We weren't expecting special forces! A February 2020 TR- Final Update 4/16

[eliseisawkward]

Bright suns, travelers! Welcome to my first trip report. I do have a pre-trip report here, if you are interested in reading how we planed the trip.

For those that don't know me, my name is Elise, pictured below with my favorite droid BB-9E.



I'm a 31 year old research scientist currently residing in Philadelphia with my husband and our two very adorable cats. This is my 5th trip to Disney, and I have to say it was my favorite so far. This is my second February trip with the same crew: Me, my husband (Derek), my sister (Steph), and my brother-in-law (Alex).



The main purpose of this trip was to visit STAR WARS LAND because my husband and I are huge Star Wars nerds, but also to spend some time with Steph and Alex and just generally enjoy ourselves. We also were dying to try another after hours event! So we packed the essentials and left for the airport on Friday.



But first... a stop in Fort Lauderdale to visit Derek's grandma. I won't bore you all with those details. Mostly that was hanging by the pool and quality family time, as well as a few iguana sightings and a half day at the spa. But Monday morning we woke up, checked out of our hotel and grabbed a Lyft to the Greyhound station. At the same time Steph and Alex were boarding a plane to meet us at Disney's POP Century Resort. Who will make it there first?? Will our room be ready by the time we get there?​

 

[eliseisawkward]

Table of Contents:

Day 1: Travel Day, Magic Kingdom After Hours
Part 1: In which we take the Greyhound for the first, and likely the last, time.
Part 2: In which we finally arrive, and immediately head to Disney Springs for some food.
Part 3: In which we once again watch a bus leave as we walk to the stop.
Part 4: In which we ride rides and eat snacks.
Bonus Pictures: Derek's solo ride on Small World.
Part 5: In which we ride more rides and eat more snacks.

Day 2: Monorail Bar Crawl
Part 6: In which we explore new resorts and ride the Skyliner for the first time.
Part 7: In which we visit new lounges and drink new drinks.

Day 3: Hollywood Studios
Part 8: In which we travel to worlds both big and small.
Part 9: In which we build a droid.
Part 10: In which we all become space pirates.
Pat 11: In which we encounter the local law enforcement.
Part 12: In which our true colors are revealed.
Part 13: In which we taste the wares at Oga's Cantina.
Part 14: In which we watch another Disney movie.

Day 4: Travel Home
Part 15: In which we find new flights home.
​

 

[DLo]

Popping over from your PTR. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 1: In which we take the Greyhound for the first, and likely the last, time.

For this trip we visited Derek's grandma before heading to Disney.


Two years ago in December we rented a car to drive from Disney down to Fort Lauderdale and visit, but this time we decided we didn't want to drive and we would take the bus. Greyhound has a station in Fort Lauderdale that has express busses to Orlando, so we booked the latest morning express departing at 8:10AM. We are not morning people.

We packed up our stuff, including the 2.5 gallon water container we grabbed at Publix because Florida water is *not good* and called for a Lyft. Checking in for our bus was relatively easy, they tagged our bags (flying they would be a carry-on but not on the bus) and we sat down to wait for the bus to arrive. The station smelled AWFUL and I was hoping the bus would arrive soon so we could get out of there. When the bus arrived we left our bags with the driver and got on the bus.

It. Was. Packed.
We ended up sitting separately, but I was able to sit in the seat behind Derek, so we weren't far from each other. The bus also smelled pretty awful. And the people we were both sat next to took up more than their fair share of space. I have made the executive decision that we are never doing that again and I will drive a rental car over that bus any day of the week.

While we were stuck on one of the worst busses I have ever been on (I used to use public transit daily... soooo), my sister Steph and her husband Alex were taking a relatively easy flight from Pittsburgh to Orlando. They texted before taking off and after landing, and ended up catching the Magical Express shortly after landing. We were all headed to Disney's POP Century and they said they would be the last of 3 stops. At this point we were still an hour away from the Orlando Greyhound stop, so it looks like they beat us there.

We still didn't have a room ready, and they took one look at the line to drop bags off and decided they could take their bags with them to the Bowling Pin Pool. Derek and I were still stuck on the bus.

Next time on arrival day part 2: Will we ever get off this bus? Will our room be ready before we get there?​

 

[eliseisawkward]

Popping over from your PTR. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

Thanks for joining me again! You popped over just in time for my first update. I hope you enjoy reading along!

