"Mom, I'm embracing my inner child!" ~ A 1/20-27 2018 TR (COMPLETE!)

Epcot pt 1: I promise mom, EMH in the morning is worth it

Typically, I tend to avoid EMH after several failures with PM EMH. However, AM EMH has been much kinder to me and with crowds being the way they had, I felt it would be a good idea to get there early. Dad decided that he wanted to sleep in but Mom was game so we dressed early in our outfits (Me as Grumpy and DM as Mickey Mouse) and were on the bus by 7:30.


Once again, we joined the running of the bulls (moo) but the benefit of AM EMH meant that FEA was most guests’ goal and the herd headed in that direction. We, however, had FP for later that afternoon so we followed a much smaller crowd in the direction of Soarin and were on the ride in 15 minutes. This was our first trip riding Soarin since its update and I really enjoyed it. Definitely loved the different locations in the new film and I'm pretty sure I caught hints of a few scents but they weren't nearly as pronounced as the previous version. Still, I throughly enjoyed it.

Next, we headed over to Test track and relished walking on the ride through the single rider line. (Finally!) Then I headed over to Mission Space since there had been a update on the green side since the last time while Mom decided to opt out and there was only a 5 minute wait. Personally I didn't see the reason behind it as I thought the previous version was more interesting and I found myself missing Gary Sinise’s presence. Still, I'm glad I did it just to be able to say I did.

Dad was in the park by that point, so we decided to head to Soarin again since we ended up on the far right the last time and really wanted to sit in the middle. MDE said a 25 min wait on standby but really it was more like 15. We were able to sit in the middle, had an excellent spot and enjoyed the experience much better the second time around.

Our Spaceship Earth FP had come up so we went there next, but by now, the people who had gone to FEA were heading back into Future World. Got in the FP+ line…and ended up waiting 10 minutes to get on while standby was reading at 20 minutes... I honestly could not believe how much we waited in FP lines on this trip. Previous trips, I never remembered waiting more than 5 minutes in FP if not walking on. But I found there to be a more significant wait in FP lines on a whole than I remembered. Not to mention it was cold and windy that day and waiting in line for Spaceship Earth, the wind coming through was definitely more pronounced. Still, Spaceship Earth is one of my favorite rides and I was glad to be able to get on and off my feet.


The Seas was a 5 minute wait with FP and then we went back to Test Track where we waited 20 minutes in the single rider line. We were going to do Mission Space again but decided against it when we saw it had gone up to a 50 minute wait. So we decided to head to the Lotus Blossom Cafe in China for lunch instead.

I had the shrimp fried rice with an egg roll and I was not impressed with my meal. :crazy2: At all… I found it very bland, in desperate need of salt, it took 2 packs of soy sauce and 4 packs of duck sauce before I felt I could eat it and even then, I gave up halfway. Dad had been wanting to get school bread while we were in the area and with our FP for FEA about to come up, we figured it would be a good time to get it. We also got a cream puff along with the school bread and this went over for me much better than lunch. :teeth:

We used our FP for FEA next, and I have to admit I was really impressed with how this turned out. I was one of those who hated to hear that Maelstrom was shutting down especially since I'm not a huge fan of Frozen (gasp!) but I cannot deny how well done it was, especially during Elsa’s appearance in ‘Let It Go’. I don't see myself waiting more than 20 minutes for this ride but if I had been able to get another FP for it, I definitely would have taken it.

Our three FP used, I went on MDE and ended up finding FP for Illuminations which since we had ridden pretty much everything we wanted to, decided to go ahead and grab them while I had the chance. We then decided to split up again since my signature bag was only half filled with signatures and that needed to be remedied. Time for the Great Character Search (Round 2!)
 
Epcot pt 2: Belledreamer and The Great Character Search of 2018 - The Sequel

So as I mentioned, we had pretty much seen every attraction I wanted to by this point and it was only about 1:30. So I decided to spend some time doing the character experience in Epcot and since I was in Norway, I got in line to see Elsa and Anna first and had a great visit with the two of them. I apologized to Anna for not bringing her chocolate and ended up on the subject of chocolate covered carrots when she brought out that my bag would be great for carrying carrots and chocolate but that they should never be carried in the same bag at the same time.

