A Post-Thanksgiving 2019 Mother/Daughter WDW TR * Completed 6/16 - New TR Link 7/23

[Disneyhanna]

Joining in! I’m glad I found your report. Andi and I are thinking of doing a Thanksgiving trip this year for her 21st birthday!
I really like the CSR rooms, very roomy with lots of storage. We stayed last March.
Polite Pig is so good. I am glad you both enjoyed it
Your day at Epcot looks like a fun one so far. We have never tried the boats between WS and FW, good idea! We walk around and back and forth so much some days!
Via Napoli is one of our go to places, we have been many times now and have always had a good pizza.
Donald is such a fun meet. I like how he is blocking your mom’s shirt!

So excited to have you here Caroline! Thanksgiving is such a fun time at WDW, yes it is busy but the weather is so perfect and they have so many delicious Thanksgiving foods. We were very glad to have tried the boats, we are getting lazier with each trip and it felt like our own private cruise across the lagoon! We do some but not all of the meet & greets and we were so glad we stopped for Donald, what a funny moment. Luckily the CM pointed out why Donald was doing that, we didn't realize at first .

 

[Disneyhanna]

Some of my favorite Disney memories are from mother/daughter trips my mom and I have taken I am enjoying reading along on your WDW adventures with your mom

They are the best trips! We have always been close and I'm so thankful to we get to share all of these memories together . I'm glad you are enjoying, it's been fun going through photos and remembering all of the little moments as I write this TR!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Joining in..we leave in 6 days. I am definitely going to try the polite pig. Especially after the Brussels sprouts pic...

That is so exciting, you're almost there! I think I will make an effort to go to PP every trip now, there are so many sides I want to try (but I will for sure get those Brussel sprouts every time). My mom has even started ordering them at restaurants at home now, she is hooked!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Two - Part Four: More Epcot Dark Rides

Passing by the Mexico pavillion, we decided to do Gran Fiesta tour. We only waited about 10 minutes (perk of no FP+) and I was able to refresh and secure an immediate Soarin’ FP for myself. I actually saw an immediate Frozen FP as well, so never give up on refreshing!

The CMs usually give parties separate rows since the line is short. My mom and I got in a row and another group of two followed us into our row, and a CM made them get out and wait for the next boat. Awkward, we wouldn’t have minded.



This ride always reminds me of Small World! A preview for another day I guess.


"Fireworks" lol!

I listen to the song The Three Caballeros pretty often, and I just love singing along (quietly). Donald’s “Awwww, phooey!” is my favorite part.

We stopped for a few pictures of the topiaries outside of Future World.



They are definitely better during Flower and Garden but still cute!



We don’t really watch any of the shows or eat anything from the Festival of the Holidays, so I can’t give much of a review on that. Epcot is more of a 2/3 day park for us since we don’t sit around eating and drinking much. We love the shops, but we are window shoppers so we get through everything pretty quickly. One day I’ll take it all in though...

We got our first tree picture of the trip!



We had never ridden Figment before, and I heard it was “weird” from some people. After verifying with a CM that it did not spin or anything (she laughed when we asked), we got in the 15 min standby line. It was less than 10 minutes and we were off on our Journey Into Imagination!



The song is so catchy, I didn’t think it was that weird or anything. It’s always fun to discover more rides that my mom can ride.



I take it back, once we hit the end of the ride I realized why people think this ride is a bit weird. We thought it was so funny though.

Off to Soarin'!

I don’t always get to ride Soarin’ since we always pick Frozen as our Tier 1 FP. I got in line around 3:40PM and standby was 55 min.

The CM miscounted and I was left off the flight!

I have the worst luck with this ride, the same thing happened to me in Disneyland this past summer. That’s what I dislike about Soarin’, no constantly moving lines. I was annoyed to have to wait another 10 min (especially since my mom is just waiting around for me when I ride big rides), but at least the CM put me in B1 as a consolation.



Soarin' was great as always, I love the smell of the ocean and grass. The CGI doesn't really bother me, I think Around the World is a lot more thrilling than Over California. There, I said it!

On our long journey back to the buses, we also stopped by to ride Nemo on standby. Wait time said 15 minutes, but we were on by the time we walked through the lengthy queue. Does this ride get that busy during peak season or did Disney just overestimate the size of queue they needed?

We meandered around the aquarium for a few minutes, and of course took a picture of the “hidden” Mickey.



