Quick Trip to WDW

[KeithS]

We are back! Just trying to get the journal up to date.  Here's another entry!

Day 6 – Monday 28 January 2019.  Epcot
We wake up this morning and the rain has gone – yay! We head down to the food court and have breakfast before heading to the room and watching the animals outside as we get ready to go to Epcot. As soon as we get to the park and through security, we are greeted with a Figment topiary as he is the mascot for this year’s Festival of Art. We headed firstly to the locker rental and put our cold weather gear in there for later tonight.  Once that was done, we walked to the left of the fountains and had a look at the massive Guardians of the Galaxy ride construction – the building is enormous and towers above the former Wonders of Life Pavilion. It looks a long way from completion though and we could see into the former Universe of Energy pavilion which is completely gutted inside.

From there, we walked past Test Track to the Odyssey Pavilion which was the Festival of Arts store and presentation area (they used to use the Wonders of Life for these areas and I’m not sure why that is not the case anymore – I can only assume they are preparing that building for either demolition or repurposing it for some future work).  In Odyssey, we saw a presentation about the creation of some of the artworks featured at the festival while we walked around the merchandise area.  They also had a large screen printing setup for on-off design t-shirts you could get there. It was really interesting to see.

We decided we would come back later to buy stuff – the shirts looked interesting, and there were pins and a festival Mickey too.  We headed back to the Epcot hub outside Mouse Gear and began looking at all the Festival of Arts temporary booths that stretched from there and all around World Showcase – it was going to be a big day of checking out unique stuff! While we were in the hub, a Disney Artist (Trevor Carlton) took to the stage with music and began painting a picture in front of the crowd – it turned out to be Oswald and the final result looked amazing.

We headed from booth to booth clockwise around world showcase – stopping for lunch at the hot dog stand near Mexico.  Aside from the stalls which featured artists you could talk to about their artworks, some of the Nations had their own exhibits too and photo opportunities.  We spoke to many artists on our way around the showcase.  At the concert stage opposite the American Pavilion, they had a concert series Disney on Broadway, with many Disney Broadway singers doing songs from the Broadway shows which is pretty amazing too.  In all, it took us about 4 hours to walk around the World Showcase – and we didn’t go on a single ride, it was spent entirely looking at pavilions and stalls and the time went by quickly.

Back at the entrance to World Showcase, we headed up to Mouse Gear and did a bit of shopping and also visited the stall selling the Jerrod Maruyama postcards.  He was due to be there today, but unfortunately, he was one artist we didn’t get to meet which is a shame as we love his stuff!  Next we headed back to Odyssey and Della bought one of the personalised screen print tshirts and I got the Festival shirt and pins.

It was getting dark now, so we walked over to The Land for dinner before going to our locker to put purchases away and pick up the cold weather gear for tonight’s Illuminations.  After getting our gear on, we went over to The Living Seas and rode on Nemo and Friends (and we bought a fluffy of Baby Dory – so cute!). Spaceship Earth was pretty much a walk on now (it had been 50 minutes nearly all day!) so we went for a ride on that too.

Next we headed back to World Showcase for some more artist postcards before finding an awesome spot near Italy to watch Illuminations. By now the temperature was very low and a lot of the crowd had left. We were right up against the fence with hardly anyone else around and got to see probably the best view ever of that display – which was perfect as it is likely the last time we will ever see it given a new show is coming (they are already doing a lot of work in the lake to host the new show).

With Illuminations finished, the park was closed for the day so we headed to our locker and the bus back to our resort – so considering we hard went on any rides today, it was still one of the most enjoyable days I’ve ever had at Epcot. The crowds were good, the temperature perfect and the new Festival of Arts is a great new event that should go on everyone’s Epcot bucket list.

Tomorrow, we are planning on spending the morning at our resort and the afternoon at Disney Springs before going to Brian and Patti’s house for dinner.

[KeithS]

Day 7 – Tuesday 29 January 2019.  Animal Kingdom Lodge and Disney Springs
Today is a resort and shopping day (isn’t every day a shopping day!) Of course, with all the cold weather and surrounded by sick kids every day, I was bound to come down with a cold and I woke this morning feeling a little under the weather – nothing serious, just a blocked nose and irritated throat.

After waking up though, Della looked out the window and yelled “is that a giraffe?” It wasn’t one, but three walking past on the other side of the savanna from our room.  We got dressed and headed down to the Mara food court for breakfast.  When we finished, instead of returning to the room, we decided to explore the paths all around the resort.  They have lots of paths with viewing areas and cast member guides from African countries explaining what you are seeing out there.  It is beautifully set out.  We stumbled upon a large flamingo area too (which for once didn’t stink) and we watched the flamingos for a while.

We headed around the pool area and back into the resort buildings and walked up and down the various arms of the resort as they also had viewing areas of different parts of the savanna so you see different areas and different animals.

We went back to our room to drop our mugs off and get ready for the day when we saw the giraffes heading our way. We rushed to the lobby area of the hotel and the viewing area there where the giraffes came close up to feed. Next thing we know they are heading towards our room, so we rushed back and took giraffe photos from our balcony.  The resort really is a terrific place to stay and in hindsight we would have liked to have done some of the tours they offer there, but with our visit to Florida being so short, we couldn’t stay there all day and so it was now time to go to Disney Springs.

