Should We Winnie the Pooh this Thing? - July/August 2018 Trip Report -Complete 8/18

[hjeick]

Great trip report!! Following along...

 

[Jfsag123]

I'm finally back! It's just what I do.

Spectaculab - I never heard of it. If it’s still there next time we visit, we’ll have to check it out. I’m always looking for things indoors in the summertime to sit and cool down.

It definitely checks both of those boxes, but the bonus is it's also a cute show. I recommend it!

I don’t think I’ll ever get my kids on Figment again. They hate that ride. I don’t hate it, but do miss the older Figment ride.

I miss the older ride too! I got to do it one time as a kid and now I'm always telling Alex he just has no idea what the ride is supposed to be...

I love the BC! Nothing beats walking to/from Epcot! This summer we tried the YC for the first time and really liked it - more than the BC actually.

Interesting. Why did you prefer the YC? I've mentioned trying it to my family instead of BC if we stay there outside of a DVC reservation because of the guaranteed balcony, but they are not fans of the idea.

The Peoplemover always had a long line when we were there in June. In all my trips, I never saw that line as long as I saw it this summer. We always waited though; it’s one of my favorites.

It's so great! But I am spoiled and stubbornly refused to wait in line for it since I have never had to before. It's a whole new world, I guess.

Lol now that they've been bus"christened" (I just can't use that other word when speaking of your children) they like it, they really like it!

Thank you for sparing my children. And yes, they love those buses now. Good thing, because we likely won't have a car on our next trip.

Omg lol but I actually love this scene in SE it makes me think of sitting in my grandparents living room watching TV with them in the late 70's/early 80's. I however have a face........

Are you sure? I can see the scene bringing up nice feelings of nostalgia...until the girl's head swivels around 180 degrees on her neck and you are confronted by her soulless empty blank face.

Finally got to read this. I thought of your Disneyland TR when we were there this summer. Now, I can revel in your WDW report before we go back in November. I love the title. We are big Pooh fans, so it's great Looking forward to reading the rest. Congratulations on the PHd! That's a massive accomplishment. Hope your new job is going well. Sorry I never got to see you in Austin.

Hooray for going back in November! We are actually going back to Disneyland in November, so we'll just swap coasts again. And thank you, the job is pretty good so far! I'm sorry I missed you in Austin as well! There were a couple of other people I wanted to connect with as well while I was down there and I ended up seeing nobody because I pretty much just worked all the time while I was there.

So, so so true. We usually ride Figment, once a trip and all I can think is how can this could be a better ride. Maybe one day.

Yes! I hope they update it, but I really don't want to lose Figment. He's a classic.

I love it! I did this with the girls and they actually didn't find it that bad... They both drink seltzer water with me, and I think Beverly tastes a little like seltzer or club soda.

The first time I did it with my kids they said it wasn't that bad at first, but then quickly changed their minds. I love that they had forgotten so I was able to do it again.

How long did it take you door to door? I always figured it would be long but wasn't sure exactly how long..

I think BC to MK via Epcot took us about an hour. We entered Epcot at about 10:40, I ordered our lunch at Cosmic Ray's from the monorail which was at 11:09 according to the receipt, then it says that we arrived for our order at 11:50, which was after having entered the park and tried Peoplemover. So it really wasn't bad at all!

It's so bitter sweet, isn't it?!

Yes! I can tell I'm going to have a lot of these bittersweet-babies-growing-up moments over the next several years.

The lines for the people mover seem to be more normal these days. Boo.

That's not okay! That was my go-to guaranteed beloved attraction with no lines. Boo indeed.

Just found your TR. looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

Thanks for joining in!

 

[Jfsag123]

Enjoying your report! Can't wait to read more and see more pictures!

Thank you! I take a lot of pictures...

I rode the new version for the first time a couple weeks ago, and I agree, I prefer Soarin' over California. But it's still fun.

I wish they would offer both! Oh well. Will be heading over to check out your TR soon now that I'm back to browsing on the Dis.

Hehe...isn't it fun when you can give Beverly to someone who doesn't know? I may have done this to DW and DD. They had no idea, and were not impressed.

I love it! One of the reasons it pays to be a WDW insider.

