Hindsight is 2020 - A VERY late trip report (NYE and Feb/March cruise) - Updated 8/27-Off the cruise and a VIP Tour!

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a cool day in Cozumel and a nice night back on the ship! Watching the fireworks from your room must have been so nice!

I’m sorry you didn’t get to do the excursion the next day and that this day wasn’t the best for you!

Zip lining and tubing sounded like it was a lot of fun for you! And it’s always great to have fun and entertaining guides!

Your Mandalorian costume was awesome!! Sounds like a really great time!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Love your TRs Lesley and enjoying this one as per usual! The ziplining looks fun and food yummy.

Thanks! It was fun!

Wow your costume is amazing, you look great!

Thanks again! I was happy to put it together.

Sounds like a cool day in Cozumel and a nice night back on the ship! Watching the fireworks from your room must have been so nice!

I’m sorry you didn’t get to do the excursion the next day and that this day wasn’t the best for you!

Zip lining and tubing sounded like it was a lot of fun for you! And it’s always great to have fun and entertaining guides!

Your Mandalorian costume was awesome!! Sounds like a really great time!

Cozumel was nice, but I loved Jamaica. Maybe one day I'll get back to Grand Cayman and snorkle! Fireworks were great from my verandah!

 

[Lesley Wake]

SWDAS Part 2: Trivia and Summon the Force!

I had a few hours before my next thing, so I think I changed and chilled at the pool. I’m also pretty sure I finally rode the Aquaduck! For several days it had been too windy so they said you had to have multiple people to ride (though I prob could have been allowed as I weigh more than two kids riding). But this day it also wasn’t too much of a wait. The actual slide was pretty fun. But getting out at the end I sort of jerked my knee and it got caught between the tube and the wall, so it twisted awkwardly. Nothing too bad, but it was sore for a while!

Anyways, I headed downstairs, and had an outfit change! I bought this dress a year earlier particularly for this cruise, lol! (I had been eying it for years when it was sold in stores but never went for it. But then I found someone on ebay selling it in my size, so I took it as a sign. I’d wear it more into the Disney parks, but unlike the Dress Shop dresses, there aren’t any pockets.)

And then I headed to the Superfan Challenge in The Tube.

It’s done in 4 rounds. First, everyone can pick up a clicker and it’s a multiple choice 10-question quiz. Scored by correct answer and fastest, and the top 10 people move on. Well… to my surprise I made it into the top 10! And I was the only girl, which was exciting! (I quickly handed my phone to a lady sitting nearby and she took some photos for me)

Second round – group of 10 and it’s a whiteboard question/answer. The goal is to get it down to 4 people, so they eliminate the people who give wrong answers. At one question only 3 people got it right, so all of them moved on and the remaining three people (including me) had to compete for the last spot. Of course they asked a question which I knew the answer to before the guy finished the question, so it was funny how everyone realized I was going to win (the other guys didn’t know the answer). (FYI – it was asking the name of the red mineral planet… Crait.) So I was onto Round 3!

No photos from Round 3 (I think the lady may have taken some of her own photos and I swear she texted them to me, but I couldn’t find them anymore). The other entertainment CM (a young lady) was excited when she realized it was the lone girl who moved onto Round 3! The four of us went up on stage where we each had a lightsaber to “buzz” in to answer. First two people to 4 points move on. And I ended up being the second person to move on! I think they asked several female character questions, which I knew, and also some where I had been reminded of the answer that very day, but I was still excited!

Final round – they put 10 character photos up on screen and you had to identify the names. Some pretty easy, but some hard (like one of the Senate aides in Phantom Menace). I think I ended up scoring 6, but the other guy scored 7, so I came in second place! It was still very cool to come in second though, and I got lots of compliments! I don’t have a photo but someone from our facebook group videoed it so I tried to take a grainy screenshot.

Me and the actual winner (prize was one of the SWDAS pins…which I actually already had bought at the store earlier that week).

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Ok, onto dinner. (I was a bit late as we were still finishing trivia, which made it fun as I walked through the restaurant with bunches of people saying congrats!) It was back in Enchanted Garden, but with the Star Wars menu

Bread – marbled bread with red pepper dip.

Baby Yoda joined us at the table!

