Disney in a Time of Covid-A Different, But Wonderful Trip! (updated 8/4/22 x2)

[Clarf]

They really were close. We could almost pet them. If we dropped even a crumb, they'd come grab it.



My friend and I. I named him Ivan the Ibis.



After finishing our snack, we headed back into Dinoland USA and while we were crossing the bridge, this nonsense happened.



It wasn't a meet and greet, but was fun to see! We saw them a couple of times this day.

I guess this guy lives in the water there near Dinoland. I honestly don't remember this, but it's the next picture in order, so he clearly was there!



Finally at Dinosaur, we usually take pictures with all the dinosaur statues (like we didn't get enough earlier in the trip at Dinosaur World), but we couldn't get in to see them. You know why? Covid. So Maura was in mourning over not being able to get a picture with this guy. It was tradition.



We did get to see this one though.



And this one.



Be afraid, girls. Be very afraid.



By this time, we were in line for the ride. This would prove to be our longest wait yet at 17 whole minutes. I know I said we waited 25 for FOP, but I don't count that as "waiting" as we were moving the whole time until we got to the loading area. Dinosaur had a more start and stop line, but still not long. Oh gee. 17 minutes. How did we survive? Well, by taking dorky pictures.









Lucy, ever the diligent reader of all things Disney, remembered to look up and take a picture.



Lucy had watched a special, or read something about these, and the pipes signify ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. She kept telling us little details that she had heard about.



We were getting closer to our time machine!





Soon we were going back in time to tag our dinosaur. I know some people are very luke warm about this ride, but we all love it. It's so cheesy and fun and I love the bumpiness. Also, we usually get good ride photos. Here's this days feature.



I guess I was holding on for dear life this time. We stopped briefly in the dump shop where Lucy got a plastic T-Rex she named Herbert. You'll see him later in pictures. He's currently sitting on my dining room table. He is very loved. She also got a cool beaded brontosaurus keychain. She debated about T-shirts, but said she'd wait until our second day at AK. Upon exiting the ride, we saw that it was pouring outside. You know, one of those Florida downpours that lasts minutes but can dump lakefulls of water on you? Yeah, one of those. We threw on our rain gear and started moseying (okay, walking fast) to get lunch. We knew where we wanted to go. We were going to Flame Tree BBQ. It's the best QS in Animal Kingdom. We ordered with the mobile app, and the kids and I looked for a seat while Jason waited for our food. Because of the rain, and because of the distanced seating (thanks Covid), it was pretty full, but we finally saw a family leaving who asked if we wanted their table. We definitely did! Soon we were seated and eating our lunch.

Jason got the buffalo chicken potatoes. His food actually came from Trilo Bites in Dinoland. He had seen them on a picture and needed to have them.



Yum! Those were good. Can you blame him for wanting them? Lucy got the ever exciting uncrustable. Boring. But she models it well.



Maura and I shared ribs. There's no way she'd eat a whole portion herself, and really me either, so we shared. I know Jason got a couple too. You get a lot!



They were good as always. I guess Lucy thought it was important that she model her fries too. I think that drink was either the mandarin orange lemonade or something alcoholic that Jason got. It could have been a moscato.



I don't have the receipt for this meal, so I can't be sure. Here's my crew. It was still raining a bit, but we were under cover and enjoying our meal.



We were sure in a pretty spot!



This guy was just sitting there as we left. We were able to get so close to him. His feet were HUGE!



LOOK HOW BIG HIS FEET ARE!!!



We cleaned up our area and offered our table to another waiting family. And of course some of Ivan's relatives were hanging out too waiting for a free handout.





We took some pictures by this totem pole before we headed off to our next adventure.



I can't remember if there was a Hidden Mickey on there or if we were just getting a close up. Lucy would know, but I can't ask her because she's in bed.



I should be in bed too, so I'll leave it here for now. I'll be back with more AK fun soon! Thanks for sticking with me!

 

[Clarf]

Ugh! I've been gone WAY too long. Sorry for that. I have no real excuse either. Just sheer laziness on my part. I'll try to get an extra long update in to make up for my disappearance. On a happy note though, Jason and I are fully vaccinated from Covid! We're going out to dinner as a family for the first time since Disney this Friday! Jason and I went out Saturday when the kids were having a sleepover with their cousins. It was so awesome. But I digress. Back to Disney!

We had just finished lunch and so we headed over to Asia. Maura was going to ride a new ride this year and she was apprehensive, but excited.

Here we go!



Here's the dork squad.



We're getting closer! Everest was visible, now.



We were looking at the shrine and getting closer pictures so we could line it up with Everest.



See it here? See how that works out? Coincidence? I think not!



And then we were there. Maura was ready! And the verdict? She loved it of course.



The wait time was listed at 30 minutes, but we only waited 15 minutes, and most of that time again was spent walking to the loading area. We didn't really get to get pictures in line because it was moving quickly. We were also looking for Hidden Mickeys and not taking pictures. The line was so short we immediately got back in line and rode again. I'm not sure what happened to mine and Lucy's picture, but rest assured, we all rode it twice.