I remember you saying this in your last TR and it still haunts me! Every time I see a picture or video of that scene in SE she gives me the creeps

I'm glad to be spreading my irrational fears!

Sounds like something I would do!

Bless you for the commiseration lol. I felt like such an idiot!

O. M. G. I'd kill him! Glad it all worked out in the end!

Right?! Ugh...he was lucky it worked out.

I love TH

It's our newest must-do-every-trip place!

Hi. Joining in your TR. I can confirm that girl on spaceship earth has a face. I did my CP there and we used to walk the track. But I can see why people would think she didnt.

That's awesome! Thank you for the info! I will still continue to be creeped out by her I'm sure, but can now rationally reassure myself that she's not faceless...though I will probably just imagine her face all contorted and evil because I have a problem.

Great trip report!! Following along...

Thank you and welcome!

 

[Jfsag123]

I’ve been writing, but not posting (because I like to do things that make so much sense), so here comes a double update. Also, I just have to share that, after seeing how much we love WDW and our trips, my sister and her wife have decided to join us on our trip next summer! I am so excited to be able to introduce new people to the parks. I will definitely be hitting y’all up for suggestions on how to show the magic to first timers because I want them to fall in love with it!

Day 4: July 24, Part 2 – Tale as old as time

So I’ll go ahead and spoil that non-cliffhanger and say that, yes, we got on some rides at Magic Kingdom. Have you seen the episode of The Middle where they go to WDW? That’s my worst nightmare, and I’m sure I’m in good company here.

Our first ride was a classic:

I’m not sure why Cora was the only one who got a goodbye, but whatevs, she was happy. I originally had Peter Pan booked as a FP+ here, but Alex requested that I switch it to small world, as it gives him the Disney feels.

We made a quick stop at the Tangled bathrooms before heading to our second FP+ for a new classic:

Alex loves this ride too, though you’d never know it from the picture.

Next up we met my favorite character to meet.

As you can see, both kids are cracking up. I have no memory of what Gaston was saying, but he’s always good for a laugh. We had also grabbed LeFou’s brews to sip while we waited in line for him.

Yum!

Our final pre-booked FP+ was for Enchanted Tales with Belle, which is a must-do for us every time. Cora was just a plate this time, but she was fine with it, as she knows she’s getting big and looks even older than she is.

Alex got picked to be Beast again, which he was thrilled about.

And for the first time, DH was a knight and was able to get in on the action, which he was almost embarrassingly happy about.

I booked a 4th FP+ for Buzz Lightyear while we were waiting for ETwB, so we headed that way after.

This next picture is super important and I want to give it the reverence it’s owed. Deep breaths everyone. Here it comes.

Why does this blurry mess of a picture of Buzz matter in the least? Because it marks a milestone moment for us. This picture marks the first time Cora and Alex rode a 2 seater ride in their own ride vehicle. This was our first trip during which both kids were over the 7yo age limit for riding without a parent. Which means for the first time, DH and I actually got to ride some things together rather than splitting up with each of us taking a kid. A whole new world!

I look angry and bored.

After Buzz I finally got my ride on Peoplemover, my favorite.

Next we headed over to take in the wonderful spectacle that is Country Bears Jamboree, which ensured we would spend the rest of the evening randomly singing Blood on the Saddle, then laughing hysterically.

I booked one more FP+ reservation for the Little Mermaid ride before we headed off to dinner.

Kiddos together again. Woot!

Dinner was Be Our Guest. I was thrilled to be able to get in one more meal here before they changed it over to the new menu, which they did two days later. We’ve eaten here every trip, as I am obsessed with Beauty and the Beast. This was our first non-buffet table service meal this trip and I was worried they’d make Cora order off of the adult menu since she’s 10 now. However, they offered us a kids’ menu for her without us asking and let her order off of it with no problem. She got the kid steak and Alex got the sandwich with soup.

I got the chicken

I can’t remember what DH got, but here’s a pic

Anybody know what this is?

Next up – dessert!

Mine

DH’s

And the kids each got one of these

Everything was good and the cast members we interacted with were amazing. The hostess who sat us told us about hidden Mickeys around the restaurant and we had a nice conversation with a manager who came over to check on things during the meal. I was glad to have such a nice experience, as I don’t know that we’ll be back here for dinner after the changes.

