film was a big hit, as we love “the making of…” stuff. And we, as a family, also really enjoy concept art so we spent a lot of time looking at that. We have a Disney Visa, so we got to see a “special” character, who turned out to be Kylo Ren. I get the feeling that they wanted to keep the line moving and Kylo was herding – intimidating! – us into position for a photo, but my kids wanted to have a little fun first. Kylo played along, but the PhotoPass woman was a real sourpuss. But the picture came out well

As a fitting follow-up to our Star Wars fun, it was time for our ST FP. It was a good ride – more exciting than usual. I love the different combinations, but most of us can’t ride this more than once in a day, so I don’t usually get more than one ride a trip. We don’t like to spend our Park time feeling all woozy! We spent some time in the Gift Shop, as we were intent on checking out all the new Star Wars swag. By the end of the day, my kids had found some amazing pins and one daughter was hot on the trail of a particular shirt that they didn’t have in her size. She eventually found it…I think a few days later in Epcot.

We split up for lunch. My daughter with the allergies went over to the ABC Commissary as she had something specific in mind for lunch and the rest of us ate at the Backlot Express because we hadn’t eaten there for several years. I think that my son would have preferred to try the new PizzeRizzo but I didn’t think of it till later. Well, we shared lunches as we weren’t that hungry. I am sure that some of my family had been having Mickey Bars and popcorn etc. during our days but I wasn’t really paying attention. That is one of the pleasures of having older children!

Next up were FPs for ToT…but we had time for a show first. My husband and son went to Indy and my daughters and I opted for the Frozen show instead. We sort of love to hate Frozen…I mean, we love Frozen but the hype can be unbearable sometimes, kwim? So we didn’t plan to see the show, but when it came down to it, she and I just admitted that we were dying to see it! It was so much fun!!! By the time we all met up and polished off ToT, it was getting close to 3:00 and time to get over to Disney Springs for dinner.

But. We bickered a bit about the best way to get there. Plus it was getting cold and certain members of our party claimed that they had always intended to go back to the room for a jacket before we went to DS. And why did our ADR have to be so early? This was goofy bickering, nothing too acrimonious, but still. I said before that it is easier with older children, but there is something to be said for the days when I could insist that they carry a jacket,follow my plan, and stop being ridiculous. I suspect that they prefer being older lol!

So we made it a little competition. The boys asked a friendly Cast Member the fastest way to DS since the bus to DS wasn’t running yet. They went to a close resort – AoA or Pop. maybe? – and then on to DS. The girls went back to the CBR, grabbed some jackets, and waited for the bus to DS. And waited. And waited. The girls obviously did not win, but we were all checked in to the Rainforest Café by 4:10 so it all worked out.

The Rainforest was better than I expected…they no longer had my favorite meal, the Pot Roast, so I was sad. I can’t remember what everyone else got, but I had the Blue Mountain Chicken sandwich and it was delicious! I had been bummed that were going to eat there, as I would have preferred to try one of the more fun-looking restaurants at DS – Raglan Road or maybe Bongos – but at least the sandwich was wonderful and my family was all happy. Score!

DS was lovely. The last two times we were there we saw a lot of construction and this time everything seemed mostly done. It was bigger than we expected and we actually got a little lost, wandering around! We did some window shopping, bought a few things, and worked our way over to the real reason I was excited to see the new Disney Springs – Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar! The younger ones got sodas and we ordered 4 drinks to share between the adults. I really liked the place and but it was too crowded to really get a close look at the décor. I just love Disney theming and they really got this one right!

After the drinks we worked our way over to the bus stop and I was (privately) very glad that our day was ending. I was pooped and we had a full day planned at the MK!

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Enjoying your report. The 3 in a bed pic is too funny.

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Some photos of our 4th day in Hollywood Studios and Disney Springs -

The Weather started out cold but clear -

But it got overcast, and colder - and we did get to see the March of the First Order -

Goofing around with Kylo Ren

Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar

We ordered a few drinks to share. The blue one was surprisingly good!