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 2: In which we finally arrive, and immediately head to Disney Springs for some food.

We did finally get off the bus. I texted Steph at 12:02 saying we were getting off the bus, and we called a Lyft shortly after that. While in the Lyft I received an email with our room number! But no text, oh well.

We ended up with a 70s room, top floor, lake view. I had requested a 50s lake view, and we prefer the top floor, so it worked out ok. My sister sent me this picture while we were still in our Lyft:



Our Lyft had a projected arrival of 12:50. Derek was stuck talking to the driver about... who even knows what and I felt pretty bad about it, but there wasn't anything I could do to help. We finally arrived, and made a beeline through the lobby and towards our room. Derek immediately collapsed onto the bed nearest the door, so I guess we picked that bed.

After a quick bit of unpacking and organizing the TINY fridge (seriously, what is with those things?!), we found we couldn't fit our water in there so we just stuck it on the little counter above the fridge. At least none of us minds room temperature water, and Steph actually prefers it so I guess that worked out for her! Alex finally emerged from the shower and we all debated heading straight to Disney Springs or resting for a bit. We ended up deciding to just take our time getting ready and head on over, since Derek and I had a 2:30 ADR for T-REX.

After some confusion on the way to the bus stop, wherein we thought we were taking a short cut and ended up taking a much longer route than intended, we ended up at the bus stop just in time to watch a bus depart. This would not be the last time we had this experience this trip. Oh well. At least the weather was wonderful and we had time to chat and catch up while waiting for the bus.

I don't have notes for this part of the trip, but I assume we arrived around 2, based on the fact that we checked into T-REX a little early and were sat well before 2:30. We got one of the best seats in the house:



I do have notes about our drinks, since they were the first drinks of the trip and I needed to record what those were for our passports (more about those later). I had a Raptor Rita and Derek had a Tropical Painkiller. Both were very good. We also split everything for this meal and ordered a Caprese Flatbread, Omnivore's Delight (salad, no meat), and Beyond Burger. By the end we were STUFFED.



During this time Steph and Alex went to Paddlefish for apps and drinks, and then Art Smith's for apps and drinks. Then they shopped a bit and found a place for a happy hour beer. Derek and I debated joining them, but we were so full of food that we decided to head back to the room.

The bus was SO. FAR. AWAY. But we made it and a bus pulled up shortly so we were on our way. Back at the room we decided to take a nap before heading to the Magic Kingdom for After Hours. Steph and Alex soon joined us and also opted for a nap.


Next time on arrival day part 3: What time will we get into the Magic Kingdom? Will we make our first Fast Pass?!​

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 3: In which we once again watch a bus leave as we walk to the stop.

We had tickets to the Magic Kingdom After Hours event for our arrival day. Since this was a short trip, and we enjoyed Animal Kingdom After Hours last year we thought this was an obvious choice. Plus it wasn't much more than a 1-day ticket or adding a second day to a base ticket. Oh and it was a Christmas present (Thanks Dad and Pam!!).

I tried to convince everyone that we should set an alarm to wake up at 5:30 to head over to the MK. I was overruled and the alarm was set for 5:55. Fine, fine. But don't look at me if we miss our fast pass for Space Mountain (ends at 7:30). The alarm goes off, we all get up and some of us change. We decided to go with 1 bag for all of us, plus my fanny pack. I ❤ my fanny pack. So off to the bus stop we go (I forgot to write the time, somewhere around 6:30). This time we took the correct "short cut" through the parking lot, but alas we saw an MK bus pull away as we were walking up to the stop. Bad bus luck strikes again. So again we chatted and enjoyed the very empty bus stop.



A few minutes later another bus pulled up and we got on along with a handful of families. A quick glance at the time showed that we were *dangerously* close to 7:00PM and I shook my head and told everyone else we should have gotten up earlier from our naps to make it in by 7. A women overheard me and said "well you could have gotten in at 4 with the party ticket" to which I corrected her that this was not the same as the parties and while maybe they would have let us in before 7, the official time is 7. She seemed annoyed and replied that they were Passholders, so it really didn't matter to them. Sorry you were wrong ?