I did Turtle Talk with Crush once, and let’s just say I don’t feel the need to ever do that again.

We liked the moveable plants that were set up to block the sight of construction, much less unsightly than the temporary walls.



Overall we had such a pleasant day at Epcot! Even though NPH was doing candlelight, we passed on that since we figured the lines would be so long and seating isn’t guaranteed. It is a bucket list item for another trip.

We decided to go back to the resort so mom could rest for a bit while I headed to Hollywood Studios for a bit, before going back to Epcot for Epcot Forever.

The bus back to CSR arrived within five minutes, and we were back to our Ranchos bus stop in about 15 minutes. I picked up at Tower of Terror FP pretty easily, despite it being a holiday weekend. Benefits of the (now changed) tiering system.

I took a quick shower (it was quite hot that day) and changed into my Toy Story t-shirt for the night, and was off to HS for a bit. Mom was planning on resting for another hour before meeting me after my ToT FP. I think breaks like this really made the trip more pleasant for both of us!

Continued in Part Five: Tower of Terror and Galaxy’s Edge​

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

You are making such wonderful memories with your mom.

 

[Disneyhanna]

You are making such wonderful memories with your mom.

We really had a great time together this trip!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Two - Part Five: Tower of Terror and Galaxy’s Edge

It was dark by the time I headed solo to Hollywood Studios, and I used the Ranchos bus stop by our room.

I think this was my big mistake, since the stop is across the parking lot (not very far) and thus I don’t think they spray for mosquitos there. I have never once been bitten by bugs on Disney property, but in the 15 minutes I waited for the HS bus, I got four bug bites on my legs!

I’m one of those unlucky people that has a pretty severe reaction to bites (and bugs love me), let’s just say that the short bus ride to HS felt extremely long because I was so itchy. This definitely put a damper on my night.

I didn’t pack any bug spray or anti-itch cream since Disney is usually so good about mosquito control, but I will be doing this going forward for when I am waiting for buses at night. I will say that this was the only time I experienced this during our entire stay, so I’m not sure if it was just bad luck or what.

Anyways, I’ve heard that first aid has almost everything you need, so I decided that would be my first stop. Unfortunately, I was running a bit behind and my ToT FP was almost over (even with the 15 minute grace period) so I beelined there instead.

So I was already in a bit of a flustered and panicky mood, but I was trying to stay calm. Unfortunately, HS was literally the most crowded I have seen a Disney park in my life. I never travel during peak season so I’m not used to massive crowds, and Sunset Boulevard was shoulder to shoulder.

Here is a picture of the Minnesota State Fair, which is what it looked like in HS!

For some reason the crowds felt more overwhelming at Disney, perhaps because I was running very late to my FP!

I realized that it was mostly due to the Sunset Seasons Greetings projection show on the ToT, and everyone had just crowded in to watch it.

Here is a picture from a different night during our trip, much less crowded.



It took me FIVE minutes to walk down Sunset Boulevard and get to ToT. I’m good at dodging people when I walk but it was so ridiculously crowded I could barely get through. I was starting to regret leaving the spaciousness of Epcot at this point!

I finally made it to ToT around 6:45 and got into the holding area by the elevator immediately. The standy was only 50 minutes, which seemed low given the amount of people over there.



I was excited to ride since I hadn’t ridden ToT in a long time, and Guardians over in California Adventure has totally won me over. It throws me off when the elevator moves on the tracks, since I’m more used to the California version that just stays in the elevator shaft.

Needless to say, the ride took my mind off things and I had a blast! It was more fun than I remembered, and I like having two different versions of this ride in the United States. Both are a lot of fun so I think Disney should keep them the way they are!



It’s funny, people are always terrified on ToT but on Guardians they are always smiling! It just shows what a difference the theming and backstory make.

With my mission accomplished, I headed back to the entrance to find the first aid station. The CM at the welcome booth had no idea where it was confused but I found it on the app, it’s on the left when you enter HS.

First Aid was so peaceful, I could have stayed in that building and just chilled for a while! A very nice lady gave me some calagel single-use packets that are basically benadryl. You are only supposed to apply them every few hours and they worked really well for me. I vowed to pick up some of this stuff when I got home.



I’m usually the type of person to pack the entire medicine cabinet, but really there is no need with first aid being available in every park. The CM did ask if I was 18, so keep that in mind I suppose.

I snagged Epcot Forever FPs at 7:20 while waiting for my mom to arrive at HS, and she arrived shortly after.

