I was going to do a long drawn out trip report, but it gets too rambly, and I end up revealing things I don't want to...or shouldn't.
So I'm just going to do a list of various thoughts.
1. Though Disney tried super hard with their magical grooming tactics, I'm still cisgender and lean heterosexual with a tendency towards bisexual celebrity crushes.
2. We never ended up using Genie + or Lightning lanes.
3. List of attractions I ended up going on:
Epcot: Ratatouille (2x), Spaceship Earth (2x), Living with the Land (2x), Nemo, Test Track, Gran Fiesta Tour,
Magic Kingdom: It's a Small World (2x), The Carousel of Progress, People Mover, The Haunted Mansion,
Hollywood Studios: Rise of the Resistance (2x), Smugglers Run (2x), Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway (2x), Star Tours, Slinky Dog
Animal Kingdom: Nothing.
I rode Gran Fiesta, Star Tours, and one round of Mickey and Minnie alone. The rest I rode with either Jack or Tim or both of them.
Star Tours was kind of ironic, because for the past several years, it's been the ride that Tim and Jack go on while I go elsewhere. But I was alone in the park...and had this desire to try it.
4. After some thinking, I decided (with Jack and Tim's permission) to switch our Animal Kingdom reservations to Epcot.
Animal Kingdom was scheduled for our last day. I hate last days. And on top of end-of-trip-sorrow, I didn't want to add the heat or the bus experience. And the Animal Kingdom ride I'm most interested in is Everest. BUT...this year our desire for thrill rides had lessened.
5. I feel with thrill rides it's not just about the thrill. It's not just about enjoying the fear or the adrenaline. I think there's also a pleasant physical feeling. I didn't get much of that feeling on Test Track, and I pretty much just felt unpleasant on Slinky Dog. I don't know if that's a permanent kind of thing. Or if it was just about this trip.
6. Because of the hot weather and my intolerance of it, I changed my way of doing Disney. I'm usually a get up early kind of person. This time I had plans to sleep in late. I worked on this schedule weeks before going to Disney. I went from being a person who starts getting ready for bed around 9 to one who gets into bed at 11, 12, or beyond.
My plan was to stay up late, sleep in, and then go to the parks in the evening.
I had serious doubts this would work out for me.
But it did!!
And I should add...that we had the challenge of working in a 6 am flight which resulted in us having to wake up at 3...something.
The first morning there....I slept until 10. I was very pleased with myself.
I wasn't just impressed with myself for sleeping in but also for being incredibly lazy on some of the days.
I really did well at saving my energy for the evenings.
7. I had made our park reservations around the late night magic hours. But I won't do that again. Because one of the best nights was at Hollywood Studios with normal closing times. I followed the advice I heard somewhere, sometime to stay beyond closing. This doesn't mean hiding in a bathroom somewhere or behind a clothes rack while everyone else leaves the park. Instead what you do is get in line for a ride just before closing.
We got in line for Rise of the Resistance about five minutes before closing. And then afterwards slowly made our way out of the park...stopping for a lovely t-shirt-prompted chat with a cast member.
So now I more fully understand that park closing time really is less about a forced exit and more saying you need to start your restaurant experience or get into an attraction line BEFORE this time.
8. We went to Hollywood Studios for the DVC Moonlit Magic. It was okay. The three not-great things:
A) We spent a large chunk of the time in line for Smugglers Run...which would have been better if the experience didn't include having drama with our TrustedHouse Sitters cat sitter.
At some point in the drama, I suddenly exclaimed something like, I don't know what it is, but I feel like we've been here a really long time. I THOUGHT it was just perception. Like all the drama made it seem longer. But it turns out what was supposed to be a 40 minute line had turned into about 75 minutes. Though when I said that...it hadn't reached that amount of time yet. But it was past the 40 minutes at least.
B) For some odd reason, Disney didn't post the wait times on the app during Moonlight Magic, so you'd have to walk to a ride and see. Plus, I think some of the thrill and joy is looking at the app and seeing all the short wait times...even if you're not actually planning to ride.
C) There were free snacks. And a variety...not just the usual popcorn and Mickey ice-cream. Which is lovely. But there was no information on which snacks were where. There was just a list of which places had snacks...but not what kind of snacks. I didn't get the snack that I wanted (pretzel) and ended up with popcorn (fairly yum) and a really blah brownie. All in all, the snack experience was a mix of confusing and disappointing.
9. The only planned-ahead dining reservations we had was Le Cellier. It was an interesting experience, because both the hostess and our waiter had the spirit of Tigger in them.
10. We ended up with last minute reservations at Be Our Guest. I think that's hard to get...I mean I think it's one of the restaurants that people work hard to get months before they leave. So I feel like we accomplished something huge.
