September 2024 Trip Report - Day 3 - A 4 Park Day
We did not go into this day thinking it would be a 4 park day. Our plans on paper involved EPCOT in the morning, lunch at Disney Hollywood Studios, and an evening at Animal Kingdom, but a few things conspired to add the fourth park.
Thing 1: It has rained nearly every evening, but the forecast for this evening didn't seem to call for rain as aggressively as it had on other days. We figured it might be our best chance to see Happily Ever After at the Magic Kingdom.
Thing 2: When we booked our trip, park hours for Animal Kingdom indicated it would be open until 8 pm. But that day, we found it was only open until 6 pm.
Not only did we visit 4 parks, but we also visited a few resorts. But the end of the day did not go as planned.
We started at EPCOT, rope dropping it for Remy. We actually arrived through the International Gateway a little bit early, so the line we joined to rope drop Remy seemed to go all the way out of France, but once the rope was dropped to let us into the "Remy neighborhood", we moved steadily. After Remy, we were feeling a bit hungry, so stopped at the crepe window and got a hazelnut chocolate crepe to share. We had lightning lanes lined up right after Remy for Spaceship Earth, The Land, and Soarin', but we decided to abandon most of those in favor of exploring World Showcase in the morning which was looking so clean and inviting.
The Japan pavilion, usually one of the busiest pavilions, with about three other people in it.
World Showcase was blissfully uncrowded and while the food stands weren't in full swing, many shops were already open. We took our time, spending a lot of time in Morocco taking pictures, Italy enjoying a Joffrey's coffee, and China in the gardens. We also had a nice, long, uncrowded look at the miniature train in Germany. Even on an uncrowded morning like this, there is so much to see in World Showcase. It is one of my favorite parts of Walt Disney World.
I believe the Morocco pavilion at EPCOT is the prettiest, and it did not disappoint that morning.
We emerged from World Showcase around 10 AM, and were still able to take advantage of our Lightning Lane for the Land, so we did that. I was amused at how the signs have evolved from gentle "stay in the vehicle at all times" warnings to "For the safety of guests and our facilities you may not exit the boat or touch anything" or something like that. We did see a Behind the Seeds tour happening while we came through the greenhouses and I kind of had envy. I don't know why these greenhouses in particular are so tempting, but they really are.
The Land pavilion, where you want to touch everything and are allowed to touch nothing.
After this, we walked back to the International Gateway and caught the boat over to Disney Hollywood Studios for our ADR. Because we allowed a lot of time for the boat, and to enter, we actually arrived about an hour before our ADR time, so we saw that Star Tours was a very short wait, and did that again. We got some of the same scenes from last time, and some new ones. I feel like this version involved Hoth and Chewbacca somehow.
This is just a little interlude to say that while most experiences are perfectly accessible for people in ECVs, some are better experiences than others. Star Tours is one of them that comes to mind. ECVs enter through the Lightning Lane regardless of whether they have one. They then wait at the exit corridor for their ride vehicle. The ECV parking is right by the loading area and is air conditioned and nice, kind of like a conference center hallway, with Star Wars music piping the whole time. It's interesting that they play a whole soundtrack, but when the ride unloads, the "end credits" music always plays which is a nice touch. Then you enter the ride from the exit side. The only downside is if the shuttle is full, your seats are always in the corner of a front row, making the viewing angle odd. Still, one of the best loading systems for ECV users.
Ok, interlude is ending. After Star Tours, we went to our ADR at Woody's Roundup Rodeo BBQ. I had been here once before but they had changed some things. When I went the first time, you chose a few sides, and then each person could choose one dessert. This time, they brought out all the sides and all the desserts. So it was really a lot of food, but very good, as always. Our server was great, and I love the atmosphere. It's always a fun meal.
The dessert spread at Woody's Roundup Rodeo BBQ. I was especially pleased we got a Forky cupcake.