We were going to go check out Galaxy’s Edge at night, and proceeded to get very lost despite being convinced we were going the right way! We were using the map in MDE and everything! We don’t spend very much time in HS (usually a skip or half day for us) and so we really didn’t know where we were going.

We eventually found it and I was surprised by how different it felt from Disneyland. The area by the Millennium Falcon is the same, but I thought the other areas were very different. It may have just been my bad memory though, since I think they're supposed to be the same.



It was really crowded, you definitely wouldn't be able to get a picture without a ton of people in the background.

Below is a picture from my trip to Disneyland in July, where there was hardly anyone in Galaxy's Edge! APs were blocked out so that made a big difference. Someone should have told me to cherish that moment a lot more than I did .

I had told my mom about the blue milk when I tried it in Disneyland and she was very interested in trying it, to my surprise. There was no line so we didn’t bother with mobile order, which I highly recommend when it is busy.



This really hit the spot since it was still pretty warm, it was exactly the same as in Disneyland and even my mom enjoyed it! It tastes nothing like dairy milk, the best description I have for it is a fruity skittles smoothie. It’s mildly sweet and fruity, and the texture is pretty thick and smooth. It's not grainy or icy at all. It’s way overpriced but I’ve had nothing like it so it’s worth it for the novelty, and the photos of course!

We were hungry for dinner and decided to share a Ronto Wrap. I was initially wary since I’m generally not into hot dogs, sausage, etc. but I was trying to branch out more this trip.



There wasn’t any line at Ronto Roasters, which is good because there’s very little room to wait in line or eat.


"Roasted Pork, Grilled Pork Sausage, Peppercorn Sauce, and Tangy Slaw wrapped in Pita Bread"

This was a surprise hit for us! When the Ronto Wrap first came out, I pretty much dismissed it since it seemed like a whole lot of pita with very little filling. It’s actually very well balanced and the slaw keeps it moist. The sausage is snappy and the ratio of soft pita to fillings is spot on. I think the roasted pork gets a bit lost in there but overall delicious and we would both get it again! It was a good size for us to share as a light dinner (with room for snacks), but it wouldn’t be too much for one person either. It looks bigger in pictures than in person!

Satisfied, we headed out of Hollywood Studios to head over to Epcot for the evening show.



The Black Spire Outpost Marketplace looks great at night, we didn’t take the time to stop and browse around since we aren’t really fans of Star Wars (sorry ).



On our way out, we passed a huge group of people with lightsabers. Very cool at night. Did they all pay $200 to build them?

We waited about 12 minutes for the bus from HS to Epcot. Of course, we saw two CSR buses go by during this time! Funny how that works…

Off to Epcot we went, it took about 15 minutes. I didn’t think the parks were that far apart but time moves differently in WDW.

Continued in Part Six: Epcot Forever​

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Two - Part Six: Epcot Forever

Back to Epcot (can you tell we like to park hop?), we had to stop and take some photos by Spaceship Earth at night of course!



It’s so beautiful at night, and we had a really nice CM take our photos. She pointed out that I matched my magicband (pink small world)! Totally unplanned, of course...



The Epcot tree looks much better at night, although the same could probably be said for all of the WDW trees.


My tree is still up in my apartment...I am really bad at keeping up with the seasons.
I also have a Fall sign hanging up and some fake pumpkins on my kitchen island, someone help!

We headed to the FP entrance to Epcot Forever, which is right in the center when you get to World Showcase from Future World. It was about 9:10 for a 9:30 showing of Epcot Forever.

A lot of people were already there, but there was still plenty of room to find a spot to sit until the show started.



I’m sorry I didn't take any pictures, but since I hadn’t seen this show before I wanted to watch it with my full attention! I thought Epcot Forever was really nice, it’s only about 12 minutes which is a good length. The kites were the standout, even though there were a few not full lit, they were spectacular to watch over the water. I pointed out to my mom that they were being driven by speedboats, she didn’t even notice until I mentioned it.

Kite photo courtesy of Theme Park Insider.

The music is very nostalgic, and I wasn’t bothered by the ending with the movie music like a lot of people seem to be. It’s definitely worth seeing, and you don’t need to stake out a spot like with HEA. I hope they incorporate the kites into HarmonioUS because they’re really beautiful to watch. Overall it seemed to be well received by the crowd! We weren’t big fans of Illuminations (again, sorry!) so we definitely preferred Epcot Forever.

