COMPLETED 9/5 - I'm just here for the food...and the lightsaber! - May 2021 Trip Report

[footballmouse]

Love the stained glass ears and your "nap island" made me laugh.

 

[Araminta18]

What a great morning in the MK. It really did look like you had the park to yourselves. All 4 mountains before 12 is great. Skipper Canteen is our go to lunch now too. Love the bread. We'll be eating there next month. I've never taken a nap on TSI but we're been none to do back to back COP to catch some zzzzzs.

Oooh jealous that you're eating at Skipper Canteen next month -- have fun! And COP is a great idea! We may try that next time, though I always want to sing along to "It's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" so we'll have to see...

I love that you still got there at the crack of dawn with no real plans...

That's a really good point that didn't click for me until now. Oops! Poor Trevor!

Why do they always do this. It's going to be awhile and then seat you almost immediatly? So strange.

Right? I have no idea but I feel like most times I ask for a specific seat I'm usually seated much quicker than they tell me it will be. Who knows why.

I think the chimichuri sauce is what makes them! And they are my new favorite things here!

Right? They are SO GOOD!

You guys crack me up with this! I don't think I could nap in public like that. But I am not a good napper in general. But I love it all the same!

To be fair, Tom Sawyer Island is so deserted it's hardly public...Just kidding Disney we love it don't get rid of it!

Love those stained glass ears! And it sounds like a great MK morning .

Thank you! They're quickly becoming favorite ears.

Love the stained glass ears and your "nap island" made me laugh.

Thank you!

 

[Araminta18]

Real life interjection -- do any of you collect the Disney Movie Rewards points? Disney Movie Insiders, now, I guess. I do, and follow them on instagram, where I got a notification a few weeks ago that I was one of the winners of their Jungle Cruise sweepstakes. The prize came today -- a Jungle Cruise hat and backpack! Pretty cool! My husband has laid claim to the hat. And I'm so excited it came before our Disneyland trip in a few weeks! We can use them there!

 

[Araminta18]

Are We Galactic Heroes?
Thursday, May 27, 2021 (part 3)​

We'd finished up our nap on Tom Sawyer Island (#mourningthelossoftherockingchairs) a bit after 3:30pm, and we decided that it was time to hit the Jungle Cruise! Jungle Cruise was posting a 35 minute wait, but when we got there, this was the line.

Somehow I doubt that's 35 minutes! But at least it was inside the courtyard there and not spilling out beyond. And since we didn't have anything else and we were refreshed after our nap, we figured we'd be ok to wait.

So, do you notice anything different about my ears in this picture? I'd switched them out from Sleeping Beauty to Mary Poppins, and so Trevor was like "I'll take a picture!". Love these stained glass ears (shoutout to the Etsy shop "Happiest Place on Ears"). And bonus, you can kind of see the Haunted Mansion stickers on my bag!

After about 10 minutes we'd wound our way around to the stairs down to the courtyard so I was like, I'm gonna sit!

Trevor is skeptical. And took a picture in retaliation.

We finally made it into the proper queue, and enjoyed the theming, since (in a recurring theme) we've never gone through the full stand-by line for this ride. The office was really fun to look at all the easter egg details there.

When we got close-ish to the dock, we all got distracted 'cause there was a very adventurous duck just hanging out right next to the fenceline.

Smart duck! He knew sitting there he'd be likely to get snacks or something from the guests. I just enjoyed watching him.

More fun things from the queue!

Casablanca! And venom samples...eesh!

We got on after waiting for about 40 minutes or so. We had a great ride -- funny skipper, just a good time all the way around.

I've never noticed that statue off to the side, before you enter the temple. Pretty neat!

I also tried to take a picture of the under-refurbishment Trader Sam's gift shop.

And if you're interested, Trevor video'ed the Jungle Cruise ride: Jungle Cruise Thursday May 27th (And if you're wondering if I feel bad for ruining one of the skipper's jokes, I totally do and I didn't mean to and I am definitely not going to be saying anything on future Jungle Cruise rides -- only laughing at the jokes, I promise!)

Then as we left, this was on one of the sandwich board signs. I love it!

I wish I could choose the Jungle Navigation Company for all my travel needs.

We got off at 4:50pm, and guess what time it was? Dole whip time!

They had the raspberry dole whip so of course I had to get it! I love raspberry! This was the raspberry swirl float.

After we inhaled our raspberry dole whip float, Trevor and I decided we wanted to try just the raspberry dole whip without the pineapple swirl. So we mobile ordered a raspberry cup.

Yes, it was hot, and the dole whip was melting.

As we dug into it, we found out the mountain swirl was a lie! It was hollow!!!

Tragedy. Still delicious though.

So that was a delicious interlude -- we'd managed to get a table in the shade which helped make it a nice rest.

We'd decided to head over to Tomorrowland, aiming to ride the peoplemover, so we were meandering out of Adventureland and we found the Spring roll cart was still open, with no line! So of course, we decided to stop and eat.

We got one of each (the pepperoni and the cheeseburger).

These were pretty good. 100% not worth $9.50 (that's $4.75 an egg roll, and they're not that big!), but a decent snack otherwise. Especially with that sauce -- don't eat your egg rolls plain, definitely use the sauce. We actually saw a photopass photographer in front of the adventureland sign, so we were eating our egg rolls while we waited in line. Not a bad plan!

Then we got our fun pictures -- I've never seen a photographer in front of the Adventureland sign before, so it was neat to get some new photos.

For this last one, we were channeling the (slightly incompetent ) skippers from Jungle Cruise, looking off into opposite directions to try and find where to go.

As we made our way across the hub we took some more photos but I'm not inflicting it on you since it's basically the same as the early morning shots (except for my ears being Mary Poppins instead of Sleeping Beauty).

But we finally made it over to the Peoplemover, where there was hardly any line.

We were on the ride after like 3 minutes, and here is your obligatory feet photo.

Trevor likes the peoplemover even more at the moment 'cause he likes seeing the Tron construction. I really don't think this is gonna be done in time for the 50th...

While we were going through the dark part of Space Mountain, we realized Trevor's magic band was glowing and we actually got a decent picture of his glowing Haunted Mansion decals!

