Club Level annnnnd No Kids; An August 2018 10th Anniversary Trip Report-Completed 12/28

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Glad to hear you liked your dinner. I would like to try it some time. The food looks good in your pictures. I have to say that I don't think the Chicharron are made with flour...

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Looking forward to your review of Keys to the Kingdom. I have never done a tour, but that one is at the top of my list.

 

[tbholc81]

Glad to hear you liked your dinner. I would like to try it some time. The food looks good in your pictures. I have to say that I don't think the Chicharron are made with flour...

Haha you are right. Real ones are made from pork skin, these definielty were not. So they are not authentic, and are some sort of fried dough, not entirely sure what though.

 

[tbholc81]

Looking forward to your review of Keys to the Kingdom. I have never done a tour, but that one is at the top of my list.

It was great, I'll tell a little bit about it but I don't want to give too many spoilers. Also I don't have many pictures because lots of the tour is backstage.

 

[tbholc81]

Chapter Four: Underground and Rethinking Slinky Dog​

Today is a big day, it's our Keys to the Kingdom Tour day! We had never done any tour here to this was really exciting for us. Our plan for the day was the Tour all morning then Hollywood Studios for the rest of the day.

Fastpasses:
- Toy Story Mania 3:45-4:45
- Rockin Roller Coaster 4:45-5:55
- StarTours 6:25-7:25

No ADRs today, we plan on using the lounge as much as possible. We knew that we would have to wait in line for Slinky Dog but we are ok with that. We were also hoping that we would stay for the Star Wars Fireworks. Let's see how it went!

We got up nice and early, about 6:10. Our tour was at 8 so we wanted to leave plenty of time to get over there. We had decided that we were going to take the boat from WL over to CR and then walk to MK. It's also a EMM day so we thought there would be some crowds.

The resort was nice and peaceful at this hour.

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We asked a lot of CM about the boat schedule to make sure that we could get to CR around 7. It was no problem boats were running with plenty of time to spare, and Bay Lake was beautiful this early.

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Heading over on the boat, someone was pretty excited.

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Once we were at CR I had to get a donut!

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We got to MK at about 7:30, so plenty of time to spare. They let people in at about 7:45 and we went right over to where we meet for the tour.

Hey wait this wasn't here the other day....

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It seemed a little early to us for Halloween, but I guess there was a party coming up around the 15th. We checked in for our tour and got out earpieces, made our lunch selections and the tour started promptly at 8 with our guide Marco. I won't give away too much about the tour for people who want to be surprised.

We did get our name tags and a pouch that carries the audio device too.

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And we were off! The tour goes down Main Street with lots of information about the park etc... Then off to a backstage area. There was a lot of good info backstage about some of the operations of rides, the parades, how they handle all the garbage.

Our tour had lunch at Pecos Bills. Not our favorite, but it was included with the tour and all in all not to bad. In addition to the entree we ordered earlier there was a spread of chips, salsa, guacamole, sour cream etc....

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I had a salad and Deb had something similar. Neither one of us wanted to over eat because we knew that we had a lot of walking to do through the afternoon.

We also got our key here too, which was a nice touch.

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With full bellies we set out for the afternoon!

 

[ariane37]

Enjoying all your WL pics, can't wait to be back next month!
Glad your San Angel dinner was good. We've eaten there once and the food was fine, however DH wasn't thrilled with how close the tables are to each other. Earlier this year we tried La Hacienda and while most people prefer it to San Angel, we did not! I'd try San Angel again.
We've done KTTK! We've done 3 tours so far and Keys is my 2nd favorite, lots of walking but so fun and informative! A great addition to a kid free trip

 

[suse66]

The good new was that the server was super quick and we are done eating at 8:55. We booth really like the food and the experience there. It's a definite do again for us on a future trip. We head outside quickly stop and grab some Mickey Bars just as Illuminations is starting. We decide that we just want to see the first part. So we eat our ice cream and watch maybe the first 7 minutes then head to the bus. We figured we could beat the crowds and get back to the CL Lounge for some drinks before bed.

