November 2020 - Covid Disney was still magical! My first ever trip report (with throwbacks for fun)

[ambula603]

Day 3 - Hollywood Studios Part 1

I had been reading up on how to attain a RISE boarding pass for about a month and knew this day would be a little stressful. I showed Jason how to do it while we were having dinner the night before thinking the more of us that could try, the better. On our HS day, I woke up with plenty of time (thanks to nerves) and Lilli woke up as well (she was so excited, she is a total Star Wars fan now after our binge movie week) in order to get situated. Lilli pulled up the time.gov on her phone and we were on the room wifi which had proved to be stronger than not. Jason heard us bustling and woke up and pulled it up on his phone to try. But I KNEW I would be the one to get it, I had been practicing for weeks! My fingers were so shaky but I was READY!

Well, wouldn't you know it, that little beat me to it!! Jason got the boarding pass! I think he got 62 or something, but we didn't care. We were on such an adrenaline kick and celebrated so much we woke up Scar! We ate some muffins and fruit in the room while we got ready. I wanted to take my time but I was just so excited to get to HS and get in line for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway since we hadn't seen it before. So we left the room around 8.

Yall! I love staying at Boardwalk. Being able to walk by the water into the park, not mess with busses or Uber, what a breeze. We were in the first 20 or so people waiting before security would take us closer to the entrance. I know we made the short walk around 8 and waited in line outside of the entrance for about an hour. But it was ok because we were already awake and PUMPED for our day. We played Disney Heads Up on our phones and just laughed and had a good time.

The time stamp on this picture is 9:15 and you can see we are about the 5th family in the park!


EMPTY




Quite the change from when we rope dropped HS back a few years ago! This is when I learned that rope dropping is the absolute way to go! You get to ride so much more each day. We haven't gone back to our old sleeping-in ways yet. We do try to take a day off and spend it at the resort/pool, but if we are going to a park we are getting there an hour before it opens!


We LOVED MMRR! I had purposely avoided spoilers so I had no idea what to expect. It was so cute and fun!

From there we headed to Toy Story Land, my favorite land of all the lands. Sadly, Slinky Dog Dash was down with no clue when it would be up. So we quickly decided to go to Toy Story Mania where I took this high-quality photo. It's blurry because the line was moving so fast!


Slinky Dog was still down so we didn't know what to do next...wait it out (with lots of others at this point) or head to Galaxy's Edge even though we wouldn't be doing Rise until after lunch (based on how I assumed the boarding groups would go.) As we talked about it we realized we had nearly walked our way to GE so we should just explore it.

I am KICKING myself because I didn't get this picture while it was EMPTY! What a sight to behold! We were sort of in awe of the whole thing. So while I didn't get a picture then, it was a good memory. Later I snapped this one...


We headed to Smugglers Run and practically walked on. The timestamp says 9:55. (Park opening was 10)


Everyone enjoyed Smugglers Run, even though Scarlett and I hadn't a clue what we were supposed to be doing or what was going on. Oh well, it sure looked cool!

We headed back to Toy Story Land to try to hit Slinky again...this time it was a LONG wait. So we snapped some photos and made our way to the other side of the park.


I made these ears in 2018 and I was quite proud of them. So while they don't love wearing them, they at least indulged me for a photo like they did a couple of years ago...



This shirt fits me to a tee. Hehehehe.

See the next post for more!

 

[ambula603]

Day 3 - Hollywood Studios Part 2

We walked through Toy Story Land and over to my favorite ride, Tower of Terror! Sadly by this point, the crowds had really picked up. The wait said over an hour and it was every bit of that. We got some snacks and took turns standing in line and eating in a secluded area without our mask on. We had never tried this giant donut before. Um, WHY NOT!? I expected them to not be very good and I was WRONG.



I love all things Tower of Terror. The music, the theming, the lush waiting area. We were not near any of that (they had us looped around the Fantasmic area in the hot sun) so it was not fun.

Speaking of not having fun, it appears that was Scarlett's mood back in 2015! Look at that face!


She was stone cold during the ride, too! We are all in the back row...


Despite her appearance, she does actually love this ride! We all enjoyed it as usual and decided to head to Rockin Roller Coaster which is Lilli's favorite!