The thing is, appointments stress me out...even eating ones. And I love the thrill of seeing what becomes available last minute.
11. The waiting area outside Be Our Guest is a very good place to see the fireworks. I'm not a big fan of fireworks. But it's mostly because I don't like the crowds and the waiting for it all to begin. The noise bothers me only in that it startles me...like if there's a long space between the fireworks or when the show first begins. But once I know it's happening, and I'm no longer startled...I enjoy it.
We waxed poetic to a cast member about the firework experience. She explained that the only problem is we missed the projections on the castle. We were fine with missing that.
Now...we WERE technically waiting. But instead of waiting for the fireworks to begin, we were watching fireworks while waiting for our table to be ready.
12. It just came into my head that it's not just about the crowds and the waiting. It's also the knowing that after the show is over, we're going to become part of the mass crowd that's trying to exit in order to get to bed on time. OR if we plan to stay in the park, we have to walk against the crowd...which in Magic Kingdom is kind of a nightmare.
13. The one I-now-know-I'm autistic accommodation I gave myself on this trip was being more understanding towards myself regarding music. Like most humans, I do love music. I listen to a lot of it. But I also know it can give me intense emotional responses. And I now know, at certain times, I need to avoid music. One such time is on airplanes. I made myself a rule of no-music while flying.
Though I love Sunshine Seasons, mainly because of the music playing, I was not eager to go there on this trip. We did go into the Land Pavillon but we didn't eat or step into the Sunshine Seasons area.
Is the same music playing near the ride? I can't remember. I don't remember hearing it. Even if it's there, maybe in the context of waiting in a line it effects me less than when we're sitting together as a family eating.
I rarely have strong generational feelings at Disney World. But I did once at Sunshine Seasons...several years ago. That feeling/memory of being there as a child with my family. Nostalgia can be so painful sometimes...even when connected to positive or neutral memories.
On top of personal memories...with Sunshine Seasons, there's also the cinematic memories—kids jumping from a dock in South Carolina, dark family secrets...
14. Club Cool has new sodas. Though they've kept the Beverly.
On our second visit, I overheard someone say that the Chinese soda tastes like barbecue sauce. And I realized they were right. I thought it was pretty cool/interesting. I also liked the Russian soda. It's like cucumber Sprite. The others really didn't make an impression on me. I mean I don't remember much about them.
15. We ended up sharing a snow cone in Japan. It was very much the experience I wanted it to be. The only thing missing was the overly hot weather, because we ended up getting it in the early evening. Well...and instead of sitting on a bench, we stood.
Oh...and sometime later during the trip, Tim asked if we thought the snow cone had gotten. smaller. It's one of those things that I didn't consciously notice. But once he mentioned it, I realized it had seemed smaller. Usually, it's bigger and therefore messier.
The important thing is, though...what I had wanted is to have a normal experience where we're just kind of taking life for granted and not getting overly sentimental about being back at Disney post-Covid.
And on that note.....
16. Being back at Disney felt wonderfully, beautifully normal. I didn't expect that to happen. I had anticipated being hurt by the changes, overcome with nostalgia, and just, in general, having a ton of bittersweet moments.
But no. Even with the changes, things felt so normal. It felt same old, same old. And I'm so grateful for that. It's exactly what I needed.
17. I have three new vomits to add to my collection of horrifying vomit encounters at Disney World.
Note: I have a phobia of vomit, so any vomit is horrifying.
They all took place at Epcot...which gave me a paranoid moment or two about the food being served there. But it's probably just a coincidence.
All the imagery happened very fast, because it's something I quickly look away from. So my memories might not be exactly accurate.
The first was a man..kind of towards a wall. I think he had just finished with the vomiting. I have this memory of the vomit puddle being huge. It was horrific. The one thing that gave me comfort is he had people with him, supporting him. I think part of my vomit phobia originated with vomiting as a child and receiving the message that kids in fourth grade do not merit the comfort and assistance that a much younger, more beloved child, deserves. So seeing an adult receive TLC was kind of maybe slightly therapeutic to me.
Though....with me having a vomit phobia, I'm probably the person who will cause other people to have a phobia, because I'm likely to make a vomiting person feel like a total pariah. But it might be more likely, I'd be comforting and helpful; then later have OCD type meltdowns where I'm taking multiple showers, throwing away clothes, having flashbacks, not wanting the vomiter to go near me until they've taken ten showers, etc.
Onto the two other vomits. It was the last day. We were walking in World Showcase. My memory is probably really unreliable. But I feel maybe I saw multiple cast members cleaning an area in the walkway with chemicals. It all seemed very serious. I kind of feel they were on their hands and knees? And I was thinking...did someone vomit? And why are they cleaning like this instead of using the sawdust. Then we walked a few steps further, and there was a sawdust situation. And one of the cast members asked people in contagion-movie style to please keep away from the area.