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Day 5 was Tuesday and we were headed for the MK. Our FPs were 7DMT/BTM @10 (we were splitting up a little), Peter Pan @11:15 and Haunted Mansion @12:25. Lunch ADRs for Liberty Tree Tavern were for @1:00. I had planned the morning to be very orderly – no lallygagging around. Pooh/Space/Buzz/7DMT&BTM/Gaston/Under The Sea/Philharmagic/Peter Pan/Small World/Haunted Mansion/Lunch. That’s 11 things in 4 hours, which is very doable without rushing. Then a relaxing afternoon with a list of things we could do in whatever order we felt like.

I had wanted to get to the MK as early as possible to take advantage of an hour on Main Street before the park actually opened and we didn’t do too badly – we were on Main Street by 8:15. (We never use the EMH times. Getting to the park for a 9am opening is quite early enough for us and we hate to stay out late if we’re not also able to sleep in on the next day.) Main Street really was the emptiest we’d ever seen it! We shopped around and ended up in Casey’s which was completely empty. Like, weirdly, totally, not even open yet empty! So we had some kind of donuts to share and danced around a bit to enjoy the emptiness!

Well. The kids just insisted that they wanted to do Space first because they didn’t want to get stuck in Fantasyland – which sadly might have happened, as someone in our group is bound to be like Dug and everything fun/shiny is a squirrel! I laughed because I always plan carefully and then someone always busts up my plan. Even though they KNOW that if I say we’ll wait longer if we don’t do it my way I am ALWAYS RIGHT… they just wanted to ride Space first! So we did.

We watched the new morning show from a path in front of the outdoor seating in front of the Plaza. Not a great view, but close enough to the Noodle Palace to get over to Space Mountain quickly. The show was ok – lots of characters and it was nice to see the Fairy Godmother. Nothing like as charming as the old show in front of the Train Station, but hey – things change. After it finished, we got going!

They ran to Space and I went over to Buzz and waited for them. We rode Buzz - I did worse than usual, sigh…- and then walked over into Fantasy Land…and Pooh was down. My brain went dingdingding!!! I have to keep track of this today how will it affect our day when can we get back how long will the line be should we get an FP for it later will we be able to etc etc. Everyone else was like No big deal, we’ll ride it later. So we rode Small World and saw Philharmagic and just enjoyed Fantasy Land.

Just after 10 we moved on to our first FPs. We had 3 for 7DMT and 2 for BTM. I don’t like the MT (too tight on my knees – the ride is not worth the discomfort for me) so we had a plan. My husband and older daughter would ride the MT. The younger ones would run and ride BTM and then come back and one would use my FP to ride the MT. In a few days we would do the same thing again and then the other one would use my FP. These kids prefer BTM but didn’t want to skip the MT altogether. So they went off to ride their rides and I went over and watched Gaston for a while – always a good use of time!

After their rides, they met me over at Gaston’s. Maybe a snack was had? Probably! We checked MDE and Pooh was still down. So we moved on. As we had already seen Philharmagic, we spent a few more minutes watching Gaston and then headed over to Under The Sea. From there, we went back to ride Peter Pan and then headed to the Haunted Mansion. But we were too early for our FP, so we killed 15m or so in Liberty Square – no muppet show just then – and then went back to ride HM. Then we headed for lunch at the Liberty Tree.

Before I get into lunch, I want to compare our original plan with our modified plan.
Plan A: Pooh/Space/Buzz/7DMT&BTM/Gaston/Under The Sea/Philharmagic/Peter Pan/Small World/Haunted Mansion/Lunch
Plan B: Space/Buzz/Philharmagic/Small World/7DMT&BTM/Gaston/Under The Sea/Peter Pan/Haunted Mansion/Lunch.
Actually pretty similar! IF we had waited on a longer line for Pooh it would have set us back a bit, but since it was down it ended up not making a difference, except to give us a bit more time for just enjoying Fantasyland.