Your meal looks great! It's so nice to hear a positive review of San Angel!

We got to MK at about 7:30, so plenty of time to spare. They let people in at about 7:45 and we went right over to where we meet for the tour.

OH my gosh! So fun to do this tour!

And we were off! The tour goes down Main Street with lots of information about the park etc... Then off to a backstage area. There was a lot of good info backstage about some of the operations of rides, the parades, how they handle all the garbage.

Our tour had lunch at Pecos Bills. Not our favorite, but it was included with the tour and all in all not to bad. In addition to the entree we ordered earlier there was a spread of chips, salsa, guacamole, sour cream etc....

We are definitely doing the tour on our anniversary trip. Your lunch looks yummy!

 

[tbholc81]

Enjoying all your WL pics, can't wait to be back next month!
Glad your San Angel dinner was good. We've eaten there once and the food was fine, however DH wasn't thrilled with how close the tables are to each other. Earlier this year we tried La Hacienda and while most people prefer it to San Angel, we did not! I'd try San Angel again.
We've done KTTK! We've done 3 tours so far and Keys is my 2nd favorite, lots of walking but so fun and informative! A great addition to a kid free trip

Thanks, I was really on the fence about going there after all the reviews that I read on these boards, but we like most food and thought this was really good. It really wasn't crowded I think because they were closing, so we really didn't notice how close the table were to each other.

What was your favorite tour?

 

[tbholc81]

We are definitely doing the tour on our anniversary trip. Your lunch looks yummy!

I recommend doing it. Lunch was pretty good, I think they move lunch around every no and then. We have heard of the tour getting lunch at Pecos Bill, Columbia House, and Tomorrowland Terrace.

 

[tbholc81]

Our afternoon was what we were waiting for the whole day. A trip into the Utilidors. We finished up lunch, went through Liberty square and got some neat info. We were reminded many times that there were no pictures allowed underground and that we had to keep our cell phones in our pockets. On our way over to the Utilidors we ran in to Peter Pan.

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He chatted with us for a few minutes then went on his way.

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Then we went underground. It was really cool! I thought we would have only been in there for a few minutes but this is what the most of the second half of the tour was. Lots of really great information and a glimpse backstage. Amazing everything that goes into running the park and all the little ins and outs. So we came back above ground right at the end of the tour and walked back to the Town Hall.

I did leave out a few things about the tour so people can be surprised by it if they want. We did get on a couple rides and there was some really awesome information about the rides Marco shared with us before we rode them.

Deb wanted a picture with Marco.

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He was a pretty good guide, he seemed a little nervous at first but got a little looser as the day went by.

Overall we loved the tour, and want to do another one, not sure which on yet though. From there we walked around the front of the park for a few quick minutes. Got some more Halloween pictures.

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We left the park and went back to WL for a few minutes. We had a busy afternoon in front of us and this little guy was waiting for us back in our room.

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I think we just grabbed a snack and some waters. We left for Hollywood Studios at about 2:20.

Here's a glimpse of what's coming next!



Come on back and see if we make it all the way to the fireworks!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Once we were at CR I had to get a donut!

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I love the shirt you're wearing! Is this something you got a Disney? I've never seen one like it.

 

[tbholc81]

I love the shirt you're wearing! Is this something you got a Disney? I've never seen one like it.

Thanks! My wife got them for the whole family. We each have a different color. I’m not sure where she got them, pretty sure it was an online vendor.

 

[tbholc81]

Moving right along, we left WL at 2:20 for HS. Bus doesn't take long at all, and we are walking into HS at 3:00. As soon as we get in The March of the First Order is coming through, so we have to watch that!

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We've never caught it from the front of the park, and we got this awesome shot after they went by.

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Our first FP isn't until 3:35 and goes until 4:30 so we had a little time to kill. Indiana Jones had a show about to start at 3:15 and I hadn't been in thier since High School. Deb said she didn't remember ever seeing the show, so why not? We went right in and sat down in the front to the left. Not the best seats but whatever..