Appetizers – I got the Padme Amidale Souffle (double baked cheddar cheese souffle with an apple compote), and the Bantha Steak Empanadas (finely chopped beef wrapped in a flaky crust served with Chimichurri Sauce).

Baby Yoda tried to steal an empanada.

Entrée, I got Qui-Gon’s Crisp Chicken (with force crushed potatoes, buttered green beans, biscuit and smoked bacon sauce). I considered the Lord Vader’s Nerf Steak, but had eaten several steak dishes already this trip, so I went with the chicken.

For dessert, of course I had to get the Han Solo’s Frozen Carbonite Sundae (vanilla and dulce de leche ice cream with caramel popcorn and whipped cream).

It was all very good and lots of fun options on the menu!

Back in the room, some Castaway Cay map and tip envelopes ready.

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

But I had to make yet another outfit change for the day (in reality I own so much Star Wars stuff I could wear different shirts every day of the cruise lol)! This time into an Ewok shirt I’ve had for years but rarely get to wear (it was too small so we had to cut down the side and make it bigger)

Up on deck for Summon the Force stage show! I was lucky to find a good spot – upper deck almost center (I think I was actually second row but stood behind a kid so I had a clear view).

The show itself is sort of a Star Wars clip show? But lots of character appearances.

Gotta start with the main man – Darth Vader and stormtroopers.

Then Ezra showed up to battle Seventh Sister (both from Rebels)

But something hilarious happened when Ezra’s lightsaber broke off! If you don’t know this character, his lightsaber actually is a dual lightsaber/gun so it’s too bad he couldn’t make that work, but he continued to do the motions as if it was a full saber! It was still pretty funny!

Sabine does show up to help him out, though the smoke was pretty thick so you couldn’t see her that well.

Then Ashoka also comes in to show off her dual sabers!

Jawas come through to see if anything is worth trading

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Then a cool effect when Boba “drops in”.

Next, C-3PO and R2-D2. Who are overcome with Jawas and Tusken Raiders.

Chewie shows up to save the day!

Lots of video clips show up during the show, though I don’t think Darth Maul actually makes an appearance

Captain Phasma does show up though, along with her troopers.

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Of course they make way for Kylo Ren.

Until Rey shows up to stand up for the Light Side.

Finale with all the characters

Which leads into the fireworks.

Overall a fun show, good for Star Wars fans.

Of course after the show, it was time to eat at the Star Wars buffet! While there was a line up at the entrance I skipped that and went directly to the crepe station in the center (at the start were turkey legs, tacos, etc). I ended up getting two with some chocolate shavings, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.

And an interesting story – throughout the day (and actually cruise) I kept crossing paths with this group of late 20s guys. Definitely SW fanboys. They did the quote trivia that morning but didn’t win. And then also did the Superfan challenge; one made it up to the top 10, but he gave a stupid answer to a question and was quickly eliminated. I guess they were annoyed that he didn’t make it on as they thought they could beat the rest of us. And they continued to complain about it to their group… I don’t know if they saw me sitting there in earshot, but whatever. Hey – I made it to the final 2… none of them did. Yup, girls can be better than them (I have no idea if they were the type that thought girls weren’t true fans, but I know enough about SW fanboys that I could guess they may fall in that group).

Anyways, a fun, busy day at sea! So many things to do and you definitely can’t fit it all in! That also is a negative about this itinerary – you only have 2 days at sea and one ends up being all SW so you only get 1 relax day. I think on the Eastern Carribean you only do 2 port days so have an extra day at sea. I think I would like the southern carribean itinerary since you get more sea days (or maybe even a panama canal one) but would need friends to go with me!

Coming up – Castaway Cay​

 

[LifeTheDisneyWay14]

Anyways, time for Sail Away party. I did stop on Deck 11, but it was pretty crowded, so I ended up going up to Deck 12 and watching from there. My mom did watch on the port cam, but she couldn’t identify me. (postscript - I need to go back into her computer because I actually just watched the video she took on her phone and I was in it!)

I had late dining and was hungry, so I stopped at Tow-Mater’s Grill for some chicken tenders, and my first ice cream, a vanilla/chocolate swirl.

After chilling for a bit, it was time for A Fantasy Come True. This show was…interesting. A bit too corny for me, but fun production value. I watched from up in the balcony.