See how much she loved it in 2018?


While waiting for RR I did our first mobile order for Rosie's All American Cafe. I love their hotdogs! We timed it well so that we were able to eat after we rode but before our Boarding Group was called. No pictures but we all enjoyed our food. Scarlett goes nuts for an Uncrustable and some packaged carrots, what can I say!?

Our BG was called around 1 pm and we headed back to GE to see what all the fuss was about. I went into RotR knowing NOTHING and I was completely blown away. We really really enjoyed it! Again, blurry photo because we were moving fast.


More Star Warsy stuff...


I can't remember what else we did, maybe we finally rode Slinky? But I know we did the Frozen sing-along around 2:30 based on my videos.

We grabbed some ice cream and snackies and then called it a day. I love the Mickey shaped Rice Krispy treats so I got a set of 4 for later.

They didn't last long - we ended up eating them in the Skyliner as we rode back to the International Gateway. We hadn't done the Skyliner before and I was a little apprehensive about it, but turns out I loved it! Mostly I liked the cool breeze and being off our feet.

Posting now...

 

[ambula603]

Day 3 - Hollywood Studios Part 3

I forgot to mention that I had secured a Beaches and Cream reservation for 1:20 but had to drop it when I realized we got the later Boarding Group. I was pretty sad but honestly, it was too ambitious to think we would leave the park for lunch and then actually return. Plus I had a later dinner reservation for Trattoria Al Forno on-site at Boardwalk that sounded delicious.

But first, the girls wanted to swim! I said earlier but our room was so convenient to the pool area and also the boardwalk.


The slide was sadly under construction. Having never seen the scary clown, I was ok to never ever see it.


We didn't swim but we did doze a little in the chair...


We freshened up after the pool and headed down to the restaurant. It was DELICIOUS!! I don't remember what we ordered except that we had the most delicious garlic knots (I don't think they were on the menu) and the waitress brewed me my very own sweet tea. If you love good sweet tea you will be sad the entire time you are in WDW because they just don't have it. Unless you get a wonderful waitress like we had! And she kept the glasses coming. I was SO happy.


You can see behind them is the open kitchen, I enjoyed drooling at all the dishes that were getting prepared!


Scarlett did some doodling


Which reminded me of when she was too little to ride Rockin Roller Coaster so we went into some of the gift shops. One of the workers saw that she was sad and asked why. When we explained she was too small to ride, they pixie-dusted some art supplies to her! It was such a sweet moment!


She still talks about how special that was and still has the set.

After dinner, we tried multiple types of gelato and decided pistachio was the best. Oh, it was sooo good. I honestly wanted to return for more another night in our trip but that didn't happen. So I must go back in the future!

We took some photos and hung out by the huge tree and just enjoyed the evening


Again, would have loved this photo with no masks since NO ONE was around...but didn't dare try!




And then day 3 was complete!

 

[ambula603]

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom Part 1

Animal Kingdom hours were 8-8, the earliest of all the park days for the week for us. And the hardest park for us to get to from BWV! But we managed to get in by 7:40. Not as early as I would have liked; but, I think we had to wait for the bus? Either way, the park was pretty empty when we walked in.


I didn't want any Photo pass pictures. Why would I when I can take these myself?


The park entrance was empty because they were all headed to Flight of Passage like us. Sadly we were just too slow getting going and we paid for it in the long long line. I don't know how long we waited, over an hour. It was sad. But we were committed!


I thought I had similar selfies from other years - but they were in front of the Tree of Life. Here they are, though!
2018

2017

2015 look at these sweet, maskless faces! Well...Scarlett's face isn't sweet. This child was a whole MOOD when she was this age! Man, did she make us laugh!


Jason typically needs to vomit (well, he doesn't actually puke but he gets very motion sick on Pandora) so we like to take our time after that ride getting his equilibrium back in order. Instead of doing that for his benefit, we went straight to Expedition Everest!!


It had a long long line, as well. I started losing my mind a little at this point. It was Monday before Thanksgiving and the crowds were really picking up. We waited and waited and waited some more. Maybe another hour total? We love the Yeti but we were all in a Scarlett mood when it was over!

