Party of 1, plus 1,000! My solo DIS adventure! 2/19 New TR Started!!

PrncessA

Dis_Mom_
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Welcome to the solo trip that felt anything but! I have been home for a little over 24 hours, and although I have no voice and my feet haven’t fully recovered, I am ready to go back!! And now I have a reason to, since before I left I picked up this little beauty!!!
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I also rode a banshee.

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Fought the Pandora crowd.
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Saw a Princess perform.
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And soooo much more!

Before I go too far, let me get to the who, what, when, why, where and how…


The who is me. PrncessA or Sara.

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Usually known as Mommy, but not on this trip, this trip I was SOLO. I am a huge Disney fan and I love Disney history, which is why I was totally geeking out when I met Michael Bowling. (I could have talked to him for days!!!!) I am an uber planner and love the planning of the trips almost as much as I love the trips….. Almost!!! I am a full time wife, mom, secretary and student and in my non-existent free time (and most of the time I should be doing something else) I spend thinking about, reading about and planning our Disney trips. I write about Disney nearly constantly and am concentrating right now on starting my own blog. I just graduated with my first degree last month and I begin at a new school in the fall.


The who also includes a lot of friends! Some Diser’s who I had never “met” in person before, some Diser’s who I had met previously, some who I had never met at all and others who I have known for years.


That what is a solo trip to Walt Disney World! Due to a few different circumstances such as school, money, timing and reasoning my husband suggested that I take a solo trip to Walt Disney World this year. Do you think I was going to say no? I don’t think so! I nearly left him spinning where he was standing as I ran to the computer to book my room!



The when was May 30-June 4th. Originally my plans were the week before Memorial Day, but when the DIS announced their 20th anniversary celebration and then WDW released the Pandora opening dates there was no way I could go the week before and know what I was missing. So of course I changed my dates to coincide with both celebrations, and boy am I so glad that I did. This trip was filled to the brim with magical moments and meetups. It had a few snags as well… but nothing can bring me down from a Disney high!



The why was to celebrate my graduation from college. Going back as an adult was not an easy thing, and going back as an adult with a full time family and job seemed impossible at times. A lot of people ask why I was celebrating getting my associates degree (I was taking Bachelor's Degree classes concurrently), since my B.A. isn’t too far off, but I am going to celebrate each step because I am working hard to get to my dream.



The where was Pop Century and here is where I hit a snag. More to come on that later, let’s just say that I probably will not ever stay at Pop again. :(



The how was by flying in on Southwest Airlines. This was my first time flying Southwest without purchasing the early bird check-in, and I can say I would never do that again if I am flying with my kids!! I didn’t rent a car (but the idea became more appealing as the week went on) so I was at the mercy of Disney transportation most of the time. I did appeal to the mercy of my friends a few times and they have taught me the ways of having a car at Disney. I may never want to ride a Disney bus again!!!!



So without further ado….. I give you “Party of 1, plus 1,000! My solo DIS adventure!”
 
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Table of Contents
Joining in, can't wait!! And may I say a HUGE "Congrats" on your HUGE educational accomplishments, both completed, and to come. SO in awe of you and all your hard work, especially as an adult, balancing a job, family, life, etc. Bravo!! party:
 


joining in! Congrats again on your achievements and I can only imagine how fast the engine in your brain revved up after you husband suggested the solo trip!
 
Joining in, can't wait!! And may I say a HUGE "Congrats" on your HUGE educational accomplishments, both completed, and to come. SO in awe of you and all your hard work, especially as an adult, balancing a job, family, life, etc. Bravo!! party:

:welcome: Thank you so much! At times I feel like I am drowning, but I "just keep swimming". LOL

Joining in!

:welcome: I know we didn't talk at the meet, but wasn't the Connecting with Walt meet so much fun!!?

joining in! Congrats again on your achievements and I can only imagine how fast the engine in your brain revved up after you husband suggested the solo trip!

:welcome: I don't think I could have moved faster! He has put a kibosh on all Disney talk for a while... which is frustrating since I am now trying to nail down our next trip...
 