Time for dinner, at Animator’s Palate. I was pretty excited to get to dinner and see who my tablemates were. I also got all dressed up (I didn’t end up taking a photo, but wore the same dress as when I went to Takumi Tei). And I show up in the restaurant and am escorted to Table 115… set for 1.

Ok, I’m not going to lie, I was crushed. I knew I was on a solo cruise, but I had hoped to have some company at dinner, and now it was looking like I was just going to be alone for 7-days straight. After a couple minutes it just hit me that I was truly alone on this ship. And with no internet, I also felt disconnected from the rest of the world. I am thankful that imessages work on the ship so I was able to complain/vent/cry to my friends and family. But anyways, back at dinner, I tried to hold it in, but I knew I was about to breakdown and so before I even ordered, I rushed back to my room to get upset.

It took me about 30 minutes (and sitting outside on my verandah in the night air) to finally center myself. And I knew I did want to experience Animator’s Palate, plus get dinner. So, I sucked it up, cleaned off the tears, and headed back to the restaurant. I did end up talking to my head server and tried to explain (without getting upset) that I didn’t want to eat alone. He was very understanding; while they couldn’t do anything that night since most people were already eating, they would move me to another table the next day.

So, anyways, I went ahead and sat down. I felt bad because I couldn’t hide being upset, so my servers were worried. But I tried to just eat, and keep to myself…

Everything I ate was very good. Garlic and Herb Foccacia as the bread service. Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes (pasta purses filled with truffle-scented cheese and coated with a delicate champagne sauce). Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin (served on wasabi mashed potatoes (I substituted regular mashed potatoes) with bok choy and a tamarind bbq reduction).

I did also like the screens and atmosphere. Crush came into my area but didn’t talk to me.

For dessert, rather than go with one of the AP options I requested a Gran Marnier Souffle from Royal Court (on the Fantasy the two share a kitchen), which was happily granted and very delicious!

So, obviously dinner was a wash. Food was great and servers were attentive (though I barely remember what they looked like, let alone their names). But I just wasn’t feeling it and worried cruising solo was a big mistake.

Another miscellaneous ship photo – I did love the stair artwork

First towel/blanket animal.

And to bed.. in that paradise that is the DCL beds (those are like big fluffy pillows).

Coming up – A chill day at sea​

Aw I’m sorry! We aren’t cruise people, but if you’re ever at WDW at the same time as us you’re definitely so welcome to join us at meals! I hope the rest of the nights turned out better (I’ll keep reading).

 

[Lesley Wake]

Aw I’m sorry! We aren’t cruise people, but if you’re ever at WDW at the same time as us you’re definitely so welcome to join us at meals! I hope the rest of the nights turned out better (I’ll keep reading).

Aww, thanks! Normally I am ok eating alone, just being on the ship cut off from internet was a bit much! It definitely got better though!

 

[Lesley Wake]

(This installment was supposed to be in 2 parts but I'm trying to bang out the rest of this TR quickly!)

Day 13 – March 6, 2020
Rained out at Castaway Cay

Today was Castaway Cay day, yay! Always love that place!

While I would normally sleep in I happened to wake up at 7:30am as we were approaching the island so I made sure to take photos and video!

While I know a lot of people rush off the ship, I like to relax, so I went to bed for a couple more hours and then had a leisurely breakfast in Cabanas as well as a view of the island.

I liked the sand art castle, though they need to add Shanghai and update the one for Hong Kong!

Also the tile murals are so pretty

The best views of the island from up there!

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Bob Chapek, Master Ship Builder. Captain Bob Iger. Wonder if these will change soon?

Off the ship. Unfortunately due to weather all of the tours were cancelled. (This was the second time I went to Castaway Cay and second time all tours were cancelled.)

Lovely view of the ship

Baby Yoda came for some R&R

I hopped on the tram rather than walk to the beach. (Oh and I heard recently the voice of the trams on Castaway passed away, which is so sad since his voice has become iconic)

It was already pretty windy!

And I hopped over to Serenity Bay. It was peaceful, though the winter storms had made the beach not too nice. I originally sat over on the west side, but part had been coned off due to debris and there wasn’t the best smell… so I headed over to the east side. I think because the ship wasn’t too full (due to pandemic cancellations) there was still plenty of seating available.

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

I ended up renting a tube and floated down the beach a couple times (starting at one end of the swimming area and the currents just pushed me down to the other end, where I would get off, walk back to the start, and repeat).