I think everyone else would have ridden a third time, but I had had enough for the moment.

Since we were already in Asia, and also it was raining, we said "why not?" and got in line for Kali. It was also 95 degrees, so the water felt nice. Once again, the wait time was posted at 30 minutes but it was only about 15. I don't have any pictures of this one because I put my phone in a safe place to keep it dry, as did the rest of my family. They did have some of the water cannons turned off, and the people standing on the bridge couldn't squirt you with water (because, Covid), but it was still a fun ride and we still got wet.

After we got off, I guess we decided we hadn't eaten enough for lunch because we had to stop for popcorn and ice cream. Lucy went with the Minute Maid lemon ice, Maura got a Mickey sandwich and Jason and I shared popcorn and a soda. I know I got our bucket refillled.



You can see where Jason got wet on Kali!



Feeling refreshed, we wandered over to Maharaja Jungle Trek. We always enjoy this path.

First we saw this guy giving us the stink eye.



The scenery is of course beautiful.



I think this is the mandrill. Did you hear a baby mandrill was just born the other day? It's so cute!



I believe this was the only tiger we saw this day. They weren't into entertaining.





This is one of our favorite places to photograph in all of Disney, so we all took some pictures and looked for Hidden Mickey's. There are a lot here!





This one is easy, and one of the girls' favorites.



There's a Hidden Mickey in here! Can you find it?



This has one too.



And one in here too.



Gosh, enough with the Hidden Mickeys! Let's see some more animals. Here's some birds.



I forgot what this guy is. It's a thing with horns.



Ducks of some sort? I think? As you can see, this TR is a wealth of knowledge.



I don't know who these people are, but the scenery was pretty.



These people, I know!



Oooh! I do know this one! It's a Victoria Crowned Pigeon! We have these guys at our zoo too.

[

This one is busy working.



Clearly they don't mind all the people around.



A headless bird! Aaaaaahhhhhhh!



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[Clarf]

I love these bird houses. I'd love to have one in my yard.



This one is in a hurry. Hard to get a good picture, but it's very pretty!





Okay, here's a weak attempt at a Hidden Mickey, but I guess.



Herbert was enjoying his time with us.



Herbert is still around. He's currently sitting on the dining room table. I'm glad he's here.

Once we were finished on the trek, we found a PP by the temple ruins (that's what I call it at least). So, duh, we stopped for pictures.





We're making butterflies here? Maybe? Honestly, I have no idea. We were just following instructions.





Here's some magic. This was a new one for us!



After this, we headed over the the safari. We found these guys though, and they were too cute to not stop for a photo op.





We were on the safari in no time. We were glad the safari jeeps had dividers between each row of seats as the large family seated in front of us thought it was okay to remove their masks, or wear them not covering their whole faces. It was too hard for the drive to see all of them, so they went the whole ride without. Really frustrating, and the one time we saw it not enforced because how could they? We tried not to let that ruin our safari though, so we sat back and enjoyed the ride. And took pictures of course!

There is some 4 legged creature across the stream from us here. Way back in the trees.



Horned thing. I knew what it was when we were on the safari because they have those handy little cheat sheets, but 7 months later, my memory is a little rusty. So sue me for not being a fountain of useful information.

[

Oooh! I think that one is an okapi!



I have no idea. There are some black birds on the right of the photo.



Wild Tire tracks? I can only guess Maura had stolen my phone and took these.



Oh here's a bird. Stork maybe?



White birds.



Black birds.



Aren't you glad you're wasting your time reading this? You'd never obtain this important knowledge otherwise!

No animals, but this waterfall is pretty.



Wow. These might be the most boring safari pictures I've ever taken. And I know we saw lots of stuff too!

Finally! An alligator!



Can I tell you a story? The first time I ever went to AK, in February of 2001 (well, that was my first trip to WDW actually). Jason and I went on the safari, and I thought all the animals were fake like on Jungle Cruise. I remember looking at them and thinking they did such a great job making them look real! We got to the alligators and they were opening and closing their mouths. I said to Jason "these are fake animals, right?" And he looked at me and started laughing and told me no, they were all real. Except for Little Red. That's when they still had that poacher story going on this ride. I like it better without. Anyway, that was my "aha" moment.

The baobab tree!



Oooh, the African Wild Dogs. They are so pretty!



Brown horned things! Not to be confused with the last ones, RED horned things.



I thought for sure this was a Jason picture, but Lucy took this one! It's a beauty, and there are zebras in it! Everything is so pretty and green. It snowed here today, and I'm really longing for a day that looks like the one in this picture.





Ankole cattle! I guess I know more than I thought. It's just the horned ones that run in herds I have issues with. My head hurts thinking about holding up those ginormous horns.



Giraffes! I knew we saw some.







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[Clarf]

Okay, that ape in the Jungle Trek couldn't have been the mandrill. Because HERE"S the mandrill.



