9/'18-I Went to Disney and All I Got Was This Fall Out Boy T-Shirt. ...And Straws. I Did Get Straws!

[AuroraRose22]

Disney: Day Negative One

Or; Day Get Yourself To The Airport Ahead Of Time Because We All Know You Aren't About To Get Up At 3:00am.

But First; The Backstory.

Greetings, Fellow Disney Fans!

My name is Tiffany.

This is me.



(Shhh...Don't let Disney see the Non-Disney Animated Character dress...it was in the nineties all week, if it was sleeveless, I would have pranced around in a shirt emblazoned with 'Universal' on it. Besides, who doesn't love Toothless?)



(Also, while I have plenty of photos, don't expect a lot to feature me. Both because it was a solo trip so there wasn't anyone else to take candid shots, and because by approximately 9:07am every day the temperature had climbed high enough that I was reduced to a melted puddle of human oozing my way awkwardly through the park, and trust me, no one wants to see that. I can only surmise the above photo must have been taken at 9:06.)



(Also... I may have a problem with parentheses.)

So, I had taken a solo trip last year, and loved it so much, I decided to go again!

Last year I had gone in early September, and ended up with my trip slightly delayed by hurricane Irma.

So, being the optimistic soul that I am, I booked for nearly the exact same time period, hoping that Mother Nature had hurricane'd herself out last year.

She hadn't, but she did spare Florida, and my trip was on.

My flight was scheduled to take off at 8:00am, with boarding at 7:35, and it was a couple hours drive to the airport.

And they recommend you get to the airport a couple hours early.

Which would have required getting up somewhere in the vicinity of 2:30-3:00am.

Or I could go down the night before, stay in a hotel right in the airport, and wake up around 5:00am.

I am not a morning person.



I was being dropped off at the airport, which means multiple people would have to get up ridiculously early.

Yeah, I'll take door number two, thank you! There's a perfectly nice hotel on airport property with a 3:00pm check in time and a Club Level with a lounge with evening food for not that much more than the cost of a regular room.

And hotel rooms are always perfect for a relaxing night of deep uninterrupted sleep, right?

...Right?

There were a couple of weird little glitches along the way.

It took a while to check in because there was only one woman at the desk, and the man in front of me had a $90 charge on his account that he and the desk staff could not seem to figure out the origin of.

Well, there's a reminder to check my bill on the way out.

Eventually the woman called over another coworker to get me checked in while they tried to figure out the phantom fee.

I've stayed at this hotel before, and every time I've ended up with a corner room on the end. They're set up oddly, but they've usually been fairly quiet.

This time I got a room in the middle of the hallway, that overlooked the airport side.



Nice view of the planes, but a lot louder at night.

And that was before whoever was in the connecting room next door either started snoring, or was desperately trying to start a lawnmower. I'm not sure which.





Fortunately, I can just pop my headphones on and listen to music until I fall asleep.

I'm getting ahead of myself though.

When I first got into the room, I wanted to call down to set up a wake up call. Only to find the phone wasn't working. No dial tone. I unplugged and plugged in everything I could find, but still nothing.

So I went down to the main desk, where presumably the $90 problem had been remedied as the desk was now empty.

They sent up someone from engineering who checked out the room and discovered that the phone had been switched with the other phone in the room.

There were two phones, one by the beside table, and the other on a desk across the room.

Apparently they were very particular about their own plugs.

My brain was still stalled on the fact there were two phones, I hadn't even noticed the other one up until that point.



Clearly, I was an impostor in this room.

This room was meant for Important People who needed a regular phone and a Special Black Phone. I figured that one was for calling the Pentagon. Or NASA. This was of course in addition to their own cell phone and laptop.



That's why they didn't work. I needed the secret phone codes, and didn't have them.

I did however, have a laptop, an ipad, a camera, a ipod nano, and an iphone, so I figured maybe I could pass just on sheer volume of electronics, even if they weren't the Right Ones.

(I may have a slight technology obsession problem, now that I'm writing that all down. Add it to the parentheses problem...)

Sidenote: Guess how much fun those would all be later, going through airport security.

Answer: Not very much.

This is what happens when you're left to your own devices in a hotel room for an entire afternoon and evening without a firm game plan in mind. You start to daydream up weird scenarios.

...You do, right?

It's not just me?

At 6:00pm they started serving food in the Lounge.

I recognize it's hotel food. I wasn't expecting a grand spread.

But it was still a weird conglomeration of random food, to my admittedly chain-restaurant accustomed palate.



Here we have a choice of white rice, kielbasa, peppers and onions, cheese and stale crackers, raw celery and peppers, a fruit salad, and cheesecake.

It all tasted like it had been sitting on a warming plate.

...Probably because it had all been sitting on a warming plate.

None of it was bad, exactly, it just sort of seemed like somebody hadn't gotten groceries in a couple weeks and was like, "Well, just grab whatever's in the fridge, we'll make it work."

Or maybe my palate just isn't refined enough. I would have been happy with a Big Mac.

(Full disclosure: There was a Dunkin' Donuts in the airport. I may have followed up my odd little dinner with an iced coffee and a chocolate doughnut...)

Then it was back to the room to channel surf and play with my laptop until bedtime, where hopefully I would be awoken by a wake up call from one of the magic phones.

I set my own alarm on my phone just in case.

____________________________________________________

Linking Forward:

1. Disney Day One Part One; In which My Trip Begins, I have yet another peculiar hotel experience, and I realize I may have a plane curse on me.

2. Disney Day One Part Two: In which I make it to Florida, Discover the blandest but most photogenic food in Disney, and have a non-room check debacle.

3. Disney Day Two: In which I find the prettiest cupcake in Disney, get a behind the scenes look at Disney flora, and transport myself back to the nineties through the power of music.

