The Shortest, Gayest Trip Report Ever: A May 2019 Disney Trip

[abarriger]

I was married at Disney, but not on this trip. We were dressed so fancy because we went to Highway in the Sky

Also - we spent a good portion of May 10th at MK as well! We arrived around 2pm or so, left for supper then came back until the park closed at 11pm that night

Highway on the Sky sounds so fun! How was it? Also, we were there for a lot of the same time! We came back around 7:00 and left when the park closed also.

 

[abarriger]

A Perfect Ending to a Perfect Magic Kingdom Day

When we left off, D and A had just arrived. And what is the first thing any tourist must do in the Magic Kingdom? Why, pose for a photo in front of the castle, of course!

D & A were being incredibly good sports, who happily donned my two extra set of ears (why do I own three pairs? long story) for photographs. Making my wife the only grumpy ear-less person (but in her defense, if I had had one more pair she might have put it on.)

(Sorry for the blocking out. I feel weird asking my friends "Can I post photos of you on the internet to share with random strangers?" Although clearly I don't care who sees me at my sweatiest

This photo cracks me up. Often as a same-gender couple, people (and especially people at Disney) think you're on a girls' trip or whatever. Which isn't a big deal at all, but it gets annoying when it happens a lot, and it almost always happens with Photopass Photographers, even with engagement/wedding rings or "just engaged" buttons. This particular photographer clearly didn't read any of us as together because she asked us to SWITCH WHO WE WERE STANDING NEXT TO! Apparently she thinks we make better couples in this order We laughed so much at her rearranging that I think she got the picture, esp. when we asked for photos of each couple when she was done.

We had a fastpass for Peter Pan's Flight at 11:40, but D and A had arrived even ahead of that (kudos to them!) so we hightailed it for a clamshell and went under the sea with Ariel.

This was A's first Disney ride ever, and I personally think it's a perfect Disney ride, despite what anyone says about it. It makes me feel like a kid again every time I get into the clamshell!

From there we hit Peter Pan (no photos... I was in the moment!) and then went straight to Small World.

I feel like we were giving D & A a pretty iconic welcome to Disney World, if maybe a bit babyish.

If it were up to me, we'd only ride the "baby rides!"

Next was lunch. Be Our Guest is the one restaurant we always do at Disney. I don't feel like any of the other quick service places offer it any competition at all.

I had preordered, so we happily skipped in, waited in the short line, and sat down. Now, I made a mistake here. I barely paid attention when they swiped my card and quoted me a total. We sat down to eat, and they delivered our food... but only my food and Marjorie's food (despite D&A having sent me their orders 30 days ago.) I felt so terrible. I immediately realized the amount they had quoted me was small (it was around $50, which clearly would have been enough for 4 lunches in the real world, but not at Disney, so I barely stopped to think about it.) I KNOW I submitted D&A's orders, but I must have made some mistake and now I thought we had to go back in the line... but the lovely server said she would send a manager over. And by the time I was starting to be concerned that no one was coming, a server arrived with the two salads for D&A, announcing sweetly, "It's on Mickey."I almost cried-- I made a mistake here in the planning, which I felt terrible about, and Disney made it right for no reason other than their amazing customer service. That, people, is why I keep coming back to Disney. But anyway.

No food photos of our amazing lunch (tuna salads, braised pork, roast beef sandwich and one grey stuff cupcake) because of the insanely bad lighting, but we sat in the West Wing and enjoyed every bite. Also, perhaps my favorite part of the whole trip came when A realized the food was a bit delayed. "It's okay," she announced, "I have a chicken wrap in here," and she proceeded to pull out a full sandwich from her purse that she ate while waiting She still enjoyed her lunch, don't worry!

After lunch, we did Splash. As I have said, I don't love scary rides, and the last time I rode this I said "Never again, not worth it..." but I wanted D&A to have a full Disney experience, and this ride seemed kind of iconic. So we did it. I wish I could show you A's face because the look of sheer terror on her face is hilarious.

Then, we stopped for a frozen treat

Dole whips for me, Mickey bar for D&A, nothing for M, who declared (not for the first or last time) that Disney needs more savory snacks.

We enjoyed our treats while staking out a parade spot in Frontierland. The crowds weren't bad, but of course it was wickedly hot. Why is the parade at the hottest point of the day again?

I'm honestly not sure what everyone else thought of the parade, because I was in my element.

Some things at Disney just don't get old, and this is one of those things for me. (Although is it just me or are those flowers looking a bit faded?)

I was singing and dancing along the whole time. And I was so happy to welcome the dragon back, as he was absent on my last visit.

