Orlando Riviera Extravaganza - Nov 2022 - Day 1
Having arrived the night before it was time to really test out our Disney World finesse. Genie+ would be new to us. We had purchased it ahead of the deadline where they started limiting it, along with our tickets, so it was a length of stay situation. Now, Genie+ must be purchased the day of your visit to the park, each day, depending on availability. You'll see how this plays out.
We set an alarm and got up at about 6:00 AM, when it was still dark. The sun did not rise until about 7:15 which made for some lovely early morning photos.
At 7:00 I was ready to book the first Lightning Lane of the day for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway ( I got an 8:35 AM return time).
Mother went to the lobby to "lodge a complaint". She had trouble getting out of bed because it was TOO COMFORTABLE. (Not really a complaint, more like a compliment). Even my pulldown bed was very comfortable.
Headed directly to the skyliner station, destination Disney Hollywood Studios. That meant a short ride to the Caribbean Beach Resort, and a transfer, then another very short ride to Disney Hollywood Studios. I thought the transfer station would be chaos like the TTC can be at times, but the transfer (every time, not just this early morning time) was always very smooth and the station is very cute.
Skyliner transfer station at Caribbean Beach Resort. There is a skyliner line in front, to the left, and behind me at this point, and Cast Members always made sure you were on the correct line
We arrived for the 7:30 AM early opening for resort guests and saw a cast member with a "This is the Way" sign. I asked if I could take a picture of him with his awesome sign and he asked me if he could take a picture of me holding the awesome sign, so we did both things. It's crazy how much this delighted me.
We attempted to rope drop Rise of the Resistance, but there was a line of Cast Members out front letting us know it was down. They had tried to get it going that morning but there was a problem and they didn't know how long it would be down. So, instead, we went to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run where we were assigned as Engineers (now they call us Fixers). Love that ride! We also did really well, getting a "hot shot" score as a crew.
Early morning ambiance at Disney Hollywood Studios
Then, it was time to head over to our Lightning Lane at Mickey and Minnie's for 8:35. Upon scanning in there, I grabbed a Toy Story Mania Lightning Lane for 9:15. And upon scanning in to Toy Story Mania, I grabbed Rock N Rollercoaster for 9:55. What this meant was between ride time and time to walk to these areas, they were basically back to back. MUCH better than the old Fastpass+ system where your first three rides had to be used before you could get more and each had to be an hour apart.
Quick ride ratings:
Mickey & Minnie: 5/5 - very cute
Toy Story Mania: 4/5 but it's not Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Rock N Rollercoaster: I have no idea. My eyes were closed the whole time.
A PSA About Hearing Aids and Rock N Rollercoaster
If you are going to ride Rock N Rollercoaster and wear hearing aids, take them out before riding. Because my ear knocked against the shoulder restraint, my hearing aids were threatening to pop out and fly away throughout the ride. I found myself at times in zero G at the top of a loop just trying to adjust them or hold them in so they wouldn't fly. I've never seen any tips for this - Does anyone have any tips on how to best handle this? I had the same thing happen on the Incredicoaster the year before but Rock N Rollercoaster definitely threatened my hearing aids even more than Incredicoaster did.
After Rock N Rollercoaster, we decided to stop riding for a little bit before lunch because we wanted to check out some shops. The 50th anniversary stuff is well stocked again and very cute. We also caught Chip and Dale hanging out on the lawn near the Brown Derby showing off pumpkins they had carved with their big teeth. And we practiced waving to our first golden icon statues.
Chip and his pumpkin. Do you know how to tell the difference between Chip and Dale? Dale has a red nose. Chip's is brown like a chocolate chip.
Lunch was at the Hollywood Brown Derby. The restaurant itself is very pretty and large, and I don't know why I put off eating here for so many years. Mom had the filet mignon (3/5 - it was tasty but did not resemble a filet mignon but rather a salisbury steak), and grapefruit cake (5+/5), and I had the salmon (5/5 - salmon was succulent), and a tomato burrata salad (4/5 - it was ok).
Park was getting far busier post lunch, so it was time to go. Got on the skyliner and decided to take it all the way to the Art of Animation stop and walk around that resort a bit. For us, the skyliner was always cool, calm, and the easiest mode of transportation with an ECV. I'm really a big fan.
Walked around Art of Animation a bit, taking pictures and shopping.
The Cars area at Art of Animation. This resort is really well themed!
