In Every Run That Must Be Done; There is an Element of Fun (comments welcome)

[Naomeri]

Springtime Surprise Trip: Day 6

I didn’t rush out the door, but I didn’t exactly lounge around either. I got a 915-1015 LL for ToT, then I grabbed a LL for Midway Mania (125,200, accuracy 53%). From there, I did Star Tours back-to-back, once with standby (Kashyyyk, Mando, Ahsoka), and once with LL (pod-racing, Mando, Ahsoka)

Then it was time to walk over to Beaches & Cream for lunch. My Apple Watch goal for Earth Day was a 30 minute workout, so I took the long way, going around Crescent Lake on the Boardwalk side. I ended up hitting it just perfectly—getting to the restrooms just past B&C in 30:46, and picking up 1.44 miles of walking. I was also right on time for my reservation. I had my usual cheeseburger and fries, and got a brownie shake. The lady at the table across the aisle was very impressed by the giant brownie sticking out of my chocolate shake.



The table next to me thankfully cleared out shortly after I arrived, and no one else sat there because it took the whole time I was there for the poor busser lady to get the table cleaned up for new guests. The family there made the biggest mess possible, including letting their littlest one sit on the floor () and pulverize Oreos and french fries.

After lunch, I hopped on the Skyliner back to Pop and took advantage of the cooler weather to finally haul my Lego sets back to DS, and get them shipped home—even with the shipping cost, I still saved $50 over buying them direct from the Lego website. I bought some pins, and then hit up Gideons to get cookies for me and my grandparents.

After a little resort break, I headed to Magic Kingdom. I was thinking about staying for fireworks, but it was windy enough that they had signs that some areas would be closed during fireworks, and I was pretty sure that would include my favorite spot outside Gaston’s. Also, it was an After Hours day, so it was getting crowded. But I got a lot done with LLs. I did Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Buzz (648,300), and then I did Peoplemover, and we got temporarily stuck in the hallway through Space Mountain, and they turned on the lights in the hallway. Can people on Space Mountain see those lights? ‘Cause that could be weird!

I decided to head back to the resort before it got totally dark, because it’s hard enough escaping through the fireworks crowds.

I got some nice moonrise/sunset pics from the Peoplemover



I also got my best picture ever on HM—it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to do the pose and it turned out perfectly

 

[Stitch&Co.]

Great pictures. I can never figure out what to do when I go by the photo pass people so I end up just doing a thumbs up. Makes me feel like Fonzie.

 

[Naomeri]

Springtime Surprise Trip: Day 7

This was picture day! I brought my DL medals with me so I could do Coast-to-Coast pics with the Springtime medals. I started at MK, but since I didn’t plan to stay there, I did my LL selection at 7am for AK, grabbing an 1145-1245 for Safari, and a 1230-130 ILL for FOP. I got to MK about 10, and headed straight for the hub grass areas for medal pics. I did some hanging on the fence, and then got them bundled in my hands (a task for which I will be getting hair ties in the future!) for PhotoPass shots.



Since I had just been in MK the night before, I didn’t waste any time and went straight for the park-to-park bus for AK. I just missed it, so I had to wait a little bit. Once I got in the park, I headed for Africa. I had plenty of time before my LL, so I found a fence with a view of the Tree of Life and did my medal pic, then found a nearby PhotoPass spot.



I grabbed a hot dog and chips before my safari. I got to see a lot of animals, but no lions (I know I was there at totally the wrong time for them to be doing anything but snoozing in the shade somewhere)

Then it was off to Pandora for FOP. I also grabbed a LL for Navi River, which I know gets a lot of hate, but I think it’s pretty and peaceful (when people aren’t streaming themselves on Insta, anyway ) On my way out, I saw some lizards about to have a conversation.



At this point, I realized that I could achieve a dream: 4 parks in 1 day (not counting having run through the parks before they open), so after I tapped in for River Journey, I made a LL for ToT. Then I made the long long walk to the AK park-to-park buses. Once I got into HS, I decided to hang my medals on the fence around Echo Lake. There wasn’t a PhotoPass person on the raised area in front of Runaway Railway, so I had to find one down on the plaza.



After pictures, I fell victim to the smell of food and had to buy a pretzel. I also had to buy a chocolate chip cookie

Then I did ToT, and booked a LL for Runaway Railway, but it ended up being down, so I used my anytime pass for Midway Mania (because of course I did ) I scored 154,400, with an accuracy of 55%, but the ring toss screen was busted, and when I told the CM at the end, he let me wait around and ride again. Embarrassingly, I scored lower on the second game (148,600, accuracy 45%) even though all the games were working

Then I took the skyliner to Epcot, with a LL for Soarin’ waiting for me. I took my fence medal pics on one of the lower lagoon plazas between the UK and France. There weren’t any PhotoPass nearby, so the other pic had to wait until later. I had planned to also ride Living with the Land, and grab a snack before I left Epcot, but Soarin’ was misbehaving and took way longer than it should have. So I just grabbed my picture and left. I’m a little annoyed that the photographer told me to look down for the Magic Shot, but at least I got it, so all my park pics match.



