We really just did 2.5 marathons in a week - A June 2023 TR (Updated 7/25 x2)

[nemolover22]

Day 4: Hollywood Studios
Today was Tyler's birthday! Our goal was to leave the room by 7:30 for Early Entry and we made it onto the Skyliner at 7:29. For rope drop, I let Tyler choose between Rockin or Runaway Railway. We chose Rockin because it seemed NOBODY was headed to Sunset Blvd. However, we got about 1/4 way down and there was a CM explaining that it was delayed opening.
We quickly turned around and went over to Runaway Railway where we waited about 10 minutes. We just love this ride!
Our next pick for the morning way Midway Mania, since this also seems to be a ride with a shorter wait during EE. We ended up waiting about 15-20 minutes here which timed out well since we were waiting on our return time for Rise.
We finished up on Midway Mania where I once again beat Tyler!
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I snapped a quick photo of the birthday boy with his favorite droids before we went over for our Rise DAS. We just love Rise every time, it's such a nice and smooth ride. We mobile ordered from Woody's Lunchbox to pick up breakfast after our ride.

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One of our favorite breakfast items, the breakfast totchos. Tyler didn't like them as much this time - he claims they didn't have eggs last time, but they did.


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I surprised Tyler by picking up the seasonal lunch box tart when I went to grab the order. We hadn't seen it on the mobile order menu, but I noticed it at the counter. It was a guava tart and Tyler LOVED it. He was grumpy at me for accidentally dropping the little blue Mickey off it when I went to try it, but he really liked this tart.

Up next it was time to head over to Sunset Boulevard! We had an advanced DAS selection for Tower of Terror. Tyler wasn't a fan of this ride last trip, but he was willing to try again and ended up really liking it. We also had a DAS return time for Rockin, which Tyler did not like as much. I didn't fare too well on this ride either considering my recent surgery, but I do still love it.

Once we had ridden both our Sunset rides, we made our way back to Galaxy's Edge for our Oga's Cantina reservations. On the way, we noticed Rey and Chewbacca out and about. Tyler had his birthday Chewbacca shirt on, and I knew that he'd get an interaction if we could manage it. I ended up walking us a few feet in front of them and Chewbacca noticed Tyler's shirt and interacted with him a bit.
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You can just FEEL his birthday happiness!
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He was super excited to get a picture with Chewy! I will say that they had QUITE a crowd following them around and trying to snap pictures/interact with them. Our strategy worked well where instead of joining the large mob, we walked a bit ahead on their projected path and waited for them to come our way.

At Oga's, we requested a seated table and it was ready very quickly. We sat with a few nice groups and enjoyed chatting while we were there.
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Our tablemates took a photo of us with our first round. I got the Fuzzy Tauntaun and Tyler got the Dagobah Slug Slinger. We really liked both drinks! For round two, I got an Outer Rim and Tyler got the Jet Juice. I believe Tyler preferred the Jet Juice and I liked both of my drinks about equally. We didn't find the price to be terrible and had a really fun time. I found out later that a few former coworkers/friends work here now, so hopefully we'll be able to catch them on our next trip.

We left Oga's and it was just about time for our lunch reservation at Sci-Fi. We took our time headed over and briefly watched Max Goof as Powerline interacting with some families. We bumped into Goofy for a few minutes too! We made it to Sci-Fi on time for our reservation and were seated quickly.

Maybe this is going to be unpopular: we did NOT like Sci-Fi. I have no pictures because it was just too dark. The environment was very weird because it was so dark and quiet. But, Tyler had wanted to try it and we got the Fantasmic dining package!

We both ordered Diet Cokes and decided on the Fried Pickles for our appetizer. They were pretty good but nothing spectacular. For entrees, Tyler ordered the feature burger which had a shrimp/crab cake on top and I ordered the salmon pasta. These were again just okay, Tyler didn't really care for his burger. For dessert we chose to share an ice cream sundae - our server surprised us and brought out a second one for Tyler's birthday. which was very nice of him. The sundae was honestly the most memorable part of the meal!

When we left Sci-Fi, we had planned to hit more rides and continue our day. However, I started feeling REALLY sick shortly after lunch. We headed back to the room and I napped for a bit hoping to knock out the feeling.