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Really good show still, although over to the side a lot of the show lost its effects because of the angles. So during fight scenes and etc... we could clearly see they were not even close to hitting each other. Still a lot of fun though.

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From there we grabbed this photo then headed over to Toy Story Land.

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This was yet another part of the trip we were looking forward to for obvious reasons. Our glitch was that we didn't get a FP for Slinky Dog, thinking that we had to choose between that and Toy Story Mania. We picked the wrong one, but oh well.

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That's about where the line for Slinky Dog ended, so it was upwards of a 90 minute wait. The forecast was also starting to look bleak for the evening. Either way on to TSMM we went, right at 4:30.

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I love the que for this ride even from the FP side. Deb got a picture with the Wild Card.

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It's not as crowded in there as we thought it would be.

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And we are ready to go! Game On!

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[tbholc81]

The Good News! I didn't win! I never do. Oh Well.

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Deb saw her photo op wall on the way out, so we got a picture there.

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From there we milled around TSL for a little while. Deb decided that she didn't want to go on RRC, which is fine I didn't want to walk all the way over there. I won't ride it, I'm not into coasters, I've been on it once and that was enough for me. So we got a few more pictures.

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I think those were actually both on the way off the ride. But Slinky Dog went by.

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The line was still over an hour, skies were looking more threatening so we didn't chance waiting.

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Woody and Jesse walked by, the line to meet them was long as well. We'll meet them when we bring the kids I'm sure.

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What to do next? Our FP for Star Tours isn't till 6:30 and now it's starting to thunder. We decided to head into One Man's Dream, which we hadn't been in before. This was nice to do as adults as well because I could actually read everything in there instead of chase kids around.

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And see Deb's dream Lego Set.

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Next post, we'll finish up One Man's Dream and the rest of the evening. Will we make it to the fireworks? Will we ride Slinky Dog?

Come back and see!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Woody and Jesse walked by, the line to meet them was long as well. We'll meet them when we bring the kids I'm sure.

Yep, I never saw that line was always long, and right out in the blazing sun.

We decided to head into One Man's Dream, which we hadn't been in before. This was nice to do as adults as well because I could actually read everything in there instead of chase kids around.

I did this for the first time in August too, just me and DD. Did you know you can ask to become a Disney Historian? They give you a few questions to answer, then you sign a guest book and get a certificate.
I'll eventually get a picture of the certificates into my trip report.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

What to do next? Our FP for Star Tours isn't till 6:30 and now it's starting to thunder. We decided to head into One Man's Dream, which we hadn't been in before. This was nice to do as adults as well because I could actually read everything in there instead of chase kids around.

This is one thing, I wish we had done when we came by ourselves. It is really interesting in there but not when you have a kid whining and asking if we can go a million times.

 

[tbholc81]

Yep, I never saw that line was always long, and right out in the blazing sun.

Yea it was super hot in there, amazing they didn't put any shade, but I guess to give it a real "backyard and your a toy" feel they couldn't have trees anywhere.

This is one thing, I wish we had done when we came by ourselves. It is really interesting in there but not when you have a kid whining and asking if we can go a million times.

It was neat, lots of good information. We didn't go into the show though, maybe next time.

 

[tbholc81]

Moving Along, Deb told me that I had to finish this report before we go next weekend for Wine and Dine. I don't know if I'll make it but we'll see. Hopefully I can get a couple updates done today.

We finished up at One Man's Dream by looking at the Star Wars display.

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I can't wait for this to open, but then again neither can about a million other people. We decided to skip the show part for now and see what the weather is doing outside. Still looked like it was about to storm so we walked over to Launch Bay. We grabbed a pretzel on the way.

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Meh, it was not so great. Oh well. It was only a 5 minute wait for BB8 so we met him.

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We also missed our Visa meet time for Kylo Ren (closed like 30 minutes before we got there) so we had to wait in the normal line for him, it was still only 5 minutes so no big deal.

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He's practically invisible in this picture. He's a great meet though, I'm usually more prepared with a alliance or resistance shirt on, but not today.