4. Disney Day Three: In which I eat more dessert than a human should ever consume...and then skip the whole reason for the party. ...Yep.

5. Disney Day Four: In which I consider offering fellow tourists to the lions on Safari and I meet a very friendly lizard.

 

[DisneyyDaydream]

And that was before whoever was in the connecting room next door either started snoring, or was desperately trying to start a lawnmower. I'm not sure which.

Hearing random strangers snoring is one of the most, if not the actual most, unpleasant parts of hotels!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Disney gave you straws, or you had to bring your own? (I'm going in a few days and I'm wondering if I need to pack straws. I already know you can't bring plastic ones to AK.)

 

[SewingSunflower]

If you can make your airport experience fun, I can’t wait to hear the rest of the report!

 

[AuroraRose22]

Hearing random strangers snoring is one of the most, if not the actual most, unpleasant parts of hotels!

Right? There's something so irritating about that particular sound. Particularly since they feel asleep very early in the evening and it continued indefinitely. I don't know if the connecting door actually made it worse or it was all in my head, but it definitely seemed loud!

Disney gave you straws, or you had to bring your own? (I'm going in a few days and I'm wondering if I need to pack straws. I already know you can't bring plastic ones to AK.)

I actually ended up with straws a lot more than I expected to based on other's experiences, but I also had a fair amount of bottled beverages or drinks like slushies or floats that had thicker straws that were still included.

Straws were provided at several of the table service restaurants, but not all. They were available in area like Woody's Lunch Box with the plastic ware, but I wasn't sure if that was because it's probably an area that attracts a lot of kids, or maybe because they were serving floats, and I don't have a clue how anyone would attempt to drink one without a straw. I also didn't notice if there were lids available. I didn't need one for my root beer float, and one was not provided.

I also think most of the restaurants I received straws at were not Disney owned. Places like the Pavilions in Epcot and Disney Springs. I don't know if that would make a difference.

This was also several weeks ago at this point, so some of that may have been stock they already had and were just going through.

If you're really concerned about having straws available, I would definitely bring your own. There were definitely places that didn't have them, and I did have at least one very sticky tray with an overfilled and lidless cup perched precariously on it.

You might be able to find some in the parks or resort to snag and carry around, but being the overplanner and overthinker I am, I would rather just get them beforehand and know I have them available than rely on them being somewhere convenient in Disney.

For me, it wasn't a deal breaker, so I just went with whatever I got, but if it's important to you I would say get them ahead of time.

If you can make your airport experience fun, I can’t wait to hear the rest of the report!

Thank You! As long as I'm headed for Disney, I can find enjoyment in pretty much anything!

 

[suse66]

A fellow solo traveler joining in for all the fun!

 

[AuroraRose22]

A fellow solo traveler joining in for all the fun!

Welcome! It's definitely a fun experience, being able to go solo. I love the freedom of being able to just do whatever I wanted or change plans whenever I wanted without having to worry about interfering with anyone else's plans.

 

[AuroraRose22]

Disney: Day One Part One

If I could see a show of hands, how many of you all think, "Oh, I'll go down the night before and stay in a hotel so I'll be well rested and ready for a full day of flying, followed by a full afternoon/evening experiencing Disney!"

...Does that actually end up working for any of you?

Because here's me at midnight:



And 1:00am:



And 1:30am:



I did finally manage to get a little sleep.

By 5:23 I was up, dressed, hair was done, bags were packed, and I was just waiting for the curling iron to cool down so I could put it in the suitcase and I'd be ready to go.

Every time I stay the night before in a hotel, I have visions of being up bright and early and getting breakfast in the hotel lounge at 6:00am, just before heading down to check in with the airline.

Every time I forgot one key factor.

Waking up before my usual 7:30am almost always results in me being slightly nauseous for most of the morning.

So a 4:30am wake up call (which actually did come through on the now-working Magic Phone- Yay for the Engineering Department!) didn't exact leave me too eager to anger any internal organs before I hopped into a flying tin can for three hours.

So...no time wasted eating breakfast for me.

It was probably just as well. The last few times I've traveled the airport has been pretty quiet, but this time, it was busy. And security screening was slow.

Anything electronic that was larger than a phone had to go in it's own separate bin. None of the bins could be overfilled.

So while the unfortunate souls behind me waited with an astounding amount of patience, I had to dismantle my luggage as follows:

Bin 1) Laptop

Bin 2) Ipad

Bin 3) Sneakers and Jacket

Bin 4) Plastic bag with liquid items

and then;

Object 1) My carry on suitcase for the overhead compartment.

Object 2) The under-seat bag with my smaller electronics and wallet and assorted items.

Of course, in trying to keep all that straight, I forgot to take the camera out of the under-seat bag.

Which then meant they had to take it out and swab it and stare at it and fondle it and make confused faces at it.

It's a bridge camera. Bigger than a point-and-shoot, but no interchangeable lenses. Not a DSLR. The TSA lady seemed bewildered by the lack of additional lenses.

I'm not sure what they were expecting?



So by the time I had finished waiting in line, and then they had determined my camera wasn't going to MacGyver itself into something more nefarious and let me through to the gate area, and then I rearranged four bins worth of personal items, it was now 45 minutes later.

We boarded the plane promptly at 7:30, and everyone was fairly quick about finding their seats and stowing their stuff.

I should have known then it was all going too smoothly.

I should explain.

I do not have the best track record with flying.

I've experienced:

1) A three day delay due to a hurricane.

2) Random smoke coming out of air vents just before takeoff which resulted in the plane heading back to the gate and then being delayed another seven hours as they tried to find us a new plane.

3) And then being further delayed when at the last minute they realized that while they had gotten us a new plane, and moved all the passengers...they hadn't moved the luggage yet. Oopsie!