So – on to lunch. We were seated fairly quickly and we all ordered the Patriot’s Platter. Not really what I wanted but I went along with the family and it worked out well. We ate here on our first trip, when they had characters at dinner, and it is a sentimental favorite. Surprisingly, this was one of the best allergy-friendly meals we had! In addition to the regular dishes, they brought out Gluten Free stuffing, dairy-free potatoes and gravy, and extra turkey, since my daughter also can’t eat beef. Or eggs. Or apples. Or fish. Or nuts. Etc. Etc. And they gave her the rice dream ice cream with the cookies as Mickey ears here – really sweet!

After lunch we were free to do whatever seemed appealing. The kids decided to go over to Tom Sawyer Island but my husband and I hit the Country Bears and then settled down to see the Parade. We met up after the parade and the kids had decided that they wanted to go back Tomorrowland (they didn’t care about Pooh at this point. Sigh. I gave it up!). By now it was about 3:30. We rode the People Mover, saw the Carousel of Progress, and then walked over to the Barnstormer. The line was too long, so we poked around and found a tent that we’d never before noticed. In it we found kind of a mess – some stacked props and some comfy chairs/couches. So we lounged around for a bit and enjoyed being somewhere totally new! I’ll have a picture of it soon!

At this point we could have gotten another FP or 2 but everyone felt done with the MK. So we split up again. The boys went back to the AK to enjoy it, and EE, at night. And the girls went over to the GF to poke around.

The monorail wasn’t running so we took the boat, which was a lot of fun, as it was another first. We’d taken a boat to the WL once, but not to the GF. It was sunset and just lovely…but my husband had the camera and I didn’t get any good shots on my phone. We walked around the GF for a while – we’ve eaten there a few times and we love the ambience! Then we decided to get something to eat. All those restaurants, only one CS, and it was not centrally located. The GF really is different than the Moderates! The Gasparilla Grill was small and practically empty – again, very different than the CBR! But the sandwiches and desserts were good. My daughter also noticed that they had many allergy-free options there that the CBR did not!

I was getting tired, so we headed back to the MK (the monorail was running again) and met the post-Wishes crowd. But we didn’t wait long for the bus and then we met the boys back at the hotel. Apparently, the AK at night is fabulous!

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Some more pictures -

Empty-ish Main Street

Empty Caseys

Me wondering why I am so bad at this!

Comfy chairs

New seating in the AK

AK at night

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Again, great stuff!! Loving the photos…(I’m awful at Buzz too :grinning: )

That pic of you on Buzz :joy::joy::joy::joy::joy:

I’m awful at it too, and I always look like I’m concentrating on a really hard exam on the pic!

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Completely agree! I did it twice; once alone on opening day, and a second time so Cindy could ride. She hated it worse than I did, for the same reason. Doubt if I’ll ever ride it again - unless they change the restraint system…

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Enjoying your report and look forward to the rest of it.

Another nice report, love it and keep it up.

Very cool, Thanks for the report!

Enjoying the trip report! Thank you for sharing it with us all.

Loving the trip report. Thank you for sharing!

Great report! I love your touring style…maybe because it’s a lot like ours :wink: I love the pictures, the Buzz one especially, very funny! (I’m useless at it too)

Hey everyone! My oldest is getting married this Saturday and we have been so busy…but today I am taking a break from wedding stuff and relaxing, which of course means looking at my trip pictures!

The girls with Dale!

Pluto trying to get my son to eat his vegetables!

The kids stuffed inside of Bruce!

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And…here’s the trip report to go with those pics!

Day 6 was Wednesday and I had planned an evening in Epcot. FPs were Spaceship Earth @2:55, Mission Space @4:00, and Soarin’ @5:00. Dinner ADRs were for The Garden Grill @6:00. I had left the morning open so we’d all have a chance to sleep in or go back to another park.