It was so nice just sitting and going through Tomorrowland, and when we got back to the station, there was like practically no one coming up the ramp to get on the ride. So we decided to be a bit cheeky and ask if we could stay on, and they said yes! So we got to ride Peoplemover twice in a row. Woot!

And Trevor even got someone willing to give him a high-five on the ride! Cause there's that one part where you go really close by the other car, and Trevor always tries to give the people going the other way a high-five. Sometimes it works, sometimes not -- this time it did!
High-Five on peoplemover!

From the peoplemover, high above Tomorrowland, we saw that there was practically no wait for Buzz Lightyear, so we decided to head over there. We got on with no wait, and were practically the only people on the ride in each room. I tell you this, because I think it contributed to our scores, and indeed, what happened for the next hour.

And our scores:

That's right, I got 744,500!!! That's the best score I've EVER gotten, and I think what helped was being the only red dot around, so it made it easier to aim and hit those high value targets.

We were enthused, so we asked if we could stay on, and the CM said sure!

On this second ride, our scores were quite a bit lower -- I got 258100 and Trevor got 23200.

So now we were on a mission. We wanted to be galactic heroes and get 999999. So we got off and got back in line, but tried to time it so we'd be as alone as possible. It didn't really work, but we still had fun. We did better this time, but not better than the first time -- I got 120,100, and Trevor got 351,100. We tried one more time to get off and time the line so we'd be alone, but it really didn't work that time -- the line was picking up a bit, so every car was full. This was our 4th time, and while we were doing pretty good, we still hadn't reached the heights of the first try -- I got 275600, and Trevor got 334400.

At this point, the CMs working the end of the ride were recognizing us, and this time they just asked if we wanted to stay on, so of course we said yes! They were telling us tips for high scoring, and we were all revved up -- we actually were able to stay on and ride 4 more times without getting off! Sadly, two of the big 100,000 point targets were not working, and we never actually got Galactic Hero, or even back up to 700,000 points.

One final selfie to commemorate our 5 rides in a row without getting off

For those keeping track at home, our scores from each ride:

1st: I got 744,500 and Trevor got 32,900. We stayed on after this ride **MY HIGH SCORE**
2nd: I got 258,100 and Trevor got 23,200. We got off after this ride
3rd: I got 120,100 and Trevor got 351,100. We got off after this ride
4th: I got 275,600 and Trevor got 334,400. We stayed on after this ride
5th: I got 298,100 and Trevor got 513,100. We stayed on after this ride
6th: I got 163,900 and Trevor got 623,300. We stayed on after this ride **TREVOR'S HIGH SCORE**
7th: I got 207,100 and Trevor got 97,800. We stayed on after this ride
8th: I got 37,300 and Trevor got 547,700. We got off after this ride.

So I'm still a bit bummed that some of the high point targets were not working, cause I'm pretty sure we would have gotten galactic hero otherwise. But it was SUPER fun to try, and it was so nice of the CMs to let us stay on. Though I think some were more into it than others -- when the CMs switched positions, the new CM at the end of the ride was like "you're done, you need to get off". We couldn't be mad though, since we'd been on it 5 times in a row at that point. It was really fun. Someday we will be Galactic heroes!!

 

[Araminta18]

I've Never Met a Photopass Photographer I didn't Like
Thursday, May 27, 2021 (part 4)​

Our dreams of being galactic heroes squashed, we headed over to the Wishing Well to make a wish that next time we'd be able to save the galaxy. Not really -- we were heading into Fantasyland just for fun and decided to take some pictures at the Wishing Well just for fun. The wishing well has so many beautiful details -- they catch me off guard each time.

From there, we kept going over to the Haunted Mansion -- I think we saw that it was posting a short wait, otherwise going from Tomorrowland to Haunted Mansion by way of the castle is...not the most direct route. So I think we must have just decided to go once we were already in Fantasyland (I know, I should have taken better notes. Oops!)

Heading towards Sleepy Hollow we found another photographer, so I'm sure you can all guess what happened.

Those decorations for the 50th are just gorgeous.

Then it was Haunted Mansion time!

Either they've turned the lighting WAY up in the graveyard, or my phone camera is really good, or both. Probably a little bit of both. I again was playing with my phone's video function and made a video of my favorite scene: the Ballroom!

We do need to come up with a different pose for this photo -- we always do this same "we're scared!" one.

It was a little bit after 8 pm by the time we got off; we stopped in at Memento Mori and bought some stuff and had them ship it to our house (it wasn't free, but the shipping wasn't too bad. And definitely easier than carrying it around).

The park closed at nine, and our only plan was to hop in line for Seven Dwarves near park close so the line hopefully wouldn't be too bad. So we were wandering back in the hub and taking pictures and just enjoying the atmosphere. There were lots of photographers out, so we got some fun, slightly unusual shots.

Castle picture with no one in it (well, except me, in the second one)

Isn't the castle gorgeous all lit up at night? I love it. We had a great time hanging out there and taking some fun pictures.

Looking back at Main Street

We got in line for Seven Dwarves at 8:45ish -- the line was still outside the queue but not nearly as far outside of it as it was earlier in the day. Trevor made a face at me when I took his picture.

We ended up in line right behind the family that was with us at rope drop at Hollywood Studios on Monday morning -- they were at the next tapstile and we had passed the waiting time talking with them. So it was kind of fun to see them again!

All the interactive bits in the queue were off, which was a bit of a bummer.

Mine Train selfie!

We waited for the backrow, but even so, we were off the ride at 9:14pm, so we only waited 25 minutes or so. Not too bad!

Afterwards, the park was closed, so we slowly meandered out.

The carousel is so pretty! I was a bit sad we didn't get to ride it, but oh well. It's fun just to look at.

More pictures from Main Street...

I think this is the first time I've ever gotten a picture with the statue of Roy and Minnie. Gotta take advantage when you can!

We got to the bus stop around 9:35ish -- we were going to spend time shopping in the Emporium but the line to get in (even after park close) looked REALLY long. We had places to be! So, I'd been seeing the rose gold spirit jersey all around the parks in various gift shops, but they only ever had smalls and extra smalls, and I wear an extra large. So I'd asked one of the CMs at one of the shops where they may have some XLs, and he said that the gift shop at the Boardwalk hotel said they had one. So we figured hey, we can stop by the Boardwalk on our way back to the hotel and see if they actually had one. And the gift shop closed at 10pm!

