Well, that contended sleep didn’t last long. Seriously, Disney – mowing the grass at 4:30 a.m.? I will say that this luckily didn’t happen again during our stay at OKW, but it was a serious annoyance on our first morning, … Continue reading
Tuesday, May 10.
Departure day. The day the wheels officially came off the wagon. You know, just another Tuesday in Walt Disney World. (Far from it!)
Today is best described in two parts: the ORIGINAL plan, and the ACTUAL happenings. You see, I had this day all planned out – we had a late flight, so technically it was like having a fifth full day at the parks. We’d pack up in the morning, head to Kona Cafe at the Polynesian Resort for breakfast, and then finish up at the Magic Kingdom or Epcot. Maybe we’d even hit Toy Story Mania! first thing in the morning.
Well.
Packing up on our last morning.
So what ACTUALLY happened is that we got up around 7am, and in the midst of final packing I noticed that there was a message blinking on our phone. I picked up the phone and found out that there was a problem processing our credit card, and thus we couldn’t utilize Express check-out. I then felt the feeling of utter panic that everyone must feel when getting this kind of message – after all, we were paying for the trip in cash out of my debit card, and thus if there was a problem, would that mean…I had no money left? In any case, I sent CP down to the front desk to figure out what the problem was, and she came back in a huff. Apparently, way back on our first night, Sarah Vowell-lookalike had problems getting our card approved, but instead of saying anything, she just sent us on our way, with our room not paid for. The problem, we then figured out, was that although we had called our bank on the 1st day of our trip to have them authorize a larger-than-$500 withdrawal, we checked in after midnight (and thus the day after), so our card was declined. Granted, this turned out not to be the biggest deal in the world, but we lost a significant amount of time dealing with the front desk and the bank, time we could have saved if Sarah Vowell-lookalike had let us know on night one.
A final and beautiful morning at the Studios.
Between packing and dealing with $$$ drama it became clear our Kona Cafe reservation was out of the question. Around 8:20 we headed out to the car and over to Hollywood Studios, with a plan to ride TSM one more time and possibly get a Fast Pass for later if time allowed. We parked, we grabbed a tram, and were at the front gates by 8:45, and promptly took our place among the gathered masses.
Our TSM ride was, as usual, terrific, but it was at this point that the wheels totally came off our trip. Why? Our feet. For some reason, even though we both wore broken-in, comfortable shoes (and different pairs each day), our feet were a torn up mess of blisters and callouses and all-over hurt. Worse, CP’s ankle had given out, and she was walking with a pronounced limp. Suddenly, our whole day was in jeopardy. We had TSM FPs for later, but would we use them?
TSM!
We decided to head out of the park and go to Starbucks before returning to the BoardWalk one last time and vacating our room. First, however, we stopped at the Studios’ First Aid Station, where I would get some band-aids for my terrible, hockey-puck sized blister (seriously), and CP would ask for an ACE bandage to wrap her ankle for some extra support. For some reason, I had kind of envisioned going to First Aid, asking for a band-aid, and going about my way, not realizing that you had to sign in, consult with a triage nurse, sit in an exam room, and then take aftercare instructions with you. All for…a blister? The nurse did do a bang-up job wrapping CP’s ankle, though, so the awkward visit to First Aid was saved.
Hobbling out, feeling dejected, we drove to Kissimmee to get Starbucks, and headed back to the BoardWalk to pack up. As it turned out we *just* made the 11am cutoff to vacate our room, and feeling a bit homeless and wayward, we drove back to Epcot, with the intention of making a quick trip to
Hello and goodbye to Epcot.
Mouse Gears to pick up a couple pins we couldn’t find anywhere else. Pins successfully acquired, we hobbled back to the car, and – this is gross – my giant blister popped, sending a gush of nasty into my shoe and increasing my pain level exponentially. That’s it. We were officially DONE.
Sad, defeated, and dejected, we headed back to the Epcot parking lot and decided to head back to the Studios, where we used our TSM FPs, and then we headed to Downtown Disney for lunch, where we could maybe get some free Wifi and at the very least, sit off our feet for awhile and kill time. It was only noon, and we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 4:30 at the earliest, but we just couldn’t physically do anything else. As we did on our October trip, we headed to Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch, and ordered a barbeque chicken pizza and salad to split. Ten minutes later a salad was brought to our table, and the server with it gave us a receipt and promptly left. We felt a little puzzled, wondering where our pizza was, and then realized that somehow our order had been screwed up from the get-go, and all we would receive was a chicken caesar salad. Now, this makes the second visit in a row with a lackluster WPE experience, and we weren’t feeling like waiting to re-order, so we split the salad between us and decided we’d make up for it with a snack from Goofy’s Candy Company later. We lingered at our table, drinking refills of soda and playing with our iPhones, and me doing a bit of work that showed up in my inbox. Inside, I felt devastated – this was not how I wanted to spend the last 20% of our trip.