Anyway, I had masterfully grabbed 3 FP+ for us, first up was Space Mountain (6:30-7:30) so we made it into the park with plenty of time to spare (entered a few minutes after 7). We did have to walk directly there to make it, but we made it easily! I joked that we could do the PeopleMover instead and they all looked at me like I lost my mind. We all enjoyed Space, but man is it rough. After getting off we agreed once was fine and we wouldn't need to come back later. I made another PeopleMover joke, they all groaned and Steph said she had a headache.

It was almost 7:30 at this point and Steph wanted a coffee (to help with the headache), but specifically Starbucks. We had seen the INSANE line earlier when we walked in (seriously why was it so long around 7??) and debated if we should do our second FP+ first. We agreed that yes we should, so we trekked over to Seven Dwarves Mine Train and hopped into the FP+ queue. There was a tiny hold up as the people in front of us were arguing with the CM at the FP entrance. They clearly didn't have a FP, but insisted they did. The CM waved them through, I think she was just DONE with people. I made sure to smile and say thank you as I scanned.

Sorry I'm picture-less for much of this, but we were very much enjoying ourselves and not taking many pictures. We got better at it through the night.

Since it was just about 8:00 when we got off Mine Train, we decided to head over to Starbucks for that coffee during Happily Ever After, which none of us have actually seen in its entirety. Last time we saw it we were at the Tangled Toilets with a broken scooter (long story) and only saw the fireworks portion. Making our way to Main Street they shuttled us over to the bypass, which we used to get to Main Street and walk down to Starbucks. A CM who was moving everyone along included "I love your Ursula ears" in her move along voice as I walked by, which made me smile. You'll see the ears soon.

The show started as we walked, it's actually not a terrible view:



We did get those coffees, one for me and one for my sister, as well as a giant water to share. We forgot about the dreaded PAPER STRAWS, but they weren't too bad since we drank our drinks quickly. We enjoyed the show while we sipped.

After HEA ended, we waded through the floods to get to our final FP+ of the night, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin! Along with approximately ALL of the other FP+ holders... so there was a bit of a backup at the entrance to the line, but it moved quickly after we scanned.

We all agree that this ride is frustrating when your blaster seems random, but this time we got stuck for a few minutes on the ride so our scores were quite good! Who knew sitting still would make it easier to hit targets?? I got 130300, but Derek got the high score:



As we got off the ride, it wasn't quite 9:00 yet, but we could see they were setting up a snack cart. I once again made a PeopleMover joke... or was I joking? How do you think everyone reacted?

Up Next in Part 4: Will I ever get to ride PeopleMover?​

 

[Lee23]

Greyhound has a station in Fort Lauderdale that has express busses to Orlando, so we booked the latest morning express departing at 8:10AM. ?​

Oh. No.
I've been to that bus station. You sir, are a brave, brave soul.

Loving your TR so far!

 

[eliseisawkward]

Oh. No.
I've been to that bus station. You sir, are a brave, brave soul.

Loving your TR so far!

The Greyhound from Philly to New York is nice enough, so we didn’t expect such a bad experience! Honestly it was Derek who really didn’t want to drive, but even he admitted that bus was pretty bad. I think he will agree to drive next time.

Glad you’ve enjoyed reading so far! We had such a wonderful trip and I’m really enjoying reliving it as I write it all down.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 4: In which we ride rides and eat snacks.

I'm going to begin this update with a confession. In the previous 4 times I visited WDW, I have never once, to my knowledge, ridden the PeopleMover. Perhaps I rode it when I was 5 on my first trip with my grandparents, but I do not remember that and they are no longer here for me to ask. I do remember having very wet socks and my grandmother buying me new ones after one particularly bad storm. The new socks were princess socks.

MOVING ON to the actual update...

After getting off Buzz, I mentioned PeopleMover (you know that already, I said that last update). And everyone thought I was joking. But it was still a few minutes before 9 and we could see they were setting up a snack cart and well... Carousel of Progress was closed, so I convinced them to ride PeopleMover.



Alex wanted in on the picture, so we squished for a second to get this beauty:



That seat was not meant for three adult butts at the same time. I was not as good a photographer as Steph. I blame my phone. And also the lighting. Okay I took like 10 and this is literally the best of them and that's a bit embarrassing on my part...