Travel Day

So without further ado….. I give you “Party of 1, plus 1,000! My solo DIS adventure!”

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Or in this case… not!

So like always, let’s start at the beginning…travel day, usually a pretty boring day. Mine wasn’t all that exciting, but did have a potential for excitement at the end.

The weekend before I left was pretty busy with kid activities, cleaning the house, packing and getting my nails done. I took Lorelai with me as a treat for the last week of school and she loved it. To be honest I felt the most guilty about leaving Lorelai behind on this trip, she is in love with The Little Mermaid and would have loved to see Jodi Benson. She would not however have loved my touring style on this trip, so I made the right decision.

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Packing actually was a bit of hassle this trip. I couldn’t figure out which suitcases to take and I literally changed suitcases 4 or 5 times. I wanted to underpack because I knew souvenirs were going to be coming home with me, but I didn’t want too much empty room in the suitcases either. I ended up packing two medium sized suitcases and although things moved a bit on the trip down, it was a perfect fit on the trip back.

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I also made the decision at the very last moment Sunday after church that I wanted to make wire Mickey ears… so I did. I ended up not wearing the Little Mermaid ears that I made for Lorelai, but I really liked the Minnie Mouse ears and got a lot of compliments on them.

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I also made a Dis 20th tag for my backpack.

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Travel Day, also known as Tuesday came pretty fast. I finished up my packing before work, laughed while Erik had his first morning of getting the kids ready for school, and dropped Lorelai off at school before heading to work. I was only there for a few hours this morning, but it was crazy busy. I work as a office manager/secretary for a large church and when I am going away for a while people tend to get a little panicky. I left work at noon and headed straight to the grocery store to pick up supplies for Erik while I was gone. After unpacking groceries and packing my bags in the car we were on the road at 12:53pm!

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My flight wasn’t until 6:15pm, but we wanted to stop and have a lunch date before I left. We headed close to where my husband works (which is only 20 minutes from Midway Airport) and stopped at a Japanese restaurant called WoooW! that my husband had wanted me to try.

I had the Egg Drop Soup and a California Roll. The restaurant was dark so the food didn’t photograph well but the sushi was very good. The wasabi was super good and fresh! I love fresh wasabi. I always think of Mater in Cars 2 every time I eat wasabi... or Wasabi in Big Hero 6. The soup on the other hand was not great. It didn’t have a lot of flavor at all. I ended up putting a bit of soy sauce in it and it perked it up a bit.

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Erik however chose the winner of the meal.

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Orange Chicken with fried rice, broccoli and an egg roll.

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The fried rice was okay, but the star of the meal was the orange chicken. The sauce was a perfect blend of sweet and spicy and the chicken was so crispy on the outside and all white meat on the inside. It was a huge portion so I helped him out, because I’m a good wife like that.

After our meal we headed to airport through backroads with no traffic…

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Which meant I got there way before I thought I would. And bag check wasn’t that crowded… and security went fast… so I got to my gate super early. I set up camp at the gate across since it was less crowded and watched some Netflix. I honestly don't know what my life would be like without Netflix! LOL

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Since I was flying solo on Southwest I decided not to buy the Early Check-In and even though I checked in at exactly 24-hours I still had a pretty late boarding number. B21 They began boarding our flight around 5:45 and it was crazy crowded. I was worried about finding an aisle or window seat. I did not want to sit in the middle seat.

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Luckily I was able to find an aisle seat halfway back next to two teenage girls. A mom with two littles was sitting across the aisle and her 5 year-old kept me entertained during takeoff and landing. And this helped in between.

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I could only read a few stories before I started crying and had to switch to something else. This is his second book and it is just as good as the first. I cried all the way through the first as well.

When we were about 30 minutes away from MCO the pilot came over the intercom and said due to the weather we couldn’t land and we were in a holding pattern. He couldn’t tell us how long it would be. Weird selfie to commemorate the announcement.

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I look exhausted, but I actually felt okay. Probably because I am headed to my happy place.

During the landing I helped the mom across the aisle and distracted her son from the change in altitude. He ask me who my favorite Avenger is, and believe me I love Marvel, but for the life of me all I could think of was Captain America. (Who by the way is NOT my favorite, Jeremy Renner is… um I mean Hawkeye. But seriously Jeremy Renner could read the phone book and I would watch it!)