4) A sort of delay when we were supposed to fly out in the morning, but a snowstorm was imminent, so we changed our flight to the night before, and then that flight was delayed several hours before we finally did get out.

5) Other minor delays due to thunderstorms in the area or needing to de-ice the plane.

Let's just say there have been enough minor glitches that I'm more surprised when things go smoothly then when I run into problems.

So we're all boarded, the plane is leaving the gate, I've got a window seat, there's a guy in the aisle seat but no one in the middle, and things are looking good.

And then the plane stops and we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Eventually, the pilot gets on the intercom and announces that as they were preparing for departure they encountered several computer errors and they were going to try to restart the computer system and see if that fixed it.

Uh...Okay?

So we're just going to turn the plane off and then back on and hope for the best?

Is the airplane running on Windows?



So there's maybe ten or fifteen minutes of lights flickering and engines restarting and then the pilot gets back on the intercom and announces that it worked, and we're second in line for departure.

Huh. We Control-Alt-Deleted ourselves into the sky.

As it turned out...we should have cancelled the flight.

We were barely in the sky for five or ten minutes and there was suddenly a commotion going on in the row across the aisle from me. There was an older couple in the seats, and the flight attendant was scurrying around bringing blankets and water bottles and having hushed conversations.

Before too long, the flight attendant gets on the intercom, announcing there's a medical emergency on the plane and if there is a doctor or anyone with medical training on board, would they please come up to the front of the plane.

No one wants to have a medical emergency on a plane. But if something was going to happen, I think that was the plane to have it happen on.

There were two doctors. Someone randomly had a pulse oximeter. They came up with supplies to test blood sugar levels. The flight crew was amazing. The doctors were clearly very capable.

I've always preferred flying Jetblue, I've found the crew to be friendly and efficient, and the rates reasonable. After this trip, I'm that much more convinced.

The older woman in the row across from me seemed to be unconscious, and they couldn't keep her awake. As time progressed, she got less and less responsive, but her vitals remained the same.

Being so close, I could hear most of the conversation and see how the flight crew was keeping medical personnel on the ground updated on the situation.

They flew all the way to Orlando, and made an immediate landing, having everyone on the plane stay seated while emergency response personnel came on board and got the woman off.

The whole situation was making me anxious, and I wasn't even involved. I can't even imagine how worrisome it must have been for the family. I hope everything worked out for them, and I have to say again that I was extremely impressed with the attendants and the doctors and how everything was handled.

Fortunately, the woman was now safe on the ground and could get the attention she needed.

It was now time for me to make my way to the Magical Express and start my Disney experience officially. I'll follow up in the next post since Day One was basically two very different experiences, Pre-Disney, and Disney.

 

[AuroraRose22]

Disney: Day One Part Two

I made it to Florida!

The more problems I run into each trip, the more of a minor miracle that simple fact seems to be each time the plane actually touches down in Orlando.

So I'll be making my way to the Magical Express soon enough and heading for the Disney Bubble, but I should probably give you at least a little background on the plan for the next week considering I've actually made it to the point where I'm fairly confident I'll actually make it to the resort as planned.

This is actually now my second solo trip. The first one was super planned out, since I wanted to make sure I had the opportunity to do everything I wanted, especially anything I knew the rest of my family wouldn't have been as interested in.

(If you have any interest in how that trip went, I did do a report on that one too. It can be found here)

This time I figured I would take things a little easier and slower and spend more time just enjoying myself instead of rushing from point A to point B.

There were a few definite plans I did have. The dessert party at Animal Kingdom had started just a few weeks ago, and I wanted to give that a try. There were a few restaurants I hadn't tried before and wanted to. I hadn't yet seen the new Toy Story area in Hollywood Studios. Vertical Horizon was playing at the Epcot Eat To The Beat Concerts. And there was a concert in Orlando later that week I was excited for.

There were also a few tentative things I had in the back of my mind to do. Maybe a smaller tour, like Behind the Seeds or Caring For Giants. I had a list of food to try for the Food and Wine Festival. It's kind of a tradition of mine to see a movie in Disney Springs every trip.

In any case, I had a week ahead of me of nothing but possibilities.

The Magical Express wasn't terribly full when I got to it, but by the time we were ready to leave, it was packed. I was staying at Port Orleans French Quarter, which ended up being stop number three, after Old Key West and Saratoga Springs.

I love French Quarter. Around 2010 we decided instead of staying at a value resort like we usually did, we would try a moderate. After a ton of research, we settled on Port Orleans French Quarter.

I never looked back. This has been home base for every trip since then. It's just so pretty, and small, and the food court is amazing, and it's an easy boat ride to Disney Springs, and I adore the ambiance of the whole place. It's so peaceful, and it's a nice break from how busy and overwhelming the rest of Disney can seem at times.



I ended up having to go to the front desk to check in, since the My Disney Experience app was not working. I had anticipated this might be a problem, people had been talking about how glitchy and unpredictable and problematic it had been for weeks. I'm so glad I had that advanced warning, because I had then had the foresight to snapshot all my dining reservations and fast passes so I could keep track of where I was supposed to be.

So thank you, People of Disboards, because the app was varying degrees of terrible from the start of my trip to the end.

Even then, I ran into problems. My magic band didn't work when the cast member tried to get me checked in. It was apparently deactivated. She ended up just giving me a new one, which I never had another problem with.

My room was ready, and I stopped in to change from my Northeastern autumn clothes to my It's Florida And I'm Melting clothes. I also checked the Disney website and realized it was working fine, only the app was acting up. So hopefully my information wasn't gone for good, just lost in the Disney Internet Void.