After our ride around Tomorrowland everyone agreed: 100% worth the ride. They all apologized for giving me a hard time about it. I was happy to actually ride it for the first time, and I did enjoy it. We got off the ride at exactly 9:00PM. Perfect timing. We ended up being like 4th or 5th in line for snacks, and just in time to watch them seriously burn all the popcorn. By the time we got to the front of the line there was smoke everywhere. People were coughing, the CMs were waving whatever they could find to fan the smoke away. We opted for frozen treats, water bottles, and I think Steph and Derek got sodas as well. We went to find a spot to sit and eat our snack that wasn't cloaked in a cloud of burnt popcorn smoke.

The treats ended up being messier than we anticipated. Because we're adults, we don't need napkins to eat ice cream! Right? Wrong. Steph ended up dropping a piece of her Mickey Bar on her phone. So Alex went in search of a napkin. The snack stand had none. Ok... Well maybe the QS place has some out even though they are closed? Nope. Alex ended up asking a custodial CM who also could not find any, and instead handed him one of the cloths he was carrying and informed Alex that it was more American than a napkin anyway. What? What could be more American than a disposable napkin? Alex offered to bring it right back and was told to keep it. (We encountered the same CM again later and thanked him a second time for the cloth. I believe Alex and Steph did take it home with them.) We found napkins later and were sure to grab them while we could. I never knew napkins would be such a rare commodity.

Following snacks we decided to hop on Astro Orbiter, which is always more fun at night. Steph and Alex were going to share a rocket, but soon abandoned that idea. Derek and I knew better already. If you look closely, you can see me laughing at them as Alex abandons ship.





After Astro Orbiter, we did Buzz again. We all did significantly worse this time around. Oh well. After that, we had quite a mad tea party! The woman and daughter in the cup in front of Steph and Alex looked right at me when I took their picture. Whoops!



Derek and I did our best to "not spin" and remain pointing the same direction despite the moving turntable. We did great for like 30 seconds. Following our tea party was another first for me: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. What a delightfully adorable and fun ride! Following that we rode Mine Train again, because it's a favorite. I had actually never seen the queue before since I've only ever ridden with a FP. We enjoyed spinning some barrels as we walked through.



We decided on Peter Pan next, but walked by another snack stand on the way so we grabbed some popcorn. Okay a lot of popcorn. We had to shove it into Alex's bag while we were in the queue because we didn't finish all 3 boxes before getting on the ride. We got stuck towards the end, but I didn't mind as I got a pretty good look at Tink!



After Peter Pan, Derek was quite insistent that he NEEDED to ride Small World. I do not enjoy Small World, I have gotten stuck on Small World, I refuse to ride Small World. Alex and Steph were not too keen either. But we three had to use the restroom, so Derek ran to get on Small World while we made our way to the Tangled Toilets. And then we hung around waiting for Derek.

And waiting. And waiting... and in hindsight maybe getting on the ride with him would have been better than all this waiting. We ate most of the popcorn Alex pulled out of his bag. Steph and Alex threatened to just leave and ride another ride, but I thought Derek would get off that ride ANY second now...

Next time on part 5: Will Derek ever return from his long trip around the Small World?​

 

[eliseisawkward]

BONUS PICTURES:

Derek sent me all of these (and more, plus videos) from his ride on Small World.













I got stuck in the "goodbye" room once, so none of these pictures were proof of not being trapped, no matter what Derek says.​

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 5: In which we ride more rides and eat more snacks.

Warning: Very few pictures in this update. I am sorry, but the dark got the better of us and we gave up.


After Hours events truly are something, we've gotten so much done already! My notes don't tell me what time it was when Derek disappeared into the Small World. I did text him at 10:49PM "Ya stuck?" to which I got no reply and sent another at 10:52PM "Seriously, are you stuck?" and he did respond "Oh no. Normal speed." and sent me the pictures of the goodbye room. It took another FOUR MINUTES for him to appear out of the exit. At this point we were itching to move on to our next ride: Haunted Mansion!

Alex said he didn't think he had been on Haunted Mansion when we went in December 2017, but as soon as we got into the stretching room he remembered it! My other sister Savanna and I rode it like 3 times that visit, but I do remember Alex was stuck at the Tangled Toilets with the *infamous* broken scooter during one of those rides.

We wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad next, but the app said it was down. It actually had been down almost every time I looked at the app that night. Does this ride need a serious refurb to help with downtime? I feel like it's down almost as often as it is running. We were super bummed because this meant that we would only be 1/3 for the mountains this trip, and Derek loves to hit all 3 when he can. We knew Splash would be down for refurb, but to also miss BTMR was a bummer.

My notes now say "Jungle Cruise (11:20)" so that's what we did next. I think we just were wandering in that direction and decided to do that next. It was one of my favorite cruises EVER. Our skipper was called Kailyn I think (I probably spelled that wrong), and she was marvelously dry humored. The kids next to us had no idea what was going on and didn't laugh much, but we laughed at all her jokes. And also at her. Because about 2/3 of the way through the cruise she noticed there was a bug on her control panel and while still sort of in character started freaking out about it. It was a cockroach, so I don't blame her for not being happy it was right there. We were too far away to help her with it, and the couple sitting RIGHT THERE clearly had no desire to help the poor girl out. Eventually it crawled INSIDE the control panel and our skipper was very upset by this turn of events.

As we pulled up to the dock she said her whole goodbye shpeal "Of all my tours today you were the meanest. And the most recent, now get off my boat so I can too because there is a bug inside the control panel. Seriously get off my boat." She also called to the CMs on the dock telling them to take the boat out of rotation because of the bug in the control panel. She may have been serious.

It was starting to get towards the end of the night, but we had time for another ride or two, so we hopped on Pirates and prayed we wouldn't get wet. We got only a little wet. We also apparently stopped taking pictures an hour ago ?

Following Pirates we were debating what to do next, but I spotted a snack stand so we grabbed another ice cream treat to munch on while we debated what to do. I looked at the app so see what wait times looked like and LO AND BEHOLD BTMR WAS BACK UP!! Derek and I looked at each other and the time (11:40-something). Steph and Alex didn't really want to walk to the back of the park again, Steph kinda wanted to do Buzz a third time... I said "Well we could split up, because I want to do Big Thunder... And I think Derek does too?" So we parted ways, and Derek and I began a brisk walk back to BTMR.

We mostly finished our frozen treats then stood by the entrance to eat the last of them before tossing the stick on Derek's strawberry bar and getting in line at 11:53. Posted wait was 15 minutes? But it was basically a walk on. We were off the ride at 12:01, so no chance to re-ride but we did get one ride in. We then started wandering towards the exit, in no particular hurry. We passed a woman and daughter who asked how to get to the exit, I waved vaguely towards the castle and said "that way mostly, not sure which path is quickest." Because it was dark and honestly as long as you move towards the castle from behind you're headed in the right direction. She seemed annoyed by my answer and declared they had been in the park since 8AM and walked more than 30,000 steps and didn't need any additional. She and her daughter did appear to be limping a little. I felt bad, but another person confirmed that yes we were heading towards the exit. There wasn't any particular shortcut from where we were.

I did manage to remember to get some Castle selfies on the way out!





They turned out cute except for the coke bottle/elusive napkin in Derek's hand in the first one .

There was a bus waiting for us at our alternative bus stop (Derek wasn't paying attention to the CMs asking your destination and telling us modified bus stops and tried to go to the regular POP bus stop, but I stopped him because I was paying attention.) and once it was full, it departed for POP (and AoA I think) at 12:25. The lady who tried to tell me I could get in MK at 4 was on the bus, but I intentionally did not sit near her because I got a weird vibe that maybe I made her mad before .

Anyway, sorry for the word-heavy update. I promise the next update will include more pictures!

Up next in part 6: A slow morning, and a bar crawl... do we get into all the lounges we have planned?​

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 6: In which we explore new resorts and ride the Skyliner for the first time.

Tuesday morning, I was up around 8, but we were in no real rush to go anywhere or do anything. The plan for today was a Monorail Bar Crawl. Our goals: 3 resorts, at least 1 bar per resort, at least 1 drink per bar.

I hopped in the shower first because I was wide awake immediately and everyone else was dragging their feet. While everyone else got ready for the day, I decided to go for a walk around Pop around 9! This was the first time I stayed here (previous trips: Swan, ASMu, Contemporary, off-site) and I was really enjoying the theming and all around fun Disney feeling.






This is building 6, where we were staying! Right next to the Mouse himself.