Of course we met the Master, who was none too thrilled to see Alex in a Gaston shirt. He acted very put out with Alex, which Cora found hilarious.

He motioned to kick one of the CM’s out of the castle who tried to stick up for Alex. He walked Alex over to the corner and made him stand facing the wall and we all cracked up.

Eventually they made up and we all got our photo together.

We headed out of the park at this point, but the kids had to stop to be gargoyles on the way.

Our room was ready when we got back – hooray!

I snapped this pic from the balcony.

I had requested canal view, which this obviously is, and it was beautiful. However, it was all the way at the other end of the building from the main resort and amenities, so doing anything like refilling mugs or heading to Stormalong Bay was quite the trek. When we stay here again I think I will prioritize being close to the lobby over my view.

We hung out at the resort that evening and had some quality time with Stormalong Bay before turning in for the night. The next day was to be our busiest yet.

 

[Jfsag123]

Day 5: July 25, Part 1 – A double rope drop???

Yes, a double rope drop. When I floated this idea to the family I thought they’d tell me I was crazy and to go jump in a (Bay) lake. Surprisingly, they all said they were game and so we tried our most ambitious morning in WDW to date.

We woke up at 5:20am. Not gonna lie, this was rough. We had all showered and laid everything out the night before so we’d be able to be up and out as quickly as possible. We started the walk to Hollywood Studios at about 5:45. You may remember that DHS was doing 7:00am EMH every day during July. Our plan was to be there as early as possible to try to hit Toy Story Land, as Alex is a mega mondo ginormous Toy Story fan and we were all excited to see it.

This was the very peaceful scene around Crescent Lake and at Stormalong Bay when we headed out.

We had the walking path to ourselves.

It’s blurry because we were booking it.

We made it by about 6:05.

As you can see, we were far from the first ones there.

Here was our position at the tapstiles.

Pretty good, right?

Alex made friends with this security guard while we waited. He was a lot of fun!

They let us inside to an internal rope at about 6:30.

About five minutes later the CM’s announced that they would be leading us back to Toy Story Land soon and that no one was to run. The excitement built…and then ebbed as time kept passing and we continued to be held there. We heard some murmurings from the CMs that Slinky Dog was down and they were trying to hold the crowd until it was ready. So we stood there. In an extremely tight crowd. In July. This was the scene behind us.

Everybody looks thrilled to be there, right?

They finally let us go at about 6:50. That was probably the longest 20 minutes of my life. And guess what. Slinky Dog was still down! We had gotten ourselves up and out so early for no reason! We had a brief moment of feeling frustrated before deciding to make the best of it. We had FP scheduled for Slinky for later in the week, so it wasn’t like we’d be missing it entirely.

Since most people still got in the Slinky line for whenever they got it going, we decided to head over to Alien Swirling Saucers, which had no line at all.

Empty!

It was a cute ride. We walked on to Toy Story Mania next. Slinky was still down. Alex wanted to take some pictures around Toy Story Land and meet Buzz, so we did that.

We also grabbed something to drink at Woody’s Lunchbox. We had eaten a quick breakfast while waiting for the park to open.

Before heading out of the park, we decided to stop off at Star Tours. It was amazingly empty! The CMs told us to just pick whatever row we wanted.

I think we eventually ended up with one other family on our journey and that was it. Alex was thrilled to be the rebel spy.

Deserted park picture!

We headed out of the park after that, but stopped briefly for a picture in front of the topiary that was ruined by the sun squinting. It was about 8:00am at this time.

Up next: Rope drop – the sequel!

 

[ariane37]

I'm finally back! It's just what I do.

LOL I've been away for awhile and then come back, it's stupid responsibilities that get in the way!

until the girl's head swivels around 180 degrees on her neck and you are confronted by her soulless empty blank face.

That would fit perfectly in a Kingdom Keepers book

after seeing how much we love WDW and our trips, my sister and her wife have decided to join us on our trip next summer! I am so excited to be able to introduce new people to the parks.

Yay!! Some of my favorite trips to plan are for first-time clients

it marks a milestone moment for us. This picture marks the first time Cora and Alex rode a 2 seater ride in their own ride vehicle.

I remember that, it's like, "Freedom!!!" They still prefer to ride one with each of us most of the time, but at least now every once in awhile we can tell them nope, dad and I are riding together!