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Then my new little friend decided to ask me to guess his favorite… and as I said I could only think of Captain America. It was a pretty one sided game at that point. Luckily the teenage girls beside me thought he was “ADORABLE” and they proceeded to entertain him. The mom had her hands full with her 2 year-old who was not enjoying the turbulence or the change in altitude. The dad was a few rows back with the older two kiddos.

We were scheduled to land at 9:50pm, but we were running almost a half hour early. In the end we ended up landing at 10:07, so we weren’t too late. When I turned my cell service back on I immediately got messages from Erik, my mom and my friend Kat (who will be a big part of this report) about a man at Orlando Airport with a gun. At that point I wondered if it was just the weather that was keeping us in the air. It was all over when we got there, but you could feel the vibe in the air at the airport. I was kind of surprised there wasn’t a larger security/police presence in the airport after the incident, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

I took my ride on the faux-o-rail and headed to baggage claim A, where after a good wait they told us to head over to side B… I find MCO confusing but I followed the crowd. At 10:46pm this was still my view.

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Luckily a few minutes later the baggage arrived and I was on my way downstairs to the most magical ride at Disney! And to my surprise it was empty…

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like really empty…

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With the disturbance I had heard that traffic had been stopped so I had expected a bit of a back up at the Magical Express, but there was no one there. They scanned my ban and sent me to lane 7.

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Where I was immediately directed to my awaiting bus. It was super crowded on the bus but one of the second rows was open and I took that. The bus driver was very chatty with those of us in the front. She said that she was pulling up to the airport when the situation went down and people started streaming out of the airport. She said it was spooky to watch and she was surprised they hadn’t called all the bus drivers with a gag order yet. We waited for a while (even though no one else really got on the bus) and we were on our way.

I watched the 30 minute long commercial they play and felt my excitement grow! I was finally on my way home! Anyone else cry at the beginning of a Disney trip as well as at the end of it????

I tried and failed to take a good welcome sign photo.

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And before I knew it I was walking in to Pop at 11:46pm. Bonus, I was the first stop! I got off with one other couple and got my luggage. I already had my room number and had finished online check-in, but I wanted to confirm that everything was set with charging privileges as that has been a problem in the past. I did ask about moving to a ground floor but the CM advised against it… I wish I had persisted.

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But everything was set and I made my way outside toward Building 4.

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I finally made it to my room at 12:02pm.

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I was surprised to find my Amazon Now order had already been delivered to the room, but happy as that saved me another call (and tip).

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I had ordered bottled water, a six-pack of Coke and some Dunkin Donuts iced coffee singles. I also ordered some after sun lotion since I knew I would burn no matter how much sunscreen I wore. The prices were better than what I would pay in stores here in the Chicago Suburbs and there was no delivery fee. I did tip the delivery person, but I would have done that no matter the service, so Amazon Prime Now is now my new favorite ordering service!! You cannot order alcohol, so Garden Grocer still might be best for some.

I took some photos and the first thing I noticed in the room was the crazy amount of mosquitos flying around. I assumed it was from the rain that had just finished but believe me this tale does not end here.

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I wasn’t too impressed with the room. It really felt dated and I can see why they are being renovated. I am very glad they are redoing them, because I really don’t want to not like a Disney resort. The bathroom was the worst. The wallpaper was peeling and grout was disgusting.

I also miss the old H2O products. I LOVE the grapefruit smell and really missed it on this trip.

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Originally I had planned to use the bed against the wall, but when I laid down on it, it was incredibly uncomfortable so I switched to the bed by the door. It wasn’t much better, but it was okay. I’m not very picky about mattresses (or at least I don’t think I am) and this was the first time I have ever noticed a Disney mattress was uncomfortable. I unpacked my Amazon Now purchases into the fridge, set my alarm, and headed to bed. I had an early wakeup call for a day at the Magic Kingdom!!
 
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Loving it, and loved the Mickey ears you made - you are SO crafty - wish I was!!
 