Disappointing lunch behind us, we hobbled over to World of Disney to buy some candy for my coworkers, and then headed to Once Upon a Toy to use the bathroom. By this time, it was after 1:30pm; it was blazing hot outside; and there wasn’t much we could do to entertain ourselves as hobbled as we were. Not knowing what else to do, we decided to get in the Camry and take a scenic tour up International Drive, which we did, marveling in the tacky tourist attractions and roadside stops. We took I Drive as far as it would go, dead ending in an outlet mall in a less-than-lovely area of Orlando. We turned back around, and somehow ended up driving through the grounds of Universal Studios, until finally we were back at I-4 and soon back on Disney property.
YUM.
Once again we ended up at Downtown Disney, where we went straight to Goofy’s Candy Company and made ourselves a custom Mickey Rice Krispies Treat, dipped in chocolate and m&ms and covered in chocolate drizzle. We sat in GCC eating it quietly, both feeling sad about the shortness of our trip and the injury we both had endured. After cleaning up our table I – on impulse – made a beeline back to the pin store, where we purchased another box of limited edition mystery WDW 40th anniversary pins. What can I say – I am one of the suckers on the backs of which Disney makes a pretty profit on pin trading.
In truth there’s only so much time you can kill by killing time. Our bags were packed and now repacked, with CP ferreting away our last-minute DTD treasures. There was no way we could hobble through another park, and no point doing that anyway, since we had time left but not enough time to make a trip to a park worth it. Absent any other good idea, we decided to head back to the airport, but instead of taking 417 or 528, we’d take the back roads, a trick I’d learned nearly ten years ago as a Cast Member on the WDW College Program. In my recollection, we simply had to head north until we hit Sand Lake Road, and then take that until we hit the airport grounds. No problem.
Yeah, well. The first part was indeed no problem; following the route we took to Whole Foods the first day, we took I-4 and exited near Sea World, and then took Turkey Lake Road north until it hit Sand Lake Road. We turned right on SLR, and drove. And drove some more. And further on still. Good thing we had time to kill! Eventually I saw a Wal-Mart that I remembered from years past, and knew we were on the right track. We stopped to gas up the rental car, and soon I could tell we were close to the airport. Except for some reason, Sand Lake Road wouldn’t get us right there – we either had to get on 528 and pay a toll (which I guess we could have done), or we had to make a quick turn onto an unknown road and hope we could figure it out. We chose the latter option, and ended up driving down a desolate road past cargo companies and airplane maintenance hangars. Clearly, this wasn’t working.
Waiting to board at MCO, either the best or worst place you'll see on a WDW trip, depending on when you see it.
Dejected that my memories from ten years ago were failing me, I sullenly and quite dejectedly turned back onto 528, paid a toll, and in what felt like mere feet we found ourselves back on airport grounds. We followed the signs back to rental car drop-off, and with the exception of one harrowing moment of following bad signage which led some cars to honk at me, we returned our car and checked in without incident. Our only real hurdle was the security line, which was longer than I’d seen it at any airport we’d flown out of during the past few years, NYC airports included.
From that point on all we had to do was hurry up and wait. We boarded on time, flew out on time, and landed on time, back in dark, chilly Connecticut.
How many days until our December trip?
/fin.
As you can see, I’m catching up on trip reports.
Sunday, May 8 – Mother’s Day.
We slept in this morning until the late hour of 7:15, and like the day before, we ate breakfast in the room (this time accompanied by some Starbucks Double Shots to give us some caffeine), dressed, and were out the door by 8:10am. Unlike yesterday, however, we decided not to drive or take a boat, and instead walked to Hollywood Studios. We waved to the passing Friendship boats, enjoyed watching the ducks with their babies, and raised our eyebrows at the passing joggers who looked far too tired and sweaty to truly be enjoying their hot morning runs.
Another beautiful morning in WDW.