I had a reservation for Homecomin' for 4:30, I had seen pictures of the food online and it all looked so delicious and while I had wanted to go my last trip, the timing never worked out, so I figured I would go this trip.

I had also realized somewhere along the line that in trying to get fast passes for Slinky Dog on a couple of the days, and Rockin' Roller Coaster and all my first priority rides, I had neglected to get one for Toy Story Mania. So a few days ago, I had snagged one for arrival day, from 2:05-3:05. I figured I would go do TSM, get a quick glimpse of the new Toy Story Land area, and then head to Disney Springs for dinner.

...Yeah, that's how I take things a little easier and slower.

So I wandered down to the bus stop to wait for the Hollywood Studios bus. There was a man down there working on a broken light at the stop, and it suddenly occurred to me just how rarely I had ever really seen this kind of sight on Disney property. They're usually so good at theming everything and hiding the day to day stuff that seeing maintenance working on a light in the middle of the guests with a regular old ladder and their tools laying around was practically a novelty.



And then I took the bus to Hollywood Studios.

And just...wow.

I knew there was construction going on, and the entrance was now much farther from where the buses let you off.

What I hadn't realized, was just how impossible it was to hide or theme that much heavy construction.

I kind of felt like I was walking through a sort of hobo village or something. There are white tents up at the various bus stations. High fencing with green tarps hide the majority of the work. But there's nothing cute or Disney-fied about it. No cute 'Pardon our Pixie Dust' signs. The tents are very industrial and basic. And especially in the heat, the smell of tar and construction was very strong. I doubt they want people standing around lingering and taking pictures anyway, but it's not at all inviting in appearance.



After traversing Disney's Walkway to the Opposite End of the Universe - (all right, I'm exaggerating a little, but French Quarter's drop off was way back not that far from where the walkway to Epcot is, so it's a bit of a hike) I made it into the park around 2:20.

This gave me just barely enough time to head straight to Toy Story Mania, ride it, (and yes, of course it's worth a mad-dash side trip to Hollywood Studios two hours before dinner reservations!) and check out the view of Toy Story Land as I entered and exited the ride area.



It's adorable, but I didn't have a lot of time to enjoy the view. I would have much more time to fully appreciate it the next time I went to Hollywood Studios.

It's definitely a good thing there's a bus directly from Hollywood Studios to Disney Springs. Otherwise, I never would have made it without using an Uber or taxi. It took about fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive, which brings us to 3:46pm.

I had a half hour to get to Disney Springs, find Homecomin', and check in.

And made it with plenty of time to spare. Long enough to wander into the Pandora store and leave with a bead I had been eyeing even before the trip which had recently come out.

I wanted to love Homecomin'.

I still want to love Homecomin'. The food looks so delicious online. And I love fried chicken. And rolls. And mashed potatoes. It should have been amazing.



I just...all I can say is it did look delicious.

It just tasted very...nothing.

It wasn't even terrible. It was just nothing.

The iced tea was lukewarm, even full of ice. The hush puppies were a tad bit too dense and very bland. The Pimento cheese spread and jam sauce were fine, but nothing spectacular.

The fried chicken coating was nice and crispy and tasty, but the chicken itself was just okay. The mashed potatoes were fine but basic.

I've seen some people rave about the chicken, and maybe I just went on an off night, but for me, it wasn't anything I would be interested in doing again. The price tag is quite high on the chicken dinner there. High enough that I would second guess it even if it was amazing. For just mediocre, I definitely wouldn't ever recommend it.

The one thing I will say for the place?

...They did give me a straw. Without asking.

You can kind of see it hiding in the background of the picture of the chicken.

I had been watching the Disney Straw Fiasco unfold with interest since the announcement that they would stop providing straws and lids. I had wondered if/when I would still get a straw.

The funny thing is, I would much rather have them with my counter service drinks in paper cups, but mostly where they still showed up was in table restaurants where the glasses are made of actual glass or plastic and I'm more confident in my ability not to spill brown liquid all over my I-would-never-pay-this-much-outside-of-Disney priced character t-shirt.

After dinner, I wandered around Disney Springs for a bit, checking out the shops and starting a mental list of things I might be interested in.

I always check out the schedule of who the outside entertainment is in Disney Springs every night, since checking out the musical acts is one of my favorite things to do in Disney.

Unfortunately, my current favorite had already ended earlier. Then it started to sprinkle, and I knew it was likely everyone would be cancelled anyway. So I decided to head back to the resort.

I had to take a bus since the boats weren't running.

So did everyone else, so the bus ended up being fairly full.

I wasn't too bothered, since it had been a long day, and I still had a week ahead of me. I decided to take a bath and then call it a night.

Guess how that went?

...Sigh.

So there's one other thing I was well aware of due to my obsessive reading of the Disboards.

That would be the room checks.

Now, I had opted in on housekeeping. I figure, if I'm going to be interrupted at some point during my day anyway, they might as well do something for me while they're meandering around my room.

Actually, the incentive of saving ten dollars a day isn't enough for me for desire to do housework on vacation. Up it to twenty five dollars a day, and maybe we can talk.

But it was day one, and other than the drop off of Magical Express luggage, no one would have been in the room since I arrived. And I know people have complained on here about security checks after eight at night.

So guess what happened at 8:40pm?

While I'm enjoying a nice relaxing bath.



Loud, insistent knocking.

And I'm thinking, seriously? Can this possibly be security? But who else would be knocking at this hour?

So I then have to haul myself out of the tub, and out into the room to find clothes.



Thinking all the time thank heavens I remembered to throw the latch on the door when I locked it because I'm not exactly decent here.

And there's another loud knock.

So I shout out, "Just a minute!" and go to check the peep hole to see who's actually out there.

It's dark, and all I can really see is a man in what looks like dress pants and a polo shirt standing outside looking at my door.