We had arranged with Patti to pick us up from there at 5pm as it was a lot closer to their place than Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we got on the bus and headed to the Springs and of course began our visit with lunch at the Earl of Sandwich again. We had yet to do any of the westside shops, so we tackled those first after lunch, including the Star Wars shop and Marvel. The last time we were at Disney Springs, it was still unfinished but now it was mostly open except for where they are building the NBA Experience where Disney Quest used to be.

After going through West Side, we headed back to the Ghirardelli store for some hot chocolates (it was still cold in Florida even though the sun was out). We then did another walkthrough of World of Disney. The funny thing was when we went to the register to buy some items, one of the girls there was called “Della”. I got a photo of the two Della’s together – it was the first time either one of them had met another Della so that was funny.

We returned to the Ghirardelli shop to buy chocolates for Della’s mum and Della headed to a jewellery store while I waited for Patti who was due to arrive anytime.  I saw her coming towards us and she said she had to go to Guest Services first and would meet us at the jewellery store next door.  Of course, when Della and Patti get together, that means more shopping before we headed to the car park and drove back to Brian and Patti’s house.

We had a fun night at their place, with Patti cooking a chicken and rice dinner which was beautiful (need that recipe). We spoke all night about various things including their plans to visit Australia in September or October next year hopefully.

Anyway – the time went all too quickly and we were soon saying our goodbyes to Brian who we wouldn’t see again this trip. We got in Patti’s car and headed back to our resort – Patti said she’d come and see us Thursday morning before we got the bus to the airport. We all did a bit of a shop at the Animal Kingdom Resort store before getting our nightly cup of tea and heading back to our room.

Tomorrow is our last full day here and we are going to Disney’s Hollywood Studios park.

[KeithS]

Day 8 – Wednesday 30 January 2019.  Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We are heading off to Disney’s Hollywood Studios today which should be interesting as there is so much construction on there at the moment.  We had our usual breakfast in The Mara before getting ready to head over to the Studios.

On the way there, we were following the gondola route and I kept an eye open to see if I could see any testing as it was announced that they had begun tests this week but I never saw any.  Our bus arrived at the temporary bus stop – the new permanent one is nearing completion and I would expect it to open within a few months as they were up to the painting stage. The gondola station also looked nearing completion.

As we entered the park, we caught the very beginning of the Star Wars live stage show, so we stood there and watched that for 20 minutes or so which featured all the movie characters coming on stage with large video screen projections, fireworks and special effects – it is a fun show. We were intending on going to check out the new Toy Story Land, but the Star Wars show chewed up time and it was now time for our Tower of Terror Fastpass, so we headed over there.

For the first time ever, we got to see the preshow without anyone saying a word which was refreshing – I have to say the overall crowd behaviour during this trip has been great.  Tower of Terror in Orlando is still a favourite of mine – and I hope they never change it dramatically (I love what they did in DCA with Guardians of the Galaxy, but I hope Orlando stays as a Twilight Zone theme).

Now it was time to enter the new Toy Story Land – if you’ve been to Hong Kong or Paris, you basically know what to expect from the theming which is really good here once again. The rides here are unique though and as Slinky Dog only had a 65 minute wait (it has been a lot longer since we got there) then we got on the line. It really did take 65 minutes but there was a lot of interesting things in the queue line even if it was very cold. The ride itself is great – it is a bit above a kiddy coaster, it is more like the grizzly gulch coaster at Hong Kong (without the backward bit).  It is a lot of fun.

After the ride and a look around the land, we headed over to the ABC Commissary for lunch as it is one of the only indoor eateries left where you didn’t need a booking and it was freezing outside! Following lunch, we headed to the Muppets area for check out the shops and Della found some Muppet Baby fluffies.

After lunch, we had a fast pass for the Alien Saucers ride, so we went back to Toy Story land to do the ride. It is a clone of Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree in DCA but themed to the Aliens from Toy Story. After the ride, we bought a box of Aliens – I don’t know what we’ll do with them, but they are cute.

We headed to the front of the park next to get a locker to put our purchases in and then attacked the shops in Main Street before having a hot chocolate in the Farmer’s Market. It is the first time we’ve ever noticed radiator heaters in the ceiling there. We didn’t know if they are there permanently or whether they just install them in winter – even Brian and Patti hadn’t seen them on before when I later sent them pictures. Who know it got so cold in Florida?!

After the hot chocolates, we headed to the Star Wars Launch Bay which had been updated since last time with the new movies right up to Solo. With our Star Wars juices flowing, we crossed the park to Star Tours and went on a journey with them as it was a walk on by now (again, as soon as the sun disappears and it gets very cold, the crowd return to the resorts).  We were planning on having dinner in the Commissary after our Rockin Roller Coaster fast pass, we as we passed it on the way to Rockin, we noticed it was already closed (why close the only indoor eatery!). We tried getting bookings at the Sci-Fi Diner, 1950s Prime Time etc – but they were all booked out.  We headed to Rockin Roller Coaster; I still love this, but it is getting a bit rougher in its old age.  After that, we decided to have our dinner so we got a burger at the Farmer’s Market for dinner and sat under the radiators again.