Before 8:30 we were in line, only the 4th or 5th people deep at the turnstile. We were let through the turnstiles by 8:40, and were at the front of the crowd awaiting the rope drop show. Rope drop happened promptly at 9, and we joined the throngs of people headed to Toy Story Mania! Oddly, for all the horror stories I’ve heard of the TSM dash at rope drop, we both found it to be a more civilized experience than we had the day before at Epcot.
Really want to underscore the whole "beautiful day" thing.
Once arriving at Pixar Place the majority of the crowd headed for the TSM Fast Pass line, so we instead got right into the standby queue and walked right onto the ride, perhaps the 40th and 41st riders of the day. We were both delighted to finally break 100k, and once off the ride we headed to the now clear Fast Pass machines to get a FP for 11:40am-12:40pm. Adrenaline rush of the day over, we both leisurely stroll over to Sunset Boulevard, where CP reads on her iPhone while I ride Tower of Terror alone. The ride was a walkon and deliciously terrifying as usual. Once off I meet up with CP, and we continue our leisurely stroll around the Studios and end up deciding to visit the Muppet dump shop (two things: 1. I hate the term “dump shop”; and 2. what happened to all the Muppets merchandise? The Muppets dump shop (AAAGH) contained mostly the same generic WDW merchandise you can find anywhere else. Sad) and browsing the backlot streets before stopping to grab a snack at Starring Rolls.
Our aimless wandering continues as a grab my zoom lens and start taking pictures of Sunset Boulevard. While sitting down to change my lens I’m approached by a survey taker, and I happily agree to take a survey, this one a fairly general one about the number of times I’ve visited, what kind of tickets I have, and whether I’m doing anything else in Orlando.
A beautiful day at Downtown Disney.
So, yeah, if you haven’t realized this by now, we’re not really morning people if we can help it. Another beautiful day, one which we slept through until 10am. After Mickey waffles, hot chocolate/coffee mix and showers, we departed for Downtown Disney around noon. The first item on our agenda was a stop at the Days of Christmas store to buy a Toy Story Christmas ornament, and then we visited the Pin Traders for some pins, Basin for a free hand treatment and the purchase of some soap to take home, and World of Disney to purchase a Stitch magnet for our fridge, and some chocolate coconut Mickey candies to bring back to my office. Our shopping trip complete, we decided to wait for a bus to Port Orleans to transfer over to Epcot, but a crazy yelling mom at the bus stop made us feel so uncomfortable we decided to walk over to Saratoga Springs instead. We got lucky and quickly caught an Epcot bus at the Congress Park stop, and soon we were at Epcot.
Our first stop was Club Cool to see if I could finally get my hands on some Mezzo Mix, which luckily was readily available this day. Twenty or so tiny cups later, and feeling like maybe we hadn’t enjoyed Test Track the first thirty times we’d ridden it this trip, we headed there to scope out the single rider line, which at 20 minutes was too long for our taste. We instead took another bathroom break at the Odyssey building, and headed to La Cantina de San Angel, the new quick-service restaurant in Mexico to have some chips and guacamole and margaritas while sitting on the water.
This morning we slept in again, this time until 9:30. We got ready quickly and left for Hollywood Studios around 10am. We figured that if we were lucky, we could power-walk to TSM and manage to snag one of the few remaining Fast Passes for the day, which we did, with a 5:30-6:30pm return time.
Most ridiculous thing I've ever power walked for?
With the day’s most urgent task out of the way, we strolled back to Starring Rolls for breakfast, sharing a bagel, blueberry muffin, and bananas and having what passes for a WDW latte.
Facing the same HS-boredom problem as we did earlier in our trip, we departed HS for Animal Kingdom, where we went directly to Expedition Everest for a trip through the single rider line. We then doubled back to Dinosaur, which I admit still scares the crap out of me, no matter how many times I warn myself of the audioanimatronic being that’s going to start screaming in my ear.
Don't be fooled. This is one terrifying dinosaur.
After browsing the dump shop, we went back to EE for another ride, and just managed to beat a tour group into the single rider line. I sat next to a business man who was riding for the 1st time with his colleagues, and although he feigned bravado with them, he surreptitiously caught my eye and asked how scary the ride would really be. I reassured him, and off we went.