It took us just over 10 minutes to get to the buses when leaving immediately after the show from the FP viewing area. The bus was loading as we got there but there were just enough people ahead that we had to wait for the next one.

I felt bad, a woman on a scooter was confused by the attendant's directions and tried to drive through the ropes instead of around to the front, and got tangled up and stuck. People loading the bus skipped seats to stand and ended up leaving a block of four seats open, I will never understand people. We definitely could have fit on that bus!

Luckily another bus came in under 10 minutes and we got seats, always a rarity for park close. We got off at El Centro to get some late night second dinner, and it took just over 20 minutes since it’s the last stop at CSR. One of these days I'll figure out if it's faster to get off at the first stop and just walk.

I got the kids mac and cheese, which was pretty meh but did the job.



They didn’t let me sub the sides for potato wedges sadly. I don’t think there was mobile ordering or I would have tried that.

Mom got a macadamia white chocolate chip cookie which she loved, though she said the CM working the bakery station was VERY cranky. To be fair, it was getting close to 11 which is when they close. Anyone who has worked in retail gets this!

The CMs in Cafe Rix right next to the food court from the night before were much friendlier, but they are open until midnight so perhaps they are more used to the late nights.

I took a photo of the toiletries in the room since I know people are always curious.



The shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are in the shower dispensers on the wall. They replenished the items we took/used each day, including the lotion!

We couldn’t get anything to work on the TV except the regular TV, so we just turned it off (Disney has basically no good channels) and went to bed.

Overall 24k steps for our first park day! A pretty average day in my books, I can't imagine doing rope drop to close, my record is about 30k in Disneyland.

The plan for Sunday was to do HS and then take an afternoon pool break, and then head back for Fantasmic. There was a chance of rain, so let’s see how our plan went...

Phew, that's it for Day Two! Thanks for sticking with me folks, we are just getting started!

Continued in Day Three - Part One: Hollywood Studios Morning​

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Three - Part One: Hollywood Studios Morning

Exactly two weeks from today I will be landing in WDW for my first solo trip! Woohoo! I guess this means I failed at finishing this TR before my next trip...boy does time fly! We are due for some very cold weather over the next few days (real feel of negative 25 Fahrenheit) so I am dreaming of lying by the pool at CSR to get me through work.

A little side story from when I was lying in bed at the end of Day Two:

I bought an AP in August, and I believe that the passholder discount was already sold out for our standard room stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge (I booked a regular room discount in late July). I checked periodically to see if I could apply the AP discount but no such luck.

Well, when I was on my phone before going to sleep, I checked the room discounts one last time and saw that our room category was available with the AP discount! Score! My mom had fallen asleep at this point but I was SO excited to tell her in the morning. Since everything about the stay was the same (room type, dates, resort) I was able to modify the reservation directly on MDE, even though our check-in day was in three days. So never give up on the room discounts, especially right before check-in since people will cancel last minute and Disney wants to fill every room they can.

We were staying at AKL for three nights, and applying the AP discount saved us $122! So slowly I was earning back my “investment,” or so I tell myself.

Back to the TR!

Day 3, Sunday, was for Hollywood Studios, and we were crossing our fingers that it wouldn’t be as busy as the night before since Thanksgiving travelers would (hopefully) be heading home.

We were up and walking to El Mercado for breakfast by 8:40AM. I don't know why, but I always ooh and ah over Disney squirrels, as if they're different from the millions of squirrels back home.



We had two kids meals, these were pretty dismal. I remember POP and POR having better kids meals for breakfast, the bacon at CSR was especially sad. These sad potato patties make McDonald’s seem gourmet! The scrambled eggs were way better than the omelette, which was clearly the frozen/premade/microwaved type, a la Holiday Inn Express. I feel like POP and POR were build your own but maybe things have changed.



The one plus was that the OJ and water included were full sized, which is unusual. Usually you get tiny drinks with kids meals. The dining hall (or is it called a food court? lol) was not busy but those who were there were very confused about the dining plan. Poor CMs must get sick of explaining it constantly!

There were quite a few people at the bus stop for HS that morning, we took it as a good sign that a bus would come soon. Nothing worse than arriving to an empty bus stop because it probably means you just missed the bus! It arrived in about eight minutes and we made it on just fine. No long lines at CSR!

We left CSR at 8:25 and were in the FP line for Midway Mania in under 25 minutes! We waited about 10 minutes to ride, which felt longer than usual.