By the time I got back everyone was ready for some food, so we made our way to Everything Pop and had breakfast. Derek and I shared some vanilla pancakes (sub the bacon for potatoes) and the seitan scramble. Steph and Alex split Mickey Waffles with bacon and something else, but I can't remember what (maybe eggs). It was plenty of food for everyone, and we were pretty happy with the selection. Our last on-site stay was at a deluxe resort, so I don't think any of us really knew what to expect from a value food court and we were pleasantly surprised.

We made our way back to the room to grab my trusty fanny pack, because we were not bringing any actual bags with us today since we weren't going to a park. We then headed to the Skyliner! The plan was Skyliner to Hollywood Studios then catch a bus to the Grand Floridian because the first stop on our Monorail Bar Crawl was the Enchanted Rose (which opens at 1:00PM).



We all really liked the Skyliner. We got an unwrapped car, and when I expressed disappointment as we were loading, the CM said that these were better because you could actually see more without the wrap in the way. He was, of course, correct.

We made it to the Grand Floridian at exactly 1PM, and made our way up to the Enchanted Rose. I had never seen this resort before, so it was fun to poke around a bit. We ended up being some of the first people at the bar. The bartender was kind of a dud, and she was in a sour mood the whole time we were there. We tried to get recommendations out of her, but that kind of failed. We ended up ordering the following:

Me- French Rose
Derek- Gibson
Steph- Rye Not
Alex- Sunny Margarita

Derek and I gifted Steph and Alex drinking passports for this (and future) Disney Bar Crawls:



We also gifted them 2 drink tickets each, so they redeemed their first tickets at this stop. I took a picture of my pretty pink drink along with my passport entires and the 2 tickets Steph and Alex "redeemed" here. The tickets were monorail themed!



Overall we liked our drinks, but agreed they were a little over priced (even for Disney). I think had we sat somewhere other than the bar itself we may have enjoyed ourselves more. But overall this was our least favorite lounge that day. That's not to say we didn't have a good time, because we definitely did. But we weren't going to stick around for a second drink.

It was still too early for our next lounge destination, but we were all feeling a little hungry so we decided to walk to the Polynesian and hit up Captain Cook's for some food. It was a nice walk. I think Derek particularly enjoyed it (my view, his view):



At some point along this walk, Steph and I agreed that our next trip we would save up to stay at the Polynesian because it is BEAUTIFUL. Something tells me Derek and Alex won't mind.

We arrived at Captain Cook's and ordered before sitting down outside. It's nice that they give you buzzers and bring your food to you here. Derek and I split some Pan Asian Noodles and Vegetables along with the Avocado Toast, while Steph and Alex split a salad (I think the Iceberg Wedge) and the Pulled Pork Nachos. Everything was yummy and we were all satisfied and full. And then we looked at the time.

It was already 3:05PM! Our next stop was to be Trader Sam's Grog Grotto, which opens at 3! We knew that there is sometimes a line, and that it can be hard to get in if you're there too late after it opens, so we hopped up and headed over to the lounge.

Next time in part 7: Did we get into Trader Sam's, or did our late lunch ruin our perfectly laid plans?​

 

[Raeven]

Following along!

Ooo yum that drink looks good.

 

[quietly]

Following along! We were at Disney at the same time as you and even went to that same after hours! Glad you guys had fun and looking forward to reading more.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Following along!



Ooo yum that drink looks good.

My drink was definitely the best of the 4, at least in my opinion. Thanks for following along!

Following along! We were at Disney at the same time as you and even went to that same after hours! Glad you guys had fun and looking forward to reading more.

We really loved the MK After Hours! It’s just the type of event we enjoy. I hope you had as good a time as we did.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 7: In which we visit new lounges and drink new drinks.

When I left off it was 3:05 and we were headed from Captain Cook's to Trader Sam's to try to make it in before it got too full. Luckily it's a very short walk, and when we got there they were still letting people in from the pre-opening line that had formed. However when we make our way inside, it was apparent there were no tables open and the bar did not have 4 seats in a row. We were discussing what to do, when a couple who was just sitting down at one table got up and said we could have their table. They were so kind! They ended up sitting at another with another couple and making new friends!



After we were sat, the madness began! It was clear there were "regulars" who knew exactly what they wanted and ordered quickly, because within minutes of sitting the lights were going and there was yelling. We spent a little time pouring over the menu and deciding on our drinks.