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I mentioned to Elsa that we had two freak snowstorms this year and asked if she was the cause behind it which she assured me that she wasn't. But she loved that we had made a snow granny and that I definitely should have tried to bring it to life because Olaf would love a grandma… Oh my heart… :sad:


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Rode the boat ride in Mexico while waiting for Mulan’s M&G to come up. Always a good time and I could definitely ride it multiple times. Plus standby was never more than 10 minutes which was a nice plus.

Super long line for Mulan, but since I didn't have anything planned I decided to go ahead and wait. Mulan was very nice (though I was one of the last people to come through and it showed) but we still had a little conversation, mostly of Mushu actually behaving for once although it was probably so he could get extra dumplings for Chinese New Year.

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I then remembered that Belle had a M&G in France and feeling the absolute need to go see her, I took off for France and joined a fairly large line. By this point, the wind had been blowing like crazy and most of us were just doing our best to stay warm. Not surprisingly, Belle came out in her cape. I actually kind of surprised myself of how much I wanted this. Being an adult, we know more of the secret behind the magic, but there's something very exciting about seeing a character that your 5 year old self was absolutely enamored with and that your adult self never really forgot. So when it was my turn, I couldn't help but mention to Belle that she had been my favorite princess ever since I was a little girl which she was wonderfully sweet about. She mentioned that we must be a lot alike then to which I pulled out the book that I kept in my tote bag so that they'd have something solid to write on when signing my bag and she immediately started thumbing through it in true Belle fashion, asking me what it was about and that Chip and the Beast would love having it read to them since the story had princes and mermaids in it (the book is ‘A Pearl Among Princes’ for anyone who's interested.) We took a few pictures, she was more than happy to give me a hug and really appreciated when I told her to do her best to stay warm. With the exception of Fairy Godmother, this was one of my favorite M&G of the trip and I could definitely see doing it again, especially if I went in my Belle Disneybound.

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My last goal was to see Snow White since I was dressed as Grumpy so I started to head towards Germany but ended up finding mom and dad first. They had actually been in the right place at the right time to see Mickey, Baloo and King Louie coming out to their M&G and they stopped to take pictures with mom and dad and to sign dad's hat which he thought was pretty awesome.

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They also gave me a surprise gift that they had purchased for me, a gorgeous Thomas Kincade painting of Beauty and the Beast, signed by Dirk Wunderlich who worked with Kincade and would add tiny details onto the painting such as a tiny Pinocchio and an even tinier Bambi (they swear it's there). Plus on the back of my painting, he also did a sketch of Belle which was a really nice touch. This was the kind of thing that I've always wanted but would never have bought for myself so I'm pleased as punch to have it. Definitely beats the typical t-shirt, coffee mug, or plushie.

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Nothing like having parents who are willing to fuel your obsessions. :cloud9:


I didn't want to be too late seeing Snow White so I rushed over to Germany and waited in one of the longest lines I had so far. Had some really nice conversations in line though as most everyone thought my tote bag was a great idea. Snow White is probably one of my least favorite princesses in general, but she was very nice. She immediately picked up that I was dressed like Grumpy, liked the Rose Quartz pendant that I included with my outfit, and said that if I practiced my whistling that the dwarves would be happy to have me join them.

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My last planned signature done, wait times were going back down in Future World so I heading back in that direction and on an impulse, went to see Baymax, Joy and Sadness. They weren't bad by any means (hugging Baymax was pretty awesome) but I've only seen part of Big Hero 6 and none of Inside Out so I don't think I enjoyed it near as much as I could have had I been more familiar with them beforehand. Plus I find that for me, mascot characters are more awkward since you can't have that much of a conversation with them. Still, I'm glad I did it.


Imagination was a walk on so I hopped on that. Then as I was getting off, I got a call from mom to head back to Imagination if I wanted to get a signature from Mickey and Goofy thanks to the Disney Visa meet. So I headed back in that direction, had a great meet with Mickey and Goofy and once it was brought up that I was dressed as Grumpy, they decided to act as two of the other dwarves, Mickey as Sneezy and Goofy as Dopey. Really enjoyed this one.

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Mom and dad wanted to do Soarin one more time and I headed back to Nemo which was a walk on. After we met up again, we headed to Electric Umbrella where I had a pretty good French Dipped Burger with crunchy onions on top. This was probably the longest wait we had for food since we were all the way at the end and found people who'd come up after us getting their meals first but at this point, I was too tired to care.