Mom’s hat looks like one of those salon blow dryers for some reason.

My only strategy is to only aim for the targets worth 500 points or more. My arm is always tired after this ride, especially during the bonus round. I need to stop skipping arm day!



I am player 2, mom always complains that she’s no good at these games. I’m working on improving my accuracy by shooting less, and I don’t know any tricks to this game so no spoilers please! We like this better than Buzz because you can easily see your shots.

This was actually our second FP of the day, I stacked our FPs early in the day and picked Tier 2 show FPs that we didn’t plan on using, since it wouldn’t prevent others from getting into the show and then we could make another Tier 1 once our FP windows were up. We didn’t even scan into the other FPs and they still were “used” so we could make a Tier 1 later that day. Things have changed and now ToT and TSMM are Tier 2 so it’s much easier to get good FPs now, whereas everything good was Tier 1 during this trip!

No signage was up yet for Runaway Railway during our trip.



They did have some advertisements up though, I am so excited!



I am a bit bummed though, for my upcoming solo trip I leave on the evening of 3/3, so I am missing the opening by a day. It especially stinks since they are using FP for it so I could have totally ridden it, oh well I booked my flight so long ago and got a really good deal (10,000 Skymiles) that I can’t complain too much. This is how Disney gets me to keep coming back after all!

We got a nice picture from an older photopass CM that knew the people ahead of us, apparently they have met him before.



He also took “headshots” that he said he does for all the “pretty ladies” but I’ll spare everyone from those.

I wore my Groot shirt and realized the baby Groot photo op ending a long time ago, so sad! At least I met adult Groot in Disneyland. I have to admit, baby Yoda is sure giving baby Groot a run for his money though!

We were off to Red Carpet Dreams, a photo op we hadn’t done before. We ended up waiting 30 minutes in a very slow moving line, there were lots of little kids that you can imagine were thrilled to be standing around with nothing fun to look at aside from a few posters.



We got our first photo with Minnie in her lovely dress, she loved my mom’s shirt. Minnie is so very elegant and ladylike, it was fun to meet her like this.



I love Sorcerer Mickey, he is so fun and we can’t pass up a picture with Mickey.



Since there is no FP for this I would either go early or late, the line seemed much longer when we left and it barely moves. HS seemed to have long lines for characters even though the park itself was not bad at all.

Next up is our return to Galaxy’s Edge, this time in the daylight! We had an Oga’s ADR around 11:30 for some drinks before our 1:15 Sci-Fi ADR.

Continued in Part Two: Oga's Cantina​

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Three - Part Two: Oga’s Cantina

We headed to Galaxy’s Edge, this time we knew where we were going! It seems like the stage show is always going on, I still don’t know what this ship (Kylo Ren’s?) is called. I’m a terrible person, I know!



Since we were a bit early for our ADR for Oga’s, we sat down for a bit to observe Galaxy’s Edge. We saw a really great CM taking photos near the Oga’s check in, with the Millennium Falcon in the distance. He was really into it and helping people take fun photos. I love seeing CMs who really enjoy their work, and I hope they know that their enthusiasm is very appreciated!

We also saw several little girls dressed as Rey, swinging around on the umbrella poles. There’s a bit of everything in WDW, that’s for sure!

We got in line for Oga’s a few minutes before our 1:15 ADR, and the people who checked in behind us didn’t have an ADR until 1:45 but the CM let them stand in the queue. Interesting, compared to in Disneyland where we were told to come back exactly at our ADR time!

The queue doesn’t matter too much anyways, they call your name so it’s really just a holding area. We waited just under 10 minutes past our ADR time.



This was definitely exactly the same as Disneyland, we were put at a little surfboard table that they had four parties of two standing around it, so eight people total. This picture shows about 75% of the table.



Yes, it was every bit as small as it looked! The bar is a much better spot, or a table if you get incredibly lucky. They’re pre-assigned spots and you can’t move away from them or they’ll think you’re done and will bring the next guests to immediately take your place. Wait to tour the Cantina when you’re done drinking!

I ordered the Carbon Freeze (POWERADE® Lemon Lime, Wild Strawberry, Blueberry, and Green Apple Popping Pearls), and my mom got the Jabba Juice (Simply® Orange with Pineapple, Kiwi, Cantaloupe, and Blueberry Popping Pearls).



Mine came in the tall cup with dry ice or something. Both drinks were good, and much cheaper and larger than the alcoholic drinks. It was hard to get to the popping boba because of all the ice cubes though.