I had requested canal view, which this obviously is, and it was beautiful. However, it was all the way at the other end of the building from the main resort and amenities, so doing anything like refilling mugs or heading to Stormalong Bay was quite the trek. When we stay here again I think I will prioritize being close to the lobby over my view.

That's like our room at Yacht Club the one time we stayed there, except the view sucked, too. We had the room that was definitely the closest to HS, which meant it was absolutely farthest from everything else! Soured Steve's feelings on the resort unfortunately. We've also had a room at BWV that was pretty much IN HS lol, which would have been ok if that sentence were true. At resorts that have rooms far away I prefer location over view.

 

[SweetSerenity]

I remember that episode of the Middle! Poor Sue.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Our final pre-booked FP+ was for Enchanted Tales with Belle, which is a must-do for us every time. Cora was just a plate this time, but she was fine with it, as she knows she’s getting big and looks even older than she is.

I know I already mentioned this, but I feel your pain. I feel like Morgan looks just like your daughter. Keeping too big. Keep them little?!?! Also, I love her dress.

Why does this blurry mess of a picture of Buzz matter in the least? Because it marks a milestone moment for us. This picture marks the first time Cora and Alex rode a 2 seater ride in their own ride vehicle. This was our first trip during which both kids were over the 7yo age limit for riding without a parent. Which means for the first time, DH and I actually got to ride some things together rather than splitting up with each of us taking a kid. A whole new world!

Morgan and Gwen did this, the last two trips! So bitter sweet! They loved it!

Man! Sorry that Slinky Dog didn't work out for you.Can't wait to see where you were rope dropping next.

 

[buzzrelly]

I was worried they’d make Cora order off of the adult menu since she’s 10 now. However, they offered us a kids’ menu for her without us asking and let her order off of it with no problem.

No worries…my DD14 STILL orders off the kid's menu

This was the scene behind us.

Yowza…looks like a fun time!

 

[mustinjourney]

double rope drop is ambitious! I've got a 3 and 5 year old, so I won't be trying that anytime soon!

 

[ariane37]

And guess what. Slinky Dog was still down! We had gotten ourselves up and out so early for no reason! We had a brief moment of feeling frustrated before deciding to make the best of it

UGH! That's happened to us before at other parks; whatever ride we've rushed there to get on is down Total disappointment but hey, you're up and at a Disney park, the best thing to do is find the fun!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Alex loves this ride too, though you’d never know it from the picture.

I had to laugh at this. I have a very similar picture of my daughter, but she also loves 7DMT!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Very fun evening at MK, you guys got a lot done! And we had the new meny at BoG. I was ok with it, I think I actually prefer the old a la carte menu better but the dessert with the chip cup was very cute.

Wow Double Rope Drop! Ambitious! Too bad slinky dog was down though, that is a bummer! But now I know when is a good time to ride Star Tours so there's a better chance of me being a rebel spy. I've been going on that ride since young and I was never the rebel spy. It's not meant to be, LOL.

 

[cinderaimee]

That Beast interaction at BoG sounds like it was great! Loving your report, glad you made it back here

 

[ErinF]

So glad you came back to write more! You always have the best trips with lots of fun interactions and magical happenings.

They finally let us go at about 6:50. That was probably the longest 20 minutes of my life. And guess what. Slinky Dog was still down! We had gotten ourselves up and out so early for no reason! We had a brief moment of feeling frustrated before deciding to make the best of it. We had FP scheduled for Slinky for later in the week, so it wasn’t like we’d be missing it entirely.

Ok, this was not magical at all. But, I can sort of relate. On our last day in June, we changed up our plans in order to get one more ride on Test Track (it's my youngest's favorite). That included dropping a BOG lunch reservation and foregoing more MK time. And what happened? We got there pretty early for rope drop and when Epcot opened, it was down. And continued to be down all morning. We committed to waiting it out since that was the main purpose we'd switched plans around, but it didn't open until lunch time! At least we got to ride it and all was not lost.