At this point, it was 7pm. It was cold and windy outside, the mom sitting behind us was having a minor meltdown with their party of 10, and my body and feet were screaming that they'd had enough. I could tell that mom and dad were reaching their limits too so when I asked if anyone would be offended with missing Illuminations, the agreement was so quick, you could have gotten whiplash from it. :rolleyes: We made one stop for mom to buy some socks, then headed to the bus and relished the fact that the heat was on and that we would all be able to sit for the ride back to the hotel. But we needed to get our rest because tomorrow was AK and it was gonna be a dozey.
 
AK pt 1: What do you mean FoP is almost a 4 hour wait?!

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Early days over the past 4 days had finally caught up to us by this point but with it being the last day, we got ourselves up one more time, tried our best to ignore the pain in our backs, legs, and feet and were at the bus stop at 7:50. There was barely anyone in line when we got there and for a brief moment, I had hopes that the park wouldn't be packed, but I think we must have just missed the bus because by the time our bus came at 8:10, our line rivaled MK which had stayed full all week. Oh well... Still, I was just thankful to be able to sit.

We were at the park by 8:30-ish and knowing that people were heading in the direction of Pandora, followed the crowd in that direction. Moo… By the time we made it to the area, FoP was already at a 90 minute wait, but thanks to some prior research on MDE, I knew NRJ tended to have a shorter wait time so I'd made our FP for FoP, betting that we'd be able to get on NRJ at rope drop without too much of a wait. Thankfully, my bet paid off and we were on NRJ in less than 10 minutes.

I have mixed feelings about this ride as from a mechanical standpoint, I thought it was amazing. The animatronics are some of the best I've seen and the ride is visually stunning. However, I have never seen Avatar (nor do I have a desire to) and I found myself more confused than anything while wondering at the end why people were willing to wait more than an hour for it. In the end, I had the same opinion of it as I did of FEA; a nice ride, but one that I wouldn't wait over 20 minutes for.


We headed to Kilimanjaro Safari for our FP next, in the meantime passing the line for FoP which now extended so far out of Pandora that we were curious to find the end and finally found it at Pizzafari!!!

I'm sorry… No ride is worth that kind of wait… :sad2:

Kilimanjaro Safari was our first FP+ of the day and we were pleasantly surprised to be on in less than 5 minutes. By 9:15, we were off on our trek and this actually ended up being one of our best mornings on Safari as it was still cool and lots of animals were out for feeding. We still had a good bit of time before FoP so we decided to walk some of the nearby trails. Went through the Gorilla Trek and came across several people who were doing private tours.


I have to admit, I got a little tickled when we came across a CM talking about 2 birds in a nearby tree that were making an unusual amount of noise and…well…I won't describe what happened next because I want to keep this PG, but suddenly you hear the CM say while trying his best to contain his embarrassment, “And here we're witnessing courtship” and I got so amused by his reaction that I had to get away before I busted out laughing and pointed out to mom that he missed the opportunity to make a great Circle of Life joke. :rolleyes: We went to Rafiki’s Planet Watch for a while which I really have nothing to say about it beyond that it's pretty much a petting zoo. And then it was time for our FoP FP+

This was it. The ride we'd been waiting for. The ride that during our day in AK reached almost a 4 hour wait by 11am… And we had FP+.

We got on the ride in 15 minutes and without giving too much away, this ride was absolutely amazing and hands down, Disney World's best ride so far. It put me very much in mind of the same effects that are used in Soarin but in a more compact scale. Warnings are given about skipping this ride if you are prone to motion sickness and, while I did not get sick on this ride, I can see how someone could since it really gives you the sense of being in wild motion while not moving much physically at all. Again, I hold to my belief that no ride is worth a nearly 4 hour wait. But I was consistently checking MDE to see if a FP opened up for it during the day. Long story short, if you have to pick between NRJ and FoP for FP+, I would definitely go with the later.
 