Next stop was a visit to the Haunted Mansion (marked as a 25 minute wait... which was fake news, more like 40) and then a second jaunt to the diamond mines for Marjorie and me, the first trip for D&A. At this point, it was just after 4:00, but our plans had shifted: we had an extra special guest to visit! Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to an amazing day!
​

 

[abarriger]

A Practically Perfect Ending to a Practically Perfect Day (part 2!)
​

So, after 7 attractions with D and A, we were changing our plans significantly. Now see, here's the thing about the way I do Disney-- I craft my touring plan to the second. I review it and map my route out ahead of time. I am a heavy duty planner: in fact, I think a big part of the joy I get from a Disney trip comes in the months and weeks ahead of time, when I am hyper focused on planning every instant.

Now, M. and I did a lot of talking before this trip. And I promised I could be flexible, I promised I could be less intense (so as to not scare our friends away!) And I point to this moment as proof of my commitment to this. Because instead of following the touring plan, and heading over to Philharmagic after the parade, we were walking to the bus stop.

And boarding a bus not to our own resort, but to our most favorite of all resorts.

What were we doing at Animal Kingdom Lodge you ask? To which I say-- kudos for identifying the hardscaping in that photo See, it turns out that A's sister was in Disney at the exact same time as us (depsite that neither of them had ever been to Disney World before!) and she was leaving the next morning-- so we spent some time at the resort, meeting A's nephews, sister and BIL. It was actually a really lovely afternoon (sorry for no further photos): we roasted marshmallows (fun fact: at AKL the graham crackers and chocolate are FREE, unlike at the moderates where I have stayed!), peeked at animals, and sat with our feet in the pool looking longingly at those around us swimming because, despite being May, it was 90 degrees out. I love AKL and dream of staying here one day ( but given the way we vacation, am not sure the cost will ever make sense.)

I attempted to make res. at Sanaa, but of course nothing was available at such short notice, so we walked over the Jambo House (which was a gorgeous walk!) and stopped for dinner at their Quick Service.

I then took what I consider to be the most unappetizing food photo I have ever taken

(That's the African Potjie: Hearty Stew with Beef, Turkey, Ham, Vegetables, Basmati Rice and Kulcha Bread)

We were hoping for a stew that was on par with some of the amazing curries we had at Boma on our last trip but... well, it was nothing special. And there was too much rice. D's ribs, on the other hand, were fantastic.
While eating, we made a plan: A was pooped and hot (well, we all were) and wanted to go back to the room. M, D and I would power through for fireworks. And so we went back to close the kingdom together.



This was a really beautiful night. The weather had cooled enough to be almost pleasant, and the humidity wasn't bad. D. was feeling nostalgic for teacups, so we gave them a spin.

Marjorie insists that I spin the teacup too fast. As it turns out, D. is on team Marjorie here and halfway through the ride they begged me to stop. And didn't recover for a while. So that was fun.

But it didn't stop us from riding another ride with a circular path.

Just try and tell me this isn't the most magical place on earth.

Spinning done for the day, we scooted over to our reservation for the After Fireworks Dessert Party. I booked this because D and A are pretty crowd phobic, and it was pretty magical last August, but it was pretty packed in there this time. I mean, better than the general public, but the back rail was almost totally full at 8:25 when we found our way there, so our view was a bit obstructed, and it was just more crowded than I imagined it would be.

To be honest, though, I didn't care once the show started. It's only my second time seeing it in the parks, and it was pretty emotional. And pretty perfect. I didn't photo much, there are amazing photographers around and I didn't want to detract from this incredibly experience.

Um, excuse me, what about the macrons? We filled up on those last time. I love sugar, I don't mind cheap cupcakes, but this did seem a bit phoned in. The sparkling apple cider was warm, the springrolls were extremely weird. (D's assessment of them was "This seems like what they would offer you at a seedy bar at three AM after you drank too much.) Given all of that, I would still do this again if I could afford it... I mean nothing beats sitting there peacefully with the nonsense that is happening as people shuffle out.

Also, a strike against dessert parties is just the sheer abundance of dessert everywhere at Disney. So far this day, I had eaten cupcakes, dole whips, cinnamon rolls... Marjorie always says Disney under-does the protein options and overdoes the sugary ones, and you could definitely feel it at this part of the day. I was so excited for the push pop full of grey stuff, but could barely finish it.

D and Marjorie were total troopers, who then raced with me over to make a last minute fastpass for Buzz (where Marjorie CREAMED the two of us.) The park was closing at 10:00, and we walked off at 9:52. Marjorie and D vaguely considered doing Space Mountain, but we weren't sure we'd make it (and I was scared to death) so we settled for a perfect final ride-- the people mover.


We bid farewell to the most beautiful sight in the world. Then we warned D that buses were really awful late at night, and that we'd have to wait a long time to cram onto a full bus... and as we were talking, a bus pulled up and we walked into a seat. A perfect ending to the most amazing day. I miss it already!!​

 

[abarriger]

I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE!!

215 days until we are back in the world!!
​

In just a few (super long) months, Marjorie and I will leave our new home in Indiana to be in our second favorite place in the world

(Sarasota, Florida!) We will spend ten days there with her family before leaving for our favorite place (you already know where that is!)