After I got the pics, I caught the monorail and headed back to MK to bring my 4 parks/1 day adventure full circle. I did Laugh Floor on the way to my Buzz LL (879,500) and then I sat down and had some popcorn while I decided if I wanted to do any more rides. I decided that my day had been long enough. I got one more picture from next to the bridge to Tomorrowland, and then headed out. I stopped in the candy shop on my way out for treats to take home, and I made it back to Pop by 820. I did a bunch of packing, since I was going to have to drop my bags in the morning before going to Epcot.

 

[Naomeri]

Springtime Surprise Trip: Day 8

The most tragic day ever: departure day!

But my bus for the airport wasn’t leaving until 3:05, so I had plenty of time to hang out at Epcot. I grabbed a VQ (60) and an ILL for Cosmic Rewind. I wasn’t sure I’d use the VQ, because when I’ve looked at it in the past, it’s always been such a long wait, but held onto it anyway. I also booked a LL for Frozen, because that’s about the only way I’ll get on it. once I got everything packed up and dropped at bag services, I got in line for the skyliner.

Once I got to Epcot, I walked around World Showcase, even though most everything was closed. I went into Mitsukoshi and grabbed some lucky cats and owls for my mom and grandma, and a bigger one for me. I took the opportunity of a mostly empty WS and a beautiful morning to get some nice pictures, mostly to use as backgrounds for Teams calls.





I also stopped at a PhotoPass spot and got this picture of myself that I really like



I looped around and headed for Journey of Water for my first visit. It was really neat, and not horribly crowded since it was a little earlier in the day. When I got to the Te’Fiti PhotoPass spot at the end, there was a couple with the cutest little boy, who wasn’t having the best morning. I was smiling and waving at him, and he stopped fussing, at least long enough for them to get their pictures done. While I was clearly standing in line to be next, as soon as the little family got their band scanned, this other couple just cut right in front of me! The family dad was gonna say something, and I was just like “it’s cool, I’m good.” I caught a grateful look from the photographer. I also noticed that she didn’t give the line cutters any magic shots. But I got TWO!




I was going to do Spaceship Earth to kill time before my ILL, but it had a long line—like 30 minutes! BUT! I realized it was only 5 minutes until 11, when I’d be able to make a new LL. So I wandered through the little shops up there, and then made an immediate LL for SE and walked right on. Then it was just about time for my ILL, just had to wait a couple minutes outside. I got “Disco Inferno,” but got to sit in row 9 (actually, another single rider and I were assigned row 10, but the CM waited to assign people to row 9, and I gave into peer pressure from the other single rider and we jumped over )

About 10 minutes after my ILL ride, my VQ group came up, and I’d noticed when I walked through the LL queue that the main queue seemed super empty, so I took a chance and actually used my VQ. It was a walk-on! I got “I Ran” and row 2. While I was waiting in the queue, I decided I needed lunch, so I mobile-ordered at Connections for right after my ride. It was a good burger. Then it was time to head to Frozen, and that was kind of annoying because the other people in my row were recording the whole ride—with their light on! The ride sounds were disrupted repeatedly by announcements telling them to knock it off, but they didn’t really stop. If it had been any other ride, I might’ve made a comment to get another ride, but Frozen is always so backed up, I didn’t want to disrupt the CMs loading process.

I walked back though WS to the skyliner and got to Pop right at 2 like I planned. My airport bus showed up about 15 minutes early, so I was able to get on and wait on the bus until it left right on time at 3:05. I breezed through MCO, as much as you can breeze through an airport that big. I made it to my gate with about two and a half hours before takeoff. Then they changed the gate to the whole other part (still on the same side of the tram ride, but a whole different hallway) and I made it to my new gate with an hour and half until takeoff. I made it to midway with no problems, other than being crowded by the guys that sat next to me from MCO

On my longer-than-usual walk between gates at Midway, I found a Nuts on Clark popcorn vending machine and just had to get some. It was really good!



My plane from Midway to MSP was only half full, and the guy that sat on the aisle of my window seat row was traveling with a little dog, so nobody felt the need to cram into our middle seat. I made it home on time, grabbed my bags and my grandparents and drove us all home.

All in all, it was a good trip. Though the cooler weather could’ve shown up a couple days earlier!!

 

[jmasgat]

Great medal pix....can't believe you lugged them all to all 4 parks. That's commitment!

 

[Naomeri]

Great medal pix....can't believe you lugged them all to all 4 parks. That's commitment!

They were really comfortable to carry in my Luisa Loungefly, actually. The whole bag with medals only weighed 5 pounds, according to my luggage scale

 

[avondale]

Congratulations on the races! You also got such fantastic photos throughout the trip!