AK pt 2: Pandora continued and gushing about Finding Nemo: The Musical because I'm also obsessed with this show


Stopped at Satu’li Canteen for lunch since it seemed to be a different style than the typical Disney fare. Basically, it's different bowls where you choose your meat, base, and sauce, giving you quite a few different combinations. I had the chopped wood grilled chicken bowl with sweet potato hash and despite it being highly recommended, I personally was not impressed. I'm not saying not to try it because it could have been the combination with the sauce or my personal tastes, but I don't see myself rushing to try it again. DM had hers with a salad base though and that seemed to go over much better. We did split a Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse as well and that was pretty good.

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(I know, that's the only food pic I took… I'm a bad foodie photographer…)

Went to FoTLK next for our final FP which was excellent as always, nabbed FP for 4pm show of Finding Nemo: The Musical and, since Nemo is one of the shows that I always do twice, I split with Mom and Dad so they could do Everest while I got in line for the 3 pm show.

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(Long ramble ahead)


I've had people ask me before where is the best place to sit for this show (including the family who was sitting next to me for the first show) and honestly, it depends on the experience you want out of it. I sat in two completely different places that day; third row in the middle upper section and fourth row on the left in the lower ‘bubble’ section right next to the middle platform. For a good overall view, I recommend the former. It's still close enough to enjoy the actors just as much as the puppetry and since there's a good bit of action that goes on between the upper and lower sections, those first three rows will give you a good view of everything without having to turn around to see what's behind you.


Sitting in the ‘bubble’ section has its advantages and disadvantages; one of the disadvantages being that depending how close you sit to the middle platform, you are going to have an obstructed view since there are bits of the show that happen on both sides. On the left; Marlin and Dory’s first encounter with the diver’s mask and two of Nemo’s solo songs. On the right, the ending verse of ‘Just Keep Swimming’ and Marlin and Nemo’s reunion just to highlight some of the main things. Not to mention having to turn around whenever something is happening behind you.

But one thing that I like about sitting here is that if you sit close to the middle platform, you may have an up close encounter with some of the actors during the bows at the end of the show. (Marlin typically stays towards the left, Dory to the right, and Nemo can go either way.) I know this isn't a draw for most people but if you're a big fan of the show like I am, this can be a highlight. I also found that I was able to get some really good shots from just my cellphone from this spot and would love to sit there again if I ever decide to get a high quality camera since I love photography from Disney shows.

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Seriously though, I've adored this show ever since it opened at AK and I'm surprised how much of a split there is between loving it and hating it. The songs are written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the same people behind such Broadway hits as Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon and of course they wrote songs for a little Disney movie called…Frozen.


And before you say anything, yes I don't like Frozen but I throughly enjoyed the songs. :rolleyes1

One of the main complaints people have of this show is that they find being able to see the performers working the puppets is distracting and to an extent, I get it. But to me, that's part of the charm of this show. Often times, I find myself watching the performers over the puppets and I find it absolutely fascinating. Not just watching them control the puppet (it literally put me in mind of playing a clarinet) but the performers themselves. This isn't just a performer working a puppet, but an actor who is putting just as much effort into acting the role as they are bringing a puppet to life and, given the right actors in their roles, can be very effective. Case in point, we had the same ‘Marlin’ for both shows (I was able to find out who he was later) and after having seen the show several times in person and on YouTube (to combat the post Disney depression), he's quickly become one of my favorites in the role, having that great balance of dryness, comedy and emotion that the character needs.

If given the chance to perform in a show at Disney for a day, as much as I love BATB, I'd have to go with Finding Nemo: The Musical. I'm sure I'll get some kickback for saying this but the story, the songs, the performance; for me, this show is the complete package and I dream of getting to meet this cast just as much as I do the cast at BATB

Sorry if I spent a lot of time on that… But I think about that a lot.


Anyways, as for the rest of our day…

It was 5pm by this point and we decided that we were too tired to stay around for Rivers of Light. Not to mention that the crowds that day were the highest of our trip so far and none of us relished the idea of trying to get through that crowd afterwards to get to the bus. The only thing that I hadn't done was ITTBAB and it only had a 10 minute wait so DM and I decided to make that our last attraction while dad waited for us outside the gate.