I'm guessing what happened is someone vomited twice in a crowded walkway. They were probably simply probably trying to prevent a bunch of people trampling on the vomit; then spreading it through World Showcase.
BUT...it kind of felt like a horror movie and that the vomit had some kind of little aliens inside of it...or contained a new extra-scary variant of Covid or Monkey Pox.
18. I very occasionally have these certain super-special feelings that are dream-memory related. I had these feelings when seeing this wonderful, magical contraption at Epcot.
Just remembering seeing this in person or looking at a picture gives me residual feelings of the feeling.
What gave me huge amount of the feeling is seeing water spraying from that thing. I stayed behind to try to get some photos and especially wanted to get some water action shots...but gave up after waiting a few minutes. (it was too hot for me to keep waiting).
I assumed the thing had something to do with the evening Epcot show. For some reason, I imagined it to be some giant firefighting machine (just in case) which now seems kind of silly. I later saw images somewhere that made me realize it's actually part of the show.
I should do more research into it.
Okay. Googled.
The official name seems to be Harmonious Barges...and here's a bunch of various images.
The Disney Food Blog calls them Epcot's biggest eyesores. DFB used to be one of my favorite Disney sources but at one point, I realized their taste in food is too different from mine. They're really big on cupcakes...which to me are just not my favorite thing. I'm not trying to criticize them in anyway. I think they're great. But sometimes...in terms of taking travel advice, it's helpful to know if the one giving advice has similar likes and dislikes as you.
Anyway...yeah....what they call an eyesore might be the most beautiful, amazing thing I have ever seen at Disney World.
So we are certainly not on the same page with that...or with cupcakes being a highly desirable dessert.
19. My favorite Disney treat this time around was a bag of pink cotton candy.
We stopped off at the Boardwalk store just before it closed, so Tim could buy a toothbrush. While waiting for him, I sat there looking at the various fancy bakery and confectionary thingies. A cast member asked if I was having trouble deciding on something. I replied that I wasn't even sure if I wanted anything...which was the truth. It was very much a moment of do-I-want-something-and-if-I-do-how-the-hell-do-I-choose?
Tim came back with the toothbrush. And the cast member ringing it up suddenly presented the bag of cotton candy, saying something like, And you will need this toothbrush to go with your FREE bag of cotton candy.
It was a very delightful magical moment.
I had this idea that the cast member thought it was financial stress preventing me from getting a dessert, and she was being charitable. But when we exited the store, we saw other cast members holding bags of cotton candy. We concluded that it's probably a tradition that at closing, they hand out the leftover bags.
20. If I was going to ask Disney to make one improvement it would be that if you're going to have rides and attractions opened late that they also have more food options open. BUT I can't blame Disney for not having that improvement. Because I think it's a matter of being understaffed. A cast member in the Disney College program told us she's working 50-60 hours a week.
What might help, though.... How about hotel vending machines?
Or maybe they have them...and I just didn't see. They could be in the ice-maker areas. I didn't check there.
The night that we planned to do the extra evening magic hours at Epcot, we left almost immediately after it started when we realized there was very little food left open. If we had stayed until the end, we would have then returned to the Beach Club/Boardwalk area where most (or all) of the restaurants were already closed.
I should add that we had snacks in the room, so we didn't even need a vending machine. But what if we didn't have snacks, and we couldn't find food anywhere? I sometimes have low blood sugar feelings...so it's something I think about.
With our late schedule, though...and erratic eating schedules...what we were usually craving was an actual meal. So that kind of messed with our let's-stay-late-at-the-park plans.
21. Back to our Be Our Guest experience. In the beginning of our time there, they suddenly announced the presence of the Beast. He came in and just kind of stood there, looking pretty. It cracked me up a bit. What made it even funnier is like...fifteen minutes later, they repeated the whole thing. And I kind of pictured it like people humoring helping a person who needs extra-reassurances.
There's this movement in pop-psychology to replace terms like attention-seeking with support-seeking. I actually agree a lot with this, by the way.
But...yeah. It felt like this beast was in need of support and that we as diners were being asked to provide it for him.
22. Getting back to point 6. Just to clarify....
I am very lazy when I'm at home...at least when it comes to going out. In fact, we got back from Disney last Friday. It's Thursday, and I don't think I've been out since then.
Though...I have taken a couple of walks in the neighborhood.
Well...that's actually something. Because I put on a bra.
Yay me.
I've actually been trying to be less lazy at home...even tried making a kind of rule of putting on a bra, getting dressed, and being ready to go out everyday.
So...here in Texas I'm trying to be less lazy.
While in Disney, I was trying to be more lazy...at least during the hot sun hours.
