Celebrating...first visit in 27 years!

Hollywood Studios - Monday, April 23, 2018
TP crowd prediction: 6
Actual: 3
Total Miles Walked: 6.4
Weather: 80’s, overcast


Before leaving Animal Kingdom the day before, we had stopped at guest services to pick up some celebration buttons. We got Quinn a “First Visit” button for him to wear on our HS and Epcot days, I got one that said, “First visit in 27 years!” and Matt got one that said “First visit to Epcot.”

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My grandmother, a teenaged me and my two little sisters at MGM, April 1990.

Quinn and I put on our buttons that morning for our HS day! Back in the 90’s, I might have told you that MGM was my favorite park. Many of my favorite rides were there, such as the Great Movie Ride and Catastrophe Canyon. I also had fond memories of going to the 50’s Cafe with my best friend from high school and I remember how she got “yelled” at for spilling her soda. Unfortunately, almost every single attraction that I recalled from this park is gone now (except for Indy!) so basically visiting HS was like seeing a brand new park for me! I was disappointed that Quinn would never get to see the Great Movie Ride, but I made sure to get fastpasses for the Indy show. That was the one thing Quinn had asked for that day.

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The backlot tour, April 1990. I’m sorry Quinn will never get to see it. I hear they have Catastrophe Canyon in Disneyland Paris though. Maybe a new trip to put on our bucket list??

We decided not to rope drop this park. Quinn had considered doing Jedi training, but he wasn’t quite interested enough so we decide to skip it. We also considered ropedropping Toy Story since there were no fastpasses available while the construction was going on, but we weren’t in the mood for that either, so Instead we took it slow and arrived at the park around 10 am.

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There was a big crowd of people at the security gate, divided into what seemed like at least twenty lines! We picked one. You know how when you go to the grocery store you assess the lines and carefully choose the one that appears fastest and shortest, only to have the line next to you speed up? Well, that’s what happened to us. We got stuck waiting for security for possibly 30 minutes and when our line finally got to the front, I turned around and to my shock, the entire area was deserted. We were - quite literally - the slowest and very last line to enter the park!

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Here we are, bringing up the rear of the 10 o’clock crowd.

Our first fastpass was for Star Tours at 10:15 and since it was already 10:30, we decided to head there right away.

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Well, we made a quick stop to snap a photo here. We’re all fans of Indy!

Star Tours didn’t have much of a line and with our fastpasses, the line moved so quickly that I barely had time to snap any photos!

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So have one instead from 1990. That’s my grandmother waving with my sister in her stroller right by the AT-AT’s foot.

I did manage to get a few inside.

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I wouldn’t trust anybody getting off at a gate arriving from Mustafar!

Right before getting on the ride, I bowed out and let Quinn and Matt go on alone. I still remember quite vividly just how sick and miserable I felt after riding Star Tours in 1990. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to actually throwing up after a ride.

A CM directed me to a bench outside the exit gates, where I was joined by another woman from Europe who’d left something behind on the ride and was waiting to get back in to retrieve it. We started chatting with a CM and she asked him how often people got sick on Star Tours. He said, “Whew, maybe 20 times already in the last two weeks that I’ve been here? It happens all the time!” Then the lady starting sharing a rather gross story of someone getting sick on this ride while she was on it in Disneyland Paris. Ugh. So glad I sat this one out!

Quinn and Matt got off and Quinn said he loved the ride! Said they had crashed on Hoth. I think it was one of his favorites this entire trip. No sick issues for him thankfully!

We browsed the Star Wars gift shop a bit next, and I bought a nice keychain of the Millennium Falcon. It’s surprisingly heavy.

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Outside, we found a photopass photographer taking pics of people riding landspeeders, so of course we had to stop and do that!

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Matt’s going for a leisurely Sunday drive on his speeder.

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I’m speeding through the forests of Endor on mine!

We spotted Goofy doing a meet and greet outside, and soon after Chip and Dale walked by escorted by their handlers. I held out my hand and one of them gave me a high five!

We discovered the under construction entrance to Galaxy’s Edge, the new Star Wars land coming next year.

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Looks like it’s going to be amazing! From one of the nearby highways, we were able to see the mountains under scaffolding. They looked almost done!

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Still a year away though!

Even though it felt like we’d just arrived, it was already time for lunch! We had reservations for our first table service meal of the trip at 11:30 am. Can you guess where?

DSCF3290.JPG I’d never eaten here before, so I was looking forward to trying it!

They took us right in without any wait.

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We got a car in the last row in the back. I got to drive!

The atmosphere of this place is really cool and very well done. It feels a little weird not being able to face your dining partners though.

Quinn and I are lactose intolerant. I bring lactase enzyme tablets with me and normally we just wing it, since with the tablets we can manage little bits of dairy like pizza or a grilled cheese. This time, I decided to mention it the the server when she asked about allergies. She gave us a whole menu dedicated to allergy free offerings! I was pretty impressed. Quinn got the allergy free hamburger and I ordered the turkey sandwich from the regular menu. I think Matt got a burger too.

I knew this place was famous for its milkshakes, so imagine how tickled pink we were to discover they make dairy-free milkshakes! Quinn has only had a milkshake once in his life and it was shortly before he was diagnosed, so it made him sick anyway. This could be a real treat! I knew that if we ordered it now though, Quinn would drink it all up and not touch his hamburger, so I told him that maybe we’d get one for dessert. He got a root beer instead.

Something must have been going on in the kitchen because a looong time went by and our order didn’t arrive. We started recognizing the same movie clips being played again, and noticed that people that had arrived after us were eating. Our server seemed nervous so I think she knew that something was holding things up. She came by and apologized several times.

Finally our order arrived! A few seconds later she came back with a dairy-free milkshake for Quinn “on the house!” I thought that was very nice. It was an Oreo milkshake (a flavor he had expressed an interest in) and I got to taste some. It was delicious! Quinn was shocked when I told him later that it was made with tofu (he thinks tofu is gross.)

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Tofu is scaaary, like the movies they play here.

Shortly after this, I noticed that they had made a mistake in my order. My sandwich was supposed to come with some kind of avocado spread but instead it had arrived plain. As in plain Jane, no mayo no nothing plain. Turkey and tomatoes and bread plain. I was so hungry though, that I didn’t even notice at first until I’d already eaten half of it! I decided not to bring it up, especially since our server had been so nice already with the milkshake, and I didn’t want her to think we were trying to mooch more freebies off of them.

By the time we got out of Sci-Fi, it was 1 pm. I had originally made a FP for Indy at 1pm, but then moved it on the off chance that we didn’t finish lunch on time. So glad I did!

At this point we decided to split up. Matt wanted to go on Tower of Terror, which Quinn and I had no interest in, so we headed to the Walt Disney Presents building where I’d heard, (care of the Dis!) that Starlord and baby Groot could be found.

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Had to stop here on our way past. So long Great Movie Ride, how we barely knew ye.

The Walt exhibit was more crowded than I would have expected. Quinn wasn’t too interested, so we mostly breezed through on our way to the meet and greet. I don’t know what they do on days when the park is really crowded, because the meet and greet waiting area was very small and the little room filled up moments after we arrived. Right outside the waiting area is where the exhibit is, so I imagine they wouldn’t want people to start backing up in there. I wonder what they do when the line fills ups and more people arrive?

Disney does a good job hiding the characters from sight while people are waiting. I assume it is to keep people from taking pictures and to add to the mystique of the whole thing. Once I heard Starlord yell out, “Dude!” but that was it. Finally it was our turn!

Quinn’s not up on meet and greet etiquette, so he just stood there chatting with Starlord with his back turned to the camera while the photopass guy took pictures. They barely give you a chance to get situated before they start snapping away! I tried to get Quinn’s attention to get him to turn around, but he wasn’t paying any attention to me. Finally Starlord said, “Hey there, make like a planet and rotate,” and that got him to turn around.

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Quinn’s head makes a good armrest if you are the right height.

Baby Groot was adorable of course. He can move his head and blink his eyes and of course say, “I am Groot!” At one point Starlord said, “What did I tell you about talking about our secret missions in public!”

“I am Groot!”

“Now that’s just disgusting!”

Starlord was pretty good at staying in character.

To be continued...
 
Hollywood Studios continued...

Meanwhile, Matt was enjoying his ride on the Tower of Terror.