So I'm racing like a maniac now, I'm wet, the floor is wet, the pajamas I just threw on are now wet, and I go back to the door, hoping to catch it before he tries to open it.

And looking out the peep hole, there isn't a soul around.

So I wait a few seconds, and then open the door and look down the exterior hallway.

No one.

And now I'm annoyed and confused. Was this guy from security? Did he give up and leave? If he was from security, am I going to have to worry about them showing up this late again? So I decide I'm going to go down to the front desk and ask. After all, this solo female traveler only has so many pairs of pajamas to get soaking wet every night.

I wish there was a way to get a hold of the front desk from the room, but there's not. So I change again into dry clothes, and head down to the front desk and find someone to ask.

I explain what happened, mention I know they're doing room checks now, and I'm wondering if they did send someone, and if so, is it typical that they would come this late. I'm just looking for some clarification.

They check with the housekeeping department. Which, I wouldn't have considered that to be the department to call for security, but I guess that's how it works. And it appears that there was no one out in my building at that time.

She sounded a little concerned, and wanted to know if I wanted to contact security. I can't fault the cast members at all, they were very helpful and more than willing to follow up if I wanted.

I'm figuring at this point, it was probably someone who got turned around, or perhaps enjoyed the Food and Wine Festival a little too much, and didn't realize they were standing outside the wrong door. I'm theorizing that when I called out, they realized that wasn't the voice of whoever was supposed to be in their room, and realized their mistake and took off.

I told her as much, but figured since I had the opportunity I would ask a couple other questions so I would know what to expect in the future.

She said that typically they do not do checks that late. They're supposed to always knock three separate times before they enter the room.

I asked if they were always in uniform, and she said they would either have on a uniform, or be dressed in business casual.

...Okay...but that's what this man was wearing. And it's dark outside, and I'm scurrying around trying to get dressed before he tries to wander in on me, do they really expect me to have the presence of mind to figure out if he's a legitimate cast member or a slightly inebriated Food and Wine guest?

I wish I had mentioned that at the time, but I didn't. In any case, it mostly just reinforced for me in my own head to remember not to open the door to anyone, whether I think they're Disney personnel or not, unless I keep the latch slid across first so they can't actually open the door all the way until I'm sure what's going on.

So I trudged back up to my room - which being in building one managed to be about as far away from the lobby as possible - and having given up on my bath, decided to finish unpacking and then call it a night.

Now, don't get me wrong. It might sound like this was a day of things kind of going not quite according to plan. But it's Disney! And I'm not at work! So despite the hiccups, I'm really not complaining about my day. I got some cute Disney merchandise. I did get to try out a restaurant I had been wanting to eat at, so at least now I know how I feel about it. I got in a ride I almost forgot. So I'm considering this day a success, and there's plenty more to follow!

Bedtime? 11:34pm.

 

[AuroraRose22]

Disney: Day Two

My 11:30pm bedtime was followed up by a 8:30am wake up, which actually wasn't too bad and gave me a nice opportunity to actually get the recommended amount of sleep per night.

There's a first!

I had a whole week ahead of me, and nothing pressing to do immediately, so I decided not to rush around to make rope drop for nine. I was hoping if I waited a bit the bus stop wouldn't be full and I wouldn't have to wait in the giant crush of people to get into Epcot.

I am not a crowd person.

Disney is an ironic place for me to like considering that fact, I know.

Even with all the dragging my heels, I was still ready to leave the room by 9:20.

It still ended up being enough time, the bus ended up being maybe half full. Seats for everyone!

I had booked a fast pass for Soarin' for 9-10, but managed to get onto the website and change it to 10-11. This was also the point where, when surfing the Disboards, I came across a post where someone had contacted tech support at Disney and were told to log out and back into their app.

Doing that actually made all my fast passes and dining reservations visible again, so thank you Disboards for saving my sanity!

I still had to log onto the website to change the fast passes, but I could handle that.

As it turned out, the wait time was only twenty minutes anyway. And they asked for a solo rider to fill an empty seat, so I ended up cutting the line and getting row two, middle section, which is about as good a seat as you can hope to get randomly.

Leaving the ride, I wandered past the tour desk and noticed that the next Behind the Seeds tour was scheduled to start in about 25 minutes.

I had considered doing this tour in the past, but never got around to it.

When I've traveled with others, they've never been interested. The one other solo trip I took, the timing was just never right.

This seemed like a perfect opportunity.

There was the perfect amount of time to sign up, go grab a quick breakfast, (orange juice and a fruit salad) and stare longingly at an absolutely ADORABLE Belle's dress cupcake that was available, and then meet for the tour.



You can bet I was coming back for that cupcake later.

So, the tour was very interesting, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the subject.

It wasn't very expensive, by Disney standards, and I found it very informative and entertaining, and I am by no means a plant person.

I once bought five cacti (cactuses? Both spellings look super weird even if they're technically both acceptable, imho) and they all died. Quickly. I think they saw me and just gave up. I can name a rose, a tulip, a sunflower, and that's about it.

Fortunately, Disney is very good at not making those of us who are completely ignorant of all things flora feel like idiots.

There were nine of us total on the tour, and one guide. She was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. You could tell she enjoyed her job.

She started off the tour taking us to a back area where they showed glass containers with the pests that were infiltrating the greenhouses, and the insects they used to combat them.

There was also a video showing how they use teeny tiny wasps and ladybugs to kill the invading bugs like aphids. It was both interesting and disgusting.

I hate bugs. Like, borderline phobia hate them. Fortunately they were in containers or on a tv screen, so I could handle it.

Mostly.



I'm not sure I ever needed to know that ladybugs will eat an aphid, 'like a sandwich', but I now have this knowledge and the visuals to accompany it, so you all get to share in my sort of queasy fascination.