We did sleep in a little bit, which was nice. I ate breakfast at OPR, the food court in the CBR. My husband and son went back to HS, to ride RnRR, ToT, and Star Tours. They went back to the SW Launch Bay and probably rode Star Tours more than once. I am sure that they waited on some lines but they were fine with it, as they knew that our FPs were for later.

My daughters and I headed to Epcot and got there at around 10:00. One daughter ran to ride Test Track – single rider line. My other daughter and I went to the Seas and rode Nemo, then spent some time with the manatees. We met up in Canada at 11:00 and worked our way around the showcase, looking at everything we’d missed a few days before. We shared some food/snacks in a few countries – Falafel in Morocco, Funnel Cake in America, Frozen Green Tea in China, Sweet Almond Pretzel in Norway. We window shopped in France, Japan, Italy, Germany, and China. We stopped in to listen to the Voices of Liberty, who were phenomenal, as usual! It was a very relaxed few hours, walking slowly and enjoying everything.

But, we had some trouble paying for things for several hours as all of the Magic Band readers were having issues. Later I heard that people were unable to enter the parks for a while as it was a system-wide issue. We were very glad that we were already in the Park! But we did have to use a credit card and even cash once. Very good thing that we always carry a cc, even with our magic bands. But between us we only had about $20. cash, which would not have gone very far!

Well, the boys met us in Mexico at around 3 and they rode the 3 Caballeros while we girls did some more window shopping. Actually, over the day we did buy a few things – gifts and stuff, but nothing really worth mentioning. Actually, we bought one or two things every day! Anyway.

We moved back into Future World. I sat by Mouse Gear and rested while they went to ride Spaceship Earth . I don’t like SSE, as it makes me feel claustrophobic. Especially when it stops for a few minutes, which inevitably happens when we are headed backwards. And I’m afraid to try Mission Space, which they all rode next. We headed over to Test Track and they all used the single rider line…except me. I am kind of a poop on a lot of rides. Test Track is ok but for me not worth waiting in line for, even a short line!

And then – it was time for Soarin’! I was so excited!! We were able to sit in section B, row 2, without even asking! Wonderful, wonderful. As we were hungry, we checked in to the Garden Grill a little early and we were seated before our ADR time. Dinner was ok – very similar to the Liberty Tree as far the allergy-free options. The salad was absolutely delicious, as was the short cake. The food was just ok to pretty good (the vegetables and sweet potato fries were really good)…not at all worth the money if we had not been on the Dining Plan. But we don’t really go for the food – we go to see Chip and Dale! And also to revolve around and wait for the top of the house and the weather vane. Family tradition!

After dinner we had a little family discussion. Our oldest daughter wanted to stay for Illuminations but didn’t want to stay alone. No one really wanted to stay but we said that we’d stay as long as I felt up to it. We actually stayed till almost 9. But first – it was time to ride Nemo and see Crush. A few new jokes…and as usual, the best part was watching all the children down front! We had the kids take a picture inside Bruce and it was a challenge for them to fit inside, even worse than two years ago. Our son has really grown…

When we were done with the Seas, we walked up to the Showcase Plaza, and then towards Canada until we found a Festival Booth (some were open even though it was a Wednesday) that sold some drink my daughter wanted to try. My husband got something as well and we all listened to the pre-Illuminations music. About 5m before the show started, we started heading back to the bus stop. My daughter was sad but we were all just too tired and didn’t want to deal with a giant crush at the bus stop. So we were back in our rooms and in bed by 10.

It had been a great day and, although I did regret not staying for Illuminations again, I was SO GLAD to be in bed. We had 2 more days and I wanted to save energy to really enjoy them

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Great pics! I love Pluto trying to feed your son :joy: I love the shopping in Epcot, you can find some great little keepsakes.
I hope the wedding goes well for you all :wedding:

How nice that you guys got to take this trip together before the wedding!!

Not a trip report picture - but here are my girls in a posed picture before the wedding. No - they did not spend the day on their phones!

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/16807805_10210498137627544_6976039009355516145_n.jpg?oh=7b70192adf40fc2d51962403ca14fae2&oe=5938C408

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