During this meal, unfortunately, I had left my Loungefly which my wallet and everything in my mom's ECV basket. I had assumed she'd grab it when she parked. She did not. So when the bill came, I realized I didn't have it and was panicked for several minutes as I went out to find the ECV to see there was no Loungefly in it anymore. That was about an hour ago I left it, so I started calculating likely worst case scenarios. The worst, of course, was a guest could have left with it. But I figured the likely scenario, which still wasn't super fun, was that someone had turned it in to lost and found and it would be at Guest Services way at the front of the park which I'd have to get to and then back to the corner of the park to pay our bill. That is assuming it was there already and not in transit. But I was lucky. I went to the podium at the restaurant first to ask about it, and described the bag, and another cast member near the podium overheard me and said "I think we have that" and came out a minute later with my bag. Big sigh of relief.
One other note about Woody's Roundup Rodeo BBQ: They do give you a lot of food. Especially if you are a party of two. I'm pretty sure most of the food is the same size no matter how many are in your party (if you have a lot of people, it's unlimited, so they'll just bring more). We hardly felt like we made a dent in it as a party of 2. My mother was feeling bad about this and mentioned it to the server that the food waste was terrible, and the server informed her they use the waste for biofuel for the busses. True, or a Disney lie? I don't know yet, but I certainly plan to get to the bottom of this, because it sounds like a thing Disney would do and if they do, that's great!
We took the skyliner directly back to the Caribbean Beach Resort for our afternoon rest, and spent a little time on Caribbean Cay, which is a little island that connects the Port Royale area to the Aruba and Jamaica areas where we were staying. This little island has lots of cute little "pullouts" with cabanas and chairs so you can sit in the shade and have a little quiet time by the water, and it was so nice. It was about a 5 min walk to the refill station by the main pool as well, so I got some cold beverages and we sat a bit enjoying the peace. I have to say, this little area alone may put Caribbean Beach above the Port Orleans resorts for ambiance for me now.
The entrance to Caribbean Cay. I didn't get a good picture of our sitting area at the time because I was charging my phone.
The evening, as I said, was supposed to be an Animal Kingdom evening. According to hours I had looked up previously, it looked like Animal Kingdom closed at 8 pm, unlike the 7 pm I had previously seen, which meant we might get a little bit of dusk action in Pandora. But that day we learned it actually closed at 6pm. So my 5:15 Single Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage was kind of silly, but nevertheless, it's my favorite ride, so we went there to ride Flight of Passage. I think we also looked in a few of the large shops in Safari Village as we headed out. The busses were their usual "closing time" busy selves, but we decided the best way to proceed was to take the bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and then after an explore, the Magic Kingdom. So we took the bus to Jambo house and had a little explore, checking out the pretty lobby and gift shop there. We usually go and get zebra domes while there, but we weren't very hungry and the thought of walking down to the Mara and back was a bit much for me since I was quite tired from all the walking. In the end, this day was a 13 mile day, which, I believe, is a record for me.
Pandora, near Animal Kingdom closing time.
After a little rest in air conditioning, we headed back to the busses to the Magic Kingdom. Arriving at the Magic Kingdom, it was sunset, and beautiful. Dramatic clouds were lit by the sunset over the Seven Seas Lagoon and it was pretty awesome, and maybe that, or how tired my legs were, caused me to misstep off the back door of the bus, scraping the heck out of the back of my calf. Turns out the steps on the bus are sharp. It didn't hurt too badly, but I started bleeding pretty dramatically, and I had no tissues or napkins with me. My plan was to get quickly through security, then ticketing, and then stop at the first quick service I saw for a napkin, but blood was already dripping down to my socks and security was painfully slow.
My mother and I split up at security because ECVs use a different line than other guests. I have notes about this other line. I usually only see 2 or 3 of these lines, and they are shared with strollers, and every single guest that goes through this line takes longer, especially since many strollers are packing what looks like the entire house with them. I'm not judging strollers or people that use strollers. I get it. But I am sort of judging the strollers that are completely loaded with several shopping bags, a cooler, a popcorn bucket, and about a closet's worth of clothes. And I'm also judging Disney in having so few security lines for guests that always end up needing additional time.