This is the hippo pool I think. Maybe we didn't see any hippos.



I present to you, the backside of elephants. Admit it. This is what you came for.



Is that the best we got of elephants? Because the next picture is flamingoes.



I feel like there was a cheetah back there, but I'm not 100% sure. Bonus points if you can find it.



Sleeping lions. I see them this way and they seem so harmless. They look just like our pet cats.



OMG look at the tired warthog. I forgot about this picture. He is so cute.



Well that was it for the safari. It was fun as usual, except for the maskless family. We got away from them as quickly as we could. The kids decided they wanted to see It's Tough to be a Bug, so we started walking that way. We stopped for some pictures of the TOL.



There were about to start the little show they do with the macaws when the music starts and they all fly in front of the TOL. We had seen a bit of it earlier and decided to watch.



Well, there was a PP there, so we stopped and he got one of my favorite PPs of the trip. He knew what was coming and timed it just right.



The macaws were making their flight right at this moment! It was cool to see and made a great picture too. Jason and I then had to re-create a favorite of ours from our 2018 trip.



Here's the original from 2018.



This is how well Jason and I know each other. When the PP in 2018 said "okay, look at each other like you're in love," we both instinctively did this. We laughed so hard and so did our PP, so we plan to re-create this every trip in this spot from now on, but the original will always be the best.

We kept on moving to ITTBAB, but had to stop for more TOL pictures since we were seeing it from different angles.







Maura and my favorite dinosaur. This picture gives good perspective just how big some of the carvings are. Maura is tiny, but still person sized, but she looks so small next to this.











We were finally inside the cave right before you get into the show. We had JUST missed getting into the show before ours, so we did wait a bit, but it wasn't long. So we did what any good guests waiting to get in would do, we took MORE pictures!






We were in the show in no time getting stung, and sprayed on, and stink bugged on, and all that fun stuff. The kids aren't afraid of this show anymore like they were the first time we took them in it, which was hilarious for Jason and I. But, at least we don't have to beg them to see it anymore.

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[Clarf]

After our visit with the insect world, I guess we needed more snacks. We went back to Pandora because we had some treats we really wanted. We headed to Satuli Canteen and Pongu Pongu lounge.
Lucy got this beauty, the Night Blossom which is apple and desert pear limeade with passion fruit boba balls. Yum!



In case you forgot what she looks like here she is with it.



I wanted to try the Pongu Limpia which is a pineapple cream cheese spring roll. Also yum.



This is what we came for though, the piece de resistance. The Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse with passion fruit curd. And a little merengue swirl on the top. OMG. If you haven't tried this, DO IT on your next trip. We got one of these in 2018 and fought over it until the last bite. We smartly got 2 this trip!



Jason got the cheeseburger steamed pods bao buns too. But you see what the star of the show is here.



The mousse seriously looks like a work of art. It's almost too pretty to eat. Almost. But then you taste it and you don't feel bad for eating it.

After we were sufficiently stuffed, we went to Windtraders so Maura could spend a ton of her money on a second banshee. Because the first one wasn't enough. We also wanted to get one for our niece. Maura got a teal one, and we got a blue one I believe for Rita (the niece). I guess we didn't take any pictures of them, but they do exist! I can't remember what Maura named her second one either. I'll ask her for the next update, as she's sleeping.

We hadn't been on Navi River Journey yet, so we got in line for that. This was for sure our longest wait of the day, and one of the longest of the trip. It was posted at 40 minutes and we waited 35. We were of course behind 2 annoying families who weren't watching their kids and just letting them run wild in the line. Apparently the dirty looks they were getting from everyone didn't bother them because it continued the entire wait. We did manage to find a Hidden Mickey while we were waiting.



And some more fun scenery pictures.



I liked the little fungi hanging out.



We were boarding our boat eventually, and the beauty of the ride didn't disappoint. This was our first time experiencing this ride and though not as exciting as FOP, it is definitely a sight to see! The pictures don't do it justice, but I'll post them anyway.



[







I guess she malfunctions a lot, but she was working on this day!



And with that, AK was closing for the day. We wouldn't get to see Pandora at night again this trip since the hours were reduced (thanks, Covid). But, we did have a fun day and we had one more day here too. It had started lightly raining again, so we walked with the masses to the front. Lucy had to take this picture on the way back to BC.



And I guess Herbert needed another close up.



We went back to BC for a bit to rest up. We had a fun activity planned for the evening. I guess we found the need to take another picture of the BC elevator.



Jason took a short nap while the girls and I went to the Solarium and the Beach Club Marketplace. Maura wanted a Mickey Mouse mask, and the 2020 merchandise was buy one get one FREE, so we got a light up lanyard/necklace thing and Maura got a back pack that she's been using since she went back to in person school. Pretty good deal!