So, I know you're going back to DL in November, and just last night, we decided we're going in November as well! We were planning to go for Spring Break, but long story short, we moved it up! And now we'll be there 5 weeks from tomorrow!! I've never planned a trip with such short notice, good thing it's DL and not WDW. We'll be at the HoJo from the 14th to 19th. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the Christmas decorations. It's been a dream of mine to see Disney at Christmas time, but I didn't think it would come so soon and I thought it would be WDW instead. So excited!!

 

[disny_luvr]

I’m having trouble quoting your post, but I wanted to answer your question upthread about the YC. We fell in love with the YC for many reasons. The rooms - they were recently renovated and absolutely gorgeous! So much storage space, too. We loved the quietness of the lobby. I never noticed how noisy the BC lobby was before, but we walked through it one night and it almost seemed chaotic. We really liked the new quick service place located in the gift shop at the YC; more than the Marketplace. We just liked everything so much. All that said, the BC is still amazing and I’d stay there again in a heartbeat.

Your MK afternoon looked like lots of fun. We love LeFou’s Brew. I could drink one of those and eat a cinnamon roll right about now.

Bummer about Slinky Dog being down. I hope you were able to ride it later in your trip.

A double rope drop morning. Sounds fun! Can’t wait to hear about your second park of the day.

 

[gr8leg8]

What a great report

Mac & Cheese hot dog
Gonna try that for dinner tonight - sounds amazing
YMCA dancin' - this is my goal for our next trip - to join in and have more fun!

The time jump photo collection - love, love, love

I love the outfit combos - color coordinations and characters to match m&g

Thank you for the photo of the saucers - now I know not to FP this one

 

[Jfsag123]

I fell off the face of the Earth again! But I am determined to finish this thing - if only so that I have a record of it while I still remember it! Since my last update we have been to Disneyland and I am now deep into planning our next WDW trip, which we've scheduled in July again. Of course it was hot, but we loved it! I booked dining last week and am now in the hurry up and wait portion where I endlessly change things around until FP+ booking time. Long update comin' atcha!

Day 5: July 25, Part 2 – Yes, a double rope drop

We caught the friendship boat to head to rope drop #2. We were shooting for an International Gateway rope drop at Epcot. We took the boat as far as Beach Club, then Alex suggested we get off and walk the rest of the way, as it would be faster, so we did.

We got there at about 8:35 and they let us in to an internal rope at about 8:45. Here’s where we were in the line up.

We used our rope drop to take our first ride ever on this:

We basically just walked through the queue and got right on. It was really cute and we all enjoyed it. It’s not one I need to do over and over again, but once a trip would be good.

We got a little splashed on the ride and this is Cora walking like Anna as we made our way out of it – “cold, cold, cold!”

Next up, a fastpass for a favorite:

We spent a little time playing with the stuff after the ride before heading to fastpass #2

We literally just booked this one for Minnie, as we had Mickey and Goofy through character meals. Cora had to meet her while rocking the dots!

While we were waiting for the meet I moved up our 3rd fastpass – an unnecessary one for Nemo. But hey, a 5 minute line is still less favorable than a no minute line, which is what the fastpass got us. We also checked out Turtle Talk while we were there.

…and here’s the same shot from 2013 when my children were tiny (5 and 2)

While we were waiting for Turtle Talk I did a dangerous thing. I checked FP availability. Why was this dangerous? We had a breakfast reservation scheduled for later that morning and first needed to run back to the hotel to change outfits before going to it. I had it all timed out when I put our plans together and everything was going as expected. And then I checked FP availability on a whim. Guess what? There happened to be a FP for Frozen Ever After with a window opening in 10 minutes. But we had just ridden that. We didn’t need to ride it again so soon, right? Surely I would not throw our carefully crafted plans out the window for an extra ride on FEA, right? Right???

Yep. I suck. We came out of Frozen and had to book it to the opposite side of World Showcase to head out the International Gateway back to BCV. On our way it started pouring down rain. And I mean POURING. We didn’t want to lose time stopping to put on our ponchos and we knew we were about to change clothes anyway so we just kept going. It was so bad it started messing up my contacts and I could barely see. But we didn’t slow down.

We got back to the room and changed faster than I think anyone has ever in life. This time we did throw the ponchos on before heading back outside. Of course, by that time it had stopped raining. It had rained just long enough to make me suffer for my Disney hubris. :shakes fist at the heavens:

Where were we going that we were willing to go to all this trouble for?