I woke up still feeling sick but needed to rally for Tyler's birthday, so we went back over to Studios. I bought myself a new pin pack as a reward and we headed to Star Tours.

Since I wasn't feeling well, we took it easy and went to MuppetVision 3D next so I could rest a bit longer. I do love this show so much! I felt a tiny bit better after that so we headed to Slinky Dog Dash for our DAS pass. After Slinky, we went on Alien Swirling Saucers as well. I do like that ride but can only handle 1 go on it before I get dizzy.

At that point, I was still feeling nauseous but started to get pretty hungry. I told Tyler we'd order whatever we want from Backlot Express for his birthday dinner. He chose the cuban and I got an adults chicken tenders, both of us with fountain sodas, and a Wookie Cookie! We had the dining gift card that we used to splurge on this meal since we typically opt to share/no sodas/get kids meals at quick services.

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We took our time eating dinner in the AC and just relaxing. We both really love the Wookie Cookie but have never been able to finish it. Maybe next trip when we have more people to share with, we'll finally finish one.

By the time we finished with dinner, it was nearing time for our Fantasmic seating. We had time to go over to Smuggler's Run quickly before the show and we were Engineers this time - it was my first time having this role!

We got to Fantasmic and got good seats up towards the top of the stadium with hopes to beat the rush out of the park afterwards. I still was feeling unwell and Tyler was getting tired at this point, but we pushed through. I LOVE Fantasmic and Tyler really liked it too, despite being so tired.

We managed to speed walk our way out after the show and beat the huge crowds, so we were quickly on the Skyliner and back to Pop Century.

When we got back to the hotel, I got SUPER sick that night. It was pretty rough. We figured that I had likely gotten food poisoning at lunch based on the symptoms and the timing of everything since we hadn't overeaten or dehydrated too badly that day. I felt terrible and called guest services/front desk just to report what happened so nobody else would get sick. They offered medical services which I declined, since I felt like I'd be better with some water, medicine, and sleep. I had to file a claim with guest services but never heard back at all, which was super disappointing. We had plans to go to Garden Grill the next morning for breakfast but I ended up cancelling because I was so nauseous I couldn't even think about having a big breakfast the next day.

We went to sleep with the hopes of waking up feeling better!

Tyler's top 3 moments of the day - Oga's Cantina, Fantasmic, meeting Chewbacca
My top 3 moments of the day - Slinky Dog Dash, Oga's Cantina, Fantasmic

Up next: Morning in Epcot and Hollywood Studios AH

So sorry that you got sick! It's the worst being sick away from home and especially when you are at Disney. I hope you feel better throughout your trip!

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Sorry you didn’t feel well. Hoping the rest of your vacation was perfect.

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Day 5, Part 1: Epcot
I told myself I'd sleep in a bit today, but of course, I was awake for the 7am Guardians virtual queue! I snagged a good boarding group and felt well enough to start slowly moving. We made it onto the Skyliner by 8:08 and headed over to Epcot.
I told Tyler I was still grumpy about my food poisoning so I bought ILL for Guardians as well, with the assumption we'd like it enough to ride twice.
I made a DAS return for Remy's since we had loved it so much the other night and both our virtual queue and ILL time came up while we were on the ride. We headed over to Guardians for back to back rides!

On the way over to Guardians, Tyler stopped for this picture with the Winnie the Pooh topiary. It was just so cute!
We LOVED Guardians so much- WOW. It immediately topped the charts as our favorite ride in Epcot and possibly all of WDW. We got Everybody Wants to Rule the World on both runs, which was a little disappointing, but okay because we had planned to return.


Tyler grabbed the Guardians of the Galaxy popcorn bucket afterwards to commemorate his new favorite ride and his favorite mode of transportation, the Skyliner! We ate our popcorn on the way over to our Soarin DAS time. Our plan for the rest of the morning was just to take it slow and see how I felt. We did Soarin followed by Living with the Land, and then decided to make our way snacking around Flower and Garden. We wanted to be back in the hotel all afternoon for a long nap before Studios AH that night.