After shopping and napping, we headed out to our next destination. Fantasia Mini Golf! We'd wanted to do this for a long time, but never had time, but we did this year! We had the coupons for a free round of golf with our reservation, so we went. There was a small wait to start so we put our name in and sat down to wait. Other families were coming in and putting their names down. After we'd been waiting about 20 minutes, we noticed 2 of the groups that came in after us got called. I went up to the desk and said "What gives?" Okay, I really just mentioned that we were there before the last 2 groups and had we gotten skipped? We had somehow. They apologized and we were next up. It was a fun little course and we took lots of pictures!









These guys were adorbs.



This one was cool. When the fake lightening struck, it lit this guy up so you could see him.



He's a creeper.











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[Clarf]

And then I started getting ridiculous.





Maura joined in the ridiculousness.





I think this horrible fuzzy nightmare is TOT.



This is where you returned your ball.



Family photo at the last hole!



We really enjoyed the mini golf. We generally do, and had never done it at Disney before. We'd definitely do it again!

Because I guess we hadn't eaten enough already, we decided to get dinner. We (gasp) left the Disney bubble to see what we could find. We found a Checkers nearby. It was by this wonky, scary looking amusement area with unsafe looking rides (like that slingshot thing that shoots you into the air). We couldn't wait to get back to the Disney bubble, but our food was good. We got ready for the next day, showered and got into bed. Tomorrow we'd visit Hollywood Studios for the first time and try to get into Rise of the Resistance. I had gotten 26, 120 steps this day. Sleep felt good.

I will really try to not be gone as long between updates! Thanks for sticking with me!

 

[Hubie]

Hi,
When I saw that you were from Milwaukee I had to read your report. We live in Portage, WI, and have visited WDW with Son-in-Law, Daughter and the three Grand-Kids 10 times since 1997.

We also have been fortunate enough to have taken 7 Disney Cruises. I've done a couple of trip reports on our cruises to Northern Europe. Our eighth cruise would have been a Trans-Atlantic (5/20), but of course it was canceled. We were, however, fortunate to have visited WDW for 10 nights in January 2020 before the real breakout of the pandemic.

Wife and I plan to return to WDW this November for 9 nights. I couldn't believe your pictures of the so-called crowds last September. The last time we were in MK it was shoulder to shoulder and it freaked us out a little.

I really enjoyed your Wisconsin themed shirts and your girls seem to really enjoy posing for the camera. It was great that you got such a nice upgrade to the BCR. That happened to us, but only for one night, when we first arrived because POR was full due to Cheer-Leading groups. Look forward to reading the rest of you TR.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Joining in! I am loving your report so far. The fun you all have together as a family is so evident through your writing and pics. Looking forward to more!

 

[Clarf]

Hi,
When I saw that you were from Milwaukee I had to read your report. We live in Portage, WI, and have visited WDW with Son-in-Law, Daughter and the three Grand-Kids 10 times since 1997.

We also have been fortunate enough to have taken 7 Disney Cruises. I've done a couple of trip reports on our cruises to Northern Europe. Our eighth cruise would have been a Trans-Atlantic (5/20), but of course it was canceled. We were, however, fortunate to have visited WDW for 10 nights in January 2020 before the real breakout of the pandemic.

Wife and I plan to return to WDW this November for 9 nights. I couldn't believe your pictures of the so-called crowds last September. The last time we were in MK it was shoulder to shoulder and it freaked us out a little.

I really enjoyed your Wisconsin themed shirts and your girls seem to really enjoy posing for the camera. It was great that you got such a nice upgrade to the BCR. That happened to us, but only for one night, when we first arrived because PCR was full due to Cheer-Leading groups. Look forward to reading the rest of you TR.

Hello fellow Wisconsinite! It's always fun to find a "neighbor" on the boards. I know where Portage is! I've never actually been to the town, but have passed by it before!

Sorry your cruise was cancelled. Hopefully you'll get to reschedule.

Yes, the crowds were so low. It was really the best trip.

We loved our upgrade! We'd probably never spring for a deluxe, but we were sure happy to stay there with the upgrade!

Glad you like our shirts! All the Wisconsin themed ones are from Brew City. They have an online store and they are ALWAYS having a sale! We love their stuff.

Joining in! I am loving your report so far. The fun you all have together as a family is so evident through your writing and pics. Looking forward to more!

Thanks for joining! We do have a lot of fun together most of the time. More coming now!

 

[Clarf]

Day 9. September 13th. Today would be our first Hollywood Studios day! We were all so excited to see Galaxy's Edge and try to get on Rise of the Resistance. We knew we had to be IN the park before 10am to try to get on Rise. We knew we could walk or take the Skyliner to Studios, but the line for the Skyliner was already really long, so we decided to walk. We'd never had that opportunity before. We just had cereal or whatever we had in the room for breakfast. We started our walk at 9am. We were moving at a really good pace, and then Lucy got a cramp. We thought about leaving her, but decided that would be mean. We slowed down a bit and she had some water and her cramp went away after a minute or two. We picked up the pace once she was feeling better and we had gotten our temperatures taken, gone through bag check, and were in the park by 9:34.