We did catch Santa again in the floating cavalcade.


And some cool art


I truly love Animal Kingdom, but for some reason, we always tire easily. Is it the sun? Because everything is so spread out? Maybe it is because it is usually our 4th park day and we are just spent. It just seems like we end up leaving early and don't see everything we plan to see.

Stay tuned for what we did next...

 

[ambula603]

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom Part 2

After waiting in the long lines (and starting to get hangry...) we decided to leave the park and head to Disney Springs. But how to get there? Well, Jason has always wanted to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I know there are many super fans of that resort and I wanted to see it for myself because I have always told him no. Not because I don't think it is a cool idea, but because it seems dark and hot and honestly, far away from everything. But in order to get to DS I thought it would be neat to first go to AKL and then get on the DS bus from there.





I love this picture - the way Lilli is helping Scarlett see the animals!


All in all, I decided I was correct in my thoughts and even Jason agreed. This was probably because we waited about 30 minutes for a bus to DS in the bus station which was in the heat/sun. So, glad we got to explore it but not going to add it to the list of "want to stay" places.

Once we arrived at DS we had one thing on our mind... FOOD! I had already canceled two different ADRs (Boathouse and Raglan Road) because I didn't want to be there in a big crowd at night. So I knew we had to find something quick service. Luckily for us, our favorite meal there is a QS!


I dream about this sandwich. I wish I was kidding but I love it so much. I'm like Ross (from Friends) with his "the Moist Maker" sandwich!


I realize this picture doesn't give it justice but it has roasted turkey, cornbread dressing and gravy, cranberry sauce and mayo. It is Heaven on a roll.


After stuffing ourselves with the Moistmaker (that's not really the name) we headed to the Disney Store to do some shopping. We bought a few things but mostly I was sad because they no longer carried the balloon Spirit Jersey I'd had my eye on. And I had a $25 Disney Gift Card given to me from WDW (because of the whole ADR scheduling glitch where I lost a few reservations) burning in my pocket. Luckily, I would find it online when I got home and ordered it for myself as a Christmas gift from my parents.

We didn't even stop in the Lego store, but did get some pics since we are new SW fans...



And the classic:


I can't remember the details but I know Jason and I got into a fight at this point in the day because of trying to find the bus stop. I'm sure I was right and he was wrong and that's all you need to know about that!

We headed back to BWV to rest for a bit before spending the evening at AK. Our room was so close to the grassy area I allowed the girls to play with their newly purchased lightsabers while I watched from the 2nd floor balcony. You can see Lilli here (and while it's not a great photo, you can also see we had a water view from our balcony.)


They really enjoyed getting the wiggles out and I really enjoyed sitting my booty in a chair for a bit. According to my time stamps, we stayed around the room for about 2 hours and headed back to AK around 5.

 

[ambula603]

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom Part 3

We made it back just in time for one of the final Kilamanjaro Safaris.


We love the flamingos! Back in 2015, our first time to see them


And again in 2017


And we always love the lions! They were walking around instead of sleeping so that was a treat.


Ha! I DID have a selfie in front of the Tree! I knew it. Fun fact - the tree leaves are made of a type of plastic called Kynar which is made at my husband's chemical plant here in Kentucky! Kynar is used all over Pandora, as well.


We decided to head back to Everest and ride it again because we love it.


And after I got one of my favorite shots of the trip


We got wet on the Kali River Rapids JUST in time for our Yak and Yeti reservations! Oh well, it's worth the giggles. We LOVED our food at Y&Y, in fact, we ordered two rounds of egg rolls because they were just so delicious. We also loved the garlic noodles and Jason ate on the leftovers for the rest of the week that we took back to our room.

We had never seen the Na'vi River Journey in all our years in Pandora so we jogged over to get in line before official park closing. After eating all those noodles I wanted to Yak.

I took lots of videos but won't even attempt to post them here, I did get one picture of Scarlett in the queue.


After we finished the Na'vi, we were able to see the projections on the Tree of Life as we exited the park.




I was thankful we came back to the park to see the remaining attractions and eat some delicious food. But it made for a very long day!

 

[AussieDisneyfans]

So glad that you got to experience RoTR. Those donuts are really good, the photo is of my daughter getting stuck into one at Blizzard Beach back in 2016!