Derek and I decided to split the Uh-Oa!, Alex ordered a Shrunken Zombie Head, and after much confusion Steph ordered the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum. Please note: the waitress "had never heard of that before" until Steph said the appropriate number of Tikis. It's 5 Tikis, no more, no less. Our waitress' zombie impression had us all laughing, and was way better than the other guy serving tables that day. She also did a wonderful job leading us all in yelling Uh-Oa and appeasing the goddess who was so angry that too many drinks were being ordered. Oh, and all the drinks were delicious!





We were having such a great time that we decided to order another round. I got a Spiced Island (the prettiest drink!), Derek got a HippopotoMai-Tai, and Steph got a Krakatoa punch. We got those pesky tree-climbing hippos out of the trees with 2 shot of rum (although our waitress said tequila will work too), and Steph waiting the appropriate amount of time for her lava to cool. Alex was actually still working on his Zombie (by far the strongest of the drinks) and he decided to share Steph's drink when he finished his first round. Oh and Derek decided to keep his straw from the Uh-Oa since straws are so hard to come by. It made our waitress laugh, because he sounded so serious.



My favorite part of the afternoon was when the bar tender got the entire bar to be very, very quiet to listen for a baby hippo calling to his mother... and then we heard the "baby hippo" yell "Hey Ma!" with a very put on New York accent. All in all, I was surprised just how much I really enjoyed the entire experience. Steph and Alex used their second set of drink tickets (I got a better picture of them this time, each was a different monorail color!), and ended up also purchasing the HippopotoMai-Tai souvenir glass. So Derek and I got the majority of the bill, while they paid for the Hippo drink and glass. It worked out well.



It was after 5 at this point, so we knew we needed to head to the Contemporary and try our luck at the California Grill before it got much later. We hopped on the monorail (gold) and made it to the Cali Grill check in around 5:30. Unfortunately for us, they had only 2 seats at the bar, and no tables. We debated standing if they would let us or skipping, and I think at this point we were all ready to eat again so we decided to instead try our luck at getting into our Wave reservation early. I was disappointed that we didn't make it up to the California Grill, but there's always next time.

They let us check in at The Wave early (we had an ADR for 6:30, but it was only 5:45), and we were sat quickly. I have no idea what food Steph and Alex ordered, but Derek and I had the cheese plate and split the gnocchi. They were so kind and put it on two plates for us! We ordered our (last?) round of drinks here. I got the Witches Brew, which was a Villaintine's Day special. Derek got the Orlando Brewing Blonde Ale, Alex got the Key West Sunset Ale, and Steph lost her mind and ordered a Fish Bowl.

We realized at this point that we were so very full of food and drinks and had maybe over done it a bit... Especially that Fish Bowl, which we all had to help Steph finish. But a walk to the MK to catch a bus to Pop seemed to be a good idea, you know help us digest a bit. I honestly have no recollection of waiting for a bus, but I wrote that we arrived at Pop at 7:30.

It was too late to do much of anything else, and we were planning on an early morning, so we all decided to watch Inside Out. None of us except for Derek had seen it before. I think we all really liked it (I know I did!). And when we finished the movie we set alarms and got ready for bed.

Up Next in Part 8: Do we wake up in time to get to Hollywood Studios before opening? Do we score a coveted boarding group for Rise of the Resistance???​

 

[sheri18]

Joining in...love Trader Sams. So fun. Love those drink passports. Would love to get them for next trip.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Joining in...love Trader Sams. So fun. Love those drink passports. Would love to get them for next trip.

Trader Sam's really was great! I made the passports myself. I am definitely looking into a way to make more on a larger scale as soon as I have a little free time.

 

[eliseisawkward]

Part 8: In which we travel to worlds both big and small.

Well, today was the day! Hollywood Studios was on the docket, and Batuu was the purpose of this entire trip. I was up at 6, shortly followed by everyone else. Since there were 4 of us that needed to get ready, I got going quickly. Steph and I had even showered the night before to cut our getting ready time in half. I knew a Lyft might take a while so at 6:50 I called one assuming we would have 10 minutes to walk out. Nope. It would arrive in 2 minutes. I told everyone I would run ahead to meet the driver, but that they needed to also move relatively quickly. Sorry guys!