It was very quiet in the park now and we headed to the front of the Chinese theatre to see the Disney Movies projection show which was brilliant – it featured the history of Disney and Lucasfilm live action movies and we really enjoyed.  This was followed by the updated Star Wars fireworks show which is also a brilliant show. The crowd was really light and we were able to get a good view from right in front with a good crowd around us.  It really topped off a great week in the parks.

This was a quick trip and our goal was a catch up with people, ride the new attractions which we did, and just have a relaxing time – so we met all our goals.

We delayed our departure from the park by buying some mugs in the shops. We then left the park after collecting our stuff.  We had no regrets about leaving – it was a good short trip, although I don’t think we’d go all that way again for just seven whole days!

Tomorrow, we are heading home, so we begin packing tonight – I’d better get some cups of tea before we start!

[KeithS]

Day 9 – Thursday 31 January 2019.  Pack up, Check out, Fly home
Today is our last day – boo.  So we got up early and continued packing – we didn’t finish last night as we decided we had a long morning for packing and it was better to get some sleep as it was going to be a long travel day ahead. We spent an hour or so packing this morning before deciding to go and get some breakfast in the food court.

Once that was done, we returned to the room and finished the remainder of the packing.  We were able to leave the room about 10:45am and headed to the lobby to checkout.  I just got checked out by a guy in the lobby with an iPad – so efficient these days! By the time I had rejoined Della, I already had a full account of our spending in my email.

Patti came to the lobby at 11am and we decided to head over to the DVC Kidani Lodge next door (the new part of Animal Kingdom Lodge). We caught the bus over there and checked out the viewing areas over there, watching the zebras, wildebeest etc. We had to be back at the bus pickup zone for the airport transfer at 12:25, so at midday we decided to walk back to Jambo house where the main lobby is. I had left our bags with the Bell Desk, so I picked them up and we headed outside to await the bus.

We said our goodbyes to Patti when the bus arrived and climbed on board for the airport.  The trip was uneventful and we were able to check in without too many problems.  We had a quick look at the newly redesigned Magic of Disney store at the airport but there was nothing new there to buy, so we headed through the security checkpoint and got a sandwich for lunch before boarding our flight to Los Angeles. We were split up on the flight so didn’t see each other for 5 hours (I don’t know why the American Airlines flights don’t keep ticketed people together).

When we got to LA, we also enquired of Qantas as to why we had been separated on the flight to Sydney! We had to put up a fight with this as we had selected seats weeks ago and were still together just two days ago on our app; but in the end they sorted it out by shuffling other people around and we got to sit together, albeit not in the seats we selected.  There is a big story to go with this, but I’ll not worry about it in this diary!  Suffice to say, we finally got home after 35 hours awake!  It is a long trip home and I think in future we will probably break up those long trips with a couple of days in LA.

Anyway – it was a quick trip but we really enjoyed the whole thing – bring on Hong Kong in April!

[Lauren05]

Welcome home!  We missed you at the meeting last night, but hopefully will see you at the next one with all of your new purchases!
Thank you again for getting the postcard prints for me too

[KeithS]

No worries Lauren - yes, we would have liked to have gone on Saturday but we were stuffed.  Jess sent me some photos - looked like a fun night!

[calisota]

The unique t-shirts sound like something i would definitely have bought. What sort of stuff could you get on them?

I always find it amusing (or frustrating if i was travelling with you) how much time you devote to packing. I am more of a throw stuff in a bag 10 minutes before I head to the airport sort of person. 

It was interesting that you commented on how much quieter it gets when it gets cold and people head back to the resorts. Can you speculate on what percentage of people in the park are staying on-site as opposed to off-site that would make this a thing? It's probably more obvious at WDW than DL.


Greg

[calisota]

Oh, you are going to be in Hong Kong in April. Do you have exact dates? I might be able to meet you for a coffee.


Greg

[KeithS]

Yeah - let me rephrase the packing thing - Della spends a lot of time packing. I sit and watch TV

I'll be in Hong Kong the week of Easter/ANZAC day - can't remember the exact dates but it is that entire week.

Yeah - I'm not sure what the on-site/off-site percentage is. There are probably stats online somewhere for that.

[DisneyKaren]

Wow what a great trip Keith and Della!  I love that you were happy to just head over for a short trip with a short list of must-dos and just take it easy.  Nice that crowds dispersed when it got cooler, a nice perk of traveling at that time of year.

Festival of the Arts sounds great and something that's on my list with Flower & Garden Show.  I'm hoping to stay long enough to do both when I go in 2022 (so far away) and I have to say it was nice to hear that it's cooler in February and crowds are down although I'll be there a bit later than you were.

[KeithS]

No worries Karen - glad you enjoyed the read!

Festival of the Arts and Flower and Garden are both brilliant - you'll love them both.  Your 2022 trip would be amazing if you could stay to cover both!