As you probably expected the businessman did just fine, and after concluding once again that CP is incapable of appearing in a ride picture with a smile, we departed Animal Kingdom with the intention of heading back to Downtown Disney again for lunch. We decided the fastest route would be to take a Saratoga Springs Resort bus and walk to DTD, which wasn’t a bad plan, but was made a bit less enjoyable by the long jerky bus ride we endured and the hot walk in the midday sun from the Congress Park bus stop at SSR to Downtown Disney. A caprese sandwich at Earl of Sandwich later, we were both restored, and wandered through Goofy’s Candy Company, browsing the sweets and sampling some fudge. Tired after what had been a very hot morning on the go, we headed to the bus stop for yet another long, noisy bus ride back to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Let’s take a minute here and discuss the Disney bus situation. Now, I’m a big believer in public transportation both for its convenience and for its sustainability. After three mid-2000s visits to Disney relying solely upon Disney transportation, I am ready to buy a fleet of cars, marry a car dealer, and buy as much stock in Hummers as I possibly can. Well, not really, but the truth remains that the Disney buses are so unreliable and frustrating that I will never again visit WDW without renting a car. Something changed in the mid-2000s regarding the way Disney dispatches its buses, and it’s now a rare occasion when a bus comes in a timely manner and/or said bus isn’t filled to capacity. Further, there is something so horrible about the Downtown Disney bus route from every Disney resort imaginable. I don’t know if it’s the two DTD stops, or the inevitable stop at Typhoon Lagoon to pick up soaking-wet passengers, but something makes the trip seem interminable. Especially interminable should your bus driver be scheduled for a break at the DTD West Side stop after he’s picked you up at the Marketplace. Add another 20 minutes to your trip? Why not!
Barney might need more than a biscuit after that Fast Pass line....
Anyway. Once back at Animal Kingdom Lodge it was time for more afternoon napping and a check-in with Oprah. We left AKL again around 6pm to head back to Hollywood Studios, arriving around 6:20pm, giving us ten minutes to use our TSM Fast Passes. Walking briskly we arrived right on time, and were both pleased to finally break 100k each.
Afterwards it was time for another dinner of champions: the Tune-In Lounge milkshakes.
Home to Disney's best milkshake.
Sipping our chocolate and peanut butter and jelly concoctions we walked down Hollywood Boulevard, out of the Studios, and down the lakeside path to Epcot, stopping at both the Boardwalk Inn and Beach Club to both browse the resorts and find a restroom. At one restroom we stumbled upon a group of drunken Food and Wine revelers, tooting furiously while lamenting the sauerkraut they had just consumed. Ummm…yikes. We moved quickly on, and soon were at the International Gateway, and then headed to Morocco for Casa beer and falafel pitas.
While eating our snack we noticed a private event setting up on the World Showcase Lagoon. Always interesting in these types of affairs, we lingered for a few minutes, watching the staff set up. It was then we noticed one staff member eating right off the trays of food, or rather grabbing his food and then stealing away to eat it behind a topiary. This deeply inflamed my sense of righteous indignation, so I found the first manager I saw to let her know. Whether or not she did anything I don’t know, but I’m hoping she dealt with the situation – if I had paid beaucoup dollars for a private Disney event, I’d be pretty peeved if a server ate my food, and with his bare unwashed hands to boot!
A lovely sunset at Hollywood Studios
After walking away indignantly, we meandered through the massive crowds, finally stopping at the Puerto Rico booth for another torched cherry colada. We walked by Test Track to scope out the line, but CP wasn’t feeling particularly good, and we decided to head back to AKL. One very fish-smelling bus ride later, we were back in our room for soda, showers, and sleep.
Highlight of the day? Walking from the Studios to Epcot. Sometimes I think the price of theme park admission (or the cost of a Disney trip, really) would be worth it even if we never rode a ride; it feels a privilege to meander through such an interesting, often beautiful built environment. The path between these two theme parks is secluded, quiet, and quite lovely.
Columbus Day was – you guessed it – another bright and sunny day in Central Florida. On this morning we were up at a decent hour and at the gates of Hollywood Studios shortly after rope drop. Walking through the gates we noticed that the park seemed blessedly free of crowds, but we were soon to find out this was nothing but a mirage.
Thinking we might actually be able to ride Toy Story Mania! without a huge wait, we wandered over to Pixar Place in no particular hurry. When we got there, however, I gasped a bit – the standby line was already at 50 minutes (it was maybe 9:15am at this point?), and the Fast Pass line extended all the way back to the animation courtyard. Not feeling inclined to deal with either line, we opted instead to visit Starring Rolls for breakfast, and enjoyed muffins and coffee while watching similarly naïve hoards of people make their way to Pixar Place. Eventually we too headed back that way, and secured Fast Passes to ride between 1:05-2:05 p.m. Not too shabby.
They're watching you spend 2 hours in line...
Nerds in Wonderland 