Loving it, and loved the Mickey ears you made - you are SO crafty - wish I was!!

Thank you! I wish I had more time for crafting, the only thing that prompted me to make these rather than buy them was my lack of planning. I ran out of time to buy them and have them delivered. Also they are sooo expensive on Etsy! They were super easy to make.
 
great job with the wire ears! and I love that DSI 20th tag :rolleyes1

your husband is lucky to have a wife like you to help him finish his food like that ;)

glad everything worked out in the end but that must have been scary once you heard about the incident at the airport

wonder why the CM tried to talk you out of the ground floor :confused3

I hear you about the rooms feeling dated - very glad they are getting that rehab (hopefully that also fixed the mosquito issue :scared:
 
Sounds like a nice travel day in. That incident at the airport was definitely a bit scary. I didn't fly in until the next day and I was surprised there wasn't a larger security presence either.

I hadn't stayed at Pop since right after it opened so I could definitely see that it was dated.
 
Sounds like a fun trip! I want to do a solo trip some day.

You should! It was so different than a family trip. I missed my family at times, but it was was so freeing to be able to do what I wanted when I wanted.

great job with the wire ears! and I love that DSI 20th tag :rolleyes1

Thanks for the design!

your husband is lucky to have a wife like you to help him finish his food like that ;)

I try and remind him of that when I am stealing his food... he doesn't seem to agree:confused3:laughing:

glad everything worked out in the end but that must have been scary once you heard about the incident at the airport

Erik and I did make "Zombie Apocalypse" contingency plans before I left :rotfl:, but this was a bit scary. I am glad no one was hurt!

wonder why the CM tried to talk you out of the ground floor :confused3

I hear you about the rooms feeling dated - very glad they are getting that rehab (hopefully that also fixed the mosquito issue :scared:

She said that because of all the rain from that night that I wouldn't want a ground floor. The mosquito issue ended up being a persistent problem, but not fixing it quickly enough was my problem.
 
I'm here!

Sorta bumpy start ya got there. Nothing major but some odd little hiccups. In room mosquitoes for one...

I'm glad you're always so positive though; makes things in life much better!

Can't wait to see the rest of this solo-ish adventure!
 

The next morning dawned and I was up before my alarm went off. Today was my Magic Kingdom day and I was excited. There is a spot right in front of the castle that I can say is the happiest place on earth for me. Nothing grand happened there, it just is where I feel happiest, and I couldn’t wait to get back there! Unfortunately that meant that I woke up a lot earlier than I had wanted to, but there was no way I could go back to sleep.

I got up, got dressed, grabbed my camera, phone, and headed outside to walk around and take some photos at 6:36am. The MOMENT my door closed I realized that I had left my Magic Band in the room. Yep, I had locked myself out. Great way to start my morning. At least I remembered my coffee.

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Well I changed my plans a bit, since now I needed to head to the front desk to get a new key to my door. I did take some photos along the way.

The view outside my door:

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I was not a fan of the stairwells. They were hot and stinky.

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I headed to the front desk to explain my predicament… and I should have mentioned the mosquitos but I didn’t.

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I confirmed my information and was soon on my way back to the room with this beauty, which use to be my Key to the Kingdom, now it is a relic.

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My walk back.

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The Generation Gap Bridge to AoA.

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I had lost all motivation for walking around taking photos so I decided that I would just head on out to the Magic Kingdom early. So out the door I headed at 7:24am.

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I made it into the elevator when I realized I forgot something in the room. Not sure what it was but I know I had to go back and the heat was already getting to my hair so it when up while I was in the room. Take 2:

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I headed straight to the bus stop and walked on a Magic Kingdom bus waiting. I was so excited to hear the Magic Kingdom welcome on the bus, but alas it did not happen on this bus ride. BOOO! But I couldn’t be upset for long because it was 7:57am and I was finally home!

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I love the new bag check process, it made bag check a breeze.

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Hello Train Station! I loved to see the area in front of the train station so empty as I am sure people get some great photos in the mornings now but I really missed the anticiaptation for the welcome show.

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I took my time heading into the park.