When we were done it was getting close to our Star Tours FP time, sort of. Now it started to rain though so we wanted to find some cover. We searched our phones for some ideas and then headed over to the Baseline Tap House. This was perfect except for the lack of indoor seating. But we got lucky and someone leaves as soon as we ordered. I got a beer and Deb decided to get another pretzel. Except this time it was a real pretzel, best we've had at WDW.

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I'd recommend this place for a nice snack and sit down. We could also see Star Tours from where we were sitting. But we definitely weren't going anywhere.

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This might be the hardest it rained all trip. SD was closed so we were thinking if we could get back there when the rain stopped we could get a shorter line. In the meantime I ran over to Star Tours to us my FP, which was barley necessary, there was no wait for the stand by line. I can't remember our scenarios, I usually write them down. Oh well, the rain was done when I got off and we went back to check TSL. SD was still over an hour wait.

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and it wasn't running yet. So what to do? We decided to get a quick dinner at Andy's Lunchbox. Deb got the grilled cheese and I got the brisket, then we took it to eat at the ABC Commissary. This was the most disappointing meal of the entire trip. In fact it was awful, I didn't even take pictures. So much potential with that menu but awfully executed. Oh well. It was still early but we are spent on this park, Deb has no desire to stay for the fireworks. We decide our best course of action is to come back at Rope Drop tomorrow and get on SD. We shopped a little on the way out, and got back to the bus stop at 7:33. The bus came at 7:45 and were soon back at WL. We went to the lounge for our desserts and coffees.

Dessert is much better tonight!

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Pretty sure I had two! Then we went back to our room to watch the fireworks. It was a little weird without the music, so we kept guessing what part of the show it was.

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A great view! We went to sleep after, with an early morning coming up!

Comeback to see what happens on our last full day!

 

[tbholc81]

Chapter Five: How to Split Your Day Three Ways​

Well the first goal of this day was to ride Slinky Dog, and this post will be dedicated to strictly that. For some reason we took a ton of pictures in line, and there aren't a lot of stories to go along with it.

We also have other plans, FPs and ADRs later in the day but I'll post all of them when we are done with TSL.

We got up early, early, early. Alarm went off at 6am. It was super quiet in the lobby.

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No time for breakfast! EMH were scheduled for 7 and we knew they let people in before that. Wen were on a bus at 6:30 and got to HS shortly after. We walked through the gates,

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right back to SDD and were in line at 6:55. It was posted about a 30 min wait. Perfect!

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The sun was barely up.

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We liked how they made a game out of the set up, like Andy built it. Well done!

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All the games added a nice touch.

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Here he comes!

We got on right at 7:19, so the wait was very doable. The ride was fun, not sure it would be worth an hour plus wait. I liked the launches, and I thought it was really smooth. ​

More TSL coming up!

 

[tbholc81]

Quickly enough the ride was over. Here's a couple more pictures, one from the very start and the other at the end.

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We got off and figured we could go on Alien Saucers and Toy Story Mania before he head back to WL. So over to Alien Saucers we went, there was no wait.

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Ok did it once, it's the same ride as the Mater's Junkyard one in California Adventure. The kids will like it I bet.

We grabbed a couple shots of Star Wars Land as we passed by.

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It's coming along for sure. I'm curious to see how they separate the two lands. I feel like it will ruin some of the illusion of TSL if you can see all the Star Wars stuff. On our Keys to the Kingdom tour Marco talked a lot about how Walt thought about the transitions between lands, so I hope someone thought about that when they designed the transition for these two lands. We'll see I guess.

Why not grab another picture of Slinky Dog.

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Then we went over to TSM. Short wait we got in line at 7:35 and were done by 8.

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Deb got one with an army guy.

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Now the crowds are definitely starting to build. Time for us to head back to WL, but wait we never got breakfast.

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Problem solved with a Doughnut.

We went out to the bus and waited FOREVER. It was tough going to wrong way that early in the morning, and it was getting hot. We waited at least 30 minutes for a bus. We didn't get back to our room until 9:15. It was time for our showers and some CLub Level breakfast.

The rest if the day NEXT!