We were then taken into the greenhouses, where we were given all sorts of information about the plants they grow, as well as the opportunity to stare at all the people on the Living With the Land boats staring back at us.

Hi guys!

Some interesting facts:

- Miracle Plants numb your sense of sour and enhance you sense of sweet.

- A banana tree is not technically a tree. There is no wood. It's a giant plant.

- Cinnamon is gathered by taking shavings off the tree bark which automatically curl up.

- The lettuce section that is visible on the ride provides an average of 500 heads of lettuce every week.

- Coffee beans grow in bunches and turn red when they are ready to harvest, but the bunches do not turn red at the same time so every day you have to harvest a few beans at a time.

- The giant palm tree in the middle is 13 years old and will have to come down and be replaced with a young one shortly because it's growing too much and is almost to the top of the dome.

- There will never be more than six shrimp in the tubes you see them in, because shrimp are very territorial and they've found if they add more, they fight.

- Some vegetables, like the hanging red gourds, are allowed to grow beyond ripe because they just look interesting at that stage, and the greenhouse functions as a show stage for guests.

Towards the end she brought out six spices, saying five were the most expensive and one was the odd man out and asked us to try to put them in order from most expensive to least. Saffron is most expensive, pepper was the odd man out.

The tour lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes.



It's a nice option if you're looking for something a little extra without spending a lot of time or taking out a second mortgage.

After the tour I did a quick spin through Mouse Gears and Innoventions (I really wish they would do something with that space, it's so under-utilized.)

Then I headed to World Showcase, to check out the food booths.

It was super hot out, well into the upper nineties, which kind of ruined my appetite a little. Heat and heavy food does not end well for me.

I still was curious enough about the empanada from Islands of the Caribbean that I tried it out in the heat.



I also tried out a bottle of water, because, you know, HEAT!

It was Amazing. So, so good. Absolutely worth eating in the heat.

I then headed towards Canada, and went to see the movie there.

It's my mom's favorite, and I usually end up there myself. Plus it was nice to be able to get out of the sun while I waited.

The cast member who introduced the show mentioned that we were welcome to take non-flash pictures or video, in fact, they encouraged it.

I had never heard that before, but if they're going to outright give me permission and recommend I do it...

I can't not, right?



I caught the end of Raffy playing in Canada, in all honesty I think I will always miss Off Kilter and compare every act they have there to them, but Raffy actually was much better than the last few groups I've seen.

They were singing in French, so I can't comment on the song lyrics, but their singer had a lot of energy and attitude and seemed to be having fun.

After wandering through the shops in the UK and France, I headed for my 3:30 lunch reservation at Marrakesh.

I had never been here before. My sister likes the counter service in Morocco, but I've never tried any of the food in the pavilion before. I had wanted to book an Eat to the Beat package to see Vertical Horizon, and wanted to try a new restaurant.

So Marrakesh it was.

The building is gorgeous. So fancy. I did have a rather odd experience being seated. It was only me, and I was taken to a table near a raised half wall that had a higher area with more seating behind it.

The waiter pulled out the chair for me to sit, basically leaving me with no choice but to sit in the seat facing the wall, rather than the booth side facing the room.

Uh...okay. The room had a much nicer view than the wall, but I can stare at the wall if you like.

I think these are the things people don't consider with a solo traveler.

It's okay though, even the wall was fancy. And it's not like I can't turn around.

As far as my thoughts on the food went, it was all very good, but completely outside of anything I would have ever even considered doing with dishes.

With the package, I could get an appetizer, entree, and dessert.



I got the Chicken Bastilla as an appetizer, which is baked layers of thin pastry filled with minced chicken and almonds, and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

...Can't say I ever looked at my chicken and thought, 'hey, you know what this needs? More sugar', but somehow, it did work. The one thing I will say, the powdered sugar did kind of take over, and mask the taste of the rest of the dish somewhat. I eventually just avoided the top layer just to see what the filling actually tasted like. It actually was a little bland, but that could have just been a result of the sugar shock.

My entree was the Beef Couscous. The beef was very tender, it just fell right apart. It also had a sort of curiously sweet taste to it.

I did enjoy it, and the beef was amazing. One thing I will say about couscous, is I always feel like it's overly wet. Like if I could just take it out and squeeze it out in a paper towel it would taste better. It's a consistency thing for me.

For dessert I had the Almond-Orange Blossom Water Tart with Raspberry and Orange Coulis.

It reminded me of dense cheesecake. There were little bits in it which I think were the orange? It wasn't almond. I think the almond was only in flavoring, but I didn't actually taste almond at all.

It had a curious flavor to it overall. It kind of tasted like I would imagine orange would taste if it had an accident with perfume.

I don't necessarily know if it would be somewhere I would want to return every trip, but I do think I would probably try it again at some point.

It did inspire me to decide to try Spice Road for my next Disney trip.

Oh, and one other Very Important Detail to add.

They gave me a straw! (See top right photo for proof!)

Second table service restaurant of the trip, and both times, I was given a straw without asking.

After eating, I stopped in one of the shops and got a henna tattoo. It's super cute.



They said to let it dry for fifteen minutes and then leave it for 4-5 hours.

I headed outside to a quiet spot to let it dry, and of course it immediately decided to start sprinkling.

I got up to look for covering, but it stopped raining momentarily, so I started walking in the direction of the America Pavilion. I had seats for the 6:45 concert, but I figured I had time to catch the 5:30 one before that.

It started raining again, and I and everyone else in the park ducked into the store in Japan. It was super crowded. I wanted to look around, but later, when there weren't people everywhere.

It stopped raining again, and held off for good, so I headed to the America Gardens Theater to catch Vertical Horizon.