I was thankful when I happened upon an empty hammock (I think when I was going to check food), so I quickly grabbed it. Me and Baby had some great relaxation time there!

Lunch – love the steak and bbq at the adult beach. Though the smoke from the grills was pretty insane!

After lunch some nasty clouds started rolling in. There was a band playing at the bar behind the hammock but they had to do an emergency pack-up.

And so did I when it started pouring rain! I wasn’t too worried about getting wet, but I didn’t want my stuff to also get soaked. I didn’t know how long the storm would last so I ended up hopping on the tram back to the main area. It just got worse on the tram!

It was more than a little chaotic at the main beach tram spot. The shelter there was pretty full of people from the family beach trying to get the next tram to the ship. But then suddenly a tram full of adults also hops off and we have nowhere to go, so end up being at the front of the group when the next boat tram shows up, so we accidentally took most of spots. I would have given up my spot to a family person but didn’t realize the whole situation until I was crammed into the tram itself.

Back at the ship there was a long line to get on board; the line at the bow of the ship was shorter but my room was at the aft, so I just wanted to get on that way… You can see an idea of the line, which I took from my room after I got back on board! Though when I was stuck in it, it was at least 2-3x as long.

So, from speaking to my german tablemates, they ended up taking shelter in a shop on Castaway during the big storm. Then by the time it blew through so many people had left it was like they had the beach to themselves! Definitely the better way to handle things!​

 

[Lesley Wake]

In my room I cleaned up and changed before heading upstairs. Stopped at Sweet On You where I ended up with a brownie batter ice cream.

Baby tried to share Mickey and Minnie’s shake.

And some other snacks, which I ate while overlooking castaway cay and reading my kindle.

Later that afternoon I wandered through the atrium where I stumbled upon the final character meet and greets.

Goofy waving from the balcony.

Donald and Stitch down below

Daisy and Donald re-enacting Romeo and Juliet! The air hearts was just so cute!

And then I looked to my side and there was Mickey!

I took advantage to get some photos with him and Director Minnie without any lines!

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Over to Walt Disney Theatre for the final show. I think I watched the other 2 shows on the balcony but this time I sat down in the “orchestra”. I think this was the Disney’s Believe show, which was about a dad learning to embrace imagination for his daughter. It was cute, though hard to convince my brain the adults were little kids!

I did briefly stop into the skyline lounge, though there were people there so I didn’t want to take too many photos.

Dinner, Royal Court with the Captain Gala’s Dinner Menu. If they had the grand marnier souffle, this would be my favorite!

Two appetizers today – Aged Prosciutto and lightly breaded eggplant.

For dinner, of course the lobster tail! And our servers gave us the advice of pre-ordering a second lobster tail, which I gladly did!

Dessert, chocolate lava cake.

I gave my tip envelopes and said goodbye to the serving team and tablemates as I wasn’t coming for breakfast the next day. (Funny thing was my tablemates asked me for advice about tipping, as neither of their cultures tip much. Personally, I usually double it.)

I also was tipping my servers from the first night so I had to walk around the restaurant to find them, and might as well take photos of the gorgeous restaurant after other diners had left and the servers were prepping the tables for breakfast.

Back in the room, an elephant towel animal and luggage tags, though I didn’t use them as I was doing express walk-off.

And final packing for debarkation tomorrow morning.

Coming up – Some special pixie dust at WDW​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 14 – March 7, 2020
Part 1: Returning to WDW, with plenty of pixie dust!

Debarkation day. Original plan was to take the DCL transport back to WDW and I had booked that. But a little bit before the trip I was invited on something fun so I wanted to get back ASAP! I ended up grabbing a quick breakfast at Cabanas and then did express embarkation, where you walk your own bags off the boat.

(I ended up waiting in line in the hallway by Royal Court, outside of the windows by my seating area so while I was waiting I saw Antoinette, my server, waving at me from the window, which was hilarious!)

Quickly off the ship and through border control. Then outside where I just grabbed the first cab I found. (I should have really pre-scheduled transport.) But I was on my way back to WDW!

First stop was at AKL where I dropped off my suitcases and then I quickly ubered over to DHS.