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I think Matt was the only one actually holding on.

Next up was the Launch Bay! Matt sent me a text saying he was at some movie theater, so I assumed it was the Star Wars movie in the Launch Bay, but after waiting for a few minutes outside the theater, Matt sent another text saying he was somewhere across the park by another movie theater. Ooops. So we waited some more while he found his way to us.

I’m the big Star Wars fan in the family (got my “seen the original when it was in the theater” street cred), so I went around taking pictures of pretty much every lightsaber, outfit, and prop on display there.

We decided to get in line for Kylo Ren since his was the shortest wait at around 15 minutes. Now a few weeks before we left on vacation, I was talking about how we were going to do meet and greets at Hollywood Studios, and Quinn said, “Mom, you DO know that the characters aren’t real, right?”

W-w-what? Not real? :eek:

That’s when I told him that Disney magic was all about recreating fabulous places and times and part of the fun is joining in the illusion by pretending that it’s all real. Even better is that the adults dress up and play along too! Quinn seemed to think that sounded ok, and as we got closer to meeting the REAL and terrifying Kylo Ren, he and Matt began rehearsing all the things they would say when they met him. This mostly consisted of manly bravado and insults. I tried to encourage them to be more respectful, after all we were meeting the “Supreme Leader,” but I don’t think they were listening to me. When we got to our turn, the CM let us in with an ominous sounding, “Good luck.”

Kylo Ren came around the corner and stared us all down in silence. That’s when Quinn piped up with “Hello...BEN!” (I’m sure Kylo has never heard that one before!)

To that we got a “Don’t pry. You may learn more than ever wished to know.” Then he stalked away and told us, “You may approach.”

I don’t remember what happened next. I think I blocked it out. It was probably too terrifying to contemplate. But I think it had something to with our son continuing to chat it up with Kylo like they were old pals. Or rivals.

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Doing the stare down.

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Quinn talking smack to Kylo.

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Kylo left us off with a “We may meet again. I hope it will not be as enemies.” I hope not too. I'm sure we all came this close to getting Force choked. :scared:

Next up was Chewbacca! He had a 20-30 minute wait. We discussed what we might say to Chewie, and I suggested asking him if he had done any Kessel Runs lately. Once we were deep within the zig zagging line, Quinn decided he had to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW, so Matt got out of line with him to take care of that. Of course that’s when the normally creeping line suddenly picked up speed and the two of them barely made it back before it was our turn!

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What is it about Wookiees that just makes you want to hug them?

We all got warm fuzzy hugs from Chewie. Quinn asked him about the Kessel Run and he made a flying motion with his hand, so I assume that means he’s still in the smuggling business. As we were leaving Quinn called out, “I’m sorry about Han!” Chewie covered his heart with his hands and made a sad wuffling sound.

We feel the same Chewie, we feel the same.

Next we stopped at the local cantina to relax over a glass of blue milk and some stimulating conversation.

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It was now 3 o’clock and time for our next fastpass, which was Rockin Rollercoaster! There’s no way anyone could pay me to go on that, nor Quinn, so all the more rides for Matt. Quinn and I sat and rested our feet while sitting in sight of the Tower of Terror and listening to the people scream. Matt came out and we switched bands so he could ride again.

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Matt didn’t know where the picture would be taken at first, but he told me he was determined to do better next time.

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Now there’s an enthusiastic group of riders! I think Matt whooped it up enough to make up for the first pic, don’t you?

Quinn and I decided to head to the main thoroughfare to try and catch the March of the First Order. We got a nice shaded spot under an awning and were all settled in, when a thunderstorm blasted in out of nowhere, whipping the trees around and pouring rain onto us. At about 3:59 pm an announcement came over the speakers informing us that the parade had been cancelled! :guilty:

Shortly after, we met up with Matt again and the sun had already come out. I think Matt might have not believed us at all about the freak little storm if it hadn’t been for the rain puddles everywhere.

Even though the storm barely lasted five minutes, lots of people cleared out and so we grabbed ourselves a photopass photographer with no wait.

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Use the Force, Luke! I think Quinn is hoping to shoot some Sith Lightning from his fingertips instead.

Then we walked around and took some more pics.

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Until a show started nearby so we meandered over to that. It was Galaxy Far Far Away.

I found a great place on a wall where I could see.

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The crowd wasn’t too bad at first.

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By the end the plaza had filled up.

We had just wandered away after the show’s end when we heard the March of the First Order starting up again, the last parade of the day! So we ran over to catch it.

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I was glad I didn’t miss it, since it was on my list of things to do that day.

Captain Phasma stopped to harass some parade watchers, and wouldn’t you know, she stopped at the exact spot where we had been waiting originally when the storm hit!

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We left the parade and stopped to grab another photopass pic. I swear we didn’t color coordinate our outfits on purpose.

Next we grabbed some Italian ices and then it was off to our last fastpass, the Indy show!

We got an amazing spot right up front.

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I even caught Indy making his grand entrance!

Unfortunately, the big rolling rock wasn’t working that show, so we missed out on of one of my favorite Indy show memories. But at least we got to see the airplane blow up!

Next we headed to Backlot Express for a dinner time “snack.” We didn’t want to eat too much because we had spectacular plans for that evening...a Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party!

I debated long and hard about attending this. I think the price is high, but I also place value in not having to fight my way through a crowd where everyone is taller than me and blocking my sight. In the end I decided that this was a special once-in-a lifetime splurge, and that it would be yet another amazing memory for us this trip.

We ordered a kid’s meal of chicken nuggets and fries and shared that between us. While we were sitting there, I noticed through a nearby window that a Jedi Training Academy session was going on right outside! So I went out and found an empty spot right next to the stage.

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We watched the show until it finished and then we decided to start heading back towards the launch bay. We got distracted by a cart of Indiana Jones themed goodies and next thing we knew, we were deeply engrossed in finding Quinn the perfect Indiana Jones hat.

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I like how it even looks worn in already, like it has seen many adventures!

So by the time we got to the Launch Bay, it was a little after the party start.

We got to wear these nifty dessert party lanyards.

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When we arrived inside the place was packed chock full of people! :crowded: Every table in the party area was full and lines of people were clogging up any space to walk. We managed to grab some desserts but we couldn’t find a table. Finally a friendly CM noticed us looking lost and directed us to an empty table outside in the hallways near BB8’s meet and greet.

Now I regret not taking pictures of all the themed desserts. They had so much to choose from! I think my favorite item was the blue milk pudding, and the storm trooper sugar cookies. They also had quite a few cupcakes decorated like characters: Darth Vader (peanut butter and chocolate), and BB8 one, flavored citrus, and an R2D2 one, which was vanilla. They also had some very good pita chips and hummus. I wish I’d found that first actually, because the cupcakes were insanely sweet and I felt a little sick even after only taking a few bites from each of them.

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I’m a baaad, baaad food photographer. Here, have a picture of our messy table.

After we’d eaten our fill, a CM came around to tell us that we’d be lining up for the Galactic Spectacular show soon. We joined a group of people hanging out in an open area of the launch bay. A family with two little boys was chosen to lead the group and they were given lightsabers to carry. I think they had to give them back at the end though. Two storm troopers came out and told us that we were privileged to be “under the protection of the First Order.” Then they led us to the reserved area in front of the Chinese Theater.

Thanks to the Dis once again, we took the recommended spot which was in the back left corner. We sat on a raised curb, which was a very nice treat for our feet! Our area never filled up completely and everyone sat politely on the ground. Right before the show started I turned around and saw a mass of people pressed up against the flower bed that separated our area. I was grateful to be sitting down and not a part of that crowd! I could see all three screens easily.

First was the Movie Magic show. It was excellent! Quinn was particularly excited because they featured two of his favorite movies: Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Book (live action version.) After that we were given a short, five minute break and then the big show began! :hyper:

I’m sorry I don’t have pictures to show you, but I was determined to take in all of the show with my own eyes and not let myself get distracted by a camera. The show was amazing and had me in awe the whole time. Whenever the screen showed ships or blasters being fired, laser beams would shoot out of the building and over the crowd. Fireworks went off in an arc around us, and at one point two huge plumes of flame were shot off the top of the building. It was so close that I could feel the heat!