I just cannot justify the price of the alcoholic drinks, I believe they are pre-mixed and they are pretty weak. I paid close to $20 for my Jedi Mind Trick in Disneyland and I'd rather have three snacks...I would definitely prefer to eat my calories!



Lots of fun stuff to look at behind the bar, I think it would be more exciting to fans of Star Wars but we still enjoyed seeing the theming.



DJ Rex is fun and talks occasionally, the whole bar has a very fun and upbeat atmosphere, and the club vibe fits in better in Hollywood Studios than it does in Disneyland even though you are immersed in Galaxy’s Edge in both parks.

We were done in about 25 minutes, and while we were waiting to finish paying there were new guests already being led to our spots. It was a bit awkward since there was no room to begin with. Overall we probably would not go again unless with people who had never been before, but it’s definitely worth checking out at least once. Fans of Star Wars will get a lot more out of it than people like us who have only seen the original trilogy once or twice.

We headed out through Toy Story Land, we didn’t realize they were connected. Look how nice the low crowds were! And TSL is usually so packed to the brim.



Mom loved the giant Tinker Toys, she played them them a lot growing up.



I had picked up a Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster FP at some point, and was riding for the first time I believe since 2004! It was one of my most memorable rides as a kid, I was a big coaster junkie even then and thought the upside down part was the best thing ever.



I had fun this time as an adult of course, but man is that ride short! I waited about 15 minutes in the FP line, and I hear the single rider line is often a bad choice here.



It’s funny how different rides are to a kid compared to an adult. It felt darker as an adult, I remember it being so brightly themed as a kid and that I didn’t even realize it went upside down until someone told me after. Now, I’d ride it again with a FP of course, but ToT still ranks a lot higher for me in terms of thrill and length of the experience.

Next up is our much anticipated Sci-Fi lunch along with my first time on Slinky! Did I brave the standby, or did I get a FP?

Continued in Part Three: Sci-Fi Dine-In and Slinky Dog Dash​

 

[iHEARTflorida]

enjoying the tr, off to read your DL TR now!! Have a great trip in Disney.

 

[Disneyhanna]

enjoying the tr, off to read your DL TR now!! Have a great trip in Disney.

Thanks for reading! I miss Disneyland, I may have to read it again to bring back all of the memories! Thank you, I am officially under two weeks and the days are going by soooo slowly now!

 

[DM2two]

following

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love TSM, I never get higher than 130,000 for my score! It sure is fun.
We went in Oga’s during the AP preview and thought it was okay but not a must do for us!
Andi didn’t really care for it, to crowded!
Andi use to do single rider line a lot on RnRc, it use to be super quick. She can tell now by just looking at it when to go in and when not too.
ToT is one of my favorites

 

[Disneyhanna]

following

Thanks for joining in, happy to have another reader!

 

[Disneyhanna]

I love TSM, I never get higher than 130,000 for my score! It sure is fun.
We went in Oga’s during the AP preview and thought it was okay but not a must do for us!
Andi didn’t really care for it, to crowded!
Andi use to do single rider line a lot on RnRc, it use to be super quick. She can tell now by just looking at it when to go in and when not too.
ToT is one of my favorites

TSM is my favorite shooter style ride for sure! I still need to ride Men in Black so that is on my list for my solo trip, since I will be doing an evening event at Universal for one night! We agree that Oga's was not a must do for us at all, I think it would be really fun with a group in a booth but not as great for just two.

I will have to give the single rider line a try, I have a feeling I will not be able to pick up as many FPs at HS now that they have changed the tiers again, it was good while it lasted! ToT will always be a classic, I still remember watching the movie after going to WDW for the first time. Haunted Mansion terrified me but I had no problem with ToT!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Day Three - Part Three: Sci-Fi Dine-In and Slinky Dog Dash

After riding Rock n Rollercoaster, I was able to grab a FP for Slinky Dog while resting on a bench before our Sci-Fi ADR! I have been to WDW a few times since Slinky opened, but never had a chance to ride since we don’t usually rope drop and we always picked Toy Story Mania as our Tier 1 FP. I got it for 1:55, which was perfect since we were headed to lunch and then it would be Slinky time! I spent maybe 15 minutes refreshing to get it, I think I saw a few other FPs for it but they were later in the day and I didn’t want to give up being able to make FPs in the meantime.