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It was soooo empty. I was surprised how uncrowded it felt in the moment, but later in the day I realized just how early I really was to the park. I was there an entire hour before opening.

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My first stop was inside Town Hall to get a celebration button.

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I should have ask for tape to cover the writing because it came off pretty quickly in the heat with me taking my backpack on and off.

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I tried to get a bit artistic, I like it so that’s all that matters right?

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Isn’t this a beautiful sight?

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I stopped to get a photo of myself in front of the castle and ask the photopass photographer to takes some photos with my camera as well, he only took them with mine and just held my camera out to me in silence. Um, ok. I didn’t have Memory Maker, but I was thinking about upgrading to an AP, so I did want photopass photos as well. Oh well.

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I headed on toward the castle and it wasn’t crowded at all. That is when I realized just how early I was and the park didn’t open for another hour. I sat behind Walt and Mickey and drank my coffee, but it was directly in the sun and it was hot. .

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So I decided to take my time and walk around and take some photographs.

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So more attempts at being artistic…


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When I got HOT I headed into the emporium and did the same thing in the AC. These baby Ariels were IMPOSSIBLE to find last trip and I wasted sooooo much time trying to find one.

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Eventually I ended up right back where I started and to be honest I wasn’t really excited about the new opening show. That’s when a bucket list opportunity presented itself.

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The Omnibus!!

I waited for the bus driver (Jack) to unload his passengers and take some photos with some kiddos and I ask him if he was headed back up Main St. (which he was) and I got to sit in the front seat with him for a solo drive. It was such a fun time! I felt like a celebrity. People were waving to me and I waved back.

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Jack (who was a pirate by the way) was 2 weeks away from retirement and prior to his 12 years with the Disney Company he was in the Navy. He was a hoot!


When we got to Town Square I decided to go up on the top and take a ride back down. We had to wait until the welcome show was over, but that was fine by me.

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I decided to Facebook live my trip back down Main St. I uploaded it to YouTube as well.


I learned on this trip that no matter how clear your broadcast looks when you are taking it, it can still be distorted. From now on I will probably video and upload instead.

After my ride I decided to head over toward Liberty Square, but Fantasyland was so empty I couldn’t pass up a favorite.

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No not Peter Pan, it was already CRAZY crowded there.

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My favorite ride of course:

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And no matter what wait it said, it was a walk on and pretty soon I was headed under my favorite ride tunnel.

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I took at least a hundred photos, but I won’t make you look at all of them.

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The sun was FINALLY working after it wasn’t on our last two trips.

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My name was not put on any signs. :(

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After a sail on the “Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed”, I headed over for a ride that I knew would still have a short wait.

I love the headstones!

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It was pretty much a walk on. I finally stopped outside the doors to wait for the next stretching room.

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I do not enjoy how crowded and cramped this area is. They at least need to add more fans to keep this area cooler, because the body heat is crazy! I posted on Twitter during the wait with the woman next to me told her daughter. “See that sign right there? It says no carrying 4 year olds.” The things parents will tell their kids. LOL

I got an OK picture of Madame Leota!

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After not being taken up on my offer to volunteer to become the 1,000th ghost, I walked over to the FP+ station in the walkway/tunnel into Adventureland to make fast passes with Lorelai’s magic band. But this is now not allowed so I am not going to talk about it but to say, it was really more work than it was worth, but it did give me an extra couple rides on my MK day and my DHS day. But nothing that was really great.

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At this point I was starving and my plan was to head over to Sleepy Hollow and have the heavenly Nutella Waffle Sandwich, but when I got there the line was crazy and I know how slow that line moves… so instead I walked back over to the fruit stand in Liberty Square. I just needed something to keep me going.

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This ended up being a BAD choice. Most of the pineapple was not ripe at all and was too hard and flavorless to eat. I also drank my Coke that I had in my backpack and set up my mini fan to blow on me while I ate. It was SO incredibly hot this day.

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After my “breakfast” I headed over to use my first FastPass+ of the day. I don’t think a trip to WDW is complete without this ride!