We took a few pictures while we waited for the 10am time to open for boarding passes.



You can sort of tell the crowd level here. This was the most crowded we'd seen a park so far and it still wasn't too bad. I know it wasn't at capacity.







As we started walking down Hollywood Blvd. taking pictures, we stopped into one of the stores to say hello to our friend's cousin who works at one of the shops. His name is Andrew, and he had no idea who we were, but when we told him we were friends with Red (our friend), and that I had met his mom, he smiled. We chatted briefly, but he was busy counting people coming into the store and we didn't want to keep him from his work. We also wanted to find a place to sit before 10am rolled around. We decided to head towards Rockin Rollercoaster so we could get in line for that right away. Of course we were all snapping away as we walked. It was a little overcast this morning, which was nice because the sun wasn't beating down on us adding to the heat that we were already feeling.



You can see Maura in the lower right of this picture wearing her hat.



The crowds were thinner here, as most people were staying put at the front so they didn't miss the RotR time. We knew we were good though, and wanted to get to a less crowded place.





There's ToT looming in the distance. Lucy was VERY excited to ride this again. Maura not so much.









Here's one with people. Maura is holding her HS map/guide thing. She needed one at ever park, even though we don't really need the maps. She just wanted to have them. I know they are in her room now, somewhere.



But we weren't going to ride ToT yet. We'd get there later. We were headed here!



Maura had never been tall enough to ride this in years past, but finally hit the mark and was excited to ride. But it still wasn't 10am and so we couldn't ride yet. We could get in line though, and so we did.





Here's my 2 dorks



It was coming up on 10am, so Lucy, Jason, and I all got ready on the Disney app to try to get in the queue for Rise of the Resistance. We were ready to go, our fingers moved as fast as they could and....it was not to be this time. Dang. They were literally all gone in a matter of miliseconds. We'd be ready to try again at 2. We really knew what we had to do now, so we'd be more prepared. Seriously at about 10:00 and 15 seconds, there was an announcement that went something along the lines of "the virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance is now full. More spots will be available at 2pm." They kept this announcement going occasionally throughout the day. Even with all the messages, emails, notices, etc. that Disney gave for how to get on this ride were so clear, I'm sure there were still people who had no idea and were shocked to find out they couldn't just get in line.

It was fun to see almost everyone watching their phones and then hear the cheers of people who got in and the disappointment (often swearing) of the people who didn't. And then just like that, everyone was back doing whatever it was they were going to do. For us, that was riding RnR. Once the line opened, we were inside quickly and were soon seeing this.





No preshow this time because, well, you know, Covid. So we didn't get to see Aerosmith, but that meant we got to our limo faster.

This was an attempt to get a picture of the launch area. We weren't actually on the ride yet, so I'm not sure why this one didn't turn out great, but we had gotten to this point pretty fast.



And then we were on the ride! Maura of course loved it. She had been a little nervous about the fast start, but she didn't need to be. Of course she couldn't wait to ride it again. Here is our ride photo.



Looking at the Disney app, the wait times for HS were the longest we'd seen so far this trip. We decided to skip ToT for now and see if the wait went down (it did). We headed over to Pixar Place. We hadn't seen it since it had been redone and were excited. We were of course snapping pictures on our journey.



And, we ran into our first PP of the day, so duh, we stopped. This one was fun! We didn't know we'd be sitting on the suitcases, and started standing in front of them, but the PP was like "no, go sit on them!" So we oblidged.



Maura's got the shifty eyes.



Jason! Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hitchhike?



Aaaaannnnnnndddddddd....then we ran into 3 more PP, so we stopped for those too.



You can see the sign for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad back there.





Lucy and Maura look so much farther apart in age than they really are. They're just under 3 years apart, but Lucy is tall and Maura is short (really short for her age), so it looks like more like 5 or 6 years apart. What Maura lacks in height though, she makes up for in loudness.



You like mine and Jason's shirts? We got them on our 2015 trip.







It looks like Lucy's hair is being blown back by a fan like they do for movies and model shoots and such. Very Hollywood!



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[Clarf]

In no time at all, we were seeing Pixar Place for the first time. Wow. SO cute and they didn't skimp on the details. (like Disney ever does)



We were getting our first look at Slinky Dog.



I posted this one, even though it's like the last one, because in this picture, you can see Jason taking a picture of the NEXT picture.



Here's what he was taking.



Here you can see the markings on the ground for the Toy Story Midway Mania line. We were in it! I don't remember what the posted wait time was, but what was posted wasn't anything like what we actually waited. It was again mostly just walking through the queue. We didn't have a lot of chances to stop and take pictures. We hadn't been in the standby line for TSM since 2012. We'd always had FP+ and we wanted to look a bit. It had changed!



Look at the lights strung across everything! I don't know if they light up. We never got to see it at night.



Okay, wait time said 30 minutes. False. It wasn't that long.