The bus stop line was actually one of the longer bus stop lines we had. We were worried we wouldn't get on the first bus, but we did, thankfully!

We got to the hotel at like 9:55pm, so Trevor took off sprinting, with me trailing behind, to the gift shop to see if they had the spirit jersey. We both made it, me with about 2 minutes to spare! Sadly, they didn't have the spirit jersey, but we got some milk and granola bars (and a Tower of Terror door hanger ) and then left.

At that point, Trevor was pretty hungry, since we hadn't actually had dinner and he'd just sprinted down to the gift shop for me. Since it was after 10, the only real restaurant that was open was the Fountain at the Dolphin. We were not the only ones looking for latenight food -- the to-go/pickup window line was SUPER long! We decided to just eat in, since there was practically no wait. But after we got sat a whole bunch of people showed up and the line to eat-in was getting pretty long too.

Trevor got their Fountain Signature Burger--Two 4 oz. Angus Burgers, Smoked Bacon, Avocado-Bacon Spread, Caramelized Onion, Roma Tomato and American Cheese served on a Sesame Brioche Bun. I just got a scoop of raspberry sherbet, and I ate some of Trevor's fries.

The sherbet was a bit icy for my taste, but I appreciated the coolness--I was hot after the run to the gift shop! Trevor liked his burger, but it wasn't anything special either. Serviceable for late night food but I don't know that I'd ever go back unless again, it was the only thing open.

We were done at about 11:15 and we headed back up to the room to crash for the night. But of course, we had to continue our tradition -- a couple bites of Gideon's cookies!

I think these were the chocolate chip and the chocolate chocolate chip ones. Yum.

And that was our Magic Kingdom day! A busy day, but a good day. We enjoyed all the food and all the pictures and just having fun at the Magic Kingdom -- especially the time on Buzz Lightyear even though we were never Galactic Heroes. Next time!

Tomorrow, where were we heading? You get one guess....

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 23,193 steps (10.6 miles)
Ride count: 21 (Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates, Haunted Mansion x2, Peter Pan, Seven Dwarves Mine Train x2, Tom Sawyer Rafts, Jungle Cruise, Peoplemover x2, Buzz Lightyear x8)

 

[GracieKam]

Just joined—loving your report!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

As we dug into it, we found out the mountain swirl was a lie! It was hollow!!!

We have discovered that as well. Sad.

So we decided to be a bit cheeky and ask if we could stay on, and they said yes! So we got to ride Peoplemover twice in a row. Woot!

Nice!

At this point, the CMs working the end of the ride were recognizing us, and this time they just asked if we wanted to stay on, so of course we said yes! They were telling us tips for high scoring, and we were all revved up -- we actually were able to stay on and ride 4 more times without getting off! Sadly, two of the big 100,000 point targets were not working, and we never actually got Galactic Hero, or even back up to 700,000 points.

Nice! That is fun. I suck at this ride, so I would never even try.

And that was our Magic Kingdom day!

Man! That was an amazing day!

 

[Araminta18]

So my goal is to finish this report before we go to Disneyland. We go to Disneyland on Sunday early, and we have 2 days left in this trip report so....we'll see! Wish me luck!

But without further ado, Friday May 28th!

Beginning of the Last Full Day at Disney
Friday, May 28, 2021 (part 1)​

As I'm sure you are surprised to hear, we were up at 6:30am cause we were gonna rope drop again! But where? You'll have to wait a few more photos and see... But first, breakfast of champions!

The red velvet Gideon's cake. This was...not my favorite. It was super dry when we first got it, and unsurprisingly did not get any better after several days. Still dry. I ate some of the frosting though.

We left the room around 7:30ish and headed to our destination...

And at 7:45 we'd arrived!

I know, you're all shocked that we went back to Hollywood Studios for our last full park day. It was super hot so we even walked on the Boardwalk side of the river cause that was the shady side, versus walking on the Swan side and then crossing the bridge. We ended up waiting in the various lines and such again for about half an hour, and got let in just before 8:20 am.

This morning, we were heading with the pack towards Toy Story Land, trying to get on Slinky Dog! We were at the front of the pack, doing pretty well, as you can see in the pic below there's only 10 or 15 people in front of us.

(also, if you blur your eyes a bit, Rex on top of the Jenga blocks kind of sort of resembles Baby Yoda... )

We got to Slinky, and it was down.

This is where we were in line, but it's shorter than it seems cause they weren't letting us across the bridge or anything.

So this was 8:25ish, and the CMs were really trying to get us out of line. Trevor and I didn't really have anything else to do and we were enjoying sitting in the shade and listening to the music, so we were good just hanging out and waiting.

After like 20/30 minutes they started running the empty train through the ride, so we were getting hopeful that it would open soon. I felt bad for the people right behind us -- they had an early breakfast reservation (like 9:15 or 9:20?) and they'd wanted to ride Slinky before their reservation. So they were talking to the CMs and trying to get the CMs to give them a fastpass so they could ride later, but the supervisor/manager CM was not having it. She kept reiterating that they were told to not wait, and that there was no time estimate for when it would open, and if they chose to wait, that was on them. They were not happy (which I can understand), and left at like 9:10. And the saddest part? Slinky opened at 9:15! Bummmmmmer.

We were excited though

We walked right on -- 3 minutes later, this was our view.

I think we were on the first train of the day, actually.

Trevor was really excited, as you can tell in this ride photo.

So a little disappointing that the ride was down first thing, but we still had a great time. We were off the ride at 9:25ish, so about an hour waiting for Slinky to open. Not too bad, actually.

After that, we went to Galaxy's Edge, which I know you are all shocked by. We ended up seeing Chewie and Rey out in the land, which was fun.

I will say, having the characters out and about this way is a nice compromise for COVID. You still get to see them and interact with them a little bit and so it's nice, even if they aren't actually down in the crowd.