Our first stop was Mexico where Tyler got the cristal margarita in a souvenir cup and I got us the quesadilla which had a bit of bacon and veggies. Tyler LOVED this margarita and still talks about it. The quesadilla was really good too!
We didn't find any snacks in Norway, but we did ride Frozen with our DAS pass. I hadn't been on it in years but I do really like it!

Stop 2 on our snacks tour was China! I got the crab wontons and Tyler got a Kung Fu Master. This was another drink that he really loved, and surprisingly he liked the wontons too. He's a super picky eater but has been trying a lot more foods recently, especially when he can get just sample sizes like this.

Stop 3 on our showcase adventure was Germany! We were originally just going to try the beer flight and the pretzel bread, but Tyler mentioned he apparently loves potato pancakes. This one came with ham, sour cream, and onion. Both of the food items were good, but the pretzel bread had definitely sat out too long and was no longer melty cheese.
After our snacks in Germany, we started to feel like we wanted a break. We slowly made our way to the international gateway and I guess Tyler picked up another beer on the way.
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He ended up tossing half of this- I don't remember what it was, but he said it was just too heavy to be drinking in the early afternoon heat.



We bumped into Daisy on our way out of Epcot! We didn't meet many characters this trip, but it was nice to just run into them casually from time to time. I also decided to stop in the international gateway shop and bought myself a little something:


I haven't owned Crocs since probably 2008 but I just had to have these. I'd been scouting a pair all week and this was my first time seeing the plain white. There was 1 last pair in a women's 6 and I immediately grabbed them. As a middle school teacher, I feel obligated to own Crocs since it's all my kids wear. I've gotten a TON of use from them already and I highly recommend!

We headed back to Pop on the Skyliner, grabbed some pepperoni pizza from the food court, and bunkered down in our room for a long nap. We watched cartoons, ate pizza, and just rested for about 3 hours until it was time to get ready to head to Hollywood Studios for the evening hours!

Up next: Roundup Rodeo BBQ, Studios AH, and a HUGE rainstorm!

​

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Day 5, Part 2: Hollywood Studios After Hours
We headed back out for Hollywood Studios around 6:40pm since we had dinner reservations for 7:40pm. Checking in for the event was very easy and straightforward- they were able to just scan our MagicBands for the tickets and give us the wrist bands.
We had a little bit of time to kill before dinner, so we headed over to One Man's Dream to check out the exhibits and watch the short film. It's a really interesting exhibit if you've got the time to see it! I should note, at this point we also made a DAS advance selection for Slinky Dog Dash.
After One Man's Dream, we went over to Roundup Rodeo to check in for dinner. It took a bit of waiting but we didn't mind since we weren't in a hurry that night. Finally, we got seated and met our server Friend.
Friend was really great and definitely memorable with his name especially! We were brought the watermelon salad, green salad, and the tomato salad along with the biscuits and pepper jelly. The biggest winner here was absolutely the biscuits - we ate them all and got seconds. Oops.

I am SO bad at pictures especially restaurant pictures but we got the traditional platter and chose the Mac and Cheese, Married Spuds, Campfire Vegetables, and Fried Pickles as our sides. Friend also suggested the cedar salmon. I was pretty hesitant after getting sick from salmon at Sci-Fi the day before, but I was glad I at least tried it because the salmon at Roundup Rodeo was really good! Tyler's favorite item on the platter was the brisket. We both thought the sides were nicely done, but the pickles 100% need a sauce. I'm a BIG sauce girly and this was noticeably lacking. The veggies were really nice for when you get to that point in vacation where you just need a vegetable.


For dessert, Friend let us order one of each to share. My favorites were the apple and the french silk pie. Tyler also preferred the french silk pie, but he typically won't eat pie of any variety. He ended up eating the entire cupcake and said it was okay. Overall, we had a much better experience at Roundup Rodeo than we did at Sci-Fi. We agreed that we don't need to rush back here, but would go again with a group or with young kids.

When we finished dinner, it was completely pouring. People were huddled in the front of the restaurant which made it hard to even get out. Our Slinky DAS turned into an anytime DAS and we were able to book another DAS, so I got us one for Rise since I wanted to ride and the after hours was just about to begin.