I loved this show and wouldn’t hesitate to encourage others to stay late to see it! It was my very first Disney nighttime show, and I’m glad I got to choose an extra special Star Wars show to boot. :darth:

After that we filed out with the rest of the crowd and took a bus back to our resort. It took a good half an hour to just get out of the parking lot! I can only imagine how much worse it must be on truly crowded days.

All in all, another great day! :cool1:
 
I'm really enjoying your trip report!

The look on your son's face with Baloo and King Louie is priceless. Those are the kind of photos that make every penny of a trip worth it.

You're very lucky with the low crowds. I haven't encountered that since 1991!
 
So have one instead from 1990. That’s my grandmother waving with my sister in her stroller right by the AT-AT’s foot.

Too funny - I looked at this picture before reading the caption and thought....wow, so many people look like they have clothes/hair from the late 80's....close enough with 1990.

Now there’s an enthusiastic group of riders! I think Matt whooped it up enough to make up for the first pic, don’t you?

Matt certainly looks like he is having a great time. His energy matches both groups actually.

I was glad I didn’t miss it, since it was on my list of things to do that day.

Glad you got to see the parade after all.

We got an amazing spot right up front.

score
 


I'm really enjoying your trip report!

The look on your son's face with Baloo and King Louie is priceless. Those are the kind of photos that make every penny of a trip worth it.

You're very lucky with the low crowds. I haven't encountered that since 1991!

I know...we keep saying how much we want to go back already, but at the same time, I'm not sure any trip can live up to this one! We got very lucky with crowds, weather, etc. Then again, some of our great luck was due largely in part by all our advance planning - and all the great advice I got here, care of the Dis! :disrocks:
 
Matt certainly looks like he is having a great time. His energy matches both groups actually.

That second RnR ride pic is one of my favorites! Matt got in with a great group of riders for that pic. I can't help but wonder what they thought of it when they saw it too - probably something like, "Whoa! Check out that crazy yelling guy we got in our car!" :laughing:
 
Following along now and all caught up! I'm really enjoying your report :)


After we got off this ride we overheard some family debating on how to pronounce “Dinoland.” They couldn’t decide between “Dyno-land” or “Deeno-land.” They finally settled on “Deeno-land.” Huh? I guess next time I’m watching Jurassic Park I’ll make sure to comment on the ferocious “deenosaurs.”

:rotfl:

Quinn dancing with King Louie. Does Quinn look happy or what?

This picture is PURE happiness! :cloud9:

Doing the stare down.

What a brave boy!
 


Resort and Disney Springs day - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Total Miles walked: 4?
Weather: Sunny, low 80’s.


Today was our “rest” day, although we still ended up walking at least 3-4 miles! We started out by sleeping in and then having a buffet breakfast at Boma at 10:15 am. Disney buffet breakfasts are not for the faint of heart (or stomach!) They’re expensive, and they offer so much food, that I knew I would need to pace myself because I didn’t want to get overstuffed. Matt and Quinn went the safe route, choosing waffles and eggs and other familiar favorites. I decided to try as many new dishes as I could.

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Quinn enjoying a chocolate chip pancake and some bacon. I remembered to take some pictures here!

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I started out with some grilled tomatoes and asparagus; something called “pap” which was a kind of thick, mild porridge; bobotie, which was like a turkey quiche; corned beef hash; a slice of bacon and glazed plantains. The corned beef hash was my favorite here, which surprised me since I’m not normally a fan of corned beef or any beef in general. But this stuff was delicious and just a bit spicy.

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Next up was goat cheese and chives scrambled eggs, a yogurt fruit salad, and the famous French toast bread pudding with vanilla sauce.

I don’t know which I liked better: the eggs or the bread pudding. They both were to die for! I guess I can give them both top billing, because they each have their own categories: savory and sweet.

At this point, I was eager to try the pastry table, especially a mango pastry I’d been eyeing, but I simply had no room left!

We decided to walk off our breakfast by exploring the resort. First we checked out where our top choice room would have been had we been given the partial savanna view we were hoping for. There are enough windows along the hallway that we were able to get a good idea of what our view would have been. The area was very nice! We checked out some of the art and cultural exhibits that were spaced out through the hallway. Every now and then there was a little porch area with rocking chairs where you could sit and relax while watching the animals.

By following the hallways all the way to the end, we discovered that you could walk all the way past the Kidani Village rooms and then look out across to their lobby area!

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We got a little lost trying to get back.

We then checked out the Arusha Rock overlook at Jambo. There were plenty of places to sit and plenty of giraffes to watch! Overall we saw a decent selection of animals.

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Arusha Rock had fire pits with seating where they do marshmallow roasts at night. We would have loved to have done this, but every night we were too tired!

We encountered a CM who gave Quinn a sheet hinting at all the hidden Mickey spots around the resort, so we spent some time looking for a few of those. There was supposed to be one in the elevator, but we never found it!

Next we headed to Disney Springs. We took the bus, which took us about 30 minutes. We had a plan for Disney Springs - visit the Void: Secrets of the Empire virtual reality experience, and buy a few souvenirs. Every place we visit, we get a fridge magnet, so of course we had to get one or two of those, and on our last visit we bought a Christmas tree ornament, so we decided that would be a nice tradition to continue.

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We couldn’t decide between these magnets, so we got them both!

We bumped into a photopass guy and got some rather unusual magic shots taken.

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I hadn’t seen this style of magic shot yet!

We also stopped to take a “5 years later” photo of Quinn. Here is he is just before his 5th birthday in 2013:

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I liked this picture because both the dragon and Quinn had big gaps between their front teeth!

Here he is at age 10 in 2018:

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I’d also heard that there was a whole photopass studio at Disney Springs, so we decided to take a look at that.

There was no one in there at all! We walked in they asked us if we wanted some portraits taken. Of course we said yes! If I’d known how nice this place was going to be, I would have had us dress up a bit more. I thought it was going to be a place where they only did shots with fun backgrounds, but they also did traditional studio portraits as well.

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They had several different castle backgrounds. We didn’t get to choose, they just took a bunch of shots of us in front of a green screen, and then we discovered what backgrounds they had added later. In the Peter Pan one Quinn’s our navigator and concentrating hard! Wouldn’t want to fly into any owls or other flying children you know.

Next we decided to hit the Void. We sat and got ourselves a reservation slot online for 15 minutes later, then we took a leisurely walk over. The Void is in a nondescript building with no advertising out front to let you know what amazing wonders await you inside. There was no one there when we went in.

Be prepared to fill out more forms than you ever thought possible before you can even get your tickets. They’ll ask for e-mail addresses for every single member of your party, even the children, and the form is digital and won’t let you leave fields blank. So don’t be afraid to just write Ihavenoemail.com or whatever to get through it. Even the employee there told us to do that.

Once you get your tickets, which are in the form of a wristband, you will be escorted into a room where you choose your avatar. The premise of the story is that you are dressing up as storm troopers with the plan to infiltrate an enemy base. Since everyone looks the same in storm trooper garb, you will be asked to choose a color that will appear as a small marking on your shoulder. We all chose the same color as our armbands.

Next we waited in a line outside the equipment room. When it was time to enter, they assembled people into parties of four. If you have four already in your party, you are good to go. If you have less than four, they will combine people together until you do.

Then it’s time to suit up! You’ll get a vest and a headpiece. This stage is actually very important, as I discovered to my detriment. Your helmet should fit securely on your head, with NO wiggling, and once you put your visor on, the view should appear clear and undistorted. My helmet was broken, but I didn’t pay close enough attention to this at the time, and it greatly affected my experience. My visor kept falling down past my eyes and onto my nose, and even though I complained, the employee told me that the helmet was set as tight as it could go. I assumed that my head was just too small or something, and that that was as good as it was going to get.

Don’t do this! My son’s head is smaller than mine and his helmet fit securely. I now realize I simply had a bum helmet. I wish I had spoken up again and asked for a new helmet. I ended up having to hold my visor in place with one hand the entire time, because without that, my view was blurry and disorienting. Don’t make the same mistake that I did!

From here I’ll just be vague, so you can experience the story yourself. It’s pretty incredible and a lot of fun, so in spite of the issues I had I would still recommend it. I believe you can screw up and still “win” in this story. It appears to be set up so that all missions will end in success. That’s probably a good thing, since I’m sure we messed up plenty!