We didn't stay too long though, 'cause as we were watching them, we got the notification that they called our Boarding Group! I'm such a bad trip reporter -- I didn't take a screenshot and I don't actually remember what our group was. I guess after getting boarding group 1 the first day, nothing else could measure up! LOL But obviously getting called at 9:30 was still an early boarding group. Definitely not complaining!!

When we got in line, they walked us through the fastpass line and we got to see the whole pre-show with Rey and BB-8, but when we came out of that room to get on the shuttle, this was the sight:

And instead of ushering us on to the shuttle, they sent us through this weird little hallway and we just walked into the room with the stormtroopers, rather than getting that pre-show where you ride the shuttle and get boarded by the First Order.

Totally ruins the illusion! I was really really grateful that this was our third ride -- it would have been sad if it was our first. I feel so bad for people where this was their first, or only, ride on Rise of the Resistance. Such a bummer. But at least the stormtrooper room is still awesome.

Ok, so this was our third and last ride, and we really wanted to get the track where you go in front of the AT-AT, instead of off to the side, because both other times we went off to the side of the AT-AT. So when we got to the part where the CMs are sectioning you off to colors, we decided to just bite the bullet and ask the CM if we could be put in the color that would go to the front of the AT-AT. I have to give huge props to the CM, cause he was able to give us exactly what we wanted, but still stay 100% in character as a First Order flunky. We said what we wanted and he told us to get to the back of the line or something like that, and so we did and then they pulled us up and put us in the color that would send us to the front of the AT-AT. I was super impressed, and of course, VERY grateful. And then we even got to be in the front of the car, so no plexiglass!

It was super cool to get this other optic on the ride -- I don't think I liked one better than the other though. It was neat to have the AT-AT guns come down to shoot us, but on the other track, it was neat to be the first car going under the guns near the end of the ride. Basically, whatever track you get, you'll have a great experience.

We were off the ride at 9:50, and we ended up running into Vi! Trevor engaged her in conversation, trying to figure out how he could get in touch with the Resistance. I took a bunch of photos, but I wish I'd taken a video -- it was a super fun interaction.

At least with the photos, you get to see the hilarious expressions I caught.

It was about 10 am, and Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run was posting a wait time of like 35 minutes, and we figured that'd be great, cause we had a lunch reservation at the Hollywood Brown Derby at 11:10 am. So we headed over there, and we got in this line:

It seemed long, but the other day when we got in a line this long it wasn't too bad, so we weren't too scared off. Should we have been? Tune in next time to find out.... I'll give a little bit of a hint--the below pics in front of the Falcon were taken at 10:25am.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

So my goal is to finish this report before we go to Disneyland.

Good Luck!!! I feel like I always go through spurts of nothing and then a million posts all at once.

You'll have to wait a few more photos and see... But first, breakfast of champions!

I seriously have a secret goal to stock up on sweets like you guys did for breakfast in the room for our next trip!

So this was 8:25ish, and the CMs were really trying to get us out of line. Trevor and I didn't really have anything else to do and we were enjoying sitting in the shade and listening to the music, so we were good just hanging out and waiting.

I was going to say, that I hate how CM do this. but your story of the family behind you is probably the reason why...

I guess after getting boarding group 1 the first day, nothing else could measure up!

ha! Right?!

And instead of ushering us on to the shuttle, they sent us through this weird little hallway and we just walked into the room with the stormtroopers, rather than getting that pre-show where you ride the shuttle and get boarded by the First Order.

Boo!!!! That is so disapointing! And the shuttle is one of my favorite parts!

I was really really grateful that this was our third ride -- it would have been sad if it was our first. I feel so bad for people where this was their first, or only, ride on Rise of the Resistance.

It's easier to look over when it's not your first time. I really wonder what they are going to do once people start paying for fast passes... It's NOT going to be cool to skip rooms like that when you are paying hard EXTRA money!

Ok, so this was our third and last ride, and we really wanted to get the track where you go in front of the AT-AT, instead of off to the side, because both other times we went off to the side of the AT-AT. So when we got to the part where the CMs are sectioning you off to colors, we decided to just bite the bullet and ask the CM if we could be put in the color that would go to the front of the AT-AT. I have to give huge props to the CM, cause he was able to give us exactly what we wanted, but still stay 100% in character as a First Order flunky.

I always kind of assumed you just couldn't ask on this right!

It was super cool to get this other optic on the ride -- I don't think I liked one better than the other though.

I perfer the one you asked for. It was what we got the very first time and I loved it!

 

[Araminta18]

Hollywood Brown Derby, Disney Springs, and a Quest for a Spirit Jersey
Friday, May 28, 2021 (part 2)​

We made it to the inside part of the queue at 10:28. So, we just barely got to the inside part of the queue and it had already been 28 minutes...doesn't bode well for that 35 min posted wait time! I was starting to get a little bit worried about making our reservation, but not toooooo much yet.

That queue man--it has amazing theming. So I didn't mind too much being stuck in that line. And playing on the datapad and scanning crates helped pass the time. Though I will say that there are no crates to scan and open once you're in the inside part of the queue which is a bummer.

This is on the upper part of the queue, as you're exiting the engine bay into the part that overlooks the Falcon. This was at 10:57 am. Sooo, half an hour inside the engine bay. I was on the phone trying to get a hold of Disney dining to let them know we'd be late for our reservation -- I was not successful in talking to a live person, but I did try! After not getting a hold of anyone, we just decided to heck with it -- we'd go whenever we got off the ride and hope it wasn't too late.

That was a good attitude to have, cause we didn't get into the ride until 25 minutes later, at 11:22am (and yes, our dining reservation was at 11:10, so we were definitely late...). We both got to be pilots, so that was super fun. Trevor decided to take my pic on the ride.

We did pretty good! I'm not at all still bitter that for whatever reason it wasn't linking to our datapads to show that we earned these credits.

We did take a selfie to commemorate, because not only were we pilots, but we had the ride ALL to ourselves! I may be remembering wrong, but I think what happened is we were in the chess room, and we were supposed to be next, but then the accessible cockpit was available, so they ended up taking 6 ECVs ahead of us and making us wait another few minutes, so they could put the ECV people in the accessible cockpit. And to kind of thank us for waiting (I guess? probably also had to do with the flow of people and how no one else had made it down to the chess room), we got the next cockpit all to ourselves. Awesome!

