Trip Report, Episode XXII: Day 4 - One day, four parks!
I'm not the type of person to make New Year's Resolutions. Instead, when a new year begins, I try and think of things I haven't before done that I'd like to do in that year. For 2018, I had one specific goal in mind, and I wanted to get it done on the very first day of the year: visit all four parks of Walt Disney World in one day.
Originally my plan was to do a character meet, an attraction and have something to eat in each of the four parks, but I was pretty wiped from the previous two long days, and it was cold and rainy on the first, so I scaled things back. I'd do the two meals I had reserved, and definitely do an attraction in each park, but I'd skip the character meets and wouldn't have anything to eat at AK or Epcot.
I woke up a little groggy, but ready to attack the day -- at least so I thought. I quickly realized how tired I was shortly after I got on the bus from Port Orleans to Magic Kingdom, and then discovered it was actually the bus to Hollywood Studios. Whoops.
If I hadn't had any morning reservations, I would've just started my day there and gone about park hopping, but I had a 9 a.m. breakfast reservation at CRT. I wasn't sure the park-to-park buses were running at that time of morning, and I figured taking a bus back to a resort then over to MK would take too long, so I grabbed a cab, which of course only took me to TTC. From there I hopped on the ferry to MK and walked up to the castle 20 minutes late for my reservation. Thankfully, they were more than happy to accommodate me, in part because I'm a "Friend of Cinderella" (literally, I've been to CRT so often that the phrase "Friend of Cinderella" is printed on the ticket I show to the hostess to get my table).
People on this board tend to downgrade the food at CRT, but I find the bacon and eggs to be just fine (again, it's REALLY hard to mess those up), and as a solo diner, I get the pastry platter that's designed for the entire table to myself -- though on this day I only had two items off the platter. I was, however, bummed that CRT didn't have ginger ale, so Sprite had to suffice as a substitute. Still, CRT isn't about the food or drink, it's about the friends I get to reconnect with.
After CRT, I did the one MK attraction I really wanted to do but couldn't get to on the 30th -- the PeopleMover. No line, a nice relaxing journey, and a great view of the castle -- it was all I wanted to start the year.
From MK it was over to AK, where I had a FastPass for Na'vi River Journey. Well, technically I had FastPasses for multiple AK attractions, but I knew I'd punt on the later ones, since I wanted to squeeze in a visit to Epcot before I had to go back to DHS for my late lunch/early dinner reservation. NRJ was as beautiful as I remembered it from having ridden it 8 times in one day during a Pandora preview, and I was happy to see that the animatronic was in operation on this day. Pandora itself continues to blow me away. It really is like stepping into a different world.
As I left Pandora, I stopped to get a Mo'ara Margarita and briefly considered giving the FoP test seat a go, but I figure I need to drop another 40 pounds or so to make that work, and even if I did fit, I wasn't going to put up with the 3-hour standby wait. Maybe by the time I return in February, I'll at least be willing to try the test seat to see how close I am to fitting.
While on the bus ride from AK to Epcot, the
MDE app started acting up. I was able to secure an FP for The Seas with Nemo and Friends, which I hadn't done the day before, and didn't involve much walking from the front of the park.
By the time I got to the ride, the FP system was almost completely down, but I was able to show them the screenshot on my phone to get onto the ride (not that waiting in standby would've been the end of the world -- it was a 15-minute wait). On my way out of the park, I stopped to get a hot chocolate. I considered walking all the way up to France to get my beloved frozen Grey Goose slush, but it was a little too cold for a frozen drink, and I didn't feel like doing all that walking -- even though from France I could've exited out the International Gateway and taken the boat over to DHS.
By the time I got to DHS, I thought I could squeeze in a viewing of Voyage of The Little Mermaid before lunch, but the line was packed, mostly because the entire standby queue is covered and people were looking for something to give them shelter from the rain and cold. With that out as an option, I ducked over to One Man's Dream, which was actually playing the One Man's Dream film for the first time in a while (my last few trips had come when it was promoting an upcoming movie).
Lunch/dinner at HBD was delayed a little bit, but I didn't mind, because that restaurant has by far the most comfortable waiting room seating of any Disney restaurant. They don't have enough of it -- which meant a lot of people who were waiting for tables to open up were left standing, since the outdoor seating wasn't really an option in the rain -- but I was comfy in one of those giant chairs.
The steak at HBD was really good, as was the crab cake appetizer. The dessert was just okay, but truth be told, by this point in the trip, I was desserted-out. Still, I was glad I made room for HBD on my agenda on this trip, since it was a good place to use my dining plan, and probably not a place I'd visit if I was paying out of pocket.
While I was eating, the MDE app started working again, so I was able to grab a FastPass for Tower of Terror. I made that my second post-dinner stop, with my first being Voyage of the Little Mermaid, where -- for the second time on this trip -- I got the last seat for a show. This time I was in the very back, which I actually appreciated, as I usually sit front row for this show. Sitting in the rear of the theater finally gave me a chance to see the full laser effects. And, as I always do, I cried a little during "Part of Your World."
By the time the show was over, it was time for my ToT FastPass, and from there it'd be off to Fantasmic. After riding ToT, I lingered for a bit outside the ride to watch the projection onto the tower as part of the Sunset Boulevard seasonal show. After a few minutes, I headed over to the Fantasmic entrance, only to discover that I had a pretty good view of the projections on the tower from that path as well.
Approaching the Dining Package seating area for Fantasmic, I noticed the front few rows - aka the "splash zone" - were completely empty. I immediately headed there, figuring as we were already sitting in the rain, how much could it hurt to get a little more wet (spoiler: a lot). Though it was cold and wet, it ended up being the perfect view for the show, and was probably the most I ever enjoyed Fantasmic at WDW (though I still probably like the DL version a little bit more). It was definitely amusing that the loudest cheers of the night were for Maleficent's flames -- and there were even some boos when Mickey put them out, that's how cold it was out there.
Making my way out of the park at around 7:30, I realized I still had time to re-visit MK or Epcot (which was having EMH from 9-11), but I decided to head back to my room and grab a drink or two and watch some of the college football playoff before falling asleep much earlier than I'm used to. But it turned out there was a good reason for that, and it wasn't just that I'd been in the parks past midnight the previous two nights.
Next up: Goodbye WDW, hello cold.