There are some simulated heights involved, along with a (small) degree of simulated motion. As a motion sickness sufferer, I was fine, and I’m pretty sensitive, so good news there! I did found the whole experience to be rather dizzying, but I’m not sure if that is normal, or because I have never used VR before, or because of my bad headset. I had to frequently hold onto walls or other people, and the rest of the time I was probably walking like a penguin! There is always someone from the Void in there with you, even though you can’t see them. So, they can help you if needed (mine tried to readjust my helmet at one point.) We did get a good laugh later when I told Matt there was another person in there with us and he said, “There was? You mean she heard everything we said?” We probably spent the whole time exclaiming in surprise and amazement, as well questioning everything we saw. I bet those employees have some hilarious stories.

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You can kind of tell in this picture that even with the visor up my helmet is sitting low on my head. You can see Matt and Quinn’s eyes but you can’t see mine!

Let me just add one last thing about Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. If you have children in your group, (age 10 is the youngest they will allow) then you will get an absolute kick out of seeing your child dressed as a storm trooper. Quinn looked exactly like any other storm trooper, except in miniature, and I just about died from squeeing and laughing when I first saw him.

After this, we went to the Christmas store and picked out a Mickey ornament to match our previous one. This year’s Mickey looked rather cross and annoyed, which I wasn’t thrilled with, but nothing else jumped out at me, so that’s the one we got.

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We decided we were pretty tired, even though at 4 o’clock it was still early in the day. Our feet were still sore from the two previous days of walking! So we headed back to the lodge.

We ended up being a bunch of fuddy-duddies, because we were all too exhausted to do anything other than lay around. I even asked Quinn if he wanted to go down to the pool, and he said no! So we had homemade sandwiches for dinner and just relaxed. They frequently did trivia contests at the pool, so we sat on the balcony and tested our trivia knowledge by listening in. Once dusk hit, Quinn and I went down to the Uzima Springs overlook where they had night vision goggles you could use. That was interesting, but it was a pretty short activity, because once you’ve spent a few minutes eyeing the animals, there isn’t much else to do. They were showing Coco by the pool, so we considered watching that, but in the end we decided to head back up to the room. We all went to bed early!

Next up...Epcot! Will it live up to my memories?
 
Epcot - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
TP prediction: 5
Actual: 3
Miles Walked: 8.5
Weather: another beautiful sunny day in the low 80’s!

We got to the bus stop at outside Jambo House at 8 am for a 9 am opening. We ended up having terrible luck this morning. The Epcot bus didn’t arrive until 8:45! I don’t know what went wrong but even one of the CMs seemed concerned. When we did finally get on, the bus driver we got drove almost laughably slow. This was great for my motion sickness issues, but bad for getting to the parks on time! By the time we got to the turnstiles, it was 9:20 am.

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Finally, we were inside Epcot!

Our plan had been to rope drop Soarin’, so we headed that way with the hopes that the line hadn’t gotten too long yet. We found Soarin’ to be basically a walk-on! I’d been told to ask for the middle section, but we didn’t need to since that’s what we were assigned. They gave us the last row.


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Our first pavilion of the day!

I was a bit nervous about this ride and considered backing out of it several times. I’ve had mixed results dealing with IMAX theater set-ups in the past. Anything with tilting or spinning horizons is a no-go with me, but slow gentle flying is usually ok. I’m glad to report that “slow, gentle flying” is pretty much all that Soarin’ is, so I made it through the ride without feeling sick! Just in case, I had my peppermints ready. There was one scene where you flew over a desert, and the screen titled. That part caused my stomach to lurch, but it was over so quickly, that I was ok.

We all enjoyed Soarin’, particularly the other effects such as the breeze they pushed at you and the scents. Matt said he would have preferred not having the rows in front of us with their feet dangling in our view, but I didn’t mind it. It sort of kept me grounded by giving me something more stationary to look at whenever I felt like I was free floating too much.

Turns out, Matt had been nervous about the ride too, since heights sometimes make him uncomfortable. But he said he felt secure enough that he was fine.


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No more Kitchen Kabaret, sadly. But now we have Soarin’!

After Soarin’ we passed by the Garden Grill restaurant. This is one of my stronger memories from my first visit, so I was eager to walk past it and show Quinn. It wasn’t called Garden Grill then, but rather The Good Turn back when I last ate there. What I do remember is my Dad wanting us to eat there and my Mom going “oh no no,” as soon as she saw that the whole restaurant rotated in a circle! My Mom has motion sensitivities like I do, and was six months pregnant at the time, so I can only imagine her trepidation! Now my 10 year old self thought that a spinning restaurant sounded way cool, and Dad and I outvoted her. I don’t think she ended up having any problems, thank goodness!

For this trip, I had considered getting us reservations here, but it was a buffet now, and the initial plan had been to pick only one buffet, so we ended up deciding on Boma.

So here I was all excited to point out the restaurant to Quinn and lo and behold it was no longer rotating! Unfortunately, that made it look like any old boring restaurant, so I don’t think Quinn was all that impressed. I hope the no rotating thing was a temporary glitch and not the new normal. I guess I’m extra glad now that we chose Boma over Garden Grill, since the rotating part was its big claim to fame for me.

We were all a bit on edge this morning, because getting to the park late had made us behind on our touring plan. Since there is so much to see at Epcot, and I hadn’t been in ages and Quinn and Matt had never been, I had worked hard to create a plan that fit in as much as was reasonably possible. My plan was to have us out of Future World and into World Showcase by around 2-3pm. Because we were rushing a bit though, I forgot to take pictures of some things like the Garden Grill.

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But I did find this one! The Land Pavilion in April 1983. Seems like there are a lot more trees around it now.

So, we got in line for the Land. Matt knew nothing about this ride, and I hadn’t told him anything about it. Quinn and Matt wanted to know if it had any drops or went fast. When we got to the greenhouse area Matt gave me a look and said, “this isn’t real though, right?” When I told him I was all real and that the food was even used in some Epcot restaurants, he was very impressed!


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We got very lucky and ended up in the front row of the boat! That made for some great pictures. I’m pretty sure that the last time I was here though a real live person was narrating from the front row instead.

I also remember enjoying this ride quite a bit at age ten. I still remember the song they used to play and even the tune it went to! (“Listen to the laa-aand. Listen to the land.”) I see they call it “Living with the Land” now though, but since that still has the same number of syllables as “listen” I was hoping my favorite song would still be there. Sadly, I did not hear it. Maybe it would have sounded too dated now anyway.


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I enjoyed pointing out to Quinn what some familiar foods look like when they are actually growing.

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This is the Nuclear Zone. No wait, it’s just fish under some heat lamps. Quinn thought it was cool that they had fish as well as plants.

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I really like that the Land is still here at Epcot. It’s one of the few rides left that stays true to Epcot’s original vision as a park that celebrates learning and innovation.

Next up was Journey into Imagination!

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Since this used to be my favorite ride, we had to commemorate it with a picture.

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My mom and me in 1983, I think at the Magic Kingdom, so I guess that means we visited Epcot first. That hat with Figment on it looks way too big for me, but I’m wearing it in a bunch of pictures so I was obviously was too fond of it to care. I really loved Figment!

There was no wait, so we just walked right on. I’d been warned that the version of the ride that I’d remembered and loved was long gone, but even still, seeing the new version was a disappointment. The new ride is shorter, and feels more like it was meant for a younger audience now. Gone are all the references to literature and art, different genres and the creative process. The new Figment is annoying and bratty instead of cute and endearing. I had been thinking of buying myself a Figment souvenir, but after this ride, I kind of lost interest. :sad1:

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Journey Into Imagination, 1983.

Another thing I remembered fondly were the leaping fountains. Unfortunately, we didn’t come across these this trip, although a Google search makes it looks like they should still be there. How did we miss these? I’m so sad.


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Mom and me with the sun in our eyes. I love how the water looks like it’s jumping out of my Mom’s watch. Good catch, Dad! Just as awesome is that enormous video camera some guy is holding in the background.

It was then time for our first fastpass, which was Test Track. Quinn and I were both really looking forward to this one. We’d watched on ride videos and read about how fun it was, so we were excited. I was pleased to see the ride up and running, since we had heard stories of how often it broke down. I liked how a portion of the ride went outside the building and above the ride queue. It made for an exciting glimpse of what lie ahead, and reminded me a small bit of the old World of Motion.