We waited for a little gap in the rain when it slowed down, and then hustled over to Midway Mania since it's an indoor queue. It was about a 10 minute wait and Tyler FINALLY got a win and beat me on this go!

Up next, we went to Smuggler's Run and the rain had just finally stopped. We weren't officially in After Hours time yet, but getting close. This ride was a true walk-on and we skipped the pre show entirely. There was a family behind us with a little girl and she proudly said "I'm gonna be the flyer!" Her parents explained to her that Tyler and I had gotten pilots and she was going to be a gunner. Us being us, we immediately offered to swap and let her be the pilot along with her brother. Her brother politely declined and wanted to be the gunner, so Tyler ended up being a gunner and I was pilot along with the little girl. She was incredibly cute and too short to reach most of the buttons, much to the dismay of her older brother.

We left Smuggler's Run and were ready to use our DAS for Rise. Our goal was to move strategically around the park and hit each ride once so we wouldn't have to backtrack, but Slinky being down put a damper on that. Rise was the longest we waited all night and even that was maybe 15 minutes.

As we left Galaxy's Edge, it began to completely POUR. We panicked and rushed into Star Tours to avoid the storm, and for some reason we were the only people who decided to do this. We ended up being almost entirely alone on Star Tours - it was just the two of us and one other guy.
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An almost entirely empty Star Tours! Tyler was the rebel spy and it was so magical to almost have an entire ride to ourselves. We got out and the rain still hadn't stopped, but it had slowed down a little. We went over to Runaway Railway where the line was about 5-10 minutes. Leaving from Runaway Railway, we caught the projections on the theater. This was our first time seeing the projections and it was really cool!

At that point in the night, it was close to midnight and Slinky was still down and had been all evening. We decided to just skip it since we'd already been on it and headed for Sunset Boulevard. Our first stop was Tower of Terror where there was the lovely 13 minute wait. Tyler especially liked this one at night and decided it's now among his top favorites in Studios.

For our final ride of the night, we hopped on Rockin. We skipped the pre show here as well and waited maybe 5 minutes. While on Sunset Boulevard, we grabbed ice cream and hit the carts a few times to grab some bottled sodas and water to keep in our backpack. It was a great thing to have later in the trip and in the room!

We popped into a few stores on the way towards the exit and got to the Pop Century bus stop just around 12:45am. The rain never did let up and I don't know if Slinky ever opened, but we did get the nice offering an extra DAS to use the following day on any attraction at any time. When we got back to the room, we both took showers and fell asleep. I had planned to be up for the 7am Tron queue in the morning but decided I'd skip it and just see how the day went.

Tyler and I had the same top 3 moments from the day - Roundup Rodeo dinner, Guardians of the Galaxy, After Hours Event

Up next: an amazing dinner, Tron first timers, a Nuimos

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Day 6: Magic Kingdom
After our late night at Studios, we slept in a bit this morning. We missed the 7am Tron virtual queue which was okay with me and ended up getting into Magic Kingdom around 9:30am.
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Main Street USA makes me so emotional especially after working there. It's my favorite place!

Our first ride for the morning was a family favorite- PeopleMover. We Facetimed my mom and sent lots of pictures because she LOVES this ride more than any other in Disney World.
We got off PeopleMover and decided to use our anytime pass for Space Mountain! Maybe I'm getting old, but I feel like each trip this ride just gets more painful and less fun. I'll still ride it every time though.
Our next order of business was a stop to grab a souvenir I'd been eyeing all week:

He brings me so much joy. We clipped him to our backpack and now at home, I clip him to my crossbody bag. He also has very necessary extra outfits of a beekeeper suit and a Han Solo costume. I'm very much looking forward to getting him a friend on our next trip.
Up next, we went to Fantasyland for our Peter Pan's Flight advanced DAS selection. The ride stopped moving for quite a bit but we didn't mind since it was cool and comfortable inside.