You see, my friend, @chunkymonkey had invited me on a VIP tour, provided my our lovely friend “chunkydust”! She had given our EPIC group of girls in May 2019 a VIP tour and then when Su-Lynn and Steve decided to come down to WDW when I was there, they ended up scheduling another one!

The group (which also included Jenny Sanders and another disfriend Lindsay, and their spouses) had gotten to DHS before it opened and grabbed a Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group (I knew I wouldn’t be there for that due to the cruise timing). Initially we hoped I would be able to arrive at DHS before their BG was called, but by the time I arrived they were already in the queue. So the plan was to meet them afterwards.

I was starving, so quick detour to grab a pretzel.

And I went to wait outside the Millenium Falcon as the group planned on doing that next, so I figured I would just chill for a bit..

…but then… I had an idea. Su-Lynn said the line in Rise was pretty slow and they had been paused for a while outside the merge room/briefing entrance. Hmm.. I wonder…

So I booked it over to the entrance to Rise and basically explained it to the CMs working the front: My friends were on a VIP tour inside the queue and I was meeting up with them to join the tour. But I had been on a cruise until that morning (I happened to still be wearing my cruise lanyard by habit over the past week). They were about to enter the briefing room. Was there any way I could join? They first said, unfortunately no, not unexpected. But called over a team lead. I may have name-checked a CM or two who work on that attraction (but were not working then). And then the lead was like – follow me.

Of course as I’m texting with Su-lynn the line gets moving again. So suddenly they are in the briefing room. Then waiting to board the ITS. And as I followed the CM, they had just boarded and doors were closed. Oh.

But the CM walks me down the CM pathway straight to the ITS loading area. He lets me board the next one and was quickly captured by the First Order. Quickly through the hanger bay, and I made it into the interrogation area right before my group was placed in their cell! Baby Yoda in tow!

It really was crazy! I was able to sidestep so much of the queue without even a BG. But I think because I was polite and didn’t expect anything (just pleaded with them), they let me on! Actually our guide, Jon, had gone to the front to see if he could collect me in time, but I had already been walked back by the team lead. Just so much pixie dust then!​

 

[Lesley Wake]

After escaping the first order, Baby Yoda was recruited to be a smuggler. (There was a snafu when Su-Lynn and I had really wanted to be pilots, so Jon had tried to split our group into 6 & 4. But the CMs put us with a group of 2 who had already been given pilot cards, so instead we were gunners. Oh well… He felt really bad when we told him, but at least we’ve both ridden it a bunch of times, so it was just a bummer, not a real upset.)

Of course we had to check out the mini-falcon outside (which is not on the West coast Batuu outpost)

And ran into Chewie and Rey checking over the Falcon.

Over to Slinky Dog Dash. OMG, Jon was hilarious in the photo!

Toy Story Mania. Glasses didn’t quite work well for Baby!

And then my first time on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway! (The group had actually ridden it first thing in the morning.)

Oh, such a cute ride! Sure, it’s not the mind blowing thing like Rise, but not everything needs to be that way! I was thoroughly entertained and excited knowing I had several FPs for the upcoming days.

I think before we left DHS some of the group rode RnRC, but Jenny, Chunkydust, and I skipped that, preferring to wait outside and chat a bit.

Then, van ride over to Animal Kingdom, where we went straight to Pandora for Flight of Passage!

On the VIP tours they like doing Satuli Canteen since they can set aside a specific area for tours. It’s not my favorite QS in AK (I think it’s quality food I just don’t really love the flavors), but still good enough! Steak and noodles for me.

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Then over to Magic Kingdom. First thing – Photopass zoom photo! We tried doing a big group photo but they said we were too big, but really we could have all fit!

Had to ride 7DMT of course! Though my ride photo didn’t show up.

And afterwards Jon wanted to show us the hidden Oswald.

For our last ride, we headed over to Frontierland for a ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

We waved goodbye to Jon on the platform! Just really the most spectacular guide!

Baby enjoyed his ride!

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Afterwards a group photopass! Looks like Jenny was trying to steal Baby Yoda!

I think we avoided the parade and ended up splitting up. I wished my friends goodbye as I don’t think I was going to see them again since I only had 1.5 days left. (And still haven't seen them again due to the pandemic; Su-Lynn, Steve and I thought we'd be seeing each other in Vancouver in between cruises, but alas, not to be!)

