Been home for a couple of days, and I finally have time to write about the rest of our trip. I wrote about our first two days (12/18 in a very cold and empty EPCOT and 12/19 in a busy but manageable DHS) in a lot of detail a few pages back.
MK, Monday, 12/21
We got a mobile order at the Contempo Cafe and got through security no problem. We arrived at the line for temperature/security at 7:10. We were through the tapstiles by 7:18. 7 Dwarfs took about five minutes, then a walk-on for Peter Pan, We walked on to BTMRR, then rode it again with a short wait (we were sad that we got the front the first time, so we did it again hoping for the back, and it worked). Then we rode Pirates, Jingle Cruise (they need to get this back at
Disneyland for next year!), Splash, Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Pooh, and Hall of Presidents before our lunch. Lines were all very short and easy. It was a fabulous morning.
When we checked in at Liberty Tree Tavern, they tried to put us in Diamond Horseshoe, which I expected. I asked if we could wait for the LTT dining room. So we waited about a half hour. It wasn't bad because we had front row views of all the cavalcades that went by. LTT was far better than expectations, and we had the best lunch there. Wonderful experience.
We did some shopping, got a bunch of photo pass pictures taken, saw the Dapper Dans at Town Square, and then took the boat to Wilderness Lodge to relax. We loved the atmosphere there. We looked around, saw the geyser, sat in the comfy chairs, and just chilled for an hour. When we were waiting for the boat to go back to MK, Geyser Point Bar and Grill had crazy sirens going on for a long time. It looked like there were firefighters there, but we weren't sure what was happening.
Back at MK, we climbed the Treehouse, enjoyed Dole Whips and then the Tiki Room (sad that we couldn't eat them inside), rode the tea cups, and then the Speedway. The lines for most rides were very long, but we were never in the areas where the worst crowds were. We relaxed and watched the castle projections from the Tomorrowland Terrace relaxation station, got more PhotoPass pictures, and then left. It was a great day.
AK, Tuesday, 12/22
We were held at the parking toll booth until 6:25, and then we were guided into a parking spot as far from the entrance as we could imagine. It was a very long hurried walk from the car to FoP. Pandora was so beautiful and amazing that we didn't mind walking through the land (bioluminescence in the morning before sunrise made it so we didn't have to see it in the evening) and the very long queue. We loved the ride. Last time we were at WDW was the month before Pandora opened, so we were glad to finally experience it. We hopped right on River Journey, and a little over halfway through, the ride stopped. We were stuck for about 20-25 minutes. We ended up watching and listening to the Shaman for a very long time, and although that ride is pretty, I wonder if we will ever go on it again. Haha. We were happy to get a multiple experience FP (for anything but FoP, of course).
We walked on Everest, had a five minute wait for Dinosaur (it's incredible how bad that ride is compared to Indiana Jones), and then had a short wait for Everest again. Our family believes that Dinoland needs to be completely revamped. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.
We walked through the Maharaja Jungle Trek, saw a couple of tigers and some bats. Then we enjoyed doing some pin trading. We headed over to Safari, and the wait time said 50 minutes. We knew it probably wouldn't take quite that long, but we didn't want to chance it, so we used our FP, and it was awesome.
We had a mobile order lunch at Satu'li Canteen, but when we arrived to get our food, there was a women screaming and swearing at her husband. There were no other guests in the pickup area. One CM had to approach them and ask them to leave. It was a bit shocking. Other than that, it was a good lunch. It was weird to have the drink station after getting the food. The CMs were roped off, filling the sodas for the guests, and it was just a strange setup. Food was good.
We decided to take the Wildlife Express to do the animation class, but there was a long line for the train. When we finally got there, we were a few minutes too late to get into the class, and I was sad. I really love to do the animation class at DCA. There was an hour and a half until the next class, and we weren't going to wait for that. Interestingly, there was an opening behind the class where you could stand and watch, and my husband gave me his iPad on the ProCreate app, and I was able to draw one of my favorite characters (Heimlich) along with the class. I had to rush to catch up, but my picture turned out great. After we rode the Wildlife Express back, we had done everything we wanted to do, and we headed out of the park around 1:30.
MK, Wednesday, 12/23
Second day at MK, and last park day before flying home on Christmas Eve. We decided to drive to the TTC this time (we were the third car back at the parking toll booth), and it put us far behind the crowd that walks in from the Contemporary. At the same time that we got through the tapstiles on Monday, we were beginning to board the first ferry on Wednesday. We weren't too worried because we weren't planning to do 7 Dwarfs again. This time we went straight to walk on Space Mountain (really miss the music on this compared to Disneyland's Space Mountain) and walk on Buzz (this is horrible compared to Disneyland's Buzz). Splash hadn't opened yet, and by the time we got to BTMRR, the line had ballooned. It took us almost twenty minutes to get on, but we were happy to wait because we got the back. Then we walked on to Pirates, walked on to HM, and waited almost twenty-five minutes for Small World. The names at the goodbye scene weren't working. After that, Pooh was only about ten minutes. We wanted to ride the Carrousel, but the line was always way too long because of the distancing. We decided to ride something we've never done before because most lines were too long. We did Aladdin's Magic Carpets (ten minute wait). We enjoyed it more than most spinner rides because it tilts. The minute we got off, I saw that Splash was finally open for the day. We ran there, and we waited about twenty minutes. We tried to really relish it because we knew that it could be our last time. Who knows when Disneyland will ever open, and whether Splash will come back before they start changing it to PatF.
Our morning of rides went well, but it was clearly becoming extremely crowded. We headed to Main St, watched calvacades and Dapper Dans, and then we left on the monorail to our lunch at The Wave. This was our only lunch disappointment. It was lacking in atmosphere, felt almost empty, and the service was weird and slow. Our food was meh (chicken sandwiches, reuben, and hamburger), and the water didn't seem filtered, so it had that swampy smell and taste. We didn't drink more than a sip or two. We were glad we went to the Contemporary, though, because we were able to rest on the couches on the second floor for an hour or so before heading back on the monorail.
Back at MK, we shopped for souvenirs, did some pin trading, and went on Carousel of Progress. Then we mobile ordered some dole whips and took them to the hub grass to watch the castle projections begin. We got tons of photo pass pictures (there were photographers right by our spot on the grass who usually had no line of people) and enjoyed the beautiful evening. It was crowded in the middle of the hub and right in front of the castle, but on the grass closer to Crystal Palace, it was almost empty. We had a wonderful evening just being there, and then we left to get back to the hotel and pack up for our early morning flight.
Overall, it was a great trip that I would do again. I asked my husband and kids what they missed the most: character meets, fireworks, or fastpass. They all said it was none of those things. The only thing they wish was different was wearing masks. Masks weren't terrible, but they were kind of a pain. I am suprised and happy that the other changes did not ruin the magic of our trip. We only waited in long lines a few times in five park days-- Tower of Terror (75 mins on our 2nd ride), MMRR (almost 30 mins), and Slinky (almost 30 mins on our 2nd ride at park closing). Part of that is because we hit the big stuff at rope drop, but part of it is that things moved along in the lines-- even the ones that looked really long.
ETA: We got every ride photo from the whole trip except the first Slinky ride (we got the photo from the second ride). We ended up with around 250 photos. Some are really great. I know the masks look weird, but it's a memory we will always have.
). Literally felt like we had the park to ourselves the first 3 or so hours.