Trevor also took a couple videos of us/me flying, cause...who knows, honestly. So if you wanna see those, they are here:
Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run ride part 1
Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run ride part 2

We got off the ride at 11:30 and started BOOKING it over to Hollywood Brown Derby to check in and profusely apologize for being so late. We got there and checked in and they were like whatever, it's fine. LOL. Better than them not having space for us! They checked us in and told us they'd text us when they'd have a table. Sweaty-from-the-run selfie!

We only had to wait 2 or 3 minutes before they brought us in. We got seated in one of the booths at the back of the upper level, with a great view of the whole restaurant.

This was my favorite table of the 3 or 4 times I've eaten here.

To start with, we each got water and then I got a Shirley Temple and Trevor got a Maliblue Beach (both of which came with glow cubes!)

Then our favorite: the bread and the salted butter!

Hollywood Brown Derby was one of our first Table Service meals at Disneyland on our very first trip and Trevor (and me) really loved the salted butter, so we always try and come back here to eat on our trips. And the bread and butter definitely lived up to our memory of it.

With the heat we weren't SUPER hungry, so we (mostly me) got a charcuterie board.

No memory of what all these were -- there's some bleu cheese, some honeycomb, some meats...It was good! Not my favorite charcuterie board ever, but good.

Then for the main portion of our meal, we both ended up getting the Cobb salad. Trevor got his with cheddar cheese subbed in for the bleu cheese, which I totally should have done. But it was still delicious. (This is just a pic of my salad... they looked very similar )

Delicious! We really enjoyed sitting in the air conditioning, eating a delicious meal. Always a nice break.

Our plan next was to head to Disney Springs to get on the Gideon's wait list and pick up some more cookies to take home, hoping that the wait list wouldn't be too long. But as we were headed out of the park, we ran into the Pixar Cavalcade!

What a fun little cavalcade! I love the details/decals on the convertibles. Super fun.

We then headed out to the uber pickup spot, and were at Disney Springs at 1:08 pm. Not too shabby! Now, for this next picture, you need some context. One of the Disney vloggers that we follow is MrCheezyPop -- he mostly does Disneyland, but we'd been following him on Instagram and he was at Disneyworld this whole week, but we kept missing him and being in a different park. But as we were walking in Disney Springs, heading to Gideon's, I glanced at the people in line for ice cream and I was like "oh my goodness, I think that's MrCheezypop!" We really wanted to just meet him and say thanks for how he handled the pandemic so we were those creepy fans for a little bit. But he was super gracious and took a pic with us, even though his ice cream was melting a little bit. He was super nice -- if you're at all interested in Disneyland, check him out!

Ok, end of us being creepy vlogger fans.

We got to Gideon's and got in the virtual line at 1:22 pm. The estimated wait was, per my text from them, 125 minutes. Blergh. Longer than we liked, especially cause we were getting a bit sleepy. BUT! I decided to take advantage of the plaids at the Disney Springs welcome center and see if they could help me find the Briar Rose Gold spirit jersey in the size I needed. I have no idea what Trevor was doing, but I ended up going there first by myself. And the CMs were awesome. The CM who had helped me at Magic Kingdom had shown me that the Blizzard Beach gift shop said they had 3 of the spirit jerseys in my size, so I was hoping that the CMs at Disney Springs would be able to set me up with a shopping pass to get into Blizzard Beach and buy the spirit jersey. But when I got there, the CM was like "ooh I don't want to send you on a wild goose chase over there if they only have 3 listed...they may not actually have any". So he ended up calling over there directly, and getting them to check and put the spirit jersey I wanted on hold for me, and then setting me up with a comp ticket so I could get in and purchase it. Awesome! Trevor decided he was a bit sleepy and would rather hang out at Disney Springs and wait for me, so I grabbed an uber and headed over to Blizzard Beach on my own. It was my first time there, actually. And all I did was walk in to the gift shop a couple hundred feet past the entrance, buy a spirit jersey, and left. I grabbed another uber back to Disney Springs and met up with Trevor, with my prize in my hands. Took less than an hour! I found Trevor dozing off on one of the benches by the movie theatre in front of the fountain, and we sat there for about 20 minutes or so before we got the text from Gideon's at 3:12 pm that it was time to come back for cookies!

Yay Gideon's! We bought some of the cookie bites (covered in chocolate) that they were out of the first time we came, and then we got 3 of the cookies and cream cookies 'cause those were our favorites, and then 1 original chocolate chip cookie and 1 triple chocolate cookie, as well as some buttercream frosting dip. YUM. We also went to the Ganachery and bought some more crispy pearls and some chocolate bars and the Cruella chocolate pop they had. All the treats!

We were then gonna grab the bus back to the hotel, but I saw a sign advertising the gelato of the day as being root beer, and root beer is one of Trevor's favorite things, so of course we had to stop and get some gelato.

This was good! The flavor was a bit interesting, but still good. And of course, anything cold on a hot day.

We grabbed the bus back to the Yacht/Beach Club, since we were close to the Disney bus stop and we didn't want to walk all the way to the other side of Disney Springs to catch the Swan bus. And we got lucky cause the bus to the Yacht/Beach Club came almost immediately. Sweet!

We were back at the hotel a little bit after 4 pm, and I'm sure you can all guess what we were doing -- nap time! We slept for probably 90 minutes. Lovely!

After our nap, it was back to Hollywood Studios for us. Luckily it was getting a big cloudy and cooler.

If you want to know what we did in Hollywood Studios, you'll have to tune in next time!

 

[Araminta18]

Last Night in Galaxy's Edge
Friday, May 28, 2021 (part 3)​

So back in the park, we didn't have any plans really, besides wanting to play with the datapad and hack things in Galaxy's Edge. But as we were walking in, we noticed that Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway was posting a 20 minute wait. Um, heck yes!

We didn't think it would actually be 20 minutes, considering how quickly we were moving through the queue. I did appreciate that it was moving slowly enough that I could get pictures of all the fun cartoon posters:

We also found the profile Hidden Mickey!

There are fun details in the loading area of this ride that we didn't notice before on our rope drop rides, since we moved through it so quickly. I do not love this version of Goofy though--the stubble kinda freaks me out.