It was nearing time for the first Festival of Fantasy parade and we wanted lunch, so I snagged us a great table outside at Casey's Corner where we could eat and watch the parade. I got corn dog nuggets and a Diet Coke, Tyler got the footlong hot dog. We took our time sitting here and got to see Festival of Fantasy, another favorite of mine.
I watched FOF every single day for almost 8 months straight when I worked at Tony's. It was always the highlight of the afternoon since between 1-4pm was SO slow.
When the parade finished, it was time for our Seven Dwarves Mine Train DAS pass. We were nervous in the line for this because it was nearing the 1pm virtual queue drop that we wanted to try for. Fortunately, the lightning lane moved super quick and we were off the ride, seated on a Fantasyland wall for the virtual queue drop.
Boarding group for Tron secured, we went into Philharmagic to beat the heat. I really liked the new additions to this show, it definitely needed the refresh.
Next up was our Magic Kingdom favorite!




We just LOVE this ride and I know Tyler will love it even more during Not So Scary. We got off Mansion and booked another DAS for Jungle Cruise.

We snagged a quick snack of cheeseburger spring rolls on our way over. These are our favorite, but it was SO hot this day that it was hard to be hungry for snacks. I think this was the hottest day of the trip - we saw multiple medics throughout the day for people who had been struggling in the heat.
We finished our snack and went on Jungle Cruise. Skipper Jared was great and Tyler really appreciated all the jokes. It's just his type of humor and I don't know why I didn't think to show him the ride last trip.
Our next DAS return was Pirate's and we chose to wait in the cool AC of the Enchanted Tiki Room. It's a cute show with such a short wait that we just have to do it when it's hot out.
Pirates was also a nice cool off ride though I feel like the back-up at the end of the ride happens every time.
At that point, it was getting a little later in the afternoon and we were nearing our dinner reservations. We had time to hop on Big Thunder first and then started slowly making our way to the front of the park.
Again, it was SO hot on this day. I needed a bandaid so we decided to stop by First Aid, and wow, we just LOVE the Magic Kingdom First Aid station.
The people were so kind and let us sit down for a moment while I applied my bandaid. Tyler noticed a water cooler and they let us fill our bottle. We ended up returning the next day since they were allowing water and it was cold and well filtered.
Feeling rested from the little stop, we walked over to the Contemporary for dinner.

I just had to visit the Contempo Cafe, my other former work location. Working there was the most challenging work schedule and hours I've ever worked, but wow, I made the most amazing friends and memories. Contemporary has a very special place in my heart and someday I'd love to stay there.
Dinner tonight was new to both of us - Steakhouse 71! I'd been to the Wave before but not Steakhouse 71, and since Yachtsman was out of budget this trip, we decided to give this place a try.
We are SO glad we did! I cannot say enough good things about our server, Missy. She was friendly and kind and we just loved chatting with her.

For an appetizer, we ordered the Sea Salt Potato Brioche. It was soft and delicious and the spread that came with it is SO good. Missy asked "Did you find the surprise yet?" and she suggested we stir up the tomato sauce. Wow, this was just such a great appetizer all around.

For entrees, we both chose the filet mignon. I got mine with the garlic mashed potatoes and Tyler got his with mac and cheese. We of course had to get the sauce flight because I have FOMO when it comes to sauces and dips.
These were AMAZING! My favorite sauces were the red wine and the wild mushroom, while Tyler's favorites were the signature and the bearnaise. We were interested in the chocolate cake for dessert, but our Tron group was about to be called, so we passed this time to head back to Magic Kingdom. We were utterly blown away by Steakhouse 71. We felt that the food and service was comparable to Yachtsman but with a WAY more reasonable price tag. We will absolutely go back here on every trip from now on!

We hustled back to Magic Kingdom to make it for our Tron boarding group. I had read reviews about the seats not being accommodating to all body types and was nervous. I saw a girl a few rides in front of us get turned away and it made me worried. We got on the ride and I could barely reach the handles - shockingly, it's actually your legs/calves that have the difficult squeeze. I had to pull a bit but it worked, though it was insanely uncomfortable. I think I'd be fine if I could just position my legs a little better next time. We liked this ride, but it felt a little disappointing compared to how much we LOVE Guardians. I'd pay for ILL for Guardians, but I'd only ride this on standby or virtual queue.
We'd discussed staying for Happily Ever After, but we didn't think we'd make it that night with how bad the heat was. We got one more DAS pass for Buzz Lightyear and Tyler won by a LOT on this ride. After that, we headed back to Pop.