Jason and Buttercup! Who is voiced by none other than Jeff Garlin, AKA Murry Goldberg!



I forgot we we in the building, then out, then in again, but pretty much moved at a steady pace.





Love, love, love all the details!







And, back inside.








This Etch-a-sketch kept writing stuff. We couldn't really stop to see what it said in it's entirety, though.



Mr. Potato Head! And again, a picture of Jason taking the next picture. Lucy was good at taking those!





Maura loves sharks, so we had to stop and get this one.







Soon we were in our car. We got Bo Peep! I always remember the first time we rode this, Lucy said in her little 6 year old voice "I hope we get Bo Peep," and I always think of that and smile if we DO get Bo Peep.



I'm pretty sure this was Lucy's score on the left, and mine on the right. That was my best score ever. I even had the highest score in the car, which is amazing. I can't believe I beat Jason!



After getting of TSM, we got in the line for Slinky Dog Dash. This one went WAY back and was the longest wait we'd have so far. It was listed as 45 minutes, and we waited all of that 45 minutes. But, this was a new line for us and there was a lot to see, and it didn't seem so bad. This little girl in front of us though? SO annoying. She wouldn't keep her mask up, and was hanging on the bars and dancing all around. Also, she was wearing a sweatshirt and it was 95 degrees out, but that's on her.





We were standing in front of this sign for a minute or 2. As I'm reading it, I start laughing. I told the rest of my family to read it. One by one, they got it and we all had a good laugh.



See if you can figure it out, I'll wait.

.

.

.

.

.

Okay, the sign says "Squeaky Penguin Bath Toy." And then at the bottom *Not for use in water.

I don't know if everyone catches that or not, but we sure enjoyed it.

Soon we were soaring through the sky on Slinky Dog.



There he is again. This is when the ride is over, but before you get to the loading area.



And here's our ride photo.



What did we think? Jason didn't think it was worth the wait, but I enjoyed it and so did the kids. We were glad we rode!

(continued in next post)

 

[Clarf]

There was no line for Alien Swirling Saucers, so Jason and Maura got in line. I don't know why Lucy didn't go. I thought it would be too spinny for me, but after watching it, I think I would have been okay. I'll try it next time! It's a super cute ride.



The next note in my notes says "Everyone crabby but me." I don't remember the particulars, but I think everyone WAS suddenly crabby. I think they were hungry. Good thing it was time for our lunch ADR! I think some air conditioning and food will help.

We were headed here for lunch! First time for the kids and Jason and I hadn't been since 2001!



We checked in and had to wait just a couple minutes, so we took some pictures of the ambience.



I think we waited maybe 2 minutes until our buzzer went off (or maybe we got a text message, I don't remember), but we were being led to our car soon.



The kids loved it immediately. They couldn't believe how much it looked like being outside at night.



Of course there was a ridiculous picture of my family.



We kept laughing about the goofy movies they were advertising.



In no time at all, our food arrived. I got the oven roasted turkey sandwich on a croissant with onion rings. Do you like the Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Train liner paper?



Maura got the kids mac and cheese with fries. Shocker. And wow, that's a lot of carbs. It's fine. She burns them off faster than she can eat them. I think her mouth alone burns off 1000 calories a day.



Lucy got the classic American burger with fries.



I guess I didn't get a picture of Jason's, but if I had to guess, I'd guess he got either a burger (probably the beef and bleu burger) or the buffalo chicken salad, because he loves buffalo, but I'm going to guess the burger.

The food was good. Nothing special, but perfect for hungry crabby people like my family. We'd definitely eat here again.

More silly movies while we eat.



Maura got a kid's sundae for desert. I think the rest of us were too full for anything else.



More pictures of inside.



We don't need an intermission. We're full.



By this time, it was just about 2:00 and time to try for RotR again. We settled our bill and headed out. We sat outside the restaurant while we all got our phones ready. It was time. 2pm. And.......nope. None of us got it this time either. We were really disappointed and frustrated, but we still had another day here, so we knew we still had a chance. Well, since we couldn't get on RotR, we thought we'd still do something Star Wars (before heading to Galaxy's Edge), and went to ride Star Tours. It's honestly weird to me that Star Tours isn't in Galaxy's Edge, but whatever. Soon we were seeing this.



This line was another quick mover. I think we waited maybe 20 minutes, but I don't think it was that long. We pretty much moved the whole time.



I really don't know what'd going on here. They weren't crabby anymore, so maybe thumb wars? Just being goofy?



Soon we were inside headed to the loading dock.



Hey it's that lady droid that gives you ride instructions!



C3PO standing guard.







Soon we were traveling through the galaxy. I really do like this ride a lot. None of us were the Rebel Spy this time, but that's okay. It's still a good ride.

We weren't too far away, so we went to see how long the wait was for Muppet's 3-D.



Guess how long the wait was? Zero. We walked right into the pre-show room and were only in there for about 30 seconds before the doors opened to the theater. Lucy did manage a shot of Miss Piggy's stuff though.