Just our thoughts, but we didn’t love the holiday decor at HS and we really need some time for the park to grow on us. Right now it is still our “least favorite” but more because there’s not as many rides for my mom. We are excited for Runaway Railway since it looks like my mom will be able to ride!

We passed by the Red Carpet Dreams photo op on our way to Sci-Fi and saw the wait had jumped to 60 minutes!

We checked into Sci-Fi at 1:10 for our 1:15 ADR and sat down to wait with some free popcorn. The hosts were really friendly!



At 1:18, we were seated as hitchhikers in the back of one of the cars in the back middle of the restaurant.



Overall a very nice view, I imagine it would be best if you’re in the front of your car.

The little table tops in the cars are very shallow, there is just enough room for your plates and silverware. There’s not a lot of space to be seated either, I’d compare it to being seated in an airplane!



I don’t remember paying that much attention to the videos, but I did love when Tom and Jerry came on because I loved that show as a kid!



We decided to share an Oreo milkshake for our appetizer. We contemplated ordering our own, but decided we wanted to leave room for more snacks.



The shake was delicious, they had extra wide paper straws but we probably should have asked for spoons. It was pretty chilly in the restaurant, I’d bring an extra layer with even in hot weather.

It was sort of hard to hear the sound in the back, even though there are speakers between the cars. I forget what they are called, but my mom laughed and said they had them at normal drive-in theaters when she was growing up. Disney really paid attention to the details here!



We had our burger in less than 20 minutes from being seated, we shared a regular cheeseburger and subbed the fries for a side salad. I had read that the fries are not great, and we were trying to limit our mediocre fries intake this trip!



The burger was really good, the kitchen split it for us without asking and the salad was very refreshing. It had cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots, and did not cost any extra. We really enjoyed the burger, it was on the small end for a restaurant burger (probably only a quarter pounder) so we were satisfied but not stuffed at all. It was a lighter lunch than we expected so we felt really good after!

Our bill was just over $30 with the AP discount and tip, so a pretty pricey restaurant but a fun experience. I didn’t end up paying as much attention to the videos as I thought I would, but I can see how Sci-Fi has become a tradition for many families. We will probably try other restaurants before going back, but it was a solid thumbs up for us.

Back to Toy Story Land for my Slinky FP, we noticed lots of umbrellas to stand under. I didn’t remember there being this much shade in the past, maybe this is new? Or maybe I am just being forgetful as usual! My mom appreciated it since she would be waiting for me to ride.



I waited about five minutes in the FP line and then it was my turn!



I was in row 2, so close to row 1! I was put in a row with a mom with her two kids in front, she actually tried to sit down right away so I couldn’t get in and I had to awkwardly let her know that I was supposed to be in her row as well. There’s a reason CMs will put single riders or odd numbers in the same row, there are way too many people to ride to let everyone get their own row!



I thought it was really fun, nothing like I imagined and so smooth like everyone says. I would never wait in standby but will definitely try and get a FP for future trips!

Continued in Part Four: Skyliner and the Shortest MK Visit Ever​

 

[disneyAndi14]

We love Sci-Fi, one of our favorites! I think the atmosphere has so much to do with it.
I really like the shake there, I know for a fact Disney is giving less with the shake and meals. Andi and I use to share all the time and we always had leftovers, now we eat everything. The portions are smaller. It’s fine for us because we eat smaller amounts. I could never share with my husband, he would go away hungry
I’m glad you got to try SDD, we enjoy it but not enough to wait in stand by!

 

[disvisitorkim]

Following along! looks like a great trip so far and can’t wait to read about your solo trip!

I haven’t been to Sci-Fi! The theming is right up my alley, but we’ve always done other things, so I hope to try in the future!

 

[Disneyhanna]

We love Sci-Fi, one of our favorites! I think the atmosphere has so much to do with it.
I really like the shake there, I know for a fact Disney is giving less with the shake and meals. Andi and I use to share all the time and we always had leftovers, now we eat everything. The portions are smaller. It’s fine for us because we eat smaller amounts. I could never share with my husband, he would go away hungry
I’m glad you got to try SDD, we enjoy it but not enough to wait in stand by!

It's definitely the most unique restaurant I have been to in a long time! I suppose they are trying to cut down on waste with the dining plans, this is one of the few places we found the portion size in the realm of what one person actually eats!

Definitely hoping to ride SDD again at night some time, it seems like it would be really fun with all of the pretty lights in TSL!