Coming up: continuing my whirlwind day with Flower and Garden and MMRR again!​

 

[MeghanEmily]

Working on catching up here! I finished the first NYE/January trip and have some quotes, but will have to come back for the rest later! It's so nice to read about some pre-pandemic Disney and revel in the "good ole days!"

So, lets start by rewinding 15 months… not that anything important happened in that time…

Hah! Ooof...and now that I'm finally getting around to this it's been even longer than 15 months!

Oh and Dina and I were so amazed when the BGs went so quickly – around 7 minutes… little did we know that a week later they would start disappearing within seconds!

Yeah no kidding! 7 minutes would feel like a lifetime for the people now who are trying and not succeeding to get a BG in the first 30 seconds. But I'm sure at the time that felt crazy.

We did a “shoulder” reservation at Crystal Palace, so we would get the breakfast menu (as well as breakfast pricing) and then by the end of the meal, we would get the lunch menu. (It was me, Dina, Willis and Zach.)

This is soo smart! Tucking this little tip away for an eventual someday-in-future trip.

I love their holiday outfits so much

And I staked out a good spot for A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas. Such a corny show but I still love it!

Me too!! The dancers are so awesome, and Stitch is extra cute, and if you get a really good singer too *chef's kiss*

Wow! This looks awesome! Cool shots from the CG deck

Originally we had hoped to spend some more time with her and her family this evening, and finally meet her son and husband, but they had had a long trip and after the boat delays, needed to call it a night! Understandable! Hope to get to see her again sometime soon though! (And I totally stole this photo from your TR Jackie!)

Such a nice picture! Great that you got to have your DISmeet, and love seeing Jackie's face pop up here

Amazing finale!

Holy cow! Such great fireworks around NYE. I miss Disney fireworks shows!

Thankfully no concussion (well…maybe a little one), or bad injuries. And after a moment I could get up and walk off! It just was a crazy situation! I did end up having some neck and back pain for a couple days, which sucked, but I dealt with it!

Oh my goodness! This must have been horrible! Both for you, and probably also a little scary for Dina and the CMs who were worried about you. I'm sorry you had some pain for a while after, but I'm glad it didn't end up being something worse than this and you were okay.

But we eventually made our way back to Epcot in time to see the first showing that night of Epcot Forever (and my first time seeing it ever). I really liked the kites. The rest of it, meh….

I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually love EPCOT Forever But it's the kites that did it for me, and the Tapestry of Nations soundtrack. And really just all the EPCOT-y soundtrack stuff in general. The only bit that's weird for me is A Whole New World at the end. That said, I'll be fine when Harmonious takes its place as long as it's good.

Another early morning today, though a little later than the previous days as DHS was opening at 7am instead of the previous 6am. Dina and I were the only ones going for it today! And we were successful

I can't believe you got up for a Rise BG after getting to bed at like 1:00am on New Years! That's wild! I don't know if I could do it, even with the slightly later park opening.

And the lovely gate mural

This is gorgeous!

We've probably already talked about this and I may have forgotten, but just wanted to point out that I also have this rain coat and I love it! It's such an interesting thick-plastic kind of texture, but I love the pattern and it's so waterproof and awesome.

This is a great SDMT picture! You look like you're having fun

Of course the fire engineer in me had to notice the sprinkler head covers that matched the metal ceiling! (If you see these little circles on ceilings, those actually hide fire sprinklers and if a fire gets big enough to activate the sprinklers, the cover actually falls off; the covers just make it look prettier.)

No way! That's a neat new little fact for me. I love when the DIS is entertaining AND educational at the same time!

I do sort of wish I had just gone across the lake to Ample Hills, especially because it closed not too long after that!

I was sad to hear that this was closing. I only ever got to go once because up until the last couple of years I had too much trouble with dairy to tolerate real ice cream, but I was able to try it on one of our more recent trips and it was so yummy. Sorry you missed out on going there this trip!

So, end of this trip… but wait. There’s more! Next I will start on my next WDW trip that took place in February/March and involved 2.5 weeks, including a cruise!

Yay! I'll be back to read more as soon as I can.

 

[GDubDIS]

Ah how awesome to get to do an unexpected VIP tour, and that they let you in on Rise! Lots of pixie dust that day!

Good pro tip about Castaway Cay to try to ride out the storm if they come through! Glad you ended up having a good time on your cruise, and wow that balcony was insane...