I digress. The point is my mother and I split up to go through security, so I'm standing in a different line and a lovely guest behind me says "This may be an incredibly stupid thing for me to say, but did you know you're bleeding?" and I was like "Yes, I do, thank you. I just don't have anything to clean it up with right now. I'm sorry." And this lovely guest gave me a pack of travel tissues they had with them. I was so happy that I didn't have to horrify young children and other guests behind me anymore! So I get to the other side of security, sit down on a planter, and start wiping up, and my mother scoots over with a security cast member, and this cast member, his name was Jeremy, was super concerned and insisted we go to First Aid. He actually said he could call them and have them escort us back there if we wanted, and when we said we were fine, he encouraged us to just sit a minute and then let him know but if we told him we were fine, we better not let him down. I mean, he was the kindest and built a very good rapport and was very respectful and concerned, and I thought "All this over a little scratch?" but then my mom told me she had fallen getting off her ECV, and when she fell, she knocked a kid over! Apparently I had missed all the drama. So then we both felt horrible, and we both insisted the other go to First Aid, so we took a joint trip there.
Visiting First Aid at any park was a first for me, though I am very familiar with where it is at both "Kingdom" parks. So off we headed, and I was surprised to see it was like a legit clinic with examining rooms and everything. The nurse there cleaned my wound and applied a bandage, and gave me some extra bacitracin wipes for later. Then gave my mom an ice pack. Turns out, my mother was more injured than I was and it was just a delayed reaction, but she could hardly take a step after this. Thank goodness she already had an ECV.
Incredibly worried now, we decided no rides (we were going to try to catch Buzz and then stake out a fireworks spot) and that we'd just find our spot for fireworks near the exit on Main Street to make things easy, so that's what we did. As we waited, I finally got an appetite, and mobile ordered some chili cheese fries at Casey's Corner for the fireworks. This was also a mistake. Casey's Corner was madness. The park wasn't even that busy, but it had started to drizzle again, so it was full of either guests that couldn't handle a rain drop getting on them, or guests who were, like me, trying to get a pre-fireworks snack. Also, when they called people to come get their mobile order, none of the mobile orders were actually ready and this caused lines to form. I encountered this once before, being called before my order was actually ready, and it was at Universal. So, Casey's Corner.... do better. It was unDisneylike and it was chaos.
Regardless, my chili cheese fries were good, and we didn't mind the rain because we could just pop open our umbrellas and wait. Yes, this was supposed to be the night of no rain which is why we came to the Magic Kingdom in the first place, but there simply was not a night like that our entire trip.
Projections on Main Street during Happily Ever After.
Happily Ever After is an amazing show. I've seen it before, of course, and I am so happy they brought it back. I think it's the best nighttime show in the parks right now. Period. And because we were further down Main Street nearer the train station than usual, I actually experienced, for the first time, the projections on all the Main Street buildings too, and it was amazing. zi also got the lovely experience of watching the impromptu photo shoot this couple in front of us decided to do. The "boyfriend" just dropped back during the finale as if on cue, and the "girlfriend" started looking over her shoulder cutely as fireworks went off behind her and he snapped shots. Ah, social media.
We were both very happy after the show, and we made a very quick exit, and were first on a bus that was already waiting for us, so that was a perfect end to a mostly perfect day, but we needed it, because injuring ourselves had made us kind of sad. I was mostly worried for my mom since she was now having even more trouble walking than before. The next morning, I ended up going onto our airline's app and requesting wheelchair assistance to and from the gate for her, and I'm glad I did. Because this would not be the end of injuries.
Happily Ever After
Next time, it's another multi-park day, where we head to the Magic Kingdom in the morning, then change our plans again and go to EPCOT and Animal Kingdom instead. We also eat at Kona Cafe. Stay tuned, and until next time....
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