 

[ambula603]

So glad that you got to experience RoTR. Those donuts are really good, the photo is of my daughter getting stuck into one at Blizzard Beach back in 2016!

That donut looks DELICIOUS! And a perfect place to get messy since you will be washing it off soon enough!

 

[ambula603]

As I was looking through my old pictures, I realized we really missed so many things at Animal Kingdom. The lack of shows (Lion King, Nemo) is very obvious in this park as well as the cast member interaction in the different continents. So here are some throwbacks to some of our favorite AK memories!

On our first trip in 2015, the girls were SO IN AWE of the Disney magic at the ages of 4 and 6.5. As I said before, the trip was special because of the time we spent as an extended family. However, we are probably a "one and done" when it comes to traveling with my parents/sis because it was just too hard to please everyone. As an Enneagram type 9, I despise making all the decisions when I feel like someone isn't happy! When it is just the 4 of us I can be bossy and not care what my immediate family thinks.

I love this picture because they were giggling together, so well-behaved and genuinely happy. I could dress them alike!


We really tried to do ALL THE THINGS on that first trip, including face painting. Thankfully it was early December so it didn't melt off right away. Lilli chose a unicorn:


Scarlett was in a wild phase of wanting to be a WOLF. Seriously, she howled all the time and collected them at home. So it made perfect sense that she chose to be a wolf tiger. This is what a howling tiger looks like!


In 2017 it was quite a different story because we went in the middle of summer...this face makeup melted off almost immediately!


She really wanted the snake and I think that would have been cooler, but who doesn't love an Aurora kitty?


That same year the girls were chosen to be in the Lion King performance, they really felt special!



And they loved dancing in Africa


Jason's favorite AK memory would be meeting Pocohantas. He LOVES her.


But my favorite memories are the girls falling asleep on me after a long AK day.

 

[ambula603]

Hey anyone that may still be around and has read my report! I am still alive, just busy with end of school stuff (I'm a teacher) and normal May crazies. I will be back soon to finish once things calm down!

 

[rdkeim]

Just found your TR. Reading and enjoying it! I know it's been a while but just wanted to say I'm here and hope you find the time to finish. Probably too much time has passed but just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to figure out your pictures and share your time at Disney!

 

[Tess]

Hey anyone that may still be around and has read my report! I am still alive, just busy with end of school stuff (I'm a teacher) and normal May crazies. I will be back soon to finish once things calm down!

 

[ambula603]

Just found your TR. Reading and enjoying it! I know it's been a while but just wanted to say I'm here and hope you find the time to finish. Probably too much time has passed but just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to figure out your pictures and share your time at Disney!

Thanks for reading and posting!! I NEED to come back and finish this, plus we have been again since then!! I will certainly try to get back into the swing of things if I can remember the details!

I see you!! Thanks for checking in. Might just be the motivation I need to post!

 

[ambula603]

Well, I’m going to try to post from my phone to see if that is easier! I would love to wrap up this report from 2020 and add to it our latest trip from April! Testing pics from my phone:

 

[ambula603]

Ok, let's brush the dust off my brain and see what I can remember!! We woke up the next day and headed to Epcot! I don't remember many details other than I LOVED walking over from Boardwalk. That was so handy.


Epcot is Jason's favorite, so his magic band matched Spaceship Earth!


We took a mid-day nap but came back to eat one of my favorite meals inside the Mexico Pavilion. Look at that perfect table! Our food was SO good, I still think about it!

We had the World Showcase to ourselves (no fireworks then) so we just wandered around and ate more food!


They were closing up in Germany and offered to give us some free pretzels! We were STUFFED by this point, but you cannot say no to free food at Disney!

 

[ambula603]

We all discussed how empty the park had been, how wonderful the day was, and how much we loved Epcot!

Here are some of my favorite memories from Epcot, sorry some of these are repeats but I am too lazy to go back and edit!
2018, again the girls were 9 and 7



They always love to play in the fountain!



2017 when they were 8 and 6



Always trying to hold that ball!


Going way back to 2015 when they were 6 and 4!


What a fun trip again down memory lane.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Great photos! I always love seeing peoples old photos!