The Pop merchandise shop had a bunch of great pins, so I indulged in a few mystery packs of munchlings and the new food truck pins. I opened my pins in the room before we decided to get some rest and sleep in again for our last park day. Maybe we are insane, but we again decided we didn't feel like being attached to reservations for the next day. We ended up cancelling Space 220 lounge reservations (yes, crazy, I know). But alcohol had been bothering my stomach a bit and none of the food interested us, so we just couldn't justify the pricetag when we'd really just be going for the environment.

Tyler's top 3 moments from the day- Haunted Mansion, Tron, Steakhouse 71
My top 3 moments from the day - Haunted Mansion, Steakhouse 71, buying my Nuimo

Up next: Our last park day! Flower and Garden snacks, Guardians (again!), and pin trades

 

[Ellester]

So sorry about your tummy issues! I’m glad they were somewhat short lived. My son‘s last Disney stomach bug reared its head right after a SciFi meal as well! (Not recently, several years ago) Great report, looking forward to the rest!

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Day 7, Part 1: Epcot
At this point in the trip, we were definitely feeling the tiredness of 5 back-to-back full park days. We slept in a bit and mobile ordered breakfast to eat in the room.

'

We figured out our priorities of the day: a few more snacks/rides in Epcot and then going to Magic Kingdom for Happily Ever After. We felt good about having cancelled Space 220 Lounge so we could just pace things as we felt like it.
We relaxed a bit longer before hopping on the Skyliner to Epcot and got to the park just before 12. Our first stop was France!


I love the escargot croissant at Food and Wine, so I decided to try the goat cheese croissant. Tyler got a beer of some sort. This croissant was okay, but I can't wait to get my escargot croissant in 2 weeks from Food and Wine.
We went into Les Halles which is another favorite of ours.

A former roommate on my Disney College Program got me totally hooked on the mimosas from Les Halles. We each got one and they were great as always!

We also split a chocolate mousse - one of my favorite sweet items from Les Halles. Tyler was nice enough to share with our baby Goofy.
After our snacks in France, we hopped on Remy's for one more ride. We made our way through the showcase towards Canada to try and shortcut to Mexico. We stopped at Trowel and Trellis along the way.

At Trowel and Trellis, we split the impossible Korean short rib. We'd seen good reviews, but this totally surpassed our expectations. We both loved this dish and were surprised at what a large portion it was. This took the cake for us as the best festival item we'd tried!

I found this cute Figment hat at a festival merch stall and just had to get it. They were having a 30% off sale on some festival merch since Flower and Garden was almost over, so I got this on a great deal.
Next up for us was Mexico where I wanted to ride Gran Fiesta Tour. Tyler wanted a margarita so we grabbed him the frozen mango margarita outside - this is one of our favorite drinks in the showcase, but I wanted to take it light on alcohol since my stomach still wasn't 100%.
There were a few people pin trading in the Mexico pavilion so I participated in some pin trading. I LOVE pin trading so much and Tyler was happy to let me hang out with some pin traders for a bit while he sipped his margarita.

He said he was happy to just sit back with his drink and watch me trade. When he finished his drink, we hopped on Gran Fiesta Tour. I love this ride and find it so relaxing.
We left the showcase and Tyler picked up another beer from Citrus Blossom - it was one from the flight we'd had the other day.

We made our way towards Guardians and Test Track and stopped at Brunchcot. Apparently I failed to take a picture, but we got the fried cinnamon roll bites. These were really good! We finished our snack just as it was time for our DAS return on Test Track.
We quickly got on and off Test Track and then headed to Guardians for our ILL.
This time, we got I Ran and we were excited to have heard another of the songs.
Our final ride we had to conquer in Epcot was Spaceship Earth! We again used our DAS, though we didn't need it, since there was 0 line. This was a fairly smooth ride when usually I feel that it stops moving frequently.
At this point, it was getting into the late afternoon, and we were ready to take the monorail over to Magic Kingdom for our last park evening.