Or I guess she/we got a couple photos.



Posing with all Miss Piggy's stuff. Miss Piggy is my least favorite Muppet. She's too bossy. That's probably why I don't like her because I'M bossy and I don't want her stepping on my toes. But Lucy likes her.



Pigs.......In.....Space.....



Ready for the show to start. I think Jason is sleeping.



Always a dork, this one.



These are my favorite Muppets. How can you not like them?



Blurry Penguins!



Well that was fun as always! Now back out into the heat.



Hidden Mickey!



NOW we'd finally be heading to get our first look at Galaxy's Quest, but I'm saving that for the next update. It was also about to rain REALLY hard! Stay tuned.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Jason! Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hitchhike?

And taking his children hitch-hiking, shame shame!!

Look at the lights strung across everything! I don't know if they light up. We never got to see it at night.

They do! It's very cute at night! You'll still have another new thing for your next trip. I love that about Disney.

Great update! Where is that paint Hidden Mickey? I'm not sure I've seen that one before. On the side of the Muppets store?

 

[Clarf]

And taking his children hitch-hiking, shame shame!!



They do! It's very cute at night! You'll still have another new thing for your next trip. I love that about Disney.

Great update! Where is that paint Hidden Mickey? I'm not sure I've seen that one before. On the side of the Muppets store?

I know. Shame on my hitchiking husband. I guess I blame the Haunted Mansion ghosts.

I'm glad to hear the lights light up at night. I can't wait to see that at some point!

The paint Hidden Mickey is out the back of the Muppet's 3-D, near Mama Melrose!

I will have updates coming tonight!

 

[Clarf]

Okay. I'm back. I've been busy and I apologize. But, some exciting news! Last week we booked our 2022 Disney trip! We'll be going in September again, but that's all the details I have for now.

But let's get back to 2020 and Galaxy's Edge! We were finally on our way in and it did NOT disappoint. We didn't even take any pictures at first because we were just taking it all in. Also, it was raining and we wanted to get out of the rain. Since we didn't get the RotR virtual queue, we decided to see how long the wait for Smuggler's Run was. It wasn't long at all so we jumped in line.

Seriously. So. Cool. We did take some pictures in line.



Lucy's excited.











LOOK AT HOW COOL THIS IS!!!



Before long they were taking us to our ship. Because of Covid we got our own and got to pick our roles, but before we went in there was this table. We asked if we could sit and take a picture and were told of course!



WE ARE SITTING AT THE TABLE FROM THE MILLENIUM FALCON FROM STAR WARS!

I had to sit at it too. I have loved Star Wars since I was 5. My dad took me to see Empire Strikes Back in the theater in 1980 and I was hooked. I wish my dad could have seen this in person, but he's not a Disney person. I showed him the pictures.



We let the kids be the pilots on the rides. Bad decision. They were TERRIBLE drivers and kept crashing us into stuff.





But look how cool it looks.

I was the engineer. Super boring. I just pushed buttons. But boring or not, I was IN THE MILLENIUM FALCON!!!! I did a better job engineering than my kids did driving.



Jason was the gunner. I wasn't able to get a picture of him, but he did pretty well too. In much too short of a time, the ride was over and we were exiting.



It was back outside for some pictures of the outside of the ship.





We had Lucy get a picture of us.



The Storm Troopers were out checking on things.





I needed to get in on this action.





These guys were talking to each other and about people walking around.

We of course had to try the blue milk and green milk. They were different. Kind of slushy, but tasty. I think the consensus was we liked the blue better, but both were good.





We did some more looking around.



And then Kylo Ren came out. He was talking, and giving people a hard time. I know he gave the girls the business about something. I think it involved their phones "communication devices" and was worried they were using them to talk to the rebels. It was fun listening to him.











Maura's trying to crush him.



This was a really cool PP photo. If you zoom in (I don't know if it will work in here), you can see us standing on the opposite side of the picture.



Here's a close up.



(continued in next post)

 

[Clarf]

Since we were stopped for PP, we got some more!





We should have been standing on opposite sides.



Look at this sass.



And a little magic!







After some PP, Maura decided she wanted to make a droid, so we headed into the Droid Depot. They asked if we had a reservation. We didn't. Didn't know you needed one. It was okay though, they could take us then. This was a fun little process. Only one of us could go with her, so I went. Jason and Lucy watched. First they take your money. Then you go over to the conveyor belt with all the parts on it. They tell you which type of parts you need for each droid. You can make a BB style droid or an R2 style. Maura chose the BB style. She picked out her parts and we went over to one of the workbenches. It has directions right on it, and there are lots of CMs there to help too.



I guess that's the only picture I took of the process. It didn't take too long and before too long, she had made her own little radio controlled BB unit. She called hers BB-7. He has the colors of the First Order, but I'm fairly certain Maura might pick that side if she was in the Star Wars universe. You'll see pictures of BB-7 in upcoming pictures.