I had set the Lyft pick up in the parking lot, but as I watched the driver pull up to the spot while I was still walking towards the lot, he just kept driving. Didn't stop. RUDE. He ended up driving to the main pick up/drop off at the OTHER end of the bus stops and then I got the "your ride is here" text. I tried to call him to tell him he was not at my pick up spot, but the call would not go through. So I ran to get to him and told everyone I would get him to wait for them. It was all a mess. I informed him that he went to the wrong spot, he said I wasn't there when he pulled up to the other spot, I told him he just didn't see me and I tried to get his attention... whatever it's a thing of the past (I am still a little annoyed).

We got dropped off at HS at 7:03 and were through security by 7:06, despite having to do bag check. We are fairly good at picking short/quick lines. We stayed to the right, and really as we joined the line they started letting people into the park. We scanned and were in the park at 7:13. A quick bathroom break before heading towards Toy Story Land, since the plan was to rope drop Slinky Dog Dash (we did not get a FP+). We were in a halfway decent spot to settle in and wait for Boarding Groups to open at 8. This was before they started pre-filling the SDD queue.



I gave a quick overview of the procedure to get a Boarding Group, we all made sure the app seemed to be working okay for us, and then we just kind of chatted with the folks around us. A few people were checking with each other on how to get the groups, and we shared our knowledge with the folks around us (who really all seemed to know what to do). The announcements they make occasionally confuse people, and people thought they meant the groups were open, but we all know it's not until exactly 8!

The countdown began, and we were all clicking at 8. My button would NOT become clickable, but Steph and Derek both got through around the same time. Steph was a smidge faster with the selecting and scored us the PERFECT group: BG21. Everyone around us was in the 20s or so, except one group who was in the 50s because they had an error, but all in all lots of success! Everyone was happy, and then the CMs started moving everyone into TSL.

I will admit, here is where not having kids was super helpful. We were able to walk with a purpose and skirt around a few slow moving groups until we were in the Slinky queue. Luckily there were no FP+ for the first hour or so this day (not sure why, but there was a park hours change and no FP were dropped for the new first hour) so the line moved quickly and we were on at 8:42! We all really enjoyed it (our picture was SO bad we all look SO bored) but agreed that we would NEVER wait 2+ hours for it.

We had a FP+ for Toy Story Midway Mania, so we got on at 8:48. I'm not good at this ride, but I love it so much! I think Alex got like 2x what the rest of us got, but I don't have their scores written down.



Steph really wanted an Alien sipper she had seen online, so we headed over to Andy's Lunch Box for breakfast. She got the sipper, I think with the weird green sugar drink, and a breakfast bowl thing to split with Alex. I got a coffee (always need more coffee) and the raspberry poptart. All the food was good, although we did have to wait for fresh tots. We did manage to score a table thanks to Derek! The seating here is really inadequate, but I'm sure you all know that already. We never got a push notification, but I thought to check the app to see how Rise was doing and we got our call back (@9:35) and had a 2 hour window.

This fit PERFECTLY with my plan to do Star Tours right before heading into Galaxy's Edge. We hit our Star Tours FP+ at 9:42, off at 9:57. We got a scene from the new movie, which Steph and Alex still hadn't seen at that time (spoiler: they went to see it the next day at Disney Springs). Luckily it's not really a spoiler. Love this weird droid in the ST queue:



We walked into Galaxy's Edge for the first time, and it was a bit overwhelming, but the entrance to Rise of the Resistance was right there, so we hopped on in at 10. I'll put the queue pictures behind a spoiler tag here for folks who still haven't been yet.

Spoiler: Rise of the Resistance Queue

The ride went smoothly, the queue moved relatively quickly while still allowing us time to look at everything. We were off the ride at 10:45. I must say, I really loved all the story elements of the ride. The scale is just unbelievable and so immersive. I only wish we could have ridden it twice!


(This picture contains a hint at the name of this trip report... All will be revealed next time...)

After getting to ride RotR, we decided to just immerse ourselves in Batuu. We browsed shops and took so many pictures (overall Derek took more than 200 pictures in Galaxy's Edge. I'm not even kidding. I will say not all of them turned out great...). And then we had to head over to our Droid Depot appointment!

Next time in Part 9: Will Derek and I agree on colors for the droid? Will the colors we want be in stock? What will we name our new droid son?​