We let Quinn take over designing our car. Being the nature lover he is, he immediately started creating a “green” car, using choices like solar power, etc. Matt was going nuts offering suggestions of how to make the car into a muscle machine filled with raw fuel and power, but Quinn would have none of it! Here’s his final creation:

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He even colored the car green and gave it vines and plant decorations!

I wasn’t sure how this was all going to go. Sometimes Quinn struggles when faced with competitive games, and gets upset when he doesn’t do well, so I was hoping that at the bare minimum he wouldn’t come in last!

Next it was time to get into our car. The three of us got a spot in the back seat.

Quinn didn’t care for the jerkiness of the first half of the ride. At one point, he leaned over and said, “Mom I don’t like this!” But then it was over and we were on to the best part!

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Matt enjoyed looking excited for all his pictures! Unfortunately, this time that caused him to block Quinn’s face for this photo, which he was really bummed about.

We all loved the speed part of the ride and agreed that it made up for any jerkiness in the beginning. Better yet, Quinn’s car ended up winning the highest score out of the four cars in our group! Quinn was thrilled and Matt and I were both a bit surprised! At the end of the ride, a big screen was featuring the day’s current high score, which was 225. Quinn got a respectable 194, so he was pleased!

It was getting close to lunch, so after Test Track we headed back to the Land pavilion to Sunshine Seasons. It wasn’t too crowded yet, but seats were starting to fill up. We quickly got overwhelmed by all the food choices. (This place is huge!) In the interest of “just picking something” we settled on sharing two sweet and sour chicken meals. Too late, I realized that we already had reservations that evening for Chinese food at the Nine Dragons! Oh well.

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We sat in the back section, underneath the hot air balloons. We saw a lot of youth tour groups pass through while eating lunch!

After lunch we headed over to the Seas pavilion.


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Had to grab a pic along the way.

And for comparison, here’s Epcot in 1983:


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My Dad, Mom, and me at Epcot:

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I’m not sure who took this picture or why Mom and I aren’t looking at the camera. Maybe the sun was in our eyes? You can’t even tell that my Mom was pregnant with my sister at the time.

20180425_123620.jpg Here I am with the sun in my eyes again. Looks like a common theme. Either that or I’m going, “Ahoy!”

So I have mixed feelings about the way they have incorporated Finding Nemo into the what used to the Living Seas. I’m a big fan of what Epcot used to represent, and this pavilion did a fine job way back when showcasing the amazing underwater world of our oceans without any animated characters “helping.” I’m sure Disney felt that adding Nemo tied the pavilion into their properties more, made it not “just” an aquarium but a Disney attraction, and perhaps boosted its appeal to younger kids.

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Inside the Living Seas in 1990. I remember there being some kind of show here with a diver inside the tube. They don’t appear to be doing anything with this area now and the tube is empty.

The addition of Nemo into this pavilion wasn’t too obtrusive, but I ended up not really caring for the Nemo ride inside. Matt didn’t even realize that we were traveling next to real tanks with real fish. Adding the animated characters made him assume that the whole experience was simulated and I wonder how many other visitors thought this as well. The ride didn’t feel like it had any real focus and I found the ending triggered my motion sickness, so in the future I don’t think I would bother waiting for this ride if there was a line. In comparison, I thought the Little Mermaid ride in Magic Kingdom was far superior.

We did enjoy the tank exhibits though and had fun watching the manatees. Quinn played one of the interactive computer games and ran around on the shark playground area they had.

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Lots of little Nemos!

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Everyone takes a turn getting eaten by the shark.

We ended up skipping Turtle Talk. I heard it was like the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor which was all I knew about it, but we were feeling crunched for time ever since arriving a bit late and Quinn said he wanted to skip it. I think we would have enjoyed it though.

Next up was Club Cool. Dare we try the infamous Beverly soda? :scared:

To be continued...
 
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Epcot continued...

I wouldn’t have known about Club Cool at all if it weren’t for the Dis. After hearing about it though, I knew that I had to work it into our plans!

We had fun trying all the free samples of sodas from around the world. I think Japan’s was my favorite. Some of them I found to be a bit too sweet otherwise.

Of course I made sure to have Matt and Quinn try Beverly so I could get some famous “Beverly face” shots! I didn’t tell them what it was all about, only that it was a “tradition on the Dis” for people to drink it and then take a pic. I’m sure they were both suspicious, but they were game.

First Quinn gave it a go.

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He didn’t have too high an opinion of it.

Matt tried to be brave and put on a good face.

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Here it comes. The moment of truth.

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First a smile...he must be holding in the pain. But then the true power of Beverly takes hold and he was forced to succumb...

Beverly was indeed shockingly bitter. In fact it reminded me of some antibiotic medicine I’ve had to take whenever I get a sinus infection. The pills are bitter and covered in this nasty tasting powder that was so bad I would sometimes gag them right back up. Well, I think those pills must be covered in Beverly. Or maybe Beverly is the medicine and it’s just so powerful that it scares the bacteria right out of your sinuses.

After Club Cool, it was already mid-afternoon, so time to head to the World Showcase!

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On our way there, we passed this Butterfly Haven, which was some kind of special exhibit as part of the Flower and Garden festival. Since we have a butterfly tent at our local state fair, we decided to skip this and keep going.

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Does the landscaping always look this colorful or is this a Flower and Garden thing?

I was actually a bit nervous with one aspect of planning our trip during spring and the F&G festival. Quinn has severe seasonal allergies and I wasn’t sure how he would hold up with all the flowers in Florida and especially at Epcot. We decided to start him on his medication regimen a month early and his doctor told us to double his dose from once a day to twice a day while at Disney. He also used a nasal spray every morning, and we brought eye drops as a backup too. Verdict? All went well!

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Funnily enough, Quinn was the one who was really looking forward to the World Showcase, even though it is commonly considered the “adult” area of Epcot. He really wanted to see what all the different countries looked like. Mexico makes a good first impression with its huge pyramid, so we were off to a good start! I love the artwork both inside and outside the area.

Then we went inside...Matt was floored. Mexico really impressed him and he still talks about it. I love the way they did the inside like a marketplace at night and the whole effect comes across really well. They had a Coco exhibit in the entry area, which was interesting, but if they ever try to turn the whole darn pavilion into a Coco extravaganza I’m going to be very disappointed! Mexico is more than just one Disney movie. (Even though it is a good one.)

We hopped on the Three Cabelleros ride with no wait. Matt loved this ride too! The ride comes across as a bit old now, but the bright colors and music still give it some spunk.

I think Matt was a tad disappointed that we didn’t choose one of the Mexico restaurants to eat at. He loves spicy Tex-Mex food and the atmosphere is so beautiful in there. I had considered it, but the menu looked a little more adventurous than what we were used to and I couldn’t find anything Quinn would like. We agreed that if we ever go back on an adult trip we will eat in Mexico next time!

Touring Plans measures line waits, not thickness of crowds on walkways. This became most apparent here at Epcot. Wait times were reasonable, but crowds in the World Showcase felt busy and by around dinner time the drunks were already plentiful! It was a bit disappointing and definitely not as family friendly as the rest of the parks. In the future I think I would alter my touring plan to try and hit World Showcase when it opened, have lunch there, and then head back to Future World for the evening instead.

After Mexico, we went to Norway next where Quinn was adamant that he had to find the troll because he’d read that you were supposed to rub his nose for luck and Quinn didn’t want to miss out on some extra luck! Since it was Flower and Garden we kept passing topiaries and Quinn wanted to know if a troll one was the THE troll, but I assured him that the troll we wanted was more permanent.
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Nope, not the right troll.

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We did find Anna and Elsa though!

We skipped the Frozen ride, even though none of us had ever been on it, since we chose Test Track for our fast pass instead. The Frozen line was too long for us to consider standing in. We had too many countries to squeeze in that day! I hope to get to ride it someday though.

Then we found the troll!

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Someone had parked their stroller and bags right next to it, so getting a pic was a challenge but we found a good angle. As you can see, Quinn was very happy!

We stopped for some photopass pics next to Topiary Anna and Elsa, and then checked out the Viking gods exhibit.

China had a particularly nice topiary display by their lily pond.

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I hope this guy is permanent, but since he’s made of plants I suspect that he isn’t.