A PSA About 50th Anniversary Candles
For those who like to remember your vacation by scent, Disney sells 50th Anniversary scent candles that are true to the scent in the lobbies of the resorts. There was a little confusion about where we could find them. At the Riviera's gift shop, we asked and were told that sometimes they have them in but if they don't, the only other place to get them was the Co-op at Disney Springs.
This is not true. Maybe the Cast Members we spoke to did not expect we'd be going to other resorts, but we like to resort hop, and almost every other resort had them. Art of Animation had a huge display of them and lots of other 50th anniversary items that were harder to find. We also saw them in the Creations Shop in EPCOT, which was another very well stocked shop.
A final note: The scent was created by Scentsy. You can find Scentsy online, and while you can't find the candle, you can find 50th Anniversary Scent wax melts on their online shop.
The skyliner leaving the station at Art of Animation/Pop Century. The station is on a bridge in the middle of hourglass lagoon.
Rode the skyliner back to the Caribbean, then the Riviera. Mom got off at the Caribbean because the Joffrey's coffee near the skyliner station was calling her name and she could just "drive" back to the Riviera. I believe that even despite the coffee, we napped a short while in our room before heading out again.
Headed to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. I had been stacking Lightning Lanes since after lunch, so we had a Lightning Lane for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at 4:45, then Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at 5:45. Had a little time before Buzz, so we walked right in to Monster's Inc Laugh Floor in between.
By the time we got out of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, it was a torrential downpour outside. Tomorrowland was flooding and people who wanted to cross the path were walking through ankle deep water. We waited under the Peoplemover track for quite some time until the rain let up enough that we could cross to where we'd parked the ECV (thankfully, Mom had the foresight to park under an awning). We got our ponchos on and covered the ECV controls, and went in the light rain to Pecos Bill's for some eats because I was getting hangry.
Flooding in Tomorrowland
I highly recommend Pecos Bill's. The seating area, indoors, is HUGE, and the food is good. I got the chicken fajitas with extra guacamole and sour cream, and got some mini churros for Mom.
Ate very quickly while it alternated between sprinkles and torrential rain outside, and made our way just in time back to the hub for Enchantment at 8:00. It rained lightly throughout Enchantment, but it was a lovely show. Lots of glitter and Moana songs (I'm a fan of the music from Moana).
Cinderella's Castle at night, in her 50th Anniversary Best
After Enchantment, extended magic hours began for deluxe resort guests (that's us!) and would go until 11 PM that night. Yayyyy! So during the show, I secured a Lightning Lane for Pirates of the Caribbean at 8:45 and off we went to ride it. But after this ride, we looked at radar and saw rain would continue through the night. And we looked at wait times and saw Seven Dwarves Mine Train was still over an hour wait. And we decided to just head out for the night because we were tired anyway.
Busses were mayhem. Returned back to Riviera in pouring rain at 10PM. Lots of people were headed out to the Magic Kingdom or Disney Springs at this time - like CROWDS of people, which was surprising to us.
A Rant About Busses with an ECV
Every bus we encountered for the duration of our trip could fit two ECVs or wheelchairs. I have heard some only fit one, but did not see it. This becomes a problem when people who don't want to fold their strollers decide to take an ECV spot. Some drivers allowed this. We saw double-wide strollers taking one ECV spot, an ECV taking the other, and other ECVs, wheelchairs, and strollers, still waiting in the ECV/wheelchair line to board, who would all have to wait for another bus because of limited space.
The official Disney requirement is that strollers fold when going on the bus. Strollers should not be taking the very limited spaces that are the only options for those using an ECV or wheelchair. I understand that sometimes kids are sleeping and you don't want to wake them. But for people in ECVs an wheelchairs, they truly have no other option to get on the bus but take one of those two spots per bus and people with strollers are taking that away from people who need it, resulting in added waits of about 20 min per bus needed to clear the line of ECVs and wheelchairs. Six ECVs or wheelchairs in line? That's an hour wait, without strollers.
This all said, the bus drivers were for the most part very helpful with the ECV. Getting it into its spot on the bus required some parallel parking skills which not everyone had. Some would say they weren't allowed to touch your ECV while others would have you go into neutral and would just push you into the space. We preferred the help when we could get it as it was hard.
Rained out, going home!
Next time, we go to EPCOT and experience Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Then we had to Animal Kingdom for a short while, and have dinner at Sanaa. And our ECV breaks down as far from our resort as humanly possible.
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