Up next: Happily Ever After, Tyler's favorite ride in Magic Kingdom, and a relaxing dinner

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[ExpeditionEmily]

So sorry about your tummy issues! I’m glad they were somewhat short lived. My son‘s last Disney stomach bug reared its head right after a SciFi meal as well! (Not recently, several years ago) Great report, looking forward to the rest!

Oh no! Even if this was just an off day for them, I don't think we'll be back. I think the best TS experience I've had in Studios was actually Mama Melrose about 7 years ago- maybe we'll return there.

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Day 7. Part 2: Magic Kingdom
It was a quick wait for the monorail and we were en route to Magic Kingdom! We didn't have certain plans for the evening, just knew we wanted to stay for fireworks.
Tyler filled up our popcorn bucket at the entrance and we just happened to catch the Adventure Friends Cavalcade.
It was SO cool to see both Raya and Mirabel in the cavalcade! We headed towards Frontierland for Tyler's most FAVORITE ride- Country Bears Jamboree.
He's traumatized every time we go on, but at least he had popcorn this time.

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Our next stop was Small World, which suffers the same boat back-up issue that Pirates has. We got to see Tyler's name on the board which is always fun! After we got off, we decided it was time for some dinner.

We mobile ordered at Columbia Harbour House where I got the lobster roll and Tyler got the chicken tenders. We also shared a Coke Zero because of course we did. I do like this lobster roll, though in general I prefer the style that's served warm with butter rather than cold with mayo.
After dinner, our goal was to just push out the last few rides we wanted to do before fireworks. We got on:
Haunted Mansion
Winnie the Pooh
Under the Sea
By the time we'd ridden those three, it was nearing fireworks time. I wanted to get us a nice spot down by Tony's for my own nostalgia. We wanted to hop on PeopleMover before fireworks, but it was down
Instead, we went to Laugh Floor where it said 10 minute wait. Which is TOTALLY misleading at times depending on when you get there. We waited WAY longer than advertised and ended up having to dip out of the show halfway through so we wouldn't risk missing fireworks.
It must be a common thing because many groups left this showing. We went up to Main Street and sat on the steps in front of the train station.

Happily Ever After is SO special to me, it's hard to describe it. I watched this fireworks show on my first night of work at Tony's- from the ROOF of Tony's Town Square. Wow, talk about magic.
I watched the show every night after that, memorizing every part, singing and dancing with my coworkers to celebrate the closing of the restaurant each night. I cried and held hands with those same friends watching HEA the night before we closed for COVID. I remember being SO scared, so unsure of what my future would hold back then. I wish past Emily had known we'd be back in Disney just 3 years later having made so much growth. So of course, I cried profusely during HEA and then we slowly made our way out of the park.


A little throwback to the night before my world changed forever - March 14th, 2020
I'm on the far right, iPad and earpiece still in from working my favorite role.

It was just a beautiful way to end our last night at the parks, it means so much to me to be able to watch the same fireworks now with my husband. We headed back to Pop Century, grabbed some Mickey bars, and went to sleep.

Up next: Saying goodbye to Disney, losing my mind in Gideon's, and a delayed flight

Tyler's top 3 moments of the day- Guardians, Happily Ever After, drinking in Mexico
My top 3 moments of the day- Happily Ever After, Guardians, pin trading

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Day 8: Departure Day
For our departure day, we decided to take our time and sleep in. Our Mears wasn't scheduled to pick us up until 4pm. We had plans for brunch at Homecomin', but brunch food didn't sound appealing to us at the time (we aren't big breakfast eaters), so we slept in and slowly packed our things.
We dropped our luggage with bell services and headed over to Disney Springs around 11am.
First order of business was getting on the virtual queue for Gideon's which I believe was about 2 hours since it was the first day in July.
We shopped a bit and then headed to D-Luxe Burger for some lunch.
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Tyler chose the buffalo chicken sandwich and I chose the bacon cheeseburger. We shared an order of the fries and got sodas as well. I LOVE D-Luxe and had kind of forgotten how much I love it until we went. Tyler was also a big fan and we agree that it's hard to pick between D-Luxe and Chicken Guy.
After lunch, we continued our shopping through TrenD, World of Disney, Co-Op, and Pin Traders. We stopped by Goofy's Candy Co to pick up the sour taffy that my sister had requested and look for the mickey licorice that my cousin loves. Sadly, they no longer have the licorice. He'll have to find a new favorite when we go again next week.
As we finished up in Goofy's, we got the text from Gideon's to return. I grabbed a quick picture of Tyler before we headed that way.