We will be welcoming 2020 with a stay at Saratoga Springs, Jan 1-4! (Yes, I know it will be crowded. I am starting a new job with even less flexibility, and without summers off, so we are transitioning to winter travelers. Of course I only have time off during the most expensive times to go to Disney. But I digress.)

This is big news for us-- our first time at that resort, and our first time at a deluxe. We will probably spend a fair amount of time in Disney Springs, and I want to explore every inch of this beautiful place.

So, if you have any tips about SSR, OR about traveling around New Years, we would love them! I am DYING to check out those pools, so I am praying for warm weather. ​

 

[abarriger]

Day 2-- Good News, Bad News

I shot out of bed on Saturday morning. I was beaming with happiness, because...
Well, I was at Disney, that part was obvious. Less exciting (but mitigated by the first news) was the fact that I was now a *shudder* 30 year old.

Anyway, I hopped out of bed (at 6 am) and boarded a bus before 7 bound for am EMH at Animal Kingdom.



Marjorie has a conflicted relationship to Disney (which mostly boils down to: she likes it because it makes me happy) but she has a genuine fascination with Disney light fixtures. I do love this one, which she snapped a picture of.

Not sure why this is sideways, but I enjoyed the prop as we walked in.

I sent this photo off to friends that morning when they asked how the trip was going, and the general response was, "I'm not sure what I'm looking at here."

I didn't take a lot of photos of this next part of the morning, but here is one.


Not a great picture, but it captures a bit of the feeling of rope drop at Animal Kingdom. Which was, in a word, terrible. We are no stranger to rope drop (we had rope dropped SDMT the day before, and always arrive at the parks well before opening. But this was by far the worst in my memory.

First off, we were stuck in the initial entrance line behind a woman and her child who both were having some sort of issue with their magic bands-- which is fine, I totally understand, things happen. However, they were both standing at separate tap-styles, totally holding up the line, and not making any effort to allow anyone else to use either tapstyle. By the time a cast member finally helped them/ got them OUT OF THE FREAKING way, many people had run in front of us to the next line, where they make sure you are entitled to be there for extra magic hours. Now, not to be picky with my favorite place, but there has GOT TO be a more streamlined way to make sure people are in the right place for EMH. The process of checking everyone's parties for this always seems so backwards for a company with the amount of data Disney has. But I digress.

We scurried through the next line to make it up to the tree. this process was very stressful just given the physical layout of the park-- the pathways were wide and winding, so people were running full speed around us, then it would narrow again and I'd end up trapped behind something. At one point, I was actually separated from Marjorie by a shovey group of people, and that really upset me. Like, just walk. We're all in a hurry. Disney COULD do a better job managing this whole thing if they cared (we know because they did exactly that for the first few months of SDMT) so it's clear that they just don't care, and I found that frustrating. But at 7:45 we made it to the queue for FoP, and my annoyance was gone.

Why? Because... well, because I was walking under the floating mountains of Pandora, and that is just so crazy cool.


Like, come on, this doesn't stop being breathtaking (at least, I hope it doesn't).



They let us in a bit early: in fact, we were done with our banshee ride by 8:02, and the line was growing. So, my takeaway here is

1. The rope drop for FoP is the worst I've encountered but
2. I would do it again without question.

The ride was just as breathtaking as it had been a year ago. And we were through early enough that we rode Navi River journey with an 8 minute wait.


After riding Navi, we were pretty solidly ahead of our touring plan, so we hightailed it over to a great safari.


In our family, any safari with a decent view of an okapi is a good one. Did you know most of the okapis in American zoos (including the one at AK) were bred from the Brookfield Zoo here in Chicago? (where we are members) They are beautiful, fascinating, weird animals and Brookfield does a lot of conservation work for them.

After that, we stopped at Kusafari. Now, Marjorie loves to hate on the lack of savory options at Disney, but we had a yummy little quiche and breakfast biscuit here, which was a much better breakfast choice than the pure sugar at Gaston's the day before.

Again, we were killing it on the touring plan. Marjorie had a lot of conversations with me before this trip where she kept warning me, "You can't do everything," because being with friends would obviously slow us down a bit. But we had time to squeeze in a ride on Dinosaur, Triceratop Spin, and Primeval Whirl. And when we left Primeval Whirl, we STILL had more time before our designated 11:00 start time. Which left us with only one choice, clearly.



These guys are Marjorie's favorite attraction in all of Disney. I hope they never leave, because she was beaming with excitement when we realized we could hug them again. (She has a thing for Animals dressed as other animals, which apparently is enough of a "thing" that it trumps her general disdain for character meets.)

So, it was hot, and I was deliriously happy, and our friends were just about to arrive to start the next part of our amazing day. Stay tuned!!​

 

[thumper*]

So glad you haven't deserted your TR. I'm enjoying it.

215 days until we are back in the world!!