We were off the ride at 6:25, and so back into Galaxy's Edge we went! We got our first sighting of the Sprite vendor droid:

And then we really were just wandering around and hacking things and having a great time. We really had a lot of fun collecting all the things in the crates (including an Ewok costume, among others) -- I mean, they're all digital, but still. And hacking and making things make sounds and light up. It was great fun. We of course had to stop and get photopass photos too though.

And of course, more pics in front of the Falcon.

There's a bunch more, but this is probably sufficient representation. Notice we swapped out the color of the lightsaber.

But yea, we were hanging around hacking things for that last hour and a half. We did learn a lesson from last night and made sure to get some food ordered from Docking Bay 7 so we were sure to have dinner! And actually, this worked out a bit funnily -- Docking Bay 7 closed at 8, so we did mobile order at 7:50 pm and got two Ronto Wraps. But right as we got our food (at like 7:57/7:58 pm) and came outside to eat at the tables there, I was trying to figure out how we could get one last ride on Millennium Falcon, cause there was no wait. But I didn't want to leave our food or anything, and finally, like an idiot, I was like "duh, Trevor can ride by himself and I'll watch the food! Duh!!" So Trevor took a bit of reassurance and encouragement but then he ran down to the line, and got there right after they closed. *sad trombone* But the CM was like "oh, is it just you?" and when Trevor said, yes, let him in! So Trevor got to do one last ride while I ate and watched his food.

He did pretty good! Look at that rank! Still not bitter that it didn't link to the datapad.

But afterwards he came out and ate his ronto wrap (I know, bad trip reporter -- I didn't even take a pic of our ronto wraps!). And then it was back to just hanging out in Galaxy's Edge, hacking things and taking pictures and just enjoying our last night in Batuu. it's so gorgeous!

So pretty! But we eventually started meandering our way out of the park. We couldn't stay there forever, after all!

We were headed back to the boats to ride back to the Swan. We didn't have to wait very long (like 5 minutes?) but I took one last selfie with Tower of Terror.

When the boat came, Trevor got to be king of the boat! (Tim Tracker reference there ;D)

It was a lovely ride, with the breeze blowing on us and everything. But back at the hotel, this was the line for the elevator --

You turn by that easel in the distance, and then it's another 15/20 ft to the elevators. Bonkers! Oh well We did eventually make it up to our room. I have no more pictures, but I assume we ate more Gideon's cookies and started packing up a little bit, since tomorrow was our last day.

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 25,341 steps (11.4 miles)
Ride count: 4 for me, 5 for Trevor (Slinky Dog, Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon (x2 for Trevor), Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway)

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

But afterwards he came out and ate his ronto wrap (I know, bad trip reporter -- I didn't even take a pic of our ronto wraps!). And then it was back to just hanging out in Galaxy's Edge, hacking things and taking pictures and just enjoying our last night in Batuu. it's so gorgeous

We made Ronto Wraps for dinner tonight! So yummy!

Glad you got to meet your youtuber AND got your spirit jersey!

 

[Araminta18]

Last Morning at Disney
Saturday, May 29, 2021 (part 1)​

Aw, our last Disney day! We were flying out that evening. Sadness! But at least we still had the morning and some of the afternoon.

We definitely slept in on our last day -- I didn't make us rope drop! But sleeping in at a theme park...was 7:30am. We woke up and got ready and packed up, 'cause the plan was to take all our stuff to Bell Services and then hit the parks until it was time to go back to the airport.

All our luggage! The red and white bag there in the middle is a Costco insulated bag, with all our chocolate and snacks -- it was my personal item for the plane. This was at 8:46 am.

Our last view from our lovely room.

Oh! Trevor even made time-lapses of the sunset last night and the sunrise this morning:
Sunset Timelapse and Sunrise Timelapse

And then off we went! We were heading back to the Magic Kingdom so we went back to the Boardwalk bus stop.

The bus came at 9:03, and we were at the Magic Kingdom at 9:18am. That scrim over the train station is such a bummer.

We walked down Main Street and ran right into the Dapper Dans!

They were singing "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow", which I love. What a great way to start the morning.
Dapper Dans singing "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow"
More Dapper Dans!

After the Dapper Dans, we realized there was no line to get into the Emporium (as opposed to the other night when there was a huge line), so we went in and did some shopping! We ended up buying kind of a lot, but we had it all shipped to our house. Trevor decided to get a Mandalorian helmet -- if you ask him I talked him into it, but that doesn't sound right.

Side note -- he loves this helmet. He totally wears it - it's a big hit on zoom calls.

After shopping, we decided to head over to Buzz Lightyear, and see if we could become Galactic heroes! One last try.

Sadly, we did not make it. But Trevor got his high score -- 719300!! I got 35100. Oh well -- we'll just have to book another trip and try again!

We decided to just kind of meander around to the Circus area and Fantasyland, riding the kids rides. We first went to the Little Mermaid, where we got some fun pics out front. I really like this castle!

Seriously, I love this castle. It's so pretty, and so underrated.

The whole queue really. Too bad the ride is kind of "meh".

Our favorite stoned mermaid!

After Little Mermaid we backtracked to the circus and decided to ride Dumbo!

We had a great time, also a great time taking selfies

Afterwards, we took a tiny break near the Carousel and Pinocchio Village Haus, just resting our legs.

But then it was time for Haunted Mansion! It was basically a walk on.

After the Mansion though we were hungry, so we decided to get some quick service! I wanted a corn dog from Sleepy Hollow, and Trevor decided to get the Buffalo Chicken tots from the Friar's Nook, as well as the Strawberry Lemonade slush. So we both mobile ordered (mobile order is AMAZING) and then grabbed a seat across from Sleepy Hollow in that little courtyard by the Christmas shop. It was super nice over there -- in the shade, private and quiet.

It was really good! The corn dog was delicious, and the tots (with the bleu cheese on the side 'cause Trevor isn't a fan) were also delicious. Trevor loved the Hades nachos from MNSSHP in 2019, and this was pretty similar. A+ lunch.

This was where we set up for lunch; they had a metal patio table back there.

We soon realized we had a front row seat for all the cavalcades!