We were going to watch the China 360 movie, but we got antsy waiting for it, since there were still so many other countries to explore! It wasn’t time for dinner yet anyway, so we knew we’d be back.

So...Africa. What is up with Africa? I can’t really call this a legit pavilion since it feels like an after thought. Just a few huts and some shops/snacks. Plus it feels rather out of place given that Africa is a continent and not a country. They can’t possibly fit in all of Africa’s countries so why not pick one? I’m curious to know what the story behind this area is.

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They did have a cool Lion King topiary though, as well as one of Timon and Pumba. Getting this pic was tricky since everyone was stopping to take a photo!

In Germany we found the model train exhibit and in Italy we just snapped a few pics. Next we went to America.

I was originally planning on skipping America, since according to Touring Plans, there was no way we could fit in every Future World attraction plus every World Showcase country. But then I heard that the American Adventure show had some unique stage technology going on and Quinn was interested so we went. I loved the way the animatronics raised and lowered on the stage and how they choreographed the scenes! The show itself was a little...overdone? I cringed a few times at the cheesy “rah rah” stuff, but Quinn really enjoyed the history aspect because he recognized lessons from school. I can’t help but wonder how this show comes across to foreigners!

We then hiked our way back to China for dinner at the Nine Dragons. Chinese is usually take-out food for us, so getting to sit down and soak in the atmosphere is not something we do every day, and the food was quite good. Unfortunately, I had to just stick to some appetizers because I was still full from lunch! Guess I could have used a bit better planning on that one! They were extremely accommodating towards Matt’s shellfish allergy as well.

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I had some kind of cucumber dish and some spring rolls, and I can’t recall what Matt had. It sure looks good though!

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Quinn got to have his favorite sweet and sour chicken from the kids menu, even though he is 10 and not 9. I don’t think they had that item on the regular menu, so we told them Quinn’s age and our dilemma and they let him get the children’s portion and price. Very nice of them!

After dinner, we visited Japan. I had scoped out menus and food stands ahead of time, and I marked Japan as having some non-dairy desserts we could have. So we hit the Kabuki cafe for some shaved ice. They gave us HUGE cones!

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I got tangerine and Quinn got blue raspberry. Together they made me think of fire and ice!

By this point, I decided I had to go to the bathroom. There was supposed to be one right near where were sitting, but I couldn’t find it! So we trekked to Morocco instead. There they had a short line to meet Jasmine, which we passed by. We also stopped to peek at Marrakesh. I had had this on my list for dinner possibilities, but had nixed it because the menu looked too adventurous for Matt and Quinn. Well, Matt took one look at the place and decided it looked awesome! Then he told me that the menu wasn’t as intimidating as he’d thought after all! Oh well, maybe next time.

Morocco is also one of the best spots for pictures!

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You just never know what you might find there.

I wasn’t done with Japan, so we headed back there so I could frolic around in their department store. Such fun! They had all sorts of crazy stuff in there, including these terrifying little guys from the movie Princess Mononoke:

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These guys seriously creeped me out when I saw the movie! They did this freaky rattling bobblehead thing and their eyes! Argh! At least they are supposed to be just be benign tree spirits.

I saw a million things that I wanted to buy at that store, but in the end I settled on some fun flavored candies to share with Quinn.

Now Quinn decided that it was his turn to use the bathroom, so we hunted down the one in Japan again, and this time we found it! We sent Quinn in alone, while we waited on a bench outside. Just after he went in this very loud, outrageously drunk guy stumbled his way past us and into the bathroom. Then he came back out, tripped and almost landed in Matt’s lap! At this point, Matt decided to go in and check on Quinn. He was just washing his hands, but he said the guy was in there “making weird noises” and talking to himself. Not our favorite moment.

We left Japan and headed for France. We ended up stuck behind this large group of drunk guys who were laughing and talking loudly about some “gang bang” they had participated in! It was only around 7pm by this point, and still broad daylight, so it’s not like we were getting into the night time crowd yet...or so I would have thought. Matt was unhappy with the tone of the crowd at this point, so we quickly sidled past them and onward.

In France we got to see my favorite topiaries from my favorite movie!

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Beauty and the Beast! Disney does such a beautiful job with these.

I also decided to treat myself to a chocolate croissant, which I had wrapped up for later.

Our feet were starting to get sore by this point, so we breezed past England, stopping just long enough for this pic:

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The Quinn-in-a-box is not happy.

It was starting to get dark when we passed Canada and we were just limping along at this point, so we didn’t go in there. Another few countries to add to our “next time” list!

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Goodnight Epcot!

My verdict? I think I will still cherish my memories of my first visit to Epcot as being the best. I would have to say that out of all the parks this trip, Epcot was probably my least favorite day. That’s probably more of a testament though to just how awesome all the parks are, because Epcot was still enjoyable, even if it isn’t my favorite anymore. I would like to go back again to see all the things I missed!

Next up...Magic Kingdom at last!
 
When we did finally get on, the bus driver we got drove almost laughably slow.

Sorry for your bus experience.....but THANK YOU for a huge lol moment that I shared with my dh. That has to be the driver we had one time. My dh made sure I exited before him (he thought I was out of ear shot and thought I would be mad if I heard) - as he exited, he told the driver that he saw a turtle pass us.....well I was not out of ear shot - but the way he said it and with how incredibly slow the trek was, I burst out laughing - as did a few others that were still within earshot. Now - I understand it is not appropriate to act this way towards anyone - sometimes something just hits the funny bone - to this day, we still throw out that quote between us.

We all enjoyed Soarin’

Glad you did ok with your motion sensitivity.

No more Kitchen Kabaret,

I have never heard of this - care to expand on what this was?

The Land Pavilion in April 1983.

I love all of your throwback photos. It certainly looks different now.

Another thing I remembered fondly were the leaping fountains. Unfortunately, we didn’t come across these this trip, although a Google search makes it looks like they should still be there. How did we miss these? I’m so sad.

Bummer - these were definitely there on our trip a few years back. We stumbled upon them.

Just as awesome is that enormous video camera some guy is holding in the background.

That is one man dedicated to catching memories!

Matt enjoyed looking excited for all his pictures!

I for one love how excited his expressions are. Too bad his arm is blocking Quinn.

Either that or I’m going, “Ahoy!”

:laughing:

Everyone takes a turn getting eaten by the shark.

I don't know how we missed this on both trips! And we spent a good portion of our time in Epcot each trip. Sigh - definitely on the list for next time. Did you and Matt get photos in the Shark?

But then the true power of Beverly takes hold and he was forced to succumb...

:rotfl:Always wanting to look happy.....then Beverly. Did they forgive you? I tricked my dh - he was only slightly miffed at me - but all was forgiven if I tried it. Well - I happen to like bitter things..so it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't go out of my way to drink it.

Verdict? All went well!

Excellent - no fun to be not feeling well with allergy issues.
 
I have never heard of this - care to expand on what this was?

Kitchen Kabaret was a little animatronic show that focused on nutrition. The stage was a kitchen and all the food items would talk and sing.

:rotfl:Always wanting to look happy.....then Beverly. Did they forgive you? I tricked my dh - he was only slightly miffed at me - but all was forgiven if I tried it. Well - I happen to like bitter things..so it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't go out of my way to drink it.

They knew something was up with Beverly. Quinn had already heard me talking about it early on, but he was game to try it anyway. Matt knew something was up when I pulled out my camera and said I had to film him drinking it! Seeing him trying to hide his reaction and then failing was hilarious. :joker: I can't imagine anyone wanting to drink this stuff voluntarily! :sad2: The Italians must be made of firm stuff. :p I think I might be miffed too though if someone tricked me into drinking it!
 
Enjoying your TR! Love your relaxed touring style. Just finished reading your AK day - I'll comment then go back and catch up. Your meeting with King Louie and Baloo - that's what Disney is all about. Love the big smiles! Touching how your DH got so excited - how fun!
 
Thanks for reading! :flower1: We tried to strike a balance between relaxing and seeing as much as we could. I did the whole touring plan thing and tried to be realistic about how and what we could fit into our day. I also made an effort to build in down time! I know that's how we usually like to do vacations and it worked for Disney too.

I think I will always treasure that King Louie and Baloo meeting! :cloud9:
 
The holidays have kept me really busy, but I'm back with more of my trip report!