While we were doing that, Jason and Lucy were outside watching this.







These little pop up "shows" were a nice touch. The characters would just randomly appear and interact with the guests from afar.

We decided to head out of Galaxy's Edge for now and go towards Hollywood Boulevard and ride ToT as the wait was much less now. We did of course run into some PP on the way and you know we stopped.



Using the force.



Some magic. I love this one.



Grogu!

We walked through Toy Story Land again and stopped first for a photo by us, and then for another PP! I'm getting my money's worth, darn it!

I love the giant Cootie.



And now PP.





And then another PP at the end of Hollywood Blvd. Poor Lucy. She just wanted to get to ToT. I think Maura was welcoming the delay. She didn't really want to ride.











Finally we were at the entrance to the queue.



See how thrilled she is?



I have no idea why Lucy is always playing with Jason's thumbs in line. This is not a normal occurrence!



Lucy took some scenic shots.






"Please don't make me go sister."











(continued in next post)

 

[Clarf]

I think I look skeptical here. Not sure why.







And we went in, we went up, and then down. And then a few more times. Here's our ride photo.



Of course we stopped in the dump shop because this one is pretty epic.





Lucy got a Sally (from Nightmare Before Christmas ) choker necklace, a really cool ToT shirt with Mickey on it, a metal ToT model, and a Haunted Mansion puzzle.
This wouldn't be our last visit to this shop either, but it was it for today.

We checked to see how long the wait was for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad, and it was down to 40 minutes! (down from 120 earlier). We figured it wouldn't be that long and got in line. You can see the crowds were huge.



The line for this looked extreme, as it came way out of the Chinese Theater, but it went fast as always, and most of the line was outside. There wasn't much once we got in.





Getting closer!



Handprints of 3 of my favorite actresses! It's Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. I love Golden Girls. LOVE!



I had to compare my hand to hers. Close, but mine is a little bigger.





And we're in! Here's our train.



This ride was So. Much. Fun. We didn't know what to expect, but it didn't disappoint!









In this room you had dance lessons with Daisy! The train came apart and each car moved separately. The technology for this ride is impressive.





Wow. What a fun ride! We all loved it! We found some PP outside the theater.







Lucy's not trying very hard to hold onto her dad. I guess Maura and I aren't much help though. We're waving goodbye.



Some more magic.





Here's Maura with BB-7.







After those fun PP, we went back to ToT for one last ride of the day. But I'll save that for next time!

 

[brookelizabeth]

The paint Hidden Mickey is out the back of the Muppet's 3-D, near Mama Melrose!

Thank you! I will have to look for it when I am there in July!

Love this pic - so so good.

This ride was So. Much. Fun. We didn't know what to expect, but it didn't disappoint!

I haven't ridden this yet!!!! Cannot wait!!!

 

[Clarf]

Thank you! I will have to look for it when I am there in July!



Love this pic - so so good.



I haven't ridden this yet!!!! Cannot wait!!!

Awesome, I hope you find it!

I love that picture too. PP did a great job this year.

Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad is so great!

 

[Clarf]

Alright, so we were headed back to ToT for one more ride. We tried to capture some pics of stuff we didn't get earlier.







This might be the same lady from a different angle. I'm not sure.



[

This one is pretty cool! I never noticed this before.















Clearly this update is pic heavy. Lucy took most of these and found some things we'd never noticed before!



We approach the boiler room!



I guess I was modeling the bird book for some reason?





We were on the second-to-last elevator of the night! Here's our ride photo.



Poor Maura. Holding on for dear life. Her favorite ride this is not!

Took a few parting shots down Hollywood Blvd. on our way out.





It was cool seeing the street so empty.

And one from the other side.



Since our dogs were barking, we decided to take the Skyliner back, and also, we really wanted to ride it! It was really great. A scenic, fun, alternate way to get back to BCV.



Oh yeah, and we could remove our masks since they were only letting one group on each vehicle. So here's what some of us look like without them!





You can see HS in the background here.



We got off at the Epcot stop and decided to grab a pizza from the pizza window at the Boardwalk. There was a slight wait, so we put in our online order, and walked around the Boardwalk just a bit. The resort wasn't open (well, the DVC part was), but there wasn't anything going on for evening activities. Jason and I had to get a picture of Atlantic Dance though. My first trip to Disney in 2001 consisted of going to the parks by day and coming swing dancing here at night. At the time, swing dancing was huge and that's what they had there most evenings.





It was sad there wasn't stuff going on. It would have been fun to experience nights at the Boardwalk. Thanks, Covid.

Our Pizza came in about 30 minutes. We took it back up to the room to eat. It was decent pizza! Then the girls and I walked down to the Beaches and Cream window to get some ice cream to go. Looks like we got a butter pecan waffle cone, mint chip ice cream sandwich, vanilla ice cream sandwich, and chocolate malt. We ate out treats and headed to bed. I ended the day with 22,378 steps. We'd be back at Epcot in the morning!