And we actually made it on time! Barely. It helped that everything on this day was in walking distance from everything else. I’d heard good things about the breakfast here, plus my kids had “Kiss the Girl” Ariel and Eric costumes courtesy of my MIL, so we had to try it. I figured I’d book us a nice late leisurely breakfast that we could enjoy after our morning of activity. Ha! But the breakfast was good.

We started with the skillet of pastries. Everything I tried was good. We inhaled this sucker.

DH got the “Royale Breakfast” – steak eggs and potatoes.

Alex got the kids character waffles. It doesn’t look like a lot of food, but combined with the pastries and fruit bowl we started with he definitely got full.

Cora got the Tower of Pancakes with bacon

I got the same thing, but asked if I could sub potatoes for the bacon or sausage that it’s supposed to come with, which our server said was no problem. Here’s mine.

What’s that you see? Oh yes, it’s bacon. But wait. They also brought me this:

Both! This was also a fairly decent sized helping of potatoes. I had more than DH and potatoes actually came with his meal. I gifted my extra bacon to my happy family members and enjoyed plowing through my heap of potatoes. Everything was delicious.

The characters also didn’t disappoint. This one is Flynn Rider, Rapunzel, Ariel, and Eric, and they came in that order. They came in one at a time with some fanfare and then the couples had some time together as well. The interaction was fabulous.

Alex asked Flynn if he could see what was in his satchel. This was a great touch!

The kids also asked if he would do the smolder for the picture and he was happy to oblige.

And the nautical couple:

Overall, this was a really enjoyable experience and I’m glad we did it, despite the (self-inflicted) hassle and stress. Of course it started raining again when we were leaving, but this time we were in no hurry and we didn’t care. We put on our ponchos and strolled back across the bridge from Boardwalk to Beach Club. It had stopped again by the time we got back, but it explains why the bottom of the kids’ clothes are wet in this picture that we took back at BCV. Alex’s pants are all messed up at the bottom with his boots. We went hard that morning.

Our reward for our trouble that morning was an afternoon with no plans – nothing on the schedule until our dinner reservation, which wasn’t until 7:00pm. Time for some rest – or, as my kids call it, Stormalong Bay (aka NOT rest!).

 

[Jfsag123]

Day 5: July 25, Part 3 – Italia!

Ok! After a break it was time to get back out there. Game faces on, kids!

Oh, that’s no good. Let’s try again. Game faces on, kids!

This is hopeless.

The plan was to spend the evening hanging out around World Showcase, have dinner, and see Illuminations. I had booked us a FP for Illuminations while we were taking our break because I knew we weren’t going to be trying to get other fastpasses, so it didn’t matter that we were locked out of them for the rest of the day because of having a late one booked.

World Showcase!

The kids were all about the Coco exhibit in Mexico. We love that movie!

They especially enjoyed the activity that allowed them to create their skeletons.

Which pavilion are we in? Guess it right and you’ll have a good idea of where we were having dinner.

Ok, so I gave it away with the title of this update. And Cora’s shirt. Italia!

Via Napoli. Yum!

We ordered the garlic bread to start, 2 pizzas, and 3 desserts between the 4 of us. It was all amazing, as expected, and we had leftovers because the pizzas are giant.

After dinner, we headed around toward the FP entrance for Illuminations, but stopped for a family photo in Norway first.

We’ve never seen Illuminations with FP and we never will try again. There are so many good places to see it around the lagoon without needing a FP or special reservation. We got to the spot and it was stuffed full of 15’s tour groups. There was just nowhere for us to be. We didn’t have many run ins with the notorious tour groups of July on our trip and when we did, they were pretty pleasant. This was no exception. No one was chanting or being unruly in any way. There were just so many people there was no room for us. We decided to call it a night and head back to the room. It had been a long day and being at BCV, we knew we’d have another chance to see Illuminations, so we walked back out of the FP section within a minute of walking into it. #noregrets

All in all, it was a pretty excellent day.

Up next: ok, so how little can we actually do?

 

[Jfsag123]

I had replied to everyone and then the stupid computer deleted my entire reply! So annoying! My children are begging me for lunch so I don't have time to redo it all, but thank you to everyone for your comments and I promise to be a better trip report replyer in the future.