They're one of my reminiscent 90s bands, I remember we had their CD in the house, and I still remembered a few of the songs. Their newer stuff, I wasn't familiar with, but they're still good live, and I enjoyed listening.

The 5:30 show I had a decent seat, maybe halfway back, with a tree in front of me so there wasn't a row directly in front of me, and I had a spot at the end of the bench, so I could see at an angle.

The 6:45 showing I had priority seating for, and ended up in the front row. I was excited about that.



After the show, I meandered my way the rest of the way around World Showcase, stopping to enjoy a drink in Mexico and enjoy the view from just outside the pyramid.

I was just above stroller parking, where a dad had a double stroller. He had two little kids in the stoller, one who he was busy hunched over dealing with some issue, while the other one waved enthusiastically up at me while his family was completely oblivious. It was kind of adorable.

I managed to get in Mission Space before hurrying back to Sunshine Seasons to get a Belle cupcake before the park closed at nine.

I made it, and was the happy recipient of the cutest cupcake on earth. They had made the upper body of the dress from fondant, and had a to-go container that had a perfect little spot to put it so it wouldn't get squished and you could put it together once you got back to the room.

Disney, you're getting so clever.

I had just enough time for one more ride on the way out. I did Spaceship Earth, and noticed one of the scenes - near Rome? - was partially blocked off. I thought I remembered seeing something about some kind of damage a few weeks ago.



I left the park and made it to the bus stop, where fortunately there was lots of room and plenty of seats. I think a lot of people were staying for Illuminations.

There were several people on the bus talking about how they had come down to Orlando to avoid the hurricane headed for the Carolinas. They said what I had been thinking, which is the crowds hadn't been bad at all so far. Even World Showcase had plenty of walking room, which isn't always the case.

I think the busiest I saw anything was when everyone ducked into the shop in Japan to avoid the rain.

All in all, a successful first full day.

 

[SewingSunflower]

Love your report! I too hate crowds but looooooovvve Disney!

 

[AuroraRose22]

Love your report! I too hate crowds but looooooovvve Disney!

Thank You! Disney is best no matter what, but it's even better without long lines!

 

[AuroraRose22]

Disney: Day Three

I was a little lazy waking up, it took me almost a half hour to drag myself out of bed. And this is only three days into the trip.

I think I'm getting old.

I made it down to the bus stop a little after nine, where the entire rest of the resort was also waiting for the bus to the Magic Kingdom. Apparently by Thursday, no one is alert enough to make rope drop.

I wasn't even sure I would make it onto the bus, it was so crowded, but they somehow crammed me and another family of four in before they ran out of room.

I made a dash for Winnie the Pooh to catch my fastpass, then did Ariel and wandered around the Big Top area.

After that there was just enough time to do the Carousel of Progress and head to Skipper's Canteen for my 11:45 reservation. My sister and brother-in-law had done this restaurant on their last trip and enjoyed it, so I figured I would give it a go.

The theming is amazing. I was very impressed with the decor.



My sister had mentioned how their waiter had been a lot of fun and had a lot of corny jokes like you would expect on the jungle cruise. My waitress was very good and friendly and efficient, but there were no jokes or fooling around. I could overhear the conversations at some of the other tables, and there was more of that going on elsewhere.

I don't know if it was because I was solo, or the particular waitress, or a combination of the two, but I did kind of wish there was more of the humor I had heard about.

The food was amazing though.

I had gotten the Orinoco Ida's Cachapas, which is House-made Corn Pancakes, Mojo-braised Pork, Black Bean Salad, and Avocado Cream as an appetizer.

Followed by The Veggie Curried Stew, which was also delicious, though I only tried a couple of the pineapple-flavored tofu. I've decided tofu just has too weird of a consistency for me.



And of course I got the Schweitzer Slush in a Jungle Skipper Canteen Souvenir Mug, because how could I not? Look at how adorable this is:



And it came with a straw! A paper one, which was actually kind of terrible to drink out of, but it's still a straw, right?

I skipped dessert since I had booked the new dessert party at Animal Kingdom that night.

I know, I do a ridiculous amount of hopping from park to park. It's a thing.

It was getting to be the hottest part of the day, and I swear it was getting busier. Shouldn't people being going back to the resorts to swim or something?

No?

Yeah, okay. Me neither.

I did Pirates of the Caribbean, then Splash Mountain via fast pass, which was good because the wait was fifty minutes.

And then did the People Mover, which also had a line!

I think the heat and crowds were starting to make people a little loopy. My last fast pass was for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, where the family next to me were all irritable and the husband wasn't paying any attention to the cast members direction of where he was supposed to be.

Then as I was heading down Main Street, figuring it was about time to leave the park and regroup for Animal Kingdom, I spotted a couple completely oblivious of their child in what I'm fairly sure was a rental stroller, kneeling up with her head tilted upwards to lick the canvas sun cover over her head on the stroller.

I bet that wasn't even remotely hygienic.



And, in typical fashion, I was attempting Main Street at the same time the parade was going on.

No matter, I can stop for a few moments and take some random pictures:





I then headed back to the resort for a short bit to shower and change since I was again reduced to a overheated puddle, and then headed to Animal Kingdom.

I made it just in time to check in for the dessert party.

It took a bit of work to even find it, since they had moved it because it was looking like possible rain.

It was off near the Flame Tree, and as it turned out, the seating area was perfect. Nice and quiet and cozy and plenty of space.

I had read online that at least at the regular spot for the party, there hadn't been seats, just standing tables. The rain location had seating, which was awesome. The cast members were very attentive and helpful.

There were three levels of seating, and two buffet tables set up, one on the top level and one on the bottom.

The food was typical, tiny little adorable desserts, POG juice, a couple alcoholic choices, cheese, mixed nuts, fruit, etc.