Trevor took several videos:
Cavalcade with Gaston, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, Moana, Peter Pan, and Alice
Princess Cavalcade
The Princess Cavalcade part 2
Mickey and Friends Cavalcade

It was a great lunch -- I even videochatted with my sister and let her see part of the cavalcade. It was lots of fun.

At one point between cavalcades (and after we'd finished eating) we tried out the one rocking chair over by the Hall of Presidents, but we quickly realized we wouldn't have as good a view.

But yea, what a great morning!

 

[Araminta18]

Final Afternoon and Flying Home
Saturday, May 28, 2021 (part 2)​

After lunch, we needed dessert, so we headed over to Aloha Isle for a Raspberry Swirl float, with a vanilla dole whip, to see what it tastes like with vanilla and raspberry. Spoiler, it was delicious. The vanilla balanced out the tartness of the raspberry. Highly recommend.

And afterwards, we couldn't be so close to Jungle Cruise and not ride it, right?

I got a better shot of Trader Sam's gift shop this time.

Trevor took another video of ride: Jungle Cruise ride on Saturday May 29 2021

After the ride, we decided to hop back over to Hollywood Studios for a last little bit of Batuu. But of course, we stopped for photopass photos.

We even did the giant zoom in/out photo! If you want to see the video of it, it's here: Superzoom Video I love these fun photo ops.

Trevor took a GORGEOUS photo of the castle, and no trip report can have too many castle pics, right?

Despite the scrim, we of course had to get at least one selfie with the Train Station.

We only had to wait about 5 minutes for a bus, which was awesome. And we even got to see one of the buses with a Wandavision wrap! We loved Wandavision so it was super fun to see the wrap.

We got to Hollywood Studios pretty quickly -- 2:20 or so? About 20 minutes. Not too bad! We of course had to take some photopass photos.

And in case you're wondering why we take so many photopass photos, it's because I am not photogenic and I'm playing the law of averages. If we take a ton of photos, there has to be at least one or two that are good, right?

After the pics, we split up -- Tower of Terror was posting a 13 minute wait, so of course I had to go ride it.

What a great ride! I love Tower of Terror.

And don't feel bad for Trevor, he was enjoying the Star Wars Launch Bay.

Afterwards, we met up and headed into Batuu. I know you're shocked, but we found a photopass photographer near the speeders--one we hadn't done before--so of course, more photos.

And since we were right there we ended up getting some blue milk, which was again, surprising refreshing!

This was at 3:15pm; we didn't have a ton of time since we were going to picked up by Tiffany Towncar at 5:45 at the Swan. So we were just meandering, playing with the datapads and taking pictures.

Not sure what the photographer was having us do here, but I figured you all would enjoy a bizarrely random photo op with TIE fighters in the sky. We also did the super zoom photo op by this TIE fighter: TIE Fighter superzoom

There was clearly something meant to be in the sky on this photo but they missed.

As we meandered out we even found a photographer in front of the Toy Story sign!

At this point it was about 3:45, and we were hot. So we grabbed some frozen pink lemonades and sat near the fountain by what used to be Starring Rolls and just sat and ate and enjoyed peoplewatching.

We then headed out of the park, slowly walking out to the boats, just soaking in that last little bit of atmosphere. But all too soon we were back at the Swan, picking up our stuff and making sure everything was packed like we wanted it to be. We even got some ice from the little coffee shop/convenience shop there to make sure our chocolate stayed cool.

The Tiffany Towncar showed up right on time and pretty quickly we were at the airport. I was a bit worried the security lines would be long, but we breezed through pretty quickly. On the fake monorail over, we got a great view of a rainstorm off in the distance.

We grabbed some dinner after security -- McDonald's for Trevor and Chipotle for me. I forgot to take pictures -- oops! But the lines were super long to get food, like about half an hour. Bonkers. But our plane was delayed a bit so it all worked out. We even had some time for dessert!

Ganachery chocolate covered marshmallows, which were *chef's kiss* delicious.

The cookie bites -- look at these! Don't they look delicious? They were fantastic. We just needed some milk.

Also, fun fact -- there was a Lego vending machine! I've never seen one of these before!

We were flying Southwest on our way home, and we didn't bother paying for Early-bird check in on the way back, since we didn't have any connections to rush for. We were in the middle of the B group but Trevor still managed to snag the last exit row. Sweeeeeet.

The flight was smooth and uneventful -- we made up the delay time and landed right on time. It was funny -- we were expecting home to still be warm, but it was actually in the 50s in DC when we landed. We needed jackets and we didn't have them! Oh well

But that was it -- our trip was over. Bummer But we had such a great time. Next up, final wrap-up post, with pics of the souvenirs we bought and some of the treats!

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 17,601 steps (7.5 miles)
Ride count: 6 for me, 5 for Trevor (Buzz Lightyear, Under the Sea, Dumbo, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, and then Tower of Terror for me)

 

[Araminta18]

Final Thoughts
​

I'm really bad at final wrap-ups. Our trip was great. I missed fastpass+, and I didn't like how long the lines would get in the middle of the day and I didn't love how crowded it was, but despite those things, we had a great time. Batuu was amazing, and I loved watching Trevor explore and have fun. His face after making the lightsaber was just...amazing. I didn't get to play with the datapad app much when I did the AP preview in 2019, so it was a lot of fun to play with it now and really have fun hacking things. Rise of the Resistance was amazing, especially since we were able to get low boarding groups each day! We loved the Swan, and especially the proximity to Hollywood Studios, though I did miss the WDW today channel.

It was just such a nice break from real life, and I'm so glad we were able to do it.

A couple last pictures of the stuff we bought, including some of the sweets.

My two spirit jerseys (The yeti, and the rose gold one off to the right). A lot of this we got at the outlets (the funko pop of Alice in the teacup, the 4 water bottles, the Alien necklace (which will come in SUPER handy at Oogie Boogie Bash in a week or so!) But we got the Sabacc cards (the weird coffin shaped thing in front of the yeti spirit jersey) and the holocrons (off to the left). I got a Haunted Mansion puzzle (behind the yeti spirit jersey) and the Haunted Mansion attic diorama (to the right of the yeti spirit jersey). Clearly we like shopping too much!