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I did a bit of souvenir shopping for my husband while I was at POTC. He had bought a necklace in the gift shop here last July and he had wore it every day since then. Right before my trip it had broken and so I knew I had to get him a new one. I also saw they had the leather cuffs that you can have engraved with names and there was one that matched a cuff watch he has so I got him one of those as well. And of course I don’t have any photos of them.

I had hit POTC at the end of my FP+ window and waited for the cuff to be engraved so I didn’t really have a long wait before my next FP at the Jungle Cruise. Good thing too because the standby was long!

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I love when you get a good group of people on the a cruise because it makes it so much more “punny”. Get it? Punny!

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Well our trip through the jungle was great and we had a great Skipper. How much fun would it be to be a skipper? I wish I had the wit! I considered grabbing a Dole Whip at this point but the line was CRAZY. This was becoming a theme at this point. The heat and the crowds… yuck!

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Instead I decided to cool off with my favorite birds in Walt Disney World!

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As did everyone else in Adventureland!

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This was the most crowded that I had ever saw the Tiki Room! But it should be like this all the time because it is so great! I really love the Tiki Room!

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At this point the crowds and the heat were really getting too me and it was closing in on noon. My plan was to try and catch the 11:50am showing of Muppet show in Liberty Square and then head over to eat a new restaurant for me. I ducked inside the Christmas shop to look around “a.k.a. Enjoy the A.C.” while I waited for the show to begin.

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Did I feel a little guilty standing in the absolute middle of the shop with the AC blowing down on me? NOPE, not a bit. I did find this a strange product placement though.

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The show finally began and I attempted to keep myself semi-cool by keeping my backside in the Christmas shop while I watched the show outside, but it was soooo hot and to be honest I am not that big of a fan of the Muppets and the show didn’t really hold my interest. The one that they were doing was about Paul Revere and I lasted exactly 5 minutes before food held more interest than the Muppets. I am sure they are great but it just isn’t my cup of tea. I like the Muppet show in DHS when I need a nap.

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So where was my lunch going to be?

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A new place for me!

I had planned on getting a kids meal, but I felt like I was STARVING and standing in the insane line didn’t help. Luckily the line moved very quickly. I heard that Mobile Ordering is coming here and I think that is a great idea! I ordered my food and two cups of ice water and headed upstairs where I hoped the crowd would be better. NOPE, it was packed. I did have a goal, I wanted to sit in the overpass next to a window, so that is where I headed. I found a table in between two windows but it had no chair. NOT my goal. But a random stranger saved my day! A guy was sitting a table for two in the corner next to the window looking out into Liberty Square and called over to me. Seems he was waiting for his family of 5 and they would be taking the table in the middle (the ppl were finishing up) and he was offering his table to me. SCORE! I thanked him profusely and settled down to eat some yummy food.

I had ordered the Fish and Chicken platter (with fries and cole slaw).

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In hindsight I should have ordered either the fish only or the lobster roll. AND I should have ordered the kid’s size because I didn’t even come close to finishing this. The meal itself was okay. Not at all on par with the Fish and Chips at Yorkshire in Epcot, but the fries and fish were good. I surprisingly didn’t like the chicken nuggets, which has never happened to me at a Disney Resturant.

I really took my time eating. I caught up on the Dis Facebook group, called my husband and chatted and just people watched. And boy were there people to watch! Yikes!!

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That photo was taken at 12:34pm and I posted it on the Dis Facebook group saying I was staying right where I was until the Connecting With Walt meet at 2pm.

Next up: A Diser joins me a CHH and my first official Dis Meet at Walt Disney World!!
 
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Following! A solo trip sounds like so much fun! That crowd is insane though, I just can't deal with that many people in the heat.
 
@PrincessA - Continuing to enjoy your TR, and LOVED your video with Capt. Jack. :) I'm not sure, watching that, if I've ever done any of the Main Street vehicles, so I'll add that to my "must do next time" list. :) Yikes - can't believe all those people outside at CHH!! Oh - and congrats, yet again, on your fantastic graduation achievement!!
 
Great update! I love MK first thing in the morning it's always a lot of fun. I have yet to eat at the Columbia harbor house but it looks like a good meal. That crowd is insane!
 

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