Magic Kingdom! - Thursday. April 26, 2018
TP prediction: 6
Actual: 4
Miles walked: 9.9!
Weather: Sunny, mid 80’s


Quinn asked to save the best for last, and I decided that Thursday decided like a good day to hit MK, so out of the 4 main parks, we visited MK last. This was the big leagues for us now...Time to really test out our touring plan and all that Disboards advice!

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We’re here!


We got to MK right on time for rope drop and the morning show at the castle. I’ll admit that I didn’t pay too much attention to the welcome show. We weren’t sure if we were at the “right” rope drop spot and I spent most of that time trying to orient myself on the map to make sure we could get to our first destination without issue. I’d looked at that map so many times while planning, but something about being there, with the actual buildings and trees and landscaping around you, can make even the most obvious map suddenly confusing! I guess there’s only so much that planning can do for you! Some of it you just have to experience for yourself.

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Matt did manage to snap this shot while we waited.

So...what did we decide to rope drop? Were we booking it to Peter Pan? Seven Dwarves? Space Mountain? Nope. We were on our way to…

Jungle Cruise!

Jungle Cruise is Quinn’s favorite ride at MK and the one he remembers most fondly from our trip when he was five. So we decided to start our day in Adventureland.

Our wait ended up being a good 15 minutes though even though TP had estimated no more than a 5 min wait. When we got closer we saw what the hold up was. Empty boats were passing us by, leaving guests waiting on the dock, with signs on them that said, “training in progress.” Eventually though, we got our turn!

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Everybody looks happy on this boat except for the lady behind Quinn. Maybe she wasn’t impressed with the skipper’s jokes?

Last time visited, Quinn had an extra special experience on this ride.

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The skipper let him “drive” the boat!

I thought we had a great skipper and a great ride this time too.

Next up was Pirates of the Caribbean, another favorite for all of us.

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Quinn of course wore his “Dead Men Tell no Tales” shirt in honor of the occasion.

I consider Pirates to be one of the must-do’s for a Disney trip. Our wait was barely five minutes this time. When I got in the boat and saw seat was drenched I knew I was in trouble, and sure enough we all got wet! We were in the last row of our boat, so the ride photo came out terrible and you can barely see us. I don’t really understand why they do a ride photo for Pirates, honestly. It’s too dark and the boats are too big. I wish they would add a photo to Big Thunder instead!

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The new redhead scene had only recently been unveiled. I kind of like it myself!

We bought some new pirate swords at the gift shop after the ride, to replace the ones we bought back in 2013, one of which had broken. The pirate saleslady helped us “test” it first to make sure it was a sword in good working order! We also picked up a pirate coin necklace, which hopefully won’t turn my son into a skeleton in the moonlight. Matt was super impressed when I informed him that all our purchases could be delivered to the resort for us, so we wouldn’t have to carry them around!

Meanwhile I discovered that there are really nice bathrooms hidden away by this gift shop. They were themed so well that they could have picture worthy, but you’ll just have to take my word for it, because I didn’t want to break out my camera in the bathroom!

Barnstormer was next on the plan, but as we passed Seven Dwarfs, I convinced everyone to go on that next instead rather than backtrack to it later. We had fastpasses and were already within our window.

Last time we were at Disney they were building this ride. I remember wondering why they were adding another mine train roller coaster when they already had one! I was a little bit nervous for the fate of Big Thunder, my ultimate fave ride in all of WDW, but I guess I shouldn’t have worried.

Quinn was a bit nervous for this one, since he is still new to trying out roller coasters. We had Memory Maker, and I had been enjoying all trip how our pics would appear so quickly, sometimes mere minutes later, on my MDE account on my phone. I was very disappointed when our Seven Dwarfs ride pics didn’t appear and stayed MIA for the whole day. When I got home though, I filled out Disney’s missing pics form and would you believe that two hours later they e-mailed me with the missing photos? Pretty impressive service! I’m glad they found the photos because they were pretty hilarious.

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Quinn looks like he’s not quite sure what to make of the ride yet. The girl in front of him sure loves it!

As for me? Well...take a look.

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Yes, I think I screamed the whole way. What can I say? I’m a screamer.

But I loved it!

I only found out later that we were supposed to get two shots each at different angles and a video too, but by then it was too late. Oh well. The pics were pretty awesome as is.

Next up was another of my all-time fave rides...Haunted Mansion! I dearly love this ride and will never grow tired of it.

We had our next fastpass after that for Big Thunder Mountain. I had planned it so that we would be riding this right before lunch and not just after!

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We actually caught this shot from the railroad train later in the day but I thought it was real lucky that our two trains happened to crossing paths at the same time!

If you twisted my arm and made me pick just one ride to be the one and only ride I was ever allowed to ride again for all time, it would be this one. I just laugh and laugh and scream and scream the whole way. I love that it is a roller coaster with no huge drops or loops or anything crazy, it’s just wild and fast and fun, which is my kind of coaster.

After Big Thunder, it was time for lunch! After checking out all the menus months ago, I had settled on Columbia Harbor House as a good lunch choice for us. Something for all of us, nice atmosphere and not too greasy. We got a nice spot by a window upstairs where it was quiet.

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I had a tuna sandwich, which was tasty.

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Quinn had the same thing, only his came in adorable fish-shaped bread. He took out the offending vegetables though, which is why they are on the side of his plate! I think Matt got a hamburger, which I didn’t get a pic of.

After that was our last pre-scheduled fastpass of the day, Peter Pan, so we were off to Fantasyland.

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Here I am in Fantasyland with my Mom in 1983.

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It looked quite a bit different then!

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They were doing some kind of work on the carousel while were there this time.

We enjoyed Peter Pan, but I think the ride is showing its age some. This ride was under refurb when we were here in 2013, so neither Matt nor I had ridden it since we were kids.

To be continued...
 
Magic Kingdom continued...

We headed next to the Under the Sea ride, an area of the park which I somehow managed to miss completely on our last visit.


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Ariel has a pretty impressive castle!

Last time I was in this part of the park, it looked like this:

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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1990. Given the angle, I’m guessing this pic was taken from the Skyway. According to a Google search, those tents in the background are part of Mickey’s Birthdayland.

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Here is it again in ‘83. I wish I could recall more of this ride, but it’s all rather hazy now. Looks like it didn’t change at all between ‘83 and ‘90.

Speaking of Birthdayland, I found these pics:

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It’s King Louie!

And I guess you don’t see this anymore either…

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Snow White roaming free! That’s the three of us there, me and my two sisters.

So, I enjoyed the Little Mermaid ride, much better than the Nemo one at Epcot! I do love Disney’s traditional dark rides though, and this one has so much bright color and music, it’s hard not to get caught up in the fun.

This ride was our first FP of the day that wasn’t pre-scheduled, so I got to use the app for the first time to set the next one up. Everything went smoothly!

Matt and Quinn went on Barnstormer next, which I sat it out. The ride looks a bit tight and jerky to me, so I wasn’t really jumping at the chance to ride it. Their wait ended up being 30 mins, even though the sign said 15 because the ride broke down. I waited by a children’s play area. At one point, a mom lost her child and started yelling frantically. I got up to help look for her, but she was found seconds later out on the playground. That wasn’t the first time I saw someone who thought they lost a child. Later, in Tomorrowland, while we were waiting for our mobile order, I saw a mother and father with two twin girls who looked maybe aged four. They split up to get food and the dad took one of the girls, while the mom stayed with the stroller and the other girl. A few mins later, the mom glanced at the stroller, saw one seat was empty, and started screaming. It’s heart wrenching to see a mom so scared like that, I can still hear the horror in her voice when I remember it. I can only imagine how scary it must be to think you’ve lost a child at Disney. I didn’t get a chance to step up and remind her that her husband had just taken the other daughter with him, because at that moment, she appeared to remember and she calmed down. I watched the whole scene unfold in front of me.

Anyway, onto to happier thoughts! After Barnstormer we went on Dumbo. I was able to grab us another FP for this too.

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Dumbo looks very colorful and freshly painted!

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Dumbo in 1990 looked simpler, without all the doo-dads on the centerpiece. I can’t tell if there was water underneath the elephants then like there is now. And of course there was no nice “Big Top” queue line! Everyone had to wait in the hot sun.

Next, we visited the teacups. Quinn loves these spinning rides, such as the tilt-a-whirl, but I can’t stand them, so I sat this one out.