We were planning on just going back to the hotel for the rest of the evening but, realizing that we still needed something for supper, decided to go back to Disney Springs for one last Earl of Sandwich. I stopped at World of Disney to pick up a magnet for a friend of mine and then we went back to the hotel to finish packing, vegged on some Shark Tank and tried to get some sleep before a 10 hour drive home the next day…


As for our ride home, there really isn't much to say. With the exception of me falling in the parking lot and scraping my knee to the point that I had to put my sleep shorts on instead, it was a pretty typical ending. We got the car loaded, were on the road by 8am, made great time, home by dinner and greeted by my cat who was more than a little happy that I was home.
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Wait! I still have one more post!
 


So now that the trip report is over, here’s my final thoughts. :surfweb:


I promise after that last post, this won't take long. ;)


The Good - January weather was wonderful to us this trip. We've never gone in January and wondered what we'd get but with a few exceptions (mainly cold evenings during the second half), during the day was mostly very enjoyable and I loved taking a trip to Disney where I hardly sweat. For someone who's used to her hair being frizzed in her Disney pics due to the humidity, this was a welcome change and I would go in January again just for that reason. Plus I feel that the cooler temperatures helped make the crowds more bearable because if I had been sweating hot in that crowd level, I think I would have been miserable. I'm glad we took 5 days to explore the World as well. We can do 4 parks in 4 days and see everything we want to but having an extra day to do as we pleased helped us to take more of a relaxed pace without feeling the need to rush.

I mostly enjoyed the new attractions and firework shows on this trip and the things I didn't enjoy quite as much were mostly because of my own opinions of them. Everything was great quality, but there were things that just weren't to my taste. But there's nothing I experienced that I would say I wished I hadn't. We did not experience any rude CMs or guests (even though there were a few guests that I got throughly annoyed with) and for the most part, most of our food was very tasty.


I also enjoyed taking a portion of my time to go see several of the characters around MK and Epcot. Would I do it again? Probably not. To me, this was one of those ‘you can only do it once’ kind of things and with a few notable exceptions, I wouldn't go see characters to this extent in one trip again. But I do recommend to do it once as an adult if that kind of thing appeals to you. I haven't seen this many characters in one trip since I was six years old and it was a wonderful flashback to my childhood for me. I know some people say that the magic of the characters at Disney fade as you get older but it was wonderful to let go of everything weighing on my mind for a while and letting myself ‘believe’ again, even if it was just for a day. For just a little while, I was that carefree 6 year old again and I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything.



The Not-So-Good - The only thing that really comes to mind is the crowds. This was BY FAR the most crowded I had ever seen Disney since the one trip we took at the end of June and with various crowd calendars predicting 1-4 level crowds, we were surprised to find that none of our park levels went below 5 and AK was our highest at what felt like an 8. Most on the DisBoards were very surprised at the levels and I feel that Disney itself wasn't expecting it since things felt to be very understaffed and I almost felt like they weren't prepared for this kind of surge. Or it may be because I never go during a busy season so maybe this is normal for that kind of crowd level? Regardless, while we did not have a bad time by any means and still managed to see everything we wanted and more, I just wish I would have been a little more prepared for that kind of crowd level and I find myself skeptical of trusting a crowd calendar again next time.


So what's next on the Disney agenda? Not much planned for a while. This last trip really drained us physically and with a lot coming to Disney World in the near future, I'm okay observing from a distance for a while. We have a couple of different places we're looking to go to and I've really been itching for another cruise so I think that will be our next couple of vacations but I'm sure a trip to Disney will work its way in somewhere.


Besides, there's still things I want to do, like visiting the Stepsisters, fawning over Gaston while in my Belle Disneybound, seeing all 5 shows of Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage in one day, and of course, that illusive solo trip I've always wanted.

Disney is in my blood and no matter how old I get, I never forget how magical it feels when I'm there. And that's what always brings me back.

FIN

(YAY! I actually completed a TR!!) :jumping1:
 
Love your TR! I always feel so awkward meeting characters, but you had some amazing interactions! Planning what to say certainly sounds like the way to go--and I love the bag idea!

Your disneybounds are so cute! Thanks for sharing--sounds like an amazing trip. :)
 


Would love to see a pic of your tote bag, if don't mind sharing.

I don't mind at all! Actually, I totally forgot lol!

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Side one turned out exactly as I hoped. Things got a little crazy on the other side, but there's still some space so I may bring it back on our next trip since I didn't get to see Gaston and the Tremaines sisters.
 

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