Ooh, and one more! After I took the above pic, the things we bought at the Magic Kingdom Emporium on our last day showed up.

They had one of the AP ghost in a jars on sale, so we got it -- the organist. And then the Jerrod Maruyama "cute" collection -- we use the tray and coasters all the time! And Trevor got a Millennium Falcon tie and the Haunted Mansion socks which he wears to work. And the helmet, which we already talked about. And Trevor got his first spirit jersey! He hasn't worn it yet, 'cause hot, but he has one!

We spent too much money, but we are enjoying using all of it.

As far as treats....

I got this Cruella chocolate pop from the Ganachery -- cookies and cream inside. It was yum!

This was the cookie bite of the peanut butter cookie -- Trevor was a fan.

The Gideon's box which I can't bring myself to throw away, and the little jar of frosting!

We ate so much good stuff on this trip, and brought so much of it home. Yum.

Anyways, I think that's it! Thank you so much for following along and indulging me in my reminisces and too many selfies and photopass pictures! We go to Disneyland for Oogie Boogie Bash next Sunday...I cannot wait! (if you're interested, my pre-trip report for that one is here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...rsal-oh-my-sept-2021-pre-trip-report.3845818/)

Fun with Metrics:
Steps Walked: 136,715 steps; 60.7 miles
Ride count: 47 for Trevor, 51 for Tiffany (Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway x3, Millennium Falcon x4, Rise of the Resistance x3, Star Tours; Slinky Dog Dash x2; Toy Story Midway Mania; Flight of Passage x2, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur, Kali River Rapids, Navi River Journey; Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates, Haunted Mansion x3, Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train x2, Tom Sawyer Rafts, Jungle Cruise x2, Peoplemover x2, Buzz Lightyear x9; Under the Sea, Dumbo; Tiffany also rode Tower of Terror x2 and Rockin Roller Coaster, Everest x2; Trevor rode Millenium Falcon an extra time)
Video Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLD2n0Bq57wnp5tMY85d0g3PtKb8bfRMX

 

[Araminta18]

Just joined—loving your report!

I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

We have discovered that as well. Sad.

Right? I mean, it's not like I need a full mountain of dole whip, but still at those prices...

Nice! That is fun. I suck at this ride, so I would never even try.

Oh me too! I think my first one was a fluke I've decided it's mostly luck.

I seriously have a secret goal to stock up on sweets like you guys did for breakfast in the room for our next trip!

Do it! It's not the healthiest breakfast but it's fun!

It's easier to look over when it's not your first time. I really wonder what they are going to do once people start paying for fast passes... It's NOT going to be cool to skip rooms like that when you are paying hard EXTRA money!

100% agree -- Trevor and I were actually talking about that. Like, it's fine if it happens with a free fastpass. If I'm paying, and that's what happens? Oooh boy Disney is going to get a lot of very very unhappy people!

We made Ronto Wraps for dinner tonight! So yummy!

Glad you got to meet your youtuber AND got your spirit jersey!

Oh jealous! What recipe do you use for the ronto wraps?

Thanks! It was an adventure for sure, but I got it!

 

[Camonkeygirl]

Great trip report. I have not been to WDW since COVID started, but looking forward to next Feb. I will be at the Oogie Boogie Bash the same night, but only driving up from San Diego

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

All our luggage! The red and white bag there in the middle is a Costco insulated bag, with all our chocolate and snacks -- it was my personal item for the plane.

That is so smart!!! I might have to do that when we go again, because I am def bringing back LOTS of treats.

The bus came at 9:03, and we were at the Magic Kingdom at 9:18am. That scrim over the train station is such a bummer.

I know! I think the scrim is now down. I am hoping the train itself is back soon too!

They were singing "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow", which I love. What a great way to start the morning.

Best way to start!!!

Side note -- he loves this helmet. He totally wears it - it's a big hit on zoom calls.

Wait you can actually wear it!?!?! Andy got a set of the busts when were were there. He LOVES them... They were actually in his office and just got them back and displayed them now in his home office.

Oh well -- we'll just have to book another trip and try again!

Right!!!! Of course!

We got to Hollywood Studios pretty quickly -- 2:20 or so? About 20 minutes. Not too bad! We of course had to take some photopass photos.

I was thinking they are crazy, but it actually makes sense since you are leaving from the Swan.

Also, fun fact -- there was a Lego vending machine! I've never seen one of these before!

That is crazy! My newphew would love it! But seems silly. Who is buying a $200 lego set in the airport?

Clearly we like shopping too much!

Ha! I am buying everything when we go!

The Gideon's box which I can't bring myself to throw away, and the little jar of frosting!

We ate so much good stuff on this trip, and brought so much of it home. Yum.

I love the idea of bringing home a box of these.

Right? I mean, it's not like I need a full mountain of dole whip, but still at those prices.

According to Andy, that is juts how soft serve is created.. He used to drive a mr. softee truck in high school, so he is an "expert"

What recipe do you use for the ronto wraps?

I use the one that came out of the Delish magazine that was released this summer. I will send you a picture of the reciepe later today! It's not hard to make!

 

[Araminta18]

Great trip report. I have not been to WDW since COVID started, but looking forward to next Feb. I will be at the Oogie Boogie Bash the same night, but only driving up from San Diego

Thank you! I hope you have a wonderful time at WDW next February, and at OBB!

That is so smart!!! I might have to do that when we go again, because I am def bringing back LOTS of treats.

It worked out surprisingly well! Highly recommend.

I know! I think the scrim is now down. I am hoping the train itself is back soon too!

Me too! We need the railroad back!

Wait you can actually wear it!?!?! Andy got a set of the busts when were were there. He LOVES them... They were actually in his office and just got them back and displayed them now in his home office.

YEP! Totally wearable. It's a bit hot, but it is fun.

That is crazy! My newphew would love it! But seems silly. Who is buying a $200 lego set in the airport?

Right? That was my thought too -- who is doing that?

I use the one that came out of the Delish magazine that was released this summer. I will send you a picture of the reciepe later today! It's not hard to make!

Ooh yes please!

 

[VAtink]

Such a fun trip, thanks for sharing! Also, I love the shirt you wore the last day, that is awesome!