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With all that blurriness, you can just imagine how fast they are spinning!

I was hoping to get a magic shot here with Cheshire cat but there was no photopass photographer around. Boo.

We were making great time by this point in the day, so we decided to go “off the plan” and ride the train around the park just for fun. The train is more than just transportation! I was surprised that there were actually some hidden scenes buried among the greenery in the woodsy sections of the park.

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Such as this little scene.

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Seeing the Grand Floridian gave me warm fuzzies because that is where my family stayed in 1990. Quite a nice change from our previous stay at the Days Inn, wouldn’t you think?

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My Dad and two sisters in 1990. I want to say that rooms were around $300 a night then.

Next we went on the carousel with barely any wait. I guess they were repainting the exterior or something because it was all covered in scrims. They were still open for business though!

I got us a fastpass for the Speedway next. I had a bad experience on this ride during our last visit in 2013, so I almost didn’t go on it. I got a car with a steering wheel that didn’t work at all. Matt kept saying, “Oh there’s just a delay when using it,” but unless the delay was the duration of the entire ride, then no I would say that it simply didn’t work! I finally gave up and just let the rail underneath the car direct where I was supposed to go and I gave up steering all together.

I also don’t care for the gas smell, so I was glad we got fastpasses so we didn’t have to wait long at all. This time I had a much better experience because taadaa...my steering wheel actually worked! Amazing how much more fun the ride is when you can actually control it!

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We were all too busy driving to take any pics while on the ride, so this pic was taken on the PeopleMover.

To be continued...
 
Magic Kingdom continued...

Around this time we went on Pooh, but I forgot to jot that one down, so I’m not sure exactly what order it came in. I don’t recall having ever been on this ride, so it all felt new to me! We got another fastpass for it and so we basically walked right on with maybe a 5 min tops. I spent the whole time in line trying to get our next fastpass arranged but at this point the app started freezing and having some troubles. I’d get all the way to the screen where you would confirm your chosen time and it would just stall and sit there for 5-10 mins. Then when it finally unfroze, my choice had timed out. :-( This ended up happening quite a few times for the rest of the afternoon. I tried using the app with and without the wifi, tried using it in wide open spaces (not inside buildings) and it did it no matter what. So it often took several tries for me to get my chosen times. I did end up getting every fastpass we wanted though, so it all worked out.

But...back to Pooh. I had low expectations for Pooh, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It was cute and fun and I loved that our car actually “bounced” like Tigger! I was not expecting that! Afterwards they dumped you in a gift shop (of course!) where I had a few moments squeeing over a little Eyore plush with a velcro detachable tail.

I got us a fastpass for Buzz after that. I enjoy this ride even though I’m sure I’m not very good at it yet, having not had much practice!

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Matt had a grand old time controlling two guns at once!

He takes his alien blasting quite seriously, as you can see from his 2013 photo!

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Here’s a comparison between Quinn’s and my photo from 2013 vs 2018:

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We both look a little more determined in the second one!

Next up was the PeopleMover. I mean, what’s not to like about the PeopleMover?

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It’s always been one of our favorites.

Quinn was particularly excited because something very special happened on our ride this time…

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We got to see Space Mountain with the lights on!

You could hear them making announcements calling for cast members as we rode past.

I’ve never been on this ride and probably never will because the idea of riding a coaster in the dark is not at all appealing to me! I’d be way too freaked out not being able to tell what’s coming.

After this, we headed over to Cosmic Ray’s for dinner.

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We got a table in the room with Sonny. He was quite loud but entertaining. Half way through dinner though he stopped working and no one came along to fix him.

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I got pulled pork and a strawberry lemonade. The meal came with green beans, fries and cornbread, which I thought was pretty good! It was yummy. I think Matt had some kind of burger again.

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Quinn chose one of his favorite foods, a good old fashioned hot dog.

While at dinner I got us another fastpass for Thunder Mountain for around 5:30pm. I had to use the trick of snagging the first time it gave me and then modifying it - because initially it wanted to give me 8 o’clock - and that method worked wonders for us. Thank you Disboards!

After dinner Quinn and Matt decided to try Astro Orbiters. I think they both found the height a bit unnerving, but they came back unscathed. I didn’t go on this for the same reason that I don’t go on the teacups. Too much spinning!

We went on Carousel of Progress next. Other than a vague memory, I didn’t remember much from this ride at all it had been so long since I last rode it. Quinn and Matt had never been on it. We all enjoyed it quite a bit! There’s something charming and very period appropriate about a time that had such optimism for the future and for technology. Now we are all jaded and cynical! Matt was particularly impressed and commented several times on how much he enjoyed it! We all had “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” in our heads after that.

We got our second Thunder Mountain ride in and then we wandered around a bit after that, getting some photopass pics in various locations.

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The castle in 1983. I’m not sure where this picture was taken. Looks like they were also doing some kind of maintenance at the time.

Our final attraction was the Tiki Room. I love this show and I don’t care how cheesy it is! Thank goodness it’s back because I think I would have hated the new version that they had for a while. I saw a youtube clip of it and it was cringeworthy.

After this, we hunted down one of the famous Dole Whips. I’d never had one and I was pretty excited about getting to try something that tasted like ice cream without the dairy! And in a unique flavor to boot! For the longest time, my local grocery store only carried lactose free ice cream in chocolate and vanilla, so getting to have any other flavor felt like a real treat!

Thanks to mobile order we again got to skip the line and got our Dole Whips in record time. Quinn didn’t care for his! I guess he’s not a fan of pineapple. I loved mine, although I wish they had other citrus flavors for variety.

At this point, it was getting dark and we needed to decide if we were going to stay for the nighttime show. I had never seen any of Magic Kingdom’s shows, but I also found myself dragging my feet. Large crowds make Matt anxious and I just hate being unable to see in large crowds, so I ended up procrastinating until the last minute, perhaps in an attempt to keep myself from being disappointed if I ended up having a bad experience. They had started making announcements and Matt decided that he really wanted to give it a try, so that pushed me into going!

We managed to slowly work our way through the crowd until we found a decent spot in the hub. It felt pretty crowded to me but not outrageously so. Then again, it did end up being a level 4 day, so most people probably don’t get a hub spot 10 minutes before the show like we did!

Quinn could barely see anything so he started getting upset, so once the show started Matt tried to hoist him up under the arms for as long as he could. I was actually able to see better than I would have thought, given that I am 5’0” which means average 7th graders are usually taller than me. I did get stuck trying to sway back and forth behind some lady who decided to hold up her phone directly above her head and video the entire show. Why do people do this? I’ll admit that I was secretly pleased when her phone ran out of storage space and shut down about half way through.

Matt managed to snag a few pics.

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The crowd in front of us.

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The show!

We got to see Tinkerbell make her flight, which I was happy about. All in all I’m glad I got to see the show, but I loved the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular even more! Maybe I’m just too big a Star Wars fan. ;-) I just didn’t “get” this show I’m afraid. It felt cluttered and confusing, and I didn’t even realize there was supposed to be a story until someone else explained it on these boards after we got back. Still, the projections are impressive and worth seeing even if just for the wow factor.

After the show everyone started a mass exodus, except for us...I decided then that I absolutely couldn’t leave without getting a Beast plush that I had seen earlier that day. So we had to make the long slog all the way to the back of the park! My husband must really love me because he never complained!. ;-P

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He was worth it, don’t you think? I mean, just look at that face. Aww. Everytime I see him sitting on the bureau it makes me smile.

On the way there we stopped to take a few more pics.

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Matt making a gargoyle face. Guess I have my very own Beast already, ha ha. Earlier we had tried to get a pic of the gargoyles by Be Our Guest, but they were only letting people who had reservations onto the bridge, so we couldn't. But after the show, all was quiet and empty!

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This section of the park was almost deserted.

As we were leaving another nighttime show started. Somehow, in all my research, I’d never found mention of another nighttime show, so I was surprised. I liked this one a lot, even though it was on a smaller scale, maybe because it featured more movies that I was familiar with, including Beauty and the Beast. We also got some last minute photopass pics in front of the castle, but they didn’t come out all that great.

Verdict? I’d say we had a successful day!

Even though our main park days were done, our vacation wasn’t over yet! The next day was Typhoon Lagoon!
 

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