The displays were super cute and nicely themed.





Now, I know the dessert party is meant to also be a way to get priority seating for the Rivers of Light show.

...However...I kind of don't really like the Rivers of Light show?

I saw it once. It was pretty, but the music didn't really excite me, there isn't much of a plot, and honestly, I'm a little tired of the whole water screen projection thing.

It just doesn't feel clever anymore. It was awesome when Fantasmic first came out, but now it just feels a little overdone.

Of course, that's just me. If it's your favorite show, feel free to ignore my opinion entirely.

My biggest interest was in the food. So once I had experienced that, I decided to leave the party and head to Disney Springs, in hopes that I could catch a couple of the entertainment acts there that night.

Of course, just before I would have been able to see anyone, the heavens opened up and all I saw was a deluge. So I concluded my evening with a mad dash to the bus stop, followed by a very long, crowded, wet ride back to the resort.

Disney Springs might have been a complete washout (I'm not even going to pretend that pun wasn't intentional, or terrible except that I did find a super cute shirt for one of my favorite nostalgia rides.



I had seen it earlier in the Magic Kingdom, but they didn't have it in my size. Disney Springs did though, so, Score!

 

[AuroraRose22]

Disney: Day Four

Day four was Animal Kingdom day.

Not to be confused with Animal Kingdom night, which was last night, when the dessert party was.

It took sooooo long for the bus to come. Four Epcot buses came and went before I ever saw an Animal Kingdom bus.



I know Animal Kingdom is much farther away than Epcot, but four buses??

I had a fast pass for Kilimanjaro Safari for 9:35-10:35 but I knew if I made it at all, it would be really close, so I changed the reservation to 10:30-11:30 and made it to the ride at 10:40, so good call on that account.

However, I really wish I had been just a little earlier, or a little later.

You know how every trip you see that one difficult group/family that makes you eternally grateful you aren't a part of their trip?

They got seated behind me on the truck. My row is me and another couple, he's on the inside end with his really nice camera, and I'm on the other end with my camera that is smarter than I am.

Behind us is another couple, and then the cast members put two more woman in their row. For a grand total of four.

And one of the woman immediately starts muttering under her breath about how she 'knew this was going to happen, this is ridiculous, there's no reason they shouldn't have their own row, etc, etc.'

And then proceeds to get even louder, proclaiming how she "can't see anything" and she "didn't pay three thousand dollars to not be able to see!"

Apparently it didn't occur to her the rest of us didn't pay three thousand dollars to listen to her make rude comments for the duration of the ride.

I mean, I was on the worst of the ends of the row. The man on the inside end had a much better opportunity to take pictures. But I realize sometimes that's how things go and he has just as much right to have the opportunity to get great pictures as I do.





Ugh.

I don't think the couple seated with them spoke English, which I'm grateful for, because the Queen of Doom kept muttering, 'she's touching me.'

It's Disney. There's no space, and everyone wants to be in it. They weren't overly crowded, she was just mad she had to share her row.

Every time the driver would point something out and say "Can you see over there..." she would reply loudly how she can't because she's stuck in the middle.

It wasn't fun. I was getting pretty irritated by her behavior.

I also don't have a very good poker face when I get seriously frustrated. I think she may have caught on to the fact the other people in her immediate vicinity were Not Impressed with her behavior, because about halfway through she did stop the rude remarks.



And then proceeded to announce random animal facts for the remainder of the ride.

Uh...Okay?

So after that less than stellar experience, I proceeded to the Gorilla Trail.

It was so ridiculously hot the gorillas were all sprawled out dramatically like they had passed out or died.



You okay dude?

It was a valiant display of theatrics, but after that Safari ride, nothing else could measure up to the same degree of histrionics.

At this point, I was getting hungry so I decided to get something from Harambe Market.

Here's the chicken skewer, bean salad, and slaw.

And Bibo, the soda. My first non-straw drink of the trip!

It was filled to the brim and sloshed around quite a bit in the short distance from the window to the table. I don't know how a family with multiple drinks handles it. I created a waterfall in about three steps.



A sticky waterfall. Ick.

I was trying to figure out what to do next, when I realized my fast pass for Dinosaur had already started.

I'm usually better at keeping track of that stuff. Fortunately, there was plenty of time left.

Next was Everest, courtesy of the single rider line, after which I headed for Rafiki's Planet Watch.

There were a couple cast members in there talking casually that I overheard talking about one of the lizards. There was a lady in a maintenance uniform that the lizard would move right up to the edge of the glass and look at if she got close to it. It was really cute, it was like it recognized her specifically. She mentioned that his behavior had been very different lately, he wasn't usually so reactive to people looking in.



Hi Lizard! Are you checking out all the human's in the human tank?

By the time I took the train back to the main part of the part, it was roughly a million and twelve degrees, so I decided to do It's Tough to Be a Bug to get out of the heat.

After that I wandered through the stores until it was time for my final fast pass for Flight of Passage.

That ended my Animal Kingdom experience for the day. Awesome ride, but after that it was just too hot and crowded in the park.

I headed back to the resort for a bit to rest, then decided to go to Epcot.

I figured I could eat around the World for dinner, taking advantage of the Food and Wine Festival. Plus, to get my passholder's cutting board, I needed to get another visit in.

I got the shrimp from Australia, the bread service from India, another empanada from Islands of the Caribbean, and the cheese trio.

I would include photos, but they came out pretty terrible. Unless you want to see fuzzy twilight food pics.

I checked out the 8pm British Revolution show, where they played Won't be Fooled Again and Wonderwall, which pleased me.



The park was open until ten, but by nine I was pretty much done for the day. The heat had been unbelievable this trip. I headed back to the resort and called it a night.