I don't know what happened to me in there but we ended up buying the reusable cooler bag along with about 15 cookies to bring home for family. The limited flavors were the key lime pie and the coconut caramel - the key lime pie is AWESOME and I'll definitely be buying another next week. Although our freezer is still filled with Gideon's from this trip.
Slightly ashamed of the amount of money spent in Gideon's, we kept looking around a bit at the shops. Tyler had his eyes on the Cuddleez Ewok, but he really struggles to buy himself souvenirs. He had a long internal debate before deciding to pass on it.
We headed back to Pop to ensure we'd be there early and that our cookies wouldn't get melted. We got our bags and sat for awhile at a booth in the food court, enjoying the last of our resort mug refills. Tyler surprised me by walking away to get me the Pop Century hoodie I'd been looking at! Soon it was time to hop on Mears to get to the airport.
It was a smooth ride and we didn't make any additional stops after Pop so we were to the airport fairly quickly. Bag check had no line and security was fast as well! At the airport, Tyler noticed the Cuddleez Ewok again and FINALLY decided to buy it for himself. It was his birthday trip and that was all he could convince himself to get, but he LOVES it. We use it all the time at home.
We were ready to have some dinner before making our way back to the gate, so we stopped at my favorite:

My mom and I are big McDonald's fans, so she knew exactly what I meant when I sent her this photo and said there was nothing better than a McD's diet coke after a vacation.
We got to the gate and sadly our flight was delayed due to some thunderstorms back home. We were mentally preparing for the worst, but we finally got cleared to leave about an hour behind schedule. The flight was a bit bumpy and you could see the crazy lightning in the sky which was freaky, but we made it home without incident. Luggage came out quickly and then we hopped on the shuttle back to our car. It was another smooth ride home and we made it back to our house 1am.


Our overall thoughts on this trip:
Best NEW things for us- Guardians, The Boathouse, Jock Lindsay's, Typhoon Lagoon, After Hours Events, Oga's Cantina, and staying at French Quarter
New things that we will NOT do again - Sci Fi Dine In

Our favorites:
Park- Tyler picks Studios, I pick Magic Kingdom
Rides- Guardians, Remy's, Haunted Mansion, Flight of Passage
Restaurants- Boathouse for the food, Steakhouse 71 for the overall experience
Flower and Garden Festival favorite - Tyler picks impossible short rib, I pick orange tempura shrimp
Drinks - Tyler picks Kung Fu Master and Cristal Margarita from F&G, I pick Moonshine Sour from America Pavilion and Outer Rim from Oga's


It was such an amazing trip and we're so glad we got to spend a full week in our favorite place. We're actually now just 10 days away from our next trip to Disney! We planned this long summer trip with the intention of this being our last big Disney adventure before we start trying to expand our little family of 2, so we wanted to pack in as much as possible. However, prices and a bit of luck mean that we get 1 more short trip before we start back to work. PTR coming soon for the next trip if you're interested, thank you for reading along with us!

 

[Counting Stars]

Really great trip report! I have been following along on your adventures and really enjoyed your narrative as a former cast member and the great pictures. I particularly like your posts that include favorites or top three... Looking forward to any future trip reports you care to do. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

Really great trip report! I have been following along on your adventures and really enjoyed your narrative as a former cast member and the great pictures. I particularly like your posts that include favorites or top three... Looking forward to any future trip reports you care to do. Thanks for taking the time to share.

Thank you! I'll definitely be sharing about our shorter trip that we take next week Glad you enjoyed!

 

[snikki]

I really enjoyed your report! You really made the most of your time!

 

[ExpeditionEmily]

I really enjoyed your report! You really made the most of your time!

Thank you! We definitely wore ourselves out with the heat and the long park days - lesson learned that if we go again for a long summer trip, we'll build in more pool time!